Since 2015 we have celebrated our birthday, so this September will see the seven special limited-edition yarn.

Having celebrated Cornish Tin (twice), painting with Brushwork, exploring Cornish moors with Tor and Gardens, we are now turning to the surrounding sea. We are so lucky to have a lengthy and beautiful coastline, which also has a public footpath along its full glorious 200 plus miles. Along that coast is an enormous range of scenery.

The North Cornish coast is rugged, with high cliffs, occasional harbours, and wide sandy beaches. Whereas, the South Cornish coast is more small-scale, with wooded estuaries, fishing ports and smaller more pebbly beaches. Those in the know can find surf on either coast. However, the north coast is more for surfing, while the south coast is better for windsurfing and sailing.

The smaller, sheltered beaches are often called coves and we have chosen this name for our sixteenth birthday yarn: Cove. The Cornish word for cove is Porth, while for beach it is Treth. We have chosen Cove for the yarn name as it’s more likely to be understood amongst our worldwide customers. There are 6 shades within the colour palette, and they are named after features of the typical Cornish seaside, we have also embraced the Cornish language within the shade names.

The yarn itself is made (as usual for our Birthday editions) from a blend of sheep breeds that we have chosen for softness, light natural colour and some bulk. So, down to the yarn composition, there is around 7% English Merino, the very last from Annabel Spencer (who also contributed to Cornish Garden). In addition we have 36% each of Norfolk Horn, a listed rare breed from a single flock, and Shetland from seven small flocks, with the balance made up with the favourite Blue-faced Leicester, also from a single flock. Of these, the Norfolk Horn is a bit more robust to give strength to the blend, while the Shetland and Merino provide softness and bulk and the Blue-faced Leicester also adds lustre and softness, as well as slimming the yarn down a bit and adding to the drape.