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Suilven Lace - Assynt Storms[/caption]First of all, the new yarns. 2 new yarns are joining the Ripples Crafts family of yarn bases. The first one, which has been on the website for about 24 hours and which is selling quickly, is a medium laceweight base. Suilven Lace is, as the name suggests, the same fibre content as the Suilven 4ply, that is to say 60% merino, 20% silk and 20% yak. The difference between the two bases though is that the Lace base is a single ply base. This gives it a slightly different feel, and the yarn has more of a halo than the 4ply Suilven which is a plied yarn. It takes the dye beautifully, and because the base colour is a pale silvery brown, the colours tend to be richer and deeper than yarns which begin life as a cream shade. Suilven Lace has 800m in each 100g hank
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Suilven Lace - Emeralds at Midnight[/caption]As I mentioned, I put this base up in the shop yesterday, and many of the shades have already sold out, but there are still some colours available. And I will be ordering in more stock soon so if there is a colour you would like that is showing as sold out, please get in touch. (But please remember that Assynt Storms colours cannot be replicated).
The next new base is not up in the shop yet, but it will be soon. It is a 50% wool and 50% cotton base. Following my theme of naming yarn bases with Assynt names, I've called this base Drumbeg. Drumbeg is a little settlement a few miles north of Clachtoll where Ripples Crafts is based.
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Drumbeg - Turquoise Delight[/caption]The fibre composition of Drumbeg means that the colours I achieve on this base are more muted, more subtle, than the extremely vibrant colours you'll find on some of my other bases. I have yet to knit something in this base, but my first project will be some socks as I think this will make a lovely sock yarn, with the cotton giving it a strength that will make them long lasting.
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Drumbeg - Assynt Storms[/caption]Now .... prices! As I've mentioned on Ravelry and in my newsletter to those of you who receive it, 2016 was a tumultuous year for many small businesses in the UK after the result of the EU Referendum was declared in favour of the UK leaving the EU. The wildly fluctuating pound resulted in an increase in the price of my bare yarn stock. My main supplier has done his utmost to maintain this increase at manageable levels, and it is partly due to this as well as to my own price structuring that I am able to keep most of my prices at their current level. But not all of them. So with effect from Sunday 15th January the following yarn bases will increase in price by 50p a hank:
Quinag (100% Bluefaced Leicester 4ply) - Rises from £14.50 to £15.00
Superwash Merino Laceweight - Rises from £14.00 to £14.50
Reliable Sock Yarn 4ply - Rises from £12.50 to £13.00
Doubly Reliable Sock Yarn - Rises from £15.00 to £15.50
Merino Sport Weight - Rises from £13.50 to £14.00
I hope I can maintain these prices for at least the next 12 months. But if you want to buy a specific colour before the price of these bases increases, you have until Sunday.
Thank you for your continuing custom and support. I know I have said this before, but I really do love what I do, and I try very hard to keep my overheads and costs to a minimum so that I can maintain a price level to suit a range of budgets.
