Paintbox

A few months ago I was asked to go to London for a mystery meeting with a yarn company.  All that I knew was that I'd have to sign a disclaimer to say that I wouldn't say a word about it to anyone.  I literally had NO idea what it was about, so of course I went. I mean, who could say no to that?!

Amazingly, it turned out to be an opportunity to provide some input in to new range of yarns.  Paintbox Yarns invited designers and bloggers who live and breath yarn, to be part of the production of their new ranges.  There were a whole variety of yarns of different textures, weights and ply's, (it really is astonishing the variety that you can get with acrylic, you would have no clue that they were all made of the same thing), and I got to really play and fiddle with them, hooking up different stitches, ripping things back to see how they coped, trying different size hooks  and techniques. 

What we came to at the end of a couple of very enjoyable hours, was a shortlist of yarns that are ideal for crochet.  Durable, soft, pliable and hardworking (and it turns out fantastically economical too, go check out LoveKnitting or LoveCrochet). 

The other thing that they've been able to do, is provide a really gorgeous palette of 60 different colours.  For me, as a colour collecting obsessive, it's awesome.  A couple of days ago all 60 shades turned up on my doorstep, and I have compulsively started creating colourways with them already.  In fact, it's made me think of trying to make a colourway a day, celebrating the season (late summer, my fave) and whipping up a little granny square in each.  Having made a couple already, it's given me a chance to really work with them, and they are a good, solid, economy acrylic, that really does handle being ripped back a couple (ahem, 5 or 6) of times, yet still works up cleanly.

I would happily commit to making a whole blanket with this stuff, it would be affordable, and the colour range means it could be anything you wanted.  And even more gloriously they make a cotton as well, all 57 colours of which landed on my doorstep this morning, so once I'm back from a final summer holiday jaunt, I'll be seeing what that can do too!

I also have to add (as a stationary fanatic) that the graphic design, font type and packaging totally tickles my modernist sensibilities.  It's WAY cool.

Here's the yarn porn, people (I've literally been having THE best time making it over the last couple of days!) and maybe the start of a late summer collection (let's see how much crochet work I have to do first.)

Oh, and on another note - totally keep on with your instagramming and blogging guys.  I'd never have been given this opportunity if I hadn't stuck with it.  Just be ready to say yes to whatever comes your way, and something super exciting will come to you too.