Hi lovely readers,

I thought it time to start plugging some of my yarns and talking a bit about them. It’s all very well to go on about countries of the world and the wonderful cultural and craft traditions that we have in common, but I think I also need to use this blog to highlight some of the things that are close to my heart, and explain what it is that i’m doing in the studio with my yarns.

I do love a good old yarn about yarn. And since my last post was all about my new colour Torquato, and since autumn is on the way, I thought it would be fun to look at the brown and orangy yarns I have in the store.

The lovely thing about knitting yarn, is the feeling of the softness through your fingers as you work it. Do you remember the first time you picked up yarn and needles and were taught how to knit? I want to capture that feeling for my customers, each time they start to knit with a skein of Madrigal Yarns and start to see their knitting come to life as the colours dance through the needles.

Hand knitting is a special pastime, and you deserve to use materials that are enjoyable. I personally dislike working with acrylic, because I‘m not a fan of how it feels in my fingers. Merino wool is really the nicest of the sheep fleece. It is soft enough to wear right next to your skin, so it’s perfect for hats, scarves and gloves. The difficulty then is choosing a colour.

So to elaborate on the selection of orange and brown yarns on my shelf, I will just get on with it, each one has a little story; not too long, and they go something like this.

1. Chestnut

When I decided to bring brown into the range, my first attempt was more an orangey mish mash, which involved red and a bit of green. It was a bit unruly to be honest. During a long autumnal walk around London, I was touched by the way the dappled autumn sunlight danced off the leaves on the ground and there were chestnuts here and there on the ground in my local park. It just seemed so quintessentially European to me and I just love being a European. So I added a bit of Gold to the blend with brown and chestnut and a touch of Ecru to lighten up the mix.

2. Golden Rust

This was one of the first colours I ever did. I just love it because you’re never quite sure what it is. Is it blue? Is it brown? It makes it easy to fit it in with different outfits and it goes really well with Denim. I made a really pretty cabled cowl with it some time ago which I have now gifted.

3. Nicola

I’m not joking but I designed this yarn in honour of Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud. She was the youngest of the 5 girls, and I always thought she got a bit of unfair press. I thought she had the voice of an angel, and I loved that she had the most fabulous red/titian hair. Of course I had to marry this with some sexy pinks and a bit of russet for the yarn, and some ecru to really make it pop. I’ve been making some mittens in this as well and I think its really pretty and super fem.

4. Demeter

I went to a Steiner School (in case you didn’t realize) and one of the jokes we had was giving the prefix of Demeter to anything that was slightly “herbal”. So healthy, brown bread we would call Demeter Bread. (actually, I think that was a thing). Demeter was the Greek goddess of the harvest, so the colours here are naturally soft and early autumnal, like the August wheat. I made a lovely vest in this colour last year in ARAN, here is my divine fiend Mike modeling it for me. It’s a very friendly and cheery colour I find. It works well in garments and accessories.

5. Auburn Spice

This colour really ups the ante on the warmometer. Origianlly the shade was planned to be like a big pile of leaves from the Liquidambar tree, all reds and yellows and browns. I didn’t want it to be too crazy though, so it would be more subtle when it’s knitted up. The shimmer that the variegated colours produce is lovely and it reminds me again of dappled shade on the ground in the park. This would be lovely in a big shawl.

As I grow, there will be more and more browns and I hope to introduce some more muted shades that work well knitted into more jumpers. I also am looking at really dark charcoal and chocolate colours. I think guys prefer jumpers in grays and muted tones.

Until then, pop into the store and get your Autumn knitting on!

Thanks for reading.

Eddie Knitster.

Chapter 8. This month in the Colour Studio

1. Chestnut

2. Golden Rust

3. Nicola

4. Demeter

5. Auburn Spice