New Colours in Marble Chunky & Marble DK

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

There are one or two yarns which sell like the proverbial hot eggs - in fact, it's rare for a day to go by when we don't sell them; one of these is Marble Chunky from James Brett.  Now available in over 30 colours it's a yarn that just keeps on going and giving and Brett's just keep on adding more and more glorious colours (and patterns) to keep us constantly tempted and busy knitting.

We now have 4 new colours in Marble Chunky (colours are listed numerically so scroll down for the newest colours):

and 6 new colours in Marble DK:

For sheer value and wear-ability (if there is such a word) these yarns are hard to beat - and they now have a load of new patterns too - here is a selection (as ever, click on the yarn pages and the relevant patterns are displayed down the left hand side of the page - click on the pattern image to get all the details you need):

We've also had a small "top-up" delivery from Adriafil so our most popular colour in Sierra Andina (that's another of our best sellers - 4ply pure alpaca) is back in stock:

along with the best selling colour in Poema:

Poema is a gorgeous multi-coloured pure cotton so we couldn't resist knitting up a garment in it for summer.  We knitted this King Cole Cottonsoft pattern:

in Poema.  It's a really lovely yarn but the lacey top definitely benefited from a good old blocking (I shoved the whole thing into warm water and then dried it flat) - what a difference.  Before:

and after:

before:

and after:

And here is the final garment in its post-blocked glory:

And the socks I mentioned before?  Done and ready to be posted:

(Stylecraft Aviemore, shade 1617, blue/grey (imaginative colour naming going on there!).

What have you been knitting?

Rico Baby Cotton Soft

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

Rico's Baby Cotton Soft yarn is a blend of 50% cotton and 50% acrylic so perfect for summer knits when you don't want a pure cotton or for when pure cotton might be a little heavy.

Rico started off with patterns for ladies but this year they've introduced a whole range for the small people in our lives and I just couldn't resist knitting one up.  Unusually, Rico's sample was knitted in boys' colours and modelled on a boy:

Don't you just love the contrasting elbow patches?!!

So - to ring the changes - I knitted our sample up in lovely, summer, girly colours (with, of course, contrasting elbow patches):

As you can see, I also added buttons in the elbow patch colour:

I do love knitting little baby things! - so quick and neat and easy (although there were one or two errors in this pattern!).  So - just in case you feel inspired, here are the errors (which I have passed on to Rico - bet they love me!):

1.  Throughout the pattern it says "single rib".  However, as can be seen from close inspection of the photo it is, in fact, worked in 2x2 rib throughout.  Sadly, I didn't notice this until I'd got to the shoulders so mine is knitted in single rib and then one row of reverse stocking stitch before the single rib on the shoulders - stocking stitch moving into single rib just doesn't look right.

2.  I knitted the second size, which says 1 + 2 balls for the stripes (plus one contrasting for the elbow patches, of course).  I definitely needed 2 + 2 and I notice, now, that the 3rd size also says 1 ball (plus 3) so it should be 2 + 3 as well.

3.  Getting really detailed now, the second size front says to work to 34cm prior to shaping the neck.  This should be 32cm, as per the back.  As before, I'd knitted on to 34cm before realising my/their error - doh!

4.  The pattern says to sew all the seams and then knit on the neck and the elbow patches.  It is far easier, in my humble opinion, to knit on the neck first, then sew on the elbow patches (far easier when the sleeves are flat), then sew up the top of the sleeves and the fronts and then, finally, the sides and the arm seams.  Just my opinion, so I'll throw it out there.

I don't want to make that sound really complicated (because it isn't) but it may just be useful for the next people who knit this pattern - which is well worth knitting as it's really, really sweet and the buttons on both sides of the neck make it easy to get on and off a wriggling small person!

As a complete contrast, I am now knitting socks - someone has a birthday coming up and expressed disappointment at not getting socks at Christmas so I want them to be happy on their birthday!

Opium From King Cole - We Knitted A Sample!

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

The long-awaited "Opium" from King Cole was a little delayed in getting down to us in Penzance but we wasted no time in knitting up a sample garment once it was here.  We think this tie-front cardigan (available in both long and short sleeved versions) is the "must have" for this summer - easy to slip over a t-shirt when the evenings get a little cooler and flattering for every body shape. 

Here is mine:

I knitted the smallest size and it took just 2 balls - that's just £9.98 for the yarn - and that, my friends, is unbelievably good value in anyone's book.

The only thing I would add is that it's very, very difficult to sew your garment up with the yarn itself due to the way it goes from thick to thin.  I used a DMC embroidery thread to sew mine up and it worked an absolute treat.  We stock the full DMC range so do please give us a ring (01736) 367069 if you want a matching thread added to your order.

Fingers crossed the warm weather is here to stay for a while and this will become a summer staple.