Brewed By Limited Edition Specials
We can’t tell you how excited we are to be hosting our Virtual Mill Open Weekend again. Now you know we like to make a bit of a celebration out of these things, so we’ve created a whopping 12 (!) limited edition tops & yarn specials which will launch at 12pm (BST) on Saturday 9th July on both our website and with a selection of our stockists.
Introducing our Brewed by the Mill Folk specials! These stonkers were hand-selected and blended (and spun of course) by our talented team at the Mill. Everyone had a go at making a shade this time, and cor blimey have they whipped up some doozies! We’ve got three shades available across each weight in Appledore, Devonia, Harvest Hues and Yarnadelic so whatever your fave base, we’ve got you covered.
Have a little peek below to read a bit about each group of Mill Folk, glimpse the glorious specials they’ve created for our Virtual MOW, and hear what inspired them on their colour blending journeys…
Ginette & Donna Brewed up our Harvest Hues shades (4ply, worsted and fibre tops)
If you’ve ever emailed or called us at the Mill about an order, you’ve probably been lucky enough to natter with Ginette or Donna, two fabulous ladies who form our rocking Packing Land Team. They find joy in making your orders feel special, whether that’s writing a little personalised message or wrapping it with an extra bit of care, their attention to detail is second to none, as you can probably tell by this sophisticated collection of colours they’ve brewed up on our Harvest Hues base.
Can you tell us a bit about the colours you’ve created? What inspired you? We love the jewel-like colours of Harvest Hues and wanted to find some colours to complement the main range. We decided to get out our magnifying glasses and look at the amazing colours found in moths and butterflies for inspiration (when creating our limited edition shades).
Are these shades your normal colour palette? Yes! We chose these three shades because they match many items in our wardrobes.
How did you find the process of making these colours? We hid away in the office, pairing and blending lots of different colours and having a good ol’ giggle – especially when some of the colours we made were hideous!! (don’t worry, we put them straight in the compost)
Where did the names of your Brewed By shades come from? We named them after the moth varieties which inspired us, Blue Morpho (navy), Hawk Moth (dirty olive) and Luna (pale teal).
What would you make using these specials? We’ve both snagged some of the worsted for a cosy cardi and the teal (Luna) would be wonderful for a shawl in the 4ply.
What is your favourite part of the MOW? Meeting our lovely customers and helping them choose some goodies for an upcoming project.
Daisy & Phil Brewed up our Devonia shades (4ply, DK and fibre tops)
The Devonia Brew shades were masterminded by the delightfully mad Perkins family, father and daughter, Phil and Daisy. Phil works in downstairs production at the Mill, both gilling up fibre tops and also helping us wrangle our fibre stocks and looking after deliveries. Daisy heads up our finishing production, keeping folks on track with their coning and plying and skeining. She also has a reputation as the fastest yarn twiddler in the West Country – by our estimation at least! They chose our Devonia base for their special shades.
Can you tell us a bit about the colours you’ve created? What inspired you? We were originally inspired by the spice route and wanted to play with the warmer shades. We have loosely based the pink and purple on Pink Peppercorn, Himalayan Salt and Rose petals.
Is this your normal colour palette? Kind of. Phil loves green and brown, so the green/purple shade works for him. Daisy loves the rainbow. So all colours work for her.
How did you find the process of making the colours? Challenging but rewarding when we finally all decided on the finished colours.
Why were you drawn to your yarn base? Phil likes the shine and staple length of the lustre breeds. He likes a good smattering of woolly texture to his yarn too. Daisy loves the way Devonia knits really smoothly and evenly and enjoys the way the colours work together in the palette.
Where did the names come from? As anyone who lives in Devon can attest, nature is all around us. So we drew on this for our inspiration, when choosing Willowherb, Wild Damson and Beetle’s Wing.
What would you make using the yarn? What would you like to see someone else make? Phil and Daisy would love to make a kick ass jumper using all three shades. Daisy’s mum (Phil’s wife), Amanda, is a brilliant crochet designer and would whip up an intricate blanket.
What is your favourite part of the MOW? Phil – Cake and the customers! Daisy – I look forward to introducing people to Kit Harington and Andrew Scott (these are my pin ups to keep those ladies in Finishing Land motivated!)
Laura & Jack Brewed up our Yarnadelic shades (sport and fibre tops)
Laura and Jack work in downstairs production. Most days you’ll probably find them (along side Phil and John) blending tops and spinning the single plies, making sure our vintage machines are running like clockwork. Both of them are ever so handy with a spanner and a wrench – and can often be found with their heads inside a machine oiling all the cogs. As music lovers themselves, they relished the chance to add some new shades to the Yarnadelic range.
Can you tell us a bit about the colours you’ve created? What inspired you? We love a good head bash (especially whilst working) so the Yarnadelic shades seemed perfect for us, as all these shades are inspired by music. They both had different approaches though, as Jack was inspired by the album cover art and Laura linked the shade she’d created to a favourite song.
Are these shades your normal colour palette? We both thought we would be brave and step out of our usual comfort zones.
How did you find the process of making these colours? It was fun to try out some different options and see what worked. Things combined in unexpected ways.
Where did the names of your Brewed By shades come from? A range of different music from Kylie Minogue, to a soul drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, to a track by the Psychedelic Furs.
What would you make using these specials? Jack fancies a nice pair of fingerless gloves in Soul Drums and Laura would like to do a little lacework in Confide in Me – that pale pastel green would show up the pattern well!
What is your favourite part of the MOW? Showing off our glorious machines to anyone and everyone who wants to see them!
Martha & Tash Brewed up our Appledore shades (lace, DK and fibre tops)
Martha and Tash work upstairs as part of the JAT finishing crew (helmed by Daisy). They spend their days coning and skeining and putting the last finishing touches on your yarn. This pair aren’t afraid of colour, they are always the best dressed at any JAT event, complete with tie-dye overalls and gold cowboy boots no less! As you can see from the vibrant, playful shades they’ve put together for the Appledore range, they have given us a real pop of colour.
Can you tell us a bit about the colours you’ve created? What inspired you? We are both drawn to bright colours (the more fun the better!) and the existing Appledore shades are bananas so we wanted to try and make some even brighter bolder ones!
Are these shades your normal colour palette? Yes! We love everything colour – and love to stand out from the crowd. Of course, one of our shades had to be pink!
How did you find the process of making these colours? Delightful. We packed up all the equipment and headed off to the pub for an afternoon of mixing colours and drinking wine.
Where did the names of your Brewed By shades come from? We stuck with the apple theme and used a few West Country cider apples (like the rest of the range).
What would you make using these specials? We both have plans to make crazy colourwork jumpers using all three colours!
What is your favourite part of the MOW? Meeting you lovely woolly lot in person.
These Limited Edition Brewed by specials will go on sale as part of our Virtual MOW celebrations at 12pm (BST) on Saturday 9th July – hurrah!