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........

Finished items!

This hasn't really got a lot to do with the store, but I've finally got some finished items to share with you. First of all is my shawl, I'm really pleased with this, and it's only taken me a month and a half, which isn't too bad really:


I'm just glad that I've done it in plenty of time for little babe's arrival, especially seeing as I have a few other things that I want to make before he or she puts in an appearance. The other thing that I've made is a little cardigan for little babe to come home from the hospital in. I've used Elan Forever Green again, which is such a lovely yarn to knit with, and I'm working on the pattern at the moment, and hopefully once tested, it will be available. If I don't run out of time that is!
I'm really pleased with the way this has come out, the buttons look a bit large, but I couldn't resist, I got them from incy wincy stitches, and I think that they are fab. Certainly perfect for something a bit special like this.



I'm not the only one finishing projects either, my test knitters have also been doing lots of hard work for me. So far the shoes have all been tested by at least one person, and they're looking great. Hoping that some of the cardigans will be finished soon too.

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?

Dying to tell you more...

Well, I've now managed to actually knit something from the yarn that I dyed, and on the whole I'm quite pleased with the results. The self striping effect worked far better than I had hoped, and I think that these little socks have come out very well.


As ever, there are a few little things that I would change next time I have a go at this, mainly the blue colour. Although it came out nice and strongly as I had hoped, it wasn't quite the shade of blue that I was looking for. I don't know if I can create that shade using food colouring, but I'll have to have a play and see what happens.
My next plan is to try a more random, variegated colour scheme, I think a mixture of yellows and oranges, quite subtle tones this time, might be nice for a few baby items. I'll certainly give the self striping a go in the future though.

A first adventure in dying....

I've been dying (sorry) to try my hand at dying my own wool for quite a while, and although there are a few projects that I'd like some hand dyed yarn for, at the moment, I can't find any undyed 10ply yarn, and it's probably best not to practice (play) with the stuff I really want any way. I had got some undyed 2-3ish ply on a cone though, and thought that I could have some fun with some food colour......
First of all I wound my wool into a skein, as I want it to be self striping, I set chairs about 2.5m apart, and wound the wool around the backs. I secured it with little bits of wool at various intervals, so it wouldn't get too knotted.
Next I soaked it in about a cup of water and cup of white vinegar for about an hour and a half.
Then I mixed my colours in old jam jars, half a cup of vinegar, a cup of water and about 30 drops of each colour into each jar. It sounds like quite a bit, but I'm hoping for a really strong colour. I'm using hansells food colouring, red and blue.
I squeezed the water out of the wool, and put roughly half into each jar.
I then placed them into the microwave and zapped them for 1 min, then moved the yarn slightly so that the white bit was now in the colour.


I continued to zap in minute intervals moving the wool each time, so that the middle bit had plenty of exposure to the dye.
I'm not sure exactly how long it took, but after a while the water in the red jar became clear, and the blue one clearish. I then tipped the lot into the sink, and once it had cooled a bit, rinsed it with clean water.



After squeezing the water out I hung it to dry, and later on, I'll be winding into a ball.
The next plan is to knit a pair of little baby socks with it, and see if the self striping effect actually works........
More pics to follow.

Socks!

Well I've finally got around to adding a few more hand made items to the site, new born baby socks. One pair knit in the lovely Merino Soft 4ply, and the other in Forever Green Elan Organic Merino. Both are lovely and soft, just right for baby's skin. There are only two colour choices at the moment, but I will be adding more later, and I can custom make them, if anyone wants something specific.

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!