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November 30, 2007

Cashmere sale

All cashmere on the site is 50% off for the next 24 hours or while stocks last. I'll update the blog at 7pm tomorrow to tell you what is going to be in the 2nd days 24 hour sale.

Edited 8am Saturday morning. Stocks didn't last. As of now all that is left are 2 skeins of cashmere lace in frenzy, 1 skein of cashmere sock in frenzy, 2 skeins of cashmere sock in teddy and 2 skeins of cashmere sock in honey.

Wow. There are also over 400 non spam emails in my inbox. Monday is going to be a fun day as I am determined not to spend the whole weekend working, we've got lots of fun family things planned.

Come back at 7pm tonight for the next lovely batch of sale items!

Posted by Kerrie at 06:33 PM | Comments (1)

December sale, coming soon!

Well, the long awaited December sale is almost ready. Are you? I've had a few questions about the difference between the December sale and the January sale, December is all about regular stock being reduced for no reason other than it seems like a good idea! Each day from today through to Monday at 7pm GMT a different category on the site will be reduced. It could be any of the yarns, one day cashmere, the next silk, the next coast - each at at least 33% off - maybe even more!

Each category will only be on sale for 24 hours. At 7pm the next day the next category will go on sale, until Tuesday at 7pm when all bets are off and the sale is over.

All sale orders will be posted out on Wednesday and Thursday morning. There will be a postage option that says "I have placed multiple sale orders this week" so that you only pay for 1 batch of postage. This option won't be available until Saturday evening, do not use this option with your first order, you must pay for at least 1 set of postage.

The January sale is a different kettle of fish completely. Odd skeins, small skeins, colours that didnt quite go according to plan. Discontinued colours, discontinued yarns, tangled skeins - they will all be on sale in the proper shop for our first ever January sale open day on 5th January and then on the website from Monday 7th January.

Any questions? Good. See you all here at 7pm tonight then.

Posted by Kerrie at 02:15 PM | Comments (3)

Thankful

I know I'm over a week late for Thanksgiving and also that we don't celebrate in this country as a general rule but I was reading Lyn's blog the other day and she pointed out that we don't say thank you enough over here so here are the 4 things that I am most thankful for.

1 - Wayne and the children. Without a doubt. Wayne doesnt really think he is a better parent than me for managing to get Trinity to sleep in the day (but he is fab, much, much nicer than me - I promise). I am so lucky to have such a supportive husband and 3 beautiful children. With Trinity who is toddling around all over the place, Brooke who will tell you that her favourite subject at school is philosophy (and she can spell it!) and Cameron who manages to use the words "actually" and "you know?" in every single sentence; could I BE more lucky?

2 - You guys who come here every day and read (even if not many of you comment!), thanks for sharing the little snippets of life that I share with you.

3 - Fibery friends who are always there to share, support and swap with! Jeni in particular who has traded a good trade with me this week, I love swapping!

4 - Afternoon naps. Mum came over one day this week to hang out with the little people while I got some work done and I'll admit that I totally took advantage of her and went to sleep for an hour in the afternoon! I LOVE sleeping and really just don't get enough of it these days. Sigh. Soon, I hope.

So, that's my 4 things that I'm thankful for this week. Next week I will be thankful for anyone who wants to come and help me pack sale parcels to send out! Last year the 12 day Decemebr sale generated almost 1000 parcels. Gulp. I am hoping that the 4 day one will be slightly easier but I have stocked up on tissue paper, stickers and mailing sacks so we'll see! I'm offering mince pies and hot chocolate to anyone who feels like stuffing some envelopes next Wednesday and Thursday with me!

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. —Buddha
Quote via Angry Chicken

Posted by Kerrie at 06:23 AM | Comments (4)

November 29, 2007

Green scrunchy cashmere scarf

Remember that Anthropologie scrunched cashmere scarf that I posted the link to the other day? Well I made my own by buying one of the scarves from here and then sewing it up in to scrunchy lines at each end. The scarf feels beautiful but I would have liked it to be a little longer (and more narrow) so that I could have scrunched it more and still made it wearable. I still like it though and wore it out to the school run about 5 minutes after finishing sewing it yesterday.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:02 AM | Comments (1)

November 28, 2007

Travel Cot / Play pen

Thanks Spinning Fishwife and Fiona for the tip but I'm afraid that Trinity is way ahead of all of us. I did try this but she just screamed and screamed and held her arms out until I picked her out of the travel cot, at which point she stopped crying and crawled away - happy to be free. Damn children with their own minds! x

Posted by Kerrie at 08:44 PM | Comments (3)

Trinity

Someone forgot to tell Trinity that she is only 8 months old and REALLY SHOULDN'T BE ATTEMPTING TO WALK just yet.

It is becoming harder and harder each day to take her into work with me and actually get anything done. In the past she would sit in her bouncy chair in the shop, or play on her mat in the kiddies corner and just be content to sit and play and listen to me talk and sing to her as I got on with my work. We would have lots of breaks for milk, cuddles and mummy time.

Now, she doesn't sit still at all. I put her down and 30 seconds later she is over the other side of the shop pulling herself up on the shelves and trying to reach down the yarn. We don't have lovely mummy cuddles any more because really, there is just too much to do and see to sit still. I spend more time picking her up and moving her back where I want her than I do anything else.

She also used to sleep for a nice big 2 hour nap during the day. Now, not so much. If we're in the car she will sometimes fall asleep but no guarantees. She fights sleep every inch of the way, rubbing her eyes and refusing to nap whether or not she is in her cot or not. It feels sometimes as though I spend more time trying to get her to sleep than anything else but that's not possible, because I know that I spent more time picking her up and moving her away from dangerous places than anything else.

Wayne worked from home yesterday (prompted to some degree by the nervous breakdown I had on Monday due to all the picking up and moving and trying to get to sleep) and wouldn't you know it when Trinity started to get tired in the morning he took her up, put her in the cot and she slept for 3 hours. Then in the afternoon when I was delivering yarn to Sew Creative she slept for another hour. He thinks this means he is a better parent than me. I think it means she loves me more than him and can't bear to be away from me for a minute. I'm sure none of us are right.

Love her dearly, how could you look at that face and NOT love her dearly, but please Trinity - sit still for a little while and give your mum a break. OK?

Posted by Kerrie at 11:24 AM | Comments (10)

November 27, 2007

Ball of doom

I'm making a Christmas present for someone* out of a skein of Yarn Pirate superwash sock in Malamute. I am loving the colours but oh my goodness this sksin is never ending! I knit and knit for hours the other day, weighed the ball and had 92g left. Lovely. A whole scary movie of knitting later (Room 1408 - loved it!) and I weighed the ball to find that it was only down to 90g. Huh?

A few more hours knitting yesterday and now we're down to 82g. Will this ball never end? I mean, the pattern is fun and the yarn is lovely but I would like to finish it one day. I have a ball of black koigu that I was going to use along with this yarn if I ran out but I can't see that happening now. I'm more likely to have to give up and throw the remainder of the skein in the bin at this rate. Damned ball of doom. I had assumed that the skein I bought was 100g but if the shawl and needles together weigh 50g (needles are around 9g if I remember rightly) then the skein must have been 120g ish.

I'm steadily adding all the yarn to the site, about another 100 colours have gone on today with the same amount ready to go on tomorrow and Thursday. I cant decide if my favourite is the BFL in chocolate cherries

or the cashmere sock in frenzy.

* No mum, its not your one. Ha Ha!

Posted by Kerrie at 08:03 PM | Comments (6)

November 26, 2007

Spinning

I hope you all didn't think I was too negative about Harrogate, as much as we love travelling and meeting new customers and generally having an adventure if its not profitable then its just not worth it for us. I won't rule us out of next years show completely, lets wait and see shall we?

I've been busy spinning some of the fibre that I traded with Jeni at Ally Pally, its lovely! I'm wondering whether to try plying for the first time ever or to leave it as singles. Any plying advice out there?

The shop was updated tonight but not with everything, it was always a stretch target to drive to pick up the remaining stock from dads, get home in time for a phone interview (more on that later) take photos of all 400 skeins of yarn, get the photos edited and uploaded and all the items created in the shop before 6pm. I'll finish off everything tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday so little bits will be added each day. Before the big sale at the weekend - very exciting - more news on that on Thursday.

Posted by Kerrie at 07:48 PM | Comments (2)

November 25, 2007

You win some, and you lose some

Harrogate this year was not a winner. A little better than NEC but really not that much. Its a shame because I like the idea of doing shows outside of London but they just don't tend to be financially viable. Dad had 2 particularly funny customers, one who asked him if he sold any "proper wool in balls" and then when he replied no they walked away muttering something about how did he expect to make any money selling THAT stuff. The second one was shocked that we were charging £10 for a ball of sock wool that would only make 1 pair of socks when she could buy 30 pairs from the market for that amount. Ha. I think that sums up his whole Harrogate experience really. Oddly enough the only thing that we sold out of was the seacell and silk that barely sold at all at Ally Pally. Strange, don't you think?

Still that means that this weeks shop update will be a BUMPER one, lots and lots of goodies in stock for you at 6pm tomorrow night (Monday 26th November). I hope you're ready. Its going to be a big one.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:25 PM | Comments (12)

November 24, 2007

Update

So, I had to redo all the work that I had done on Friday after the server crash. Shame really but thats the way it goes sometimes isn't it? All missing emails that were sent AFTER 2pm Friday are now starting to come through but I think mail is still queuing so lets not panic until Monday / Tuesday in which case if you haven't heard back from me please resend.

Today has been one of those days, I was in the shop by 10 this morning and here I am at almost 10.30 at night and I havent stopped all day. Wayne and the kids got home from their adventure a couple of hours ago and while I enjoyed being able to focus on work with NO interuptions all day it still baffles me how I can be super productive for over 12 hours and STILL have a to do list as long as my arm. Sigh.

Posted by Kerrie at 10:10 PM | Comments (1)

November 23, 2007

Just in case you are wondering

Supanames (my lovely web host people who are actually not that lovely really) lost the server that I host HipKnits and YF Magazine on this afternoon, careless huh? That means that although the blog is still OK (see, how we're on kerriesplace and not hipknits?) none of the new images show up as they are on hipknits. It also means that all the work I have done on the shop today has been lost (thanks for that guys) and I have had no emails since about 2pm. Quietest day ever.

Who knows if the images and emails and other bits will ever come back. I'm going to take it a sign that I need to stop working for a bit and so I won't be checking emails all weekend (shocking I know) but I'll be back on Monday. Promise. x

Posted by Kerrie at 10:08 PM | Comments (1)

Amy Butler bag

Man, I have to stop lusting after new bags. I am in love with these new range of Amy Butler bags - this one is my all time favourite. remind me to show you how many bags I own at some point next week and you'll see why I really don't need one. I sure would like one though!

Posted by Kerrie at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)

Christmas Boxes

Photo by the lovely Marianne

One of my lovely customers, Rachel, gave me a good idea about selling
some Christmas gift boxes. I have a few hat boxes left over so decided to do just that.

They are on the site now priced at £50 for a small box (which will contain £70 worth of yarn and patterns) and £80 (which will contain £100 worth of yarn and patterns) for a large box. Beautifully presented with tissue paper, ribbons and a special gift card these will be delivered by courier / special delivery depending on the location. A high quality hat box filled with yarns and patterns of your choice* would make a gorgeous Christmas present for yourself, or someone you love, don't you think? The first 10 to be ordered will come with a mini bottle of champagne as well. So what are you waiting for?

* I will email you after you place the order to work out which yarns can go into the box. You can have as wide or small selection as you like, anything goes!

Posted by Kerrie at 11:10 AM | Comments (3)

Finland

Continuing with the theme of wholesale, we have our first Finnish stockist now in Helsinki. These are just some of the silk skeins that should be arriving with Hanna in Lankalikka any minute now. The silk will be joined by lots and lots of cashmere yarns and sock yarns next week some time. Hanna has been one of our most organised customers with her custom colour choices, she sent us some brilliant snippets to match which was a lot of fun. Very difficult to choose a favourite though, I'll wait until she has all the colours up on her website and then I'll show you.

I think I am about as fed up with this being the house of sick as you are with hearing about how sick we all are, honestly! Its nothing too serious at the moment thank goodness but poor Trinity hasn't shaken off the bug that everyone apart from Brooke suffered with at the beginning of the week, poor little chicken. It has been a horrible week of juggling that has seen me spending my days trying to send emails, pack orders and cuddle very clingy sick children and then my evenings rushing into the shop as soon as Wayne gets home from work and desperately dyeing yarn and sorting stuff out. I don't think I'm going to get away with having a weekend this week :( Sometimes running your own business just isn't that much fun, and this is one of those times. Ugh just about sums it up.

Its not all bad though, I've been having lots of fun flicking through the anthropology website and falling in love with this lovely scrunchy scarf, and this lovely loopy fluffy scarf. I also love this big plaited one and this pretty cape Finally, Oh, Oh, Oh - these are just the kind of tights I want! Wonder if they will ship to the UK? Off to investigate that one.

The coded text message that I received from dad on the Harrogate knitting and stitching show progress so far read "short arms, long pockets" I take this to mean that a lot of the yummy yarns I dyed for the show will be coming home with him and will be on the website next week for you all. sigh. Oh well, Harrogate's loss is your gain. Looks like next Wednesday's update might be a good one?

Posted by Kerrie at 12:19 AM | Comments (1)

November 22, 2007

Wholesale

We have taken on 4 new wholesale customers this last month, its been a lot of work but really exciting. One of them is Dublin Bay in the US, they have tonnes of our gorgeous cashmere sock yarn on the way over to them right now.

Botom row L - R Seaglass, duckpond, bouquet, biscuit, bluebell
Middle row L - R Chocolate Cherries, bracken, eat your greens, Knox
Top Peace

I can't decide which is my favourite colour. I have always loved chocolate cherries, the combination of cherry red, white and chocolate brown has always been a favourite of mine. This time around I love allo f them though, the eat your greens came out beautifully as did the seaglass, the peace, the bouquet, the duckpond oh - you get the idea.

Which is your favourite?

Oh and who thinks that I should show mum her Christmas present? I'll go with the majority of comments.

Other recent new wholesalers include Sew Creative in Cambridge, Norfolk Yarns in Norwich and the Textile workshop in Nottingham. All should have received their first order from us or will be receiving them in the next few days. This leaves me now with just 3 wholesale orders to finish off this year, and then on to the already growing list of orders for next year.

Posted by Kerrie at 12:14 AM | Comments (7)

November 21, 2007

Curly Whirly Cleopatra

I started off making a feather and fan stitch scarf from this BEAUTIFUL skein of Cleopatra merino but soon realised that it just wasn't showing the colours in the way that I wantedso I sat down and had a little think about it and then I decided to go for a curly whirly scarf. (I am soooo last year, I know.)

Recipe

1 skein of HipKnits Cleopatra merino, 100g and approx 200 yards
6.5mm circular needle

Cast on 100 stitches
Knit 2 rows
*Knit 1, YO* repeat to end (200 stitches)
Knit 2 rows
*Knit 1, YO* repeat to end (400 stitches)
Knit 2 rows
*Knit 1, YO* repeat to end (800 stitches)
Knit 2 rows
Cast off LOOSELY

twizzle around neck and wear with style!

Again, this one is off to Harrogate as a sample with dad before becoming a Christmas present, what do you think? I made it in just a couple of hours, it was pretty hard going by the end and the MASSIVE long rows but totally worth it in the end.

Christmas present making is going well, as you can see, wonder if I can keep it up with a finished object each day this week? Most likely not although I do have one to show you tomorrow as well...

Posted by Kerrie at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)

November 20, 2007

Cleopatra Cobweb

Started Friday morning and completed Sunday evening.
Approx 14 hours of knitting time.
1 x 100g skein of Hipknits Cleopatra in a semi solid blue mix.
6.5mm circular needles.
Shortened version of Cobweb to make it work with only 300 yards of yarn.
This is a Christmas present for a very lovely person but before then it is off to Harrogate as a sample with dad this week. I won't be going up to the show this time but all of our yarns and patterns (and the magazine) will be there with dad.

This is exactly how I modified the pattern :

CO 5 sts. K 1 row, P 1 row.
Work increase pattern twice.[17 sts on ndl]
Work rows 1 to 4 of main patt once.
Work increase patt once.[33 sts on ndl]
Work rows 1 to 4 of main patt once.
Work increase patt once.[65 sts on ndl]
Work rows 1 to 8 of main patt once, then rows 1to 4 of main patt once.
Work increase pattern once. [129 sts on ndl]
Work rows 1 to 8 of main patt once, then rows 1 to 4 of main patt once.
Work increase patt once. [257 sts on ndl]
Work rows 1 to 8 of main patt once, then rows 1 to 4 of main patt once.

To be honest knitting the whole thing in such a short space of time did mean that I was slightly sick of it but now that it is finished it looks so pretty and I'm really pleased with the way it worked out.

A few people have asked about Cameron sitting still to have his hair done, he actually sits still for about 1.5 hours in total, this is the time it takes to brush, dry and plait his hair after it has been washed. Wayne is in charge of the first 2 stages, he gets it washed and then dried and brushed and then I plait. The trick of getting him to sit still simply involves putting the TV on. He would sit still for HOURS if only he could watch cartoons!

Posted by Kerrie at 07:51 AM | Comments (4)

November 19, 2007

Monday again?

Miserable Monday, mainly due to the gloomy weather, a huge to do list, leftovers of last weeks sickness, Cameron and Trinity both having a bug that is going around here at the moment which means they are taking it in turns to throw up, poor little mites. I can see that this week is going to be one of the hard ones where I feel like I'm fighting a loosing battle and shout at everyone too much. I've been thinking a lot about what kind of parent I am recently, Sooz pretty much sums it all up in her post. I couldn't have put it better myself. Being a mum is pretty hard sometimes, especially when everyone is sick and busy all at the same time. Sigh.

There has been plenty of knitting and sewing going on over the weekend, but nothing that is ready to show you just yet. I did spend 7 hours at work in the shop yesterday and I'm so close to being caught up on all wholesale and custom orders. By the end of November they will all have flown from the shop and I'll be able to breathe a little easier. For now though we have wet yarn everywhere and not much stock left in the undyed corner of the shop. That's a good thing though.

What else? Well, I've been trying to get a little more creative with Cameron's hair recently, I wanted to do some sharp zig zag cornrows but couldnt work out how to turn corners properly. I seem to be able to curve the plaits around but I can't turn corners sharply. I found this site after I had done his hair yesterday so I think I need to practice more... Does anyone else have any tips or other sites I can check out? I'd love to go on a cornrow course somewhere, think I'd have to go back into London for that though, not much call for afro hair styling in the country!

This is what I came up with yesterday, I did big chunky plaits in case it all went horribly wrong and then I wouldnt mind taking it out if it only took a little while to do. I was really pleased with this, it only took 30 minutes and it looks very different. Next time I'm going to try for smaller plaits with sharper corners. How fun!

Posted by Kerrie at 08:35 AM | Comments (5)

November 16, 2007

Sick

Today was supposed to be a trip to the Country Living Fair in Islington with Chella, a spot of lunch and some good gossiping. Instead it is going to be a trip to the sofa with some knitting, the laptop and the TV remote control. Lets hope Trinity is happy with a lazy day because I'm not up to doing much else I don't think. Lots of pics for you next week, we've been really productive here this week.

Posted by Kerrie at 07:07 AM | Comments (8)

November 15, 2007

December sale, update today and last posting date before Christmas information

Last year we had a HipKnits 12 days of Christmas sale with a different item on half price (or very near to half price) sale each day from 1st to 12th December. Like so many things it was a good idea but really hard to organise with the manual paypal cart where I had to update the html of each item as soon as it sold and upload the new page so that it wouldn't sell more than once. Ugh, it makes me shudder when I think about how hard that sale was. We also had lots of people who wanted to save all their orders until the end of the sale and the admin around refunding postage and emailing people to find out if they had finished shopping and to see when we could post their orders was horrid. Simply horrid.

This year is going to be different. We are going to have a pre Christmas sale but it will last from Saturday 1st December to Tuesday 4th December (whoops, thanks for telling me I had the dates wrong!!) only with different items being on sale each day. The wonders of the magical shopping cart software will make it all a lot easier as will the fact that NO sale orders will be posted until Thursday 5th December when they will all go out and RM permitting will be with all customers in time for Christmas. I'll have a multiple purchase option set up at check out so you only pay 1 lot of postage over the 4 days.

These are the UK Post Office last posting dates for Christmas this year :

UK First Class - 20th December
Western Europe - 13th December
USA, Canada, Eastern Europe and Japan - 10th December
Australia, New Zealand, Caribbean, South and Central America, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Far East (not Japan) - 7th December.

HipKnits will continue to post out orders until Friday 21st December, then we will be closed until Wednesday 2nd January when we will reopen with a traditional New Year sale and lots of new goodies for you. I already have lots of yarns and colours in mind that will be discontinued next year, so look out for those in both the December and January sale.

Now, after all that - are you ready for the holidays? I'm getting there, really excited about Christmas this year with all 3 kids!

There will be a wee shop update today at 4pm. Just a few skeins as the bulk of the last weeks work has been for Harrogate next week. We have some pretty skeins for you though so make sure you check back at the end of the day.

Posted by Kerrie at 07:37 AM | Comments (2)

November 14, 2007

Tulips

Nearly done with Tulips, just the sleeves to go now. This is one of the nicest cardigan patterns I've knitted in a long while. I love the way that the applied i-cord edging looks (although it did nearly make me cry knitting it, seemed to take FOREVER) and I'm happy that using only 5 colours of aran cashmere made for just as pretty a cardigan as the one shown in the pattern. I still need to finish the sleeves and the edging but we are close. I do think that it would have been nice to offer the pattern in more sizes (how many people can get away with offering patterns in just 1 size these days, I do think if it hadn't been made famous by the harlot then more people would have been upset about this one size only thing) and as it is a simple shaped top down raglan it should have been pretty easy to do so. I'm already trying to work out how to size it up to make one for Brooke, she has fallen in love with the way the aran cashmere feels in Trinity's one.

At the same time as working on Tulips over this past week I have been working on a mini collection of designs for Farmyarns using some of their alpaca. I'll let you know when they have them up on the site. Working to another company's design brief using different yarns has been a lot of fun for me, I hope to do more freelance design work next year.

Oh, and changing the subject completely my new camera arrived in the post yesterday and I am in love. I have one of these, a Fuji Finepix S9600. I can't wait to play with it properly, it feels like a proper grown up camer. Love it!

Posted by Kerrie at 06:45 AM | Comments (2)

November 13, 2007

Babies

My baby is not a baby anymore, she is crawling around and pulling herself up onto her feet. She is fully weaned from me and loves her bottles of formula milk and her proper food. She shouts and screams for attention and misses Brooke and Cameron so much when they are at school and nursery. Monday's are particularly hard days for her after having the whole family around her all weekend, she seems so lost when it is back to just the 2 of us for a day. She is so grown up and every time I look at her I say a little thank you for letting her be here with us and for the fact that she is as healthy and as lovely as she is today. She has given us more worries than the others but she is sooo worth it. She is a privilege.

I know of 3 babies who were born in the last week. The first was to an ex work colleague of mine and was, sadly and unepectedly, stillborn. The second was born a couple of days later and immediately given to Jam Mam to foster, look after and love. The third was born to the daughter of a friend of mine on the same day as the Jam Mam's foster baby but died peacefully on Saturday evening.

I think that at times like this when you hear this kind of news that you *have* to believe in something. You have to believe that all of these babies are in a good place, you have to believe that there is a higher power at work that we know nothing about. Otherwise, really how could you get out of bed in the mornings? I know my thoughts and prayers are with all 3 babies and their families. Extra big hugs for my children this week, love them so much.

Posted by Kerrie at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Cam Asleep

Abi mentioned in the comments yesterday how she couldn't imagine Cameron falling asleep ever. This is probably because Mum, Cameron, Trinity and I met Abi last week at Blake House Craft Centre for cofee, gossip and a wander around the shops. Cameron was his usual crazy self and Abi very good naturedly spent ages playing cars with him and listening to his constant chatterbox noise. I'm sure she was very pleased to get back into the peace and quiet of her car when we had finished, unlike mum and I who got to listen to him chattering all the way home!

As we pulled into the car park Cameron looked up and said, are we going to the maze again? As well as all the yummy craft stores they have a HUGE corn maze each year which we went to back in July and got horribly horribly lost. Never again. Remind me of that next year, won't you? It was a HOT day and we chose not to take the pushchair which was the worst decision we could ever have made (and let me get on record here that it was Wayne's BAD decision and not mine!). We got horrifically lost in the maze and after about 3 hours of the sun beating down on us as we walked around and around in circles we opened the emergency map, forfeited our pound and followed the signs out.

Had we taken the pushchair we would have been able to turf Trinity out and let Cam have a ride when we turned around at one point and saw him like this. Bless him. As it was we ended up walking for most of that 3 hours with me carrying Trinity (and breastfeeding her at the same time as walking around) and Wayne carrying Cameron. Brooke was slouching along behind us complaining how it was too hot and that there was no-one to carry her. Not fun and not to be repeated.

The rest of the craft centre is lovely though, fab fabrics and other crafty bits. I'm going back at the end of this week for a wee little shopping trip. Anyone in the area care to meet me there?

Posted by Kerrie at 06:43 AM | Comments (2)

November 12, 2007

First Blanket for Oliver!

Michaela and I had a fun afternoon on Saturday playing with the squares we have received so far for Oliver's blanket. How lucky was it that we had exactly 150 squares? We played around for a while with the layout of the blanket by spreading all the squares out on her living room floor and then got to sewing strips together. It did stop being fun after a few hours but when I look at the final blanket, I think it was so worth the effort. Michaela's half of the blanket that she sewed is neater than mine but you probably won't notice that unless you look super closely. (and if you do notice, please don't tell me!)

(this is shown on a single bed)

I'm going to sew a fabric backing on it and then decide on what kind of edging to do, if it even needs an edging. This blanket is going to be raffled on 1st December (I think) and we're hoping to get enough squares in over the next few weeks to make another one, when our fingers have recovered from sewing 150 squares together in one afternoon.

Each and every contribution to the blanket is welcome, people have been so generous again with their efforts. I think Michaela has raised almost £250 so far in the raffle for this blanket. Tickets are £1 each and you can either paypal on Emma's blog and then tell Michaela how many tickets you need (you get 1 for each £1 you donate) or include a chq or cash with your squares.

Michaela also gave me a bag of goodies which included home made mincemeat, yum, and a gorgeous Christmas cake. Unfortunately Cameron fell asleep in the car on the way home and rested his head on the cake box so one of the penguins is a little squished - poor chap. It looks amazing though doesn't it? This is the 4th Michaela made cake that has come into our house and I promise you that they taste as good as they look. We've been tempted to have a slice of this one since it arrived but we're trying hard to be good! Whether it lasts until Christmas remains to be seen though.

Posted by Kerrie at 07:53 AM | Comments (11)

November 10, 2007

HipKnitters

ARE YOU A HIP KNITTER?

or do you know someone who is?

HipKnits is looking for knitters that break the mould and illustrate that you have to be hip to knit.

We all know that knitting is cool, but we want to show the world just how cool we are.

We want knitters of all ages and walks of life to help promote HipKnits and knitting in general. So whether you’re young and hip or old and hip, as long as you knit, we want to hear from you.

Are you a black belt in Tae Kwon Do?
Are you an actress or a fire fighter? Then we want to know.
Maybe you are an animator or an archaeologist.
Perhaps you are a forest ranger or you are following in Russell Crowe’s footsteps as a man who knits.
Are you an artist who uses knitting in your work, or do you knit unusual items?
If you are a modern knitter with a sense of style, then get in touch.
Maybe you discovered knitting through strange circumstances.

Contact us now for your chance to be a HipKnits Hip Knitter!

Everyone who comes forward will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win GBP50 worth of luxurious HipKnits yarns.

To enter simply email chellaramananAThotmail.com with the subject header HipKnitter and include the following information:

Name.
Age.
Gender
Address.
How long you have been knitting.
Occupation.
Description of what makes you a Hip Knitter in 150 words or less.

Closing date for entries is 31st December so declare your status as a Hip Knitter now!

Terms and Conditions:

The promoter is HipKnits.co.uk and reserves the right to cancel or amend the prize draw at any time. Promoter's decision is final
The prize draw is open to all residents of the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands excluding employees of HipKnits and their immediate families, agents or anyone professionally connected with the promotion.
The prize is non transferable. No cash alternative.
Entries must be received on or before midnight GMT 31st December
Winners will be announced in January both in writing via email and on the HipKnits blog
Privacy Statement. We will not share your details with any other organisation and we will not use your details for any purpose other than to update you on new products and services. Your email address will be added to our newsletter, please state in your email if you do not wish to subscribe.

Posted by Kerrie at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)

November 09, 2007

Blogs

Did you know that Melanie Falick has a blog? I only found it yesterday along with Kelley from Knitpicks blog which I now can't find again.. Which made me think, how many other interesting blogs am I missing out there? Thousands probably.

Outisde of the links list to the left I really dont read many blogs every day, I can't afford the time, but I do have favourites that I check up on once a week or so. Amanda from Soulemama will always be in my top 5 blogs to check in on, I love her style, as will Alicia from Posie. The other 3 places probably go to Jane from Yarnstorm, The Yarn Harlot of course and then probably Hillary from Wee Wonderfuls.

So, inspire me. Which are your top 5 "can't let a week go by without dropping in on them" blogs?

Posted by Kerrie at 07:26 AM | Comments (11)

November 08, 2007

Handmade

Have you seen this handmade pledge? I think I can half take the pledge as this year I am making Chrismas presents for the following people :

Mum
Mother in Law
Sisters in Law
Nieces
Kiddos

Dad, Wayne and Jenna - you're safe. No need to worry about soft squishy parcels under the tree this year. You have all been good enough NOT to get a handmade present this time.

There will be just a wee shop update today, some of the yarns that I'm offering are on sale as they got caught out in the rain TWICE and although I washed them again each time they still seem a little musty to me. I should have washed them again with a little more fabric conditioner but instead I decided to be lazy, put them on the site and offer 33% off retail price to make up for the not as gorgeous as they should be smell to them! I'll be coming back and adding in pictures later on today.

Lots and lots of the Cleopatra merino and mohair :

Oh, and I created a HipKnits group in Ravelry, for those of you who are on board there won't you come and join us?

Posted by Kerrie at 06:02 AM | Comments (0)

November 07, 2007

Book review

I'm in the middle of reading one of the best books I have ever read at the moment, it is called the Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky. The basic plot is white couple give birth to black daughter, you can imagine what happens next. It is brilliant, I can't put it down.

In addition to all the emotion of the main plot there is a surprising sub plot in that the mother is a knitter, designer, best friends with a yarn store owner. Knitting is a HUGE part of the plot of the story and it seems so real, the yarn store owner talks about yarns that I know and have used and the way that the characters talk about knitting makes me think that the author probably knits. I found it much more realistic than the plot of the Friday night Knitting club which I found a bit contrived and disappointing. This book doesnt try to be a book about knitting, it just is. I'm loving it. Planning on curling up on the sofa with it and finishing it today while knitting.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:36 AM | Comments (7)

November 06, 2007

So many new things

I have so many new things to tell you about that I almost don't know where to begin. So lets start here. With the new Choose Your Own Sock yarn club which we are launching today.

"We are excited to launch our new choose your own sock yarn club for 2008. We know that many people are put off joining sock clubs because they are worried that they will not like the colours that are sent to them, so we decided to come up with a way for you to choose your own colours of sock yarn from a selection that will be available throughout 2008.

How does it work?

• You join the club with an initial payment of £45 plus 1 lot of postage which entitles you to 4 skeins of hand dyed sock yarn.
• Only 50 places will be available on the club, these are available to international members as well as UK based people.
• On receipt of your initial payment you will be sent 4 x coupon codes.
• Each month 50 skeins of yarn will be available to club members, all dyed in a special one off colour that we have not dyed before.
• An email will be sent to the club members with a photo of the yarn announcing the time that it will be available in the shop.
• If you like the colour, you can choose to purchase it by entering one of your coupon codes at checkout. If you don’t like the colour, you can save your coupon code until the next month.
• You may only buy 1 skein of yarn per month unless there are some leftover a week after they go on sale. At this point they will be put into the shop for general purchase and you may use another one of your coupon codes to buy another skein (or 2 or three if you really like the colour and have enough codes left!).
• Coupon codes will be valid for 12 months from the month of issue. If you do not find 4 colours that you like during this time your money will not be refunded, but we are pretty sure you will!
• Each skein of sock yarn will be enough to make an average pair of socks. We will use a variety of base fibres, cashmere, merino, BFL etc.
• Signups are open now here and the first skeins of yarn will be available to club members on 1st January.
• If the club sells out then additional spaces will become available each quarter, with the 2nd batch being released on 1st March 2008.

Any questions please email us."

Posted by Kerrie at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

Tulip progress

This Tulip pattern is a lovely quick knit. I've made a few changes to the pattern as per usual for me, I only have 5 colours of aran cashmere so I'm working slightly fatter stripes and I am working a row of garter stitch at each colour change. I started the cardigan while we were away at the weekend staying with Wayne's mum and I only scribbled down the basics so that I could make a start, I think I have gone a little wrong somewhere but it looks pretty so thats good enough for me.

I've just split the sleeves and am about to start on the body. I've only worked on it for an hour or so until now so I'm predicting the rest of the knit will be nice and quick, but it won't be finished today. Today is a day for errands. After the orders are packed and the yarns are in the dye pot Trinity and I have to go to the bank, the post office, Tescos and 2 local haberdasheries with wholesale packs. Think that means I can't hang out in my jammies all day, still - tomorrow is another day isn't it?

Posted by Kerrie at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)

November 05, 2007

Long time

I miss blogging when I have a week like last week, where I have so much on my mind that I can't (don't want to) talk about that I stay away from the blog and just get on with everything. I won't pretend that I have caught up with everything that I needed to do but I'm getting there. Only 1 more wholesale order to dye this week (but its a big one, over 400 skeins of yarn) and then next week will be all about getting it dry, skeined, labelled, packed etc. Apart from that I'm taking it easy this week with lots and lots of knitting on the sofa time scheduled as well as some pattern writing and designing time thrown in. Its going to be a productive yet relaxing one. I promised myself that and I'm going to stick to it.

I can't believe it is November already. That gives me only a couple more months with my current working routine before January comes around and it all changes again. I'm hoping it will be easier for me in the New Year but I'm reluctant to count on that until I'm there and it is happening. Only 2 months left of this year? That's another good reason to chill out a little and enjoy what I have now.

Although I wasn't really here at all, I did spend a fair bit of time surfing around last week and found some GORGEOUS designs out there, like Giselle by Marnie Maclean for Stitch Diva. I just love the long version and the shape of the sleeves, I feel as though wrap tops are really flattering for me - I would love to find the time to make this one at some point.

I am also hankering after the swiss cheese scarf that Dee linked to last week. I think that all of the casting off and on again would drive me mad after a while though so I'm going to just keep looking at that one and loving it from a distance.

I keep dreaming about shawls, and I mean properly dreaming about them at night not just thinking about them a lot during the day time. I dont really wear shawls (except as scarves but that doesnt count does it?) but I seem to be obsessed with the idea of making them and in my dreams I am always elegantly wrapped in exquisite shawls in bold vibrant colours. Maybe my sub conscious is trying to tell me something, lose the jeans and long sleeved Tees and smarten yourself up. Hmmm. I rediscovered the lovely Koigu book that I bought earlier on in the year and I'm thinking of making myself a Charlotte's web shawl from it. I tried to make one years ago but couldnt get the stitch pattern straight in my head. I'm not sure about the fringe though, you don't see too many shawls with fringe these days do you?

It is certainly one to consider anyway. I'm playing with kids designs this week, finishing off a collection that I've been working on FOREVER. Or maybe it just seems like it. I can't wait to show you. Oh, and thanks to a combination of Nic's suggestion and my poor will power I'm doing this again. Over here. You need to start with the first entry and read upwards if you want it to make any sense. It may still not make any sense, it is all unedited - just the words as they come out of my head. I've been searching around for the novel I wrote out of the last Nanowrimo I did back in 2003, I cant find it any where. I have been through a few laptops since then so its probably on CD somewhere, that was a lot of fun to write though - I hope I find it somewhere.

I also need to get my sewing machine out as I have lots of things cut out that now need sewing together. I have fallen completely in love with this quilt and although I can't justify spending £70 on it right now I want it!

Posted by Kerrie at 05:44 AM | Comments (4)