HRYC

May 21, 2013

Handmade 2013: Another giveaway!

With only 9 knitting days until Handmade 2013, it's time for a second giveaway. Hooray!

For some reason this time of year is tough on lots of people. Heading into winter means lots of colds, crankiness and life trickiness. There are people I admire hugely who get on and deal with hardship with such grace and barely a murmur of complaint. Be it your Mum who is always there to lend a hand when you need it, or your partner putting up with your stress-induced grumpiness (thinking of myself, here), we all have someone in our lives that really deserves a treat. Someone who just quietly gets on with it, someone who should be given the world in reward.

We have a Twice As Nice pass to Handmade 2013 to giveaway to one special person. To sweeten the deal, we're going to add in two vouchers for High Tea at Sweet Pea in Petone and a bag of knitty goodies.

A Twice as Nice Pass allows you to choose 2 masterclasses & 2 lectures from the full weekend programme. Classes can be selected on any day, any time.

What we'd like for you to do is nominate someone. Tell us about an amazing person who blows you away, but never seems to treat themselves to a break. Someone you think would really love to spend a weekend learning and making, but wouldn't otherwise be able to get themselves along to Handmade.

The one catch is that they either need to be Wellington based or able to get themselves to Wellington for Queen's Birthday weekend.

How do you nominate someone?

Send us an email at shop@hollandroadyarn.co.nz or send us a facebook message with the subject line: 'Handmade Nomination' and tell us about the person you think should win. Be sure to include their email address and contact number if you can. The person who nominates the winner will also receive treats! Hooray!

Entries are open from now until 5pm Monday 27 May, and the winner will be notified by email on Tuesday 28 May. If the winner cannot be contacted by 5pm Wednesday 29 May, a new winner will be selected. No doubt it'll be a tough choice, but we'll do our best to select the most deserving nominee and the decision will be final. The winner will be put in contact with the Handmade 2013 team in order to arrange the delivery of the Twice As Nice pass and selection of classes.

May 20, 2013

The Viking Hat

Adding to the list of ridiculous things I have knit....the Viking hat!

I actually made this late last year, and keep meaning to sew on the horns. For some reason the horns represent a massive mental barrier for me and I just can't bring myself to do it. They are knit up, but i'm not all that happy with them. With or without horns, it's pretty fun.

When you work with yarn for a living, it can be hard to remember to have fun with it. All knitting projects don't have to take themselves seriously, they don't need to functional or practical. It's certainly something that I need to remember more often. As the kind of person who doesn't understand why you would plant something you can't eat, i'm often guilty of only knitting things that will keep me warm. Enjoy what you are making! Have a bit of fun, laugh about how you made something ridiculous, and best of all, use up some of the random bits in your stash.

The pattern is The Viking Helmet by Holly Priestly. I used a bunch of random odds and ends - and Cascade 220 for the beard.

Amendment: no knit row between decrease rows on the main hat - it was just a bit too pointy at the top with the knit rows in between.

May 17, 2013

Spinning Sunday: new and improved

There is a new shiny in the shop. A single-treadle Ashford Joy that came back with me from the Creative Fibre Festival.

I had such an incredible time at Festival - and most notable was the few snatched moments taken to spend at the Ashford stand. Some companies are just that, a company with a corporate face. Ashford is so very far from that. Richard, Elizabeth, Libby and Kate were all present and even now, as I think about it, they filled their space with personality, excitement, passion and, of course, stock to play with. I am officially a massive fangirl of their philosophy, energy and quality of product. It was incredible the effect that one person being wholly joyful in teaching others about products that was absorbing. I went home and dreamed of drum carders and spinning and weaving.

More than simply dream, i've been spinning. This last week has been tough. Recovering from what I term 'Market Hangover', my energy has been low, i've been a bit grumpy and impatient. Knitting wasn't cutting it for relaxation. Five days of markets within ten sapped every last ounce of excitement.

And then, on Thursday, I thought 'I'm going to spend the last 45 minutes that the shop is open to spin.'

After 15 minutes, my mood changed. As I added twist to the fibre, all the metaphorical twist and stress was pulled out. Feeding new yarn on to the bobbin removed the tension metre by metre. The simple rhythm that I created between the treadle and draft induced a meditative state. One that, day to day, I struggle to achieve. I'm not good at relaxing. I need to always be doing, making, producing. Doing nothing makes me anxious. Spinning, somehow, is the perfect antidote.

Don't take this to mean that i'm any good as a spinner. I have very little technical knowledge. How do new spinners learn more? There is always YouTube, of course. But it's not the same as seeing a technique demonstrated in person, and sharing problems with other spinners in order to learn together.

Which is why we are taking a new approach to Spinning Sunday. Last year we were a bit slack at organising it, and found that once a month wasn't quite regular enough for people to remember to come along.

So, what is the plan? We are going to have Spinning Sunday twice a month. First hooray! One of those two sessions will be a paid, technical wheel spinning session run by the fantastic Sue Schreuder. Sue is a semi-new spinner, but over the past 18 months has excelled and gained a crazy huge amount of know-how. These sessions will have limited numbers and cost a tiny wee $10 a pop. More info will follow soon.

If you are interested in learning to spin, I can highly recommend signing up for Frances' Drop Spindling For Beginners class at Handmade over Queen's Birthday weekend.

We will bring along the Ashford Joy to the Knit Lounge at Handmade if anyone fancies having a play. You're also more than welcome to come and try it in the shop. In the next few weeks we'll add an Ashford double-treadle Traveller to our demo models, as well as a drum carder (I, for one, am SUPER excited about the drum carder). If there is anything at all in the Ashford range you would like us to get in, please let us know. We have a retail price list and some product pamphlets in the shop for you to peruse.

Funny that spinning has led to possibly my longest post here, ever. I'm just so excited about it, and want to share the love. Join me!

xx Tash

May 16, 2013

Crochet Blanket Addicts: Progress

The next edition of Crochet Blanket Addicts is this Saturday, 18 May. It will be our fourth meet-up - and I think it's the perfect time for everyone to bring along their progress so far for a bit of a show-off. I haven't had as much time to work on my blanket as I would have liked since the last session, but this week I was determined to add the only bit of yellow on the giant blanket.

It has about 8 stripes left to go and is officially much too big to haul around the place to be worked on.

The cake for this month's Crochet Blanket Addicts will be an Orange Almond cake. MMmmm. If you want to join us with your hook in hand, feel free! These sessions are open to all. Our resident crochet expert, Sofia, will be there if you have any crochet questions. See you on Saturday from 11!

Crochet Blanket Addicts is a monthly meet-up at Holland Road Yarn Co for those addicted to making crochet blankets. We cheer each other on, consider colour combinations, mull over problems and eat cake. It's free to come along, just BYO project.

May 13, 2013

This is not the spiced apple cake you are looking for.

A few weeks ago I decided to make a cake. A spiced apple cake. One that I used to bake for office morning teas, with a layer of oats and apple that perched atop a spiced apple cake. I went ahead and made the recipe below. Turns out it wasn't the recipe I thought it was, but it tasted pretty damn great. As promised to a few people, here is the recipe. (no photo, as we ate it too quickly)

Jane's Apple Cake

from Alison Holst's Dollars and Sense Cookbook.

1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 medium-sized apples
100g butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 tsp each cinnamon and mixed spice
pinch ground cloves (optional - I didn't have any so didn't use it)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (again, I went without)

Grease your baking tin and turn the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Measure the sugar and egg into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter. Peel and grate the apples, then quickly add them to the egg and sugar mixture. Throw in the metled butter. Sieve in the dry ingredients. Stir until mixed, then pour into greased baking tin. If you are adding nuts, sprinkle these on top.

Bake for about 45 - 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to sit for 5 - 10 minutes before turning out. Serve with cream or yoghurt or nothing at all.

I may not have taken a photo of the cake, but on the same day two of our Saturday Sit & Knit regulars came in wearing the same hat. In different yarns, though! They looked so fantastic I had to take a photo.