Julia's KnitWits Blog

Stylecraft Vision

2012-02-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Stylecraft "Vision" is the latest addition to the Stylecraft stable - a 20% wool, 80% acrylic blend it's perfect for spring knits and economical to boot - not only is it not expensive it also goes a long way so patterns use, an average, just 4-5 balls. Just 6 colours to start:

and 10 patterns.

Although I'm not normally a fan of lacy sweaters or cardigans I do really like this one (just 4 balls in my size!):

which has now been added to the "things which must be knitted" list. I also love the green colour and realise that I don't have many clothes in green so perhaps it's just meant to be? Examples of other patterns are:

and

and, for girls:

Today is - allegedly - my half day here in the shop so I'm off home shortly to finish a project - watch this space!

New Yarns!

2012-01-31T08:56:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

At about 10 o'clock last night I realised that finishing another new design was somewhat over-ambitious so - instead - I have new yarns to show you (and more knitting to do tonight!). And not just any old new yarn - no, indeed - NORO new yarn!

We have 2 new colours in Kureyon and 2 new colour in Silk Garden:

How any of us are supposed to choose our favourite Noro yarn is beyond me - they are all GORGEOUS!!

In view of the fact that I don't have a new pattern, I'll give you an update on my first ever crochet project - remember the double-bed sized bedspread? (always good to start a new skill with a small project, I'm sure you'll agree). Well, it started like this:

and then, by the end of the summer, it had reached this (note size of Deidre for idea of scale):

and now - after a massive "push" over Christmas and New Year - it looks like this (being shown on our bed for the first time!):

I am very, very chuffed with it but it's now, sadly, been returned to the wool stash cupboard whilst I try and rattle off a couple of garments for the shop.

Perhaps it'll be ready for next winter ...................

Cooking On Gas!

2012-01-30T09:47:00.001-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Wow - well we're really cooking on gas here in Penzance at the moment - a new yarn and patterns on the site plus a new garment to show you and a whack of online orders today - thank you all - it's the orders and customers which keep us here, after all!

So - firstly our new yarn - the luscious Rialto Lace from Debbie Bliss. We've been stocking Debbie's Rialto 4ply for some time and it's one of her most popular yarns - a wonderfully soft and squishy pure merino wool. To add to the stable she's now added her Rialto Lace weight yarn and 8 gorgeous patterns (and I'm pretty sure there'll be more patterns coming along pretty quick too). The patterns are in her book, Rialto Lace:

and I'm about to start knitting the cardigan shown on the front cover (which is knitted sideways). The great thing about these designs and this yarn is that you only use about 3 balls for most garments, which is £16.50 - a bargain to boot!

Talking of knitting (which is, after all, what we do) you may have noticed the sweater I was wearing with the Riot Scarf in the last post:

The pattern came from the Christmas edition of "Knitting" magazine:

and, in the magazine, it was done in 2 colours:

but I decided to do it in one:

I really like it and it was a doddle to knit and the neck shaping was integral to the design so NO PICKING UP OF STITCHES - yay and yippee and do a little dance. I wore it a lot over Christmas and one person actually asked me if I'd sewn in all the sequins by hand?!! As much as I love sequins and a bit of sparkle that would - clearly - be totally insane.

Tonight I may finish another exclusive Knit Wits design - I told you - cooking on gas!

Two New Designs

2012-01-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Despite having gone out last night (to Truro to see Brendon Cole {of "Strictly" fame} - v entertaining!) I've finally managed to get TWO of my latest designs onto the site today.

The first is for all you Valentine's out there and is just in time for THE BIG DAY - a Valentine's Day Heart made from Can Can -aaagh! Made in the same way as our Christmas Wreaths, this is quick and easy to make and will get you in the mood(!):

The pattern itself is free but the £3.00 charge covers the cost of the wire frame the Can Can is sewn to. As it states, the wire frame is only available if you buy a ball of Can Can at the same time (and, let's face it, you can't make the heart without the frame ...).

My second design isn't a new design at all but is taken from the many variations of this theme on Ravelry. The original designs for this pattern were made in Noro but, as you'll appreciate, that made it quite an expensive item. As there are so many Noro lookalikes now, I thought I'd have a go with 2 balls of Riot DK and the result is spectacular:

and - at less than £10 for 2 balls of Riot DK - it makes it more realistic in these somewhat straightened times. The pattern is free when you buy 2 balls of Riot DK and - as Riot has a terrific meterage - if you use up both of the 2 balls (as I did) the resulting scarf is very, very long (2.5m):

(For those of you interested, the jumper I'm wearing in this pic is in King Cole Galaxy - pattern from the Christmas Special "Knitting" magazine - more on that on Monday.)

So - that leaves me with just one more pattern to write up and a whole load of stuff to add to the site - I can feel some late nights coming on - plus ca change!

Stylecraft Delivery!

2012-01-26T11:15:00.001-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Writing this in haste as it's 7.15pm and I'm still in the shop!

Went to a Burn's Night Supper last night so, although I didn't drink (was driving) I didn't get enough sleep and then we had a HUGE delivery in from Stylecraft (8 big sacks - yikes!) so am feeling weary.

Site is all updated so there are stocks of Life 4ply, DK, Aran, Chunky and Super Chunky as well as Life DK Prints. Also full stocks of lovely baby yarn, Merry-Go-Round and loads more 400g Aran balls, which seem to be v v popular at the moment. Also Wondersoft 4ply for babies and Extra Special DK. Check them all out!

All of which meant I haven't written up the new pattern I've been working on today, haven't finished next new project today and haven't eaten today - the latter of which will be remedied shortly.

New pattern - perhaps - by the weekend?!

Teenagers - again

2012-01-20T04:57:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

I don't suppose I'm the only mother of teenagers who despairs at their permanently untidy bedrooms, their inability to hang a (wet) towel up or {in our house} their inability to pull out the bath plug (is that so hard?).

So - like most parents in our position - we have the occasional blitz when the situation gets beyond a joke. This week has been one of those blitzes - mostly at T, who is going through a stage where even getting a sock into the wash basket is a struggle - on the landing easy, on his bedroom floor easy, on the bathroom floor easy - in the wash basket (which is on the landing next to the bathroom) impossible.

So we blitzed and - as part of the blitz - I remonstrated with him about a pile of used {slightly sweaty} gym clothes which were dumped on the kitchen floor and insisted he take them upstairs and into said wash basket.

His reply was priceless:

"The thing is, Mum, I've found that this house has magical powers. If I leave my dirty gym kit on the kitchen floor it usually re-appears several days later upstairs and clean. It's really clever this house".

Teenagers - you've got to love them!

Ravelry and Azzurra

2012-01-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Some of you may have noticed that one of my New Year's resolutions is slowly coming to fruition in that I've {finally} got myself sorted on Ravelry. (Really that should read, "I'm getting myself sorted on Ravelry - which would be more accurate.) For those of you who aren't on Ravelry it's a great online knitting resource for knitters and crafters around the world. The problem for me has been that it's a great time waster and - as one who has precious little time to waste - wasn't something I wanted to get stuck into before.

However, it is a great resource and, for that reason, I decided to get my act together. I guess it's something that - once you get used to it - it gets quicker and quicker but it took me all morning on Monday to get the Knit Wits group set up and all morning on Tuesday to input 3 finished projects! I have - as you can imagine - many more finished projects and wip's (works in progress) to upload, not to mention the books and magazines I own etc, etc.

Not sure how mad I'm going to go but - from a purely marketing exercise - it does link all my finished projects back to here s0 - if you're finding us for the first time - HELLO!!

My personal page is: juliaknitwits
and the shop group is: Knit Wits Penzance

I believe that - somehow by the magic of RSS - this blog post will automatically be listed on Ravelry - don't ask me how - as those of you who've been reading this for a while will know - I don't do technology. Knitting - yes, technology - no.

The other news is that new yarns are starting to arrive! Hooray!! First past the New Year post is Azzurra from Adriafil. This is a 70% wool, 30% acrylic 4ply yarn - perfect for socks, garments and wonderful fairisles! It's also at the amazing price of just £2.75 - which makes it a winner every way you look. Lovely colours too:

More new yarns coming soon - watch this space!

Giant Needles

2012-01-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Well - I've had an interesting week .........! Remember these beauties?:

Well ..... a customer came in to say she'd seen them (and me) referred to in a book about knitting. In essence the quote said, "some old dear in Cornwall" had 3.5m long, 6.5cm diameter needles made and got into the Guinness Book of Records and then "some knitters need to get a life". I stewed on this for a couple of days and then emailed the author.

I should add at this point that the needles (and this iconic photograph) have appeared in numerous publications and books and we are always happy to provide a quote or this image if people request it. The problem with this [new] book was that I hadn't been asked and I don't quite see myself in the "old dear" category ..... yet. My customer was incensed and planned to write to the publisher (Penguin).

So I emailed the author and explained that, whilst I do have a sense of humour (I did, after all, have these giant needles made) I thought she should have got her facts right and/or asked permission first.

I had a quick, profuse and heartfelt apology and - for the 2nd print run - coming soon - we have agreed that I shall be referred to as "a wonderful lady from Cornwall"!!!!!! Thank you, Jenny - your honesty and apology was much appreciated. So - if you would like to buy a copy of Jenny's book - Purls of Wisdom - please make sure you get the 2nd edition!!

Not having blogged about the needles before, I thought it might be interesting to chart their lives. It all started in 2005 (the year I bought Knit Wits) when we organised a knitting event at Land's End and I knitted with the oars from a Cornish Pilot Gig:

The Guinness World Record people wouldn't give us the record for that attempt as the needles have to be exactly sized up from real needles. So - with the help of an oar maker in Eton on the River Thames, these were made for us:

and, in 2006, at a knitting event in St Ives we did, finally, get into the Record Books (even appearing in The Times the following day!):

Since then they've appeared at numerous charity events around the country (and, indeed, the world - although getting airlines to carry them has proved "interesting").

Here they are on "Pirate Day" outside the shop (with the old shop front!):

and here is our local MP "having a go":

Here I am one Christmas with T - again outside the shop - raising money for our street Christmas lights - I well remember that evening as I was FREEZING!!:

I knitted in Truro for World Wide Knit in Public Day:

and even got a couple of hunky rugby players to have a go:

At a Soil Association festival in Bristol I knitted the whole of 50 strands of wool to make a giant wall hanging, which many of you will have seen hanging in the shop:

And our piece de resistance was a trip to Hong Kong where we knitted to raise money for a homeless charity. This has to go down in history as one of the most bizarre moments of my life:

Tavia (who I'm with) is a well-known TV personality in Hong Kong with a nightly show - she sang (in Chinese) whilst I knitted - it was hysterically surreal and an amazing experience - the only place in the world where I've walked into a wool shop and they've said, "aagh - it's Julia"!! We even had to do a photocall at the airport(!):

If you want to see the needles and/or the wall hanging - do come and see us soon!

Teenagers

2012-01-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Teenagers - on the whole - get a pretty hard rap, I think. En masse they can be a pretty intimidating site but individually you'll usually find they're kind and decent and, at times, very, very funny. At the time of life when their hormones are raging and, ideally, all they'd like to do is sleep (preferably with a member of the opposite sex) they are expected to do the most critical exams of their short lives and learn some quite bizarre and, seemingly, irrelevant stuff.

Our boys have a double whammy as they are both doing the International Baccalaureate, which is a testing course by anyone's standard. Even if they don't intend to study English, Maths or a foreign language at Uni they have to do it for IB, plus 3 other subjects. In addition they have to write a 4,000 word essay on any subject of their choice (which must include independent research) {this element alone has recently been compared to an undergraduate dissertation} and they have to give a talk on a subject of their choice which includes some controversy and includes "ways of knowing" (G is doing his on fox hunting) and - oh yes - they have to fit in hours of community, service and activity as well.

G is nearing the end of this very testing process with final exams looming in May and over the holidays he was asked to, ideally, read The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and something else by Chekov (and, I'm sorry, I can't remember what!). Being realistic about the probability of G reading The Glass Menagerie I turned to our good friend Amazon and managed to find a DVD of it - starring Katherine Hepburn - which will give you an idea of how old the film was.

It was in colour (just) and - being the good Mother that I am - I offered to watch it with G last night so at least he had someone to bat ideas around with and wasn't all on his own.

The brief overview on the box described the mother (Katherine Hepburn) "suffocating" her children and G was mightily disappointed when I broke the news that this wasn't literal - this wasn't going to be a murder mystery or gore movie.

"Oh" - he said.

So we watched it and occasionally - at some particularly salient point - pointed at each other and shouted "Ha"! - that's bound to be relevant - lots of symbolism and metaphorical images and other things that exam boards love.

Given that the entire play takes place in one room it wasn't ideal fare for a testosterone-fulled 18 year old.

At the end we sat in silence for a few moments and then G simply said,

"Well, that's two hours of my life I'll never get back" !!

Teenagers - you've got to love them!

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Happy New Year to one and all and I hope you all had a good one. We had a quiet time (which was nice) and all seem to have slept A LOT which is, clearly, what we all needed.

I had some wonderful gifts, including a fantastic book of cabled knits from Tracey, books (which I need to find time to read) and some rather nice alcohol courtesy of (now) 18 year old son (there are advantages!).

We also managed a couple of lovely walks and, on the 28th, walked one of our favourites from Mousehole to Lamorna and back. It's supposed to be 2.5 miles each way but the coastal bit (out) always feels one heck of a lot longer than the field bit (back). But it's beautiful and the path was deserted and it blew away a lot of cobwebs (not to mention mince pies):

(note new walking trousers c/o (sadly) closing down sale at Milletts. These were one of a pair of presents that I bought and then gave to FB to wrap for me - which he duly did - bless!)

When we got to Lamorna we found this sign in the car park:

FB got a teensy bit irate about this sign which is less than welcoming for our very welcome and much needed visitors. Who has the right to say how long or short a dog's lead can, or should be??!! What, exactly, constitutes threatening, abusive or insulting conduct - FB thinks some of the things on this sign are pretty insulting!! For anyone coming to Cornwall or visiting Lamorna we can only apologise - we're not all like this!

I managed a fair bit of knitting (and crochet) - remember my crocheted bedspread?

well, it's bigger (quite a lot bigger actually) and it's great as it keeps me warm as I work! I even managed one very small knitted present. I know from bitter experience that owning a wool shop and trying to knit Christmas presents for all is a bad idea unless I start the knitting in January. From September to January business just gets busier and busier and throwing in the stress of knitted pressies just isn't worth it. So I knitted one small thing for FB - a tie:

(pattern from Debbie Bliss's current magazine, knitted in Baby Cashmerino, 2 balls.) The neck should have been lined with grosgrain ribbon but the colours were all too drab so I doubled up some glitzy Christmas ribbon and glammed it up a bit. FB didn't realise - until the M-in-L and I were discussing said ribbon on Boxing Day (she had pre-approved the main colour) that I'd made it!!! Amid the bluff and bluster of me asking if he thought I'd go out and BUY him a knitted tie he said it was because it was SOOOOO perfect and he couldn't believe I'd made it. Ha!! He did concede that as I own a wool shop and knit for a living it was entirely feasible that I could knit a perfect tie! Have yet to see him wear it though ..............

Happy 2012!

Happy Christmas!!

2011-12-24T07:49:00.001-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Happy Christmas and New Year to all our customers!

I probably won't blog again until next year but, until then, for those of you dreaming of warmer months (or lucky enough to be going on a winter cruise) I've just uploaded the new Bamboo Cotton Prints range and patterns from King Cole:

so you can start planning!

In the meantime, thank you to all our customers for supporting us through this (difficult) year and here's to a great Christmas and 2012.

Make sure you all make time for some peaceful knitting over the festive period!

Voila - the wonder scarf

2011-12-16T12:11:00.001-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

First things first - mugs are back in stock and everyone who pre-ordered had theirs sent out, first class, today. Also, apparently, last posting day is - in fact - Tuesday so you still have time!

Next - and most importantly - Voila the wonder scarf!

Voila (pronounced the French way but I can't get the accent on the "a" on this programme) comes as a tape-type yarn - a bit like Can Can but it's woollier (43% wool) and comes as a tube. You "knit" it by doing a simple crochet along one end and then up the main length and then across the second end and tie off - et, voila, you have a curly scarf!

It is unbelievably simple and I've put together a very simple instruction sheet which comes free with every ball and there's also an excellent video on You Tube by Adriafil.

This is the yarn that EVERYONE needs in their stash this Christmas. Picture the scene - presents round the tree - you've agreed with Auntie Olive that you won't do presents this year but she then produces one for you. Normally you would panic, blush and stammer. This year you excuse yourself - say you've eaten a dodgy prawn or something or even go to check on the turkey. Grab your ball of Voila and a crochet hook and - Voila - in 10 minutes you have a pressie for Auntie Olive. Panic over. All is well.

Alternatively, your pre-Christmas knitting plan has gone awry - those socks you promised everyone just aren't going to be finished in time. You're trying to fool yourselves but deep, deep down you know it just isn't going to happen. Get yourself a couple of balls of Voila as a back up and bung them in the stash. Christmas Eve (or even Christmas morning) grab your crochet hook and save the day. Brilliant.

And it's very reasonably priced and lovely and soft and, what's more, looks great too!!

Perfect - well done Adriafil!

PS: If I look cold in the picture - I was! No improvement in the weather here but not as bad as the rest of the country, I think. A good knitting weekend!

Last Deliveries Before Christmas

2011-12-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Most wool companies close for the entire festive period so they're all working frantically to get last orders out before then. We had, possibly, our last 2 deliveries yesterday so worked on late to get them away and the site updated last night - the first was Stylecraft and we had loads of our most popular-selling standard yarn "Life" in - we had Life in 4ply, DK, Aran and Chunky and, at £3.30 for 100g, it's a brilliant yarn at a brilliant price. We also had loads of the big 400g Aran balls in - very, very popular at the moment.

We then had a small "top up" delivery from Italian firm, Adriafil. We had top ups in the beautiful 4ply alpaca, Sierra Andina, the lovely DK, Knitcol and the very popular Super Chunky, Monello. They're all on the site now so check them out for a pre-Christmas treat - obviously we all need lovely wool to knit over the festive season when we're all stuffed with chocolate and there's nothing on the telly!

There are also, unbelievably, a few new yarns!! New colours in Stylecraft Extra Special and a fantastic new 15 minute wonder scarf. So - if you haven't finished all your pressies and you're running out of time, tune back in later for the quickest scarf ever - seriously, I made one last night in 10 minutes!! I'm now off to photograph it. Stand by!!

PS: Mugs coming back in today as well.

My Moment

2011-12-14T04:34:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

I had a moment this morning - one of those moments to savour and cherish and possibly even do a small dance over. The cause of this moment? I emptied the wash basket. Pause and reflect, if you will, on the enormity of this. There was nothing in the wash basket - nil, nada, not even a sock.

It didn't last long - obviously. FB came back from the gym. G cleared a small passageway through his bedroom and - lo - the moment was gone. But it was there. For about half an hour it was there. My moment!

Obviously gee'd up by this moment I carried it with me and entered a few new patterns on the site this morning. Children's patterns in Marble Chunky (which everyone's been asking for) - here is a sample:

and this hooded waistcoat:

I then added one new pattern in Passion which didn't come into stock last time:

and four in Marble DK:

Today I have the car (even FB lets me off cycling when the weather is this horrendous) so am now off to M&S to do some last bits of Christmas shopping. It's my first trip to M&S in Hayle (which has probably been there for about 5 years now) and I'm pathetically excited!

Weather

2011-12-12T10:12:00.001-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

For those of you who fondly think of Cornwall as blue sky, sun and sandy beaches then I'm sorry to disappoint you but today has been absolutely foul!! We get the best and we certainly get the worst - gale force winds, horizontal lashing rain and that grim, damp cold that chills your very bones. Absolutely the only thing to do is light the fire and knit in front of it. We have our Christmas "do" a week on Thursday and I've still got the sleeves to knit on my festive sweater - there's a sweepstake on as to whether I can finish in time or not. (There's no collar though so no picking up stitches so I may be in with a fighting chance.)

I don't usually talk about customers but today is a bit of a red letter day as we had an order in (by phone) from Tristan Da Cunha. Where the Christmas Cracker is that, I hear you ask. Well, indeed, you may wonder - as did I - so I googled it. Tristan Da Cunha, it transpires, is the most remote, inhabited island in the world - 1,750 miles from South Africa and 2,088 miles from South America - Wow! - and some Katia scarf yarn is on its way there, with needles. Our customer is going to email with requests for more wool so I'm going to ask her all sorts of questions - like what she's doing there!

As I sit at home tonight cracking on with my two sleeves I'll spare a thought for the most remote island in the world - I think it might take a while for our wool to get there ...

Mugs and other Christmas Treats

2011-12-09T00:47:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Wow! We've been busy over the past couple of weeks - loads of you obviously knitting hats, scarves, gloves etc for Christmas and the occasional big sweater too. Mind you, with the current weather what's better than cosying up in the evening, keeping warm and knitting?

Our "Keep Calm and Carry on Knitting" range is proving incredibly popular for pressies as well (or perhaps you're all treating yourselves?). So popular, in fact, that I ordered more mugs at the beginning of December. They are due for delivery to us a week today (16th) and will be despatched on that day too. I've checked with our Post Office and last posting date for Christmas is the 20th so we'll be in good time for that.

So - keep ordering mugs but don't expect them to land on your doorstep until about the 19th/20th. We've become dab hands at wrapping them up safely so no need to worry about breakages either! Mugs will be despatched on a "first come, first served" basis but I've got over 100 coming in so you should be fine.

I love the idea of knitters around the country waking up on Christmas morning and drinking their coffee/tea/hot chocolate/egg nog/champagne out of our mugs!

New Poncho Pattern

2011-11-29T09:55:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Unusually for me, I do actually have a new pattern for you today - unusually because it's rare for me to actually get things done on time. This pattern was produced as a result of many requests for poncho patterns. Ponchos came and went about 2/3 years ago and have now come back somewhat earlier than expected (these fashion trends usually take about 20 years to return but this one is back after just the blink of an eye). The knitting companies seem to have missed this one too so we (when I say "we" I mean "I") rattled up this poncho (if by "rattled" you understand me to mean that I knitted it once, checked the tension and size, pulled the whole dratted thing back [not to be recommended with an Astrakan yarn], re-checked my tension and then re-knitted it].

We had some Katia Astrakan yarn which we thought would lend itself perfect to a poncho pattern with no shaping (shaping with Astrakan can be fiddly) and would also be perfect for small girls. What small girl can resist a bubbly, cosy poncho?:

You can, of course, add stitches around the neck for a collar or tassels around the bottom but we just decorated ours with pretty little buttons:

The pattern can be found here and comes in sizes from a 2 year old up to a small adult. Pattern is free when you buy the yarn (the pattern is showing at £3.00 but we'll deduct that if you order the Astrakan). Pattern on its own is £3.00 (if that makes sense). Astrakan is a funny tension so, although you could fiddle and calculate for a different yarn we do, as always, recommend the yarn its knitted in.

And you've just got enough time to knit one (or two) in time for Christmas!

You Know It's Been a Busy Day When....

2011-11-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

..... FB has to take the post in a sack (and the sack is full);

it gets to 4 o'clock and you think, "mmmm - lunch time"

Yesterday we made the most of the good weather and photographed a few garments which have been in the "to do" list for some time.

Remember the disastrous start to my Noro 4ply sweater (knitted [and pulled back] in France)? Well it finally got finished a few weeks ago, has been in the window and is now available for all to see:

I really love it! I love the colours and I love the shape and I love the 2 combined. I did work hard to get the colours on the front shoulders and the sleeves to match (call me anal if you like - many do) but I think it works and I'm very pleased with it (especially after its inauspicious start).

Some time ago I also knitted up some Noro socks and we'd feared that the colourway was discontinued; however, it's back and back in stock - shade 188 - hoorah!:

(and, yes, the socks match - sorry!). Actually a first for me in sock knitting as most of my pairs are knitted "as they come". These "came" in a pair!

Finally, Tracey rattled up an Icelandic knit in our new Lopi yarn - really yummy and perfect for our current cold snap:

Tomorrow - all being well - another new design of ours - never let it be said there's a dull moment here at Knit Wits!

Van Gogh

2011-11-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Today is the day we turn our Christmas lights on in Penzance and all the traders have been working hard to make it a great day for our customers. We've had bands playing in the street all day, plus the fab Samba band and loads of stalls and other goodies and it's all been a bit manic but fun - could do with it being a bit colder though to get us all in the mood.

Despite all of that I've managed to get my fantastic new sock yarn onto the site! Inspired by the painting of Vincent Van Gogh all the colours relate to his paintings and have the relevant painting on the ball band. So, for example, we have Sunflowers:

and Starry Night:

and Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles:

plus others!

Great idea, great colours and great for presents!

See them all (and order them) here. Free sock pattern (or glove pattern if you email us requesting it) with every ball ordered.

James Brett is in!

2011-11-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

It's 8pm, my feet are sore and I'm STARVING and Tracey and I have just finished putting away 10 sacks of James Brett yarn which arrived at lunch time. So - stocks are good in pretty much everything - have a browse through the James Brett section and see what grabs our fancy! Passion Chunky, Rustic Aran, Woodlander and Tints DK are selling particularly well at the moment here in the shop - and, of course, the wonderful Marble Chunky which never stops selling!

Patterns will be updated tomorrow - they need to be sorted, filed away here and stock levels checked and then updated on the site - it all takes time!

Last night I finished the third (and final) Christmas wreath - in pink!

I have no idea how many balls of Can Can and Can Can Glitz that I've demonstrated here in the shop and knitted for friends and family but, about half way through this one I realised I was knitting it the wrong way round (ie with the flat side facing, rather than the curly side).

Whilst I was knitting one of the 2 brain cells I was operating on kept thinking "this doesn't look right" and the other brain cell was saying "just keep going, it'll be fine". Eventually number 1 brain cell thought, "hang on, let's just stop and look at this" and then my (sleeping) 3rd brain cell woke up and said, "doh".

I was calm on the outside as I ripped it all back but the language inside my head was unrepeatable!

You can buy the pink wreath kit here and they'll all be on display in the shop window from tomorrow (Friday).

Hotch Potch

2011-11-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Today is going to be a hotch potch of new things added to the site to bring to your attention. First off is the white and silver Christmas Wreath (which I'm very pleased with the took about 5 hours to make in total - 3 hours to knit [if, like me, you're not very quick] and a couple to put together:

Pretty classy - no? You can find it on the site here.

I've also added a new pattern book for Debbie Bliss's Andes yarn - this is an amazingly luxurious blend of alpaca and silk, which is unbelievably soft. Debbie has decided, very sensibly, to add new patterns to existing yarns rather than overload us with more new yarns so we can expect this to be the first in a number of pattern books to back up existing yarns. A couple of samples from the new book are a chevron top:

and a cable edged jacket:

(although Tracey got a bit sniffy about the latter as the cable is knitted in one piece so goes up one side and down the other - Tracey [who is a bit anal about such things] thinks it should be knitted in two pieces so they either both go up or both go down. Whatever floats your boat!! If you too are anal, like Trace, you could {of course} knit the edge in two pieces!)

There are 2 really nice new colours in Stylecraft's Extra Special DK - the popularity of this yarn has, I think, even taken Stylecraft by surprise so new colours and patterns keep on coming (could be something to do with the price - just £2.30 for 100g). New colours are Atlantis:

and Carnation:

From Debbie Bliss we've also, finally, received her new autumn/winter (or "Fall" as it's correctly termed - am I right in thinking we're aiming at the US market here?) magazine:

which is full of loads of patterns and - given the number of patterns - is excellent value for money at just £4.95. There are black, white and grey (it says "gray" on the cover but I just can't bring myself to spell it that way) fairisle patterns and little girls' patterns in the lovely Angel mohair yarn.

Finally - I think - for now we have new colours in Galazy - that wonderful yarn with sequins in it. Check out these beauties:

Having started off in muted blacks, gre(a)ys and cream and mixtures of the 3, we've now gone wild with pink, purple and red - FABULOUS!!

ALSO if you haven't seen it yet, there's a really lovely sweater in this month's Knitting magazine (Christmas Issue, No 97 - don't get confused with the December issue) in Galaxy by Pat Menchini. I'm not going to do it in stripes but I AM going to knit it for Christmas!

But I can't start that until I've knitted one more Christmas wreath. FB wants me to tell you that my assertion yesterday that it'll be on the site for tomorrow is ludicrous as, apparently, I have other work to do and I need to sleep and eat at some point. The next (and final) {pink}wreath will, therefore be here on Thursday. Apparently there is life beyond knitting wreaths - who knew?!

PS: Have just had a delivery of NEW SOCK YARN - be still by beating heart .......

Trying Not To Work On Sunday!

2011-11-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

My New Year's Resolution last year was to not work on Sundays and I've stuck to it pretty religiously - ha!

So the blog update which didn't happen on Saturday night because I got in so late also didn't happen yesterday because I stuck to my principles so now it's Monday and there's just too much to say!

Tracey had an inspired idea last week and I worked on it over the weekend and it's now come to fruition. Please be upstanding for our Christmas Wreath!:

Just what all knitters need to show their knitting passion to the world, this easy to knit Christmas wreath is made from one ball of Can Can Glitz and now comes in a kit, which includes the yarn, wreath frame and 6 Christmas baubles.

We are really, really pleased with how it's worked out so are now making more in other colours - all being well we'll have a white and silver one tomorrow and a pink one by Wednesday (as we know how many people love a pink Christmas).

You can buy them here.

The pattern is incredibly simple and everyone we've showed it to in the shop (and there've been a few, including one rep) has gone "Wow". We're pleased and hope you will be too.

Loads of other things to catch up on but - critically - you need to know that the Debbie Bliss Angel patterns which were in her spring/summer magazine (sold out long ago) are now in a new book - yay! - A Fine Romance. Great name, great yarn!

Life Chunky Prints

2011-11-18T01:31:00.001-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As promised, late yesterday, Life Chunky Prints arrived. This is the latest addition to the "Life" stable and comes after the success of Life Prints DK last year. There are just 5 colours:

and 4 patterns to go with them - all very good, useful and on-trend garments:

Being short, my personal favourite is the plain sweater.

That's all for now, folks!

MORE new stuff

2011-11-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

My "Wednesday afternoons are for going home and typing up knitting patterns" have, of late, turned into "Wednesday afternoons are for inputting new stuff onto the website". Which is fine - except I have a new cowl still sitting in the bag looking sad which has been in the bag since mid October - that's a whole month and I, very nearly, have a very cute poncho waiting to be written up as well. What to do? Well, there's a choice - either put more hours in each day or put more days in each week - I'll leave someone better than me to sort that one out.

In the meantime, there are more new things on the site! First is a new slightly brushed chunky with a touch of mohair. Remember Brushstrokes Chunky?:

and Brushstrokes DK?:

Well - new Inspiration Chunky - is exactly the same makeup as them (80% acrylic, 10% wool, 10% mohair) but in plain colours:

All the colours are really "now" and at only £3.30 per ball it's a really, really good value yarn. There are some good patterns, too, although it's a standard chunky so will knit up to all your faves - here are some of the new ones (down the left hand side of the yarn page, as always):

and 4 patterns for girls:

Second new yarn for today is new colours in Life Super Chunky. This yarn was new last season and, after a slow start, went mad! I knitted this - remember?:

Well - there are 4 new colours:

and 4 new patterns to go with them - here are 2:

Tomorrow, there will be more. In the meantime, I have a poncho to finish.......

Sari Silk is Back!!

2011-11-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

The very briefest of updates - SARI SILK IS BACK IN STOCK!! - apologies for the delay for everyone who's been waiting but our supplier had problems getting stock themselves. We've got 50 100g skeins and they're all GORGEOUS!!! and - amazingly - THE PRICE REMAINS THE SAME!! (and that doesn't happen too often these days, does it?) Free pattern for this:

and/or this:

when you order the necessary number of skeins.

And still plenty of time til Christmas!

Scarves - and more Scarves!

2011-11-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Radio silence hasn't been caused by the return of the black dog - more a case of not-enough-hours-in-the-day syndrome and a bad case of when-I-get-home-I-just-want-to-veg-in-front-of-the-telly virus. The earliest I left the shop this week was 6.30pm (except Wednesday, my supposed half day, when I left at 5.30). This is, in fact, all good news but now it's 7pm on Saturday and I was up at 6.30 this morning and I'm now lusting after my warm, cosy bed.

Before I crash into the land of nod, I'll update you on all the new goodies which have been occupying us: we had a huge delivery from Stylecraft on Tuesday so stock levels are updated and there are new yarns to follow (on Monday, all being well). Then later on Tuesday we had a big delivery of scarf yarn from Spain. Loads of balls of Triana - these are the new colours:

which has a proper pattern (!) and knits into this:

And also a load of new Triana Lux (Triana with glitz), these are the new colours:

and they knit like this:

and then, also from Katia, we had new colours in Rizos:

which knits like this:

Yesterday we had a whole other delivery from Katia but I think it's a mistake and will have to go back - that's Monday's first job!

We then had a delivery from Rico and had MORE Can Can and NEW Can Can Glitz. This is going down a storm:

Knits like normal Can Can and looks like this:

Just in case you're wondering what Garland looks like - it looks like this:

and this:

So - if you're thinking of scarves for Christmas (and who isn't) I think we've got more than enough to keep you going! And the weather's supposed to be getting colder so there are no more excuses!

PS: T is "under canvas" tonight - think of him!

Last of the New Lovelies - For Now!

2011-11-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Another brief post to highlight more new lovelies in stock. The very popular yarn, Haze, has now been joined by Haze Glitter which - as the name suggests - is the same yarn but with glitter added. This is Haze:

and this is Haze Glitter:

One of the amazing things about this yarn is its yardage, so we knitted this:

in just 3 balls.

Final new yarn is "Garland" - a chenille yarn, with glitter - perfect for scarves. 1 ball makes 1 scarf - ideal - it's been flying out - guess people are frantically knitting for Christmas!:

Tonight we're going out with friends and tomorrow I'm manically knitting sample swatches for an Ethical Fashion Exhibition in London - the bad news is they're late - the good news is they're all from Cornish Organic so are lovely (and quick) to knit. Eldest son has to watch the DVD of The Tempest for English so I loyally said I'd watch it with him - life ain't all bad!

More new Loveliness!

2011-11-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Very brief post as it's nearly 8pm and I'm starving and haven't seen my family for over 12 hours now - long, long day but I wanted to get new things on the site and I've re-done the window and met lots of lovely customers - feet are a bit sore though!

2 new lovelies today - Riot Chunky - which follows on from the phenomenally popular Riot DK - colours are here:

and some lovely new patterns, too:

and also the wonderful new yarn, Galaxy, which comes with sequins attached! Great for parties, scarves, garments etc, etc - in fact, if you like a bit of glitz (and who doesn't?!) it's great for anything:

patterns, too:

Buy now to avoid festive disappointment!

That's all folks - I'm off home!

New Yarns!

2011-11-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As promised, new yarns available today!

As ever, I didn't get all I wanted to do done today but at least I've made a start!

The first new yarn is called "Wicked" and is aimed predominantly at the children/teen market. It comes in 8 colour ways and all our bright, slightly zany and fun. It knits randomly and not into stripes, which I know some customers are looking for. The full range is here:

I even the love the ball band - which someone has clearly had great fun designing:

There is a good range of patterns for both children (boys and girls) and teens. Here are a couple:

Some of the patterns use a contrast yarn as well but this is, obviously, optional and I've given the quantities for these optional yarns where required:

The second thing I've added on today is 5 new colours in the ever popular "Splash". Here are the new colours:

Tomorrow - Riot Chunky and Galaxy!

Lake District

2011-11-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As October meandered it's warm (apparently) way along I had a bit of what Winston Churchill called "black dog" so wasn't in the right zone for blogging. There aren't many people who aren't feeling the economic effects right now and that combined with gloom and doom in the press (who have a lot to answer for, in my opinion) brought me to doom and gloom as well.

Fortunately, a long planned half term break in the Lake District came at just the right moment and spending a week with my bro and his family plus my parents (we hired a cottage in the village where they live) has done the trick and I've come back feeling revitalised and ready for the busy (we hope) winter season.

I love The Lake District and have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time there as it's where my parents now live. In fact, when we moved down here it was a toss up between there and here and the only reason we opted for here was the (then) cheaper house prices and warmer weather. Don't get me wrong, I love Cornwall and have never regretted our decision and although we have the fabulous moors and coast we don't have places like this:

That's the view above Ullswater as we climbed Helvellyn on the second day of our holiday (the person on the left is my bro). In true Hopson stylee it was agreed that a mountain needed to be climbed and, although Scafell is the highest it's also a swine to get to, so it was agreed that Helvellyn via Striding Edge was the peak to be tackled. My niece (aged 11) came too, which was one heck of an achievement for her. Having said that, she's actually taller than me so her long legs must give her an advantage - surely?!

For those of you who don't know - this is Striding Edge (you can just see the summit of Helvellyn at the top right of the photo):

and this is G & T (looking slightly military) approaching Striding Edge:

and this is us on it:

at the front you have my niece (Grace), then my bro (with the red backpack), then T and G and, finally me. As you can see, it's narrow and pretty unforgiving on both sides; it was also a little windy so hanging on was essential.

Here am I, nearly at the end (at which point there's a scramble to the summit):

The view is definitely worth the effort:

Just in case that wasn't enough of a thrill we then took the oldest of the 3 "smalls" abseiling:

That white blob in the middle of the rock face is T! And here is G:

To get there we had to go through some old mining tunnels, which were pretty spectacular in their own right:

We had the option of torch or darkness so, obviously, we chose the darkness option. It was, quite literally, pitch black so I pointed the camera and fired - I'm actually quite pleased with the result:

After all that excitement we also had some gentler days:

we took a boat across Windermere and walked to an English Heritage bobbin mill. It was absolutely fascinating - they made every kind of bobbin from sewing thread to wool bobbins for the mills and bobbins for electrical wires - this was the walk to it:

stunning - but I don't suppose the poor workers working 12 hour shifts thought much of the view.

This is Windermere at its autumnal best:

And we even managed to find a Roman Fort:

This is Hardknott Fort at the top of one of the most spectacular drives in the country over Wrynose and Hardknott passes - definitely not a drive for the faint hearted. The senior roman generals were actually allowed to bring their wives and families here - can you imagine a more desolate (or cold) spot - although, in fact, the climate was somewhat different then, of course. But - even so - if I'd been a Roman wife I think I'd have preferred Cirencester or Lincoln or, indeed, Rome!

Whilst we were away, there was some wool delivered (this being a wool shop blog after all) so they'll all be on the system tomorrow and I'll tell you all about them here. Don't miss it!

New Yarns!

2011-10-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

In between all the other excitements of our lives, I have been slowly adding new yarns to the site.

Our basic baby acrylic/polyamide mix has gradually been moving over to Rico and we now have a very good colour selection in their Baby Classic DK and the start of a selection in Baby Classic Aran. It's been a bit of a struggle to find a really good baby acrylic that's good quality and a good price (some are ludicrously over-priced, in my opinion, at over £6.00 for 100g). Customers who've been knitting with the Rico have been very impressed and say it's the best quality they've used for a very, very long time. Here are the latest DK colours:

We also have some lovely new sock yarn from Rico - Superba Tweed which, as the name suggests, knits into a fairisle/tweed effect. Very pretty - I have some on the sock needles e'en as I type:

We've also just had a delivery of ........ fanfare .......... CAN CAN!! It only came in yesterday and is selling well so buy now to avoid disappointment!

Finally - for now - I've just put our new Icelandic Lopi wool on the site. Icelandic wool and patterns are really coming back into fashion and, seeing the wool and patterns, it's not surprising. We have some patterns on the site already and there are more to come. The rep's pictures of the wool were so vague that I've got a slightly bizarre mix with not enough brown/grey. They are on their way and will then be available for the patterns that take 4+ colours. In the meantime, Tracey is knitting me this:

in cream and 3 shades of blue - yum! It's worth noting that, although many of the patterns are modelled by men, the smaller sizes are suitable for women!

That Sunday Night Show

2011-10-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

For those of you who missed it, last night's "That Sunday Night Show" featured our Guinness World Record giant knitting needles being knitted on by Jenny Eclair!

You can see the programme on ITV iplayer here (our bit is towards the end).

It was all in aid of National Knitting Week and started off with the iconic picture of me(!):

and then the giant needles were brought on:

(that's Richard Madeley on the left, then Jenny Eclair and then Alan Johnson MP.

Jenny tried to knit with them but realised they were the wrong way round so they had to swop them round:

you can see here, the knitting's on the right hand needle:

Up and over Jenny's head:

But, then they were crossed at the back:

So had to be uncrossed (here's Richard going under Alan's needle and Adrian Chiles trying to help):

and, finally, Jenny could knit!:

She managed 2 stitches and got a rousing ovation from the audience:

and we got mentioned in the credits (below Getty Images!):

All good fun - and well done to Jenny!

And thanks to FB for screen catching those images (absolutely no idea how he did it!).

Creative Stitches, Exeter

2011-10-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

One week on and I'm finally going to talk about last weekend. Some time ago I received an email from Belinda and Ruth, those crazy ladies who make up Knit Expo, inviting people to come and teach knitting on their stand at Creative Stitches, Exeter. I was going through a phase when my testosterone-packed house was driving me insane so I jumped at the opportunity to spend a weekend with (mostly) ladies knitting and said "yes". That was last weekend and I had a great time! This was us:

and this is Belinda teaching someone to knit:

The thing about the Exeter show is that, apart from knitting and stitching, there's loads of other things going on as well. There's lace:

quite exquisite lace:

Quilts:

embroidered postcards:

and Sugarcraft:

Yes, these flowers are made from sugar:

There was also The Newbury Coat:

which was of particular interest to me as a few years ago I met one of the ladies involved in the re-enactment in 1991 and that re-enactment was sponsored by, amongst others, Camp Hopson in Newbury, which is owned by not-so-distant relatives of FB!

And then, and then people - there were costumes from Downton Abbey!! Can anyone resist Downton and can anyone resist the costumes from that elegant era:

remember the scandalous trouser suit?!:

All in all I had a fantastic crafty, testosterone-free weekend - and I did some knitting!

Cats and Cows

2011-09-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Young Deidre (our tabby cat who is, in fact a boy):

has developed a proclivity for walking through/lying in cow shit (apologies, but what else do you call it?) to the point that he is banned from most rooms in the house and can be tracked by filthy paw prints and general greenish mess. This morning the situation had got beyond a joke so I declared that, before I went to work, it was bath time.

Most of you will probably know that cats don't like water and definitely don't like baths.

Cats also have 4 limbs which can be used as anchors to avoid getting into water and these anchors have damn sharp claws on the end of them.

I prepared myself by putting on a plastic apron and rubber gloves. FB thought he'd be OK in shorts and t-shirt. I offered him an apron and gloves. He declined both.

After lulling Deidre into a false sense of security by allowing him to eat his breakfast in peace, I grabbed him by the scruff and hauled him into the kitchen sink (by now full of warm soapy water). The 4 anchors immediately went out to all places except in the water but, even so I managed to get his rear end and tail (the most disgusting bit) into the water. FB shoved a couple of the anchors into the water as well.

Have you ever heard a cat growl? FB and I have.

He was not pleased. We kept him in there for - ooh - a good 15-20 seconds before he gathered all his supercat strength, lashed out at both of us and shot out of the kitchen, leaving a wet, muddy trail after him.

FB and I then mopped up the mess, stemmed the bleeding, applied plasters to ourselves and (I) attempted to stop laughing. A wet, cross cat is very, very funny, especially when one's other half has a sense of humour failure due to the lacerations on his hands having refused my offer of rubber gloves.

Deidre has yet to come home. We hope he's now washed himself and will come home slightly cleaner than he was this morning. If not - he has been warned.

So, following on from that I headed off to work on my trusty bike. It was very, very foggy and half way down the second field I met a cow. This is fine, you would think, on a dairy farm, but this cow was definitely not where she was supposed to be (eating grass with her friends). This cow was on a mission. This cow was going exploring.

I phoned the farmer but had forgotten he was away. He phoned his men. By this time the cow had gone to the bottom of the lane and was heading for the road. (Cows can move fast when they want to.) I followed her at a distance but couldn't phone anyone to tell them as we have very poor/non existent mobile reception down our lane.

Mrs Cow kept on going and, before too long, was on the main road. When I say "main road", clearly we're not talking about the M25 here but, even so, too much of a main road to have a lonesome cow going walkabout. By now FB had joined me and he dumped the car and legged it after her but she was trotting happily towards the local village and the farm workers had arrived so I got back on my bike. Unbeknownst to us, she had detoured into a welcoming field so, whilst the men trawled the village, I met her again on the road.

Frantic phone calls later and we all merged into the same point - FB and I driving her back towards the farm and the farm lads hurtling on behind. I think she'd enjoyed her little break out but the sight of a load of houses had unnerved her (thank goodness).

I have no idea what the people waiting at the bus stop thought when FB stopped and asked them if a cow had come past!!

She is now back with her girlfriends and, after all that, I went to work.

Never a dull moment in the country!

Funny Old Day

2011-09-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Some days just don't turn out how you think they're going to.

I was happily showering this morning and washing my hair when FB came in looking grey, ashen and a little sweaty - he was also walking in rather an odd way - turns out he'd slipped a disc.

He was still in his dressing gown so I took a while to register how this calamity happened.

Clearly he hadn't been lifting weights or rowing on the machine (as he often does first thing) and he hadn't been for a run as he hasn't been for a run since he nearly killed his right knee from running ..........

So - what had he done?

He'd made the bed.

When Mail Order Goes Wrong - and Then Right

2011-09-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Sending out wool to the 4 corners of the globe is always fun and it gives us all a certain "frisson" if it's going somewhere exotic and exciting. But sometimes it's the most innocuous of locations which cause all the trouble ...........

Back at the end of August we received a big order from Southern Ireland - County Tipperary to be precise. It was for over £100 of wool, which is a big order in anyone's books and turned into quite a big parcel. Off it went, via Parcelforce, and we thought no more of it.

About a week later the customer emailed to say she hadn't received her parcel. We advised her to wait a little more and let us know if it still didn't come. A week later she phoned - to add to her woe she had ordered a small package from Cornwall and it had arrived within 24 hours - her parcel from us was nowhere to be seen. At this point I went to our local Post Office and was advised that they don't start to trace parcels until they're 20 working days late, which would take us to somewhere near the end of the month (what with the Bank Holiday and all).

Just before we went to France - on the 19th, so within the 20 day rule, I dug out the postal receipt from my files (sometimes there are advantages to being anal about filing accounts) and emailed Parcelforce with the bar code of the parcel. The 19th was a Friday and on the Monday morning I received a reply to say that the parcel was being returned to us due to "wrong address".

I then contacted the customer who confirmed the address was 100% correct and we even looked it up on Google Earth and confirmed its existence!

The very helpful people at Parcelforce International then explained that the delivery men/women/people have tick boxes and "wrong address" could mean that they weren't able to find the house. Southern Ireland doesn't have street names of postcodes so this is, evidently, a very, very common problem. She recommended that we put the recipient's telephone number of the outside of the package when it was re-sent so the delivery person could phone our customer and find out where the heck she was/is.

I then went to France and left it all with Tracey.

Came back from France 10 days later and still no sign of the parcel. Tracey had been frantically ringing the sorting office in Plymouth (as recommended by Penzance Post Office) but had no joy.

I then get back on to Parcelforce International (Ellie) and Parcelforce Plymouth (Brian) and it was then discovered that the parcel - and this is the bit that no-one can fathom - was returned to the Post Office it had been sent from, not to us. Dear Myran and Jackie at the Post Office (we know them well) knew all about the parcel arriving on their doorstep with Mr Parcelforce delivery man and immediately sent it right back as they knew the address was 100% correct.

Ellie then tracked the parcel to Ireland and, lo, it was revealed that - once again - the parcel had been returned as "wrong address". At this point I may have sworn, yelled and even cried a little.

Ellie (what a star) immediately contacted Ireland as the parcel hadn't yet made it's way across the Irish Sea (there was a debate going on about who was going to pay for its onward journey this time) - and stopped it leaving Ireland. She gave them the customer's phone number and, finally, finally, finally, it was delivered on September 12th!!!

There are two things I've learnt from this saga:

1) Always put the recipient's phone number on the outside of parcels being sent to Southern Ireland and,

2) Even in huge, faceless organisations like Parcelforce there are individuals who are helpful and willing and friendly and kind who will (and do) go the extra mile to ensure the job is done. Thank you to Ellie and Brian and all the others who ensured this saga had a happy ending.

Snoods

2011-09-14T05:13:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Snoods seem to be all the rage at the moment and, as I alluded, last week we've responded to a constant stream of people asking for non-existent patterns by designing our own!

Ours is knitted in chunky yarn on quite big needles (7.5mm) so it's stretchy enough to be worn no less than 5 different ways. As the sun was out on Sunday we went into the garden and photographed it in all its different guises. I give you:

round the neck, collar down:

round the neck, collar up:

over the shoulders, collar down:

over the shoulders, collar up:

and, finally (for extra cold weather), round the neck and over the head:

We knitted this in Stylecraft's Signature yarn and, to make life really easy for you, we've put the whole thing - yarn and pattern - into kits. All you have to do is knit the simple rectangle and, hey presto, very useful (and fashionable) snood!

Signature kits can be found here. At just £12.45 + P&P.

Volata Tweed kits (pure wool) can be found here. At just £13.50 + P&P.

Time to start knitting these for under a certain tree at the end of December, methinks! (I can't bear to use the "C" word in September)

Phew!

2011-09-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Phew - Wow! End of my first week back and my feet have hardly touched the ground. We've been super, super busy - for which we thank you all most gratefully. There's nothing like a touch of cold, damp yukky weather to get us all turning to knitting - and that combined with the edge of a hurricane coming in gives us all a great excuse to do nothing tomorrow but knit and watch rugby!

We (when I say "we", I mean mostly Tracey with minor input from me) have designed and knitted (Tracey did all the knitting) a snood/neck warmer "thing" which seems to be all the rage at the moment (and damn practical they are too). If the hurricane allows us we'll be photographing it tomorrow and putting together the (very tiny) pattern for you all. We'll then pack it up in kits of pattern plus chunky yarn so keep watching! It's a dead simple easy knit, perfect for us and for Christmas presents because, yes, people are knitting for Christmas already.

Tomorrow - after photographs - I plan to mostly knit my Kureyon sock post holiday disaster - so far the second attempt is looking pretty good!

Later this week, new yarns (and patterns) which arrived when I was away - including pure wool from Iceland with traditional patterns.

Short Break Number 2

2011-09-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

FB and I agreed that it was totally unfair that the boys were living it up in Europe (hot and sunny Europe to boot) so we hopped on a plane and flew down to the south of France where we hired a cottage and met up with our boys. By this time G & T were in Southern Spain so they hopped on a train north and met us in Sete. Whilst we waited for them we stayed in rather a nice hotel for a treat - this was the view:

Sete is France's biggest fishing port so not really exotic but we liked it (perhaps because we live so close to Newlyn?) and, of course, the fresh fish was fantastic! On the second day the boys turned up, looking like true backpackers:

From there we moved east to Aigues Mortes (literally 'dead water') which is an amazing walled city we'd visited about six or seven years ago and really liked. It's right on the edge of The Camargue so we hired bikes to explore:

The Camargue is definitely best seen on a bike - we saw the bulls:

horses:

and flamingos:

from a distance - though they are quite noisy so we heard them grunting to each other.

We also visited the famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard which is pretty damn spectacular:

and, on the way back, the Roman Amphitheatre in Nimes which, in my ignorance, I didn't even know existed:

Not knowing that this amphitheatre existed meant that I also didn't know that they hold concerts there in the summer. This year they have had, amongst others, Santana and Sting! Going to a concert there has now been added to the list of "things to do before we die".

My holiday knitting was a total disaster. I planned to knit this:

in this colour:

which, when knitted up, looks like this:

so I planned to knit the rib in the car going up to Bristol Airport because the rib is knitted on 2.75mm needles therefore requiring metal needles as 2.75mm is too small in bamboo because 2.75mm bamboo needles tend to break. I would then swap to bamboo needles (3.00mm) which I could then get through security and, therefore, knit during the inevitable interminable wait at the airport. All went well and I duly swapped needles and knitted in the airport and knitted in France and got to the armhole shaping (having knitted it slightly longer than the pattern as was my desire). It was then that I realised I'd cast on the wrong size. In my haste I'd cast on the smallest size (which is normally my size for most patterns) but this smallest size is only a 30" bust and, with the best will in the world, that ain't going to fit over even my tiny protuberances. The language was bad. Very bad. And then I pulled the whole damned thing out. The only saving grace was that I'd started with the back as I didn't want to cable at the airport so at least I hadn't done all that as well. Having said that, if I had done the front, I'd have probably realised earlier. And do you know the really galling thing about it
.
.
.
.
.
.
I'd actually circled the right size to cast on on the pattern as (when my brain was functioning properly) I'd realised that it would be very easy for me to cast on the wrong size.

Sometimes I despair at my own ineptitude ............

More Knitting - and Crochet

2011-08-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Today has been one of those manic days trying to catch up on all the paperwork for the one week we've been away - where does it all come from?!

Just before we left Tracey rattled off a very pretty bolero in Debbie Bliss's Bella, which is an amazing cotton, silk and cashmere blend so it looks like cotton but slightly silky and softer. It's a standard DK but there's also a book of patterns to go with it. Tracey knitted this:

but in red and without the flower!

Today I was having a bad hair/no make-up day so FB photographed me in it and then chopped off my head (at my request):

It is lovely and, some 7 hours later, I'm still wearing it!

I also thought you'd like a quick crochet bedspread update and an indication of the size of this project:

Here's the detail:

and here's the full thing with Deidre walking across it to give you an idea of scale:

I'm still loving it and managing a colour a night - I reckon I'm about a quarter of the way there - and one thing's for sure - it's going to make a dent in the stash!

Short Break Part 2

2011-08-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Sorrento is, by all accounts, "lush"!!

Back in Wales, I managed to knit a pair of socks (for my brother - don't tell him) - this is the quickest pair of socks I've ever knitted - 6 days from start to finish - so I'm very happy. In addition, he'll actually get his birthday present on time (unlike his wife whose socks were 3 months late). Here they are (slightly too big for my feet but you get the idea):

They are King Cole, Zig Zag (Blue Danube) which, instead of zigging and zagging, striped (slightly unexpectedly) - but I like them nonetheless!

We also managed to eat rather a lot (strict diet at the moment to recover) and found some fantastic shops, including a wonderful bakery (the source of much of our downfall). They did an amazing bread which I liked so much I took a photo - it's 50% wholemeal and 50% white and, for the record, both ends tasted equally delicious:

On our final day we treated ourselves to a lovely lunch. Long time readers will know that our favourite pub down here is The Gurnard's Head at Zennor, which is a convenient 4.5 mile walk from here over the moors:

Bizarrely, we had bumped into the owner of The Gurnard's in Crickhowell and he urged us to go to their sister pub for lunch - which we were planning to do anyway - and did:

The Felin Fach Griffin is just outside Brecon and is a joy. We had a superb lunch and are already planning our return (they do some amazing dinner, bed and breakfast deals) - well worth a visit:

(me looking rather self conscious in a rather lovely sweater knitted in old Jaeger Aqua cotton to a Bergere de France pattern).

Short Break

2011-08-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Ten days ago G&T left us for 3 weeks Inter-railing around Europe - to date they have covered Plymouth - Roscoff - Paris - Marseilles - Nice - Venice - Bari - Corfu (4 days) and they are currently camping in Sorrento. We've had a series of hilarious (and occasionally informative) texts including:

"on boat - first beer going down" (we were rather impressed that they'd waited until they were on the boat for the first beer);

"in Nice - holy f*****g s***t it's hot" !!

"sitting by canal in Venice eating pizza and it's 30 degrees" (very jealous of that one), and a cracker from T:

"I need advice from Mum - I've washed my clothes and they weren't quite dry and they now smell like dead animals" (v pleased to hear he'd been washing his clothes, he not v pleased to hear he had to re-wash them).

So - in the absence of teenagers and to ward off the danger of rattling around at home and missing them, FB and I took ourselves off for a wee break away too - not as far or as glamorous as the boys but we headed up to the Black Mountains in Wales. It's an area we know well but haven't been to for 13 years and it was as beautiful as ever - in fact, we parked the car up on the Friday and didn't move it for the whole week. We stayed in a lovely little cottage in Crickhowell and walked (a lot), ate (too much), drank (one of us more than the other), knitted (only one of us) and slept a lot. The walking was (and is) fantastic here. We broke ourselves in with a gentle canal side walk:

then tackled Sugar Loaf:

which was a good 9.5 miles. Then another gentle canal side walk, during which we found this amazing tree (think of the stories it could tell):

and then, on Wednesday, we tackled a mega huge 22 mile circuit in dubious weather and (on the top 60mph gusting winds). We started by climbing Table Mountain (which is a bit of a scramble at the top):

then carried on along the ridge:

It was fantastic but hard work with the wind pushing us this way and that throughout but we did it! - and treated ourselves to a Chinese takeaway when we got back (and the restaurant didn't object to our muddy walking boots either!).

Tomorrow - knitting update and more!

Adriafil

2011-08-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

We've had a small delivery in from Adriafil today so there will be 3 lovely new yarns on the site soon and, in the meantime, updated stocks of the gorgeous 4ply pure alpaca Sierra Andina:

the Giada in Duck Egg (which I knitted the shawl pattern in) is back in stock (pattern is free when you buy the yarn - less than £20 for this shawl!):

Knit Col is back in stock (with more new lovely colours to come):

and we have updated stocks of white and cream in our gorgeous pure Egyptian cotton, Memphis:

There's still time to knit yourself a pretty little summer top!

Hot off the Needles

2011-08-01T09:01:00.001-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

These are a very, very, very late birthday present for my sister-in-law (her birthday was in May):

They are Rico Superba Bamboo (50% merino, 25% bamboo, 25% polyamide) - shade 4 - and when I started knitting them we had 10 balls in stock but, having had them lounging around the shop whilst on the needles I notice we're now down to 1 ball! Grab it now, if you've fallen in love with the colour and check out the other colours anyway - they're all lovely.

I've now cast on my brothers and his birthday is in 21 days so I need to get a wiggle on .........

Finished Things - More!

2011-07-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Last night we went to watch and support G in a cycle race. During the hanging around (which there always is on these kind of events), I knitted. He partook of his passion, I partook of mine. I didn't finish anything but that doesn't mean there aren't finished things to show you:

Tie front bolero in Angel by Debbie Bliss:

This pattern came from Debbie's incredibly popular spring/summer magazine. We (and I think everyone else) has now sold out of this magazine but I'm pleased to say the Angel patterns from it are being reproduced in a book for this autumn/winter. We will be stocking the book as soon as it's available so you will be able to get hold of this pattern!

Tracey knitted this for me in Brushstrokes DK. It's a simple pattern and easy to wear and incredibly warm - absolutely ideal for cold winter days. Need I say more?!

A Superchunky waistcoat in Life:

Although this pattern is designed for children, the biggest size is - as you can see - big enough for a small adult! It was quick to knit (being Superchunky) but the edging seemed to go on and on for ever! It's really warm and the garter stitch waistband is super-flattering!

A tunic from King Cole in Mirage:

This is Tracey's tunic and this style doesn't suit me at all so I'm not really sure why I'm wearing it (and I think my face says that as well!) - however Tracey loves it and it looks great on her so don't be put off by me! It's straightforward to knit and is incredibly warm.

James' Brett's Monsoon to a Rustic pattern:

This - on the other hand - is right up my alleyway - this is a Rustic Aran pattern (JB043):

knitted in Monsoon (S4):

Doesn't it look great?:

and finished off with one Cornish Pewter Heart button:

Finally, we have a Riot sweater:

tres chic - although I wish I had slightly browner shoulders!

Believe it or not, we have 2 more garments to show you but they're currently adorning our mannequins in the shop so you'll have to hold on and wait for them.

Tomorrow night we are going camping (again) so prepare for howling gales, lashing rain, plague and pestilence ..............

More lovelies

2011-07-26T09:32:00.001-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Continuing on the "things finished but not blogged" theme - I designed and knitted a very simple shawl in Adriafil's Giada yarn:

This you may, or may not, remember is a standard DK yarn but with the addition of little sequins (as you can just see in this pic). It was crying out to be a simple shawl for summer evenings or weddings so I designed one with just a very simply yarn over feature along each edge:

You can, of course, make it bigger and longer but the addition of another ball or two. The pattern is now available on the site - here - and is free with the purchase of 3 balls of Giada (for that is all it takes). At just under £20.00 I think that's a pretty good summer shawl!

In addition I have been knitting socks! I used to think that life was too short to knit socks but I'm now hooked and always have a pair "on the go" for journeys, camping, sitting in the sun etc, etc. They all go for presents and here is one pair I made for FB (modelled by T):

They are knitted in Rico's Superba Bamboo - that's sock yarn with a bit of bamboo for softness - yummy!

I then knitted G a pair for his birthday (he loves hand knitted socks, good lad). These are in Rico Poems (again modelled by T):

Finally, Tracey knitted up a top in Adriafil's Memphis. This is a gorgeous Egyptian cotton yarn and has been flying out as the weather gets warmer. The pattern is by Stylecraft and, as it's done in a yarn we don't actually stock, I can't show it on the site but we do have it in stock so please give us a ring if you'd like it. However, it shows how beautifully the Memphis knits up and the fantastic stitch definition you get with pure cotton:

Tomorrow - more finished garments - haven't we been busy?!

Stashbusting and Crocheting

2011-07-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Suddenly realised towards the end of last week that, although there's been a lot of knitting happening here, there haven't been many photos so today we took a load which will be upcoming over the next few days.

Firstly we had stashbusting. Remember my stash?:

Remember the start of the stashbusting jacket?:

Well - here it is complete:

I absolutely love it and have worn it frequently to much admiration. There is only one problem with it .................. it made hardly a dent into the stash.

Clearly, a major project was/is the only solution and the only really major project I could think of was/is a bedspread for our king size bed. I did much research, I debated crochet vs knitting, I even printed off a number of patterns and swatched. But nothing was quite right until I saw this:

a ripple blanket from attic24. Lucy gives the most brilliant tuition so even I - the crochet virgin - could tackle (and, dare I say it, master this pattern).

For yes, people, this is my first ever crochet item apart from edgings on knitting commissions we've undertaken. I thought I'd start small so a bedspread for a king size bed made total sense. So far, we have this:

It may not be the most perfect crochet in the world but I'm inordinately proud of it and, even better, I'm really enjoying it and - critically - it's eating up the stash!

Crochet fans have always told me how great crochet is as you can pull out wrong sections really easily (true), there's only one stitch to worry about (true) and it rattles along at a great rate (true). I'm not saying I'm never going to knit again but, for now, I'm enjoying my crochet - which is good as I've got one heck of a long way to go!

Having started on my project I was then sent this:

This was knitted by a lovely customer of ours out of Cornish Organic Wool. How gorgeous is that?!!! It got me salivating but, for now, I shall remain true to my crochet but - really - how gorgeous is that?!!!!

Wet Weekend

2011-07-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As predicted the weekend in the tent was wet and, more worryingly very windy. Our slightly ancient tent struggled manfully but ended up with a couple of tears which, thankfully, didn't develop into anything major. (Nothing that good 'ol duck tape couldn't handle at least.)

I knitted on a sock on the way up in the car but didn't knit another stitch until we got home. We barbecued (in the rain), drank (some more than others), talked and laughed (a lot). A great weekend despite everything the weather could throw at us.

And, oh yes, FB dislocated a finger at 3.30 on Saturday morning when he crashed back into the tent after a call of nature. Minor panic as to where the nearest A&E department was/is but, thankfully, he relocated it himself. It's now a lovely shade of blue and yellow!

Quick Update Before Camping

2011-07-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Yes - as you can see from the title - the time has come for our annual camping trip to East Prawle in Devon. The weather forecast is dreadful so plus ca change. I'm trying to catch up on accounts before we go and I have one particularly grumpy son stomping around who can't decide whether to come camping in the rain or stay at home and work - decisions, decisions!! (I'm willing to bet a fair bit he comes with us!)

We've had a huge delivery in from James Brett so all lines are now fully stocked and updated - specifically the incredibly popular Marble Chunky, Monsoon (which looks like Noro but isn't and is way, way cheaper), Marble DK and the full range of baby yarns, Magi Knit, Bliss and Baby Marble. Once we get back from camping there'll be new colours on the site in Rustic Aran, Woodlander, Tints and Twinkle. These deliveries take over a day to sort out but it does mean we have to tidy the shelves and update the site so we're all terrifically organised! All the patterns are also re-stocked so check them out for inspiration!

Our Mummy chicken hatched just one of her eggs so we had an interesting biology lesson with the others. They were all fertilised and in various stages of development and, apparently, it's been a bad year for chickens this year - not sure if it's the weather or what but they just didn't develop. The one we have is very sweet:

I've finished my stashbusting jacket and I LOVE it. Pics next week - along with other garments which we've finished (when I say "we", I mostly mean Tracey) and haven't shown you yet.

I finally got my end of year stuff to the accountant this week so regular blogging and pictures should re-commence - I've been rather lax of late - apologies.

The jacket hardly made an indent into the stash so I've launched into my first ever crochet project - nothing too big - a bedspread. It's challenging but should eat up the stash!

Now I must go and complete this week's paperwork and then pack my wet weather gear (welly boots are compulsory) for a wet weekend in a field. Why, oh why?

Cornish Organic Wool

2011-07-08T03:57:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Those of you who've been reading this for a while will remember our websites being hit by a hacker almost exactly a year ago. In fact, it was the day we drove to John O'Groats for the grand cycle ride home and I've just been re-reading some of the blog from that and I can't believe it was us and we did it!

The hacker hit our server and Knit Wits was only slightly affected by Cornish Organic was hit big time and died. So when we got back from Scotland we made the decision to design a brand new website with all the Cornish Organic new yarns, patterns etc, etc on it. We used the same website designer - the wonder Thomas - and designed it very much like the Knit Wits site.

Thomas was planning to go away travelling for a bit (which he did) so he asked another designery geek to do the nuts and bolts on a system which a lot of designers use. In short - it has been a freekin' nightmare with Thomas in China, new geeky guy not understanding what we want (and our technical limitations!) and, finally when Thomas returned from the far east new guy throwing all his toys out of the cot just prior to launch and walking off the job.

New wonder guy arrived to help (Malcolm) and we have now, finally, finally after months of angst (and not a few tears) launched the new site!!

cornishorganicwool.co.uk

If you get the change - and are interested - do please take a look and tell us what you think.

Amazingly - and gratifyingly - (and to the great pleasure of our bank manager) orders are coming in already. Thank you. We love you all!!

Weekend

2011-07-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

We had one baby chick born this weekend and Mum is being very coy about showing it to us so you'll have to wait for pics. Have a horrible feeling the other eggs aren't going to hatch - more biology lessons, possibly. Apparently it's been a bad year for chicks - not sure why - weather possibly?

We were glad for glorious weather on Saturday as we dolled ourselves up and went to a wedding (it's OK we'd been invited, we didn't gatecrash). When we make the effort, we brush up OK:

FB was worried he'd look like an idiot in his Panama but, trust me, after a couple of hours in the sun all the men wished they had one!

It was a very, very happy day:

This was the view from the marquee (that's Drift Reservoir):

and, as befits dairy farmers, there was a sirloin of beef for every table (which was melt-in-the-mouth delicious):

and a cow cake!:

What a perfect day!

Awaiting New Arrivals

2011-07-01T11:17:00.001-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Our baby chicks are due this weekend and we're like anxious parents pacing up and down to the hen house to check for developments.

G thinks he heard faint cheeping on Wednesday evening which may well have been the chicks in the eggs (you can hear them for a couple of days before they're born).

Today Mummy hen kicked out a couple of eggs which we opened and had a quick biology lesson (very interesting but not for the squeamish). She obviously knows which ones are live and which ones aren't - by feel? who knows - these are her first babies so instinct is a marvellous thing.

We're hoping for 3 or 4 chicks (from 8 eggs). Watch this space!!

Mazey Day

2011-06-28T10:50:00.001-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Saturday was our annual Mazey Day in Penzance - lots of stalls and a huge number of people in town, which was very good to see. This was my 7th Mazey Day at Knit Wits and, once again (amazingly), the rain held off. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was warm (it wasn't) but at least it didn't rain! We had a good day and it's always good to sit on the street and chat to people (and knit on a sock):

Our lovely banners are staying up for the summer as, due to Council cutbacks, we have no hanging baskets this year!:

FB managed to avoid the entire event (bar the clearing up) as G was at a cycle race:

(he's in red, white and blue in the middle):

I can't believe my baby looks so professional!

After Mazey Day we went to the pub and finished off with fish and chips. Perfect!!

Things I Don't Understand About Teenagers

2011-06-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

1. Why are they happy to spend an hour weight-training/circuit training in the evening but pulling the bath plug out is just too much effort?

2. Why are they physically unable to turn lights off when they leave a room?

3. Why do they need the computer, play station, stereo and laptop on all at the same time?

4. Why can't they turn any of these off when they leave the room?

5. How can they get dirty washing to the floor around the dirty linen basket but can't get it into the basket? Is lifting a lid really that hard?

6. Why is it so easy to get the bread, butter, ham/chicken/pate/cheese out of the fridge but absolutely impossible to put it back?

7. Why is it so easy to finish a pack of biscuits but impossible to put the empty pack in the bin?

8. Who told them that wet towels are best stored in a heap on the floor? Hint: It wasn't me.

9. Why is cycling 60 miles on a Sunday a doddle (or, indeed, cycling from John O'Groats to Land's End) but popping 3 miles down to the local shop for a pint of milk absolutely impossible?

10. Why is lifting the toilet seat and using the little silver handle to flush so unbelievably, impossibly, difficult?

11. Why do really quite intelligent people find putting a duvet in its cover nigh-on impossible?

12. Why is it absolutely essential to shout, argue and (often) fight prior to emptying the dishwasher?

These and other questions will, no doubt, be answered when they have teenagers of their own (and, oh boy, how I'm going to enjoy watching that experience!).

Miscellaneous Saturday

2011-06-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

The GCSE's are finally over - yippeeeee! T gives very little away about how they went so I guess we'll have to wait until August to find out. How lovely it would be to be one of the few lucky parents who are sure of straight A's!!

We bought 5 new chickens this week - good 'ol bog standard layers. They are so tame and un-frightened of people it's really very sweet. 2 wandered into the house the other night and G picked one up and put her on the perch to show her what to do. Aaaaagh!

Bad news - Mr Fox arrived this afternoon and has taken off at least one chicken. Not sure which one but he was seen with one in his mouth. G is currently strimming the whole field to get rid of hiding places. T is strategically placed with a gun. For anyone reading this who likes foxes, I apologise but - trust me - as soon as you have chickens foxes are the enemy and as soon as a fox has taken one he'll be back for more.

One chicken (not Ginger) is sitting on 8 eggs. She was shaken but unstirred by Mr Fox's arrival. We're now relying on her for replacements.

The stashbusting jacket is progressing:

We are taking the boys out for a celebratory all-you-can-eat-Chinese tonight but can't leave, of course, until all chickens are safely in their house. At the moment they're too scared to go near it. All being well, Mr Fox's days are numbered.

Tomorrow I shall be mostly knitting.

Stashbusting Jacket - first sleeve

2011-06-09T07:56:00.001-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

The stashbusting jacket is progressing ............ the pattern called for 6mm needles and the jacket ends up about 40" round. I'm only small so I've brought the needles down to 4.5mm - also because I wanted a denser fabric and not one that was going to sag. This will, inevitably, mean I'll need more yarn so I chucked in a couple of extra skeins. First sleeve is going well (G says I'm going to look like a gypsy):

From top to bottom we have:
- a hint of Aracuania sugar cane yarn (free sample, can't remember its name)
- Noro Kureyon sock
- Colinette Tagliatelle
- Colinette Art
- Noro Kureyon Sock
- Noro Kureyon
- Katia Samba
- Noro Kureyon
- Colinette Giotto
- random wool from New Zealand (bought a million years ago)
- Katia Samba
- Sari Silk
- Noro Kureyon
- Noro Kureyon Sock
- Noro bought from Hong Kong - never seen in the UK
- Katia Samba
- Aracuania - something - not sure!
- Noro Kureyon
- and, finally, Colinette Giotto.

A couple of things:

1. I won't be giving a blow by blow account of every colour change for the entire jacket (that would be silly);
2. There's a lot of Noro Kureyon and Kureyon sock in there but, of course, the colours change and I'm just knitting one colour section at a time at the moment (this will change when I get to the body);
3. I may well regret the narrow colour bands when it comes to sewing in the ends.

My Stash

2011-06-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Some time ago (like about a year ago, or more) I talked about the size of my stash and the need to do something with it and the pattern for a stash busting jacket that I'd been given. Finally, finally this weekend I got the stash out and sorted it. It was a lovely sunny day so I put a sheet on the lawn. This, people, is my stash:

I sorted it into colours:

and I ended up with a pile in the middle of multi-colours:

and it was from this pile that FB said I should choose my yarns for the first jacket. By a happy coincidence, therefore, this pile includes quite a lot of Noro, Mirasol and Colinette yarns as well as some sari silk and other lovelies so knitting this jacket is going to be pure joy. I needed about 1200g so I weighed off a lovely selection:

Eric the 3-legged cat thoroughly approved and gave them a stroke. (Fortunately Eric isn't a cat who is interested in balls of wool - good thing as we have it drying round the house the whole time.)

The chickens also lent their support but weren't as involved as Eric:

That's Bernard with some of his girls. Ginger is on the left - she wasn't interested in her eggs so we let her go back with the others. Bernard is a very fine young man:

I've started the first sleeve - it's delicious. I'll post the progress as I go.

I think I can feel a bedspread coming on!

Britain's Got Talent

2011-06-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Tonight is the final of Britain's Got Talent so I think now is a good time to tell of our trip to Liverpool earlier this year - remember this?:

and this?:

and this?:

well - yup - this was all done for BGT. We were invited onto the show just before Christmas (Tracey took the call and came up with the classic, "Julia - it's Britain's Got Talent on the phone - and I'm not joking"!) and these photos were taken in the [freezing cold] school gym over the Christmas holidays when we knitted up the huge piece in Help For Heroes colours.

We travelled up to Liverpool in January and spent the most extraordinary, interesting, exhausting and, ultimately, humiliating day of our lives being filmed. All of which, it appears now, ended up on the cutting room floor which, I guess, is always the risk.

When they say these programmes are manufactured, I now understand what they mean. You start off with a plan of what you want to do and, by the time you get onto the stage, you find yourself doing exactly what they want you to do and you've been there so long and you're so exhausted by this stage you just do it for your five seconds of TV time which may, or may not, come. It was absolutely fascinating to see how these programmes are made and, if that last sentence makes me sound bitter, I'm not - cynical, yes - bitter, no!

When I finally made it onto the stage, I was asked what I did (by Amanda) and when I said "I knit" 2,000 audience members, in unison, shouted, "OFF, OFF, OFF, OFF ................". I think even the judges were taken aback and David Hasselhoff actually turned to the audience and told them to "give me a break". Sadly, from then on I stood no chance but it's really interesting to think of such an aggressive and unpleasant response to such an innocent past-time as knitting!!

Having regularly knitted in public with the giant needles I was really amazed by the reaction as previously I've always had such a positive response - people usually stand back with their mouths gawping and the usual comment is, "watch out you don't drop a stitch"! Sadly the Liverpool audience weren't so discerning but I do wonder now how much of that response was manufactured as well. If you watch some YouTube videos the audience are definitely primed to shout "Off, Off, Off" at times. (FB has been doing his research!)

So we came home having learnt a lot and (for me in particular) having been through the most humiliating experience of my life and waited to see what happened as the memories (thankfully) started to fade.

In the very first episode on TV, right at the beginning, there's a tiny clip of me saying, "knitting is a talent" and that's it! We actually had Ant and Dec holding the needles whilst I was knitting (and being shouted at!) and, sadly, there are no photos of this (cameras weren't allowed) but I suspect this may be why we ended up on the cutting room floor. Perhaps Ant and Dec's "people" didn't want them being shown holding unfeasibly large knitting needles whilst the audience yelled, off, off, off!! or perhaps they didn't want the piece as it was in H4H colours or perhaps I was just really, really bad(!) - whatever the reason, we were cut out.

Having been invited up there and having discussed exactly what we were knitting and having agreed who would hold the needles, all in advance, and having spent quite a lot in wool and getting there I can't decide whether to be relieved or annoyed!

Never again!

Ginger (pronounced jeangee)

2011-06-01T04:30:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Ginger seems to be settling - I consulted our friend Google last night and, apparently, this can take 2-3 days. Therein lies a dilemma - we've put some eggs under her (from the other hens) - do we leave them and hope that her intermittent sitting of the past 24 hours is enough or do we, once she's really sitting properly, replace them all again? Decisions, decisions.

Last night I cracked 13 of the 17 she'd been sitting on. Not one would have made a baby - they were fertilised OK but, with her abandoning them every night, nothing had progressed. We turned them into a delicious omlette with bacon, fried potatoes, green beans, peas and cheese. Thanks, Ginger.

In other avian news the eggs in the M-in-L's letter box have hatched. They are blue tits. Very pleased to see some wool in the fantastically constructed nest:

Recovering

2011-05-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

The mad, crazy party weekend is finished and our eldest boy is 18 and we are all still in recovery mode. Saturday dawned misty, mizzly and with strong gusts of wind so getting the party tents up (and staying up) was challenging. I understand that G had a great time - parents don't get the full details, obviously, but T was there to spy for us and we got some of the gory details (which I'll spare you!). Suffice to say, by the time all the rubbish had been cleared up and everything put away again he had a hot bath and went straight to bed - after all, he had to be ready for his actual birthday night.

I chauffeured them all to the rugby club then came home and had a couple of hours knitting on my own - bliss! Having said he wasn't up to partying long and hard again G came home at 3.30am - oh, to be 18 again!

So yesterday was, as predicted, quiet and hungover but I got no accounts done as I was, frankly, too knackered!

Sadly, on Sunday night when the boys were at the rugby club I put the chickens away and discovered that our favourite girly was missing. Went down to check every 15 minutes but no joy and everyone assumed the worst. Unless you own chickens you probably think the concept of having a "favourite" one is absurd but this one is a real character - called Ginger (but pronounced the French way jeangee) she discovered an exit route from the hen run, is the first at our back door every day for scraps, will take pasta from your hand and will now come into the kitchen to eat from the cats' bowl. She is very intelligent and very sweet and we just couldn't believe that she'd been "got" by Mr Fox - she's just too bright.

So, yesterday evening G went to have a good hunt for her and, amazingly, in the biggest bank of brambles you've ever seen:

Ginger had gone broody and was sitting on no less than 17 eggs! She had babies once before and was a fearsome and brilliant mother so we'd always said we'd let her sit again. It was clear, though, that - as she'd only been missing for one night - she'd abandoned all bar one of those eggs every night so there was no way they were going to hatch. We needed to rescue her and try and encourage her to sit on a batch of everyone else's eggs which might actually hatch. The rescue mission was planned. First, the boys trotted down to the farm to get an old rabbit hutch:

Eric the three-legged cat was intrigued. Then we had to grab Ginger:

(This gives you an idea of where she'd got herself [very good spot - very hard to get at her!]). Then we had to put her plus some eggs in the hutch:

and hope that she'd settle and then this morning we'd put some other warm, fresh eggs under her and remove these ones.

A good plan. Sadly didn't work quite as we'd hoped as she proved nigh on impossible to catch and did a runner back to the main hen house where she was finally caught by T. All a bit stressful. She's now in the hutch and is half-heartedly sitting but coming out every time another chicken comes near and, of course, the boys are getting very fretful at not being able to get at her!

We put black plastic over the front to make it nice and dark for her. Deidre is intrigued:

In the meantime it appears that one of the black hens has gone broody so, if Ginger, doesn't get a grip she'll find herself back in the big house with the others and little black hen (who will no doubt, originally, be called "Blacky") will be in the hutch. You have been warned, Ginger!

After that exciting end to the weekend, I had an early night!

PS: I knitted G a pair of socks for his birthday. He was grateful though they may have been slightly overshadowed by the new mountain bike. He's promised to model them for me. I'll take pics.

1 Party Down, 2 To Go

2011-05-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

So - the super crazy party weekend has begun. Speech Day went well (Jenny Agutter presented prizes) and T won Sport Effort and his Rugby colours. I took him out to lunch afterwards and we debated the strange lack of academic effort prizes ever received in the Hopson household. From memory I think we've won sporting achievement and effort for most years (and T has been there for 12 years) but not one, single, solitary academic subject effort (or attainment) prize. Strange. Very strange. One boy in T's class got 11 prizes so we're blaming him.

Yesterday evening was the Leavers' Ball and T looked very smart:

In particular you must note his shoes, which are his great-grandfather's hand made shoes from some very posh shop in London (By Appointment) which has, sadly, now closed. FB spent all of yesterday afternoon polishing them to an acceptable military shine. The rose is also home grown.

T has come home this morning having had a great time and went straight up for a bath and then crashed into bed. Nuff said.

Tonight is G's 18th. Interestingly, FB and I have noted that throughout this mad, crazy party weekend we have no parties to go to at all but the other parties seem to be costing us a fortune. Funny that. Anything good on the telly tonight?

New Patterns!

2011-05-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

We've been unusually quiet over the past couple of days (probably due to end of the month plus another bank holiday weekend looming) but - as ever - there's been plenty for me to do. So, today I entered a whack of new patterns onto the site.

Not everyone loves knitting with 3 or 4ply but there are a few new patterns, for babies, in both these weights. (Search by "Pattern" and then specify your yarn weight in the boxes on the left.)

There are 4 new patterns for children (girls specifically) in Brushstrokes Chunky. Here is one of them:

There are two patterns in Twirl and, bizarrely, I realised when inputting them that these are the first patterns ever in Twirl. We've stocked Twirl for a while and it's popular and very reasonably priced so why there aren't more patterns is a mystery - maybe these two will be the start of something new and good:

There are four great new patterns in Life Aran - all shown in traditional cream (which does look great but will, of course show up all the dirt!) so do think of other colours as well! Here's a sample of two:

We then had four new patterns in Extra Special DK. Again, this is an acrylic yarn which has been selling amazingly well so they've introduced four new colours and four new patterns featuring the new colours. Here are two:

We've been fortunate enough to have a delivery of King Cole's Bamboo Cotton, which - for a while - was rarer than hens' teeth. There had been grave concerns about King Cole's ability to continue with this yarn due to the worldwide shortage of cotton but I'm delighted to say they've fixed it and, at the moment, we have pretty much every colour in stock. Bamboo Cotton is a 50/50 blend (of - as the name suggests - bamboo and cotton) and it's a fantastic yarn and incredibly popular. I knitted this with it:

from Debbie Bliss's summer magazine last year. It was great to knit with and lovely to wear - just waiting for some more summer weather as it's absolutely freezing here in Cornwall at the moment (must be the Bank Holiday weekend!). I'm currently wearing Cornish Organic wool sweater plus scarf and boots. I refuse to put the heating on in May!

Tomorrow is Speech Day (T's last) followed by his Leavers' Ball (black tie and posh frocks) and then Saturday night is G's 18th birthday party (30+kids in a field a mile from our house [we're not daft]) then Sunday is G's birthday and Annual Presentation Night at the rugby club and, yes, they've all discovered it's G's birthday so my guess is we won't see him again until about mid-day on Monday. And I must start the year end accounts on Monday - one thing that's guaranteed is the house will be quiet with hungover men!

eco Family

2011-05-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Having had a very busy weekend (for which we thank you all) the last couple of days have been quieter but, as ever, there's always something to do so I've finally inputted the Debbie Bliss eco Family book onto the site. Inputting books is one of those jobs I have to be "in the mood" to do and today was the day!

eco Family is a lovely book with patterns for babies (up to 3 years) and one pattern for Mum and Dad too. Here are some examples:

All the patterns are done in eco baby but, remember, this is exactly the same tension and meterage as Baby Cashmerino so the two yarns are totally interchangeable.

I had a lovely weekend with my parents so actually took Saturday off - yipee! We walked and talked and ate and drank - perfect! This coming weekend is gearing up to be totally insane so watch this space - before that, though, there's the small matter of Chemistry, IT and Physics GCSE's - yes, they're progressing but - ooh - is it painful.

Stylecraft

2011-05-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

HUGE delivery of Stylecraft late yesterday. It's taken all day to sort - 9 sacks in total! Check out all the Stylecraft yarns and patterns for updated stock levels. Also some new things once we've got round to photographing them.

Deliveries are actually the one part of this job I loathe! I had one customer in this morning who saw the mountain of wool and said, "ooh, how exciting". I'm afraid I have to disagree. By the time we've checked it all off, checked dye batches and then found homes for all the balls we're exhausted and tetchy! And then we start on the patterns!

However - it's done now. Shelves are full. Customers with pre-orders are happy. I'm going home for a G & T!

Triana Lux

2011-05-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

We don't get many new yarns at this time of year but Katia has produced it's new scarf yarn - Triana Lux. This is a slightly glittery, sparkly version of the very popular Triana. If I'm honest, I didn't think it was coming out until the autumn but it's here and it's selling well already so it may be a good idea to buy some now if you want it. There's bound to be a mad rush come the autumn! It comes in 6 lovely colours, so far:

There's 3 to tempt you!

I've been crocheting the edge around this:

(the tie front bolero on the model - not the curtains) and I'm not really a crocheter and the edge has gone on for miles and miles and could well, in fact, have been the curtains. Got the main bit done last night and have the sleeves to do tonight. It'll then be in the window for a week and I'll then do some close up shots - unless I get it done so quickly I have time tonight - ha! It's going to look fabulous but for a non-crocheter I gave myself a bit of a challenge. Secretly quite chuffed with myself and even - briefly - contemplated a crochet blanket from my stash. Tracey gave me "a look" which, roughly translated, confirmed the insanity of this idea. But - never say never!

Weekend Report

2011-05-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

So - the weekend is done and we're going to need several more weekends to recover.

The English GCSE is done but I have no idea how it went - English isn't T's strong suit and is definitely not his favourite subject so, no doubt, he'll say it went dreadfully. Time will tell.

The Ten Tors is done and, sadly, ended in the team withdrawing at tor 7 when they realised there was no way they could make the last miles in the required time. Never has the phrase "a team is as strong as its weakest member" been more apt but I'm proud to say that G was not the weakest member and acted with great compassion and understanding to those that were struggling. They were not helped by the fact that they had by far the hardest route (confirmed by one very kind soldier) and four teams on their route retired whilst all the teams on the other routes completed the course.

For us it was a hideously nerve-wracking weekend as the v sophisticated computer system went completely doo-lally so we were never sure if the numbers on the screen were correct and then we calculated - fairly early on Sunday morning - that there weren't enough hours left for them to complete - a sad moment at home and on the Tor.

However, it was a brave shout and they actually walked well over 40 miles which, in itself, is amazing and they calculated that their so-called "as the crow flies" 55 mile route was, in reality, nearer 65 - a very tough ask.

The website still isn't launched as poor Thomas plays detective to work out how to make the site do what we want it to do. We now have the wonder that is "Skype" so the boys are on constant Skype calls whilst fiddling at both ends to try and make things work (and stick). Very fortunately, I can keep well out of this!

Had a minor heart attack this morning when printing out some accounts stuff and it printed out a page of gobblydegook. Thought we'd been hit by a virus but all appears to be working OK now - a nasty moment.

On the plus side, knitting is going well! Have finished the knitting part of a Debbie Bliss "Angel" cardigan and have to crochet the edging tonight. I'm not really a crocheter so any crocheting involves total concentration and silence. Tonight I'm banning everyone from the kitchen so I can lay it out on the kitchen table and do battle. Think of me!

I've also started a sock for an upcoming birthday and managed a whole load whilst staring at the computer screen this weekend and willing the boys on plus a whole load in the car en route to Oakhampton and back!

Another crazy week

2011-05-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As the dreaded GCSE's loom ever closer (we start with English on Monday morning), we have also found ourselves catapulted into the Ten Tors weekend again - which seems to have arrived suddenly and unexpectedly, despite the training weekends which have been going on since before Christmas.

For those of you who aren't au fait with the West Country tradition of Ten Tors, the brief synopsis is a horde of young adults yomping their way around and across Dartmoor doing either 35, 45 or 55 mile routes in a set time (start is 0700 on Saturday and teams must complete their course by 1700 on Sunday), in teams of 6. There are a myriad of different routes and different sub-rules for each length of route but the really amazing thing is that you have to carry all your own kit (including tents, cookers, food, spare clothes and food etc, etc) and the oldest entrants are just 19.

G did the 35 mile route 3 years ago during the hottest weekend they've ever had for the Event. They were so seriously concerned about dehydration and sunstroke that water was helicoptered to the top of each Tor (did I mention that - as the name suggests - each route takes in 10 Tors, where the teams have to check in to prove they've completed the full route?).

T did the 35 mile route last year and never took his waterproofs off! This is his team coming in:

T (who was also team leader) is on the right.

So - this year G is attempting the 55 mile route. I say "attempting" as - to be honest - trying to walk the 55 mile route makes the 35 miler look like a walk in the park. I'm not taking anything away from the 14 and 15 year olds doing it as it's a heck of a challenge in anyone's book but 55 miles is crazy, crazy people.

There is absolutely no foregone conclusion that they're going to make this one. We are going to be more anxious than they are and will be sitting glued to the computer all day Saturday (as the teams check in at the top of each Tor their times are automatically, electronically updated on the website - v sophisticated!) and will shoot up in the car on Sunday as they approach the end. We aren't aiming for any records here - it's going to be a long, hard slog - but the anxious parents will be with them every step of the way (in mind, if not body!).

Simultaneously, we are trying to launch the new Cornish Organic Wool website this weekend! This has also been one long, hard slog from the time the server was hit by a hacker nearly 12 months ago. I'm not even going to begin to list the catalogue of disasters which has hit this new website but it culminated in the geeky, nerdy, designer dude throwing all his toys out of the cot last week and refusing to work with us any more. Poor Thomas - who does all the "look and feel" and makes the whole thing easy for us to navigate and who made the Knit Wits site - is now trying to haul it all together and FB is trying to help! It's looking really good and, when Thomas has worked his magic, it will work but - boy, oh boy - it's been a sweat.

They say these things come in threes so we have - GCSE's, Ten Tors and new website.

What a weekend!!

New Year

2011-05-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As well as being the day for a fantastic Royal Wedding, last Friday also marked our financial year end, which means I've been the proud owner of Knit Wits for 6 years now (which seems impossible!).

Financial year ends are a great time for reflection and for looking forward. I'm pleased to say that, despite the economic situation and endless doom and gloom in our press (which, personally, I think has a lot to answer for) our turnover is up on last year. Not massively but significantly and I am mightily relieved! Recessions tend to hit earlier in Cornwall and last longer and this one is no exception. We started for feel the bite as early as 2007 and took the brave (and - dare I say it - expensive) option to build a website. The decision seems to be working but it's also opened us up to the knitting community in ways I could never have imagined.

It's easy to think of websites as just online/worldwide shops and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that was our first priority when designing the site. What has also happened, though, is it's brought us right up into the online knitting community and in touch with, literally, hundreds of knitters we'd have never met otherwise. We have knitters who've seen the site and then come down on holiday and visit us (always fun!), knitters who are on holiday and then start to become customers as they feel they know us and can visualise where we are (very gratifying) and knitters who read the blog and email me and order wool and some who even become friends.

Sadly the internet is so often used for bad and dodgy things but it's also a great tool and, used properly it can bring unexpected rewards.

For all of who who have bought from us in the past 12 months, we say thank you! Please pass the word on to each of your knitting friends! Word of mouth is, undoubtedly, the best selling tool and, whilst we can't always supply everyone with exactly what they want exactly when they want it - we do try! The more wool we sell, the more new and lovely wools we can buy and the happier our customers are - and, thus, are the wheels of industry kept turning!

Happy New Year!

Long Weekend

2011-05-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Well ..... what a weekend it's been! We've had friends to stay who have spent the last 10 years or so living variously in Chile, Dubai and, most recently, Panama. We managed to get to see them in Chile - which was A M Azing and they've managed to get down here a couple of times so it was great to catch up, see how hugely our offspring have grown and down one or two sherbets to celebrate - and we managed to see the whole of THE wedding - which we all thought was lovely - and wasn't she gorgeous and both our boys now fancy her sister! (along with most of the young, virile youth of the country, judging by comments on the 'net and Facebook).

The farm where we live offers "glamping" (that's glamorous camping for the uninitiated) so Sev and Mel and their children stayed in a Featherdown tent so as not to interfere with T's GCSE revision (ha!). This is what a Featherdown tent looks like:

so, as you can see, they didn't "rough" it and we had a lovely barbecue with them on Saturday night in the tent.

I understand that the rest of the UK is currently bathed in glorious sunshine and would just like you all to know that we are in thick cloud, squally showers and strong northerly winds. On Sunday night we had the most terrific thunderstorm and lightening (we think) actually hit our house and blew all the phone lines. Thankfully we'd disconnected all the computers at the first crash of thunder but nothing was re-connected until today. On the one hand it was really nice not to be tied to the computer, the boys couldn't waste hours on Facebook and there were no emails. On the other hand, we had no phone calls and felt completely cut off. It's amazing how often you say "Oh, we'll just look that up on the 'net" and then you realise that you can't!

Then to top it all we went into the shop today and discovered that the torrential rain which accompanied the thunderstorm had flooded the back. Fortunately, it's most superficial and no wool was ruined (just a few magazines) and the dehumidifier is beavering away frantically to suck it all up.

That's two minor disasters - rather dreading what the third might be ............!

Easter

2011-04-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

So for Easter day we did our usual walk to our favourite pub and it's always amazing that the same walk is different every single time. This time there was a definite first for us:

a rather beautiful male adder sunning himself by the path. We managed a few pics before he slithered off and on the way back, in the exact same spot, we met these lovelies coming down for their evening drink:

The path towards the north coast was looking particularly beautiful:

and I was wearing a fetching piece of knitwear(!):

Leaving the pub, late in the afternoon, the cows were coming in for milking:

and T debated whether to ride a semi-wild Shetland pony but decided he was just too big and the pony was just too small!:

A perfect Easter Sunday!

PS: Our royal family is attracting much interest so do come and have a look if you're in the area (and I put the bunting up today as well!).

Happy Holidays

2011-04-22T08:46:00.001-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

As you can see, the Royal Wedding party is complete!

From left to right we have:

a footman with a corgi (with a fetching red, white and blue lead), The Queen and Prince Philip.

Then, we have:

Prince Harry, followed by:

the bride and groom, then:

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and, finally:

The Archbishop of Canterbury.

The actual knitting was the easy part! The fiddling with all the tiny details was the time consuming part but, ultimately, is what makes them.

They'll be in the shop window from tomorrow for about 2 weeks so, if you're in the area, please come and see them and pop in and say "hi".

Today - as the rest of the country is bathed in boiling sunshine - we have rain. Seriously! It's currently raining down here!!

Happy holidays!!

Corgis

2011-04-20T02:24:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Am currently sewing up corgis .............. seriously!!

With good luck and a fair wind pics on the site tommorrow.

Surreal Moment of the Weekend

2011-04-11T09:10:00.001-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Surreal moment of the weekend was ................

........... T sitting at one end of the kitchen table putting together flat pack furniture; me sitting at the other end of the table putting together The Duke of Edinburgh.......

Teeny Tiny Knitting

2011-04-06T02:24:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Whilst I am, predominantly, decorating our house at the moment (pulled the piano out on Monday and, boy, did we find some rubbish behind there including a cable needle and a very small pair of boys' pants [with Bart Simpson on them so, clearly, T's from many years ago])* there is also some knitting going on.

Tracey and I are knitting teeny, tiny fiddly things which, with a Royal Wedding only 23 days away, won't take a genius to work out what they are. They are great fun but unbelievably time consuming for such tiny things and result in a barrage of bizarre texts along the lines of "Harry only has one leg", reply "oh, yes, oops forgot to knit the second" and "does the Queen have shoes?" (she does now).

The aim is to have the entire ensemble in the window (and available to view here) by Good Friday at the latest so if any of you are coming down here for Easter or the wedding weekend or any part of the holidays, please do pop in and say hello.

Meanwhile I am awaiting the arrival of Prince Philip in a sandwich bag.

* Apparently my maternal grandmother used to pull her piano out every week and clean behind it. She is currently spinning in her grave at her slutty grand-daughter.

More Decorating and Knitting

2011-03-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Another week since my last blog and you can entirely blame the decorating which is slow but steady. The sitting room/back passage is progressing but there are an awful lot of doors, which means lots of fiddly bits, door frames etc. I also decided the outside of the back door was in need of some tlc, which it has now had - 2 coats of tlc in fact.

In the meantime we have no telly in the sitting room so keep finding teenage sons lounging on our bed watching telly there. I know you shouldn't have a TV in your bedroom but, we do!

Off home shortly - second coat on door frames and doors - deep joy.

Decorating is Progressing!

2011-03-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Have just realised it's been exactly one week since my last entry - shame on me - apologies - decorating is time consuming and is progressing.

One week on I have finished all bathrooms and am eagerly awaiting new bathroom floor on Friday.

Yesterday I started on the sitting room which initially involved sorting the boys' bookcase on the landing in order to move books from sitting room (where the book situation is getting beyond a joke) to the landing. The M-in-L is away on holiday but doing a charity car boot on her return so will come home to find one very large box of books in her spare room. Going through the boys books is like going through their history - quite emotional at times - couldn't bring myself to chuck out some of their books but have cleared 3 shelves.

Knitting is progressing slowly - blanket is slowly getting smocked. Sock is slowly growing. You get the picture.

I've now organised the dates for our next "Learn to Knit" nights to coincide with the start of the summer term. Details are on the website - here. If you would like any more details or, indeed, would like to book just email me at julia@knitwitspenzance.co.uk or ring in on (01736) 367069 or pop into the shop! The format is the same as the last one, ie we start by learning to cast on (there are a myriad of different methods), then knit a garter stitch scarf, then knit a stocking stitch shrug (with pattern reading thrown in) and, finally, a cabled bag made from Cornish Organic Wool. The class is very laid back and relaxed but you learn a lot. On occasions the last class was just silent in deep concentration! If you've every wanted to knit - now's your chance!

Knitting and Painting

2011-03-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

So I started on the bathroom yesterday and - as is my wont - have quickly become obsessed with the idea of painting every surface. Have no doubt this will wear off in time but, so far, have tidied out one bathroom cabinet (one whole sack of rubbish - very satisfying) (one more to do when furniture goes back in), sanded all the loose and flaking paint (realised that the builders didn't bother to seal the plaster - note to builders - if you don't seal plaster in a bathroom, after about 9 years the paint will start to flake and will be really, really flakey when homeowner finally decides to do something about it 3 years later), sealed the plaster, washed down all surfaces (simultaneously horrifying myself about the depth of filth behind bathroom cabinets), applied first coat of paint to radiator and woodwork.

Also sealed plaster around velux windows fitted in other bathrooms c 10 years ago. (We have friends visiting at Easter who may well pass out on discovering the plaster around these Velux's [is the plural of Velux, Veluxii?] is now painted - it's been a topic of conversation every Easter for the past 6 or 7 years.)

This morning I applied first coat of white "Kitchen and Bathroom" paint (for extra washability) to sealed plaster areas.

Tonight I plan to apply first "proper" coat to bathroom walls and ceilings and (time permitting) to areas around the Veluxii.

Am pleased to report that painting, decorating and generally getting organised is catching. FB has just informed me that he's putting the side back on our bath e'en as I type - it's been off and gently leaning against the bath struts for about - 00h - 8 years (or, in fact, from the time when we had the new shower fitted when we moved the kitchen [which was 8 years ago]).

T has also started tidying his bedroom. The tidy half is now referred to as "Switzerland", the untidy half is "Afghanistan". There was a bit of a ruckus at the border yesterday when an electric guitar, its case and cable went from Switzerland to Afghanistan mode but order was later resumed without bloodshed or the need for tear gas.

One day my entire house will be "Switzerland" - if only for one minute when I've locked all the men and cats outside.

Knitting has been restricted - painting and knitting is a physical impossibility - but managed one row of smocking on blanket (yes, I'm smocking a blanket and it's really quite pretty) and half turned a heel on a sock in front of the goggle box last night. No goggle box tonight = no knitting.

New Shades of Old Yarns

2011-03-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Just a couple of new shades of old(ish) yarns to bring you up to date on. New shades of King Cole Haze:

and new shades of the perennially popular Mirage:

Both are lightweight DK's, which knit as standard DK's.

Tomorrow I start re-decorating the house! Have suddenly got to the point where, after 12 years in our house and having not decorated some of the rooms since the day we moved in, I can't stand it any longer and realise that no-one else is going to magically do the work. I start with our bathroom and progress from there. I'm sacrificing my knitting time here so I hope the men appreciate it! Will take lots of pics - if I have the courage to show the "before" pics!

More New Things

2011-03-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

New summer yarns continue to arrive apace so, clearly, my yarn buying embargo has come to a swift end! Mainly because - in my own defence - we desperately needed some new cotton and other summer stuff as the incredibly popular Stylecraft Kon Tiki has been discontinued and there is something of a worldwide cotton crisis so I though I'd better get some in early before all the cotton disappears to China (which is, apparently, where it's all headed). We decided, in true Knit Wits style, that if you're going to have a cotton you should have a really good quality one so we've now got in stock Memphis from Adriafil. It's pure Egyptian cotton and has a lovely feel - soft but crisp - and is going to knit up fantastically - I just know it. Also comes in a huge array of colours - we have 15. Here is the full pic of them all:

In fact, not them all as there are clearly some lurking in the background. Click here for the full page.

Noro have also brought out a new cotton rich DK yarn (yay - most Noro yarns are Aran or 4ply) called Aya. As you'd expect from Noro, the colours are fantastic and it's a really beautiful yarn and, being 55% cotton 35% silk and 15% wool, perfect for summer garments:

And, finally for now, we have the new Giada from Adrifail. This is a cotton rich DK yarn with tiny, little sequins woven into the yarn as well to give a subtle sparkle and shimmer. This is the yarn I've been rattling off a shawl in and the shawl is now finished so I just need to photograph it and get the pattern written up and it'll be a free pattern with 3 balls purchased (shawl for just under £20.00 - not bad!) and it would be perfect for summer weddings:

Today I started sock number 2 at the hairdresser waiting for my highlights to highlight - think the other women there though I was one sandwich short of a picnic - either that or they were wishing they'd brought their knitting too?!

Knitted Chairs Anyone?

2011-03-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

One of my new knitters from the autumn knitting class - Helen - has pointed me in the direction if Knitted Chairs! You too could produce such masterpieces as Olivia:

Albert:

Lola:

and my personal favourites - Pip and Pen:

All of these glorious chairs can be found at Melanie Porter.co.uk. Melanie does all the knitting herself so is clearly one talented lady. I'm starting to look at my clapped out recliner in a whole new light .................... - although FB may well kill me if I suggest the idea (!)

Helen - who pointed us in the direction of knitted furniture has a blogsite here - thingshelenlikes.wordpress.com/2011/03/ - and if you go to Feb 25th you'll see her first ever knitted sock - c/o our knitting class. We're waiting for the second sock, Helen!

We have new colours in Marble Chunky and Marble DK and they would make fantastic chair covers! New chunky:

and new DK:

My shawl is coming on apace - watch this space!

To Lincoln and Beyond

2011-03-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

I mentioned we were off on a long car journey and we did, indeed, go all the way to Lincoln. Penzance is a long way from anywhere but it's a heck of a long way from Lincoln. We shared the driving and I knitted a sock so, in theory, it's a sock to Lincoln and a sock home - if one was so inclined. Stupidly, I've now displayed said sock in the shop without photographing it. I'll remedy that asap. We did, however, manage some (although pathetically few) pics of Lincoln - mostly in the dark to and from restaurants:

Lincoln Cathedral is a truly spectacular building and (for the record) I once read the Lesson in there!:

On the first night we ate at the top of Steep Hill - it's not called that for nothing:

On Saturday we went to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre and saw one of the last few remaining Lancaster bombers - boy are they big! And they seem so basic to have had such a major impact on the last World War. It's hard to get an idea of the true size of these beasts but here is T standing in front of her (for she is a "she"):

It was a fascinating place and I learnt about Operation Manna at the end of WWII when the Allies (still under strict rationing) dropped 11,000 tons of food to the starving in Holland, with the agreement of the German occupying forces. I'd never heard of Operation Manna before - truly astonishing.

Afterwards there was a certain rugby match to watch (in the University bar) followed by the compulsory curry! (Thank God we won)

Throughout we were accompanied by FB's baby sister, who is studying for her MA at Lincoln University. It's always slightly astonishing when someone you remember being born turns out to be rather brilliant (she got a First), rather beautiful, annoyingly skinny and doing an MA! Here she is with the boys (her nephews!!):

(Why are these kind of photos always taken next to cars just as you're about to leave?!)

NEW YARN on the site is James Brett's new, fabulous Monsoon. Aran weight, 30% wool and, colourwise, a cross between Rico Poems and Noro - this is going to be incredibly popular and is selling well. Buy now or put on your list of "must do" projects! It knits as a standard Aran but there are some fab patterns too:

We've also had a delivery of Katia Rizos scarf yarn! This is going fast, fast, fast so buy now to truly avoid disappointment. This yarn, like Can Can, has been ordered for months and finally made it in to stock - heaven knows when it'll be back:

Tonight I'm starting a new shawl - yes, I know I'm supposed to be finishing things (second sock, blanket, Angel cardigan) but this new shawl is calling and will not be delayed.

More New Loveliness

2011-02-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Not content with bringing out her fabulous "Angel" this year, Debbie Bliss has also brought out a new DK cotton with a little bit of silk and cashmere blended in to give it extra softness and sheen - what a simply fantastically luxurious combination! Bella comes in a range of colours (sadly not all delivered to us yet but enough to seriously tempt, nay, force us into spending) and a pattern book to accompany it. It's also a pretty near standard DK so can be knitted to any of your favourite DK patterns.

I particularly like this bolero (with or without flower):

and there are some pretty classy cables going on in this little number:

You can't really see them in that picture as the model is sitting down but the cables in the rib twist up to merge seamlessly into the cables of the body - I like that kind of detail. (I actually chose this picture as it's the only one in which the model is smiling - why, oh why, do they make the models look so glum/enigmatic - do they really think we won't buy the yarn if she's looking happy?! - this could be a good dissertation topic if one was so inclined).

Finally I bring you a little pic from Tracey's daughter - who knew exactly what to do with the ends from the f*****g fairisle. I think the one on the left is looking particularly sad - perhaps he wanted to remain part of the finished item and not be snipped off into oblivion:

Angel

2011-02-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Today I've spent most of my time putting Debbie Bliss's new, gorgeous yarn on the site. It's called Angel and is a kid mohair/silk blend (very, very similar to Rowan Kidsilk haze - but cheaper - [not sure I'm supposed to say that but, there you go, I've said it]).

It comes in a massive range of colours:

and - as with all of these types of yarns - it goes one heck of a long way (200m in 25g) so your average requirement is about 3 balls - £7.95 per ball - £24.00 for a top - that's not bad at all. And some of the patterns are just gorgeous. Here's a brief selection:

and the ones that makes everyone go "oooooooooooooh":

For the first time ever I've put Debbie's latest magazine on the site as a book as well as a magazine as it has 8 Angel patterns in it - the same number as are in her book so I am, therefore, doubling the number of patterns available to you for this yarn. [Please feel free to thank me for this act of kindness - it doubled my workload but, you know, nothing is too much work for you knitters out there.]

As I've mentioned before, I was generously given some of this yarn free to knit a sample but I'm being good and still "finishing things". I'm onto the blanket now and making steady progress - there must be something in the water as it's been in my basket waiting to be finished for about 4 months now and I've got the finishitis bug good and proper. Even free balls of Angel aren't detracting me from my course (well, actually, they did detract me for quite a bit of Sunday but I'm now back on the straight and narrow).

Going on long car journeys this weekend - can feel a sock coming on ....

G had his stitches out today. Still very sore. Some gory pictures available if anyone wants to see them ..........................??!

Damn That Rugby

2011-02-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

So - on Wednesday night I was all set to finish the waistcoat that's been driving me insane when we had "one of those phone calls". G (at rugby training) - "Dad (FB had answered the phone, I haven't got a really deep voice) - I've bashed my knee on a rock and got a huge hole in it".

FB was cooking (we share roles in this house - except for washing which is entirely my domain, apparently) so I went to get G. You may remember from the epic cycle ride that G has a slightly strange reaction to adrenaline (basically - he passes out) so we were immediately concerned he might pass out outside the rugby club. I got him in the car OK, got him home OK, got his (holey) tracksuit off OK, started cleaning some of the blood OK and then he turned deathly white and passed out.

At that point we thought A&E might be a good idea (the very A&E department I'd driven right past when bringing him home) so - after he'd regained consciousness and eaten a Mars bar (high in glucose) we got him back in the car, poor lad, and back to A&E.

They were brilliant and G had done a pretty impressive job of slicing his entire knee open - it wouldn't have looked much different if he's done it with a knife - except he'd done it at rugby so it was full of mud and grit and filth.

G was given his new best friend - gas and air - lots of local anaesthetic and then - get this (and pass over this bit if you're even the tiniest bit squeamish) they scrubbed his open gaping wound with a toothbrush (a red toothbrush for those of you who want the full details). G giggled throughout - damn, that gas and air is good.

He now has 4 sutures in his knee (no nonsy butterfly stitches for this wound), antibiotics for a week (due to the filth) and lots of pain killers.

I love rugby but sometimes stamp collecting is very attractive!

Finishing Things Part 2

2011-02-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Following on from yesterday's blog about my finished things, I thought I definitely needed you to see what Tracey has been working on for the past 2 months. This has been a commission for a customer and rapidly turned into the commission from hell. It came from this magazine:

and is the fairisle jacket, similar to the sweater on the cover. Now Tracey loves doing fairisle (mad fool) [and let's not forget this is the knitter who can't do socks on 4 needles!] so it was the perfect commission for her - ha, ha!

It started to go wrong fairly quickly after checking the pattern and realising that this fairisle didn't follow the normal "rules" of fairisle, in that there were virtually no places where the alternate colour could be run up the side of the knitting. Ergo there were going to be millions and millions of ends. Tracey was very clever and worked out the stitches for knitting in the round up to the armholes (thereby removing at least a few hundred ends and the bulkiness in the body that would, inevitably, be the result of all those ends).

So, that solved that problem - except the pattern is such that the side pieces don't match (as in conventional fairisle) and also wouldn't match with Tracey's "in the round" version. We (when I say, "we" throughout, please take it as the royal "we") fiddled and charted and, eventually, sorted it in such a way that the patterns don't match along what would be the side seams but, we figured, no-one would notice. And so she set sail - beautifully:

And then we discovered that, either as a result of the way she'd changed the pattern to knit it in the round (unlikely, in my opinion) or as the result of a pattern error (much more likely, in my opinion) the sleeves didn't fit! Tracey spent one Sunday putting the sleeve in and taking it out 9 times. By Monday morning she was almost in tears (perhaps I should point out here that she had spent, by this point, about 170 hours in this project, which was - by now - referred to as the f*****g fairisle). We looked at it logically, pinned it, fiddled with it, swore and fiddled some more and, in the end, she took the top of the sleeve back and added in an extra 4 rows - it then fitted the sleeve opening perfectly. (Despite the pleasure this brought it was also accompanied by more swearing.)

And then there were the ends. This, my friends, is one pocket:

And this - because I know you want to see it - is the back of said pocket:

This is the inside of one sleeve:

and this is the sleeve plus upper body (can you imagine what it would have been like is she hadn't knitted the body in the round - lie down and breath gently for a few minutes at the very thought):

At about the point of the sleeve fiasco we emailed Debbie Bliss for advice and we also mentioned the ends. She said that ends are all part of fairisle knitting and she puts aside half a day to do them. HALF A DAY. HALF A DAY? Try 4 days and you'd be about there.

In the end, of course, it was incredibly beautiful:

Pockets fitted to perfection (off kilter as per the pattern [ off kilter gives Tracey a nervous twitch]):

and with impeccable tension:

So - if you're having a glass of something nice in the next few days, raise a toast to Tracey - she deserves it!

(She, incidentally, is still lying down in a darkened room cuddling her bottle of vodka - where she's been since she finished it on Sunday. We think she should be emerging on about Thursday - I hope so, anyway, as she's supposed to be here in the shop.)

PS: Forgot to mention - at around the sleeves-not-fitting part of the whole thing, we checked out Designer Yarns website for guidance. Turned out there was an ERROR in the chart. Tracey turned very pale. Too late to go back.

PPS: Did I mention that, in one part of the chart, you read the knit rows from L to R and the purl rows from R to L - total opposite of normal - just to f**k you up completely!

PPPS: If you do knit this, be warned, the yarn quantities are somewhat adrift. Too much of some colours (yellow), not enough of others (teal and beige).

PPPPS: Customer collected it today. Didn't even stop to select buttons. Has absolutely no idea of the nervous breakdowns this has (almost) caused.

PPPPS: If you want one knitting, the answer's "No".

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Apparently today is Valentine's Day.

As I was emerging from the arms of Morpheus this morning and the radio was playing suitable Valentine's Day tunes, FB turned to me and said:

"Jules .............. we don't do Valentine's Day, do we?"

It's OK - we've only been married for 23 years.