Shop update preview

A whole month without an update - and it's not as if I've been sitting twiddling my thumbs! At last, I have some yarn for you. Summery colours, autumnal colours - something for everyone. Imminent update to take place on Saturday.

**New yarn** - Flibbertigibbet in Encore (BFL/nylon) - 1 skein

Rosy Cherub in Blush (merino/cashmere) - 2 skeins (one with less blue)

Teal Reykjavik in Blush (merino/cashmere) - 1 skein

Blue Champagne in Blush (merino/cashmere) - 1 skein

Pink Lady Apple in Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) - 1 skein

Plum Duff in Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) - 4 skeins

Nostalgic Days in Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) - 1 skein

August in Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) - 1 skein - long colour runs


August in Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) - 1 skein - shorter colour runs


Poppy Fields in Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) - 2 skeins

Purple Turtle in Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) - 1 skein

Teal Reykjavik in Wisp (silk/cashmere) - 3 skeins

Norfolk Lavender in Wisp (silk/cashmere) - 1 skein

Caran Dache in Wisp (silk/cashmere) - 1 skein

Forest Fox in Wisp (silk/cashmere) - 2 skeins

Seaspray in Shore (merino/SeaCell) - 2 skeins

Sweet Violet in Kimono (Aran silk) - 1 skein

Rosy Cherub in Opulent (cashmere) - 2 skeins

Norfolk Lavender in Opulent - 2 skeins

Asparagus Green in Opulent (cashmere) - 2 skeins

Beach Lobster in Endure (merino/nylon) - 1 skein

Mint Humbug in Endure (merino/nylon) - 1 skein

Minted Peas in Divine (superwash merino) - 1 skein

Please note that I will not be taking custom orders during the autumn months to allow expansion of the sock clubs and for more shop updates.

The Retro Ribs are finished:I knitted them in Reykjavik in Blush (merino/cashmere) and enjoyed both the pattern and the yarn though will give it a while before I knit size 10 socks again!

I completed my last custom order for a while for a fellow Etsian who has a shop called Silly Kitty which she fills with little crocheted critters some of which, I'm honoured to say, are made out of SQ Kimono silk.

Squyoo..squyoo..squyoodio

Before

Just a canvas and pinboard to hang, a bit of beading round the loft hatch, some missing airbricks to replace and pipework to be boxed in, some shelving to acquire for dye bottles, tiling to do but it's as good as ready. Photos aren't brilliant as I took them this evening after finishing the SQ-esque canvas to put on the far wall - what do you think? Was supposed to resemble a SQ yarn tag.

After

Hasn't Nick done a fantastic job? He built all the cabinets himself and measured them so that they can hold my yarn storage boxes at the top and my basins for soaking yarn at the bottom.

And he got this reclaimed double Belfast sink from another job. Perfect basin size.

Bad photo but check out the pulley for hanging yarn to dry. And a vent to allow plenty of air circulation.
On the right-hand side is my packing table but I plan to move that to make way for a second-hand shelving unit to accommodate all my bottles of dye.

So there you go. But what to call it? It varies from workshop to studio to garage to shed.

Had a fantastic time in Dorset visiting friends. Yesterday consisted of sitting in a traffic jam down to the coast and then helping out at a children's party followed by a BBQ and late night. Then today, we went down to Mudeford Quay where there was a family day, funfair, raft race, a fly-by from the Red Arrows (I'm really feeling like royalty these days as that's the fourth time I've seen the Red Arrows fly over in the space of two weeks) and a spell on the beach. I love the British seaside on days like these when the sun's shining and everybody's out and about. It was a lovely atmosphere.On the journey back, I somewhat madly decided to sit in the back of my convertible (sounds posh, but is not - is my trusty Citroen C3 Pluriel) with the roof off and all the windows down on the motorway - it was like knitting in a wind tunnel! Challenging to say the least. I managed it though and just have a row or two of the toes of my dad's Retro Rib socks to finish. So I may even have some knitting to show in the next post - don't faint!

Brand new Squee! Sock Clubs for autumn

The next batch of sock clubs will be starting from September for a three-month period once again. I’ve emailed the original members to see if anyone would like to rejoin and they have until midday BST 7th August to confirm if they would after which date, I’ll open up any places left to anyone interested on a first-come-first-served basis via email (debbieorr.home@googlemail.com). I’m sorry, I can’t accept any requests before 7th August as I don’t know how many places there will be.

I’m hoping to open up a few more places than before by not doing any custom orders during the autumn months.

We still have the Plushness club which will be based on a theme of Stately Homes - think mazes, peacocks, high tea, lakes and swans. You can choose if you prefer the yarn simply twisted up so you can see the colours separately or reskeined to mix all the colours up prettily.

And I’m introducing a new yarn to replace Endure called Encore. It’s machine washable 75% superwash BFL 25% nylon - comes in 100g skeins of 465 yards and is softer than Endure. Absolutely perfect for socks. (Endure will still be available in the shop until stocks run out).

The Encore club will be based on the theme of the Lemony Snicket books - A Series of Unfortunate Events. So colourways could be influenced by anything from Lake Lacrimose to the Reptile Room. As with Plushness, you can choose if you’d like the yarn reskeined or not.

Both clubs work out at $68 or £34. Shipping will be $18 (international) or £7 (UK). Payment is at the start and you receive one skein of yarn by the last day of each month (Sept, Oct and Nov.)

Hope it’s as much fun as the summer club :)

I'll blog a reminder nearer the time.

It's been a wee while since there was last any yarn to show in this corner of blogdom, so thought I'd show you a selection of just blues from the last custom order batch:

Soft Cornflower in Opulent

River Thames in Opulent

Powder Room Blue in Plushness

Proud in Wisp

And the sharp-eyed amongst you may have noticed a couple of new yarn bases which have been added to the SQ repetoire. More details to follow, but apart from Encore, there's also a pure BFL named Blissful and a new merino/bamboo called Bamboozle.

I'm aiming for a shop update towards the end of next week.

We're off to Dorset tomorrow to visit friends and Skein Prince is off to Scout camp so yet another busy weekend. I NEED some knitting time!!

Happy holidays to anyone off on vacation this week x

Whirlwind mode

Usually, the weeks go past in a whirlwind, but last week everything whipped into a crescendo as school "winds down" for the summer holidays. We had two sports days, a school trip, a school play, SATs results, two schools discos, two practice days at secondary school and a prize-giving day to come. It is a privilege to be asked along to these events and to be asked to help, but I'm sure I'm not the only working mum to get a bit frantic trying to organise things around it all.

On Friday morning, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Skein Prince showed me his shoe which had split from toe to heel and he had quarter of an hour before his mates called for him to go down to their practice day at secondary. I couldn't superglue it as it wouldn't have had time to dry. He couldn't wear trainers as the headmaster is super strict. I ended up SEWING the leather together and it was like a scene from the Elves and the Shoemaker! The stitching surprisingly held together for the whole day. Phew!

The SQirkshop is very, very close to being finished. This week, the floor, the shelving, the sink and the electrics went in. I was in there today dyeing up Endure sock club yarn and some custom orders and it is fantastic. I cannot tell you what a difference it's going to make. I don't want to show any photos until the finishing touches have been put in but I couldn't be more pleased with it and I'm doing the happy bunny dance :

We may even get that old shop of mine stocked at some point!

Finally, congratulations to Stephen and Lindsay and to Ella and Trevor who got married this weekend.

SQudio progress (thanks Maverick!)

To save this blog from becoming the clanging blog of doom, tonight we have some photos of progress on the royal workshop/garage/shed/SQudio - call it what you want.

We have been painting like mad for the last three or four evenings to get it ready for flooring, storage, worktops, Belfast double sink, hob etc next week.

It's not a huge space but it'll do me nicely. Cannot wait to get in there and dyeing. Nick, the builder who happens also to be a friend, has been coming up with suggestions for improving the dyeing process which I'm thinking about. And I ordered one of these to hang at one end of the room.

Here's a selection of custom orders which went out today or are going out tomorrow. How hard was it getting decent photos yesterday - the weather was dull, dull, dull - hence the use of the windowsill in one photo:

Reykjavik in Plushness

By the Seaside in Plushness

By the Seaside in Wisp

Sunnyside Up in Plushness

Rockpool in Plushness

Emmeline in Plushness

Emmeline in Shore

Poppy Fields in Kimono

After the custom orders for 25th July, I'm going to have a break from them during August to concentrate on shop updates, cos let's face it, the shop has bare, cobwebbed shelves at the moment and is in desperate need of a restock.

I'm hoping to get Sock Club yarn dyed up tomorrow but partly dependent on whether Sports Day is cancelled again and when weekend visiting friends arrive, so it could be early next week. I'm also thinking of launching the next quarter of Sock Clubs from September instead of August.