In 2019 I ran the Blooming Lovely Yarn Club. I thoroughly enjoyed running the club; over the course of the year I released patterns and yarns - many of them hand dyed all with a botanical theme and the end of the year the patterns and accompanying essays were put together into the Blooming Lovely Club patterns and words publication.

I had planned to run this again in 2020 and was just about to launch when the pandemic struck and with it came huge uncertainty as to how to continue running a small mail order business in such a difficult situation. And so I shelved the 2020 club. In 2019 I also hosted my first retreats based around the area where I live. I loved running the retreats and again had plans in 2020 to host retreats on and around our farm. Of course, I have been unable to do so and sadly, the situation regarding travel and holidaying in the UK remains uncertain in 2021 and so I have decided instead to launch the RETREAT yarn and pattern club, bringing the farm, the sheep and the landscape to you.

The club is going to be somewhat different to that of 2019. There will be four installments, commencing in Spring and each will be accompanied by its own Retreat magazine published (see a sample cover image below) and created by myself and my daughter, Charlie.

Retreat magazine will contain an exclusive pattern, recipes, features about farm life, nature and plants, insights into keeping our rare breed and native sheep and of course, knitting.

There will be limited edition yarns and colour ways included to make the exclusive patterns and the magazine and patterns will also be provided digitally. Each pattern will also be accompanied by a video introduction from me and will include video tutorials too. There will also be gifts included in each yarn package that is sent out.

The designs will all be substantial accessories and will follow the direction of Evolution with wearable pieces inspired by my research into vintage knitwear.

The yarns featured will of course all be my own yarns with many of them hand dyed here on the farm such as my new Byre yarn, a fingering weight blend of Jacob and Shetland fleeces spun for me in nearby Yorkshire creating a beautifully soft yet robust yarn in a light natural grey, which when dyed creates stunning softly heathered tones like those shown below.

All of our hand dyed yarns are dyed in my Room Of My Own, my studio here on the farm and it is from here that I will also be creating some limited editions colours especially for the Retreat Club packages.

Within the pages of the Retreat magazine we will take you through a year on the farm, share with the changing colours of the seasons with glorious photography and give you an insight into life on our small Lancashire hill farm.

So let me tell you a little bit about where I live and work:

I live at Monkley Ghyll farm in rural Lancashire, northern England, on the edge of a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in a previously long-neglected hill farm, the farmhouse set deep into the clay bed of the hillside and surrounded by raw, stunning scenery on all sides. Across the Lune valley rises Clougha Pike, its heather-covered inclines glowing purple in the afternoon sun. Above, an endless sky, one day a startling, intense blue; the next a heavy grey carpet pressing down on the landscape below. The winds travel up-river straight from the sea, arriving at the farm almost unchecked in their ferocity, leaving mayhem behind them. The weather experienced here seems more extreme, more real; in turn, we feel more alive.

Here, on this exposed sandstone hillside, we have made our home and it is here where I tend my garden, plant trees, shrubs and flowers, grow my vegetables, bring the old orchard back to life, harvest the summer and autumn fruits and forage for edible weeds and mushrooms. With us on this exposed hillside are our small flock of rare and primitive breed sheep who we breed for their fleeces. The flock includes Shetland, Herdwick and the local rare breed, the Lonk. Living alongside our sheep are our two badly behaved goats, Jake and Elwood, four extremely noisy but fun-loving geese and our flock of free range chickens - and of course, our two cats, Misty and Noukie. I look forward to introducing you to them all as you 'join' us at Monkley Ghyll.

I'm excited to share this year with at Monkley Ghyll with you, in the only way we currently can and have created the Retreat Club to bring together my shared loves of knitting, growing, nature and wool. I want to show you how nature and the surrounding landscape have informed and changed how I design, how I look at colour, how I use the inspiration all around me and make something beautiful in response.

Retreat taps into this vein of inspiration. Each photograph or illustration within its pages inspires creativity with colour, with form and with texture. Each issue celebrates a different time of year, and the changes seen in our natural world as the seasons change. It is through this lens that I will be drawing on Retreat to provide a unique inspiration (that I can�t wait to share with you!) in four stunning designs created especially for club members, within the pages of the four stunning issues of the Retreat magazine both of which reflect the beauty found here at the farm and in the landscape surrounding my home.

I hope you will come with me on this creative journey over the course of this farming year.

What Will You Get in Each of The Four Instalments?

The current issue of Retreat magazine

An exclusive pattern* designed by Susan Crawford. Each design will be a substantial accessory - a shawl, socks, mittens or similar - perfect for the season and reflecting Susan's well-loved style and inspired by the landscape, flora, fauna and nature surrounding Monkley Ghyll farm.

A 200g (approx) yarn kit to knit the pattern. Yarns will be chosen from Susan's popular yarn ranges and from new yarns yet to be released and will include hand dyed yarns.

Special surprise gifts themed to each instalment.

A video introduction from Susan about each design.

Plus – a discount on other purchases made through the Susan Crawford Vintage website for the duration of the club.

Each kit will be beautifully packaged.

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* All the PDF patterns from the club can also be added to your ravelry library.