We are very exited to be exhibiting at Unravel at the end of February so with this series of blog posts I’m having a look at what we are bringing along. Unravel is taking place at Farnham Maltings in Farnham over 24-26 February 2023. With over 70 other exhibitors Unravel is going to be great fun. We love catching up with fellow stall holders and familiar faces and the event always has a celebration feel. You can book tickets for the event on the Farnham Maltings Website.

We will be bringing along our two favourite Hélène Magnússon yarns: Love Story Einband and Gilitrutt Tvíband as well as introducing Katla Sokkaband for the first time. These yarns are made from 100% Icelandic Lambswool. Hand selected fleeces are graded after the first shearing of the Icelandic lambs. The fleeces are then sent to specialist mills in Italy where its dyed and spun. Icelandic wool offers particular challenges when spinning. Being made of long, coarse “tog” and the fine, short “þel” fibres which requires specialist mills to be able to spin into the fine yarn. The wool is washed with organic soap and dried gently to maintain its softness. The white, brown, black and grey are un-dyed and are the natural Icelandic sheep colours. The white is not bleached and is used for the bases of all the dyed colours which are dyed in a low impact process with acid dyes. By recycling the water used in the various process means no harmful materials are released into the environment.

It is great to be able to expand on our range of yarns from Hélène Magnússon with Katla Sokkaband. This is the first Icelandic sport/DK yarn and sock yarn. Made from 100% Icelandic lambswool this woolly yarn is super strong and perfect for durable boot socks as well as sturdy jumpers and cardigans for real warmth. Katla is made by tightly spinning four strands of Love Story Einband together creating a yarn that is tough with great structure. Those wanting to knit with Icelandic yarn but find Love Story Einband and Gilitrutt Tvíband a bit too fine will love this heavier version. As it’s just landed in the shop I have not had a chance to play with it but but am curious how it knits up. I think you could be quite free with the range of needle sizes and also wondering if if would bloom in the same way as the finer ones do. Some fun experimenting in the future I think.

Love Story Einband is a single ply Gilitrutt Tvíband is a two ply. Both yarns come in a gorgeous rich palette that is inspired by the Icelandic landscape. This light weight yarn is great held on its own for flowing accessories like shawls or held double for great colourwork yoked sweaters.

In 2021 I knit the Shawlography Shawl in Love Story Einband. You can read about it in this blog post. I love the results and loved knitting it so I shall bring it on to show it off!

Maya told me about 25g of Love Shawl (link to ravelry) by Hélène Magnússon. It takes just one ball of Love Story Einband! How cool is that. I love the idea of knitting a shawl just from one small ball of yarn and it is done on 7mm needles. It sound very relaxing and perfect travel knitting so I am going to cast one on straight away. Hopefully I can finish it in time!