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January 31, 2008
Shop update
IT will be done tonight, I promise. But it is looking like being closer to midnight than I originally thought. Photoshop has corrupted on my PC and I can't reinstall it so I've been having HUGE problems getting the photos done this time around. We're off on hols tomorrow morning and I still have a big list of things to do but update the site is on there and it will be done...
Posted by Kerrie at 06:44 PM | Comments (2)
January 30, 2008
Simple Knit
Simple Knitting is about all I can manage at the moment. My brain is full of complicated stuff, Lou and I are in the middle of a big legal phase at the moment wording contracts, confidentialilty agreements, terms and conditions etc, and I feel like I need my knitting to be a gentle quiet release for me.
So I started a simple garter stitch scarf in a skein of chunky BFL yarn that is going to be in the shop tomorrow. Its pretty shades of blue, coral, yellow and green and looks lovely all knitted up in simple garter stitch.
We're also having a period of simple dinners at the moment. Both Wayne and I are trying to eat more sensibly and exercise (although he is better at going out on his bike than I am at running) and I've discovered that nice simple low fat meals are the way to go. Nothing complicated that involves lots of measuring or weighing just simple, easy healthy food. Who knows if it is going to work out or not. I need to drop a dress size (2 would be lovely but 1 is more realistic) and although that is not going to happen by the time we go away for a few days on FRIDAY that's OK. I'm so looking forward to a few days relaxing and I'm not even planning on taking my phone or laptop with me. No way of communicating with anyone other than family. Perfect, don't you think?
So, now I need to hurry up and finish my contribution towards the weeks worth of paperwork otherwise Lou might not let me go on holiday! Then get the photos done and the site updated tomorrow and I'll be on my way. Mandy will still be here posting out orders while I'm away but there will be a few days of no email replies until mid next week.
Posted by Kerrie at 11:15 AM | Comments (3)
January 29, 2008
February Choose your own sock yarn
The Feb choose your own sock yarn offering will be in the shop update this Thursday, 90g of ophelia 100% merino superwash sock yarn. In lovely shades of blues, lilacs, browns and cream this yarn would make a lovely pair of socks.
I dyed enough for everyone in the club to choose a skein plus a couple of extras so if new people join they stand a chance of still gettting a skein. There are a couple of January's colours left over which will be on general sale from Thursday as well.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:50 AM | Comments (1)
January 28, 2008
All about Brooke
This weekend has been all about Brooke. The two of us went out for dinner on our own on Friday night which was lovely, she is growing up so quickly and I really enjoyed spending some quality grown up time with her. She ordered the food for both of us in the restaurant and chose our desserts as well (more calories in that one meal than I think I have had in the whole of January so far but it was well worth it!)
There must have been a table full of sick people near us though because she woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday with a bit of a temperature and a sore throat and then I had the same thing by the time I got up yesterday morning. All of our Sunday plans for knitting club visits and shopping were cancelled and we spent most of the day in bed.
I managed to take some photos for the shop update, this Thursday at 6pm, its going to be a HUGE one. We have lots of chunky BFL, tonnes of Ophelia sock yarn, plenty of Cleopatra silk and mohair and lots and lots of other yummy yarns.
I havent managed to edit any of the photos yet but here are a few straight from the camera :
Posted by Kerrie at 07:50 AM | Comments (2)
January 25, 2008
Beautiful fabrics
I'm going to be playing with some fabric over the next couple of weeks, from left to right we have some Heather Bailey, Amy Butler, Heather Bailey and Rowan. Yum. I'm having a hard time choosing my favourite out of them. Its any one of the first 3 depending on my mood at the time. Right this minute now, its the raspberry and white AB one.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:52 AM | Comments (4)
January 24, 2008
Yarn Forward issue 4
I have been as busy as ever over the last few days, juggling babies and work again Poor little Trinity is still sicky, its nothing serious - just a high temp and general yuckiness. She has new teeth coming through but it shouldnt be that making her so ill, think she just has a lurgy. Poor little girl.
The magazines have all gone out. Hurray. The photographs were all taken (sorry Dennis's mum!) and HipKnits will be updated on Monday evening with ooh so much lovely yarn.
I'll show you some pretty yarn pictures tomorrow, this blog has been very much all words and no pictures this week, but for today I'm just going to point you to this post on the YF blog which tells a little of the story behind the current issue and this resubscribe offer we have on the website at the moment. It is a very special way to say thank you to all those people who supported us from the start and subscribed from Issue 1. There will be more resubscribe offers throughout the year as well as some new subscription offers very soon as well. Really, Lou and I need another 10 hours in the day for all the fab ideas we have.
Posted by Kerrie at 10:41 AM | Comments (8)
January 22, 2008
To do, or not to do
My to do list today was chock full. I have around 200 skeins of yarn to photograph for next weeks shop update, around 600 envelopes to prepare for magazines, a database of subscribers to update and organise and 3 sacks of post to pack.
Added to that list now is a sick Trinity to look after. I'll be doing what I can with a hot little cuddly baby on my chest until Wayne comes home tonight to take over. Send Calpol for her, and wine for me.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:41 AM | Comments (9)
January 21, 2008
Weekends off
This has been the second weekend in a row that I have not turned the laptop on at all or done any work for HipKnits / YF Mag / MagKnits / Other. This year is about working smarter for me, and not necessarily working every minute that I am awake. Now that I have a few hours each day that I am childfree I am getting so much more work done, my efficiency has improved hugely. To be able to start a job and finish it without having to stop to change a nappy, feed a bottle of milk or just have a quick cuddle and play a game of peek a boo has made such a difference. I can now get enough work done Mon - Fri to be able to turn off the laptop all weekend and not even think about it again until Monday morning.
Don't get me wrong, I still clocked 61 hours work last M - F so the silly hours have not stopped completely, they are just being squashed into a shorter number of days. It suits me at the moment very well.
This weekend was lovely. We did lots of house type things, 11 loads of laundry, a monthly grocery shop, cooked 4 meals which are in the freezer waiting for me to take them out and use them as the week goes on and I got a 2 hour nap in on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Who could ask for more?
There was plenty of time for knitting as well, I just about finished the pink / purple / gold thing that I swatched for last week and I swatched for another couple of projects as well. Its nice to feel in control of what I'm doing again.
I've got lots of paperwork to catch up on today, weekly reports, stats, accounts, emails. So a day on the sofa is in order. Or at least a morning on the sofa, I may pop into the shop and dye some more yarn this afternoon. Oh the freedom!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:10 AM | Comments (6)
January 18, 2008
Collages
If you followed the link in the previous entry to the yf blog you'll notice a theme to how I spent last night! Playing around with photos was a great way to procrastinate all the paperwork that I should have been doing.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:06 AM | Comments (1)
Yarn Forward stuff
Today is the last day for any applications for the Yarn Forward Intern position. We've had some good applicants through already but if you are interested in working with us then please drop us an email today.
Check out the blog for more details.
We also managed to negotiate a nice yarn discount from one of the UK online shops as the little something that we promised subscribers. So anyone who subs to the magazine should receive a letter with details, email us if not.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2008
What's in your bag?
I love bags. I'm not really a shoe person, in fact I only own 6 pairs of shoes - 2 of those are crocs and 1 is the pair I wore to get married in. Add a pair of trainers, some chuck all stars and one pair of knee boots and that's it. Shameful really isn't it? Bags, however are my weakness, I have tonnes of them. All beautiful gorgeous bags. Cath Kidston, Amy Butler, Jordana Paige, handmade, store bought, expensive, reasonable - I have the lot.
Wayne will tell you that I have too many bags because I never seem to know where anything is and I change whichever bag I carry around with me depending on my mood. All of them are big bags though that I can shove full of junk. This is my current goes everywhere with me bag, a lovely Amy Butler one that one of my customers enabled me to buy in her pre Christmas sale by letting me have it shipped to her US address. Thanks Anne!
Its reversible and a great size for all the junk I carry around. I thought I'd be brave and show you what was in it tonight.
Eek, a lot of stuff. A copy of Country Living, my diary, chq book and a letter to post. A change of clothes and nappies for Trin. Oh, and an odd sock. How odd. 3 jars of jam (dont ask) sunglasses, 2 christmas CDs, some leftover christmas cards, a pile of paperwork type junk, some make up Clinique and Borgeois - my favourites, a hairbrush, a roll of sellotape and a camera USB cable. Strange huh?
Anyone else brave enough to share the contents of their handbags? I'll post some more pics of my lovely collection soon, including the new Cath Kidston one that arrived last week. Squeel.
Posted by Kerrie at 06:02 PM | Comments (5)
January 16, 2008
Colours
I have these 3 skeins of yarn that I'm using for a design at the moment. I love the pink and the purple colours bit not so much the gold. I started off my little swatch thinking that the pink and gold would look good striped together and then tried the three colours all striped in together.
Then I carried on swatching a little more and now I really like the purple as the background with the gold and pink in little fairisle bands. What do you think?
I need to wash and dry the swatch now and see what happens to it. I'm hoping that the fabric will soften up a little and drape beautifully. It is DK yarn but I'm knitting it on 6mm needles for a soft open fabric. I cant wait to get started on the actual pattern now.
Posted by Kerrie at 01:03 PM | Comments (3)
January 15, 2008
Trinity
This is the beret that Chrissy made for Trinity, isn't it sweet? Unfortunately it only just squashes onto the big girl's head which is a shame because it would have been lovely to keep it for ages but that's OK, she will wear it every day until it is too small. I love it, what a kind gift. Thanks so much!
Touch wood, things are going well with Trinity at the moment. We are all settling into our new daily routines and she is beginning to sleep better at night. I would love to get back to the way we were when she was small, before all the medical hoo haas started. When she would sleep for 12 hours a night, go to bed awake and just lay there until she fell asleep. Sigh. Its been a real struggle to get that back, but I feel like we are beginning to get close now. We're not there yet, mind.
She has such a determined personality, she wants whatever the older 2 are having and is not afraid to shout for it. She will point to whatever food she wants from the table and shout loudly for it. She reaches for her cup and makes a loud swallowing noise followed by an AAH sound which means that she would like a drink. She babbles mamamamama and dadadadada and says Br when she sees Brooke or a photo of Brooke. She loves the pictures we have up everywhere of the kids and will hold out her arms to be picked up so that she can be face to face with the photos, and reach out and pat and talk to the pictures.
She really is the sweetest baby ever. Having 3 children is lovely and on a good day it is all that I ever thought it would be and then some. On a bad day, I long for the peace and quiet of life when I first met Wayne and was living on my own in my little flat in Ilford. Sigh. The good days are far outweighing the bad days though this year which is what I was hoping for. In fact the bad days seem to be keeping themselves to bad hours at the moment which is lovely.
When Lou came to visit last week she had a taste of the mad house that we live in. Designing pages with Trinity tucked under one arm, emailing people at the same time as cooking dinner, that is situation normal around here. Cameron kept pretending to forget her name and just called her "mummys friend" the whole time which was really funny. I've had a lot of fun this year with the kids, business etc. Long may it continue, that's what I say!
I'm in the shop dyeing yarn all day tomorrow, while today has been spent packing magazine and HipKnits orders. Mr Postman was not too impressed when he came to the door and found 3 sacks of mail instead of the usual one. Gives him something to complain about though doesnt it? He should think himself lucky that Mandy is managing the ebay yarn shop parcel posting and not me, otherwise he'd have even more yarn to carry around with him. Hee hee.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:32 PM | Comments (2)
January 14, 2008
Shop - good to go
Well, the shop update is getting there. There are 5 pages of new products on here and that will probably be up to 15 - 20 pages by the end of the day, depending on how quickly it sells that is!
Lots and lots of laceweight as well as plenty of beautiful bright sock yarn, I really think there is something for everyone here today!
Posted by Kerrie at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)
Hello?
Oooh, its been a wee while hasn't it? I missed blogging but the last week has just ran away from me. We've had a combination of technical issues (broken shop, over our ftp disk space allowance, loss of internet, photoshop not working any more) as well as some user errors (having spent 3 hours taking photos for the update last week I deleted them all from the camera without uploading them to the laptop, duh!) and also having Lou over for a few days to put together page plans for the next few issues of the magazine. Every time I feel like sitting down and blogging it just doesn't seem to come together.
This week is going to be different though. It has started off well with our new sofa arriving at 7.01 this morning - not bad for a delivery slot of between 7am and 1pm. Its the first time in ages that we have been woken up by anything other than the children, and the first time in ages that we have been asleep at 6.50 in the morning, the ringing phone was a bit of a shock! Mind you, if the men who delivered it had been more helpful it would have been a better start to the day, they trod mud all over our carpets, scuffed up the walls and then decided that they couldn't fit the sofa up the stairs (town house, lounge in middle floor) so they left it downstairs in the hall and refused to help any further. Once the packaging was off Wayne and I managed to carry it up the stairs between us and now I plan to spend a good portion of the day sitting here :
(Doesn't Trinity look small in the corner there?)
List for today includes retake all the photos of the yarn for the shop update, find something other than photoshop to edit them in, get the site updated. I promise it will happen by 6pm tonight. Really.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:03 AM | Comments (7)
January 08, 2008
Yarn Spreadsheet
This cataloguing of the yarn is taking ages. We have probably done about 5 percent of the yarn so far. That 5 percent is all on a spreadsheet and will find its way to ebay / website at some point over the next week. Meanwhile Mandy will be making lists of more yarn so I dont expect to catch up with her for weeks!
I thought I'd share the spreadsheet with you in case anyone wants anything before it goes on ebay. Everything on here is full, sealed packs - most of them 10 balls some of them 20 - and costs GBP 10 plus postage. Email kerrieandmandyATkerriesplace.co.uk if you want to buy anything.
Posted by Kerrie at 02:28 PM | Comments (2)
Tipsy
Yay, the shop is fixed! Big update coming later on today.
In the meantime, meet my next big project. I fell in love with Michaela's tipsy when I saw it half finished at hers before Christmas. It was lovely and I was sorely tempted to sneak it out of the house. Instead though, I've decided to make my own out of some Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply that I just happened to find a little of in the shop last week.
The pink is going to be the sleeve colour and the rest the fairisle. I'm so excited to start even though the thought of a cardigan for me using 4 ply yarn fills me with horror. I'm planning to wear it next Christmas so that's a whole year to knit it. Reckon I can do it?
Posted by Kerrie at 06:38 AM | Comments (6)
January 07, 2008
Shop = broken
Whoops, thanks Sara and Clara for pointing out to me that the shop is broken. I logged a ticket with my support team and hope they can fix it nice and quickly. Will keep you posted.
Posted by Kerrie at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)
Shop Update
Hmm, you may have to wait until tomorrow for the January shop update. I'm at the Braintree knitting group tonight selling some yarn and the photos that I took today weren't great and will need some photoshopping before I can get the site properly updated. Newsletter will go out as soon as it is ready, we have SO much yarn this month.
Posted by Kerrie at 02:41 PM | Comments (2)
January 06, 2008
Open day
The open day was lovely yesterda, we had lots of people come to look at the Hipknits yarns and play in the bin bags full of bargain yarn. Mandy and I have decided to sell pretty much all of it at £1 a ball or £10 for a full pack and lots of people decided that this was a bargain not to be missed. it was nice to see some of the bin bags diminishing in size and lots of yarn being carried out of the shop.
I know I shouldn't pick just one person out of the many many people who came along but it was so lovely to finally meet Chrissy after emailing each other for so long. She bought gifts for me and the children and her husband was good enough to leave her at the shop for long enough so that we could dye her some special yarn and that she could have a good play with the yarn. Chrissy, I hope you get back to Singapore safely and I will post a photo of Trinity in her beret as soon as I can keep her still long enough to get a pic.
The January shop update should be done tomorrow, I will send out an email to the newsletter list when it is done so if you are not on the list already, drop me an email and get yourself added.
Posted by Kerrie at 11:51 AM | Comments (1)
January 04, 2008
Bin Bag update
Well, we have opened around 15 out of the 134 bags that we picked up in the first hit. See?
However it hasn't helped much. I got so over excited when we found that about 5 of them were FULL of Jaegar yarns, many full packs and hundreds of balls of Matchmaker merino 4 ply and dk. I want them all. Mandy and her husband are picking up the remaining 100 bin bags of yarn and 20 bin bags of fabric and haberdashery today and tomorrow. (despite being stuck on the side of a mountain in a snow slide for a while they are doing OK) We're going to try not to bring that in the shop until after the open day though, otherwise we will not be able to fit ANY customers into the shop at all. That wouldn't be good now would it?
We're looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow, between 11 and 3. There will be tea, coffee and cake. Oh, and plenty of yarn.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:37 AM | Comments (9)
January 03, 2008
Book Reviews
This Christmas has been one of reading lots and lots and lots of books. Many of them nothing about knitting but 2 that are relevant.
The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood. This was lovely, written by a knitter about a knitting circle. A million times better than the Friday Night Knitting Club which I wasn't keen on at all. THe only critiscism I have of this book is that everyone in this book as a major emotional "something" that has happened to them. None of them are just ordinary people. It had me hooked until the end though and the ending, oh my goodness. The last few pages when she talks about Stella made me sob and sob and sob. Its not something that I've talked about here much, but apart from the fact that our ending was happy and her ending was sad I could have written those words, it bought back so many memories. Well worth a read.
Then Ruth's book arrived and its fab! I've never bought a book from Lulu before but I was really impressed with the quality. The hat patterns are great, i'll definitely be making some of them. well done Ruth!
Posted by Kerrie at 04:55 PM | Comments (2)
January 02, 2008
Choose your own sock yarn club
The first yarn for the choose your own sock yarn club has gone up in the shop, it is a lovely merino / tencel blend. I dyed enough skeins for everyone to have one each but if the current members dont all choose to take this yarn, anything leftover will be in the shop in the early Feb update.
You can see the yarn (and join the club) here.
I am going to be working differently when it comes to updating Hipknits this year. The website will be updated at around 6pm on the first day or so of each month. It will be a HUGE update each time in the hope that it will last 4 weeks. I am going to dye yarn every Monday, the first Monday of the month will be dyeing yarn for the following month's update and then the next 3 Monday's will be dedicated to wholesale orders, show dyeing, custom dyeing etc. I'm hoping that this will help me to focus a little more and stop me feeling like I am dyeing little pieces of yarn every day!
Posted by Kerrie at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2008
Exciting News
They say that whatever you do on New Years Day you will do for the rest of the year. In that case, yay! This New Years Day has been amazing, as have the last couple of weeks. I have so much to tell you about the changes the last few weeks have bought to my business life.
Here is the first and one of the MOST exciting announcements I have ever been able to make.
Posted by Kerrie at 10:05 PM | Comments (3)
Whoops
This was the corner of the shop that we cleared for the yarn. Unfortunately the van wasnt big enough for all of it to fit into and we only managed to pick up half. We're going back for the other half later on in the week. Not sure where it will fit though, this is what the corner looks like now with 134 full bin bags of yarn!
Posted by Kerrie at 01:35 PM | Comments (8)