Shop Garden & New Products

We've created a little outdoor garden around the shop bike, hoping that will now prevent people from climbing, and trying to carry it off, even though it has a lock on it, with a sign 'Gather' below a shop window with the same name. Crikey!  Anyway, for those who realise the bike is a shop prop, and are enticed by it and our lovely garden to come in to the store, we promise we have lots of exciting new products; chunky felted yarn, pom-pom garlands; and more!!  Have a look at our new products page online here.

Crochet Easter Eggs

A nice alternative to chocolate!, Our Amigirumi display in the shop should inspire an interesting Easter hunt this year.

Easter at the Shop

We've created an Easter 'Amigurumi' display in the shop.  If you're not familiar with this craft, it is a miniture style of Japanese knitting and crochet, super-cute and strange.  We also have pattern books including 'Knitting Mochimochi', and 'Kyuuto, crocheted Japanese crafts'.  On another bender we have the new book in by Swedish knitting duo, Arne & Carlos; 'Easter Knits; Eggs, Bunnies and Chicks with a Fabulous Twist'. 

The Handknitter's Yarn Guide

'The Love of Knitting Blog' has an interview and competition to win a copy of 'The Handknitters Yarn Guide'; a book I wrote in 2011, which was published by St Martin's Press in New York and Murdoch Press in Australia.  We have a copy of the book in Gather, for those who aren't in America to enter this competition.  The book was a time-consuming project, but extremely rewarding; and the project became the inspiration to open a yarn shop.

Wooli Online

My new bespoke yarn; Wooli is now available on my Online Shop.  And a reminder that if you're not motivated to knit yourself, I do have made-to-order Construction garment service also.  Garment colours are in the new Wooli 2 shades.

Wooli Back in Stock

Finally..... a new batch of Bespoke Yarn,  Wooli is in stock; it will be in the Gather shop this weekend, and available on our Online Shop by the week.  Thank you for your patience customers, but I think this batch is well worth the wait; made with recycled wool, alpaca and mohair, this yarn is gorgeous and I have some exiting new colours; MAGENTA, NATURAL, INDIGO and TEAL; and the old favorite CHARCOAL.  I have to say I've come a long way since my very first Bespoke Wool, which was soon after succeeded by my recycled Wooli yarn, of which the first batch of 2000 balls didn't last that long.  So don't delay your Construction Knitting Project  any longer, or try knitting up a new colour from your existing Construction Pattern.

Auckland University Knitting Symposium

I will be presenting at the AUT Knitting Symposium, 'Stretching the Limits' on 11 April 2012.  My last minute abstract was accepted by AUT, which includes me in the line up of industry and academic speakers; Ben Schaffer of Nike (USA), Sandy Black from University of Arts, (UK), Dr Jenny Underwood from RMIT (Melbourne) and Dr Suzette Worden from Curtin University (Perth), plus research staff and post-graduate students.
This is a 1 day symposium focused on research and development in knitted applications. Nike are presenting their new flyknit shoe, a high performance athlete shoe that feels as light as sock, with some pretty amazing knitting engineering!, and Sandy Black is the author of the book 'The Sustainable Fashion Handbook', amongst many other titles written on Knitting.  Jenny Underwood from RMIT presented at the last AUT knitting symposium and showed fascinating design development using whole-garment technology - smart cookie!!  Can't wait to see what she's got in store this time.  I will be presenting the development of the Construction Knitting concept, in new development phases of a book publishing project, and how the method is being applied as an open-ended design exercise in learning institutions.