How is it the middle of August already? Can it really be September in only a couple of weeks?! I’m excited, not only because it’s been sweltering here and who isn’t excited for sweater weather to return, but also because we are taking a trip soon! At the very end of August, the four of us are going to be packing our suitcases and heading off for time with the UK family in Bristol, England; and then popping over to Spain (Barcelona, Girona, and a countryside villa somewhere for a wedding). Travelling with two small kids is totally doable, right? My fingers are crossed.

Are any of you seasonal knitters, and only knit when the weather turns cool? If so, I hope you are beginning to think of cozy knitting, now that so many fall issues of knitting magazines and pattern collections have popped up! let’s see hat sort of goodies the sponsors have this month, shall we? Eye candy abounds!

Name: Spirit Trail Fiber Works

Where You Can Follow Them: Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, blog

What She is All About: Jennifer has a variety of her hand dyed yarns in a variety of weights and fibers, as well as beautiful (and some very rare breed!) roving and spinning fibers. She produces her colours in small batches with artisanal dye techniques, and really shines at tonals which have incredible depth. I recently finished knitting a tank top with one of her yarns and I loved every minute of knitting with her yarn.

A Few of My Favourite Things, from Left to Right: This is the 100% merino bulky weight yarn is in the Vortex colourway, a gorgeous semisolid light grey that will go with absolutely everything you own.  Then we have the ‘Maine Sumac’ colourway for in a DK weight on the Birte base, which is a blend of 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere and 10% bombyx silk. Finally we have ‘Kestrel’, a beautiful variegated colourway of rich browns and reddish tones, on the Verdande base which is a worsted weight blend of 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere and 10% bombyx silk.

Name: The Blue Brick 

Where You Can Follow Them:  Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Ravelry, Flickr, and Crawftgawker

What They Are All About: Shireen is a professional photographer; and she takes her yarn inspiration straight from the images she captures. These yarns are all hand-dyed in small batches by Shireen and her husband Tito on a variety of bases and weights (really, quite a a solid variety of bases), based on her photographic inspiration (you can read more about the yarn here). Each skein is sent out with a copy of the photo that inspired it- a really beautiful detail that makes me marvel even more at how she can dye the yarn to so closely resemble the photos! Shireen also designs beautiful patterns, as well. I recently went to a launch party for their new Berry Vanilla colourway which also features a yarn wash, spray and hand cream that smells like heaven!

A Few of My Favourite Things, from Left to Right: Shireen designed this beautiful single skein Berry Vanilla shawl that has lovely cables and looks amazing in ombre. One of the more dramatic gradient colourways, Heron moves from a duck egg blue to a rich charcoal, for those that like their ombre yarns with a bit of a edge to them. Longbeach is a wonderful colourway with surprising colour shifts that create an effect that is nothing short of stunning.

Name: Biscotte Yarns

Where You Can Follow Them: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google +

What They Are All About: Biscotte Yarns specializes in self-striping yarns with lots of fun inspiration, but they have all sorts of goodies on offer- fabrics, project bags and kits, patterns, and tonal single ply yarns, as well as a mystery club! They also recently came out with an app that allows you create custom hat and sock patterns based on yarn weight, gauge, stitch preferences and size choices- web based, Android, or iphone. I also recently finished a hoodie for James with their Griffon yarn, and it was fantastic!

A Few of My Favourite Things, from Left to Right: You don’t often find self striping yarns in a worsted weight, but the Griffon line of worsted weight (which I adore!) has both tonals and self striping varieties, this one is ‘Tropicana’. I knit the hoodie for James using two tonals and a self striping between them.  This Hagrid base is an Aran weight Donegal tweed, and I love this particular colourway, ‘Nature’– doesn’t it remind you of cookies ‘n cream ice cream?! I think this beautiful paintbox kit of sock yarn in ‘Twinkle Twinkle’  is dying to become a luscious shawl or a big, double loop cowl.

Name: Madbird 

Where You Can Follow Them: Facebook, Instagram

What They are all about: Alecia and Rob Miller make wonderful project bags, project clutches, totes, spindle bags, hook rolls and needle rolls (including ones for dpns and interchangeables), and zip pouches- with a wide variety of fabrics, you’re sure to find the right size you need in a print you love. They are all sturdily built, with fleece interfacing and solid bottoms that ensure the bags stand up well on their own, once a project is inside. If you haven’t tried one of their bags, you are missing out- every detail is perfection and you will have this bag forever. I recommend following them on Facebook to get the updates on new items as well as the flash sales they sometimes have! Also, they are offering 10% off everything with the code KNITTEDBLISS.

A Few of My Favourite Things, from Left to Right:  The photos above don’t do the them justice-  you need to click the links to go look at the photo of the inside to really see where the magic is. But if I posted photos of just the insides, you wouldn’t see the fun prints on the outsides! Dilemma. First, we have a great interchangeable needle organizer in the High Tide fabric, which has great pockets for storing all the needle sizes and cables, and you could easily tuck a few notions in there if you wanted.  Then we have the needle wallet mini organizer in ‘Wildflower’. I have one of these, and I adore it! I should really blog about it very soon, because it’s been great for keeping project related tools together when doing weekend getaways. For the project bag, I was really excited to see that the Mr. Fox project bags were back in stock! This print is so gorgeous, I doubt it will last long in the shop. It features a yarn guide snap inside, and is fully reversible, too!

Name: Erica Knits 

Where You Can Follow: Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest

What They are all about: Erica designs thoughtful, beautiful knits that are somehow completely classic and yet different from the usual offerings. She’s particuarly gifted with colourwork designs, but also does great textured knits, as well- I’ve knit three of her patterns in the past, with more in my queue! If Erica’s designs are new to you, you may recall seeing her massively popular Karusellen Hat from Pom Pom Quarterly.

A Few of My Favourite Things, from Left to Right: Coronal is a unisex sportweight hat that features a double brim (perfect for keeping the wind out) that would look great with or without a pom pom. It looks cute with the small pom here, but imagine a contrasting big pom pom! The Broadcast sweater is reminiscent of sweaters from the 60s, with a slim fit and a lovely boat neck. And the Anstruther mittens (which match the hat from the sidebar ad) are beautifully designed and even have a garter lace cuff, which still keeps your wrists warm.

I’m so excited for fall knitting just looking at all that knitting goodness! Now, to figure out what to bring on my big trip….