Summer is well and truly here which means many of us will put aside the heavy woolly projects and turn to lace. In this issue we showcase some of our favourite designs and useful tools.

Don't forget to keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Ravelry group to stay in touch with our latest news and giveaways.

Lace Working

Lace is a very satisfying way to showcase your knitting or crochet talents.
It's not as difficult as you might at first think but you really do need to concentrate on the pattern you have chosen.

You will certainly impress your friends with any of these patterns we have selected here.

A Hap for Harriet by Kate Davies

You can share pictures of your lace knitting with us on our Ravelry group.

Rock Island by Brooklyn Tweed

Weeping Willow by Leni McCormick

Bring out the best in your lace

A lace pattern will often be made up of repeating sections. To be able to work out where you are in the row, you may want to use stitch markers to show the repeats.

To really bring out the beauty of your lace you need to have good blocking tools. Lace, fresh off the needles or hook, can look a bit disappointing.

Carefully dampen your knitting and then using blocking pins slowly ease your project into the required shape and the beauty of the pattern will be revealed.

Knitting and Crochet Buddy

Here's a great way to keep track of your lace patterns and any other projects you have on the go. The Knitting and Crochet Buddy is an Android app that allows you to log all the projects you are working on . It was designed by a Android Developer Joe for his wife, an avid knitter and crocheter, who came up with the idea. Since then more than 30,000 people have downloaded the app. You can also keep track of yarn, hooks needles, which row you are on, how many pattern repeats you have done. There is even a ruler and a torch. Wow he really has thought of everything!

You can download the app from your Google Store and we have 2 Pro versions of the Knitting and Crochet Buddy to give away this month.

This is a really cool app that has already become indispensable to us.

Monthly Giveaway

Samantha Wheeler is the winner of the Waves Crochet set and Beatriz Molina is the winner of the book Edward's Menagerie. We have emailed you both so please respond to us before the end of July to claim your prize.Congratulations!

For July's giveaway we are offering a set of blocking mats and pins for all you avid lace fans as well as 2 pro versions of the Knitting and Crochet Buddy.