KNITTING

IKL WEEKENDER

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:01:46 +0100

Better late than never huh?

I know it’s taken me a while to get this post together, but the sheer relief of finishing the prep and actually surviving the show itself had left me completely drained!

The IKL Weekender was indeed a great success! I met so many faces from Ravelry, new and old... made so many new friends and contacts and sold heaps of squishy wool... oh and gave away lots of baked treats.

The prep took me a little by surprise really, I didn’t realize I’d got SO much stock, and when winding and labeling it all, I almost drown in a sea of yarn. But it was all worth while, as it always is... to see people touch and feel the yarn and squeal with delight when they pick up the skein that ‘chose them’ with a big smile on their faces.

Feedback was great and makes me feel really happy with where I’m at with easyknits... lots of suggestions too, requests and ideas which I will always try my best to see if I can make happen.

With the recovery period well and truly over, I sit down to write this post and an email pings up... I’ve been offered a stand at Ally Pally in 2 weeks time to do the whole thing all over again..... GULP! Dare I .....? Should I .....? Oh go on then, it’s always worth the work and effort to meet so many lovely knitters.

These shows and fares are what make me remember why I do this... thanks to all that popped along to say hi, chat a while, comment on the yarn or even buy a few hanks ( you know who you are! )... and the biggest thanks goes out to my dear friend Brian who without his help for 3 whole days I would have surely been buried in a pile of yarn :-)

Hope to see you all at Ally Pally between 8-11 October.

:-)

HOLIDAY Time

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 11:42:10 +0100

Sorry for the absence my dear readers.... if you’re a subscriber to the newsletter you’ll know things have been busy here at Easyknits HQ with the production of a great new range of yarns and a beautiful August collection.

So a small catch up is in order.... there has been a holiday! Woohoo!

It was decided earlier in the year that the whole family needed to get away, so we all agreed on somewhere the majority of the group hadn’t been before... Portugal (the Algarve). So we booked up, a big 5 bed villa large enough for the 4 couples and ‘the little mermaid’ as our Niece was nicknamed throughout the holiday.

We all had a great time, and most of us spent the entire week in the pool, but then it was in the high 30’s almost 40 every day by midday, so it was important to stay cool and well hydrated... which the boys all did by consuming large quantities of the local lager ‘Super Bock’ - YUM!

I did my usual trick of injuring myself almost everyday.... first by stepping on a hot BBQ coal that had ‘popped’ off the BBQ - OUCH! Then by taking a running jump into the pool but breaking my foot on the step.... double OUCH.... and then to add insult to 2 injuries.... I hobbled across to my sun lounger in the shade and trod on a wasp... which instantly stung my foot. Needless to say I was the butt of many a joke for the rest of the break, and didn’t get back up to walking speed for quite a few weeks.

There was knitting of course.... when I wasn’t drinking I was propped with an ice pack on my foot, under the shade of a tree on my sun-lounger working extra hard on the ‘Over the Rainbow Shawl’ which was a free download from the August Newsletter, and if you like the look of my vacation knitting you can actually buy a kit to make one yourself here.

Portugal was fabulous, and I had a great time and even managed to be a little productive even when I should have been relaxing.... I’d definitely go again. Thanks to Uncle Ken, Auntie Joyce, Roy, Pam, Lee, Nadia, Kittie and my own Roy (Mr. Easyknits) for making a good vacation great... we had a blast and should do it all together again.

Stardom & DIY

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:28:55 +0100

SO... I may have little knitty news to share with you, well I COULD share with you, but I’d ruin a huge surprise for all, so I won’t. But lookie lookie, I’m in print. The above copy of ‘Inside Crochet issue 3’ arrived in my mailbox this week, and who would be there full spread on page 20 but ME ME ME... ok... so I knew that was happening, but it’s still exciting to see it for real.

What makes it more exciting is the fact that my family back home in Birmingham got a copy too, and now the ACTUALLY realize that I’m doing this ‘knitting thing’ as they call it, for real! My mummy is so proud to see me in print bless her. So a GREAT BIG huge thank you to the guys at KAL media for asking me to interview for the article, it was a real pleasure and I feel so honored to be in their GREAT magazine :-)

Anyway, onward and upward, well up one flight of stairs to be exact, to my messy messy nasty stinky studio, that although it has served me well was beginning to look like a complete dump. No sooner it was tidy and ready to work in, it was all messed up and impossible to negotiate, why?

Well, I’m not the tidiest of people, but in my defense, I have a lot of equipment that I need when I work, and putting it away might make the space look a little tidier, but as soon as I need to dye an order up it all has to come back out and the mess begins again. So with the help and encouragement from my big bro, who ‘luck has it’ is a master carpenter and works building kitchen/bathroom facilities for schools/hospitals, we measured up and I gave him great detail to exactly the space I required in order to keep a tidy workspace.

A design plan was drawn up and a colour scheme chosen, white I think you’ll agree is a classic scheme for a bright and inspired office space... that and the dark purple I had before made the space SO dark and oppressive it HAD to be white to lighten it up again (four coats of white emulsion to cover the purple, what fun).\

We had our plan, and my bro was off back to work, to custom build my new units (which will be ready in 2 weeks time), while I set to work clearing up the clutter, re-painting and laying a new flooring... and with a trip to Ikea my part of the work is done.

Don’t you think it looks great already? I’m so impressed I managed to lay a laminate floor all by myself.

More on the studio’s development next time, but for now I leave you with some progress shots... please forgive the ‘before’ shot... that was just a few days before a big show and there was MESS everywhere, next we have floor in progress... and then floor complete ( did I mention I laid it all by myself? teeehee) then we have storage shelving being assembled... and then complete. It’s now stacked FULL of all my yarns and notions for the shop... which I will show you all next update when the other side of the studio will be complete with new sink, work-tops and under counter storage courtesy of my very talented brother :-)

As a treat for finishing my part of the renovations in one weekend, I treat myself to an evening of spinning... which I will share with you all tomorrow :-)

Crochet anyone?

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:43:33 +0100

There’s a lot going on a the moment over at Easyknits HQ, lots that I can’t share... lots that I WILL share, but not until the weekend and lots that I want to share but have to be patient before I do.... let me explain.

There are some super secret, hush hush projects forming at the moment, ones I can’t talk about, but will eat into my knitting/blogging time... BUT there will still be other things to tell you about... like the renovation of my studio space.

I will post a further blog with ‘progress’ shots of the remodeling as and when it occurs... I’ve made a start, I’m tidying through stash and sorting things into storage I know I’ll never use. and getting my studio space pristine and good enough for customers to come and visit one day maybe ;-)

Just to prove this is still a craft blog though I will share the two pictured crochet projects with you. Above is ‘flutterby gal’ a beautiful crochet scarf made in ‘coral’ skinny semi-solid BFL , but I can’t take credit for this project myself, this was designed and produced by the lovely Suemoon who has talent beyond my skill as a crochet artist. And to the right we have ‘summer fun tote’ a simple bag crochet in the semi-solid aran weight yarn, ALL of the shades were used to create this bag, but a simple treble stitch and a 4mm hook is all you need... I may even attempt to write this pattern up and share it with you all.... if you’d like to see either of these patterns in the next newsletter please comment bellow.

More bloggy news later in the week, be it crafty or not.

BOO... Did I scare you?

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:40:35 +0100

Yes I know... long time away from the blog, SO long in fact, it took me a few minutes to familiarize myself with the controls once more. I know I say this every time... but this time it’s different, it’s something bigger than a mere promise to blog more. I . AM . GOING . TO . DO . THIS!

SERIOUSLY! GUYS!

There has been some ups and downs over the last few months, but I’m back, and back for good. I have decided come knit or not I will blog at least twice a week... you heard it here first.

So news.... easyknits is getting some great coverage lately, let me fill you in. There has been some great coverage from the lovely guys over at Simply Knitting, first with the easyknits website getting ‘editors choice’, and then again the following month with a glowing review of our Semi Solid Skinny yarns. There is more... much more too. My gorgeous friends over at KAL Media asked if I’d like to be interviewed for their new title, inside crochet, which I jumped at the chance to do, and we’ll be seeing it in print in the next week or so, so very exciting. And with more Magazine titles asking to review yarns and talk to me of late things are getting a little exciting here at EK HQ.

Now the bad news, well not BAD, but a bit ‘unforeseen’. The full time day job told me a month ago, they can’t afford me full time any longer, so yeah, shock and horror at the loss of a chunk of my monthly income, but on the positive side it has been a shove in the right direction for easyknits, giving me 2 extra days a week in which to work hard on making my little yarn business into a global triumph (or something along those lines). With careful budgeting and hard hard work I decided to give this little ‘fun’ yarn thing a real go as a business... watch out world here I come.

And for now, as I have little else to share, apart from LOTS AND LOTS of celebrating, including the wedding of my brother-in-law, the 65th birthday of my wonderful father-in-law and the summer shenanigans of my older brother visiting for a weekend, I leave you with a few pictures from mine and the other half of we’s trip to Luzurn, Switzerland... where as luck would have it (luck and careful planning on my part) there was a town festival involving copious amounts of beer, brass bands and bratwurst. A great time away and a wonderful and friendly town should you ever think of visiting!

Back in a few days, off to send out this months newsletter, and eat the recipe which has been carefully prepared today.... YUM!

Back to the Wheel

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:25:51 +0100

I know it’s been a while again, but it seems that writing a pattern every month for the newsletter, as well as writing the news letter and preparing for all the great shows I’m attending with my new yarns this year, is just taking SO much of my time up at the moment.

Plus being a sicky boy for a whole week with a terrible cold/flu type thing and a chest infection meant that I was home from work and so ill I was even unable to knit.... terrible huh? Well I’m almost back to my usual self again, and slowly catching up on orders and collections for the April Newsletter, which I hope will be posted BEFORE April ends.

So what have we here? Just a little spinning, above was a customer order, the lady in question saw the BFL Fibre collection of ‘New Earth’ and even though she doesn’t spin herself, HAD to have it. I spun it up for her into a fingering weight 2 ply yarn, and she was more than happy with it. I can’t wait to see what it becomes.

To the right we have some more gorgeous fibre from David at Southern Cross Fibers, apart from my own David’s fibre is one of very few other Artisan Dyers that makes it into my stash, but he’s wonderful eye for colour and his AMAZING choice of base fibres keeps me enthralled every month. Here is about 120g of singles, from 1 60g dyed New Zealand Polwarth, and then 1 60g of exactly the same, but it has been passed through a drum carder to ‘heather’ the colours.... simply AMAZING.

I’m currently knitting furiously with these singles in-between all my other must finish projects to make a simple lacy scarf.

Check back soon for more progress, and hopefully more frequent blogging, happy knitting.

SPEEDY SNEAKY BIRTHDAY SOCKS

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 12:24:10 +0100

I’m more than happy when people approach me and ask me to knit a gift for someone... but when they give me less than a week I can sometimes (and understandably) panic.

Here we have a simple sock with a single cable running down the side of the foot, knit in the gorgeous Bamboo/Merino yarn. Knit on 2.5mm needles in less than 5 days ( actually one was knit start to finish in 1 day ).

I love knitting with the bamboo/Merino yarn, it’s so soft and springy, and the finished fabric is luscious and smooth, and has a really amazing ‘matte’ effect that I never thought a yarn with bamboo in it could have.

I have to say, that the recipient was most appreciative and did indeed LOVE the socks, and will be taking them on safari to South Africa with her.... perfect I thought to be knit in both Luau for the bright colours and the Bamboo/Merino for the cooling moisture wicking properties of the yarn.

More birthdays coming up and more knits to be completed, but for now... onward with the April Newsletter free pattern... Back to work people! :-)

SWAMPED

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:02:26 +0000

This months newsletter has taken it out of me... my knitting mojo had left for a while and I was feeling utterly bogged down with so much on.

Shop has been updated with NEW THINGS... please pop over and visit.

Normal Service will resume when I catch up to myself.

TA TA!

Love Socks and Knitty Knibbles

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:26:23 +0000

Well, I know I’ve been quiet for a couple of weeks, but hopefully those of you who subscribe to the easyknits newsletter, will now know why!

I’ve been working on my February newsletter and writing the free pattern to accompany it, not to mention dyeing up all sorts of fibres and yarns to go in the collections section of the shop.

As February has Valentines in it, I decided this months theme would of course be love... so with that in mind I created the cable sock pattern, ‘Traveling hearts & Love knots’ which has to be knit to see the subtle heart shapes and traversing cable twists it contains. Hopefully a few of you will knit this and love it as much as I loved creating it for you. Check it out on the Knit & Knibble Archive along with the GORGEOUS gingerbread heart recipe that Mr. Easyknits contributed to the newsletter, isn’t it just so cute?!

Now, a brief explanation of Knit and Knibble, for most of you this will be new to your ears, but I (or is that ‘we’, as this is a collaboration between myself and Mr. Easykntis ) have been planning this for a while. We decided that our two passions went rather well together, that is, I love to knit, and he loves to cook, as some of you may have already guessed.

We decided that each month with the newsletter we could include a free pattern and recipe together, both the pattern and recipe will work under each months ‘theme’ and be freely available on the website to anyone who would like to try their hand at either.

We’ve already had some feedback about happy knitters with full tums after trying their hand at the Courgette Curry we included in January, and if any of you DO try out the Gingerbread Heart Cookies, or any of the knitting gingerbread people, we’d love to see photos of them.

So if you’re already signed up to the newsletter, why not share your easyknits or easyknibbles with us, by simply emailing photo’s or comments to easyknits, or if you’d like to sign up to the newsletter to get your free monthly recipe & pattern, just pop on over to the home page.

More knitting content to follow soon, it’s been a hectic few weeks here at Easyknits HQ.

White out!

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 11:18:31 +0000

Well... everybody else did it... shared their photo’s of the snow that is, so I decided to do the same.

We’ve been hauled up here for 2 days now, and only JUST managed to get home in the blizzard like conditions from our trip away this weekend. 40mph on the motorway, while snow settled on the lanes, was NOT fun.

Here the Boy enjoys his first experience in the snow, he’s busy trying to dig it, chase it, and generally tread it through the house.... don’t worry, he’s currently tucked up nice and warm next to a heater, he didn’t stay out for too long.