HRYC

Our first ever Twitter Knit Chat was a huge success - thanks so much to everyone who took part! You helped make #twitknit the top trending hashtag in New Zealand! Now that's pretty awesome. I think we should try for the same every week...

Number one!

I thought a quick round up and links to some of the great patterns mentioned would be useful - so here you go!

Pathways Blanket by Frankie Brown

I Heart Aran sweater

Flying Without Wings

I'm already looking forward to next Monday! Join us at 8pm NZ time for a whole lot of fun knitting chatter. There's a also a growing list of special guests being lined up for future sessions...hooray!

 Hip hip hooray! It's the weekend and the weather is looking pretty frightful here in Wellington. 

If you're local, pop out to the shop (avoiding stray tree branches and big gusts of wind) and grab 10% off all Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky yarn. It's big, soft, squishy and a delight to play with. 

I've also just whipped up a batch of Nigella's chocolate brownies (gluten free, hooray!) for Saturday Sit & Knit. 

If you aren't so local, the code 'Weekend Treat' will get you 10% off in the online shop until Monday morning. Happy shopping and knitting! 

xx Tash

 Knit Chat on Twitter isn't a new thing - but down here in the South Pacific it can be a bit tricky to catch the American discussions.

So, why not have our own?

How it works: 

1. If you haven't already: Join Twitter! (it's easy, honest)
2. Hop online at 8pm NZ time 
3. Enter 'twitknit' in the search bar or in your Twitter app
4. Join the conversation!

 The number of people taking up the needles is noticeably increasing - lots of my personal friends have been inspired of late, which fills me with joy. It means i'm on the hunt for patterns that are beautiful finished objects and feature just one or two techniques that are challenging enough to keep a new knitter interested but not so hard that they throw their work in the corner in frustration.

Here's a bunch of easy going projects that are perfect to transition into warmer weather knitting.

Mira's Cowl - a drapey 4 ply cowl that will be lovely to throw over your head on a summer evening

Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat - cuteness!

Terribly Simple by Caitlin Ffrench - seriously, awesomely simple but a great shape and you can use any yarn your heart desires.

Carol Feller's Adrift: besides the fact I LOVE this colour, this is a good foray into a simple garment. In fact, I might just make one. Going by the projects on Ravelry it looks like people have used 4ply yarn with no modifications with success.

Do any of my tried and true knitters have any simple pattern suggestions for our newbies?

 For donkeys' now i've been wanting to hand out purchases in tote bags - rather than plain old paper bags - to make your shopping experience a little more exciting. It seems a bit nicer to be able to tuck your new yarn into re-usable calico that can be used time and again (and also make for very good project bags).

Where exactly am I going with this?

Oh! Here!

Our lovely new tote bags! You'll get one of these for absolutely nothing when you spend $100 or more in store or through the online shop. Not bad, huh?

I'll also pop them up for sale too, if you're totes desperate for one (see! What I did there! Yep.)

xx Tash