Preparing for Unravel

Hi guys,

Sorry it’s been so quiet around the blog – we’re busy doing this:

That is just 1 days deeply wicked dyeing concentrating on reds and purples – today I’m concentrating on blues and greens

I find a days colour palate helps me know what colours I’ve dyed already

Hope you’re going to come along to see us at Unravel, Farnham? We’ve got a bigger booth this year, those of you who came to see us last year may remember the tight squeeze it was to get all of our stock on show – and this year we’ve got deeply wicked, little guys and lots of fluff for you all to play with
Unravel is takin place in just over a week on february 25-26, find out more about the show here

In other news, Sushi Shawl Along 9.0 is open for sign up and filling up fast, find out more and save your place here

Sign up and then have your say on theme/style/colours over on the easyknits forum on Ravelry, we welcome all thoughts and ideas.

Right that’s all I have time for, back to work I go … More dyeing, winding and labelling to be done – see you all in just over a week.

Jx

Cherry Bomb Spin-a-thon!

 

Well here I am again, and who would have thought 2 posts in a row would be about spinning? It’s not that all I have been doing IS spinning, but for the moment the things I’ve been working on I can’t share with you … y’know… top secret and all that jazz

In my last post I talked about how thrilled I was with the result of my spinning ( having not spun for a long time, except to teach a spindle class in December ). I was super happy with the results of my Punk Pansy spinning, the only disappointment was that I was going for ‘sport’ weight yarn and ended with DK, and a pitiful 150m.

I thought about it a while, then asked some of my spinny piers for their advice to achieve the illusive ‘fingering weight /300m’ mark with my handspun. A few conversations later (thanks Marieanne) and I realized there was a simple truth to my lack of length to my spun yarns …. I wasn’t checking my WPI in my singles. Had I done this way back when, I would have been a lot closer to my goal a long time ago. Going by ‘eye’ doesn’t cut it with spinning I’m afraid, well not for me anyway, I needed to see just how fine my singles needed to be to achieve the perfect fingering weight yarn.

So with much pride and a little delay in my ‘once a week’ blog post promise … welcome my first ever Twinkle Fluff (extrafine Merino/ Silk / stellina) spin – Cherry Bomb

 

95g / 280m / 16wpi 3-ply medium/light fingering weight. Spun on Mach II

Cherry Bomb, is my first real ‘fingering weight’ yarn… and with a whopping 280m in the 95g skein here, by far the longest I have ever ever spun any yarn. I feel like this marks a turning point for me and my spinning, achieving fingering weight has hung over me like a shadow for a long while in my spinning life, and if I’m honest, at times kept me away from my wheel.

Now I’m not saying that this is the best spinning I’ve ever done, by far it is not. IT has thick and thin moments, and the plying was a little ‘iffy’ in places as my wheel and I had a little falling out (don’t worry we’re friends again now)… but as far as length and weight go, I’m pleased as punch, and ‘Cherry Bomb’ will go a long way towards restoring my confidence on the wheel. Also spinning a blend of Merino/silk for the first time too, made me more confident with spinning new fibres.

It feels good to set a challenge and make it a long way towards achieving it in 1 spin, so before I loose momentum, I think I should publicly set myself another challenge…. and after this mornings success at counting the best yardage I’ve ever achieved… I can afford to critique myself a little. I love my latest handspuns, but what I feel my handspun yarn lacks is ‘loftiness’ and ‘air’, although I’ve achieved a great length, I still feel my yarns are too dense and compact. An answer to this is simple, well it’s simple to say, but possibly not to achieve, longdraw – EEEP!

The next time I post about spinning, I will have spun 100g of fluff in the longdraw method, from chats and youtube videos I’ve seen that it is all about technique and style, and just ‘going for it’, so that is what I will do. Wish me luck

Oh.. and for those of you wondering what is going on with Mummy Mitts, being knit out of my Punk Pansy spin from the last post? Progress has been made and will continue slowly while other more urgent projects take over for a while… but it’s cute huh?

Mummy Mitten

More News and updates from the dyepots and wheel next week folks

Spin, Span, Spun

Hello, gosh is it 2012 already? I look back and see I haven’t posted in the longest time… oh dear.

Well I’m making a resolution today, you can do that right? It doesn’t ONLY happen at new years, surely? From today I will post at least 1 blog post a week, regardless of how little I feel I might have to say, or how uninterested you most likely will be, deal? OK, good, lets move on.

I hope you all had a fabulous festive season, I certainly did, it was my 30th birthday and I celebrated in style with my gorgeous husband whisking me around the world for 17 days of adventure and sightseeing… but that is all things I can share with you in quieter weeks on the blog right?

I have finally gotten back into the swing of dyeing again, after a long break over the holidays it took me a while to find my mojo again, I started off gently, dyeing up colours I know and love to dye, replacing out of stock items on the shop etc. But this week, I felt more like my adventurous old self and got busy with the Deeply Wicked, which as always has been very well received.

But today I want to share with you my delight, and overwhelming smugness with my latest attempt at spinning.

For the longest time, I have run hot and cold with spinning, going at it like crazy for weeks then not touching my wheel or spindle for months… but in 2012 I’d very much like to change that. This week I dyed some roving in a new and unusual way, because I had a thought, maybe a finished spun yarn doesn’t have to resemble the fibre it started out as. For some of you more seasoned spinners, this may very well be old news, but for me, it was an exciting ‘lightbub’ moment.

I set to work on dyeing my fibre in the new more adventurous way, and was really quite happy with the finished results, really acid bright and contrasting flecks of colour on a snow white backdrop… like a multicolored Dalmatian.

Punk Pansy dyed fibre

Then I set to work spinning it up, wanting to get the best result I could, I took my time and sectioned the fibre into 3rds, and then each 3rd in half, pre- drafting to get a nice smooth even roving that would slip through my fingers nicely. The spin took just 6hrs over 2 evenings, and the plying a further 2.5hrs.

I was so happy with the final result, if not a little miffed that the yarn is quite short, just 165m. I thought I was spinning to a fingering / 4-ply weight, and when I checked the final WPI of the singles and the finished yarns, seems my singles WERE 4-ply, but x 3 made for more like DK/Worsted weight.

No matter …. it’s pretty, and it’s even and it proved that fibre and finished yarn can look much MUCH different, and it is wound and ready to be cast on as mittens for mothers day. I think I may line them with a baby pink soft alpaca yarn I’ve laying around, even though the Merino/Nylon fibre is deliciously soft, more just to spoil my mum and make them extra special for her, watch this space for progress photos soon.

Punk Pansy spun yarn

There are three more braids of Punk Pansy available along with many more delicious spinning fibres in the easyknits.co.uk shop right now here…. more coming next week in the ‘punk’ range with splashes of colour that blend and soften with spinning.

Chat to you all next week.

 

Jx

 

 

The Big Knit, November 13 – with new & exclusive products

Hi Guys,

It’s coming up to the weekend, and it’s time to pack up the knit-wagon and head on off to Exeter for ‘The Big Knit’ show, being held in Exeter’s ‘Corn Exchange’.

This is the first time Easyknits.co.uk will have attended the show, and I’m really excited (and as always a little nervous) about it.

I’m frantically trying to pack what yarn I think I should take along, knowing that I cannot the my ‘full range’ as I usually would to any show a) because the set up time for vendors is only 2hrs & b) because I have just 2 table tops worth of space, plenty, but not big enough for my normal racks. Also this will be the first show this year where I’ll be alone, Mr Easyknits can’t come along as he’s working the weekend for his real job, but I’m sure it will all be GREAT.

Also there will be a couple of brand new and exclusive items coming along with me to the show. We’ve not taken any fibre for spinning to a show in over a year now, but we’ll be bringing some delicious and BRAND NEW fibres for spinners to the show, introducing:

TWINKLE FLUFF

A beautiful new spinning fibre, made up of extra fine merino/silk and stellina, a luxury fibre for spinners that just glistens and sparkles like all the yarns in our twinkle family, only now you can spin it yourself . Photo’s do not show just how glittery it really is!!

and

DEEPLY WICKED – HEAVENLY

The ever stunning Deeply Wicked family has grown once again, adding the delectable and super squishy ‘heavenly’ to its fold. The 100% superwash merino  DK weight ‘roving style’ yarn, is a thick/thin, deliciously soft and cuddly base, with a generous 220m, dyed in the same vibrant and exquisite style as all Deeply Wicked. No two skeins will ever be the same.

If you’re coming along, and there is something you’d LOVE us to bring along from the shop, let me know, as space is limited and I’ll only be bringing a selection of our best sellers and  new products along.

Details of the show are below, I hope to see you there!

The big KNIT show

13th November 2011 – 10am-4pm

Venue Address: Exeter Corn Exchange, Market Street, Exeter, EX1 1BW

www.knitexpo.co.uk
info@knitexpo.co.uk
01392 – 411700

Fibre Flurry Madness

Hi guys,

I know it’s taken me a few days to get around to writing this post, but really only just recovered and sorted myself out since getting home from Birmingham on Sunday evening!

Fibre flurry took place at the beautiful st. Nicholas place, as it did last year too! What a beautiful old and new building to have a show in

FRIDAY Arriving on Friday afternoon for set up its always great to arrive and be greeted by your best wooly friends in the business. Having the same spot as last year (with a bit extra) was great as we knew pretty much what would go where and how it would fit. So with the help of my glamorous assistant we began the slow process of unpacking and building up the stand. And with extra help (thanks Jeanette) we soon were unpacked and ready to rock ‘n’ roll!

We headed off to find out hotel, where we were staying with the delightful NDS crew, Mr wool, Fyberspates and a few other knitty pals. Even though we were all knackered from set up, we don’t see each other that often so we all make the effort to be sociable and have a few drinks and dinner if we can manage, which we did.

Afraid I had to cry off the fun and frolics early as I wasn’t 100% happy with my colour arrangement on the stand and wanted an extra early start to head back over to the venue and get ‘fluffing’, but I heard it didn’t continue on too much longer that night

SATURDAY The day began with a stop off at McDonald’s for a coffee and a muffin to keep us going through the busy morning we were hoping for, then straight to the venue to get sorting. An hour passed and I was finally happy with the general rainbow effect I’d managed to create across the ranges – subtle but pleasing for me and my obsession with colour (really am obsessed with lots and LOTS of colour).

The doors opened at 10am and the customers came flooding in, it was GREAT! We had a lot of ‘oohing and ahhing’ and ‘squeeing’ as people came into the hall we were in… it was a great day, busy and fun, and lovely to see friends and regular customers popping by to say hi, show off their projects and hand over gifts of food parcels and nibbles ( Thanks Liz & Karen).

Overall we had a wonderful day and were super happy with the feedback, but as always it’s a tiring long day… so we broke the stand down and shot back to the hotel for a quick shower and change, then off out with our show buddies for dinner and a merry reflection on the day

We had a great show and thanks to all who came by and said hi. Will leave you with a few snaps of the stand.

Introducing…

I’d like you to say hello to my little friends… they’re very shy, but oh so cute. Let me tell you about my little guys…

Introducing the  offspring of our  ‘Big Boy’ range …

• 100% British yarn
• Blended exclusively for easyknits.co.uk
• Fantastic colour combinations
• Little Guys want to help – they are very versatile!

Little Guys are 5 colour-delicious 20g mini skiens that arrive as a family. They have been created to complement each other – well, they’re like tiny brothers and sisters, mix and match them, they love it!

The Little Guys range is exclusive to easyknits.co.uk and has been specifically dyed to create super stripey socks, funky fair isle or blindin’ blanket segments.

Little Guys are exactly the same base yarn as our Big Boy range, so why not pair them up for the perfect fair isle project?

They’re your Little Guys – what will you create?

Incidentally… I took 1 20g mini skein and managed to create 5 delicious hexipuffs for the Beekeepers Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits, so 1 set of Little Guys would be enough for 25 little hexi’s

Going live on the website at 11am today… and there is a VERY limited stock, in fact, so limited once they’re gone we won’t be able to offer you more until January 2012, but hopefully you’ll think it worth the wait.

Click here  to get your ‘Little Guys’ today!

Who loves ya baby?

Well isn’t that nice? When your copy of the knitter magazine arrives and you casually start thumbing through only to see a skein of yarn you think you recognise? To read further and realise it is infact a skein of ‘Deeply Wicked’ easyknits.co.uk getting a huge thumbs up wonderful news

The knitter loves section always has some lush stuff on offer each month – I was thrilled to see our deeply wicked yarn get a spot and a glowing write up too!

Thanks guys, glad you love it – we do too

New Website Launch

Well what a roller coaster of a couple of weeks we have had here at Easyknits.co.uk HQ.

We’ve been so busy cataloguing and counting and photographing and updating that we’ve had little time for anything else.

But I hope you will all agree it has been well worth it in the end? Last Friday we hit the switch and launched our new website, but what is different? Well LOTS!

On the new site we have:

• stock control
• shopping cart
• postage calculation
• discount codes
• new product images
• search functionality
• order tracking

… and that is to name but a few of the new functions our new ‘ecomms’ website has allowed us.

We’re still very much in the learning stage with the new site, but each day we’re finding new and exciting things that it will enable us to offer you. Hopefully within a month everyone will be as familiar and at home on the new site than they were on the old one.

Why not head on over there now and have a mooch? It’s really clean and crisp and super easy to navigate your way around the shop.

One of my most favourite functions has to be the search field, if you type a colour or a fibre content, every skein of yarn available for purchase that relates to those colours or criteria will pop up in front of you… fabulous eh? Perfect for browsing for yarn for that certain project.

Also if you’re looking for a pattern for a particular garment, simply type the garment type in and a list of all of our patterns available will pop up for you, but as you all know me well enough by now, that will mainly be socks/shawls or scarfs

We hope you enjoy the new shop and of course we welcome your feedback on every detail of the site, there are a few ranges we’ve had to remove from stock for now, but most of these will be returning with a re-vamp in coming weeks, so keep checking back for news on those.

To celebrate the launch we’re offering a 10% discount on orders placed before Sunday 2nd Oct, simple quote the discount code ‘easynewlaunch’ at check out to apply your 10% discount.

In print – Again!

Well, I know I’ve been a little quiet for a couple of weeks, but I’ll hope you’ll have noticed why?

Yep – that’s right the new website has gone live!

After a whole month of work and preparation the website went live yesterday, and it was as smooth a transition as I could have hoped for and feedback so far has been great! Pop
over and have a browse if you’ve not already had a look and see what you think!

Anyway – back to the reason for this post! Ive had another pattern published, this time in ‘Simply Knitting’ magazine issue 85 – October 2011.

The design is a snugly and squishy, winter warming theme, a mans sweater knit in a roving style ‘slubby’ yarn, it’s a super quick knit with a interesting but not overly difficult pattern to keep you interested, consisting of twisting cables and lovely textured moss stitch.

Perfect for the man in your life – or if you’re me…. Yourself

We recommend using our cloud yarn for this knit, and if you want to order enough for the knit in 1 shade, contact us directly and we’ll offer you a batch deal on the price when you quote ‘Diamond Geezer Sweater’

Deeply Wicked dilemma

So, with the twinkle DK cowl off the needles and waiting to be modelled at the weekend I’m left with a tough decision in front of me of what to cast on next?

I have gone through things I’d like to knit for myself this year, there is a particular need for me to design a huge cuddly cable sweater for myself, but the yarn hasn’t been dyed for that yet – maybe next month.

I’m already working on several club designs at the moment, and not forgetting the X-Factor mystery KAL designs too ( have been thinking about the next garment idea a lot this week ).

So what does it leave me for my ‘unwinding’ for myself type knitting – nothing at the moment! Believe me, even though I dye yarn and knit every day, there are still days when I want to knit for me, several of my designs started life as a ‘for me’ project, where I just sat and played with no idea of what I was creating other than ‘shawl’ or ‘sock’.

So here is my dilemma – I have an idea of colourwork scarf/shawl design in my head – but I cannot choose between 3 colour combinations of Deeply Wicked yarn…. yarns I have sneakily kept for myself from updates in previous weeks (hey, a Yarnie has to have his perks of the job, eh?)

So help me out if you can? What do you think of any of these combinations? Comments and suggestions are welcome

“bigger on the inside blue & time vortex gold”

“kingfisher blue & banoffee yellow”

“deep forest earth & link green”