Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk
As many of you will know, as well as having Knit Wits shop FB and I also have our own brand of wool -
Cornish Organic - so we are fully aware of the problems and pitfalls of wool production! Up until now Cornish Organic (or COW as we prefer to call it) has provided its wool in 100g skeins which have all been lovingly hand dyed by FB in the small dye house attached to our kitchen and dried around the Aga. Amazingly, neither of our cats has a fondness for wool which is a huge relief given that, at any time, we could have up to 10kgs of wool around said Aga!
It goes without saying that hand dyeing large quantities of wool is extremely time consuming so (some time ago) we decided to see if we could get it dyed elsewhere. A simple enough job you would have thought. But no. We needed a dye house that was Soil Association certified and big enough to do the job economically. Two years later we had finally persuaded a dye house in Yorkshire to take on the challenge and two weeks ago our first batch of machine dyed wool, wound into 50g balls arrived at our house - all 140kgs of it!!
So, now, finally we have
COW in 50g balls and here are the colours:
They are slightly different from our old colours and - for any of you currently using the old 100g DK skeins those colours will no longer be being replicated. For the time being
4ply,
Aran and
Chunky will still be sold in 100g skeins (and will continue to be hand dyed by FB!) but this will change, in time, as we spin up more wool.
Producing wool is a long and time consuming process, particularly when you are complying with very strict Soil Association standards but we think you'll agree that the new wool and the new colours are fab!
They can all be found here.
Last weekend we went away for a few days (more of which in a moment) but, before we went, I managed to upload the new
Pure Merino book from Jenny Watson. This book is made up entirely of accessories patterns and you get a whole load for your money. From scarves, hats and gloves:
through cushions:
bed socks:
capelets:
and a bag:
this little book is sure to inspire (and is perfect for knitted Christmas gifts!):
Finally - for now - as I mentioned - I went away this weekend! When my darling eldest boy disappeared to the other end of the world for a whole year, leaving me somewhat bereft, my dearest friend (the one who runs marathons for "fun") booked me into a 10km run at Blenheim Palace to take my mind off things and give me something else to worry about. Never having run any kind of anything before, I printed off an 8 week training schedule from Uncle Google and stuck to it rigidly. About 10 days before the event I strained a tendon or ligament in my left foot, which restricted final training somewhat but, despite everything, I found myself at the start line of my first ever run on Sunday morning. The day was glorious, with the early morning mist burning off in time for our start:
the Palace is, of course, simply spectacular (if a little over the top for one family to live in):
I was ready (although still suffering with my sore foot):
and, lo, we were off:
Never having done this before I found it really hard to judge my pace and found myself over-taking quite a lot of people which worried me as I thought I might blow out. As it happened I ended in exactly the time I was aiming for (1 hour 2 minutes) which meant that I was running exactly 10 minute miles.
I am happy, very sore, limping badly and now planning my next event!!
