HRYC

With World or Wearable Arts in town again, and having a shop in town for the first time, we have a little something special happening. I may not have been organised enough to enter the official window competition, but we're going to join in all the same. 

If you've ever knit with our giant knitting needles, your stitches make up the centre piece. With this in mind, our concept evolved. 

'Where am I?' she wondered, emerging from the darkness. 'What is this place?'

Welcome to our story window. Each day the shop is open during the Wearable Arts season, we will add a line to the story, and details to the window space. As the days go by, you'll have the chance to direct the story, and even add to the window itself. A real life 'watch this space' in the Grand Arcade store.

During Knit August Nights, a friend and I decided to do our own little knit-along. Both of us being who we are, it actually isn't so little. After knitting Ravello, and deciding to knit a rainbow something in a similar style, we were talking about dresses. 

And lo, another overly ambitious project to conquer in the next 6 months. 

A dress, in 4ply (Knitsch Sock, of course). Composed of grey and a rainbow. Taking Raekkevidde as the base pattern: 

Raekkevidde dress pattern by Bente Geil

(and particularly inspired by this project from the same pattern, unsurprisingly)

It's only the beginning. The main part is going to be grey, with two row stripes of colour all the way through. Theres' going to be quite a few ends to weave in, that's for sure. But stripes are always worth it. Which makes my current knitting queue: a 4ply cardigan, a 2ply cardigan, and a 4ply dress. Sucker for punishment, me?

It's going to be a strange weekend here in NZ. The general election is tomorrow, and so far the campaign has been very odd. I voted a week ago (hooray advance voting!) and encourage all locals to take a few minutes to think about the kind of country you'd like to live in, and vote accordingly. If you don't usually vote, whatever your reasons, please do. We're so lucky to be able to vote freely and without duress in this country. You don't have to agree with all of particular party's policy, just the one who you agree with most. Toby Morris has a great cartoon on The Wireless about how important your vote is. Go and check it out. 

Now to climb off the soapbox - whether you'll be glued to the election results or hiding from any mention of them, hopefully you'll be able to spend a good chunk of the weekend knitting. Over on Ravelry we've decided to do a Spring Lace KAL - with very few limits, except that your project needs to be knit with lace weight yarn.

I'm going for Hart by Julie Hoover in either Fyberspates Lace in Teal or Meadow in Ladyslipper:

 A few other options being considered so far are: 

Sue Schreuder's Oriental Bay shawl

Wray by Lily Kate France (which would also be great in Fyberspates Lace)

Tincan Knit's Bonny top 

and

Amy Miller's Watson cardigan which is knit with lace weight held double

We'd love to have you join us! It doesn't have to be anything big or complicated. If knitting with fine yarn scares you, now is the perfect time to give it ago. We can help you along the way!

Another new series of blog posts! Hooray! A wee chat about shop samples, what we made them from and where you can find the pattern.

Anders in Road to China Light

I actually knit this up way back in March, but as usually happens, it's been in want of buttons ever since. What is it with buttons that are such a stumbling block on the way to finishing? They always, always get me. Anyway, it now has buttons, and is about the most adorable jersey ever. 

 Anders by Soren Kerr, knit in Road to China Light 

The only reason I knit this was because I needed an excuse to knit with Road to China Light, and I'm a bit over knitting hats and scarves for shop samples. It is a luxury yarn and I made the yarn choice not expecting anyone else to follow suit. Alpaca, silk, cashmere and camel makes for an amazing fabric but perhaps not the best idea for a toddler. Having said that, after all the work put into making it, this would come under heirloom knitting for sure. 

There is about zero surprise in the colours I went for, either. Topaz and Grey Pearl. 

Anders is a really simple pattern and great for trying our fair isle knitting if you haven't had a go yet. If you don't want to commit to a high end yarn, something like Cascade 220 Superwash Sport would be absolutely perfect for this project. 

Details:

Pattern: Anders by Soren Kerr

Size made: 12-18 months

Needle size: 3.75mm and 4mm

Yarn: Road to China Light in Grey Pearl (2 skeins) and Topaz (half a skein)

Shop sample: in Grand Arcade, Willis St

We can sell you this pattern in-store as a pdf, if you fancy it.  

A long time in the planning, this is the first in a new series of blog posts from us. Regular blog posts! Hooray! We stock a number of unusual and interesting yarns, and we know it can be a bit tricky to figure out how they might behave. Starting now, we'll be posting regular yarn reviews. This one is done on my lonesome, but we'll have the immensely passionate Shelley on board for a second opinion for future posts. 

First up: Spud & Chloe Outer

 Yarn details:

65% superwash wool / 35% organic cotton

100g / 55m

2 - 3 stitches per inch on 8 - 10mm needles (I used 12mm)

Outer sits on the shelf alongside our other super bulky yarns, Lana Grande by Cascade and Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky. While those two are super warm, Outer has the advantage of 35% organic cotton. The cotton gives it a surprising lightness despite the chunky weight. I was surprised to find wearing the Leftovers Cowl (made with Spud & Chloe Sweater, and a similar fibre mix) that it wasn't overly warm even on a 20 degree day, and while I haven't worn the Outer, I imagine it'll be about the same. The cotton balances out the wool and adds an extra element of managing temperature. 

Constructed as a 2 fold yarn, that is 2 singles twisted together, Outer has a glorious ropiness that I absolutely adore. It is bouncy as a trampoline, and comes in beautiful clear colours that Spud & Chloe are so great at producing. 

Being a super bulky yarn, it does have that awkwardness to knit - big needles (I used 12mm) and chunky stitches do mean a bit of extra wrangling, but it grows so quickly I was able to work through an entire 100g skein in a couple of hours.The loose twist means little bits of fluff escape as I go, attaching itself to the knit fabric rather than my clothes. I expect it will probably continue to lose more fluff for a little longer until all the short bits have worked their way out. 

I haven't finished knitting yet - it seems to have decided to be a baby blanket for the shop, mostly because I cast on during Knit August Nights and my brain couldn't cope with anything that required more thinking. It'll be interesting to see how it washes and wears, but should make for a really great gift - warm enough for winter, cool enough for summer but super quick to knit up and machine washable. 

I'll update this post when i've actually finished and have an FO to share!