2026 Pick-up-sticks

It’s a mark of just how crazy the memory of the last shopping days of December had got in my head, that I was almost surprised not to find some post-hurricane like chaos of wool, when I pushed the shop shutters open last week. Thankfully, the shop was as I’d left it on Christmas Eve: ordered, washed up and swept, just a good deal colder. I plugged in our rather feeble heaters, Brontë printed out the orders which had arrived over the holiday, and over the next hours between the two of us, we began to warm the place up again. Brontë wrapped wool and packed it into parcels that quickly turned into organised piles for the post sacks, and I caught up with the backlog of emails that needed attending to. And so the shop year began again.

It doesn’t come with the fireworks or champagne of New Year’s eve. Neither does it feel like a moment of enormous change – the season is very much the same as where we left it in December, but it is nevertheless a kind of page-break in time, and in that ways feels like a good moment to say an enthusiastic Hi! This is Us back in the shop 😊. Thank you for giving us the time off (we really appreciated the rest), and here’s what we what we did with it…

Brontë took the train home to West Yorkshire to spend Christmas with her family, their cats and her sister’s puppy. She rose marvellously to the Knitter’s holiday packing challenge, making space for both gifts and knitting projects – which included a just-started Sophie Hood in WD Mota, and a half-finished Frankie Sweater – with stripes of WYS Morris and Laxton’s Sheepsoft. And although neither are quite finished yet, her progress on the Frankie especially makes it too good to keep hidden until it’s ready..

For all the other Sophie Hood knitters out there, Brontë’s progress so far tells us that if you go with a plump worsted like Mota or Gilliatt, you can almost certainly get away with 2 balls if you’re doing the medium. Other edited highlights of the holiday included keeping the family cats company on the sofa with some high fantasy reading – the second book in Robert Jackson-Bennet’s Founders trilogy. Brontë is all over it if anyone wants to come in to discuss!

Meanwhile I found myself in a bit of a knitting muddle this holiday, paralysed by indecision about what I should make next. I’d set my heart on using some precious Uist Wool DK to make the Ullin sweater but was put off at the last minute when I realised that it was based on an old fashioned 3-sizes-only bottom-up, separately pieced construction. It seems I’ve turned into a fuss-pot knitter in my old age. Instead, I turned my attention to finishing a cardiganised version Anne Ventzel’s Bella Blouse. Mine uses WYS Fable which has her separate strands of wool, mohair and alpaca all rolled into one, and in a decidedly blingy departure from my more muted normal, I opted for Anchor metallic gold thread for the colourwork. It’s a project that’s prompted a few questions – so will do my best to answer..

No, the gold thread is not at all itchy on my neck.
Yes, the steeking was a bit messy where I did the crochet reinforcement on the gold colourwork. It would have been better if I’d worked the steek channel stitches in the Fable.
No, it wasn’t so bad as to make it unravel.
Yes, I did sew ribbons over the steeked edges inside to hide and protect them.
Yes, there is a slight asymmetry in the 2 sides of the cardigan on account of not thinking all the way through how the yoked increases would lie in relation to the central steek channel – but I don’t think it shows.
Yes, we have the buttons for sale in the shop.
Yes, I think I love it!

So where next? Inspired by a much-loved Wild and Woolly regular, Brontë has made up her mind that 2026 is going to be the year she conquers her first Gansey – using Guernsey 5ply of course. As a warm up before starting out on that long tiny-gauge road, she plans to quickly knock out another (this will be her 3rd!) Lakes Pullover, in 2-row navy and ecru stripes of Dlana. I’m also dialing down the gauge gears a bit – and have decided on the Moorland colourwork cowl using the Birlinn Yarn Co 4ply, from Erika Åberg’s forthcoming Island Knitting Collection, every pattern of which seems to speak to the sorts of things I want to wear, and yarns I want to knit with.

Welcome to 2026 everyone – we can’t wait to see what you finished over the holidays and to hear about what you’ll be making this year!