And the winners are...

Purl City Yarns would like to thank everyone who submitted an entry to our Inspired by Manchester design competition and to everyone who voted. We would especially like to thank our judges, Debbie Tomkies of DT Craft & Design and Jeni of Fyberspates.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough entries in all of the categories, so the garments and shawl categories were combined. Thanks again to our judges who decided on the following winners.

The winner of the sock category is Geim, designed by Audrey MacDonald and knitted with Lang Jawoll.

This is a man’s sock. The subtle pattern of interlocking hexagons has two Manchester inspirations.

1. In 2010 University of Manchester physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselove were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics ‘for ground-breaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene’. Graphene is a special form of carbon, in which the carbon atoms form a one atom thick layer in a honeycomb lattice formation.

2. In the 19^th century the city adopted bees as a symbol of Mancunian hard work and industry – there is a swarm of bees on the city’s coat of arms and on the mosaics in the town hall floor.

The winner of the accessories category is Polly McEldowney with her hat, Northern Skies. Northern Skies is knit with Fyberspates Sparkle Sock, Lang Jawoll Magic, Artesano Alpaca DK, and King Cole Baby Alpaca DK.

It’s a row of terraced houses like you see everywhere in Manchester. Some of the houses have got parties going on. The brim of the hat is slightly flared in homage to the classic bucket hat shape of the Madchester rave era. And the idea of focusing on the sky and adding stars came from the song ‘Northern Skies’ by local band I Am Kloot.

The winner of the shawl/garment category is Rebecca Stunell with her Rainy Day Shawl knit with Fyberspates Sparkle Sock.

Manchester has an undeniable, yet wholly undeserved reputation for being an incredibly rainy city. Personally, I quite like the rain (at least when I’m tucked up warm indoors with a cup of tea, watching raindrops chasing each other down window panes) and anyway, who could possibly dislike the rain when it’s made of Fyberspates Sparkle Sock with a few crystals thrown in for good measure.

All the entries have been on display on our 1st floor gallery for everyone to vote for their favourite design. The customer's choice winner is Polly's Northern Skies hat.


The winners of each category will receive a £50 gift voucher to Purl City Yarns. Thanks again to everything that participated; we had some excellent designs and hope everyone enjoyed themselves.