HRYC

A very chilly few days here in Wellington have us all wrapped up super warm, and there's more to come. I'm so pleased to finally have some real winter - I love this weather. I've noticed my cardigans aren't quite cutting it, and instead i'm reaching for my jerseys / pullovers / sweaters / jumpers / whatever word you choose. Which of course means discovering my wardrobe is sadly lacking in them. Ravelry to the rescue!

I've always loved Jared Flood's Brownstone sweater, and i've got a real fondness for a good shawl collar. Knit up as nice and slouchy, I think it would work well for women as well as men. 

Jane Richmond's Ladies Classic Raglan Pullover is one I came across today with a customer who was after a perfectly straight-forward crew neck jersey to knit up in Malabrigo Rios (which is now back in stock, hooray!). I've spoken a lot before about how a simple design is sometimes all you need - and something like this is perfect for hand-dyed yarns such as Malabrigo so that it really shows off the gorgeous colour.

Elia by Julia Trice caught me by the shawl collar again - I love the closeness of it, just what one wants when it's really chilly but a scarf isn't appropriate. I think if I made this for myself i'd skip the cables on the front and only do them on the back, to really make it all about that collar. 

Lastly, Jen brought this stunner to my attention. Slouchy, comfy, warm, but with an interesting shape and gorgeous texture. Beauborg by Julie Hoover is made up with 10ply and looks about the most comfortable sweater imaginable. 

Now that we have fresh Malabrigo stock on the shelf, there's plenty of squishy 10ply in stock perfect for any of these patterns. We've also just received a brand new 8ply rare breed merino by the name of Silver Lining (which i'll post about later). It would be heavy enough for any of these patterns, too. Having said that, i'm going to do a Cascade order early next week, so if you have any special requests, do let me know. Stay warm!

It's always super exciting to see new designs made with Knitsch sock, and this week has seen a special treat - Police Box Sox! As soon as they popped up I knew kits were in order - and requests have already started to come through. 

photo by Audry Nicklin

A thoughtful, simple design that takes into the account how colourwork makes things smaller, and using our very own Knitsch Sock in Tennant. Now because i'm still waiting on yarn base, we don't have any in stock at the moment. Luckily for you, dear Whovians, I've been able to squeeze a dye day into the schedule to put together kits. 

Police Box Sox Kit

A special treat

(the pattern is free, so the parcel will include a card reminding you where to find it)

And because a certain someone on Twitter asked nicely, i'll also be doing Tardis-inspired Isobar Kits. Expect shades of navy, blue and grey in this one. 

Tardis Isobar Kit

$55 + shipping

to ship first week of August 2014

will contain: 4 x 50 Knitsch sock in 4 colours

A print copy of the Isobar pattern

A special treat

PS - there's super limited numbers available for each kit, so don't let too much wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff pass before you order!

In a little under two weeks, i'm going to be speaking at Nerd Nite Wellington. It's a fun night of talks about, well, nerdy things. When I was asked, I instantly said yes - finally a reason to put together a talk on how knitting relates to coding, maths and the internet.

As i've been mulling it over, it's lead to wanting some real data on what modern knitters do for a living. Having got to know so many interesting people in this job, i'd love to have concrete evidence of what it is you do with your time when you aren't knitting. I'm hoping the results will help to illustrate a point - that knitters are smart, engaged, savvy people. 

The survey is completely anonymous and closes on Friday at 5.30pm. If the embedded form below doesn't work for you, fill it out in a new browser window. I'll share the results when I have them, and you should come along to Nerd Nite on 21 July - it'll be ace! 

Goes on sale this Thursday! Hooray! Inspired by a dye day a few months ago where everything went wrong...in a good way. Sometimes mis-dyes are the happiest of accidents, and all three colours for this new yarn club are a result of one wayward dye day. 

'The Jewel Thief' is also a nice way to move into what will be a one year dyeing sabbatical. There's more detail on the Knitsch blog, if you're curious. Essentially i'm so busy just keeping up that there isn't much time for anything else, and I really do need the time. 

If you've been looking for Knitsch Sock in any of the shops lately, you'll have noticed that the stock levels are super low. This is due to a few production delays at the mill which means when we ran out of yarn base...there wasn't any more. Hopefully this week will see a new shipment with us and we'll be replenishing stock levels over the next few weeks. I'll also finally get to dyeing more of the new worsted base. 

Anyway, what you really want is the yarn club details:

‘The Jewel Thief’

On sale: Thursday 3 July at 10am 
Shipments: late July, mid-August and mid-September 
Price: $135 plus shipping ($15 NZ, $21 Australia, $30 rest of world)

I'll be the first to admit I haven't been overly inspired by the new designs popping up on Ravelry lately. Perhaps because it's the northern summer so all the designers are busy working on amazing winter pieces, or i've just felt a little jaded. Either way, that changed this morning. 

Firstly, who can go past a design called Zealand? Not I, and this would be an excellent pattern for Madeline Tosh DK (yes, still impatiently waiting for it to arrive)...

Zealand Falls by Cecily Glowick-MacDonald

What I am really, intensely excited about is this blanket pattern:

 Persian Dreams by Jenise Reid

An absolute vision of colour and pattern, this strikes me as one of those projects where it's ok to work on it over several years. One block at a time, slowly but surely, knitting stories into each stitch. The simplified palette of CeruleanSarah's version on Ravelry is an exercise in 'less is more' - two colours joining together for full design impact:

 CeruleanSarah's Persian Dreams (her image from Rav)

As Kate pointed out on Pinterest, Zealana Kiwi Laceweight would make for a glorious version of this project. I'm probably going to spend the rest of today obsessing over colours for it. 

If you're worried your colourwork skills aren't quite up to it, here's pretty much the perfect practice project possible (hooray alliteration!). Ysolda has done it again with the Wee Carson:

At the beginning of the year I decided to challenge my knitting skills in 2014: try new cast-ons, have a go at steeking, install a zip. Wee Carson ticks all those boxes but in a small, not-too-daunting project. If you don't have a small person to knit this pattern for, think of it as a knitted sampler - a great way to try new things without the commitment of a big project. 

Yarn with a little fuzz is needed for this one, so i'm thinking Waikiwi, a yarn we have in-store. It's a great mix of possum, merino, alpaca and nylon so it's hard wearing and super soft. I'm going to put another photo here because Ysolda manages to find the cutest kids ever for her photo shoots:

 That's not all, either. A new Brooklyn Tweed Kids collection was released overnight, and it's AMAZING. Go have a nosey and make sure you pop by the shops (online or real life) for a snuggle of some of the great yarns we have at the moment. Cascade arrives today (hooray!) and the weather is absolutely perfect for knitting. Happy Wednesday!