Time To Say Goodbye To My Yarn Shop

 Hello Lovelies,

I hope that you all had a FANTASTIC Christmas break and are ready to tackle 2025!

As many of you know, I have dipped my toe into the world of event organising and we are 39 days away from hosting the North West Winter Wool Festival in the North West. I have really enjoyed the process of curating and pulling together such a big event. It makes me happy to be able to provide a platform for small business owners as well as an event that brings people joy and this plays some part in my announcement...

In December I put my yarn shop on a month-long break as my yarn was on consignment in a independant yarn shop. As I contemplated 2025, I realised that I have been dyeing and selling yarn since 2015. It's been a wonderful and rewarding journey. I've met amazing people and experienced the show circuit which pushed me out of my comfort zone. I never thought I would every take my yarn to a show, let alone some of the biggest shows in the UK! 

However, I realised that the time has come to pack away the dye pots and move onto my next adventure. Running a small craft business is hard work and full on. I am certainly not one to shy away from hard work but when your hobby turns into a business it tends to lose some of the joy. I don't want to lose my joy of creating and so while it's a little sad to be closing the door on this part of my life, it feels like the right decision.

It will take a little while to finish things up here so if you have your eye on something lovely from my Etsy Shop please treat yourself soon.

I have reduced all my prices as I need to clear as much stock as possible before our move. All my yarn is now £15 per skein. Semi-solid colours are just £10 per skein. 

I will be adding a lot of show stock items to the shop over the coming weeks such as knitting needles, crochet hooks, and sweet little felting kits, so keep you eye out for those. 

I suspect that it will take a little while to wrap everything up, I'm hoping to have all my stock sold off by the end of February. I will take what is left to the North West Winter Wool Festival in February so if you want to grab some of the last skeins of Under An English Sky Yarn please do so soon.

Under an English Sky blog and Instagram account will revert back to what it was always intended to be... a little spot to share little snippets around the home, seasons and countryside. 

Thank you so much for supporting my little yarn business over the years, I really appreciate it.

Early Spring Days At Home

Hello Lovelies!

Is it ever blustery and rainy here today. In fact it's been rather wet all week. It certainly does not feel like spring at the moment.

Yarn Shop News

I have been reviewing my Etsy store and have noticed that the fees are just becoming ridiculous! 

So I wanted to let you know that if you are a regular (or not so regular) fan of Under An English Sky Yarns, I will be slowly phasing out selling on Etsy and moving all future stock to my WEBSITE.

All new yarn updates will only be listed on the Website from now on.

I have updated the tab called "Yarn Shop" at the top of this page to navigate to my online website rather than Etsy.

If you have visited my website at all over the past few months, you may notice that there has been a bit of a change. 

There will be quite a lot of development going on there over the next few weeks and months as I finish my studies and focus my energy on building and developing my yarn business. The only reason I mention it here is because I know that some of my regular readers are also fellow knitters - so anything related to that will now live there (as opposed to Etsy).

Yarn Special for April

If you have not signed up to my monthly newsletter you may not know that I am offering a free mini-skein  -while stocks last - with all yarn orders this  month. 

Mini-skeins are great to use as contrasting heels and cuffs on your socks or if you have a few lying about already you can knit them up into a scrappy blanket. 

Podcast

You may also notice if you visit my Yarn Website that I will be re-launching my Youtube podcast this month. I've wanted to do this for so long now but honestly - my studies have kept me from doing a lot of things that I would have really liked to have done! Once the new episode is uploaded, I will let you know for those who are interested.

If there is anything you would like to hear about in particular in those podcast episodes, please do let me know.

Other than that update, this will still be the usual place where my usual ponderings on faith, life and home will be posted.

In the Kitchen

It's that time of year again when my windowsills are packed with trays of little seedlings.

Are you the same?

I really love these simple little things that keep re-occuring year after year. They are like little anchor's to a simple life in the midst of the busyness that can so easily overtake us.

I currently have all manner of sunflowers germinating - they make me so happy and this year, I want loads scattered around the garden.

I have sugar snap peas and lettuce on the go, and I've planted the first early potatoe's. I really want to plant a lot more veg this year but the problem is space! I need to find more creative ways to use the garden space we have. 

I know a lot of people advocate allotments - and I love the idea of them BUT... it's a bit like gym for me, I do like to go but having to get into my car is a real deterrent.

Nonsense News

Now, just a quick little bit of nonsense news - because it's cute, and it's the small things that add joy to our everyday happenings.

This little chap does not belong to us. He is from one of the neighbouring houses but he loves my cat. He is literally obsessed with her - she on the other hand is not so obsessed.

At best, she tolerates him. He can often be found sitting at the bottom of the garden staring hopefully at my kitchen door. If he is feeling particularly brave, he will jump onto the conservatory roof and call her. He has even come to peer into my study window looking for her. Of course, when he sees me he freezes and pretends he is invisible.

I love these little garden antics. Have you ever wondered what goes on in the garden when we are not there?

A whole little drama can unfold - lots of little lives going about their business while we are not watching. 

It's only when you quietly sit and watch that you notice these things. Like a squabble between birds. Or a hedgehog having a drink from the pond. Or a visiting cat like this little one, hoping that his friend will come out and play.

Anyhoo lovelies, I hope that you are having a lovely week and I look forward to seeing you back here very soon.

6 Months! Time For A Catch -Up

I'm sitting in my studio, the leaden skies are heavy, threatening rain but not giving much more than a few scattered light showers every so often.

It's breezy but the birds are all out filling the ivy hedge in the garden with their cheerful song. Looking out at the activity over my garden I suddenly felt the urge to come back to this little space - my space - in the blogosphere.

I can't believe it's been six months since I was last here and never for a minute did I expect to be away so long!

So much has been going on! I've been enjoying my reduced work hours. I'm down to three days a week which has given me some much needed time for other things and I plan to focus on building my home business a little more so that I can come home full time by September (hopefully).

I'm still doing my law degree but I have also taken the role of the Outdoor Hour Hostess and doing quite a bit of nature study writing for The Handbook of Nature Study blog. If you remember back to our homeschooling days, our nature study time using the Handbook of Nature Study and the Outdoor Hour Challenges was a staple in our homeschool, so it is wonderful to be able to take on this role and encourage homeschooling families to get outdoors and immerse themselves in nature.

On the home front, it's been an interesting year. Both our daughters moved out in September into their university accommodation. One loved it and the other one spends more time at home than she does in her flat - she says that it is way more comfortable being at home. I take that to mean that it's great to share the cooking, to be able to spread out throughout the house rather than being in a bedsit flat and of course, there is always someone about at home.

Both girls only have about 4 weeks of university left and then they are done! I can't believe that three years have gone by so quickly! They are both itching to start their working life now. One is gearing up to start her freelance illustration business and the other has just landed a job as cabin crew for an airline. Her training starts in May and then she begins flying after that - so exciting! I actually feel that we are on the verge of another seasonal life shift there is so much going on! And I've only just come to grips with the last one! Such is life - always something going on!

Garden Notebook

The garden is finally awakening. The spring bulbs seemed a little slow to start but I must say the garden is beginning to look so pretty. 

Over recent weeks we have cut some new beds around the garden studio. We planted a trailing rose on one side and a Jasmine on the other. The idea is that over the next few years they will both grow up and over the roof.

We have a few more things to put into the garden, some screens around the fire pit with more trailing plants on those and a pretty archway with, yes you guessed it, more trailing plants and then I think we may be ready to just enjoy pottering in the garden over the summer. All the major work would have been done.

As you can see I started this season's seeds albeit a few weeks later than I had planned. I've gone with a combination of flowering plants and veggies (hey... we planted an apple tree in our garden too! I can't wait to see that grow over the coming years). 

Flowering plants I have chosen for this season are: Hollyhocks, Lupins, Dhalia's, Sunflowers (always) and Delphiniums.

Veggies: Tomatoes, Lettuce, Courgettes, French Beans, Mangetout, Carrots and potatoes. 

Create

Not much knitting has been going on over the past few months. I seemed to develop a bit of a wrist thing so have taken some time from the needles to rest. 

"Dragonfly Dance"

On the yarn front, I have been dying up a few new colours which have just been added to my Etsy Shop. I am also looking at adding a few other products to the shop which is exciting.

"Boating on Loch Ness"

Cast On

I'm not quite at cast-on stage yet but I have ordered some lovely CaMaRose Snefnug Danish yarn from London Loops. I can't wait to get started on The Comfort Zone poncho - Free pattern on Ravelry.

I am looking for something that is is fairly easy to just pick up and knit a few rows when I have a chance. This seems like it will fit the bill in that regard plus I love the simplicity of the design. I think it will look fabulouse with casual trousers or jeans and will be perfect for spring and autum days.

And that's about it for this post. I'll be back to share some more yarn stories, gardening notes and of course knitting progress with you later on in the week.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!