Scratching the Knitting Itch

It’s been almost a year since my last trip to New Plymouth, the place of my birth.

I’m a real mountain girl – there is something about the wise, reassuring strength of a mountain. And the snow. I loves me some snow.

However with the trip to the UK and the busyness of shop life, I haven’t made it to a mountain yet this winter.

This morning I’ve been corresponding with a new customer, and she mentioned that Taranaki is her home. At which I got rather excited. Next thing – there is a photo, days old, of the mountain:

Swoon. My customers are seriously ace.

A previous boyfriend had a real thing for vintage cameras. Like, a crazy crazy thing that lead to a collection well into the hundreds.

I didn’t discourage the collecting, as they are such beautiful objects in their own right, before they create more beautiful images.

Seeing just the cover of the new Twist Collective had me saying ‘oooooh pretty!’.

I love Twist Collective – and not just for the patterns. It really is a beautiful product in its entirety – from the lush layout to the small details that would be otherwise noticeable in their absence. I do really love that you have to click through to read full articles. As a visual sort of person, words can interrupt the flow of beautiful images and colour. (I do like to read, but: pretty pictures!)

Having said that, i’m not sure i’ll actually knit anything from this issue. Possibly because, in the back of my mind, there is an epic queue of projects already waiting to be started. I could be swayed to look at knitting Grenadine, as I love the drape of the neckline. It could be that I adore the gumboots too…

What do you love out of the latest issue? Did you read the ‘Problem Ladies’ section – it made me giggle! Share your thoughts!

Here in New Zealand it gets pretty cold. But not Antarctica cold. Which is why we’re all a little perplexed at why an Emperor penguin should decide to grace our shores.

So we’ve all engaged in a nice wee love story to rival other animal love stories (we do this often: Shrek the sheep, Opo the dolphin, Gin the escape artist otter). But this is the best yet.

(image from here)

He’s been dubbed ‘Happy Feet’ and is now resident at Wellington Zoo for treatment from issues that no penguin should have to deal with – mainly sand in the stomach.

Anyway, as people on the internets are wont to do, there is a hilarious wee blog penned by Happy Feet himself. Go have a giggle.

Over the past month or so I’ve been doing a bit of teaching, mainly things like socks, and knitting in the round.

One thing really, really annoyed me.

Circular needles are not created equally.

You don’t want your first attempt at knitting in the round or magic loop to be a nightmare of trying to shove stitches around your cable or over the join where the cable meets the needle. More than likely this will cause you to throw your work in the corner in frustration and never pick up a circular again.

Think of your needles as essential tools – if you pay that little bit extra, they will last longer, and bring more pleasure to the knitting process.

My first (awful) set of circular needles were cold metal things. The join was annoying, and as I was making a garment required a great deal of use. By the time I had finished, the entire tip of one needle had worn away and they were basically useless – I had to buy a new circ if I wanted to use the same size again. That made me pretty ragey.

So, for the Merry Go Round class we had at Holland Road Yarn Company last week I put together an essential list of things to consider when it comes to buying circulars.

Things you need to look out for:

• Where the needle joins the cable. This MUST be smooth. If there are any dents, kinks or gaps here, they will drive you crazy and make you loathe knitting in the round. Avoid at all costs.
• The needle points – are they reasonably sharp? Not stab holes in your fingers sharp, but pointy enough to get into sttiches easily. Blunt needles will drive crazy, as above.
• The cable – you want this to be flexible, not too think and not hold kinks. If you do find your cable holding kinks, fill a pot with boiling water, throw the cable in for a couple seconds, and fish it out again. This should soften it up enough to get rid of any bends and prevent it from happening again.
• Interchangeables: these are a wonderful invention. Interchangeables allow you to change your cable length and needle size according to your project without having to invest in more needles. Once you have a basic set of sizes you use most, it will make life much easier.

Ewww, do those two things even go together? I suppose, seeing as I’ve caught myself an awful cold and have been sat on the couch for 2 days straight knitting and trying to get better.

Promise the new colours and new stitch markers will be up online tomorrow – silly naughty cold for stopping me from doing it on the day I intended!

There are also a few more spots left in the Yarn Club – feel free to email me if you want to pay by instalments. The secret parcel is really something amazing, so be sure not to miss out!