Sunday 27 May 2012

More red, white and blue

For those of you caught up in Jubilee fever knit yourself a patriotic wristband...
(photos: copyright Mike Hodgson) Here's what you do: Cast on 9 stitches in red yarn. Knit 10 rows garter stitch, slipping every row's first stitch purlwise and knitting through the back of every row's last stitch. Row 1: slip 1 purlwise, knit 1, knit 1 through back of stitch. Put other 6 stitches on a holder and continue to work on the first three stitches. Row 2: slip 1 purlwise, purl 1, knit 1 through back of stitch. Repeat rows 1 and 2 until the band is long enough to fit round your wrist. Keep these three stitches on a spare bit of yarn, join white yarn to the next three stitches on the spare needle and work the same number of rows 1 and 2. Put the white stitches on spare yarn, join blue yarn to the last three stitches from the spare needle and work the same number of rows 1 and 2. Return all stitches to one needle and knit another 10 rows of garter stitch as before across all of them, adding a button hole, by casting off the central stitch on the 5th row and casting on over the gap on the 6th row. Sew all ends in. Sew a button on. Wear on your wrist while your chest swells with pride and you join in with Land Of Hope and Glory. Too much? Hmm, possibly... I made my first one by knitting all the single sections in the middle at one time but it all got a bit twsited and messy. If you don't have time to make your own, we'll be selling them at the Jubilee Craft Fair.

Thursday 24 May 2012

The Big Moving Downstairs Sale

[FOR DETAILS OF THE SHORT STORY COMPETITION - NEW CLOSING DATE IS 5TH JUNE - PLEASE SEE HERE.] There should be pictures and SALE!!! in big letters but being a low-key kind of girl I'll simply tell you we've reduced quite a few of the yarns in the shop with a view to making the move more manageable. Just a few examples... Debbie Bliss Paloma at £4.50 per hank; all the Rialtos we stock now £4.20; Artesano 100% alpaca DK and 4 ply now £4.10. There are lots more too. Prices last till 4pm on 30th May. (I'm really sorry that these particular reductions are in the shop only - most of them are lines that aren't as yet on the website.) We'll be closed 31st May and probably the 1st June as well. For the first few days after we re-open - between 2nd and 5th June, the duration of the Piece Hall Craft Fair - all visitors will have the chance of free entry into a draw for a copy of Debbie Bliss's lovely Knits to Give book.

Monday 21 May 2012

Come on, you reds...and whites...and blues...

[SHORT STORY COMPETITION DETAILS HERE. CLOSING DATE NOW 5TH JUNE] We need something to make the window look suitably patriotic for the Jubilee weekend so I'm knitting a few red, white and blue flowers. This is the grand total so far:
The pattern (free online at http://dianne-jones.blogspot.co.uk) offers great instructions for the petals and then is a little less detailed about how to complete the flowers - which is fine by me; I never do as I'm told anyway. In the absence of other ideas I've made i-cord on my wonderful knitting mill gadget and wrapped it into a ring to make a circular centre. Three down, many many more to go...

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Scarborough warning

[DETAILS OF SHORT STORY COMPETITION HERE.}
(Image copyright brumbeat.net) Yay! We have a date! The move downstairs will take place on 31st May, so we'll be closed that day. Sorry. We're hoping to re-open on the 1st June, although the degree of dissarray we're in will dictate that... In the meantime, we'll be having some 'Let's-not-carry-all-this-stuff-down-the-stairs bargains'. And don't forget we already have great deals on the Colour Works Aran and the Kureuyon sock yarn. Call in soon and let us tempt you... PS Anyone else for the proposed Woolfest trip on 23rd June? Please drop me an email or call in if you're likely to be interested.

Thursday 10 May 2012

[SHORT STORY COMPETITION DETAILS HERE]
This is what the reduced Kureyon sock yarn looks like. Tempting, huh?

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Stocking up...

[DETAILS OF SHORT STORY COMP HERE] A couple of bits of news about stock... We now have Kureyon sock yarn in the shop - it'll be added to the website in the next couple of days. And because this was a special, one-off purchase we're selling it at the knock-down price of £9.25 per 100g. The colours, as you'd expect from Noro, are something else so don't miss the opportunity to grab a Noro bargain!
And, with some regret, we've decided to sell off the lovely Colour Works Aran from Patons. It's a soft and light self-striping acrylic, wool and nylon mix and is very attractive. I'm particularly proud of the blue elephant I made in this, even if his head is more wobbly than the optimum. We're selling this at £3.15, which was cheaper than I could find it elsewhere in a very rudimentary online search!

Friday 4 May 2012

SHORT STORY COMPETITION!! STOP PRESS!!

The closing date for entries to the Three Bags Full/Knock On Effect short story competition is now extended to the 5th June 2012. There are a number of reasons for this, but one major one is that over the Jubilee weekend of 2nd to 5th June, there'll be a Craft Market in the Piece Hall courtyard. Any visitors to the market will therefore be able to drop their stories off in person and save themselves a bit of postage. (Be aware that we're also hoping that by the end of May Three Bags Full will be relocated within the Piece Hall to Unit 64, downstairs between Ace Clothing and For Heavens' Cake.) Thanks for all your entries so far. Keep 'em coming!