Joy - Meet the Patterns and Yarns of Issue 7!

A quick note: Yarns and kits are exclusive to annual subscribers until March 17 - after that, we'll launch them for everyone!

Hello lovelies! As I'm writing these words, I'm looking out the window onto a deep blue sky and a street filled with sunlight. The first buds are slowly appearing on the trees that I can see from here, and there are birds singing. It's such a joy to witness the never-ending cycle of the seasons, to feel the warm spring sunlight on my face, to take a few moments and breathe the fresh air.

Those are my little pockets of joy these days! What are yours? I'd love to know! (You can leave a comment down below!)

Joy is also the theme of our Issue 7, which is the actual reason for this blog post! After over a year of hard work from an incredible team of designers, yarn partners, editors, test knitters, and the entire Making Stories team (THANK YOU!) it's time to launch our fourth spring issue. Whoa!

We have 12 beautiful, very wearable patterns for you in this issue, and we've also added a few fantastic sustainable yarns that are perfect for them to the webshop!

Let's take a quick look at the patterns first:

Head over to the pattern pages for more photos and all the details about the design, pattern and measurements - simply click on the respective pattern link!

From left to right:

• Marion Bulin's Bobble Waves Shawl
• Marthe Forodden's Cigar Cardigan
• Victoria Gerasimova's Color Waves Socks
• Marina Skua's Fanlight Sweater

From left to right:

• Tiffany Chen's Guan-Xi Socks
• Bérangère Cailliau's Hypata Sweater
• Jill Thompson Beach's Merrymaker Sweater
• Marianne Munier's Sakae Cardigan

From left to right:

• Isabel Ale's Sea Forest Socks
• Tania Dejoie's Serendipitee
• Clara Gleiß' Tilde Mittens
• Marina Storm's Wrapped in a Hug Shawl

As you might know, we started carrying sustainably produced yarns in our webshop in 2021. All our yarns are non-superwash and plastic-free, and they come from companies that are extremely mindful of their impact on our planet, its people and animals. We're so proud that we get to carry them, and so happy that we were able to add a few gorgeous new ones to celebrate Issue 7!

All of these yarns are also available individually, but in order to make it a little easier for you to get just what you need to make the pattern that you'd like to cast on, we've also put them into kits!

A warm welcome to these new yarns and kits:

Krea Deluxe - Cigar Cardigan Kits

Krea Deluxe was created by sisters Heidi and Pia Johannesen out of the desire for and vision of founding a company that exclusively produces quality yarn and design according to organic and sustainable values.

We carry two of their yarns, both of which are used in Marthe Forodden's Cigar Cardigan:

Krea Deluxe's Organic Wool 1 is a staple yarn - high twist, organic, and super soft!  It's entirely made in Portugal from GOTS-certified merino, non-superwash and free of any harmful substances or chemicals.

Krea Deluxe's Deluxe Silk Mohair is a wonderfully soft, fluffy and and light yarn produced in Italy with RMS-certified mohair, silk and baby alpaca.

We've put together three kits in beautiful neutral colorways:

From left to right: Kit 01 & 19 (Sample Colors), a delightful light neutral marl; Kit 26, a dusty denim blue; Kit 43, a slightly warmer black.

Marina Skua - Fanlight Sweater Kits

Fanlight is a stunning colorwork yoke sweater with an intricate geometric design that's so, so fun to knit! (Trust me, I've knit up a lot of swatches for this one!) It's designed for Marina Skua's updated version of Mendip 4ply:

Mendip 4ply is a woollen-spun Sport weight yarn that’s a true gauge wonder. It comes from a single flock of Shetland-cross sheep that grazes in the Mendip Hills, less than 20 miles from Marina's studio. It's entirely sourced, spun and dyed in the UK - with Marina hand-dyeing every skein lovingly using fibre reactive dyes and minimizing water usage and waste during the dye process.

Mendip 4ply comes in two undyed shades - Sunny and Cloudy - and a range of colorways dyed on those two. Hence, the colorway names: Rose (Cloudy) is Rose dyed on the Cloudy shade!

We've put together three kits in different colorway combinations:

From left to right: Kit 1 - Sheep (Sunny), Rose (Cloudy), Bloom (Cloudy) - those are the original sample colors; Kit 2 - Coal (Cloudy), Sheep (Sunny), Sheep (Cloudy); Kit 3 - Sheep (Sunny), Teal (Cloudy), Bloom (Cloudy)

De Rerum Natura Gilliatt - Sakae Cardigan Kits

Sakae is a cozy and colourful cardigan that Marianne Munier, the designer, imagined snuggling up with in pleasure and serenity.

We're so happy to add the bigger sister of De Rerum Natura's Ulysse, De Rerum Natura's Gilliatt, to our lineup! Gilliatt is a wonderful round, soft and satisfying fluffy woollen-spun yarn that shows off cables just as well as stockinette stitch. It's a delight to knit with - a perfect yarn for beginners as well as super advanced knitters - and comes in a range of gorgeous colors. It's sourced, spun and dyed in France and Portugal, non-superwash and plastic-free.

We currently stock 9 colorways of Gilliatt, from calming neutrals to stunning pops of color, and offer kits in all of them:

From left to right: Blues & Greens; Neutrals; Pinks, Reds & Yellows

Last, but very certainly not least:

Garthenor Organic Snowdonia Sock - Sea Forest Kits

Underwater, forests of algae grow and work just like forests on land, creating ecosystems around them made up of other plants, fish and microscopic creatures. The beauty of those kelp forests swaying with the ocean currents inspired Isabel Ale, the designer, to this pair of socks.

Garthenor Organic's Snowdonia Sock is actually not new to the shop, but one of our all-time favorite yarns, so we're so happy to feature it in Issue 7!

High twist worsted-spun Romney and Hebridean make up the most beautiful and very deliberately designed natural sock yarn that comes in a range of gorgeous undyed and dyed shades. It's completely GOTS certified, sourced, spun and dyed in the UK and produced by the loveliest mother and son duo, Sally and Jonny!

We offer kits in all 6 colorways of Snowdonia Sock that we currently stock:

From left to right: Glaslyn, Bala, Ogwen, Spruce, Stonecrop and Sundew.

We hope you enjoy these new additions to the shop! We certainly are in love with them, and we can't wait to cast on for our Issue 7 celebrations.