Julia's KnitWits Blog

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

We had a lovely new yarn in from King Cole whilst I was away getting rained on. It's "Inspire":


and comes in 7 different colours. There are several patterns (look down the left hand side of this page) and it's a standard DK so you can use our yarn convertor if you want to use it to any other DK pattern. It's an interesting wool/cotton mix and is very soft and, literally, flew out of the sack as Tracey was unpacking it (several customers just grabbing a whole pack!).

There are also new shades and patterns in Sirdar Soft Cotton 4ply - here. And I've added some new Soft Cotton DK patterns also - here. (Patterns are down the left hand side of these pages or use the pattern search tool.) There are more cotton DK patterns to follow on Monday for babies and children (just in case the sun decides to make an appearance)

Following the huge popularity of the Cornish Pewter buttons (which we've had to re-order already), we've also added a new flower:



We've no doubt this will be as popular as the others. We've had one customer put it on a Cornish Organic Navy jacket and it looks stunning.


No camping this weekend but - BIG NEWS - I finished the front of TSTTITHOTWE yesterday! and have sewn up one shoulder! So tonight/tomorrow I have to pick up for the neck - joy of joys. Everyone hates picking up, don't they? I go about it very systematically. I see how many stitches I need then divide the section into manageable chunks. So if, for example, it's 50 stitches down the left front, I divide the left front in half (25 sts each half) and then half again (12 for each quarter plus 1 at the half way point). I pin it out really carefully and then I know I have to get 12 stitches between pin a) and b) and then the middle point and then 12 between b) and c) etc. That way, if you get it horribly wrong you only have to pull back 12 stitches. If it's a really big pick-up I add stitch markers at, say, stitch 50 and then stitch 100.

I have one elderly knitting friend who reckons that when you've knitted all the pieces you're half way finished! I like to think that I'm slightly further than that but, we all know, the finishing makes or breaks a garment so careful picking and sewing-up are worth all the effort.

I didn't get the beads for the beaded gorgeousness last week but FB has picked them up for me today!! It's going to take great strength of character not to knit on a few rows of beads instead of picking up that neckband - I may need to knit a few on just to check they're the same as the first batch - what do you think? I could call it "quality control" - that would be OK, wouldn't it? That wouldn't really count. "Quality Control" isn't really knitting, is it?


PS: Later - FB just phoned - the bead shop was closed - no temptation after all - not sure whether to laugh or cry.