Wednesday 28 April 2010

Adriafil Delivery

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

We had a small Adriafil "top up" delivery today so we're now fully stocked with Kid Mohair, Knitcol and New Zealand Prints - all absolutely gorgeous!


A little housekeeping note here - in case you're not aware of it - if you leave crab shells and bits in a bin fairly near an Aga for about 3 days they start to smell really, really, really bad.

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Splash Patterns

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As promised I have inputted Splash patterns today (if you click on that link all the patterns are down the left hand side) - 29 to be totally precise. There are patterns for babies:


















patterns for children (boys):


















and girls:


















and patterns for ladies:


















so if there aren't enough there to tempt you, I'm going to lie down in a darkened room and cry.

Tonight we are eating crab cakes - my kitchen smells like a fishmongers.

Monday 26 April 2010

Katia Patterns

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

I've spent the afternoon updating things and inserting new things so - here goes:

Two new colours in King Cole Splash: Fireburst


















and Charcoal:


















All being well and barring disasters, Splash patterns will be here tomorrow - there are lots of them and they're really good - from babies to adults - the whole range.

Two new colours in King Cole Bamboo Cotton: Cobalt:


















which, I think, is a really useful summer blue and black:


















and I know this is a summer yarn but I also know how many of you like to knit black summer cardies or tops.

There are also two new colours in 4ply Ziz Zag, which is not only good for socks but is also good for garments too:


















and




















So the rest of the day I've spent inputting Katia patterns for the new summer yarns, Degrade, Paper and Tobago. Degrade patterns are - here, and I love this one:


















not sure if I've got the confidence to wear it but I do love it!

Paper pattern are here - so you can now crochet lots of paper bags - yes, I'm still chortling over that one (it doesn't take much to keep me amused):


















and last, but absolutely not least, is Tobago: which has pattern for tops, bags, jacket and all:


















Phew - hopefully there's enough to whet your appetites there!

I had a jolly afternoon yesterday dealing with a bunch of crabs - by now you'll know how my life goes but I don't often get to type that in a sentence. FB is very keen to get some crab/lobster pots so he went out with a friend on Saturday afternoon to learn the ropes and tricks of the trade. He came home with these chaps (and yes, we know they're chaps because the ladies get thrown back):







The chickens were mighty curious but, wisely, didn't get too close:


















After a while in boiling water they looked like this:







note fairly dramatic change in colour. Then I got to work:













(Please note that tiny piece of pretty fairisle you can see on the far left is not a hand knit) and, finally, they looked like this:









With home-made mayonnaise and a bit of crusty bread and salad I have to say they were blinking delicious.

Saturday 24 April 2010

Yucky Cold

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Since my last post I seem to have picked up a yucky coldy bunged up nosey kind of bug so I'm not sleeping well but - on the bright side - I have a deeply sexy voice (apparently). I think I got it from Tracey - thanks, Trace. A week ago she was too ill to knit, so you know it must be really bad. I didn't knit last night and the dinner party we were due to go to tonight has been postponed for a week as our hosts returned from holiday 5 days late (due to Icelandic ash) and in their extra few days on their cruise ship in Athens (yes, my heart goes out to them too) they, too, picked up a yucky, coldy throaty "thing". So, I may get some small bit of knitting done tonight before the (herbal) sleeping pill I'm going to take kicks in.

Incidentally, am I the only person who is intensely annoyed by returning holiday makers bemoaning their extra days/weeks' holiday at the holiday companies' expense and expecting us to be sympathetic? FB's cousin is "stuck" in Jamaica in a 5* resort until May 1st and her children are, apparently, going "stir crazy" and are "desperate to come home" (according to her email yesterday). Every time I go on holiday (which isn't that often) I long to be told that there aren't any flights home and, oh deary me, we're going to have to look after you - at our expense - for another 10 days. Needless to say it's never happened but, if it does, I'll be whooping for joy and making the most of it, not whingeing to the TV cameras when I finally get home with my extra 10 days of tan.

Now, I appreciate that there are people who need to get to their destinations and at School we have several children who can't get flights until after their GCSE exams have started - that's a slightly different scenario and I do have sympathy for them but - come on - 10 extra days on a beach - most of us pray for that kind of luck.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Knitting

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

To my surprise I've recently managed to fit in quite a bit of knitting time so I've just completed my second garment of the year, which may possibly be some kind of record for me. OK, so they were both done on relatively big needles (8mm and 6.5 respectively) but, nonetheless, that's 2 more garments than I used to own. The second one is this pattern (Stylecraft Life Chunky):



















knitted in this wool (Volata Tweed from Gedifra):













Had to fiddle the needle size a bit but it came out like this:


















The sun is in my eyes and my hair's all over the place but I love the sweater (and the flowers in the background).

Tracey is a fabulously fast knitter so she's also been knitting for me. She's knitted 2 waistcoats in Cornish Organic - one for our agent, Stewart, and one for FB for his birthday. The pattern is this:


















but then she went a wee bit mad on the backs. This is Stewart's (modelled by FB):



















Here's a close-up:


















This is FB's (modelled by FB):


















and here is a close-up (you can see the introduction of our space dyed "Sennen" in FB's:


















So - there you have another stash-busting idea from the knitters at Knit Wits (or, indeed, a suggestion of what you can do with Cornish Organic Wool!).

I'm now on sock number 2 for my Dad (birthday at the end of May so I'm on target) and a secret project which will be revealed later in the year - watch this space.

Saturday 17 April 2010

Summer Yarns

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Well, the fantastic new summer yarns are coming in thick and fast now and just in time for the glorious weather.

Our Araucania 4ply (Ranco) isn't specifically summery but it is gorgeous and just right for a little top or even a special pair of socks - and it's at a really special price too - just £5.99:















They describe their yarn as being "hand painted" which is a process I'd love to see - guess I'd better save up for a trip to Chile then!

Our new yarns from Katia are truly summery, gorgeous and - being Katia - fantastic colourways. First is Tobago - which is an Aran weight pure cotton:








Then we have their DK pure cotton, Degrade (which should have an accent over the last "e" and be pronounced accordingly with an "eh" on the end) which gently fades up and down its colourways:









And, finally, Katia have produced a yarn made from pure paper!! Yes, it's absolutely true and it's machine washable but they've only produced bag patterns so far so you can knit or crochet yourself a Paper bag! (Yes, I've been chortling over that one for at least the last 24 hours):


















I sort of have a wrap or shawl pattern in mind for this yarn but am not sure whether it'll work or not - guess the only way to find out is to give it a go ........ then I could have a paper wrap(per) ............!

We also have more stock of the very popular cotton Samba and the "knitting in" yarn Paillettes.

Yesterday FB and T went up to Torquay for a rugby tournament (in blistering sunshing which always seems like an odd combination) so G and I are home alone. Tonight I have some of the girls coming over for the evening - Susie is bringing home made chocolate chip cookies and Clare's bringing home made white chocolate cheesecake so you can see how the evening's going to pan out .............

Tomorrow I drive to Torquay to bring the boys home so T can be at school at 7.30am on Monday for 2 days Ten Tors training plus night under canvas - so he'll be knackered for the start of term on Wednesday - deep joy.

I am willing to bet quite a lot of wool that FB is burnt again and will peel again.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Classic Shop Moment

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

A car has just driven past which reminded me of a classic shop moment about 4 years ago.

Causewayhead - the street we're in - is semi-pedestrianised and vehicles travelling down it should only be here for deliveries. However, inevitably, we get some who use it as a cut through.

On this particular day it was boiling hot so the door was open and you could hear the car coming long before it reached us. It was obviously going to be a young man, or men, as the music system base was on full and the "boom, boom, boom" preceded his passing, which shook the windows.

In the calm and quiet as he disappeared into the distance an elderly grey haired lady, who was looking at patterns, gently said, "I beg he's got a small dick".

Total collapse of everyone in the shop. A classic moment.

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Buttons

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

We've had a new delivery in of Cornish Pewter buttons so, if you're waiting for them, they're now in! Look under "Buttons" and then "Cornish Pewter" - they're exclusive to Knit Wits and made for us in Penzance:









































Forgot to say yesterday that, as predicted, FB is now peeling on his bald patch. April 13th/14th - first peel of the year - is that some kind of a record?

Tuesday 13 April 2010

FB's Birthday

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Today is FB's birthday - not a massively significant one (that's next year) but we treated him to some fishing stuff (including flares for the boat - you can't be too careful) and there's a huge chocolate cake waiting for when I get home and we're going out to supper tonight - possibly The Turk's Head again as that was the boys' vote. Tracey also knitted him a magnificent multi-coloured waistcoat in Cornish Organic so I'll get him photographed in that so you can see its magnificence.

Sunday's fishing jaunt was short but sweet as, yet again, the weather forecasters and sea reports were completely wrong. The sun was shining but the water was a tad "lumpy" (as they say in these parts) so we got out just beyond the harbour wall and decided that it was a b****y stupid place to be so turned round and came back. Trawled around in the harbour for a while to no avail and then came home. There were several other boats which did the same so, clearly, the general consensus was that discretion was the better part of valour.

Today I managed to add the Loopy Sheep Hat to both sites so your children/grandchildren/nephews and neices could be the first proud owners of one of these:















which I've no doubt are going to become the latest craze for autumn/winter 2010/11.

Sunday 11 April 2010

Monday

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Hi Tinebeest - I'm in on Monday afternoon! See you then?!

Saturday 10 April 2010

Still Catching Up

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

The weather is glorious and it's holiday cottage changeover day so the shop has been like the Marie Celeste this afternoon. But - as ever - there's always something to do even when there are no customers. So I've still been busy.

I finally typed up, checked and double checked the patterns for the Tea Cosy and Hot Water Bottle Cover:


















and













and uplaoded them so they're both now available to buy here and on the Cornish Organic site (www.cornishorganicwool.co.uk).

I've also added the new Inside Crochet magazine (April/May 2010 Issue 7) to the Knit Wits site and it has this fantastic pattern in it:


















knitted in Cornish Organic Wool 4ply, shade St Ives.

The wool for this shawl has been on a bit of a journey as we sent it to the designer in France well over a year ago. Turns out she was heavily pregnant and not able to complete the project so it went off to someone else to be finished. By the time it was then returned to the magazine's office and photographed, everyone had lost the records of what wool it is. About six weeks ago I was approached by a completely different designer who had been commissioned by Inside Crochet to design a hat and gloves in our wool. I contacted the magazine and, basically, said that's all well and good but what happened to the last wool be donated for a design? It was only then that the penny dropped and this fantastic shawl (which had been languishing unidentified on a shelf) was finally identified and finally made it into print. And I think it's beautiful.

I wonder how many other garments we see beautifully posed in magazines have similar stories to tell?!

The weather forecast for tomorrow is fantastic so I've been told that I'm going out on the new boat. I'm planning to take my knitting - do you think they'll mind/notice?

Friday 9 April 2010

Gone Fishing!

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Yesterday, as I said, the boys went fishing - when I say "boys" I mean all 3 of them. It looked something like this:













As you can see, G (in the foreground) is looking slightly more anxious than T, who hasn't a care in the world.













Here they have, wisely, put life jackets on. G still looking slightly concerned. Not sure if this was taken before or after the engine conked out - possibly after. It was "persuaded" to work again - thank the Lord. Incidentally, no pics of FB but he is, as predicted, bright red and glowing today.













This is the view that not many people get to see - the back of St Michael's Mount.

I've still got to type up the pattern but here are some of the photos we took on Easter weekend - can you guess what the pattern is going to be? ..............














From the left we have Eloise, Zennor and Trinity wearing their new loopy sheep hats!! Zennor lost the will to live shortly after this picture was taken which may not be surprising since she'd just walked about 2 miles and was then asked to smile with a ridiculous sheep hat on her head.

Trinity, whose idea the sheep hat was in the first place, took it all in her stride:


















Here she is with big sis as well:















So - do we think very silly loopy sheep hats are going to be the next massive craze?!!

Thursday 8 April 2010

Knitting and Fishing

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Being closed for Friday and Monday and then having Saturday off myself has really thrown me so I've had two days madly catching up here. Funny how it only takes two days to throw things off kilter.

We had a great Easter weekend but too much food, too much wine (for some), too much chocolate (for others) and too many hot cross buns (for me). We did a great photo shoot on the beach but FB still needs to format the pics so they'll be here next week.

Came back in on Tuesday and I've now caught up on the inputting completely so there's new yarn from Debbie Bliss:













ecobaby is a single twist, organic cotton with organic certification from bioRe (not that I'm neurotic about certification, or anything). Remember I was knitting some fiddly little booties a few weeks ago and messed them up with a migraine? Well, they are in ecobaby and here they are:













They are ridiculously sweet and one pair came out of one ball.

ecobaby is exactly the same tension and yardage as Debbie's incredibly popular Baby Cashmerino so all patterns are totally interchangeable and yarn quantities are identical - perfect if you want to knit a Baby Cash pattern for the summer.

Our needle supplier now has Tunisian Crochet Hooks! I ordered a load but only two sizes came in - which may indicate how popular they (and crochet) are at the moment. I will order more but, for the time being, we have them in 3.25mm and 6mm. I have to confess that I've never really got into crochet - can't seem to get my tension right - guess it's one of those things I'll master when I retire - like spinning - and pilates - and learning to breath properly when swimming front crawl - and ..............

FB was left some money by an aunt who died at the end of last year so on Tuesday he and the boys went to Southampton, amidst much excitement, to collect a new 14ft Dory for fishing. They got to within 3 miles of home and had a puncture on the trailer. Then discovered that the trailer bearings were shot so spent most/all of yesterday repairing all of that (they still haven't confessed how much it all cost). Today the weather is glorious and they are out on the sea. I phoned them this morning to remind them about sun cream and hats but, apparently, they've forgotten both so they'll all be pink tonight and I will tell them off and plaster them with after-sun. I did ask how many fish they'd caught for our supper but, apparently, they hadn't been fishing at that point - just "playing". Nice for some ............... tomorrow FB has to dye some wool urgently and there's the small matter of the GCSE revision.....

Thursday 1 April 2010

Easter Weekend

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

It's been pretty manic here in the shop today so everyone's obviously gearing up for bad weather and lots of Easter knitting. If you're coming down to Cornwall then you'll need to know that we're closed on Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday but open all day Saturday (9-5) and open as usual on Tuesday.

We've got friends coming down so I've managed to wangle a day off on Saturday but you'll be ably looked after by Marie and Tracey. I'll be back in on Tuesday. We look forward to seeing you!

I'm busy typing up the new hottie and tea cosy patterns so here's a sneak preview of the photographs:































They're both knitted in Peruk in shade Sennen, which comes out much calmer than it looks in the skein!

Whilst writing that I realised that I hadn't actually entered the Sennen in Peruk on the system - but I have now! Find it here.

Pattern writing up can be tricky as you have to imagine you've never seen this pattern before in your life and make sure the instructions are as simple as possible. Typing up the main bit is usually straightforward but the shaping can be tricky. Touching wood frantically here, we rarely get complaints so taking the time to get it right obviously pays off. In the other half of my head I'm also planning the next project, of course, so I try to get patterns written up as quickly as possible before I forget exactly what it is I did.

I've now swatched and planned the next hottie so tonight I get to start it - yay!

Boys have now broken up so I haven't actually seen them since last night when I went to bed as, like all true teenagers, they took the chance to watch a late film and weren't up until long, long after I'd left for work this morning. Tomorrow is pay back time as we have friends coming to stay so we have to go through the whole decamping G out of his bedroom, finding clean sheets etc, etc. And, no, for those of you who remember the last time I had to do this - FB hasn't mended the light on the landing outside the linen cupboard so, yes, I'll be wearing my head torch again to find the right sheets.

Have a happy knitterly weekend and don't eat too much chocolate - remember - a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. Happy Easter!