♬♫ Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree! ♬♫

Published Sat, 28 Nov 2020

Christmas Centre Piece

Published Fri, 13 Nov 2020

Please get in contact with us if you are interested.

Christmas is on the way

Published Mon, 09 Nov 2020

We have started publishing our Christmas range with these festive earrings. We hope you like them.

You can purchase them from our site here

How to block?

Published Mon, 09 Nov 2020

I learned to block using the Techknitting blog. They created an excellent post about it. Essentially, the process is to make the item wet, squeeze but not wring out the water, then shape the garment.

For socks, the best way to shape is by using the blockers. There are then a whole other set of techniques depending on the item and the size and shape you want to achieve.

Using plain water will work well enough but if the yarn is a little scratchy then using wool wash or a conditioner can help soften those fibres too.

We sell a variety of sock blockers on Twisted Sheep. You can see our range here

Have you used the CraSy Trio sets? Review!

Published Thu, 29 Oct 2020

Disclosure: I have a wholesale account with a supplier for Addi needles and I took a set from the stock I bought to try them before writing this review. I have not received any payment or sweetener for this review but I’m totally open to offers.

I started knitting again with the express purpose of knitting socks. I love hand knitted socks, there is nothing like using beautiful yarn to create such a luxurious footglove. I started with Silver’s sock class, a set of double pointed needles (DPNs) and some yarn from Lidl.

I made many mistakes, but I made the socks. I should have used better yarn because I immediately shrunk and felted the sock but they were not bad (for a first attempt)!

I like using DPNs because they make the whole experience of sock knitting very neat and contained. However, wooden DPNs have a habit of being sat on and are thin enough to break, bamboo needles are a little bit grippy and splitty for me, metal is strong but slippery.

I cannot remember how many times I dropped a needle into the hardest to reach places between the seats in the car, or onto the floor on a train so that I had to either lose the needle or let everyone else off before climbing under the seat to retrieve the lost pin.

So, I turned to magic loop. I like using circular needles because you can’t lose the end, you don’t drop and lose the needle with no stitches on. Your stitches push off the end of the needle less often because you can shuffle them along the cable and stuff them back in the bag.

I really didn’t enjoy feeding the cable through every time I finished half a row. I felt as if I was feeding the cable more than I was knitting the stitches.

I tried the CraSy Trio – I was so looking forward to it! But horrors! They were a bit like knitting with an octopus to start with. The cable between the two needles is quite springy and flexible – a feature that I now love about them. It had been a few years since I had used DPNs so I was out of practice.

A short while after wrestling with them, my hands got to understand how it felt and how to hold the needle with the stiches on, the bending cable means you can cup the stitches in your hand and they won’t push off or slide off while you’re not looking. Also, the set I am using has a super smooth join between cable and tip. No snagging at all!

The trio of needles means you have two with stitches and one working at any time. It also took me a few attempts to remember not to drop the needle after I had finished knitting off it – magic loop lets you do that. Now that I’ve remembered each time, I am really enjoying them as a set.

The last brilliant thing took me about 2 months to remember. Each needle has a blunt end (like normal Addis) and a pointy end (like Addi lace). You can choose which way round to use the needle.

I like to knit with lace tips usually so that’s great for me! The tip slips easily under the yarn but doesn’t destroy it if you miss and go through. But I also like to push the end of the needle I’m knitting from with my thumb, so the rounder tip makes for a much less stabbed finger.

Price-wise, the trio comes in more expensive than straight DPN sets but in line with the circulars for magic looping the same circumference. Overall, the trio is cheaper then DPNs if, like me, you keep on losing one or two per set.

All things considered, Addi CraSy Trios are a wholly comfortable and secure knit. If you are wedded to magic loop then I might not be able to persuade you but if you love your DPNs then get a Trio set to try. Really comfortable, contained knitting with great tips and flexible little cables.

Addi even do them with Novel tips… More on those another time.

You can buy Addi CraSy Trios to try for your self on our Twisted Sheep site here

What are sock blockers for?

Published Thu, 29 Oct 2020

Blocking is a finishing process for knitted and crocheted items. When you block your creation, you

set the shape and open the pattern and smooth the fibres into a finished piece.

Blocking is most effective when using natural fibres but is an equally valid process for synthetics. When knitting lace or cables, blocking and stretching will open out the fabric and really show the pattern off.

Socks have a particular shape and Twisted Sheep’s sock blockers are created to be the perfect shape for your handcrafted socks.

The width of the foot and leg on the blocker equate to the size of a real foot and the heel and toe will fill out the engineered shape to make the fit perfect.

We sell a variety of sock blockers on Twisted Sheep. You can see our range here

Introducing Kits

Published Fri, 16 Oct 2020

We would like to introduce our new Sock Knitting kits ready for Christmas. A great gift for your favourite knitter or just a treat for yourself to learn a new skill. We have Christmas themed yarn or a selection of solid colours for you to chose from. Each kit comes with all the elements you need to knit a pair of socks.

We have also created some Weaving Kits, both frame weaving loom and a circular knitting loom or circular weaving loom (it will do both jobs). The weaving kits come with a starter pack of yarn from a selection of colours (25g balls).

Last chance for a picnic

Published Wed, 16 Sep 2020

It looks like we are having a final bit of summer. To celebrate, we have created this handy gadget:

A flute glass caddy. It takes six glasses (just right for socially distanced drinking), and is available now from Twisted Sheep here

Loom Frame Mini Project

Published Tue, 14 Jul 2020

A new site and more products

Published Tue, 14 Jul 2020 We now have a new web site https://twistedsheep.co.uk/ and quite a few new products.

Full sized egg boxes

Published Tue, 14 Jul 2020

New Egg Box Design

Published Mon, 29 Jun 2020 It's not really yarn craft related, but we needed a box to hold the eggs laid by our bantam hens.

Fun With Looms

Published Wed, 13 May 2020

First Of Our Knitting Tools

Published Wed, 06 May 2020

Buttons Buttons and More Buttons

Published Wed, 22 Apr 2020

The Laser Cutter Arrives

Published Tue, 10 Mar 2020 Our new laser cutter has arrived all the way from China