An occasional newsletter full of offers, tips and tricks, patterns and links to our latest tutorials. Keep in touch with Black Isle Yarns.
The beautiful, cosy and stylish Comfort Shawl was designed by Sarah Hazell. Sarah is a very talented (and lovely too) designer with a vast amount of experience. So when she suggested working with my yarn I was bowled over and followed up her offer pretty quickly! After swatching with Batch Number 2’s Shetland, Shetland~Cheviot Blend […]
The striking Eathie Shawl was designed by my friend Emily Williams. Designed especially for the limited supplies of yarn from Horse, Frankenstein and Monkey Face the pattern only needs 60g of each beautiful natural shade (Double Cream, Rugged Grey and Hazy Charcoal) – but because of the lace design it makes a generously sized shawl […]
Hello and Happy Spring (although it’s rather cold here in the Highlands!) Last post I introduced the yarns in my new batch, Spring 2017, and promised I’d be back to share information and photos of the farms and sheep that grew the wool. It has taken a while to get round all three farms – […]
Hello and happy March – my goodness time does seem to be flying by! I’m so pleased to let you know that the second batch of Black Isle Yarns is ready (I think it will be referred to as Spring 2017). I picked it up from Juliet and John of The Border Mill in Edinburgh […]
I’ve been very remiss in not posting these mittens sooner. My lovely Auntie Lorna knit a beautiful pair of Gingersnap Mittens (a free pattern by Prairiesque) as a sample for me. She’s very kind! Auntie Lorna adapted the pattern significantly, changing it to two 3×3 cables and reducing the size considerably. Much as I’d love […]
Hello and a very (belated) Happy New Year! I do hope 2017 is a wonderful one for you. Mine, so far, has been very busy and very exciting…….I guess that counts as a pretty good start! I’m a little nervous to tell you this (but really there was no point in having done it […]
I’ve recently finished this second sample in my Autumn 2016 Zwartbles~Alpaca Blend. I wanted to knit a shawl that showed off the beauty of this yarn – it’s squishiness and texture – and settled on a simple triangular kerchief design (the Romney Kerchief by Jared Flood). The pattern itself is simple and straight-forward and I […]
I chose a favourite hat pattern for this sample using the Autumn 2016 Zwartbles~Alpaca Blend – the pattern is Reminisce by Libby Jonson of Truly Myrtle. I’m not one for anything too fussy and this hats fits that bill perfectly, a little detail to stop it being boring but nothing over-the-top. The Zwartbles~Alpaca is lovely […]
I’ve been a little quiet here lately but there has been lots going on behind the scenes – some of it very exciting and some of it just plain fun! I thought you might like to hear about one of my most enjoyable days in recent weeks. It really didn’t feel like work at all. A […]
Introducing our Autumn 2016 batch of Zwartbles and Zwartbles blend yarns: Zwartbles sheep originate from the Netherlands where they’re an uncommon breed. They were developed as a multipurpose breed and are valued here in Britain for their calm manner and as lovely mothers with good growing lambs. Their fleece is dense and bouncy and a […]
