Lost and Found

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Last night - whilst rummaging in my wool stash wardrobe I found the missing glove.  Hoorah!

I then went to help youngest son book his driving theory test and he has totally lost mislaid his counterpart licence.  £20 for a new one.

You win some, you lose some.

New Gloves!

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Now that the weather has turned somewhat chilly, I discovered that somewhere between Newcastle (upon Tyne) and Penzance I've managed to lose  (let's be optimistic) mislay one of my hand-knitted fingerless gloves with optional finger muff.  I have hunted high and low (and found FB's hat but, sadly, not my one glove).  I feel sure it will re-appear but, in the meantime, I needed a new pair of gloves somewhat urgently.  I knitted this pattern:

but wanted pure wool for extra warmth so I chose Adriafil's Knit Col (2 balls):

and having knitted one glove on Thursday and the second on Friday I was all ready for a wintry walk on Sunday.

We headed off to Levant Tin Mine on the north coast.  Now in the hands of The National Trust, Levant is the only place in the world where you can still see a steam beam engine working at its original site.  Needless to say, it wasn't working yesterday and the place was almost deserted:

(the beam engine is in the left hand building, seemingly perched precariously on the edge of the cliff - which, indeed it is!):

It was cold but glorious:

as we made our way to our favourite (summer) beach (Portheras) which, needless to say, was also deserted:

who knew that Transitions lenses go dark in the cold as well as the sunlight!:

We came back past the (growing) Geevor Tin Mine complex:

and the gloves??

- the gloves are fab!

Things That We've Knitted But Hadn't Photographed - Until Now

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Way back at the end of November (can that be true - have I just slept-walked into January - what happened to December? - oh yeah, Christmas, burglary, Christmas, New Year - that's what happened to December) - I digress, way back in November I blogged about all the knitting I'd we'd been doing but hadn't photographed yet - due to the weather (and Christmas).  So we put some of that right this weekend - not all as some garments are still on display in the shop - but it's a start.

First of all, I knitted this:

and I love, love, love it.  It's the perfect jumper for crisp, winter walks and cosying up in front of the telly:

It's big and warm and cosy and just gorgeous (and, being a Super Chunky, it's a quick knit too!)

We also knitted two different snoods from Rico's Liesl yarn - one long (which can be worn 2 ways):

and one which is wider and shorter (basically, a wide scarf which we then twisted before sewing together):

We also did a sample scarf in the amazing Dakota yarn (just 3 balls):

which is wonderfully soft and cosy and cuddly!

And, finally for now, we did a diagonal garter stitch blanket in Riot DK.  I'd done one before in Debbie Bliss's Bella:



















which had resulted in LOADS of ends needing to be dealt with (cunningly covered over by the stocking stitch border) and then I'd thought it would be really pretty (and easier for new knitters!) in a self-striping yarn so, voila, we did it in Riot DK (just 2 balls - we used shade Fab):

and, I think you'll agree, it's really pretty.  Dead easy and a blanket any new Mum would be very happy to put on their baby - and Riot comes in loads and loads of colours to suit every taste!

So - that's it for now - but, yes, there is more - coming soon!

Welcome to 2013!

Knit Wits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Happy New Year to one and all and I hope the festive season passed in a blaze of fun, time spent with friends and plenty of "me" time to knit whatever your heart desired.

Our Christmas was more than a little fraught as the shop was burgled a week before.  Perhaps I'm lucky as this has never happened to me before but the shock of walking into the back "office/store room" and finding the back door swinging open still hasn't quite left me.  Obviously the main thing they took was the shop laptop - well used (and looking it) but set just how we needed it they probably got about £30 for it and, for us, it was the loss of 6 years work.  Because I was about to upload some new things to the site the external hard drive was also in the office so they took that too - probably got about £5 for it and took less than a minute to clear off all the information on it (mostly photos for the site).  Fortunately, many of those are backed up at home but it all means more work for us and the senselessness of the crime is still overwhelming.

The Police have been very good, the insurance company less so.  I guess there are an awful lot of people who put in false claims and insurance companies spent a lot of time sorting the wheat from the chaff but the general attitude seems to be that, firstly, I need to prove that I've been burgled (the Police can definitely help with that) and, secondly, apparently I really need to consider whether I should put in a claim as I'll lose my no claims bonus.  The wool shop has been here for over 25 years and I've owned it for 8 and, so far as any of us are aware, this is the first ever claim - a little bit of understanding and - good Lord - sympathy, would have been nice.

However - looking on the bright side (and hopefully not tempting fate) we weren't flooded like many, many poor souls were over the Christmas period and we're not having to deal with the horrendous impact of that.

We are now back online and I've spent the last 2 days fulfilling, sorting and packaging up all the orders and requests that came in whilst we were offline.  Apologies to all whose packages didn't arrive in the usual speedy way that we pride ourselves in.

The only problem that now remains is that we've lost ALL emails prior to December 20th.  So - for anyone who has pre-ordered online, requested yarn online or is even expecting a reply from us to a query, I'm sorry but we no longer have your emails and have no way of contacting you!  Please do email us again and - if we don't hear from you then I'm afraid we won't be able to fulfil your requests.

Thank you for your understanding at this difficult time.

PS: I should also say that - at no time was any security compromised.  Orders placed with us are transacted by our bank so no card details are kept on our system and, furthermore, everything is passworded and, now, all passwords have been re-set.  It's been a nightmare but we're getting there!