Summer Knitting

If you're in Melbourne, Australia you would have experienced winter 5 days into summer today, hail storm and all!  Some people might complain about the weather but not me.  I love winter and don't mind even if it continues through summer.  Not to mention, the cooler it stays the more suitable it is for knitting!

Although I must admit, I haven't done much knitting throughout this year.  Having three children under the age of 5 meant that I hardly had time to myself.  But I'm glad to say I've made it to December and things are getting easier. The older 2 play together nicely for most of the time and they simply love having their baby brother around.  And just when I feel like I finally have gotten the hang of things, it's all going to change again next year as my oldest starts school! But there is still lots of summer fun to be had before that happens.


I've got the heater cranked up and have spent the afternoon adding some delicious new yarns to my store.  I'm very excited to have a few more yarns by Manos del Uruguay in selected colours.

Manos del Uruguay Lace is a wonderful and luxurious blend of baby alpaca, silk and cashmere. It is light but warm, and is extremely soft to touch. It would be perfect for a few of my favourite patterns: Rock Island, Gradiente and Color Affection.




If you love Manos del Uruguay's Silk Blend then you will also love Fino.  It has the same merino wool and silk blend but is a sport weight for the more refined and elegant projects. Made with a new dyeing process, they come in subtle and tonal colours which are beautiful and different to the strong colours we have been used to seeing from Manos. I personally love soft, pastel colours and have fallen in love with this range of yarn. I also can't wait to knit up these: Fino Circle Scarf, Eternidad Scarf and Martine Hat.


A yarn that has beautiful drape for summer garments is the Manos del Uruguay Serena. It is made up of baby alpaca and prima cotton and has a very versatile gauge. They are coloured using the new kettle-dyeing process which gives the yarn a heathered, stonewashed look. Some suggestions for this yarn and also some of my favourite patterns are: Chiton Pullover, Serena Shadow Shawl, Rayures, Wharton and Sofia.

We have more colours in Lace and Serena arriving soon so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

Joan xo

A Few Pretty Things to Knit

I think most knitters would agree that there are far too many pretty things to knit and not enough time to knit them in.  I always seem to find myself looking up pretty patterns on Ravelry and putting them in my favourites folder with the plan that I might knit them one day, some day, whenever that may be.

Here are a few that I hope to knit in the next year...

Ceramic Flower

I spotted this pretty cowl on Pinterest and was very glad to find the pattern on Ravelry.  It is designed to be knitted with a worsted weight yarn and I think Manos del Uruguay Maxima, with its soft and squishy 100% merino wool, would be perfect for the job.  Or if you prefer a finer, smoother DK yarn, Manos Silk Blend, with its merino wool and silk combination, would do the trick.

In Threes: A Baby Cardigan


I love the simplicity of this little cardigan and would like to knit it for one of my girls.  I would probably knit this up in Manos Wool Clasica which is 100% wool and is perfect for outerwear garments.  Perfect for keeping our little ones warm and cosy on chilly spring/autumn days!

Whitaker

This lovely cardigan has been a favourite of mine for awhile now.  It is a Manos del Uruguay pattern by Cecily Glowik MacDonald, one of the patterns which I have hand-picked to sell on my online store.  It is knitted in Wool Clasica.  The problem I have is trying to pick which colour to knit it in!  Aster, Citric, Cherry or Midnight... what do you think?

Preparing For A Baby

Apart from opening my wool store this year, I have also been busy growing a baby, probably part of the reason why I was also getting sick so much over winter!  As I haven't been a knitter for very long, I didn't get a chance to knit many things for my first two but my aim this time round is to have a little collection of knitted things for this next bundle of joy so here are a couple of them which I thought I'd share with you.

First, a stripe hat pattern I found in a book I borrowed from the local library called "Easy Baby Knits - Clothes & Accessories for 0-3 year-olds" by Claire Montgomerie.  In the book Claire calls this the cotton hat and uses Debbie Bliss Cotton DK but I already had some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino lying around so I have made a wooly hat instead!  This was an easy pattern which only took me a few evenings to complete.  I made it in size 6-12 months and tried it on my 2 year old.  It fitted her although was stretched so I'm sure it will be fine for a 6-12 month old.  Can't wait to see it on the little bubs!

The other thing I'm working on is a pinwheel blanket I found on Ravelry.  I am using Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in Deep Sea for this one.  It was a little tricky to start at first but once you get going it gets easier.  I'm not sure how big I'm going to make it yet but I want bubs to be nice and snug in it so I'll probably use at least 3 skeins.  This wool is so beautiful and soft, and the silk content just makes it devine to touch.  I'm sure the little one will feel extremely comfortable wrapped in this little number!

So there you have it.  I will definitely be adding a few more little cosy knits over the next couple of months but I'm also giving myself some time to get them done seeing we are just heading into summer now and I still have 7 months till winter!  And in case you were wondering, yes, we are having a boy! :)

The Birth of Wool & Flax

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce the grand opening of my very own online wool store - Wool & Flax.  Head over to www.woolandflaxyarns.com.au to have a browse.  Check out our wonderful Manos del Uruguay yarn collection, Knit Pro needles and funky patterns.

This has been a labour in process since the start of February this year.  After 6 months of lots of research, working on a logo and website, ordering my first shipment of wool all the way from Uruguay, taking photos of the products and uploading them, as well as doing all the behind-the-scene things that are involved with starting a small business, we are finally here.  Today is the day I get to share my love for wool and joy of knitting with the rest of the world.  Enjoy! :)

2 Small Projects

Apart from working on getting my online store all setup and ready to go, I have also been working on a couple of small projects. The first was a beret, the first time I had ever knitted one!  I was surprised at how quickly they knit up and was done within 24hrs.  I chose a pattern off Ravelry, the lovely Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson. I got my oldest to pick a colour and knitted the beret up for her.  I didn't change the size though so it is a little bit loose for her as it's meant to be worn by an adult.  I must admit, I have borrowed it from time to time too.  It's amazing how much warmer you are with something on your head, especially when it's made of 100% merino wool!  This was made in Manos del Uruguay's Rittenhouse which is a lovely and soft 5-ply yarn, in colourway Magenta.  Definitely a favourite of mine from the Manos collection.

Then I decided to use some yarn which I was sampling to knit up a cowl which I had promised to my friend, Ben Abraham, about a year ago.  I used Twinkle Baby Chunky in Moss and found a cool manly cowl pattern to use.  I modified the pattern quite a bit but essentially ended up with the same effect, just in a smaller size, using chunkier wool.  Glad to say, it fitted Ben perfectly AND he loved it.  Success!  Now I just have to get him to model it for me so I can take some decent shots of it.

Along with these 2 projects, I have still been working on a Rowan's Savannah Dune cardigan for myself. But that has been a bit slow going.  Hoping to get it done by spring!

An Update On Life

Firstly, apologies for the drought in posts. The last month has been a busy one with setting up the business, ordering wool, twisting skeins of wool, sickness, weddings, bridesmaid duties, housework, raising two cheeky little girls and much more.  But I am glad to say that my friend's wedding was a beautiful one.  Unfortunately I was unable to finish my own shrug due to some time constraints so the bride's mum kindly finished it off for me.  Here's a pic of us bridesmaids in our shrugs...and I'm glad we had them too as it was a chilly day indeed.

On the business front, I am glad to share that the online store should be up and running in the next couple of weeks!  10 large bags of Manos del Uruguay wool arrived at my doorstep a week ago and we have been busy setting up my wool room since.  It feels so good to have wool all around me, my husband has been having trouble getting me out of there.  The blends are beautiful and everytime I look at each colour I find myself falling in love again. How could you not?!

 

Anyway, I am looking forward to showing you all my store very soon so you can join in on the fun and I'm sure you will fall in love as much as I have.  I will also be sharing another simple little pattern in my next post so keep a lookout for that!  In the meantime, I hope you have been keeping warm and knitting some cosy woolies this winter.