HRYC

March 13, 2013

New Arrivals: Knitsch Sock

There's rather a lot of it - and loads of new colours too. Perfect time to start knitting socks and other warm things for the cold weather that is heading our way!

March 06, 2013

New Knitscene

Taking a moment out this afternoon to flip through the new Knitscene mag, oh my oh I was well taken with some of the patterns!

Besides the fact they are yellow and grey - I'm in love with the graphic styling of these Caution mitts by Rebecca Blair

Humboldt Raglan by Alexandra Virgiel - gorgeous simplicity in Cascade 220 Sport (we'll have more in stock in a few weeks)

The eyelet pattern in the yoke of this great pullover has completely won me over. Again perfectly simple yet interesting and balanced design - the Rockfall Sweater by Mari Chiba

And of course i'm saving the best to last:

Grenadine by the one and only, ever wonderful Michaela Moores. It's wonderful to see Michaela in Knitscene - and this tunic dress is a delight. I adore how it puffs out a little at the mid-thigh, just short enough to intrigue. This is great knitwear design - timeless, classic, and yet incredibly modern. It's knit in Spud and Chloe Fine, and it the perfect winter go anywhere, do anything dress. On my queue it goes!

Now I think about it, it would also be gorgeous knit in up in Zealana Kiwi Fingering. Mmmm.

All images are thanks to Knitscene and all pattern links take you to Ravelry.

Happy knitting! xx

March 03, 2013

Thoughts about learning.

I'm knitting a Trellis Lace scarf from Margaret Stove's Three Simple Lace Scarves pattern sheet (that we are now handing out for free, hooray!).

On a tired day, I start the first lace row and have to do it over a couple of times before my brain remembers how to count to 3.

As I sigh, and knit the row again, I wonder at how i'll knit a whole scarf and remember the two different rows of the pattern:

Row 1: k3, * (yo, sl1, k1, psso) 3 times, k1, (k2tog, yo) 3 times, k2. Repeat from * to last stitch, k1.

Row 3: k4, * (yo, sl1, k1, psso) twice, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, (yo, k2tog) twice, yo, k4. Repeat from * to end of row

The first row comes right, row 3 lines up just fine, even though the pattern isn't really visible in the stitches yet. Still I grumpily wonder how i'll ever be able to remember the combinations of yarn overs and knit two togethers.

Trellis Stitch Lace scarf in Malabrigo Silkpaca

And after about 10 repeats, like magic, I can remember the pattern off the top of my head. No more checking back to the pattern. Knitting becomes that lovely gentle dance of balanced increases and decreases.

Which has me thinking about things I put off learning, because I assume I won't be able to remember: I'd like to learn to code; to spin; to learn more crochet stitches. To be able to look at html and know exactly what the outcome will be on a website in the same way as looking at a knitting pattern allows me to visualise how a lace motif will look. I'd love to understand more about the structure of yarn by making my own from scratch. I'd really quite like to make more than just a Granny Stripe Blanket.

There has been plenty of discussion about how knitting is similar to code, so why do I feel like I can't do it?

Here I was, assuming that I couldn't do something, that I wouldn't be able to remember. That the skills weren't mine. I'm sure we all have these moments of self-doubt. People come in to the shop and say they couldn't possibly do this that or the other thing - and I always disagree.

We can do anything we put our mind to with practice.

With practice we get better. Once a upon time, my school Principal used to say 'repetition is the mother of all study.' Boy was she right. Do things over and over, try again and again; you will improve. Something I need to remind myself of when something feels too hard to spend the time furrowing my brow over.

I would like to challenge you to do something that seems a bit too hard, a little beyond you. Those things you would like to learn but choose to go do the dishes or some other mundane task instead. Let's go do the tough stuff.

All this from two rows of a lace pattern.

March 02, 2013

Knit Twitter Feed

I've stumbled across something so amazing, so magnificent, that I had to share it with you immediately. (Thanks for the link, Rochelle!)

Knitterstream is a data visualisation project that believes all that online chatter shouldn't disappear. So they took tweets and turned them into knit fabric in real time. OMG.

Not only have they made something amazing with a knitting machine, it's a great reminder that what we do everyday may seem a little mundane, a little dull, but it is ours. That in itself makes it special. And we're knitters: we make special things from long bits of pretty string and pieces of wood. Incredible. We create, we make, we produce. And thanks to this, we are part of a great community of knitters.

Best of all: anyone can join us :)

Have a great weekend, everyone.

January 22, 2013