September 2012 - Rowan

September 2012 

January 2012 - 1

Hello and welcome to the September issue of the eNewsletter. 

Here at the mill we are sad to see the end of the summer months, however we are now 

looking forward to the cooler side of the year, which gives us an excuse to get our knitting 

needles out with thick, cosy, chunky yarns! This month we hear from Jane Crowfoot about 

her popular Crochet Club, talk about our exciting plans for Wool Week 2012, look at our 

favourite scarf patterns for autumn, and bring you a quirky free cardigan pattern as part 

of our exclusive Studio collection. In addition to this, September’s members free pattern 

is one for the boys; a stunning houndstooth sleeveless sweater. 

Happy knitting. 

The Rowan Team 

CONTENTS 

Debbie Abrahams 4 

Wool Week 2012 6 

Yarn In The Spotlight...Tumble 7 

2 -September 2012 

Front Cover: 

Brynn by Marie Wallin 

Using Rowan Tweed Aran 

Tweed 

Follow us on 

Knitty Gritty Auction 8 

Superb Scarves 9 

Crochet Club 2013 10 

Click on the symbol 

where it appears for a link to 

further information

E X C L U S I V E 

Jack 

by Martin Storey 

Wool Cotton 

Jack 

For this and hundreds of 

FREE patterns exclusive to 

m e m b e r s 

click the button below: 

FREE PATTERN 

ARCHIVE 

August 2012 - 3

Debbie Abrahams 

Debbie Abraham’s Mystery Blanket has become a global 

phenomenon in the four years it has been running. Excited knitters 

from Australia to North America and all over Europe sign up to the 

club at this time of year, not knowing what design they will be 

knitting over the coming months – that’s the mystery. What they 

do know is that the project is a blanket made up of 49 squares, 

it will be in Rowan yarns with Debbie Abraham’s beads and it will be beautiful. 

Debbie started knitting at the tender 

age of 6 and was hooked, going on to 

take a degree in Knitwear Design before 

becoming a Rowan Design Consultant in 

1995. Now a highly-respected freelance 

designer, Debbie teaches workshops 

all over the country encouraging and 

inspiring knitters to learn and experiment 

with their craft. It was at one of these 

workshops that a knitter mentioned the 

idea of Mystery Blankets, which are very 

common in the world of quilting. Having 

already had two books published on 

blankets, the idea grew in Debbie’s mind 

4 - September 2012 

until in 2008 the first Mystery Blanket Club 

took place. “I thought that maybe 20 or so 

knitters might want to take part but in fact 

the first club had 80 members and today 

there are 500!” Debbie explains. 

The club is a real family affair with both 

Debbie’s parents and in-laws looking 

after 250 members each, storing the 

yarn and beads and sending the packs 

out all over the world. Each knitter will 

receive more than 30 balls as part of 

their membership, which is 15,000 balls 

of Rowan yumminess and 4,000 bags of

eads. Wow. “Having the support and 

help of my family is hugely important to 

me and the running of the club, which is 

why we only have 500 places. I like to 

give knitters the really personal touch,” 

she says. 

Debbie spends a good 6 months 

creating the Mystery Blanket design, first 

collecting images from lots of different 

sources before sitting down to decide 

on her colour palette. Using a big board 

in her living room, Debbie literally cuts 

out 49 squares in her base colours and 

lays them out. “Every time I walk through 

my dining room I see the layout and can 

be sure it works. Constantly seeing my 

design helps me to fine tune it if I need 

to.” Actually determining how much yarn 

and in which colours she needs is the kind 

of calculation that would make a maths 

genius weep. From experience, Debbie 

knows how much yarn a square of cable 

takes but Fair Isle or intarsia are a very 

different matter, and all the yarn needs to 

be ordered by July. There really is a huge 

amount of work involved for Debbie and 

her team. 

With the membership list for 2013 

open,what can knitters expect from next 

year’s Mystery Blanket? Debbie is very 

careful not to give too much away: “I have 

chosen different yarns from previous 

years, focussing on Rowan Tweed, 

Felted Tweed, Kid Classic and Pure Wool 

DK.” Sounds intriguing. We managed 

to get Debbie to give us just a little more 

information just for you! The design will 

be geometric and use traditional Fair 

Isle and texture with beads. Colours 

are subtle, cosy and tweedy with bright 

accents. We can’t wait to sign up. 

You can join Debbie’s Mystery Blanket 

club by emailing info@debbieabrahams.com 

or visiting www.debbieabrahams.com. 

The club costs from £205 for UK members 

– all other prices are on the website. Due 

to rising postal charges there will be 3 

packs of yarn sent out but the patterns will 

be emailed out each month to members. 

Debbie will also be running a number of 

workshops throughout the UK and you 

will be able to find details on Debbie’s 

website. 

September 2012 - 5

Wool Week 2012 

Rowan is once again gearing up to 

celebrate all things wool during the week 

of 15th – 22nd October this year, as 

part of Campaign for Wool 2012. Once 

again teaming up with The British Wool 

Marketing Board (BWMB), Rowan will be 

proud to have representatives present on 

the “Clickety-Click on the Clackety-Clack” 

train carriage – a BWMB initiative which 

involves knitters and knitwear designers 

taking over a first class carriage of an East 

Coast train service travelling from London 

Kings Cross to Edinburgh and back. 

Now in its third year, the concept continues 

to gather speed, and Rowan are excited 

to be getting involved in the celebrations 

by introducing the following initiatives: 

Made up of an hundreds individual knitted 

rectangles of different textures and 

yarn qualities, Rowan will be unveiling 

an awe-inspiring inspiration statement 

giant knitted Union Jack piece upon the 

return journey of the “Clickety-Click on 


the Clackety-Clack” train. Passengers on 

board will be working hard to perfect the 

final touches of the Union Jack, ready for 

the culmination of the woolly journey at 

Kings Cross station, where the unveiling 

of the piece will create a stunning 

vision knitted entirely in Rowan’s British 

Sheep Breeds yarns, sourced and spun 

exclusively in Britain. The idea behind 

Marie Wallin’s design is to highlight and 

celebrate Rowan’s support of the British 

sheep farmers and British wool, and is 

sure to be a beautiful reminder of the high 

quality of the product. 

There will also be a selection of homeware 

designs, and patterns will be available to 

download for free from www.knitrowan.com. 

For those who may not yet be an expert 

knitter, we will also be hosting a download 

pattern for a toy sheep and a competition 

where Facebook users can send us in 

pictures of their knitted sheep to win a 

prize!

Yarn in the Spotlight… Tumble 

We take a closer look at new yarn 

Tumble. 

A stunning blend of 90% alpaca and 10% 

cotton, the wonderfully chunky Tumble 

yarn is sure to be a favourite this winter. 

Available in six shades ranging from 

sumptuous Cherry, to rich Indigo and fluffy 

white Marshmallow, the luxurious blend 

is available with beautiful yarn support 

in the form of the new Tumble brochure, 

a collection of ten womens designs by 

Martin Storey and Lisa Richardson. 

Click @ for full details. 

Marshmallow 

560 

Bon Bon 

565 

Apple 

561 

Sky 

566 

Cherry 

563 

Indigo 

567 


Knitty Gritty Auction 

Knitting SOS’s very own Aneeta Patel is 

supporting the Genesis Research Fund 

by auctioning off a beautiful Afghan 

taken from her forthcoming book Knitty 

Gritty – The Next Steps, in order to raise 

funds for the worthy charity. 

How it will work: £1 = 1 ticket. For a £1 

donation one ticket will be placed in the 

hat with your name on it. If you donate 

£100, one hundred tickets will be put into 

A Yorkshire Day Out 

with Rowan 


the hat with your name! Increase your 

chances by donating more. 

The Afghan is approx. 160cm by 130cm, 

used about £200-worth of Rowan Sheep 

Breeds natural wool and took 300+ hours 

to knit! 

For all the information and the full story, 

visit www.knittingsos.co.uk/afghan-raffle. 

Image by Peter Schiazza 

We invite you to join us for a grand day out here in Yorkshire, as part of our 

celebrations for Wool Week 2012. 

Set to take place on Saturday October 20th at the Rowan Mill, Holmfirth, the day will 

include an inspirational talk by Kate Buller, Rowan Brand Manager, the opportunity 

to meet real live sheep, a Summerwine Magic Tour, lunch at Compos Fish and Chip 

restaurant, a Rowan afternoon workshop and a goody bag! 

Tickets are priced at £45 per person, and places are limited – so don’t miss out, call 

us on 01484 681881 to book your place!

Superb Scarves 

Take your pick from these 

luxurious scarf designs to knit for 

winter, perfectly cosy enough to 

take away the winter chills! 

Shanty Scarf, 

Knitting & Crochet 

Magazine 52 

Slip, 

Tumble Collection 

Misty, 

Kidsilk Haze Stripe 

The Kidsilk Haze 

Stripe Collection 

Honeydew, 

Easy Winter Knits 


Crochet Club 2013 

For years the craft of crochet has been seen as the poor cousin to the craft of knitting 

and for many people the thought of crochet granny squares, ponchos and kitsch retro 

projects is enough to put them off. However, over the past few years the number 

of people taking up the craft of crochet has risen dramatically and the standard of 

pattern support for the craft continues to improve. Rowan designer Marie Wallin is 

a true crochet fan and Rowan publications now feature crochet projects, all of which 

showcase the wonderful range of Rowan yarns. 

Rather than opting for traditional designs, the crochet fans of today are looking 

for projects that test their abilities and offer them the chance to learn new exciting 

techniques such as beaded crochet and intricate lace designs and so many designers 

are pushing the boundaries of the craft too. One such designer is Jane Crowfoot who, 

following the success of her ‘crochet club’ projects over the past 2 years, is once again 

launching her club design aimed at those who want to work on an exclusive crochet 

along (CAL) project. Quilters were one of the first groups of crafters to adopt the idea 

of joining clubs with the aim of making an ongoing mystery project which became 

gradually revealed. Recently, knit-alongs have also been gathering interest, and now 

Jane’s crochet club is proof that crochet fans can get in on the act too. 

10 - September 2012

The design of the new project is based on Persian and Islamic mosaic and ceramic 

design and Jane has used a palette of green, blue and terracotta shades alongside 

cream and mustard to echo the design theme - the image shows a piece of the crochet 

design for the new club which acts as a teaser so that you can see colours and get a 

general idea of the design. 

The crochet club offers members the chance to work through the exclusive crochet 

project over the course of 6 months. The patterns are sent via email and members have 

the added bonus of a private members only blog that offers them tips and techniques 

for each month. The membership fee includes all yarn, patterns and access to the 

blog and yarn packages are sent in one parcel at the beginning of the project and 

patterns are sent on a monthly basis. Patterns and yarn kits are not available to nonclub 

members. The design will not be published at a later date and remains exclusive 

to club members only. 

If you fancy joining Jane’s club – which last year had a membership of 280 people 

across the globe, you can register your application now. Places are allocated on a first 

come first served basis and more information can be found on Jane’s website: 

http://www.janiecrow.co.uk/jshop/article.php?xArt=36 


Knitrowan News 

You may have already noticed, but we at 

knitrowan recently launched our very own 

news section, bringing you interesting daily 

articles about all things fashion, design 

and craft. Keep an eye out for current 

events and news about the quirky side of 

crafters; from texting sheep to Olympic 

themed yarn bombing, it’s all happening! 


NEWS 

AREA 

THE GLAMOUR 

COLLECTION 

ZB127 

Launching October 2012 

A collection of 14 designs by Marie Wallin, 

Martin Storey, Lisa Richardson, 

Gemma Atkinson & Jem Weston 

using the new yarn 

Kidsilk Haze Glamour. 

Plus 5 free lace scarves and shawls 

patterns exclusive to www.knitrowan.com

Stockists 

To find your local stockist view our 

store locator at www.knitrowan.com by 

clicking the button below 

STORE 

LOCATOR 

Workshops 

To view a full list of workshop dates 

visit www.knitrowan.com by clicking the 

button below 

WORKSHOPS 

All right reserved. Reproduction in whole or any part of all material, including illustrations, in this publication is strictly 

forbidden. No part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, 

electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the copyright 

owners having been given in writing. 

The designs in this publication are copyrighted and must not be knitted for re-sale. Reproduction of this publication is protected by copyright and is 

sold on the condition that it is used for non commercial purposes. Yarn quantities are approximate as they are based on average requirements. Colour 

reproduction is as close as printing will allow. 

First published in Great Britain 2012 by Coats Crafts UK LTD Green Lane Mill, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England, HD9 2DX 

E-mail: mail@knitrowan.com Web: www.knitrowan.com© Copyright Rowan 2012 


www.knitrowan.com

September 2012 - Rowan

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