~ Pre-orders have now closed. Club parcels will be dispatched before end-March. Extra skeins will be available in the shop early-April ~

The // non club // is a bi-monthly club focussing on our favourite non-superwash yarns and inspiring non-fiction books.

We love working with non-superwash yarn but it doesn't always get the space in our dye pots that we think it deserves, so we've carved out a special place for it. We're choosing a non-superwash yarn base every other month, and using one of our favourite non-fiction books to inspire a micro-collection. Three shades; one ~core~ semi-solid, one ~fluid~ variegated, and one ~flash~ shade that stand alone or work together in whatever combination you like. Order as many skeins of one, two, or all three shades as you need...

Non-superwash yarn can require a little more thought and attention to care but the rewards are plentiful! Fibres that haven't been superwash treated tend to have more memory, bite, and structural interest, and the lack of chemical/processing intervention makes them better for the environment. Sometimes it feels like non-fiction books share a lot of those qualities! They might feel a little bit like they require a greater investment from us as readers but they reward us with stunning stories and insight that can live with us for years...

I'm particularly drawn to creative non-fiction; nature memoir, modern stories with a historical context, travelogues that offer geographical or political insight, and I'll be rummaging through my bookshelves (and making good use of my local library) to root out my past and present 'must-reads' as inspiration for this series.

Kerri Ní Dochartaigh's Cacophony of Bones is the inspiration for this instalment of the non club. I *loved* this book, it's my perfect blend of nature, memoir, poetic prose, and a real life laid bare. It tracks a year of Kerri's life in a small stone cottage in the heart of Ireland, but not just any year, the year is 2020 and as Kerri and her partner start to settle into their new home, the Covid pandemic shuts down the world around them and their one-room home suddenly becomes so much more than it might otherwise have been. Written in the style of a diary – in places it brought to mind The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White, that famous naturalist's diary charting the changing seasons and the flora and fauna – with short-form essays interspersed throughout, it is a raw book, a book that exposes all our human frailties in the face of a world-changing event but also our personal challenges as we navigate life-changing events like pregnancy.

The yarn base for this instalment is a 50/50 blend of non-superwash merino and silk in a classic fingering/4ply weight with 400m per 100g skein. It has a glorious sheen and drape and takes dye like a dream, allowing vibrant shades and dreamy blends and transitions. I'd use this for a classic shawl, or a very luxurious pullover. It's called nest | fingering and I'll be dyeing three shades that work together or hold their own. A semi-sold ~core~ shade, a subtly tonally variegated ~fluid~ shade, and a ~flash~ shade that's space-dyed to show off the soft tonal transitions we can create using our slow non-superwash dyeing techniques.

Head over to Pinterest to see our mood board and get an idea of our palette inspiration...

We're sticking with our favourite flexible yarn club model; just purchase the yarn options you'd like during the month that pre-sales are open and we'll do the rest. Alongside the yarn, I'll also be sourcing a little treat or two that I think compliment both the yarn and the book.

Running bi-monthly, each club instalment will go on sale at the start (or thereabouts) of *every other* month, starting in October, with parcels being dispatched before the end of the following month; so the first club orders will be sent out late-November, before the next instalment opens for pre-orders at the beginning of December, and so on.... It’s a super-flexible club; just choose and purchase your yarn before the pre-sales close at the end of the month. There's no need to cancel, and no pressure to repeat purchase. If you're signed up to our newsletter (see below if you're not!) or follow us on social media, you'll get all the info on the book, yarn base, and mood board/palette clues when each instalment opens and a gentle reminder when it's about to close.

Not a fan of yarn clubs? There will be extra skeins! I'll also be dyeing a couple of extra batches across all the yarn options and those will be available to buy ‘ready to ship’ once the club subscriber parcels have been delivered. So, if you’re not a fan of mystery yarn, you can wait and see if it grabs your heart (but you might have to be quick!)