Dear Crafter
Last weekend, Dr Thomas and I did something very continental.
We left Peckham (the posh part), took the train to St Pancras, boarded the Eurostar, and within a few hours found ourselves gliding into Europe like two extremely organised people who absolutely did not pack at the last minute.
We changed in Brussels.
Now… I’d love to tell you this was a swift, efficient connection.
It was not.
It was a “quick lunch” that somehow involved chocolate, more chocolate, and a slightly philosophical discussion about whether yarn and chocolate are, in fact, the same emotional category.
(They are.)
Destination: Cologne.
Mission: H+H Cologne
For those who haven’t been, imagine this:
A vast hall filled with yarn, needles and hooks.
People discussing fibre blends with the intensity of heart surgeons.
And me… walking around saying, “oh that’s lovely” every 14 seconds.
Heaven.
Now, one of the things I’m most proud of at McIntosh is this:
We only work with family-owned companies.
Real people. Real families. Real passion.
No banks. No hedge funds. No venture capital. Just proper yarn people who know which end of the knitting needle is which.
And, importantly… they knit.
As you can see in the photo above, Jakob Lang — Mr Lang himself — sitting there knitting with me. Not for show. Not for marketing. Just… getting on with it.
And not just knitting — magic loop knitting.
Which, frankly, tells you everything you need to know.
After months of Zoom calls, emails, and me saying “just one more question about yarn structure”… we finally met Jakob and the wonderful team from LANGYARNS in person.
Reader… they were excellent.
Warm, welcoming, and reassuringly as obsessed with yarn as we are.
And then… a small moment.
Halfway through discussing yarn…
Dr Thomas gently says,
“Isn’t today our wedding anniversary?”
…
Yes.
Yes it was.
Our first wedding anniversary.
Celebrated exactly how all great love stories should be:
In a business meeting.
With yarn.
Eating schnitzel.
Drinking schnapps.
Followed by strudel.
Who says romance is dead? It’s just… very well organised.
It was also Dr Thomas’s first time entering his native Germany as a dual British/German citizen, which felt quite momentous… right up until we were distracted by yarn again.
Priorities.
Now, important things…
We have seen the LANGYANRS Autumn/Winter 2026/27 collection 👀
I am legally, emotionally, and possibly spiritually not allowed to tell you anything yet…
but just know… it’s very good.
We’ll talk about that in a few months.
For now…
There are new LANGYARNS patterns quietly live on the website (consider this your insider whisper 🤫), and I’ll share more properly next Sunday.
And finally…
We have some rather beautiful new arrivals:
KnitPro genuine leather knitting bags.
Now these are proper bags.
The kind that make you feel like a very organised, very suave and elegant knitter… even if, like me, your project currently lives in a tote bag with a rogue biscuit.
So there we are.
A weekend of trains, chocolate, yarn, schnitzel, and accidental romance.
And a quiet reminder…
A stitch becomes a breath.
A breath becomes a moment.
And sometimes… that moment involves strudel.
James McIntosh — the one-man band that is McIntosh
and Dr Thomas, now fully trained in yarn-related decision making 🧶
