Oh dear!

Well time just seems to have run away from me lately, and it's months and months since my last post here.  Mind you it's been a while since I've had anything to really post about.  I've been busy with quite a bit of custom dying, and I've been busy on a few new patterns, but until now they've been a long way from being ready to be released.  Until now that is, my latest pattern is now live and ready to down load:

My T-bar baby shoes, a crochet pattern available in both US and British terms, is now on NZ Wools.  I've got a few more in the pipeline too, so watch this space........

I love ewe 2; another last minute valentine free heart crochet pattern

Crochet Heart Pattern

After making my last minute valentine knitting pattern last year, I thought that I'd better create something equally good again for this valentines day.  I thought for a little while and then came up with this simple crochet heart, based on a triangular granny 'square'.
As with all of our free patterns, you are welcome to make them for your own use or charity, but please get in touch if you wish to sell them.

Materials
Small amount of red yarn (I used dk)
Suitable hook for gauge (4mm in my case)
Glue
Card
Abbreviations
Ch; chain
dc; double crochet (us) or treble (UK)
trbl; treble (us) double treble (UK)
Pattern
Ch 5, sl st to form circle
Round 1; Ch 3, 2dc , ch 5, 3dc, ch 5, 3 dc, ch 5, slst to close round.
Round 2; ch3, dc into next two dc, * dc3 into ch space, ch 5, dc3 into ch space, dc into next 3 dc, repeat from * around slst to first dc to close round.
Round 3; ch3, work around outside of heart, dc into each dc below, at the corners dc 5dc into ch space, slst to last dc to close round.
Round 4; slst to corner of heart, turn heart, miss 4 sts and 8 trbl into 5th stitch, miss 4 sts and slst to next st, miss 4 sts and 8 trbl into 5th st, slst to corner and fasten off.

Making up
Sew in ends.
Glue the heart
Write the card and give it to a loved one.

© COPYRIGHT Kelly Jo Sweeney 2011

This pattern is offered free of charge for your own personal use. Please do not make items using this pattern for sale. Should you wish to sell items made from this pattern, then please contact me for details of my Cottage Industry Licenses.

kelly@nzwools.co.uk

For yarns, more free patterns and knitting and crochet accessories, please see my site: http://www.nzwools.co.uk

Why use 100% pure new wool?

There are many lovely acrylic yarns on the market today, and often they are cheaper and easier to wash than pure wool. So, why would anybody want to use 100% pure wool instead?

There are a number of advantages to wool, that acrylic, and other synthetic yarns just can't match.

Pure wool is a natural fibre and so it breaths, this has two advantages, it helps to keep you warmer in cold weather, and cooler in warmer weather.

Wool also wears better, and so lasts longer than acrylic yarns, it's less likely to pill and far more likely to keep it's shape than it's synthetic counterparts. Special baby items made from wool can be passed on, and used by many different babies, while still looking as good as new, while your own favourite cardigan or jumper will last longer, and look good for longer if made out of wool.

Wool is also a natural fibre, so it is less likely that people will have any allergy issues with it. Our Forever Green Élan Organic Merino in particular, is ideal as a baby yarn,being soft, natural and so is perfect next to a newborn babies sensitive skin.

This yarn will need hand washing, so if you are looking for something that is a little easier to care for, then the Merino Soft 4ply baby wool, which is machine washable, is an ideal yarn to consider. It is also very soft, and ideal for creating baby wear, or treating yourself to something special.

Many parents like to use cloth nappies for their children, as they do not like to have the chemicals found in disposable nappies next to their children's delicate skin. Wool makes a fantastic fibre to create a nappy cover or wrap from, due to it's ability to breathe, repel water, and yet absorb moisture at a microscopic level. The same fibre that can keep sheep warm and dry or cool and dry depending on the weather, is perfect for keeping your baby comfortable and dry. Our DK, aran and chunky weight wools are perfect for hand knit or crochet wraps, soakers, shorties and longies.

Being a natural fibre, it is far kinder to the environment to produce than synthetic counterparts. Combined with its other benefits, perhaps the questions should not by why use 100% pure wool, but why wouldn't you use 100% pure wool?

MORE new stock

Finally I seem to be getting all the new stock in that I've been waiting for. Lots of new neeldes and hooks arrived yesterday. I've now got 100 cm circular needles, as well as the 50 cm. (More sizes to follow later) Bamboo dpns have also arrived and some bamboo tunisian crochet hooks. I haven't actually tried tunisisan crochet (or afgan stitch) myself, but I'm going to give it a go. They are the funniest looking things though, knitting needle at one end and crochet hook at the other.



I've had an email to say that I've got lots of lovely wool on the way too, should be leaving the mill on Monday, on route to me, so it won't be long until it's here. How exciting, it will just be a case of trying to avoid using it all myself now.....

Baby shoes

I've finally got around to finishing and listing some hand made items on the shop. There will be more to follow, but to begin with I've got a few hand crochet baby shoes, made by me with our lovely soft yarns. I've used both the Merino Soft 4ply and the Elan Forever Green Organic Merino.
They fit from newborn to around 6 months.

New stock

It's perhaps really quite sad, but I'm really excited about getting more new stock in. Yesterday I got a big box through the post, and rather than Christmas gifts, it had some new goodies for NZ wools There were some brand new bamboo circular needle sets, 16 needle sizes in each one, and some brand new bamboo crochet hooks. I bought some of these for myself to try a while ago, and it's all I'm using now, so I hope that other people will like them as much.




I also ordered some little craft shears (I think that's probably a better way to describe them than scissors) great for snipping off the ends of threads. They come in a choice of colours too, red, green and blue.

Busy busy busy

Well, the website has been up and running for a while now, and I'm quite pleased with it. I do need a bit more stock though, so I'm busy placing new orders for some things that should be available towards the end of the month/New Year.
I've got some lovely new organic merino baby wool on the way, and I've ordered some bamboo knitting needles and crochet hooks, so I'm going to be extending the range by quite a bit.
I've also been working on a couple of new free patterns to offer, just got to do a bit of double checking on this one, but hopefully the pattern for this lovely new wrap cardigan will be available in the next few weeks or so.
I'm really pleased with the way that this one has come out, and I think that I may have to make one for my little babe, better get cracking, because although he/she isn't due to put in an appearance until April, I've got a lot of other things that I want to try and make before then too.
I'm also hoping to make a few of my crochet shoes and knit some pairs of organic baby socks to sell on www.nzwools.co.uk too. I'm going to be busy for a while yet, I can see!