Virtual Yarns - Home of Alice Starmore Yarns and Designs

Dear Knitter,

You may be aware from the news that Royal Mail – our national postal service – was hit by a cyber attack which affected their outgoing customs system, bringing the international mail service to a standstill for most of January. I am happy to say that the International Tracked service has now resumed, so we can once again send out international orders. Our checkout has reopened to all countries served by that service. We have been warned that delivery times will be slower than usual and tracking may be less detailed and take longer to update, so please be aware of that when placing an order for delivery outside the UK.

This month we have plenty for you to look at with the new Boreray Pullover patterncard kit from the Queen of the Waves Collection. The Boreray Pullover can be made in your own choice of two colours of my Hebridean 2 Ply range. The effect is guaranteed to be dramatic in this striking design. The sleeve details with their long, shaped 1/1 rib and button bands are a very good exercise in both knitting and finishing for the intermediate to expert knitter. So this is an interesting design to make as well as a practical and beautiful garment to wear. You can see the Boreray Pullover here modelled by Rebecca with two different stylings. You can find out more about the Boreray Pullover here.

You can now look in more detail at the Queen of the Waves Collection by browsing our online flip book; this catalogues the collection, which will be appearing in various forms over the coming months. The Queen of the Waves Collection involves knitting, weaving, felting, embroidery and other costume techniques, and as a whole it is designed to challenge, intrigue and inspire you to learn new skills. Some of the designs contain elements which are only teachable in video format, so these will be appearing as video classes and courses. Jade and I are currently working hard to get these ready for you. Browse the full collection in our online flip book here.

You can start to see some of the results of recent shoots appearing on the website. We had some very challenging weather over the Christmas period, but on one calm day before a storm we managed to get out onto the wintry Lewis moorland with model Rachel, who you can see here wearing the Painted Lady with the Henry VIII Hat Set, and the Mary Queen of Scots with the Red Jacobite Rose Hat Set.

You can also see Rachel modelling the Moorland Hat from my Creative Course 1.

We will be back next month with another Queen of the Waves design,

Happy knitting,

Alice