Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Blogging has gone awry for the past couple of weeks - not because I've been lying in the sun somewhere sipping a genteel G & T (sadly) but because life has been a teensy bit frantic.  A perfect example would be this Wednesday just gone.  My plan for the day was to work in the shop in the morning, inputting a few new patterns from Rico at the same time as serving customers, get home in time for a latish lunch with the much beloved, go for a 3 mile run (delayed from last weekend due to the atrocious weather) and then shuffle some papers around.

The reality was that a HUGE delivery arrived from Stylecraft (somewhat delayed and therefore gratefully received) at about 10.00am and I left the shop at 5.00pm having stock checked everything, put it away, phoned all customers who had requested yarn to be reserved for them, updated the website and put balls of both new yarns aside for photography.  I then took the web orders to the Post Office (just in time) and drove home.

Thanks to the truly appalling weather last weekend our lane (over 1/2 a mile of dirt track) is the worst I've ever seen it in 14 years - the irony being that the contractors who are in the process of repairing and renovating it started work just before the weather descended and have been unable to return since.  Thanks to the deluge that has come from the skies over the past week or so 2 underground springs have been overloaded and have "sprung" up in the middle of the lane in close proximity to each other.  I had been warned and we have a car suitable for such terrain.  Unfortunately, our neighbour hadn't been warned and she drives a low-slung BMW.  She ended up in one of the springs, stuck and immobile with me behind her and another neighbour behind me - in our neck of the woods this constitutes a traffic jam!  The farmer was called and duly came down in his tractor but - because she was stuck almost in a gateway - he couldn't get past her to tow her out.  In the end, he managed to get a rope on her rear axle (thank goodness he did this as he ended up wet and muddy) and yours truly towed her out!  I arrived home - cold, wet and exhausted and 6.00 o'clock!  And this is how life seems to have been for a while.  All the best intentions - and all that!

Today a 32 ton delivery lorry got well and truly stuck in the other spring.  It took 2 tractors to get him out with quite a struggle.  Our lane is now, almost, impassable.  Ironically, the best form of transport on it seems to be bicycle!  Our Tesco weekly food delivery driver witnessed the lorry being dragged out and decided (wisely) to proceed no further so we FB had to drive down and transfer everything into our car at the end of the lane.  Such is the joy of living in the depths of the countryside!

In the meantime, knitting has been progressing apace but very little no photography has been done - yet.  I've knitted this sweater:

which I love, love, love and is the perfect sweater for a bracing winter walk.

Way, way back in September I knitted this jacket:

and even had myself photographed in it:

but don't appear to have ever blogged about it, which is a little bizarre.  It's a really simple knit and the collar is incorporated in the two fronts so - no picking up of stitches, which is a definite boon!

Tracey has knitted this:

and, in the process, we translated the Italian/English translation into an English translation that English knitters could actually understand - the garment is gorgeous, the yarn is gorgeous, but the English translation was not gorgeous!

We have designed - and Tracey has knitted - a new blanket in Riot DK.

I have knitted this scarf:

in red - which is very festive and really lovely.

Tracey has knitted a scarf in this colour of Dakota:

and it is really funky!

We've designed, and knitted, 2 snoods in Liesl:

Tracey has knitted a number of private commissions and I've almost finished a slash neck sweater in this lovely Reflection yarn - the pattern for which was/is one which I'm due to next put on the site.

So - as you can see, we haven't been resting on our laurels.  In fact, I can't quite believe how much we've been doing - and quite how little we've managed to photograph!  Stick with us - photographs will be along in due course - all we need is a dry day - ha ha!!

NEW - Superba Tweed Sock Yarn!

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Amazingly - as promised - the new sock yarn from Rico's Superba Tweed range is now up on the site!  6 new, tweedy colours - perfect for those Christmas socks which I know are now being frantically knitted!:

MORE New Yarns!!

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Sincere apologies for the long delay in blogging but I've been away!  We decided that, following our non-existent summer, some hot sun was required before the onset of winter so we shot off for half term in the Cape Verde islands.  Now, I love hot weather but this was HOT - almost too hot for me (and that's saying something).  But it was a lovely break and coincided with the first lot of really cold weather here in the UK so we were lucky and had one heck of a shock when we got back to Heathrow in our summer clothes!

Just before we left (literally the day before) we had a big delivery in from King Cole, which included 2 new yarns and loads of new patterns.  I've been working away like a dervish and they're all now on the site - hoorah!

The first yarn is Galaxy Chunky:

which is the fantastic yarn WITH SEQUINS!  Perfect for cheering you (and others) up as winter draws along this warm cosy yarn sparkles as you move!  We've had Galaxy DK (and there are 4 new colours in that - the black and white have gold sequins):

 for some time now and Galaxy Chunky is a welcome addition to the fold.  I've rattled up a lacy scarf in it (currently blocking on the Aga) so watch out for piccies of that in the coming days (in festive red, of course!).

The second new yarn is brand new Candystripe:

which is a self-striping baby yarn.  Comes with a load of gorgeous patterns.  Here is a sample:

(how cute is that?!!)

There are also new patterns in Galaxy DK, Riot DK, Bamboo Cotton, Bamboo Cotton Prints, Cottonsoft, Cuddles, Riot DK and Splash - so, you see, I've been quite busy!! (Click on the links and the patterns all appear down the left hand side of the page - click on each pattern for details.)

Tomorrow - new sock yarn from Rico!!