James Brett is in!

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

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!

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

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

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!!

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!

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!