We might not have been able to pack the van and head to Builth Wells for Wonderwool, but we’re super delighted to be taking part in #virtualwonderwool this weekend. While nothing can quite replace the fun and excitement of a knitting show, it’s really lovely that so many UK festivals have come up with creative ways to carry on in the circumstances. And the silver lining is that, whether you were planning to come to Wonderwool in person or not, you can peruse vendor offerings over on Wonderwool’s Facebook group or Instagram by following the hashtag #virtualwonderwool … and the special festival deals that we would have been offering are now available to you from the comfort of your favourite knitting chair! So step right up to our virtual AC Knitwear stand and have a peek!

To set the scene, you’ll have to imagine our stall, bursting with the colours of our Something to Knit With Aran and 4ply, Jamieson & Smith 2ply, Nua, the ever-so-fun Schoppel yarns, Fyberspates, and Socks Yeah!. The shelves are well stocked with a range of books — our own line of technique-led publications, as well as a carefully curated selection of inspiring titles.

Perhaps you start leafing through A Year of Techniques, or page through Boost Your Knitting, or notice the freshly blocked Bithynica sample from Something New Learn About Lace. At which point I share our first festival deal with you … the Techniques Bundle! All four of our print publications (A Year of Techniques, Boost Your Knitting, Something New to Learn About Lace and Something New to Learn About Cables) along with digital downloads, a duffel project bag … all for £60 (with free UK shipping to boot). If you’re looking to give you knitting library a real boost, this deal saves you £10 on buying the books individually. You’ll be stocking your shelves not just with beautiful pattern books, but with photo tutorials that we think you’ll come back to again and again!

But maybe you already have one or two of our titles and are looking instead for a book + yarn combo that’ll let you get stuck in to learning something new before the week is out. We’ve got plenty of deals for you!

Love a bit of striping but hate the unsightly jog you get at the start of your round? Give helical knitting a try! This clever technique embraces the helical spirals of knitting in the round and lets you create beautiful, seamless stripes with ease — no stitch manipulation or tricks required. The Hyacinthus Armwarmers, the first project from A Year of Techniques, will let you have a go at practicing this bit of knitting magic (and have fun with the long colour stretches of a Zauberball). You’ll receive a print copy of AYOT (+ digital download) + yarn for the armwarmers, all for a cool £25, when you buy the AYOT Starter Pack.  

Or maybe rising temps have you ready to tackle some airy lace — but you’re not as confident a lace knitter as you’d like to be! Our Something New to Learn About Lace Starter Bundle has you covered! This little book is chock full full of some really lovely lace accessories, accompanied by photo tutorials that cover the lace bases, from how to work yarnovers and read charts, to how to prevent and fix mistakes in lace, to how to block your lace to show it off best. You’ll get our print book (+ digital download) and 200 grams of Something to Knit With 4ply to get you started on your choice of projects from the book, all for £38!

Head full of new things to learn, you’re about to leave the stall, when you spy a terrifically textured cowl with a stitch pattern you can’t quite make out. I’d let you know it’s the Bramen Cowl — the first pattern from our most recent book, Boost Your Knitting. This lovely little number, designed by Nancy Marchant, teaches how to knit the tuck stitch — a really fun way of adding texture to your knitting, as well as being a great warm up for learning brioche stitch. Our last festival deal is the BYK Starter Pack, a copy of Boost Your Knitting along with a ball of Schoppel-Wolle Gradient so you can get casting on, at a cost of £30.

These bundles will only be available this Saturday and Sunday as part of #virtualwonderwool — so if you have your eye on one, do scoop it up before the weekend ends! And while we can’t, sadly, make sure you leave our virtual stall with yarn in hand, we are offering the next best thing — free UK shipping all weekend, no code required, on any purchase from our online shop. (And or friends outside the UK, we’re also offering free worldwide shipping when you spend £150 — just make sure you use the code LOVEYARN.)

Last but not least, in case all these deals weren’t enough, tomorrow’s my birthday … so we’re offering 44% off some select items. They’re dotted around the online shop (sort of like a knitting scavenger hunt) so keep your eyes peeled for discounted patterns, books, and even some shades of yarn!

Thanks so much for stopping by our virtual stall, and I do hope you enjoy browsing our deals and those of our fellow #virtualwonderwool vendors! I’ll be having a peek into a few stands myself, including Dusty Dimples, Old Maiden Aunt and Triskelion Yarn — if a birthday treat or three fall into my cart, can you blame me?