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September 28, 2007
New Super Chunky yarn
The show at Alexandra Palace will see the launch of one of our lovely winter yarns, a super chunky thick and thin handspun yarn which is the closest we have ever found to Colinette Point 5. Sold in skeins of 100g and around 60 yards this wool yarn is quick to knit into lovely chunky scarves, hats and little shoulder warmer capelets like Bella up there. A super simple knit this took me about 3 hours from start to finish, even including the loopy crochet border, and that's from someone who can't really crochet more than a chain.
We'll have the yarn and pattern on sale at Alexandra Palace in lots of gorgeous colours. I was having a Dulux moment when I named the above colour Apple White, it really is the palest shade of soft appley green. I love the HUGE button I found to fasten it but it would look gorgeous tied with ribbon or with any other kind of fastening. A shawl pin or brooch would be great as well.
To be in with the chance of winning a kit to make one of these in the same colour as shown here (but without the button, sorry) just suggest a name for this range of yarn in the comments. I'm naming all of our yarns after women in Shakespeare's plays. These ones are already in use Juliet (100% silk), Cleopatra (Carolyn's lovely mohair blend yarns), Desdemona (the lambswool, cashmere, angora sock yarn), Ophelia (the merino sock yarn), Cressida (BFL yarn) and Olivia (100% cashmere) Any other name of one of Shakespeare's ladies will be considered. I'll choose my favourite out of all your suggestions on Monday next week and the first person to have suggested the winner will win the kit.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:27 AM | Comments (36)
September 27, 2007
My boy
I *love* this boy so much. Cam is a typical 3 year old boy, he is full of energy, sometimes a little too rough and tumble. He has tantrums and sulks with the best of them. At the same time he is loving, cuddly, kind and just so sweet. A complete mixture of slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails together with sugar and spice and all things nice. He is my boy.
Lots of people still mistake him for a girl but that's OK. His hair is longer and thicker than Brooke's (almost down to his bum when it is wet in the bath) and he wears it in plaits pretty much all of the time. I love it when someone tells him he is a pretty girl or a good girl and he looks them in the eye and laughs his fabulous laugh and says "My not a girl, my a boy. I'm Cameron!" How people can look at him in his Bob the Builder T shirt and other boy clothes and still think he is a girl is beyond me. Its the long hair and those gorgeous big eyes and long lashes I think. It doesn't matter. He knows who he is and he's not afraid to correct people. I love that!
When he was first born and everyone shook their heads and told me that boys were MUCH different from girls and I really didn't pay them much attention. At that point I truly believed that it was a case of nurture over nature and really, if we treated him in the same way that we treated Brooke how could they be too different. Oh, how wrong I was. In my experience, boys are TOTALLY different to girls in just about every way I can think of. Cameron jumps and climbs and runs and shouts and takes things apart where Brooke used to sit and play and pretend to read. Sometimes he doesn't know when to stop but that's where we come in as his parents, to teach him his boundaries and make sure he grows up into a good man.
Sometimes I find it hard to remember that he only just turned 3. He is doing so well at nursery and I cherish the couple of days a week that he stays home with Trinity and I. The time that I spend with him is sometimes stressful, sometimes funny but always busy and full on. He does not stop for a minute. He talks and laughs and jumps and sings constantly. It can be really wearing but that's just the way he is. I admit that some days it is harder to deal with than on others and that I do lose my temper with him rather more than I am proud of but I'm working on that.
My super huggley (his word, not mine) grown up boy who last night made my heart burst with love and pride when I asked him to try on a new hat I knitted for him (posh yarn 8 ply cashmere, less than 1 skein. Knit from the top down using no real pattern, I have more to make him a scarf) and the first thing he said was "does it make my look cool?" yes, Cameron. It does make you look cool. When he followed that up with a hug and a unprompted thank you for the hat it made me well up. Love you so much my grown up boy. xx
Posted by Kerrie at 06:18 AM | Comments (8)
September 26, 2007
Scarf Kits and quilt tops
Sometimes things happen all at once and it seems like fate. I had 3 emails over the weekend. The first one was from a lovely customer of mine ,Gilraen, asking me if I had any silk that she could use to make the cover scarf pattern from the new Vogue Knitting Magazine. Then I had one from a new customer who was asking if I thought that the aran silk would be good to use to make a chevron scarf out of (YES!!) and if so could I tell her which colours would work well together. Finally I had another email from a new customer asking me how much of the aran silk she would need to make a scarf out of.
My brain started to tick and this is what we came up with. Beautiful scarf kits with colours chosen especially for you. Each kit contains 3 x 50g skeins of our aran weight silk in co-ordinating colours and would be perfect for either the Vogue flower scarf, the Chevron scarf or any other scarf you want to make! We can probably do these in any colours that you like but these are the ones that we made up for this week. I'll try and get some more done in time for Ally Pally I think.
The shop will be updated at 8pmm GMT tonight with these and lots of other goodies. For now, you can see all of the scarf kits on their very own flickr set , these are my favourites!
We also have some Sew Hip quilt top kits that give you enough rectangles of fabric to piece together a cot size or slightly bigger quilt top. We've done all the hard work for you by choosing and cutting out the pieces, all you have to do is sew them together into strips, piece together your quilt top and then choose what to do next. My favourites here are :
Posted by Kerrie at 07:52 AM | Comments (6)
September 25, 2007
Yesterday
Ugh - I'm not feeling very creative this morning, something to do with the fact that Trinity was up twice last night, Cameron was up once and then Brooke was up twice as well. Lack of sleep really knocks me out. Shame I have so much planned for today otherwise I'd be retreating to bed and trying to persuade Trinity to sleep all day.
So in place of anything creative here's a wee peak into my Monday this week.
- I clocked up 8 hours of HipKnits / MagKnits / YF Mag work including sending out 3 wholesale orders, 18 retail orders, sending 108 emails, making 3 phone calls and taking 38 photos of new gorgeous yarn kits to put on the site for you tomorrow.
- I baked * a cheesecake - this was the first cheesecake I've made from a recipe totally my own after playing with so many cheesecake recipes for ages. Both Brooke and Wayne pronounced it the best cheesecake ever so that made me happy.
- I broke * my toe. This one didn't make me so happy. I'm getting it checked out this morning but I think that dropping a tin on it from a top level cupboard really wasn't the best move I could have made. A purple swollen toe that can't bear weight really isn't much use to me at the moment.
- I wrote out the pattern for and knitted a whole chunky shoulder wrap mini shawlette type thing.
- The kids and I went out on bikes (and in pushchairs) after dinner for an hour. Peaceful relaxing time that despite the hobbling from me was just what I needed to restore some sanity to my head.
I'm sure there was more but I can't remember it at the moment. Today was set to be even busier but a lot of that depends on the toe situation!
Oh yes, have you seen that Michaela is collecting 4 ply squares to sew together to make a blanket (or blankets) to raffle in aid of Oliver's fund? Raffle tickets are £1 each and you could win the beautiful hand knitted blanket at the end of it, now that has to be worth it, don't you think? So, knit a square and send it in together with some money to buy raffle tickets and you may just get your square back together with lots of other squares.
* No wonder the English language is so hard to learn. Who would have have guessed that the past tenses of To Bake and To Break could be so different?
Posted by Kerrie at 07:02 AM | Comments (6)
September 24, 2007
Pinwheelish cardigan type thing
Halfway through the pinwheel cardigan I was inspired to knit a shawl out of sock yarn that was kind of pinwheelish. Then I decided that I wanted to get the pattern written up and the sample knitted in time for Alexandra Palace. Yeah right, we'll see if that happens.
This caused me to lose interest in the pinwheel cardigan ever so slightly and I ended up making it a short sleeved version so that I would only use 100g of yarn. It still looks lovely and I made Cameron try it on to see if it would still fit a big 3 year old and you know what? It did. Not that he kept it on for long enough for me to take a photo but it did fit him.
Even without the frilly edging and with short sleeves I think it looks lovely on Trinity. Now I can get on with the new shawl and all the other bits and bobs that I really need to get ready for AP. Another busy week in line for me, I have lots of custom orders to dye today and 3 wholesale orders to finish off and get in the post as well. Oh, and the remaining 3 skeins of aran BFL that I dyed will be in the shop on Wednesday along with plenty of other goodies.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:32 AM | Comments (7)
September 21, 2007
Call for submissions
I posted this call for YF magazine submissions on the Ravelry designers board last night but thought I should share it here.
"For now I'm looking at our December issue and although we have around 20 patterns slated for publication we're a little accessory heavy. If anyone has any cardigan or sweater designs that are either complete / almost complete or can be completed and with me in the UK by the end of October then I would love to see them.
The rules :
No accesories this time around. Garments for children, men or women are welcome.
The design must be your own, original and not previously published elsewhere or currently submitted to another magazine for consideration.
The deadline for finished garments to be with me in the UK is the end of October. Allow a week's shipping for international designers.
Payment will be made in form of a monetary amount and a copy of the magazine. Full copyright is retained by the designer.
We are particularly looking for more complex designs, think intermediate or advanced knitters. However if you have a beautiful yet simple sweater design for us then send it over, we may well make an exception for the perfect design!
Please email me at kerrie AT hipknits.co.uk if you have anything that we might be interested in.
Take care Kerrie x"
Issue 3 of the magazine is coming together nicely and is still on track to be ready in time for Ally Pally. There are likely to be some big changes in the air for issues 4 onwards but I'll tell you more about those in a couple of weeks.
I've clocked up some silly hours this week, more than 55 hours over the last 4 days. Today I've inevitably woken up with a sore throat and headache so its a quiet day for me. I may even pick up the pinwheel cardigan again if I'm lucky.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:08 AM | Comments (1)
September 20, 2007
Fabrics
I am in the process of moving the sew hip fabrics over to the HipKnits shop to make it easier for everyone to order. I have the hand printed Australian ones from Sprout Design and Kristen Doran design on there at the moment. Go and take a look... I'm hoping to have all the Japanese ones on there today and tomorrow as well as some new sewing patterns.
Posted by Kerrie at 10:45 AM | Comments (1)
Dresser
I bought this dresser from ebay the other week, lovely isn't it? It looks a little bare at the moment but soon it will be filled with yarn and fabric as it sits in the corner of the shop. I'm probably going to strip it and paint it at some point but for now it can remain pine. Inspired by Heather's beautiful studio pics, I've been looking for one of these for ages. Mine is not as grand as her one but I love it never the less.
Lime zest, raspberry torte and blue diamond are my current top paint choices, but thats sure to change.
Posted by Kerrie at 12:16 AM | Comments (6)
September 19, 2007
Touch wood
So far (touch wood) I'm the only one in the house not to have come down with this high temperature, bad cold, stomach bug type thing that is floating around. Wayne and Trinity are super sick with it (Trinity has added an ear infection into the mix!) and Brooke and Cameron are just about managing to keep it at bay although neither of them is properly well. This means that my nightimes are interrupted with 4 lots of high temperatures (3 of them needing Calpol regularly and the 4th one being left to fend for himself) and sad faces. Last night was the worst so far - I was under the duvet for 8 hours but got up 9 times. No wonder I feel half asleep today. Sigh.
No knitting either yesterday, it was another silly busy one with me clocking in another 12 hour day. Lots of paperwork and admin to be done after I packed up all of the parcels. I could feel the postman groan as he saw the 3 sacks of mail waiting for him to collect. I'm sure he likes our quiet days although there is always at least 20 parcels for him to pick up. Although it was another busy busy day I feel good about what I achieved though :
Redesign the Sew Hip site (will be live at the weekend)
Redesign the HipKnits site (will be live at the weekend)
New version of all our wholesale documents
Lots and lots of accounts and invoicing
PR stuff
It does mean that the pinwheel cardigan still looks like this though, which is pretty much where I left it on Sunday night.
I messed up the armholes and I'm not sure whether I need to rip back and fix them or if they will still work. I didn't cast on the extra stitches, just slipped the 18 onto spare yarn. What do you think, was the casting on important to be done at that stage? I need to read the pattern again properly when I'm not half asleep I think!
Wayne put together a pdf document yesterday with lots of photos of Brooke, Cameron and Trinity as babies called Who is who. I'm ashamed to say that I got one of them wrong, I was sure that the photo was of Trinity but it was in fact Cameron. How embarrassing. Little clones they are!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:48 AM | Comments (8)
September 18, 2007
Mini Photoshoot
Thanks for all the yarn orders last night, you guys just want to make sure I spend all day wrapping gorgeous yarns in tissue paper and putting them in envelopes don't you? I don't mind really... As long as I can knit some of the pinwheel today, I spent 12 hours working yesterday without any time to knit. It had to be done but I'd like just a leetle time to work a few rounds today, is that OK?
I've been wanting to tell you that I had a mini photoshoot one day last week, just another opportunity for my neighbours to realise quite how insane I actually am. Standing in a cornfield with arms full of yarn indeed! Its a good job that it was the nice postlady who walked past and saw me and not the grumpy one really..
Marianne (and Barry!) took the photos. You can see them here. Aren't they lovely? The ones of the yarn and Trinity that is, I still don't like photos of me very much but they're not bad - all things considering. It was a lot of fun having them taken, Marianne and Barry are both lovely people who made Trinity and I feel nice and relaxed.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:34 AM | Comments (10)
September 17, 2007
Monday monday
We had a lovely little hot chocolate break at Starbucks in Romford yesterday to meet Nic and Pete - the cutest little baby ever, he is just so sweet. Brooke had a cuddle with him and Nic took a photo I think, my camera didnt make it off the kitchen table, I'm rubbish at taking photos sometimes! Mrs Pao was there and Lucy (I think - sorry if I got your name wrong, brain fog!) so it proved to be a good place to stop for half an hour on the way to Sunday dinner.
I knitted a little more of the pinwheel cardigan, it should probably be finished today or tomorrow. Its such a quick and easy knit, I'm loving it. The yarn is looking quite pretty as it knits up as well - I'll get lots of pics of Trinity wearing it and show you as soon as I can.
The show at the NEC was almost as dire as last year unfortunately. We cut costs a LOT this year which meant that we made a small profit (enough for a visit to pizza hut this weekand not much else) but really it wasn't really worth it. Noonie had a good time teaching the classes and looking after the stand though and we made a few good contacts so it wasn't all doom and gloom. It is very unlikely that we'll be there next year though. Now we're looking on to Ally Pally and Harrogate over the next few weeks. I'm also teaching classes at Dublin but can't afford a stand over there, it will be a nice weekend away though.
Busy photographing all of the lovely lovely sock yarns that came home from Birmingham. They will be on the site at 8pm tonight along with hundreds of other skein of yarn. I hope you're ready, see you there?
EDITED TO ADD - I just finished the stock take of yarns to go on the site tonight. THere are over 500 skeins of yarn!! Oh My.
ANOTHER EDIT - Here is the flickr set for today's update. Forgive me for naming the yarns 01, 02, 03 etc but inspiration ran smartly out of the window when it saw all those piles of yarn waiting to be named. Its impossible for me to pick a favourite, I just keep looking at all the yarns piled up on my kitchen floor and change my mind every minute. There are a few ones that if they don't sell by the weekend have my name written all over them but I'm not telling you which ones.
FINAL EDIT OF THE DAY. Its done and updated and I'm "almost" sick of the sight of yarn. Almost. Go see. x
Posted by Kerrie at 11:38 AM | Comments (5)
September 14, 2007
Pinwheel yarn
Well, the pinwheel sweater yarn has been chosen dyed and is dry and ready to wind into a ball and start knitting with. Andy took the time to email me and point out how perfect aran weight BFL yarn would be for the cardigan and I decided that he was probably right (but don't tell him that!) I dyed 400g of yarn so there will be plenty of yarn, I'm expecting to use up to 200g of it.
I started the sweater with some handspun yarn yesterday but it turned out to be the wrong gauge, too much on the chunky side. I think that this aran weight BFL will be perfect.
When I dyed this yarn I also dyed lots of other goodies which "hopefully" will be dry enough to take pics of this evening and get on the site for you all. I have some lace weight coast, some sock weight coast, some BFL sock and some lace cashmere hanging up looking beautiful in my garden. I'm out at a friends house tonight so it will be a little earlier than usual, say around 7.30pm?
Edited to add - well its 6.30pm and the combination of the good camera having been dropped on the concrete and broken, the backup camera having flat batteries, and a husband who is still not home from work means that the chances of me getting the shop updated before I go out is minimal. (we're currently not thinking about what will happen if he isn't home by the time I want to go out. You'll probably all hear the scream of disappointment if I get the kids all tucked up in bed and then don't get to go out just for a couple of hours)
So, how about I spend the weekend photographing all of the lovely yarns and fabrics that I have as best I can with the small camera, finish off some of the sewing patterns that I've been working on and get these and all of the leftover yarns from the NEC on the website Monday evening at 8pm. That will be a BUMPER update, definitely one to stalk. Have a nice weekend everyone, lets hope the sun keeps on shining. x
Posted by Kerrie at 07:55 AM | Comments (4)
September 13, 2007
Things are looking up
Yesterday was tiring but good. Trinity seemed to like Birmingham and as far as I can tell Birmingham loved her, but then who wouldn't? Noonie and I set up the stand in super speed time (2 hours) while mum and Trinity wandered around outside and waited for us. We're in prime position, as soon as you walk in the main entrance of the show we are the 3rd stand you'll see. Don't be confused by the fact that we are in the show guide as MagKnits with someone elses address and other details - the HUGE HipKnits banner and pretty yarns should give us away. Make sure to say hi to Noonie or dad depending on what day you visit.
Some good news came in the afternoon (more on that another time) and Trinity made it through her first day with a tooth. I made it through my first ever day of breasfeeding a toothed baby, both brooke and cam were late teethers and safely onto bottles before they broke through. She seems to be getting more of an appetite for solid foods these days as well which bodes well for Ally Pally in 4 weeks time.
Also in the good news stakes yesterday, my sister suggested she buy me that necklace as a belated birthday present - thanks Jen - and One Planet yarn and fiber put up tonnes of our sock yarns for sale.
Posted by Kerrie at 12:28 AM | Comments (9)
September 12, 2007
Loving it
I had this big long post all written out and ready to publish but reading it back it was just too depressing to share. So I decided that I probably need to just stay under the porch for a little longer and get over myself. Sometimes you have to make a conscious decision to be happy and not just wallow and that's my plan for today. Be happy.
I was out of the house while it was still dark this morning packing up the car so that Trinity, mum and I can drive to Birmingham today and set up the show at the NEC. Its nice to come home and find everyone up and eating breakfast and happy to see me.
If we sell any yarn at all at the NEC (and it couldn't be any worse than last year) I'm going to buy myself this beautiful Cath Kidston necklace. Isn't it lovely?
Posted by Kerrie at 06:26 AM | Comments (6)
September 11, 2007
Under the porch
Thank you all so much for all the book recommendations, I've had a lot of fun looking them all up on Amazon. Some have been ordered already and many have been added to the list of authors / books to consider in the future so thank you to everyone who made a suggestion either in email or the comments.
I'm currently reading Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen and really enjoying it so far. So much of what she says is striking a chord with me, especially the bit about being under the porch. Those of you who have read it will understand when I say that's exactly what I do (and where I am at the moment) and those of you who haven't read it really should do. Its about a woman who on the face of it appears to have it all until she utters 2 truthful but explosive words on air as she presents a morning breakfast show. It reminds me a lot of the book I read a while ago, which I can't remember the name of, about a journalist who has a very public nervous breakdown while announcing the news of the death of princess Diana. I really enjoyed that one as well.
I thought I'd tease you with a couple more pictures of yarn that is on its way to the NEC this week. There will be similar beautiful yarns on the website on Friday again this week but these particular beauties are destined for the show.
5 beautiful colours of Ophelia in 113g skeins
Huge great big squishy skeins 113g skeins of Desdemona
5 more shades of Coast
Posted by Kerrie at 07:33 AM | Comments (4)
September 10, 2007
72 ways to simplify your life
I cannot stress enough how excited I am to have found this site, 72 ideas to simplify your life, I'm in desperate need of some life simplifying right now.
Now, its slightly ironic don't you think that the list of things you need to do to simplify your life is 72 items long. 72 items! That is one very NOT SIMPLE list. Really. 72 ideas seems so un-simple to me but I am determined to work through it. This is important to me and you guys get to join me on my quest for a simple life - how exciting for you all!
So lets start by going through the list and working out which of the 72 ideas I already have sorted. Its a scary number, not as many as I would like (4 out of 72 is pretty poor) but these are the ones that I do already.
- Keep your email inbox empty. I get it down to under 10 every night before I go to bed. Granted its back up into 3 figures again every morning but still....
- Create morning and evening routines. I LOVE my morning and evening routines and wouldn't swap them for the world.
- Simplify your RSS feeds.. I have none. Simple enough?
- Live closer to work. Nuff said about this one.
Now, these are the first ones that I really want to learn to do.
- Make a list of your top 4-5 important things. This should be fairly straightforward (she says) and seems to be the basis for a lot of the other points. One for tomorrow I think.
- Evaluate your commitments. Hmm, this may take some time. I am the commitment woman. I'll do it though.
- Evaluate your time. Fairly straightforward, I have a fairly good idea of where my time goes at the moment.
- Simplify work tasks. OK.
- Simplify home tasks. OK.
- Learn to say no. This is going to be a big one for me. I spend my life doing favours for other people, rarely do I get the same extended back to me and in a way I don't mind but at the same time I know that I need to learn to say no a lot more often than I do now.
- Limit your communications. I like this idea. Email can be a real time waster for me so I like the idea of having set times of the day for email and I really should get all my phone calls out of the way in the morning instead of stressing about them all day given my dislike of the phone.
Hmmm, I appear to be working my way down the list with the ones I want to do. Lets take this one step at a time, shall we? I can see some serious list making this week. I don't want to complicate my life by working through the process of simplifying it (does that even make sense to the rest of the world?) but I do love a good system and anything that involves making lots of lists so we could be onto a winner here..
Posted by Kerrie at 12:35 AM | Comments (5)
September 09, 2007
Working From Home
Most days in the week I bring some work home with me. Whether that work is orders to pack or yarn to label or photograph - most days see me driving from shop to home and back again with a car full of yarn stuff. This is mainly because Trinity is obviously more settled at home than she is in the shop and at the first sign of her being unhappy in the kiddies corner we pack up and head home.
This weekend I had yarn to dye. Lots and lots of yarn to dye. 100 skeins of it in fact. I had hoped to pop into the shop a few times over the weekend while Wayne was home with the kids and get it done in stages. Then I had the bright idea of bringing the dyeing home with me. I packed up only my basic dyes (3 pots of primary colours) 100 skeins of wet yarn and some of the equipment and as Saturday was a bright sunny morning, I set up camp outside in the garden. 4 hours later our usually boring garden looked like this.
Pretty huh? I had to bribe the kids not to run around and knock off all the carefully balanced curtain poles but on the whole it was a worthwhile morning. I dyed 10 shades of our GORGEOUS new seacell and merino sock yarn, Coast, which will be at the NEC next week. Oh my goodness, this yarn is just gorgeous. I am in love with the way it takes the dye, the way it feels and looks. It is perfect.
Out of these 5 skeins I can't decide which is my favourite colour. I change my mind every time I look at them! What do you think?
Posted by Kerrie at 12:43 AM | Comments (8)
September 08, 2007
Reading
First some new to me blogs that I am loving at the moment :
I really can't decide which one of them I want to be when I grow up.
Now, I need some book advice. You know that I'm an obsessive reader - right? Recently I've overdosed on the thriller / mystery type books and I'm feeling a bit over them. I LOVE Jodi Picoult and The Time Travellers wife* was one of my favourite books ever - can anyone recommend other authors in that kind of vein? Not really chick lit, not thriller or crime, not horror but something a little different.
In another vein I have a big collection of Rowan Magazines to sell. There are 19 magazines in all, from number 18 to 39 – the only ones MISSING from the set are numbers 22, 24 and number 30. All of the other numbers from 18 to 39 are there just not those 3. I'm thinking of putting the whole set on ebay for a BIN price of £150 (around £8 each) or maybe listing them individually. Anyone interested? Drop me an email if you think you might be otherwise I'll probably list them all next week sometime. Sold. Thank you!
* Has anyone read any of Audrey Niffenegger's other books? Worth it or was the TTW a one off?
Posted by Kerrie at 12:26 AM | Comments (14)
September 07, 2007
Friday 5 or 6
1 - A few people have asked me about Trinity's jumper, I didn't use a pattern - just picked up my handspun and started to knit. I wrote down what I did to make her exact one which will fit around 6 - 12 months and no doubt at some point I'll get around to writing up the pattern for more sizes. I'll do it quicker if you nag me ;)
2 - The plan is that the next issue of Yarn Forward magazine will be posted to subscribers just before Ally Pally and available to the rest of the world at Ally Pally. Issue 4 will be out before Christmas with a little something for subscribers as a thank you for sticking with us through what can only be described as one hell of a year. After that, who knows? I'll be making the decision about whether to continue with the magazine in the next few weeks and I'll let you know when its clear.
3 - Shop update this evening with a newsletter only 10% off discount code valid all weekend. Shall we say 8pm tonight?
4 - I knitted this sleeve while Trinity and I were away. Pretty isn't it? Our very own aran weight silk, 4.5mm needles and nice shaping. Maybe one day it will have a brother or sister sleeve and the rest of the garment as well. We'll see.
5 - NEC Knitting and Stitching show next week. Noonie and dad are in charge of the stand so be nice to them if you go, OK? No nagging either one of them about the magazine as they won't be able to answer any questions. Save your nagging for me, I can take it! There will be some sale bargains there as well as lots and lots of patterns, kits, yarns and other yummies that you expect from us. Trinity is not really self sufficient enough for me to go along (who am I kidding, she is NOWHERE near self sufficient enough for me to spend even an hour away from her!) so I'll be at home hoping that the show is a million times better than it was last year.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:13 AM | Comments (4)
September 06, 2007
To be knitted
I fell in love with this pinwheel baby sweater that Alison knitted one for her wee one. How cute is that? Its one of those patterns that I had seen but wouldn't have considered knitting until I saw Alison's version. Reason number 3 million why I love the Internet.
The pattern calls for lovely aran weight yarn, my favourite weight of yarn to knit. I'm wondering what stash yarn I can use as I dont want to buy any new - HipKnits cashmere is probably a little too luxurious for a wee one do you think? Or maybe not, get her hooked on the good stuff from a nice early age. Or perhaps I could spin some yarn for it, now there's an idea. Hmmm, off to investigate the stash for some more options for this one, my non HipKnits yarn stash is teeny but if you include the yarn in the shop then my options are ENDLESS!
Posted by Kerrie at 06:41 AM | Comments (8)
September 05, 2007
Mini Break
Trinity and I have had a mini break. Not one of Bridget Jones' mini breaks unfortunately but a mini break from home, blogging and the shop nevertheless. We're back home now and man its good to be back. I tried to take some pics of her wearing her new little jumper but most of them came out blurry apart from the little one above. Its too warm again this week to wear it but I'm sure that will change soon enough.
I'm a little behind, forgive me. The shop will be updated on Friday this week instead of today. The ever amazing Sue has finished knitting some more samples for me so there will be lots of new patterns and kits available. For now, I'm off for a nap with my little one. We have lots of sleep to catch up on. x
Posted by Kerrie at 12:21 PM | Comments (9)