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Summer Knitting

Posted on July 14, 2017 by ehdknits

Meet Terry, one of my favourite sheep at  Woolfest this year (apparently he was grumpy) 

It’s hard to believe that it’s July already and it seems like we’ve gone through a lot of dog days already. Dyeing in the heat has been challenging at times and I’ve resorted to working at odd hours of the night and early morning. At least the yarn has been drying fast. 

Still time to indulge in bright colours to fit the season:


Find your Fade Shawls have been very popular recently. A few of my favs:


Beyond the perennial popular sock yarns, Squeal Lace has been flying. My Bellagio Shawl pattern is ready:


I had a brief trip to see my daughter in NY and a couple of great but breezy days on the beach early last month. 


Missing both lobster and the waves but going back for a longer trip at the end of August. 

If you’re on Instagram( debonnaireyarns)or Facebook (Debonnaire), I post frequent pix of what I’m up to so be sure to check it out!

Enjoy the weather!

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Spring News

Posted on May 16, 2017 by ehdknits

Spring shows start off with Wonderwool- which was particularly fun this year:

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and when in Wales you end up taking a lot of sheep pictures:IMG_3488

Just finished a new shawl in Squeal Lace- Bellagio. it’s named in honour of Alex’s birthday celebration in Lake Como where I did just a bit of knitting cruising around.

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Other new shawls are:

the Super Simple Shawl ( 1 skein Shimmer sock and 2 baby shimmers)-

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And I admit to a Pussy Hat obsession. This I made with 2 Sock Babies:

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As the weather  gets warmer, I’m busy dyeing colours for the season. Speckled yarns continue to be popular and here’s some examples of recent work:

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You can view these and more at Debonnaire Yarns.

My new ad comes out in Laine magazine this month. Try to get your hands on a copy, it’s a beautiful magazine.

I’m off to Holland tomorrow to exhibit at Breidag. Looking forward to all my summer shows- check the list out on the Events page.

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New Year -New Yarns

Posted on January 26, 2017 by ehdknits

New Year, New Yarns added to the website
Those of you who have seen me at shows recently may be familiar with my Spry yarns which are now available in 4 ply, DK and Aran weights. This is a 100% British yarn- British sheep, spun in England and, of course, hand dyed in England. It took me a long time to find a wholly British yarn that I love- nicely spun and super soft.Below are a few of the colours in the sock weight . I would add that if you’re looking for a DK sweater yarn, this is perfect and I can dye up sufficient quantities for you in your colour choice. There is a bigger selection of colours on the website with more to come!

spry-4-plyI am particularly excited by Squeal Lace ( yes I did when I first met this yarn) . This is a combo of Yak, Silk and Merino and it is just wonderful- some of the colours:

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The warmth of the base colour gives an incredible depth when dyed.I have more colours drying as we speak which will be added shortly.
Last but not least is Donegal Dot- a really fun sock weight yarn with dye resistant coloured neps.

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I have updated the website with many new colours and you can see a small sample on the Whats New page and check out your favourite bases to see a bigger range.

Most popular patterns recently are Frisky and Spry shawls:


I’m off to Paris next week to exhibit at Aiguille en Fetes, then to Zwolle in Holland. I am particularly excited about Unravel at the end of February and will be at the Olympia Knitting and Stitching Show in early March as well. I hope to see you at one of these shows.

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I Love Fall

Posted on October 1, 2016 by ehdknits

I love the Fall season for a lot of reasons- it’s my birthday (although I wasn’t too pleased about this one), it always seems like a new start ( a hangover from long years of education) and it’s Yarndale ! Which was just amazing this year.

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I took more than usual this year because all my hand dyes were packed from our move 2 weeks earlier.

While we thought we were moving to just south of Oxford, a place came up just around the corner which we immediately took even though a lot of jury rigging was involved with the space. I am working to develop a really good dye work area so yarn display is not in the cards until this process is finished. This means no more formal open studios for awhile although I may do a true open house in December with yarn literally in the house… We’ll see- I will of course have to finish unpacking the house before this happens. This chore has taken a serious back seat to dyeing!

Have managed to update the website– lots of new colours and patterns , a small sample below:

Off to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally next week- hope to see you there!

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Welcome Summer

Posted on June 9, 2016 by ehdknits

Just returned from a lovely show -Ickworth NT  Wool Fair. A nice family affair with lots of sheep events , Morris dancing and a good selection of  yarn suppliers . The weather was fantastic , we all had a great time . I took a small selection as I had to transport Scott and Theo ( who seemed to take up half the car). They spent the weekend exploring Ickworth’s 1600 acre walks.

Have spent a lot of time dyeing up speckled yarn recently. This started at the request of a client who wanted something more dotty than my flash range. I’ve stayed away from this type of yarn in the past mainly because I was unsure of the colour fastness given the way it’s traditionally dyed and am not a huge fan of the way it looks in a skein –  which is ridiculous as I really like the way it knits up for the most part. In any case, I’ve come up with a dyeing method that I like and so far it’s been quite popular. These skeins were the first to go last weekend .

Some recent examples: please note I dye these in very small batches and only across lines that speckle well. It’s also difficult to get a range on the website as they keep selling . Keep an eye on Instagram as I will put up new ones as they get done (@debonnaireyarns). If you prefer Facebook , it’s the same handle (or Twitter (@ehdknits)


Really looking forward to Woolfest and my open studio dates this month…

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Wonderwool Wales and more….

Posted on April 19, 2016 by ehdknits
Edinyarnfest 2016

The exceedingly busy winter season ended with EdinYarnFest. After this phenomenal show,right away I took Alex to Turkey for some much needed R&R for us both.

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The knitting went everywhere with me but to be honest, I did not get much done as I kept falling asleep.

Back to dyeing- much preparation for Wonderwool Wales this weekend.

Also, preparing new new patterns:

Ball banding new silk yarns:

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Blue Lagoon Lustre Silk
Sailor’s Delight Lustre Silk
Vital Blue Lustre Silk

Just arrived as well, some new Spring colours of Blue Heron Rayon Metallic yarn:

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After Wonderwool, I’m off the the States to visit my mother and attend the wedding of the daughter of  very close friends. I’m planning on getting some serious knitting done- will be taking this to knit a shawl ( as well as something else as yet undecided):

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While the weather has been uncooperative, trying to take some time to frolic with Theo:

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Unravel 2016

Posted on February 17, 2016 by ehdknits


I always really look  forward  to Unravel , it’s a well organised show with wonderful exhibitors , workshops and lots of buzz held in the Maltings- a reconverted ale house dating from 1750. The Maltings is a terrific venue with a rabbit warren of rooms- looks to explore and discover with great exhibitors tucked away everywhere.

Since returning from Paris, I have been dyeing almost nonstop .

Midnight- this was the top seller and  unexpectedly  sold out  across many bases

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Reds/pinks- really popular in Paris especially in lace

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Greys-Greys- Black

Went to Paris with a serious amount of new Flash colours- had to replace all

Then of course there’s deep jade which is always popular

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Then I did a new colour for Unravel-this picture does the colour no justice- it’s beyond aqua bright and intense. If you like turquoise, you’ll like this new take;but. you’ll need to see it to appreciate it.

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Hope to see you!

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Mais j’aime aussi le bleu 💙👛👖🎈🎸 #tricot

Posted on February 10, 2016 by ehdknits

A shameless plug from one of my French clients-

Mais j’aime aussi le bleu 💙👛👖🎈🎸 #tricot #crochet #addict #knitting #projet #degrade #decouverte #jolielaine #debonnaire 👌👍 📷: @christricote78 http://ow.ly/i/gyGcC

The last week in Paris exhibiting at Aiguilles-en-Fete  was one of long hours trading (one day went from 9:30am -9 pm!) ,increased proficiency in French , and a tremendous amount of fun. Although this is not my biggest stand of any of the shows I attend, it is by far the most crammed per square inch .

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This needless to say takes a lot of prep. However, I am good at battle planning. Some of the  considerations I go through:

A) dyeing the yarn which also involves trying to anticipate what colours will be big this year. I dyed more pink and navy than I would normally and I think nailed it.

B) printing patterns and organising the French ones

C) deciding what stays and what goes – do I really need to bring all 36 colours of plain silk?-how many varieties of sock yarn? etc, etc

E) planning each gridwall down  to the inch and deciding where to stash any excess. which involves about a pad of  sketched plans.

F) travel logistics- eurotunnel, insurance,etc. I’ve stayed at the same flat for the last couple of years so that is at least a known factor.Making sure I’ve got the  ream of paper work sent by the organisers none of which instructions will be followed anyway.

G) packing the car-this takes forever… I think the land cruiser is now notorious as a tardis. My procedure is to stack the grids first ( actually first I stuff as many hooks under the front seats as possible), stack the boxes , then stuff in 13 large packed bags, then the mannequins, ladder and baskets. I then stuff in 2 kilo bags of yarn in every nook and cranny possible. ( I kid you not, get in at least another 20-30 kilos this way.) The back door is shut with prayers that no official will ask me to open it.

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The days go by very quickly even though long and I am usually too tired to do anything particularly interesting at night, so I attempt to take a day off to visit Paris.This year I did it on the Monday after and unfortunately the 3 smaller  museums I  wanted to visit  were closed  so I had to resort to aimlessly wondering the 6th drinking copious amounts of espresso and to shopping.

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No, I did not buy the Christian Louboutin sneakers.

My friends in France who help me are absolutely amazing- I could not do this show with out Florence, Gyorgis, Anne and I would never get get into the car again without Francis- breakdown in France is the most chaotic ever…

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Until next year….

 

 

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Happy New Year

Posted on January 12, 2016 by ehdknits

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Happy New Year to you all! We celebrated in style with a house party and amazing fireworks.

2015 was an amazing year for Debonnaire and I am looking forward to an even better 2016. While I don’t do resolutions- I am determined to especially work on 2 areas. First, we are going  to increase our social media exposure.

While I am already on Twitter(@ehdknits) and Instagram-debonnaireyarns, I have set up new boards on pinterest-check them out and hopefully you will follow if it interests. My favourite new board is Sheepspiration. The Facebook page (Debonnaire Distinctive Yarns) will open soon.

The second area I need to improve is my back strength- seriously necessary for the amount of stuff and dye pots I lug around. Pilates here I come.

My current favourite colour is pink -at least it was one day last week:

rose yarn

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A New Website!

Posted on November 24, 2015 by ehdknits

At long last, our new website is open. No longer do my clients have to wade through the cumbersome Artfire site, wondering what the US dollar prices mean in real money (or euros). Check it out- although still a work in progress (and given the nature of  my hand dyeing will always be), I’m very proud of what we’ve done so far. Many thanks to Vanessa and Jimi- I promise to stop being a ruthless General/Dictator one of these days.

Debonnaireyarns.com

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