We are almost ready to release our North American tour schedule, which will be sent out by email sometime during Tuesday July 2nd, so if you are not on our mailing list but wish to receive the schedule, you really need to get on our list now!! You can do so by popping your email address in the opt in box that you see on the top right side of this page.
Now let’s talk about yarn innovation and the heatwave in Europe!
We spent 3 days attending Pitti Filati in Florence this week and at its hottest, it was about 40 degrees Celcius / 105 Fahrenheit outside. It wasn’t the most pleasant stay we’ve had in Florence due to this high temperature, as it was almost impossible to be outdoors, especially on the hottest day of the week, which was this past Thursday June 27th. In any case, we got our job done and where delighted to return home to a more comfortable temperature of 25 degrees Celcius / 77 Fahrenheit!
Fall / Winter 2020 is going to be colourful!
For those of you who don’t know what Pitti Filati is, it’s a trade show for professionals in the yarn industry, not only for hand knitting but also ready-to-wear. This is were all the big brands meet their suppliers and manufacturers and look for new yarns. So, you will have buyers from apparel brands like Kenzo, Hugo Boss, Gucci, H&M as well as buyers from hand knitting brands like Rowan and Regia attending the show. In addition, the show also attracts designers like ourselves, who go to spend a few days looking for colour trends as well as innovation and development within the yarn industry. For us, it’s always interesting to go to Pitti to look at what’s going on in the yarn world but it is also lots of fun, as we get to meet old friends from our past life in the fashion industry as well as our new friends in the hand knitting industry.
We always enjoy looking at innovation and interesting yarns amongst suppliers. There was a lot to see at Pitti, as always, but the thing that stood out to us the most are the companies who are working on new technology and ways to manufacture yarns in a more sustainable way. We were looking at yarns that are treated with eco-friendly substances to deliver wool without the use chlorine, yarns that were manufactured using a dry process that does not consume any water in the manufacturing and treatment phases and yarns that are made from recycling other yarns. In our humble opinion, sustainability is the future and the only way to go! We hope that more and more manufacturers will start looking at eco-friendly ways to treat yarns and we hope that super washed yarns will be a thing of the past, now that it is already technically possible to use a dry process treatment that uses electricity and air to deliver machine washable Merino wool, something a few suppliers have already started using. And, electricity could/should come from solar panels, which would also be a more sustainable. The fact that treatments can be done without wasting water – which is our most precious resource – is also very exciting!
In this week’s episode, we are moving down to our green house, to crochet the petal of the flowers for our HEDVIG throw and show exactly how it’s done, as many people who got the pattern have been asking us for this. Also, we really needed to record this episode, because when we posted the Crochet Throw Podcast which is NOT a tutorial (it is knitting/crochet radio) we got a lot of new viewers who were very upset at the speed we were working on the project, as they thought it was a tutorial. But, the whole point of our knitting/crochet radio is to listen to us, as you work on your own project. And since we want the podcasts to be maximum 1.5 hours, we need to go fast!
In any case, we felt we needed to do this episode, to explain the difference between a tutorial and a podcast – at least in the ARNE & CARLOS universe – and to help people out who may be struggling with the petal. Anyway, we hope you will enjoy this episode and go pick up a crochet hook and make some flowers!! The pattern is available here.
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Programming note: July is holiday month in Norway, and even if we plan to spend most of July at home, we will be slightly less active on the blog. We will continue to post videos on a weekly basis, as usual. We will take a break now and we will skip next week here on the blog but will be back with a new post on July 14th.
We wish you a great Summer and a happy 4th of July to all our American friends!!
ARNE & CARLOS
Crocheting flowers for a place mat version of the Hedvig throw, this time using Catania in 100% cotton.
Calendar of events (click on links for more info)
August 15th – 19th, 2019: Tour some of Britain’s most stunning gardens together with us. In addition to visiting some seriously beautiful gardens in the Cotswolds, we have tickets to Prince Charles’ Garden at his private residence, Highgrove. These tickets are almost impossible to come by, so this is a unique chance! There is 1 spot available. We are SO excited about this trip!! More information is available here.
September 19th – 22nd. Fanø Knit Festival, Denmark. We will attend and teach at Fanø Knit Festival in Denmark this year! Click here for more information and here to sign up for our knitted dolls class.
October 24-27, 2019: Retreat in Taos with Vogue Knitting. SOLD OUT!
March 3rd – 9th, 2020: “Knitting under the Northern Lights”. Cruise along the stunning Norwegian coast. SOLD OUT but waiting list is available. More information is available here.
Dream Knitting Cruise from Sydney to New Zealand. Yes!!! We are delighted to announce that we are returning to Australia and visiting New Zealand in 2020. Join us for this amazing 12 day, 11 night Knitting Cruise that departs from Sydney on March 27th, 2020 and visits all the amazing sights in New Zealand! More information is available here and here.
Check out our online store for great patterns!