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April 30, 2008

Send sleep

Why do things always happen when husbands are away? I didnt get anything done after 3pm yesterday as I was in hospital with a friend who thought she was in prem labour at 34 weeks. With her husband away on business Wayne looked after her 2 children together with our 3 (give that man a medal) and I spent the night in hospital with her on the other side of the giving birth fence. I've never been a birth partner before! Lucky for all of us things calmed down early hours and I think she is coming home today.

I'm just about to drop 5 kids off at various nurseries and schools and then come home for a much needed shower and couple of hours sleep. I havent looked at emails or orders since 3pm yesterday but I WILL be back online by early afternoon and will catch up then.

Its all good fun isnt it? xx

Posted by Kerrie at 08:11 AM | Comments (1)

April 28, 2008

Wonderwool, the review

(OK, I'm a little more awake now so have added some more detail below!)

The weekend at Wonderwool was absolutely fantastic, we couldn't have asked for anything better. I was slightly nervous about the show, having been a bit unwell the week leading up to it and knowing that I really shouldn't be driving or bending over and lifting anything up but I'm really pleased I made the decision to go. Lou and I met so many lovely customers and sold lots and lots of yarn and magazines. We actually sold out of issue 4 of the magazine and came home with only 1 copy of issue 2. We need to check stock to see if we have any more of issue 4 but I think that might be the first issue to have totally completely and utterly sold out. How exciting!

The response to the magazines was amazing, it was lovely to meet so many new customers who had not heard of the magazine and for them to buy all the back issues, a subscription and then come back a few hours later to tell us that they had read the magazine over lunch and really enjoyed it. That makes all the hard work and effort that we put in worth while.

We tried to keep a tally of all the lovely Ravelry people we met and gave discounts to, it was great to see sooo many badges. We gave up when we reached 60, we just couldnt keep up with them all. It was lovely to receive so many hugs and smiles and have so many friendly chats with people we only knew from online. The vibe at the shows is great, from setting up and chatting to the other vendors to the hours when the show is open and you meet customers that you've seen before, people you only know from emails and then people who have never heard of you before.

The last couple of hours of the show quieten down nicely, allowing stall holders the chance to sit and have a cup of tea and watch the last few shoppers go by. I like that winding down stage of the day, its something that you don't always get at Ally Pally and the other bigger shows but it really helps you calm down at shows like Wonderwool where you have had a few hours of mayhem with people queueing up to subscribe and pay for yarn.

That quiet time allows you to wander around and say hello to other stall holders that you dont see between shows. I caught up with Jeni from Fyberspates, Amanda from the Natural Dye studio, DT Crafts, Dee and Tony from Posh yarn, Eirwen from Knitwitches and probably many more who I can't remember off the top of my head. I love the way that although we are all competitors the overall feeling of the shows is that you are part of a big family. Of course there is always an element of bitchiness, of people who you know have said things about you elsewhere coming up and smiling and being friendly but that's real life isn't it? It happens everywhere so why should shows be any different? It was also surprising to me just how many people took the time to say that they had read some of the negative stuff that went on the other week and how out of control they thought it had all become. That meant a lot to me (and Lou) and we really appreciate everyone who took the time to come over and speak to us. Especially those of you who had been motivated to buy from us as a gesture of support.

The 5 hour drive home last night was exhausting so I'm taking it easy with my little people today. I can see now that from a physical point of view I should probably have stayed home and as much as I tried to be good and look after myself I'm paying for it today. Lou took lots of photos so I'll try and get some from her today that I can share on the YF blog later. I'm going to have a cup of tea and some toast and then have a paperwork / catching up day instead of a yarn dyeing / skeining / physical day. x

Posted by Kerrie at 07:54 AM | Comments (1)

April 24, 2008

Wonderwool

I'm heading off for wonderwool first thing in the morning, all the yarn is labelled, packed and ready to go. I won't update here again until mid next week now but I wanted to let you know about some nice special offers that we're going to have on the HipKnits / Yarn Forward stand.

- BOTH YF AND HIPKNITS - 10% discount for anyone who reads here or any of the forums where Lou and I post regularly.

- YF MAGAZINE - All 4 back issues of the magazine for £10 plus a free gift of yarn and pattern when you take out a new subscription at the show.

- HIPKNITS - Free pattern with every purchase while stocks last.

- HIPKNITS - special discounts on silk and sari silk.

We are also hoping to take part in the Sheepwalk so you'll get the chance to see some of the YF designs on the catwalk, we're really excited about that! If you're coming to the show we'll see you there, otherwise I'll be back here sometime next week when we're recovered from the long drive and all unpacked.

Posted by Kerrie at 05:18 PM | Comments (3)

April 23, 2008

Reading

I love a good read, I remember a few months back you all gave me some great book suggestions, I read a number of them which were great, and I thought that I'd share a list here of the books that I have read over the last two or three weeks. They are a bit of an eclectic mix...

- Penny Vincenzi, an absolute scandal. (lighthearted, trashy, chick lit. Quick and easy to read)
- Wilbur Smith, Quest. (Egyptian epic, brilliant. Have loved all in the series)
- Stephen King, Blaze. (lightweight horror. Average but easy read)
- Phillip Pullman, Northern Lights. (Fantasty, loved it)
- Harlen Cobe, Hold Tight. (Crime, thriller. Pretty good.)
- Richard Webster, Spirit Guides and Angel Guardians. (factual how to contact your guardian angels and learn about spirit guides. Fascinating)
- Brian Lumley, Necroscope. (Vampire horror, have read it countless times. Love a bit of blood and guts and gore every now and again)
- Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth. (religious cathederal building epic set in a monastery. Very good)

(oh and yes, for those of you who are wondering the kids have been locked in a cupboard these past few weeks while I read all these books. JOKE! Honestly, you'd think people would have something better to do with their time than to read this blog just so that they will have something to b**ch about elsewhere.)

Posted by Kerrie at 08:10 AM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2008

Randoms

- I've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again, an hour in the forest after dinner is worth a million. We saw a big stag deer close up last night, the last time I saw one of those was at the side of the road and I had to phone the forest ranger to come and collect him. This was lovely, he ran around us in a big circle twice before disappearing back into the forest. I've never seen one so close like that before, the children were shocked into silence by it which is a big achievement in itself I think. Wish I had the camera with me.

- Wayne and I went to Marianne and Barrys wedding last week, even a broken down car couldn't keep us away. We took Michaela with us which was lovely, it was a good excuse to get poshed up and spend a few hours talking and laughing. I get all sentimental at weddings, ours was such a great day - 5 years ago this August. Now that has gone super quick.

- It was lovely to get home and see these funny three in the morning though. When we stay at mum and dads Trinity sleeps in a travel cot in our room and she pops her little head over the top and shouts at us when she wakes up, its really funny and almost worth being woken up before 7am after a late night for.

- The flowers are all done and I've moved onto a project for the magazine that I need to get finished this week. I seem to be back in the habit of knitting a fair bit these last couple of weeks, that makes me happy.

- Go and send Jo a big virtual hug. She had a rough day yesterday and really needs one. Jo is the sweetest person I have ever met, her little boy is lovely and she makes a great cup of tea! What better recommendation could I give?

- Today is all about magazine work, proof reading, editing and chasing up some contributors. A day in the office is just what the doctor ordered I think.

Posted by Kerrie at 06:21 AM | Comments (1)

April 21, 2008

Flowers

Sorry about the long silence, its been a funny few days around here with lots of things going on in the background that have needed my attention and have taken me away from the internet. Shock horror! I've been carrying around some nice simple pick up and put down knitting with me for the last week or so, its all about flowers over here at the moment.

I'm teaching yet more knitted flower classes in a few weeks time at various locations and having followed the same class format for the last couple of years I'm busy experimenting with some new flower "patterns" to use in the classes. I use the term patterns in the loosest possible way as they are really just little recipes that can be changed as required. The number of stitches that you cast on, rows that you knit, yarn that you use, cast off and cast on that you use are not written in stone. The reason that I love teaching flower classes is that everyone's flowers look different and yet they are all lovely. That's another reason that I love knitting flowers as well, they are quick, easy to pick up and put down and look so pretty when they are finished. Just what the doctor ordered.

I'm booked in to teach at a few knitting groups this summer which I'm really looking forward to. I'm happy to drive anywhere within an hour or so of Bishops Stortford to teach classes so if any other knitting groups want to get together and have me come along with some magazines, yarns and knit some flowers let me know. I tend not to charge very much for knitting groups, just enough to cover petrol and yarn really. Its something that I really enjoy as well, which obviously helps.

Posted by Kerrie at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2008

Chocolate Cheesecake

We have so much chocolate in the house and the kids don't really eat it which means that Easter has a habit of dragging on and on and on around here. Yesterday afternoon I did a terrible thing. I lined up these Easter guys, took off their wrappers and popped them into the microwave one at a time. When they were completely melted down I popped them into a bowl with some other good ingredients and turned them into a chocolate cheesecake.

It felt quite naughty to melt them down, poor little chocolately people. I didn't quite go as far as naming them before I zapped them though, I'm not that mean.

I've got a day of meetings today and tomorrow so won't be about too much. I'll check emails when I can and catch with all outstandings on Friday. Hopefully I should have some knitting related photos for you then, with any luck.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:10 AM | Comments (4)

April 15, 2008

...

I swapped places with my sister at the end of last week, she had my silly big car and all three children for a couple of days and I had her little car while Wayne and I had some time at home on our own. There were things that we needed to do which included going to Tesco at 8.30 pm and buying wine, steak and cheesecake for dinner. As you do when you don't have any children to look after, don't you?

As much as I totally love my children it gets really intense at times with 3 of them. Especially as I'm at home pretty much all the time, I get the brunt of the mundane day to day jobs (cooking, feeding them, brushing teeth, getting dressed, breaking up fights) which gets really wearing after a while. With all the stuff that has been going on recently (and this time I'm not referring to the internet hoo hah) it felt really important for Wayne and I to have some time on our own. We looked through old pictures of the kids, reminded ourselves how much they have all changed and grown up, talked about lots of things, made some plans and generally lazed around the house in our PJs and remembered what it was like to be able to do what we want when we want. That's something that it is easy to forget when you have 3 little people after your attention all the time.

It was only around 24 hours but it felt like a lot longer. We missed them terribly and wre both really pleased to have them back home again. I need to remember that feeling, especially on nights like last night when Wayne is out, Trinity hasn't slept all day at nursery, Cameron is grumpy for no apparant reason and Brooke is tired from her first day back at school. None of us were very nice people last night, I'm afraid. There were lots of tantrums, tears and tempers around last night. We all collapsed into bed at 8pm and woke up much happier this morning.

Trinity started taking her first proper steps over the weekend, she has been standing up for MONTHS and walking with help for almost as long but she has been reluctant to take those first unaided steps until now. This is probably not a bad thing, I'm hoping the fact that she has felt the need to wait a little longer is a good developmental sign for her. I'm hoping that they will discharge us from the hospital next time we take her in, the last few times they have asked if she is walking unaided yet - this seems to be a bit of a milestone that they are waiting for.

It reminded us of the other 2 and their learning to walk. Brooke was about the same age as Trinity but Cameron was much earlier. He met all his physical milestones nice and early. We found a photo of him playing football in the park with Wayne when he was just 1 year and a week old. He looked so cute, and so small. A little different to the way he looked on Sunday night when I finished washing and drying his hair. I was lazy and sent him into nursery with big hair on Monday which prompted him to come home and ask me to plait it quickly so that he didn't look like a girl. We've always said that we'd keep it long until he wanted it cut, I'm hoping he doesn't ask for that though. At the moment he seems happy with it long, he only seems to ask for it to be cut after spending too much time with his grandmas, both of whom I suspect apply gentle subliminal messages to him to ask for short hair. Ha ha...

Posted by Kerrie at 07:09 AM | Comments (3)

April 14, 2008

Orenburg Lace

The first batch of our orenburg lace is dyed and ready for sale. We have decided to sell it at £12 per 50g which is a pretty good deal considering some other companies are selling the same yarn for over £20 per 50g skein. Remember each skein is handspun and each spinner can only produce 2 or 3 skeins a day. This is gorgeous yarn, 1 skein is enough for a small lace shawl - 2 skeins would make a gorgeous large shawl. There are 600 yards per 50g skein.

We dyed it in solid and semi solid shades so that any lace projects that you use it for will look gorgeous. Some multicoloured or variegated lace yarns can confuse your lace pattern if you are not really careful with the choice of your yarn.

I was thinking about saving the yarn to take to Wonderwool, what do you think though? Should I put it on the site today or save it for Wales? I'm out and about for the next few hours but will check back in at 3 and if enough people vote for it to go on the site then I'll do that at 3.

The yarn is on the site now, or at least some of it is. See?

Posted by Kerrie at 07:36 AM | Comments (5)

April 12, 2008

Mad Woman

Sometimes I do crazy things just for the fun of it. Other times I do crazy things for a very very good cause. I like to think that this occasion falls into the second category, but I'm not totally sure yet.

On 6th July this year I'll be running (walking, staggering. delete as you think is appropriate) 10k around London to raise money for SAUK. My donations page is here. Please give if you can, SAUK is a great charity to support and is one that means a lot to me personally.

I'm sure lots of people who know me in real life are now rolling around on the floor in laughter at the thought of me running anywhere. Its a small thing for me to do though in comparison with what other people go through and one that deserves a little support, dontcha think? I firmly believe in doing what I can to support the people that I know and love without just sitting back and relying on the kindness of others in donating time and effort. Surely I can cope with 10 kilometres of running in order to raise money to support a charity that is helping out a very close friend of ours?

Thanks in advance to anyone who manages to donate. Every little counts and each donation will mean so much to me. Wayne is also running it with me, bless him - so if you happen to be there watching on the day make sure you shout nice and loudly to us. We'll be the exhausted but determined ones somewhere near the back!

Posted by Kerrie at 03:15 PM | Comments (1)

April 11, 2008

Shop updated

What a beautiful afternoon it is here, the sun is shining and the sky is bright blue and virtually cloudless - how can anyone be unhappy with weather like this?

I have just finished the shop update, lots of lace yarns today. Click here to take you to the new products page where you can see everything I added. The newsletter group have been given their weekend discount code as well as some other bits of information that I'll share here throughout next week.

The kids and I stayed overnight at mum and dad's last night. When it came to 7pm Brooke and Cameron were happy watching a DVD and Trinity was shattered so I took her up to bed and stayed there with her. That has to be the earliest night I have had for ages and I slept all the way through until this morning. Maybe that's why I feel so cheerful today, a GOOD nights sleep and sunshine. Perfect.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you are getting up to. We don't have too many plans which is unusual for us. We're saving ourselves for the wedding of the year next weekend, I can't wait!

Posted by Kerrie at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2008

Thursday

I'm a tad early with Thursday's post but I can't stay awake any longer so here it is! Thanks for all the positive emails and comments, I really appreciate them. I did hold back on 2 comments that were negative, there are plenty of places for those views to be aired but not here. Ho hum, lets hope this all blows over soon.

Friday's shop update is looking like a bumper one, I'm not going to be online Friday morning so the update is likely to be earlly evening, around 6 ish but as usual the newsletter list will be the first to know with their usual discount code included in the email.

The yarn forward website makeover has had a bit of a back seat since we started it a couple of weeks ago. We have the subs pages all fixed and up and running now and the back issues page is currently only available from the blog (until I get that sorted in the morning) but you can pre order your copy of issue 5 which will be posted out on Monday there.

I'm thrilled to hear of so many of hte magazines arriving already, 2nd class postage and they arrived the day after being posted. That says a lot for our new postage system I think, thank goodness. Its great to hear that people are loving the magazine, thanks for all the comments and emails so far - keep them coming!

Posted by Kerrie at 10:29 PM | Comments (11)

What to say?

I know there are many many people out there who are disappointed about MagKnits no longer being available and I am not going to defend my decision here too much other than to say that for the first time in MONTHS I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

I can't tell you how soul destroying it is to work so hard on something and get very little back, no money and just a tad of positive feedback. Then when it appears as though everyone is out to complain about what you do to the point where every time I looked at my emails there would be more piling up from people who didn't like the new magknits look, didn't like the patterns, thought they saw copyright issues where there were none. It got really spiteful over the last 10 weeks ever since we took a break with the Feb issue and you know what, I have had enough. No more.

This was NOT a spur of the moment decision, I have been talking about closing down MagKnits for over a year now - yesterday was just the right day. All the designers payments are still going through and there are no advertisers to be paid so we'll be all square in a couple of days. Lots of the designers are republishing on Ravelry and various other places which is brilliant. If I could have given them all notice I would have done but it wasn't possible at the time.

While this was not a spur of the moment decision and was one that had been coming for a long while the timing was 100% caused by the nastiness on a particular forum that I'd appreciate if nobody named in the comments. For those that don't know don't need to know.

This can only mean good things for me. More time and less stress, how can that be bad. Remember when I said at the end of last year that 2008 was going to be about me doing things for me? This is one of many big decisions like that which are coming up. I'm tired of spending so much time helping other people who quite frankly don't always deserve the help. This year is about me making decisions for me and my family and doing what is best for us.

In other news there will be a big HipKnits update on Friday and I'm hoping a nice big announcement at the same time. I've got poorly babies here at the momemt so while all 4 of us are on the sofa with high temperatures watching DVDs I'll be labelling and photographing yarn in preparation for the update. Here are just a few of my favourites from the batch

Posted by Kerrie at 06:34 AM | Comments (47)

April 08, 2008

April choose your own sock club yarn

I keep forgetting to show you April's yarn, it is so lovely I actually wanted to keep it all for myself. Not sure what I'd do with so many skeins of yarn though!

This month it is the turn of Desdemona, a lambswool, cashmere and angora blend. This yarn is so lovely and squashy it makes beautiful socks, shawls, children's clothes - anything you like.

Only available during April to those who have joined the choose your own sock club yarn, if there is any left in May it will go on general sale.

Posted by Kerrie at 09:25 AM | Comments (1)

April 07, 2008

What a weekend!

Ugh, that's pretty much all I have to say about it. What a spectaculary craptastic weekend. It started off with some bad news on Friday and disentegrated into a total mess by the end of the weekend. I'm sure most of you have seen the negative stuff that's being said, for those of you who haven't I'm certainly not going to send you to them. What you haven't seen is the emails and notes and downright nastiness that both Lou and I have been subjected to. What has really shocked me more than the nastiness has been the response (or not) of people who I considered to be friends. This kind of thing really makes you find out who your friends are and by god I know who mine are now. I think I've told each one of them how much I love them but this is just to tell them again. xx

Not wanting to dwell on the whole thing too much at the moment, I just wanted to say (because I know people will be clicking here desperate to see what I'm going to say on the subject) that if anyone has a genuine reason to want to get in touch with me about a problem they can leave a comment here. It won't necessarily be published on this site but it will be actioned.

There have been tonnes of changes this year to the way we work at HipKnits and many many more are in the pipeline. I was really excited about telling you about some of them, now slightly less so than on Friday, but they are still happening and you'll find out more later this week when the contractuals are signed and everyone who needs to know first does know.

Its the second week of spring holidays here so I'll be out and about a bit more doing non yarn stuff with the kids for the next few days. That will be including Dougal the dog who seems to go everywhere with Cameron these days, he cracks me up. Everywhere I turn there is Dougal, good job I have a car with enough seats for him to have his own chair and seatbelt isn't it.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:55 PM | Comments (13)

April 03, 2008

For sale

All the destash has gone, thanks to those of you who helped me clear out some space.

x

Posted by Kerrie at 04:39 PM | Comments (2)

Orenburg lace

One of our many new yarns that we have coming up this summer is this beautiful handspun mohair and silk Orenburg lace yarn. The yarn is handspun in the Ukraine, each spinner can only produce 2 or 3 skeins a day and it is beautiful. 80% Kid Mohair/20% Silk hand spun Orenburg Lace Yarn and 500yds per 50gm skein.

I know that Cherry Tree Hill sell this yarn (expensively though I think!) and that a few other hand dyers have also got some in stock. We're busy dyeing up our stock to take to Wonderwool wales at the end of the month.

Posted by Kerrie at 09:06 AM | Comments (1)

April 02, 2008

Spring is sprung

I love it when spring is finally here, the evenings are long and bright and the weather is starting to get warmer. The kids and I had our first after dinner trip to the forest last night, it bought back a lot of memories. I remember this time last year with Trinity only a few weeks old in her sling, with me sitting on tree stumps breastfeeding her.

I remember spring 2005 when Cameron was only a few months old and he fell asleep in the forest. I lay him down on a blanket on the grass while Brooke and I climbed trees and then had to run quickly to him when a passing cow came within a few hundred yards and I panicked that it would step on him.

This year I had the big kids running and jumping and climbing trees while Trinity and I chased behind them with her in the push chair. Fast forward to next year and I can imagine her running with them, I love the way that some things remain constant while everything else changes. Next time we go I'll try and remember my camera.

On another spring like note, isn't Michaela clever? I sent her my pile of tangles to take on holiday with her and she turned them into these, how lovely? They look so pretty in the basket, its almost a shame to turn them into skeins but I will. They will all be at Wonderwool with me in just a few weeks time.

Thanks Michaela..

Posted by Kerrie at 06:54 AM | Comments (3)

April 01, 2008

Shop updated

The shop is finally updated, with a special offer on cashmere.

MagKnits is also done for this month, with a fresh new look.

YF Magazine website will be up tomorrow, with a brand new look and feel.

Am I sick of playing in Dreamweaver yet? Almost.....

PS - Fran, my emails to you are still bouncing. Can you email me your phone number please?

Posted by Kerrie at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)

Yo Yo Brooches

I taught classes again at Olympia, the yo yo brooch one was the most popular. I loved seeing how 15 people could take the same set of instructions and leave the class wearing a brooch that looked totally different to all of the others. Teaching is a great way to get to meet lots of new people (and also have a chance to sit down for an hour or so)

This is one of the brooches that I made, Brooke has claimed it now. I still have a few of the kits that I used to teach with in the classes, you get some little pieces of fabric, some ribbon, a safety pin for the back and some instructions. They will be in the shop update later on today, after MagKnits is up and running.

Posted by Kerrie at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)