HRYC

November 23, 2012

Gorgeous shawls of delight

On my usual little meander through the top Ravelry patterns, I came across this beauty:

Holy wow. I'm in love. Well and truly.

It's the Teasdale shawl by Corrina Ferguson. Would like to cast on Right. Now.

And here's another that would be perfect to throw on of a late summer evening (or make a wonderful Christmas gift)

Shibui Linane by Anna Kuduja

And lastly for now:

Lonely Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bo Bilvia (isn't it great to see a smile? And that hair! LOVE!)

Happy knitting!

November 15, 2012

JustJussi - with us on 1 December!

We've long been been fans of Justine of JustJussi. She creates sweet as anything baby patterns that are super knittable and extremely giftable.

Evie

It is with much excitement that we discovered JustJussi patterns were becoming available in hard copy, so we leapt at the chance to get Justine in store for one special afternoon to catapult the patterns onto our shop shelves for real. You'll be able to meet the lady herself, have a squish and cuddle and inspect knitted samples and of course buy patterns and yarn.

Would you like to join us? Yes?

JustJussi Pattern Trunk Show

1pm - 3pm

Saturday 1 December

Come along to the shop for some sweet treats, a peek at Justine's knitted samples and a chance to nab hard copy printed patterns!

Multiple times a week we refer customers to Justine's patterns, and exclaim over what a great pattern the ever popular Aviatrix hat is.

With all this excitement we may as well have a wee Aviatrix-themed giveaway, no? How about the chance to win a $30 Holland Road Yarn Co voucher (redeemable online or in store) and 5 chances to win a JustJussi pattern? Sound good? Hooray!

How do you win?

All you need to do is comment on this post. We'll like you even more if you post a link to an Aviatrix hat that you've knit, and we might just pinch your photo to share on our Facebook page (we'll check with you first!).

Leave your comment by 5pm Thursday 29 November and we'll draw the winners at random shortly after. Hooray!

Trackwork Cardi

November 13, 2012

Would like to knit all the things: Part II

I would like to knit everything. Seriously, the amount I think I can knit in a period of time does not even remotely come close to how much I can actually knit.

On the needles right now is Celestite in Sauterne Malabrigo Lace. As I knit away, my mind wanders to images of myself wearing hand knit cardigans that don't exist yet.

Here's a little wish list of cardigans I would like to knit and wear to garden parties, Christmas festivities, to the movies and to drink wine in the sunshine with friends...

Stonor by Belinda Boaden (this one by Lily Kate is knit in Fyberspates Oyster. Droooooling).

Besides the fact this is a beautiful pattern, Fyberspates just released brand new colours. They are so incredibly delightful I may have let out an excited squeal when the email arrived. As soon as our order lands we'll be posting about it, to be sure.

The Queue Project hasn't been forgotten either. Nope.

I now have allocated yarn to knit Veera's Hooray Cardigan - it's going to be a pale sage green shade of Knitsch Krissie DK (mmmm cashmere merino)

Another queue project pattern is White Pine by Amy Christoffers. This one probably won't be started until next year - it's also going to be bright sunshine yellow.

Oh, this next one - swoon. Beautiful, well thought out neckline, and that lace panel on the back. YUM. This knitter is a sucker for surprise details.

Devonshire by Pam Powers

Possibly should stop looking and start knitting...

November 12, 2012

Would like to knit all the things.

For a few weeks now, the only projects on my needles have been small ones. Hats, socks, mitts, little bits and pieces. It makes me a little twitchy to not have something bigger on the go. Something I can sink my teeth into, something that is reassuring and can be picked up night after night without too much dilemma about what it is I should be working on.

Way back when the last Malabrigo order arrived, I nabbed a couple skeins of Mal Lace in Sauterne. The yellow is so absurdly happy I simply couldn't resist. Yellow is my favourite colour, after all. I wound up the two skeins, thinking to look for a cardigan pattern and nab the last skein of Sauterne on the shelf if I needed it.

SOMEONE BOUGHT IT. Which happens in a shop, right? But it made my pattern choice a little tricky. I was going to knit Rocio by Joji Locatelli - I love the lace panel in the back and the neck line:

But without the third skein to rely on, my concern for having enough yarn was great. So, back to Ravelry. After much discussion at Sat Sit & Knit, we came up with Celestite by Cecily Glowik-MacDonald. Yes, it's supposed to be knit in fingering/4ply. But same needle size should make it work (she says, ha!). I like that it doesn't fully enclose the body, has an elegant neck line and is reasonably straight forward. All that yellow really needs to speak for itself.

I've cast on and knit almost the entire yoke in 24 hours. Not bad! But now i'm itching, seriously itching to knit more big projects. Namely cardigans. A girl simply can't have enough cardigans, especially for a New Zealand summer in windy Wellington where walking out the door without a cardi on a sunny day is asking for serious trouble.

I'll leave my new cardigan wish list for the next post. For now, back to knitting yarn the colour of sunshine!

November 03, 2012

Technology, baby!

It seems to be a week of ticking things off a very long (and in some cases very old) list of Tasks To Be Done.

Most exciting this week is that I have finally set up a computer screen in the shop - all connected to the internet so you can browse Ravelry, knitty.com, or any other yarny website you like. Or look at pictures of cats.

And for a bit of old school technology, there's now a swift and ball winder set up away from the general busyness of the shop, so feel free to bring in your skeins of yarn to wind up. Hooray!

Finally, just because pretty pictures of yarn make me happy, a finished object! What with Christmas now being next month (oh, the terror!) lots of people are now in to gift knitting season. The Honey Cowl is a super easy, quick project - this one used two skeins of Malabrigo Rios in Purpuras. It's delightfully squishy and soft.