Scheepjes has recently announced the release of their new YARN Bookazine, issue 7: REEF. For the month of May, in our International and Dutch Facebook groups, we are having a REEF-A-Long where members can choose from the beautifully colourful projects in this issue and work on them together!
I actually REEF-A-Longed before it was cool! I didn’t submit a design to this issue, but I did test knit for one of my fellow bloggers, the lovely Maria from Fifty Shades of 4 Ply. She designed the knitted Manta Ray Shawl which was a wonderfully relaxing knit for me at the time. It’s a beginner friendly pattern using Scheepjes Sunkissed which I’d had never actually used before, but it was perfect for this project. I really enjoyed working with it and will likely use it again in the future, I’m thinking it’d make a great summer sweater.
In the photo you can see my test shawl together with the photo it was used for in the bookazine. It was such a pleasant surprise to see it used for part of the photography! It made me feel a bit more like I was a part of the issue, even though I didn’t submit any designs of my own.
The stitch definition of the Sunkissed was just fab. I can see now why it, and its similar Cotton 8, are so popular and I honestly have no idea why I haven’t tried either of them before now. For some reason I saw them as ‘crocheters yarns’, maybe because they are used so often in crochet projects I’ve seen. I can say for certain that these are also great yarns for knitters, I’m not sure what I was thinking as I’ve been missing out on these lines. If you are a knitter and you want to join in the Reef-A-Long, I can definitely recommend this shawl!
There are other fantastic projects in the book as well. If I weren’t so busy with other projects, and my shoulder was more crochet friendly these days, here’s a few I’d be all over like white on rice.
The Staghorn Necklace by Carmen from New Leaf Designs is one of my favourites. It’s such a unique design which is made even better by the beautiful photos. This is definitely my favourite photo spread from this issue. Not a lot of people really think of crocheted jewellery, but it really works! It uses another yarn I’ve not tried yet, Scheepjes Maxi Sweet Treat, but this one is proving to be a popular yarn within our Facebook groups where people want to turn a regular project into a mini version. With a ton of colours available, you could make this necklace in pretty much any colour that suits your fancy.
The Hydra Blanket by Mark from The Guy with the Hook would be on my list if 1) my shoulder wouldn’t scream from that much crochet and 2) my mouth wouldn’t scream from all the ends to weave in. That’s only because I’m working on a design of my own at the moment with knitted motifs and they already has me at my limit with ends! haha Any more would break me, I think. We knitters just aren’t used to them as much as crocheters, man oh man. If it weren’t for those two things, though? This would be very, very high on my list of things to do. It’s just so colourful and I love the swirl texture in the hexes.
Ok, I’ve given myself a hard limit of three faves to talk about which was difficult because there are some other things I really like, but I can’t not talk about this top. The Jellyfish Top by Christina from A Spoonful of Yarn. I love the whole solid in the front, not in the back thing. It’s just so nice for spring and summer and it’s something that’s simple, but in a really great way, if that makes sense. The addition of the semi open back and the subtle sparkle of the Stardust yarn is really interesting and adds just the right amount of detail, making it a garment that you could wear often with any range of outfits. She really knows how to show restraint in her designs and I think that’s why I like them so much. If I’m honest, I’m super fussy when it comes to crocheted garments. Christina nails it every single time with her garment designs, though, as they all seem so attractive and wearable. You can be sure that when my frozen shoulder has passed fully and I can take the time to make a crochet garment, it will be one of hers.
I think there’s something for everyone in the issue, whether you are after a garment, something for the house or something for the kids. I almost went into how much I love the amigurumi patterns in there, after talking about kids, but I have to stop. Otherwise I WILL end up going through every single pattern with you!
Let’s talk about some other exciting news…
My copy of the bookazine arrived a few days ago and it brought along a few friends! In coordination with the release of the bookazine, Scheepjes released their new Skies line of yarn which is amaahhhhzing! I had to sit in torture for a bit waiting for my package to arrive, while other people were raving on about these new yarns, because my package was temporarily misplaced. That’s why this post is a little late! Once they arrived, though, I could see what everyone was going on about. I’m already planning something with the light mini set, I think. It’s starting to come together in my head.
Here’s the details on the yarn line from the release:
SKIES is a 100% (un-mercerized) Vegan Friendly & Premium Blend Cotton, available in 100g hanks. Available in two weights: heavy (a DK weight yarn) and light (a fingering weight yarn). Both weights come in the same range of blues and greens. Each colour is named after a different cloud formation such as Stratus, Cumulus and Cirrus.
SKIES heavy : 100g=170m / SKIES light : 100g=340m
A beautifully boxed gift set filled with mini hanks containing 28g (1oz) of yarn (in either ‘heavy’ or ‘light’ weight) is also available.
WHERE TO BUY
You can find the new Yarn Bookazine: REEF and the new Skies yarn lines in the following locations:
UK and International buyers can find them at Woolwarehouse, Black Sheep Wools, Habbedash and Deramores.
Canadian and International buyers have a great option with Knotty House.
Those of you in the Netherlands can find all you need at Caro’s Atelier.
You can also ask your preferred Scheepjes retailer or find a shop near you!
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Love your blog!