Duvet days

With all the average weather in these parts lately, there has been much talk in the Kiwi interwebs of days spent in bed, with dvds, or knitting, or tea, or chocolate, or all of the above.

I'm yet to have the luxury of a duvet day this winter - 2 large wholesale orders, the upcoming craft2.0 and part time work means early starts and being chilled to the bone.

In background news, i'm also moving house, again, this friday. The boy and I are rather excited that our new bedroom is massive, and won't resemble a tool shed as it currently does. So we've been looking at buying a great big new comfy bed - just the ticket for scheduling in a duvet day when all this work allows.

Which means, daydreaming:

(photos from over at the ever-beautiful Decor8 blog)

May have to block day in the diary for this quality, cosy, knitty duvet day....

Sharing is caring & Yarn Club sale dates

Quick yarn club update!

Sale date: 23 June 
First shipment: 1 July

Cost (all NZ $): 
No postage (for if you see me regularly) $90 
NZ $100 
AUS $110 (this includes GST, so will be a bit less than this in real terms) 
ROW $120 (this includes GST, so will be a bit less than this in real terms)

AND the amazing Sue of Craft2.0 and Supervery is giving me the coolest stitch markers ever to put in at least one installation of the yarn club - hooray!

I can also confirm that each month you will receive 120 grams of yarny deliciousness :D

And I just have to share some more beautiful things with you - 

Ariane over at Falling Stitches writes about knitting so beautifully, and takes gorgeous photos, and has the most amazing blogger background EVER. Think i'm in love. Seriously. 

I work at Wanda Harland in Petone a few days a week, and Martha is the best boss ever. Seriously. Except for one thing - she keeps teasing me with this bag. I want it. I must have it. Seriously (Really must stop using that word). I may have to mortgage like, my camera or something to buy it, but it will be mine. One day.

Inspiration and beautiful things

As soon as I saw this, I had to run over here and share it with you. How beautiful is this nest?

Hopefully Louana doesn't mind that I pinched her photo! She sent me some leaves for the Tree last week and i've now become an avid follower of her blog. 

Are there any beautiful crafty things you've spotted in the interwebs lately? I'd love to see...nothing like a bit of inspiration to brighten up a rainy day!

Rainy Day Woman

Apologies for the mini hiatus with blog posts the past few days! Life is gearing up in preparation for Craft2.0 - which means lots of dyeing, winding, labelling and other odd jobs.


Thanks to the wonderful amazing Sue, i'm now officially a half partner with Craft2.0! I've always loved the work Sue has done promoting the value of handmade, and now I have more excuses to hang out with her and talk crafty goodness.


Here is the awesome Craft2.0 image for the June fair...




If you're in the area, you should come along and say hi! 
[ETA: I know the pic's a bit cut off at the side, but i'm feeling to lazy to fix it. Soz.]

With all the rain we've had lately, I'm sure lots of people in NZ are feeling a bit sodden, least of all me. Last night, on the way back from Craft Up at Blondini's, my car's windscreen wipers decided on the motorway that it was the perfect time to stop working. Awesome. Luckily I had Elisabeth (aka the Sewphist) with me, and she is member of the AA. One half hour wait a tow truck later, we were home. 

Reading this blog post this morning, and running around avoiding puddles, put me in the mood for some Bob. Because he makes everything better. 

It's a Yarn Club!

Flights of Fancy Yarn Club - Running for 3 months from late June to August

From the feedback so far, lots of people would like some sort gauge as to the ‘mood’ of the colours for the yarn club, so they have an idea if they will fall in love with the colours.

For this reason, I am creating a mood board that will inspire the colour ways for the Flights of Fancy yarn club. As many of you will know, I came home from my world travels to start a hand-dyed yarn line. So it is inevitable that the colours will be inspired by images of far away places. However, take note – the mood board isn’t to be taken literally! There will surprises, quirks and fancies…

There are also some new twists to this Yarn club.

There will be TWO colour ways each month!

There will be a semi-solid and a variegated dyed especially for the yarn club each month.

From here, you have two options:

Mystery Escape: Each month I will close my eyes, pick a colour and post it on it’s merry way.

Plan ahead: Each month I will email you what the colour ways are, and you can pick which one piques your interest. Note – these won’t include images, just a description of the colour.

These yarns will be completely exclusive to the Yarn Club, and will not be sold at any point online. If there are any remaining skeins, they will be available to Yarn Club members to purchase, or will be offered for sale at Craft markets as limited editions.

Do you feel special yet?

I’ve also heard some don’t like surprises. So the extra treat in the Yarn Club will always be a coordinating stash bag, to keep your yarn organised.

Last, but not least – the part I am most excited about. Alice Yu, of Knit Nation and Socktopus fame, is designing patterns! And they won’t just be socks, there will be a few surprises, and knowing Alice, some gorgeous patterns.

Alice has loads of experience designing patterns, and know how to aim them at just the right level so they are interesting and beautiful but not completely scary if you’re only new to knitting. If you do have any trouble with the patterns, I’m available to answer questions and give tips to help you on your way.

Pricing and sales dates to be confirmed - but it will be around mid-june, with the first out not long after. Hooray!

Manic, manic week.

So i'm cheating.

Hop over and visit bliss in a teacup - pretty, pretty.

I have ummmm 3 things stuffed up my sleeve that I can't tell you about (and no, it ain't used tissues!). But anticipation will have to continue a little longer.

Oh, hey, maybe, i'll just give you one thing (not of the three), that i've already hinted at - we're doing 12 ply! You won't be able to get it until Craft2.0, but it's scrummy and knits fast and I loves it.

Have a great weekend xx

Attendance = fail

Let's count all the knit/crafty group meet ups in the general Wellington area each week:

Southern Cross Knit Night
Monday night, Southern Cross, from 7pm

[New!] Lower Hutt Knit night
Avalon Baptist Church
774 High Street, Lower Hutt, Monday evenings from 7pm ($2 to cover tea, coffee, etc)


Craft2.0 Craft Up!
Blondini's, The Embassy, from 6pm Tuesdays


Lower Hutt Knitters
Various homes of Hutt Knitters, from 7pm, Wednesday nights


Crafty Foxes, 
Katipo Cafe, Wednesday nights


Craft2.0 Craft Up! in the Hutt
The New Dowse, from 11am, Friday mornings


Knitting in the Gardens
The Begonia House, Botanic Gardens, Sundays from 12pm


How many does this slacker make it to each week?


Normally 2, sometimes 3. I think the boy would break up with me if I tried to go to all of them. On the one occasion I've made it to the Southern Cross, I left with the biggest dumbest smile because it was such awesome fun. My bad that I haven't made it back - the main excuse being the cost of petrol to get in there (lame, yes. but true). 


The wonderful Cherie goes to Southern Cross and blogs about it, and her adventures of learning knitting. Hopefully I will get back there soon and have a load more laughs, and teach some new dogs old tricks!


Along with ALL of these, i'm going to be at the New Dowse on Sunday 23 and 30 May, 1pm - 3pm; teaching, giving away yarn for It's a Tree, and enabling all knitters and crocheters. So come along, and say hello, and have a yarn. If not, I forgive you, because I totally fail at going to all the knitty things I should, too!


xx

People love Pewter

Pewter is one of our most popular colourways. And it's no surprise, really, when you see cute wee socks like this:

(thanks to Lisa for the image! xx)

Lisa is otherwise known as Supurlative, a great custom knitter, and she has the most gorgeous puppies in the world (i've seen her doggies irl. too cute). 

Anyway, back to pewter. It's one of the Knitsch colourways derived from Artisan Lace, and it is the perfect combo of silver and sky blue. Our skeins our only 50g, which means that to make itty bitty booties and socks for itty bitty people, you only need one skein. If only more of my friends started to have babies so I actually had a reason to knit little things...

Sneaky peeks

There is a torrent of rain falling, putting a brief (hopefully) halt to an afternoon of intensive dyeing.

Seeing as I don't have anything super interesting to talk about just yet (yet! :D) I thought i'd share the blog of super awesome crafters Sweet William.

I have got to know Shelley quite well recently, and you may remember I designed her an egg cosy pattern for her to knit.

Clever clogs Shelley also knit up an open/closed sign for her brother's cafe, and it is the cutest thing ever!

(Thanks Shells for the pic xx)

And see that chunky blue yarn? That's Knitsch! Coming soon... :D

Breathing, and carrying on

It has been a bit of mayhem around here lately.

I work primarily from my parents' house, and they are on the verge of relocating to Brisbane. In fact, Dad is already there, while Mum wrangles tradespeople and relocations. It's a bit of a disaster zone (honestly, not even mum can deny it). 

This past week I wanted to get a pile of dyeing done in preparation for the next Craft2.0, but it didn't happen. The painters were painting in an area I use quite frequently. It was hard to concentrate on doing anything solid and worthwhile when being constantly interrupted by the need to move something or someone. Focus was non-existent, but the situation was unavoidable as, really, family always comes first.

There were plenty of interesting developments during the week, though. And a couple exciting enough things that are now hiding under my hat that will hopefully be announced in the next week or so. 

The Knitsch operations are moving to (hopefully) a steady workshop/studio; It's a Tree! has been installed and continues to grow, Slip now adorns the New Dowse reception desk (photos to come). New colourways are waiting in the wings, trips being planned, lists being written.

I ended the week feeling as if nothing had been achieved, when really it had. It can be hard running a small business, when external feedback is a little lacking, and life seems to run in a bit of a vacuum. Which is where you come in - the little treats in the mail for it's a tree, the comments on the blog, the tweets, or the emails that make me smile for a whole day when going might be a bit slow. Thanks to you all - It's more than enough reason to keep on keeping on :D

It's a tree! Today!

I'm a little bit nervous about the installation today...but here goes nothing!

Slightly dodgy upside down camera shot from Craft 

Up last night...

Happy Mother's Day Giveaway!

Happy Mother's day everyone!

How about a little giveaway to celebrate?

Every Knitsch Yarns order from 5pm Friday 7 May to midnight Sunday 9 May receives a free stash bag! That's along with the free set of 5 cards that already get tucked in with your order. What a treat!

Have a wonderful weekend and look after those knitting, crafting hands of yours xx

Would you like a sock club?

I’m humming and haa-ing over whether or not to do a yarn club. The main reason for this is that I know there are quite a few around already, and it is quite the commitment.

There have been some great suggestions from the Lower Hutt Knitters about what they love in a yarn club, and now i’m teetering on the edge.

Can you help push me over and commit to it? I have a plan forming of one that is a bit different and incorporates an element of choice…

Thoughts? Suggestions?

WIP update - Haruni

I'm on Chart B.


OGN SG GVAMHGK.

There may be some expletives in there.

Instant Gratification

For those who have popped by the online shop, you may have noticed that we don't have 'In stock' numbers.

There's a reason for that - I dye *all* the time. Like, constantly. Which means most colourways are stored safely in their plastic bins waiting to be wrapped in tissue and delivered safely to the post shop as soon as it is ordered.

Which means, importantly, instant gratification. I'm an incredibly impatient person. I want everything yesterday - and i'm no different with yarn! I've made a promise to myself, and you, that all orders will be in the post the next working day at the latest - the same day if possible.

So when you place your order, it will be with you tout de suite*. Yay!

*Unfortunately I don't have control over delays due to erupting volcanoes, flooding, and punctured postie bike tyres. If only!