The Oxford Kitchen Yarns Shop is now open!

I kept thinking it was nearly done, and then it wasn’t nearly done, and then OMG it was, and I have flung open the metaphorical doors, and now everyone can nosy around and see what I’m up to:*

I dye yarn in our tiny kitchen here in Oxford.

I only dye with natural dyes, and it’s important to me that this enterprise is ethically and environmentally responsible. Already this has meant that I have experimented with dyes that will not get used within the store – they produced great results, but they came from trees that are endangered, and even though I’m a small business I don’t feel comfortable about that. But that’s ok – there are plenty of other great colours out there to use instead. 🙂

Sometimes this means that some of my colours will be seasonal. There are a few more skeins that I’ll add to the store towards the end of the week, that may prove to be the only opportunity to get one particular colour for this year – it all depends how my storage of the dye stuff works. I’m ok with that. If necessary I’ll make a lot more next year to keep us going while the dye stuff is out of season.

Also I dye semi-solids. There are plenty of incredibly varigated yarns to choose from. Locally even, we have the wonderful 21st Century Yarns, who made the yarn I’m knitting Tatami in. But I love the interesting depth of colour you can get in a semi solid, and it suits the natural dyeing process very well. Plus it shows off lots of stitch patterns unlike anything else.

All the yarn is currently Blue faced Leicester which is grown** and spun within the UK. To this knitter it feels very much like Merino, though I’m still trying to find out how their structures compare. Certainly it’s very soft, and strong, though I’ve yet to try felting with it.

Currently I am dyeing Sock, Lace and DK weight yarns.

Sock Yarn:

• 100% Blue faced Leicester
• 100g skeins
• 425m per skein
• Recommend 2.5mm needles
• £12 a skein (plus p&p)

Let me show you some colours!

Oxford Kitchen Yarns Sock Yarn in Raspberry £12

Oxford Kitchen Yarns Sock Yarn in Silver £12

 

Oxford Kitchen Yarns Sock Yarn in Biscuit £12

 

Oxford Kitchen Yarns Sock Yarn in Melba £12

You know, this is a pretty long post already. I think I’ll write about the DK and Lace weight tomorrow. If you can’t wait, they’re already up in the shop for you to look at and order (if you want. 🙂

*Can I admit that I want to hide under my duvet at this point?

**I’m still trying to work out whether ‘grown’ is the right term for a yarn. It grows on the sheep as it’s fleece, obviously. But something about saying ‘grown’ just doesn’t seem right. *shrugs*

(In other knitting related news, I am 2″ away from finishing the second sleeve on Tatami, which means, after I’ve wrestled the dropped stitch rows into actually dropping, I’m on to the final front sections, which I’m going to knit both at the same time, the way you’re supposed to. I can’t believe how quickly it has knit up. I mean – yes – it’s been the only project I’ve been working on, and I’ve logged lots of little bits here and there, but it’s also a cardigan on 3mm needles, and I really thought that would take more than three weeks to knit up. But, given fair winds I could really be done at some point next week.)