HipKnits

Doesn't it look pretty? Didn't she do a good job? I LOVE it. What's the betting we sell more of the yarn at Harrogate now?

Posted by Kerrie at 11:58 AM | Comments (4)

October 26, 2007

Tulip cardigan

I blame Tracy* for all of this really. We were having an early morning Yarn Forward magazine meeting at her house last week Saturday and going through some of the bits that she and Catherine* had picked up at Ally Pally at the same time as planning issue 4 and eating biscuits. (we're women, we're supposed to be able to multitask!) I had a wee rummage through her goodies that she bought from Ally Pally and spotted a kit for the Tulip cardigan that I had seen Steph make ages ago and loved at the time.

Fast forward to 9pm last Saturday night, there I am sitting on the sofa watching the rugby and sorting out a few emails and orders and various other bits online. I remembered that Tracy said she bought the kit from Socktopus so I headed over there to have a little look. I just about managed to resist the cardigan kit and bought the pattern, emailing Alice at the same time to say that either a pdf or a posted copy was fine with me. I love other small business owners who also work long hours and within 10 minutes she had emailed me the pdf and refunded me the small amount I had paid for shipping. I love good customer service like this!

How fun. I'm sooo glad that I didn't get the kit now as I noticed that it takes aran weight yarn and also that it is only sized for 6 - 9 months. Trinity is a bit on the large size to be making cardigans that size for and then I remembered the multitude of skeins of aran weight cashmere that I have hiding in the cupboard downstairs waiting to be used in something fairisle. Michaela had inspired me to make my own version of Tipsy but as if by magic some of the skeins are going to become Tulip for Trinity. I cannot wait to start it but I do have a few more bits to get done first. Sometime next week Tulip, I promise you. I only have 5 colours instead of the 8 used in the original and I want to make it a little bigger so it will be a very Kerrie version of the pattern but that doesn't shock you does it? I may steal another colour of aran cashmere from the shop if there is any left next week. We'll see...

*Tracy and Catherine are responsible for the design of the new YF magazine. Love them!!

Posted by Kerrie at 07:11 AM | Comments (2)

October 25, 2007

Beautiful Books

These gorgeous books arrived in the post last week and I have only just found the time to sit and devour them. I have fallen in love all over again with Amy Butler, her book is just amazing. There are only a few patterns in it but the writing and the photos and the ideas in it are just so inspirational. This book is going to be looked at time and time again, her design sense and her style are just gorgeous. Beautiful.

The skirt book is equally amazing. I have skirts cut out already using a couple of the patterns and plan to make many more. I've been buying lots of long sleeved tops from Primark (£2 each - how can you go wrong) and I can see myself wearing them with handmade skirts and knitted vest tops a lot this winter. It will be my new uniform. I want to get some new boots from Duo Boots and I would love to get hold of some thick striped tights - any idea where from?

Finally Joelle's new patchwork book is also gorgeous. I really struck gold with these books all arriving at once, none of them are less than fantastic. I can see lots of quilts in my future and the puzzle ball looks intriguing as well.. Plenty of Christmas gifts to be found in this one. All in all I have lots of sewing to do over the next few weeks I think, must buy some new bobbins...

Posted by Kerrie at 12:02 AM | Comments (5)

October 24, 2007

Purple goodies

I really shouldnt tell you too much about this yarn that I'm knitting at the moment but oh my, it is amazing. You would think that it would be impossible for me to get excited about other people's hand dyed yarns what with HipKnits and all but that's not the case at all. I LOVE other people's yarns, I have a few skeins of Posh yarn goodies in the stash as well as some Fyberspates fibre and now some of the silky wool from Piece of Beauty. It is the softest most lovely yarn ever in the world and I'm really enjoying knitting with it. I have the aran weight (which I think is closer to chunky than aran to be honest) and I'm knitting it on 6.5 mm needles and loving it.

I haven't got much further with the big clear out list I'm afraid. I had big plans for yesterday that DID NOT involved taking Trinity to the doctors again but that's what we ended up doing. Our lovely doctor said something along the lines of "oh no not you again" when we walked in the door, I now have my own parking space in the surgery car park and hotline phone number to call. Or does it just feel like I do? Poor little girl spent much of the day on the sofa like this :

Trinity is not the only poorly one in the house at the moment, so sick children and half term are taking most of my attention at the moment (as well as packing orders and updating the website which is going to be full of new goodies by 8pm tonight) so the stash cupboard unfortunately still looks like this :

I did manage to empty it all out and then sort it out into piles on the hall floor. Material, HipKnits yarns, my stash yarns, paperwork, books, clothes, samples, toys, rubbish etc. But then everything got a little busy and I was forced to throw it all back in the cupboard (apart from the rubbish). At least next time I tackle it (this afternoon) it should be easier to put everything where it belongs. I'm up to 2 bin bags of clothes for the charity shop and 5 bin bags of rubbish for the tip so far. Not bad hey?

Posted by Kerrie at 07:52 AM | Comments (4)

October 22, 2007

And, she's off!

With all that has been going on over the last few months I really thought that Trinity's physical development was going to be delayed. One of the joys about a third child is that I was able to think that, and then promptly decide not worry about it at all. It doesn't matter when they learn to crawl, walk, talk or count to 10, or should I say it doesn't matter to the child - most parents would tell you that it matters a lot. Rivalry between parents is ridiculous, all that comparing and worrying because your child is not doing the same thing that someone else's child is doing. It puts so much pressure on you as a parent, much of it very un-necessary.

That's not to say I didn't compare and worry with Brooke and Cameron, because I did. I was desperate for Brooke to do everything on target and meet all her milestones. I obsessively checked lists to see what she should be able to do and when, and then obsessively checked to see if she could do them or not. Then with Cameron we compared him to Brooke with pretty much all his milestones (she didn't walk until 13 months, he walked at 10 months but she had her first tooth at 5 months and he was nearly 12 months before his first one came through) but this time around? This time I'm happy for Trinity to do what she wants when she wants to.

This is because I am I now trying to remember that by the time they are 4/5 years old and running around the playground with their new found friends at school that it is impossible to tell who walked first, who said their first words earliest and who took a long while to get the hang of potty training. As a general rule, by the time they are school age it is all transparent and doesn't matter who did what when. If you can manage it, just let them be who they are and develop at their own pace. That's what I'm trying to do this time around with Trinity.

So seeing Trinity crawling around the floor has been a real delight and a surprise this past week. For the record she is 7 months old and not having checked Brooke and Cameron's baby books yet I'm not sure whether this is earlier or later than they were, I suspect a little earlier. Seeing as I had accepted that things were going to be a little harder / slower for her with regards to moving around this is fantastic. Apart from the fact that it means we need to get the stairgates up and make sure that little pieces of lego (and yarn!) are not left on the floor ever.

Excuse the fuzzy photo, she won't stay still for me to take a good shot of her! She doesn't move that quickly and much of the crawling is still backwards (so funny!) but she doesnt stay still long enough for non blurry pics. The cardigan she is wearing was a gift from Alexandra, it is a little too cropped for her now but she still squashes into it OK.

The tidying up is going well! So far we are bedroom, dining room table and garage done. Car and stash cupboard on the list for today, paperwork tomorrow and the shop by the end of the week. I'll be buying myself a special present if I get it all done by Friday - not sure what though. Any ideas? Although now that I have it officially in writing from Wayne that he doesn't mind the clutter, perhaps I should just chill out and enjoy half term week instead? ;)

Posted by Kerrie at 07:37 AM | Comments (9)

October 21, 2007

I am not a neat and tidy person. No really, that is probably an understatement. I am probably one of the scruffiest people I know without exception. Wayne is one of the tidies people I know. I'm sure you can imagine that this makes for an interesting relationship and lots of head shaking in our house.

Every now and again the mess and the clutter in my life gets to me. Now is one of those times. Everywhere I look there is STUFF. All jumbled up in a pile, not organised, scruffy and in a mess. My wardrobe, my stash cupboard, my car, the garage, the shop, the dining room table, my paperwork - everywhere I look is the same. Stuff that needs to be organised.

So this is the week of the clear out. I'm employing a top down approach and starting in the bedroom today with sorting out my wardrobe and under the bed. There will be yarn, books, patterns, clothes and some handknits that need to move out of the house - I'll list anything that I think you might be interested in tomorrow. Then after the bedroom will be the dining room table and the lounge, moving down to the ground floor and the stash cupboard, the paperwork, the garage and the car. Eek. The shop is last on the list.

Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Posted by Kerrie at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)

I hearby declare this the week of the clear out

I am not a neat and tidy person. No really, that is probably an understatement. I am probably one of the scruffiest people I know without exception. Wayne is one of the tidies people I know. I'm sure you can imagine that this makes for an interesting relationship and lots of head shaking in our house.

Every now and again the mess and the clutter in my life gets to me. Now is one of those times. Everywhere I look there is STUFF. All jumbled up in a pile, not organised, scruffy and in a mess. My wardrobe, my stash cupboard, my car, the garage, the shop, the dining room table, my paperwork - everywhere I look is the same. Stuff that needs to be organised.

So this is the week of the clear out. I'm employing a top down approach and starting in the bedroom today with sorting out my wardrobe and under the bed. There will be yarn, books, patterns, clothes and some handknits that need to move out of the house - I'll list anything that I think you might be interested in tomorrow. Then after the bedroom will be the dining room table and the lounge, moving down to the ground floor and the stash cupboard, the paperwork, the garage and the car. Eek. The shop is last on the list.

Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Posted by Kerrie at 02:14 PM | Comments (10)

October 20, 2007

Random Number Generator

Me - Brooke, do me a favour. pick a number between 1 and 64 please.
Brooke - why?
Me - Just do it!
Brooke - what for?
Me - BROOKE! Just pick me a number, any one at all, between 1 and 64. Go on.
Brooke - but why? What's it for?
Me - Oh for goodness sake, I'm having a contest on my blog to raise money for a breast cancer charity and 64 people are eligible to win the prize but I just need you to give me a number so that I know who will win.
Brooke - So if I tell you a number I win a prize?
Me - ARGH! No! Cameron, give me a number between 1 and 64 please?
Cameron - huh?
Brooke - no, no, I want to win the prize, ask me again.
Cameron - I want to win a prize, I want to win a prize.
Brooke - number 2, number 2. I pick number 2. What's my prize?
Cameron - me as well. I pick number 2 as well. I want a prize too like Brookie
Me (walking away) - thanks Brooke. Eventually!
Cameron and Brooke together (chasing after me) - Where is our prize, we want our prize!

So well done Amanda in Georgia. Send me your postal address and I'll send you Brooke and Cameron, oh sorry I mean your parcel of yarn and pattern of your choice.

Only 64 comments before midnight, never mind. I sneakily donated just over £100 in the morning before any of you commented, is that really bad of me to make you comment under false pretences?

Posted by Kerrie at 05:44 PM | Comments (6)

October 19, 2007

Breast Cancer awareness month

Did you know that October is national Breast Cancer awareness month? with today being the official "in the pink" day?

I have been trying to think of lots of clever ways that I could fundraise and donate some money to the cause but I ran out of both time and inspiration. So instead I'll donate £1 for every comment left here before midnight tonight (up to a maximum of £100, but I don't expect to get that many comments) and I'll enter everyone that comments into a prize draw to win enough (pink) silk yarn to make either one of our 2 new patterns that were released this week together with whichever pattern you choose. You dont have to be entered into the prize draw if you dont want to, just mention that in the comment that you leave. I'll get one of the kids to pick a number tomorrow and post to let you know who won over the weekend.

The only rule is that before you comment you have to check your breasts for anything unusual. Brooke and Cameron will tell you that I have a psychic ability to tell if people are not telling the truth so don't comment unless you have checked, I'll know if you do and then knots will appear in all your skeins of yarn and other bad things will happen.. This goes for men as well as women, did you know that men can get breast cancer as well? Around 300 men a year are diagnosed with the disease which may not sound like many but it is still a significant number.

I'm sure that there are not many of us who don't know someone who has been affected by breast cancer. I actually have 3 friends who have survived it and have been for an ultrasound myself for something that turned out to be nothing serious. It can be hard while you are breastfeeding to keep a track of everything that is going on and working out what is just a breastfeeding type change and what might be something more serious can be difficult, I mean - when you are feeding a baby your breasts change practically every few minutes. If I can keep on top of it then so can you. So now go and check yourself out and then leave me a comment. You know you want to.

Posted by Kerrie at 07:14 AM | Comments (69)

October 18, 2007

Another new pattern, and some teddy bear carnage

I have had this sample hanging around for ages now while I try to get some good photos taken. I've been wearing it a lot but never managed to get good pics. Yesterday I decided to give up and just get the pattern out there with mannequin pics.

It is an aran silk T shirt, designed by moi and knitted by Sue (who else?) The front can be worn one of 2 ways either with the hook and eyes done up, or left open.

It really doesn't fit my mannequin too well but it is the size 38 inch bust and fits me beautifully. Excuse the blurry photos of me wearing it, between the self timer and Cameron these were as good as it gets. Hopefully you can see the detail that you need from the mannequin pics and the fit from my pics.

It is a top down raglan and I love the way that the back looks as well. Pattern in sizes 30 - 50 inch bust, taking from 300g - 500g of silk. Shown here in pixie. Which pooled a wee tad.

I tend to wear it like this most of the time. Open and draping over the top of a long sleeved or short sleeved top. Its a bit like a uniform for me!

Now for the bear carnage. If you are feeling squeamish then look away now. This is (was) Bernard. A bear made out of a skein of duckpond aran silk that Carol from the Calico Cat who has had the stand oppostite us at AP for the 3 years that we have been there bought last year and returned this year knitted into a bear. He was our mascot at the show, he met Vera and Trinity gave him a good snugging when she came in to visit. I was only alerted yesterday to the fact that she had destroyed him while in her highchair waiting for me to cook dinner when I heard Cameron ask why I knitted a sausage and gave it to Trinity to eat. It was in fact one of Bernard's arm that she had ripped off and was munching on. His legs followed soon behind.

Poor Bernard. Never give a handknitted toy to a baby.

Posted by Kerrie at 06:42 AM | Comments (3)

October 17, 2007

Exclusive preview

Jennifer from Pie Knits has designed a beautiful sweater pattern for us using our aran silk yarn, it will be available here in the next couple of weeks. Sized from 32 - 48 inch bust, it is a beautiful garment that I can't wait to knit for myself! I love the way that the variegated yarn and the semi solid work together, the sample was made in Knox and baby - and look how the Knox didn't even pool too badly. Gorgeous.

The site will be updated very soon with all of the goodies that we bought back from Ally Pally with us. I'm super busy photographing and updating the site, expect an update later on this afternoon.

Posted by Kerrie at 12:03 AM | Comments (3)

October 16, 2007

Ally Pally - 2007

As I said yesterday, the show was amazing. We never seem to remember just how hard it is to spend effectively 5 days on your feet being nice to people! Both dad and I were exhausted by the end of the weekend.. We met soooo many lovely customers, there are too many of them to mention individually but it was so good to be able to meet you all face to face instead of over email. A huge thanks to the people who helped on the stand over the weekend, Tracy and Catherine did a great job helping to sell the magazine while Michaela and Heather both mucked in and helped with babysitting and selling yarn while I was out teaching the flower classes.

I think that our stand looked better than ever, I love the way the grid walls looked hanging up on the side of the stand and even though no-one really bought the super chunky yarn I thought that it looked lovely. Heather's bags had lots of interest, aren't they lovely? They looked gorgeous hanging up around the top of the stand and on the coat rack at the front. I have to admit to buying one myself and having a small panic attack when I thought that someone else was going to buy it. Lucky she saw the error of her ways and put it back at the last minute!

Louiz and Jo were both lovely enough to bring us chocolates (one box on Thursday and one on Friday) so we snacked well on Thorntons and Green and Blacks chocolates, thanks so much to both of you - how kind! We didn't have any horrid customers, or at least none that were brave enough to be horrid to our faces.

The show was without a doubt the best show we have ever done. Not necessarily from a financial point of view (were were a little down on last year) but just from the sheer fun of meeting so many lovely people and having such a good laugh. The other stands in our little area were so lovely and we had a really good time with them. There is something fab about walking into the show on set up day and recognising so many other stand holders. There is a real sense of belonging to be had from knowing most of them by name or just to look at. A nice little show community that we are part of.

I didn't buy a single thing from any of the other stands, although Jeni and I did trade fibre for a magazine. Dad did though, he is now the owner of a rather large pair of black crocs. Go dad! In the "my dad is more cool than your dad" stakes I think I win. My dad wears crocs, has an ipod and dyes yarn. It doesn't come much cooler than that, does it?

Posted by Kerrie at 06:48 AM | Comments (14)

October 15, 2007

Reason 398 why my postman hates me

The show was brilliant, I have so much to write but no time to do it today as I have a very sick Cameron to look after, poor boy. The response to issue 3 of the magazine has been amazing and hopefully subscribers should have started to receive their copies today. My business collection postman is used to picking up 2 or 3 sacks of soft mail from me each day but over 800 magazines is something new for him. He only moaned and complained a little bit, I told him he was lucky he hadn't had to stuff the envelopes and stick the stamps and labels on them all! More about Ally Pally, the magazine and lots of other bits tomorrow. xx

Posted by Kerrie at 03:26 PM | Comments (5)

October 09, 2007

We're off

This is my last entry now until after Ally Pally. The yarn is packed, labelled and on the inventory list. Today is all about picking up the patterns from the printers and also picking up Issue 3 of the magazine! How exciting is that? I'm being cheap and choosing to drive to the printers to collect them and save the courier costs. All of the envelopes are labelled, stamped and ready to be collected by Royal Mail as soon as they get off their striking butts later on in the week. I'll be stuffing magazines into envelopes tonight so 6pm today is your last chance to tell me if you want to collect it from Ally Pally. If I don't hear from you by then your magazine will be out in the post tomorrow morning.

Before I go I thought I'd share with you some pictures of my all time favourite HipKnits yarn - Ophelia sock yarn. This is just so pretty and so similar to Koigu which has always been my all time favourite sock yarn ever. I love the way it takes the dye, the way it feels and the way it knits up. I really want to sneak some of this out of the show pile and keep it for myself but I won't. I'll be good.

We have 12 brand new colourways of Ophelia coming along to the show with us. As well as over 100 skeins of lace cashmere, the same of sock cashmere, around 90 bargain sale packs, copies of the new Yarn Forward magazine, some of Heather's beautiful bags, tonnes of gorgeous silk, beautiful aran weight cashmere and BFL, our new Emilia super chunky yarn, scarf kits and oh my goodness - so much more!

We are on stand N32 in the main hall. That's over near the back in the right hand corner. Close to one of the coffee bars! See you there..

Posted by Kerrie at 06:35 AM | Comments (20)

October 08, 2007

Braiding fibre

One of my little jobs over the weekend was to braid up all the fibre for the show. It just looks so much prettier like this than any other way and for the show, presentation is everything. So I sat in front of my current favourite junk time TV show* on Friday night and braided up 72 braids of fibre. Can you say fluffy?

My favourite both to spin and to braid has to be the silk. It shines and shimmers and looks amazing. I love it.

The BFL and Merino are also great fibres to spin and nice and easy to manage. However, the Alpaca? Oh my goodness. It takes the dye beautifully and spins like butter but fluffy? Oh yes. Too fluffy for me I'm afraid. I'm going to stick with the silk I think. Expensive tastes, that's me.

* Dog the Bounty Hunter. I know, I know, I should be ashamed of myself - but I'm not! Its addictive, I love it.

Posted by Kerrie at 12:07 AM | Comments (6)

October 06, 2007

Last word

My mum rang up and told me a version of this story this morning which I then found on a Zen story website. I thought that this version was lovely, and very appropriate.

Gift Of Insults

There once lived a great warrior. Though quite old, he still was able to defeat any challenger. His reputation extended far and wide throughout the land and many students gathered to study under him.
One day an infamous young warrior arrived at the village. He was determined to be the first man to defeat the great master. Along with his strength, he had an uncanny ability to spot and exploit any weakness in an opponent. He would wait for his opponent to make the first move, thus revealing a weakness, and then would strike with merciless force and lightning speed. No one had ever lasted with him in a match beyond the first move.

Much against the advice of his concerned students, the old master gladly accepted the young warrior's challenge. As the two squared off for battle, the young warrior began to hurl insults at the old master. He threw dirt and spit in his face. For hours he verbally assaulted him with every curse and insult known to mankind. But the old warrior merely stood there motionless and calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself. Knowing he was defeated, he left feeling shamed.

Somewhat disappointed that he did not fight the insolent youth, the students gathered around the old master and questioned him. "How could you endure such an indignity? How did you drive him away?"

"If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it," the master replied, "to whom does the gift belong?"

Love it. I wasn't sure that I got many of the other stories on tha tpage but the Wooden Coffin one did make me laugh.

Busy busy busy this weekend packing and labelling and weighing yarn for the show next week. Lots of pics for you on Monday x

Posted by Kerrie at 12:07 PM | Comments (4)

October 05, 2007

Thanks, and yarn

Thank you all for yesterday's comments and emails, it means a lot to me. TO answer the 2 main questions, yes the main culprit does have a blog (and I have their address as they used to be HipKnits customer) and I have reported them to their service provider. Secondly, I'm not going to name and shame them at this stage. This is the first time I've ever mentioned it on my blog although the nasty emails have been going on since before Trinity was born. Lets hope this is enough to get rid of them shall we?

Onto a much nicer topic, yarn. AsI mentioned, yesterday was a 300 skein day which brings the weeks total to 992 skeins (I didn't quite make my 1000 skein target) and means that I never ever want to dye another skein of yarn in my life. They will all be coming along to Ally Pally together with all of the sari silk, and the chunky yarn and silk that dad has dyed. Its going to be a big show don't you know? We're just about all set for the show, my plan of the stand is drawn - my check list is printed off and my labels are ready to go just as soon as the yarn is dry.

Talking of yarn, do you want to see a few bits that are hanging up in my garden at the moment? First we have the pinks :

then some charcoal greys :

Some greens and blues :

The rainbow section :

A few more blues and pinks :

Some candy colours :

I also have tonnes of silk fibres all dyed up and just a few kilos of BFL and Merino spinning fibres. Pretty much everything that you could want, don't you think?

Posted by Kerrie at 11:20 AM | Comments (12)

October 04, 2007

Couldn't think of anything nice to say.

My mum always taught me that if you can't think of anything nice to say then don't say anything. Obviously lots of other mum's weren't quite so good at bringing up their children. The reason that I didn't post this morning is because I couldn't think of anything nice to say. I was too busy being hurt and upset at yet another fresh batch of hatemail that arrived in my inbox from my favourite stalker. *waves* hi there stalker!

It always surprises me that reading about how someone really hates me ends up upseting me so much. Of course I like to be liked and I think I'm a pretty decent person, but I'm grown up enough to realise that you can't please all of the people all of the time. I do know this though, I will never be OK about the hatemail. Every time I think I will just delete the emails without reading them or steer clear of the blogs / forums where the main culprits hang out I just can't quite manage to do it. So I read them. Then I cry. Then I wonder why these people dislike me so much and why they insist on reading the blog, buying from me if they do dislike me. It is baffling.

On the whole my customers are fantastic. It just seems to be these 2 or 3 people who are intent on causing trouble for me. And they live in London so I'm looking forward to meeting them at the show next week. It has already been suggested that they are going to come to the stand to tell me to my face what a bad person I am. I'll be the one hiding behind my dad then!

Anyway, today I hid from the internet nearly all day. It was great. Mum came over for the day and we played with Trinity, walked in the muddy forest, had chips from the chip shop for lunch and I dyed 300 skeins of yarn this afternoon out in the sunshine. Now I feel composed enough to come back and show you these pics of Trinity in the new cashmere sock yarn design that Janine worked up for HipKnits. Doesn't she look cute?

She really didnt want to sit still for the photo! There are some detailed and unmodelled shots over on the patterns page on the website. Its my all time favourite little girls dress, I love it.

I'm almost ready for Ally Pally as well. I've dyed almost 1000 skeins of yarn over the last 3 days. I'll show you some pics tomorrow. Now I have a family to feed!

Posted by Kerrie at 05:31 PM | Comments (25)

October 03, 2007

Yarn forward magazine Issue 3

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this issue of yarn forward magazine. The first 2 were a bit of a disappointment to me due to the problems with the printing, the colour reproduction, the way that the photos had been all squished out of shape, the delays, the HUGE amounts of money I lost - need I go on?

However, this issue? This one is perfect. I love it. Everything about it. You're all going to love it too, I promise. From Nic's gorgeous mittens on the front cover to Polly's fab socks, to Katy's mohair sweater and girls dress. I am in love.

The magazine should be coming to Ally Pally with us next week (fingers crossed, touch wood etc etc) Subscriber copies will be posted out next week Thursday so if you are coming to Ally Pally and want to pick up your copy there instead of having it posted please email me at kerrieAThipknits.co.uk and let me know to save your one for you.

I've also been working on the Yarn Forward Magazine website a litle, see? There is still more to come but you can now pre order Issue 3 if you are not a subscriber as well as upgrade your existing international subscription to airmail and lots of other clever things. The webiste needs padding out a lot but I'll get to that over the next few days I'm sure.

Posted by Kerrie at 12:09 AM | Comments (12)

October 02, 2007

Handspun hat

We're all about the hats over here at the moment, Cameron is proudly wearing his cashmere hat most mornings and Trinity is now the proud owner of a cute little earflap hat made out of some random handspun.

Again, the pattern is one that I just made up - knit from the top down in stocking stitch with a garter stitch border and earflaps. I made a little pom pom for it using my magical pom pom maker, less than 3 minutes from start to finish. I'll show you a photos of the hat with pom pom later on in the week. You can expect more pom poms around here this winter!! I could have made it an inch or so longer but it will do for now, I'll know better next time.

The yarn is from my handspun scraps box - not sure where it came from but it is lovely. Aran weight and less than 50g used. Nice and pretty. On the needles is another hat (this time for me) out of some of my own chunky handspun, Brooke is next in line - she has chosen a skein of cashmere and silk from the shop for her hat.

Talking of hats, I'm going to put on my enabler hat here for a minute, did you know that if you enter the word SALE into the promo code box on the Amy Butler shop website you can get 50% off your order? That will only be of interest to US customers as the USD 120 shipping fee to the UK makes even a half price bag too expensive. Lucky for me I have the best customers in the whole world and within minutes of ranting about it I had an offer to bring me a bag over from the US. Lovely Amy Butler bag, you will be mine. Oh yes.

Now, onto the winner of the chunky yarn kit. So many gorgeous names and so many great Shakespeare stories that I am not familiar with. It took me ages to choose the name and I changed my mind so many times but the final decision was to call the yarn Emilia so that makes Ali our lucky winner! Email me your address Ali and I'll pop your winning parcel out in the post to you today or tomorrow (beat that postal strike!)

Posted by Kerrie at 12:05 AM | Comments (6)

October 01, 2007

Royal Mail strike action and this week's shop update

Damn Royal Mail.

Although that probably says it all for most of you I've just learned that there will be strike action from Royal Mail this week and next which will mean that I will be unable to send any parcels from this week Thursday to next week Tuesday. Sigh.

That means I'm going to bring the shop update (and the nice newsletter discount code!) forward to Tuesday afternoon at 3pm. If you get your orders in before midday Wednesday they will go out Wednesday afternoon. If not they won't be able to be posted until the following Wednesday. Sorry about that. If I could change it, I would. If there were an alternative to Royal Mail, I'd use them.

Posted by Kerrie at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)

Saturday

Saturday was a big day for me. It was the first day that I have ever left Trinity for more than half an hour or so at a time. I sneaked out of the house at 7am and drove down to Get Knitted at Bristol to teach a silk dyeing workshop. That's around 160 miles and 2.5 hours of quiet crying all the way there, I felt terrible at the thought of walking out of the house and leaving her behind even though I knew she would be OK. She is kind of taking bottles and solids now although she is still very reliant on me for milk as well but it was only for a few hours and I had to make the break sometime. I was so tempted to turn around and go home and grab her and take her with me but I was strong (sniffly but strong) and arrived in Bristol without baby.

The Get Knitted shop is amazing, it is HUGE and with so many lovely yarns it was inevitable that I would come home with a few goodies. 2 skeins of Colinette Jitterbug in a colour that I just couldn't resist, a crochet hook, the latest copy of Selvedge magazine, Vogue knitting, 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Suri merino one in brown and one in palest pink (just about THE softest yarn ever) a pom pom maker and 2 metres of Rowan Kaffee Fasset fabric. Lovely. The jitterbug is destined to be a scarf / shawl for me as is the Blue Sky yarns. Imagine that, knitting for myself. How posh.

The workshop itself was fantastic. We had 5 people turn up and between them they dyed a good few kilos of yarn. Everyone had a turn at preparing the skeins, mixing the dyes, dyeing and rinising the yarns and I think everyone was happy with their colours and enjoyed the day. I took lots of photos which I have sent over to Hannah to put up on the walls in the workshop or on their website, they are all in this flickr set here.

I really enjoyed the day, I think I should try and get out there and teach a few more workshops this winter. I might run a couple at the HipKnits workshop space but also if anyone else has a venue that would be perfect for some classes let me know.

While I was in Bristol, Wayne took the 3 kids to the wedding of a friend of his. I made it in time for the speeches and apologised profusely for turning up at the wedding late and dressed in jeans and crocs! Trinity seemed pleased to see me, especially as I fed her seconds after walking through the door - my arrival co-incided nicely with her hunger and my DESPERATE need to feed her after being away form her for a few hours. It was a long day, we didn't get home until gone 9pm from the wedding - lucky for us the kids are all starting to sleep better at night again after their colds and bugs. Touch wood!

I'm going to sit down now and try and choose my favourite name for the thick and thin chunky yarn. I'll let you know tomorrow which one I choose, thanks for all the suggestions!

Posted by Kerrie at 06:25 AM | Comments (1)