Update preview: Tempo 4ply

The next Eden Cottage Yarns update is on Sunday at 12 noon UK time, and here's the first batch of yarn that'll be in it - this is all Tempo 4ply, which is our machine washable wool/nylon sock yarn.

(That's the batch of Faded Bloom ^^)

This particular blend is fine, soft, and drapey - it's by far the loveliest version of this fibre blend that I've ever encountered. Although I'm currently knitting a shawl in this yarn, I do have socks made in it, and they have withstood a huge amount of abuse - they are my most long-lasting and hardwearing pair of socks, with hardly much evidence that they've even been used, even after four or five long winters of use and machine washing. They've even been through the machine at 60 degrees by accident and still look perfectly fine. I'll show you them some time as proof. Obviously there'll be people who abuse socks way more than I do, but this is easily the most hardwearing yarn I've ever used, so there you go.

(That's Cromer Pier. There are nine skeins because I've kept one to make a shawl with..)

Anyway, here's one skein of each colourway that I've dyed for this update (with a couple of friends - Milburn 4ply in Steel and Natural).

The colours are Cromer Pier and Millpond (on top), then L-R middle layer is Woodland, Falling Leaves, and Faded Bloom, and on the bottom (L-R) there's Compost, Driftwood, Meadow Rue, Apricot Tulip, Dandelion (I blame the summer rain for that), and Rambling Rose.

As usual, I've taken a gallery's worth of colour combination pics. So I'll share them as I know it helps seeing the colours next to each other. I've added in the Milburn 4ply because it works alongside Tempo 4ply, and the addition of grey and cream are always welcome in my opinion.

I started with Apricot Tulip alongside Natural (Milburn 4ply), and then added Steel (Milburn 4ply - I won't tell you that every time they pop up) because I love the apricot with both cream and grey - I'd love to make something with those three. Then on the right I swapped out the grey for Compost, which adds warmth to the palette.

The next thing I did (on the left) was take out the apricot and replace it with Falling Leaves, and then add the Steel back in, for a gorgeous neutral palette. But then I fancied adding Woodland to that and on a whim I also put Rambling Rose in there. I think it creates a really earthy palette, with a hint of romance from the cream and pink.

(So in the right hand picture the colours are Woodland, Rambling Rose, Natural, Falling Leaves, Compost, and Steel).

Staying with the pink theme, here we have (on the left) Falling Leaves, Compost, Rambling Rose, and Faded Bloom. I love this palette, but look how the addition of the Natural on the right lifts it.

Moving onto a cooler palette, I first picked out Millpond, Cromer Pier and Driftwood to go together - I think they look quite beachy and summery. Then I added Meadow Rue just to see, and I think it lifts the palette (it's weird how you become hyper-aware of stuff like this!). I think the palette on the left says 'beach', whereas the one on the right says 'beach/meadow'. Maybe it's just me!

Inspired by the previous selection, I kept Meadow Rue and Driftwood (centre and right in the left hand picture) and added Rambling Rose (left, left hand picture). I like this - I think it's very soft and dusky. However if you add Apricot Tulip (top right) that adds a little brightness, which is gorgeous, but then *also* add Natural and Steel (bottom right) and oh my.. I don't even know where to start on what I'd make with those six shades together (I can't be alone in this?!). I just love how it's soft and feminine but not saccharin, if that makes sense. If only I had time to knit All The Things - I have to do that vicariously through your projects!

Moving on back to blue for a moment, I think you can't go wrong with Natural, Steel, and any blue - here it's Millpond. Actually this would look great with Milburn 4ply in Night Sky added in - that's a darker, very rich blue. Anyway so then top left is something I consider to be a classic - denim blue with beige (ie Millpond and Driftwood). And then very simply I added in Compost just to add warmth and earthiness to it. Again, I think all three here are soft and dusky but not too pastel-ish or boring.

Finally, talking of not-boring things.. every now and then I just fancy a really rich egg-yolk-yellow, especially when it's sock yarn. So on the left I've just used Steel with the Dandelion to soften it a bit (it is very rich), and then I got a bit more creative and put Steel, Compost, Dandelion and Woodland together.

On that note, that's all for now. So there are ten skeins each of most of these dyelots of Tempo 4ply, apart from Dandelion and Woodland which have five, and Cromer Pier which has nine because as I said before, I *ahem* kept one.

If you want to bookmark the page where they'll appear you need to go HERE. And I will send out a newsletter at the same time as these go live, so if you'd like an email reminder straight to your inbox and you're not already on the list, you can sign up HERE. Why do I spend so much energy on the newsletter? Well, it's more reliable than social media which you can so easily miss. All we need is for Instagram to change its algorithms like they've been threatening to (my phone and ipad haven't changed yet but I know it has for some people), and suddenly we're missing half the stuff we do actually want to see.

Look out tomorrow for the BFL Sock update preview!