Introducing Laurie Gonyea...

I've been so helter-skelter with a lof of offline work that I just realised that I hadn't posted in such a long while! But, I do have lots of news to make up for the absence so I might be forgiven for being 'away' for so long.

While this year is advancing far too rapidly for my liking (why does everything move too fast when you're on the wrong side of forty?) there has also been a lot of exciting things happening which will probably make it stand out as one of my favourite years.

One exciting development is the new cotton colours in my KB Knitting Yarns range, which I'm really proud of. You can see the new shades here: The Knit Box yarns.

However, my main announcement is about Laurie Gonyea. She is the founder and owner of Knit Outta the Box, the creator of those highly original and fun IMitt DIY Mitten Kits, and our online friendship as mutual yarn-lovers and knitters developed into a wonderful business partnership just before Christmas. Apart from having similar names for our businesses, we discovered a whole lot more in common. Laurie has graciously taken on the role of Exclusive Distributor for the US & Canada and I'm bubbling over with excitement in anticipation of what the future will bring. I have a lot of faith in Laurie's vision and experience and her Creative Director, Patricia, is doing a wonderful job. Great start to 2011, so far!



Laurie's innovative iMitts.

If you are in the US or Canada and would like to find out more about KB Knitting Cotton Yarns, please feel free to contact Laurie at info@knitouttathebox.com

Shade cards:



Cotton Tweed. A natural cotton with colour added in using natural viscose yarn.

 

KB Cotton. 100% Turkish cotton in vibrant, mystic colours.



A blend of Turkish wool and Turkish kid mohair, softest in the world, fortified with polyamide.

What Katydid

Katydid is actually Kate, a fellow Ravelry member who made something really scrumptious from my Daisy Blue Scarf pattern.

The Daisy Blue Scarf was one of my first patterns and also my favourite. I created it with a lot of labour and love and edged in frothy lace, which I totally love.


Daisy Blue Scarf. Pattern available for download here: Patterns

Kate kindly gave me permission to post the pics of her FO here, and I wanted to share what she did. It pretty much goes to show just how creative knitters are ~ you don't have to conform to a given. Kate knew exactly what she wanted to do with the pattern when she saw it, a baby blanket, and it turned out beautifully!

Katydid's baby blanket - the Daisy Lace Blanket!

I'm really happy that I made something which inspired someone else who made something else...

Thank you for the images, Kate, and for knitting up such a beautiful heirloom.


A more than relatively good week

For me, a relatively good week is when no-one gets sick, the heating works perfectly, I make a few nice sales and I don't get any acid reflux attacks.

The past week, however, was a really good week.

The Christmas gifts I had ordered arrived good and early.

We had a really long holiday WITH good weather and took the children to a great zoo not far away.

I discovered I was featured in three knitting magazines;
The Knitter reviewed my Ebru Needles in Issue 25,
Knitting Magazine wrote a lovely piece about my Orient yarn in their December Yarn Review section,
and Let's Knit has just featured a piece about my Silver Sifa cotton yarn.

I bought lots of lovely storage boxes and accessories and completely reorganised my working space and bedroom.

We found an excellent piano teacher for my daughter.

My spinner and I managed to put together a lovely palette for new cotton colours.

I managed to get a great amount of knitting done for the family.

Weird knitters' block

I've been having the weirdest couple of weeks.

In true knitters' fashion, the autumn is the most inspirational and uplifting time for me. I love it.

So suitably enough, my head is spinning with delicious designs, colours and textures. All impatient to be brought to life.

But the second I cast on I get the most awful block. It all either grinds to a halt or I become disappointed with the reality of the idea when it's finally in a 3-dimensional state.

I suppose it's similar to the block an author comes face to face with when the idea just won't imprint itself on to a crisp, white page.

However, luckily I have other projects which need my attention so maybe it's all a blessing in disguise as I can get on with these.

And while I'm at an impasse with my own designs, I am having a lot of fun knitting myself a Saint Denis cardigan using my own babyblue merino yarn...

Saint Denis Cardigan, by Veronik Avery and available from Ravelry.