Autumn in Yorkshire
We take a look at the new season yarns from West Yorkshire Spinners, which offer gorgeous colours in beautiful British breed wools
MARY HENDERSON’S Fair Isle yoked jumper in this supplement showcases a lovely new yarn range from West Yorkshire Spinners, called The Croft Shetland Colours. It’s part of a raft of exciting launches from the Keighleybased mill for the autumn-winter season - with a focus on glowing hues and beautiful British-grown fibres.
Shetland moods
The Croft Shetland Colours is a plump, smooth and springy aranweight, with an impressive softness to the knitted fabric. It’s the result of West Yorkshire Spinners’ long-held aim to work with Shetland Island wool, and thanks to a partnership with the Shetland woolbroker Jamieson & Smith, they were able to use this prized fleece in their own yarn range.
The palette of 12 solid shades has a rustic appeal; colours are rich and warming, and are designed to work together beautifully in Fair Isle projects. Named after locations on the Shetland Isles, the shades include rust, raspberry and a mossy green, as well as a choice of muted, neutral greys, cream and black.
Shetland Colours is a companion to The Croft Shetland Tweed, which was launched last autumn. This comes in eight printed colourways, developed using West Yorkshire Spinners’ state-of-the-art dyeing machinery and techniques, and it knits up into a unique tweed-like fabric. The new solid shades complement the hues of the tweed yarns perfectly; both yarns in The Croft range come in 100g/166m hanks, at £8.50 each.
Popular designer Sarah Hatton has created a book of patterns for all the family using The Croft Shetland Colours. She has a talent for bringing a modern twist to classic knitwear styles, and her collection contains 14 wardrobe essentials with a broad appeal. Designs include a women’s jumper with a stranded colourwork yoke, classic cabled sweaters, textured and colourblock cardigans and sweaters, a chunky cabled hoody, and appealing accessories including a Fair Isle scarf.
Best of breed
The second key launch from West Yorkshire Spinners is Re:treat. It’s a brand-new pure British wool that uses fleece from Bluefaced Kerry Hill - a cross-breed of Bluefaced Leicester sheep, known for its impressively soft and lustrous wool, and Kerry Hill, which has a short-fibred, clean white fleece. The result is a soft yet durable chunky-weight yarn, which has a roving texture with a soft twist; it knits up into a smooth, light and luxuriously silky fabric.
The team at the Keighley mill is rightly proud of its new yarn, having worked hard to source the perfect British fleece, and used their expertise to transform it into a beautiful product. Re:treat bears the British Wool logo, a guarantee that it is British to the core from sheep to showroom. Re:treat is available in 100g/140m balls, at £6.50 per ball. The colour range is lovely, and includes a gentle green, a yellow, and a grey, along with richer purples and blues, and two marled colourways in pink and blue.
Having long championed the positive benefits of knitting on health and happiness, West Yorkshire Spinners is partnering with national mental health charity, Mind, in the launch of its Re:treat yarn. The positive links between knitting and wellbeing are perfectly captured by the yarn: its palette is calm and uplifting, while its silky smooth finish ensures that it slides easily off the needles for a relaxing experience. For every kilogram of Re:treat yarn sold, West Yorkshire Spinners has pledged to donate 50p to Mind, so its customers will also be helping to support this wonderful charity whose mission is provide advice and support to those with a mental health problem.
To complement the yarn, West Yorkshire Spinners has published a collection of projects designed to be
soothing to knit, with calming, rhythmic patterns that will allow knitters’ minds to relax. Georgia Farrell has created the patterns for the book, and they include blankets and cushions with textures and blocks of colour, women’s cardigans and jumpers with elegant yet simple shapes and details, and cosy, quickknit accessories to treat yourself to.
Last but not least, West Yorkshire Spinners has added four gorgeous new shades to its Illustrious range, and has published a new book of designs by Emma Wright showcasing all the sophisticated colours in this popular DK yarn. It’s a delicious blend of 70% Falkland wool with 30% British alpaca, which comes in 100g/225m balls costing £9.95.
The new shades - royal and ocean blue, claret and fern - complement the existing palette well, and they are used to great effect in the Illustrious design collection. Patterns include a Fair Isle cardigan, with a matching bobble hat and mittens. Rich textures decorate a classic V-neck sweater and cabled peplum jumper, while Emma Wright brings a contemporary touch to her graphic colourwork jumper.
We’re always excited to see what developments West Yorkshire Spinners bring to knitters, and with its new autumn-winter launches, the firm has shown again it is at the forefront of British knitting innovation! Discover the full range of yarns and patterns at www.wyspinners.com