Pass it Forward

The Green Jacket was knitted for Hugo (Top) & is now on it's 3rd pass, whilst the pants were knitted for Naomi & are on their 2nd, still plenty of wear yet!

The MacBuscke clan went to a birthday party for Miss Naomi. A friends baby who turned one. A babe to whom I have knitted a number of garments & passed down many of Hugo & Louis baby knits to. I have a policy when I pass my hand knit on, love them, use them & then when you have finished with them, pass them forward to the next babe you know who would need, love & cherish them.

At Miss Naomi's party was a freshly minted wee man who pretty much snoozed through the entire proceedings. I commented to mum at how beautiful he was & she she then pulled down the coverings to reveal the delicious young chap. What I saw made me beam, as I fondled the sleeve of his jacket. "I just love hand knitted garments" said Mum "I've been lucky, Jill (Naomi's Mum) handed these down, she has a friend who knits"

The game was up, I was thrilled to meet Suzanne & let her know I was in fact the originator of these garments & found out she had a good number of pieces that had started on my needles. It was nice to let her know about the yarns I had used & for me to see how well they had worn. Especially the green Cashmere Merino jacket, still as soft and fresh as the day they came off the needles. The best part is, when her wee chap has out grown them, they will then find a new home to be loved all over again!

Knitting for Baby

Yarn with Traditional ideas but a Modern Twist.

Forever Green Organic Merino take traditional idea's on colour & plays with tone to produce something refreshing & modern.

September & October is traditionally a time 'Godzone' that the birth rate spikes. I guess it is a combination of having a festive season that also coincides with Summer which brings plenty of new lives to pass at this time of year. My family is no exception with two of my cousins giving birth over the last few weeks.

It has also meant that in the shop we have been busy which clucky nana's getting busy on whipping up last minute gifts for the impending arrival(s). With today's' technology it has meant that more & more expectant parents are opting to find out the sex of their bundle of joy well in advance, great for those who like to be organized, and especially good for those clucky grannies. So as you would expect we have solid sales of Baby Yarn, in pink, blue & white for the 'undecideds'. Honestly it's enough to make me weep.

Why?

For starters, there are so many stunning infant garments available now, in a full range of fashion colours & yet, for some reason, the constraints of blue for boys', pink for girls & white for the unknowns is a hard & fast convention. Even all my powers of persuasion at the coal face can not change Nana's mind. Every now and then I might get one who will 'colour outside the lines' & try lilac, mint or lemon & if they are really going 'abstract', a pastel variegated yarn.

This morning was a classic case in point. I had the most delightful woman in who was visiting from out of town who had made a special trip to hunt us out. She knit for a local market to help supplement her pension & was always on the look out for reasonably priced yarn. "Is that the only 3ply you have?" she inquired pointing at the Baby Blue 3ply we had on sale. It turned out she only knitted 6 different patterns, all in 3ply, and only in blue, pink, lemon & white "I have tried one of those pastel mixes, but I'm not sure about them, ...too modern". Several questions later I ascertained that the patterns she were knitting could in fact be easily knitted up on 4ply (more popular, more readily available & greater likelihood of specials), she looked at me agog & exclaimed "But I have knitted that same jacket pattern in 3ply since my first son was born in 1954!"

A Colour scheme I am sure my customer this morning would never have tolerated!

A wee singlet for my cousind newborn, Fergus.

Not deterred I packed her off with a sample of our 4ply to knit up as a trial. It stunned me that for her, mothers still wanted the same colours & styles. To be fair I have a collection of vintage patterns & the styles of many are timeless classics's, but surely knitters, isn't it time that we updated the colour palette we knitted them in?

Nina's Shrug over the new capped sleeved top purchased to match.

On my completion front, I have finished my nieces Shrug. A sized down version of an adult pattern I had, knitted in the stunning Koigu 4ply Kpppm. I have bought a matching outfit that even a fussy 4 year old should love & made in a yarn that will survive machine washing from a well meaning solo Dad.

My tie front Cardy is also progressing very well, in fact I am really enjoying the knit, an excellent pattern so far, & I am hoping to get it finished when we head away at the end of next week.

Not knitted in any pastel shade, a good rich syrah red for me!

Green Machine

Speights Supervises the Growth Plan

I have to confess that I am not much of a gardener. When you are so time poor, gardening was something that seemed to cease. The current garden is one that has been designed by survival. If it lives after minimal watering, weeding & tending after a vicious Summer, it gets to stay, if it doesn't, well it's dead anyway. In my first house in Gisborne, my then partner was very green fingered, and the thought of a cottage garden was quite appealing to a first time home owner. It was also helped by the fact that it was designed & planted by a professional, so was pretty low maintenance.

My First Crop

My one area of 'greenie' tendencies flourishes with vegetable gardens. I love to cook, I love to eat & I really love to cook & eat things I have grown. My father is prodigious vegetable gardener. He has multiple plots & produces enough veg across the year to feed a small African nation, even though there is just him & Mum at home. He has instilled a strong sense of the importance & pleasure of deriving food from the land. So earlier this year I might have mentioned that I had a raised garden bed built & in May Ross (my Dad) helped me get it started. The one major challenge we have had comes in the form of a 105kg K-9 who seems to think my veg plot also doubles as a mastiff bone depositary. After many weeks, tears & canine adjustments we now have a good crop of celery, parsley, salad greens & even a few brassica's survived the oversized paws.

The 'grow the Cucumber in the bag of compost' technique.

With Spring starting tomorrow; tomato's, basil, a courgette & cucumber have joined the ranks. More importantly I am going to have my first attempt at spuds. These are grown in a purpose built 'potato bag' so should be safe from 'you know who'. Ahhh I can taste the results now - Move over River Cottage the Waghorne wonder patch is well on it's way!

Meanwhile.... My niece's shrug is almost done, steady progress has been made on my tie front cardi & in return for helping out my veg patch I am going to do a work vest for Ross.

Off & Racing now....

The big news in our house this week has been that Hugo took & first steps. It has been amazing to watch, he's a tall boy & has not shown much inclination to walk until this last month. I haven't been encouraging him to walk, having one racing around was enough for me, but I have to admit & I had to patch one more pair of pants with worn knees I would scream.


So there it was, in Gisborne for the weekend, his first few stumbling steps. By Monday he was walking a dozen steps or more & just a couple of days later he was walking like an office slapper after half a bottle of wine at Friday night drinks!

He's so pleased with himself. But like any great steps forward, come great risks. In a week we have knocked up an impressive list of bumps & bruises, but he still keeps smiling. The one flip side of all is walking for me is how exhausting it is for him. He has been falling asleep longer & deeper than usual, absolutely pooped by his new biped status. This week has been a great week, a week that makes all those difficult ones as a parent worthwhile.

A Fresh Start

Max Enjoying the First Rays of Spring Sunshine

What a month! I have to say the first signs of spring have been very welcome in this house. The cloud of Swine Flu have meant great paranoia when the boys' got sick with nasty chesty coughs, Dr. Phil too had been under the weather & to top it all off our computer hard drive completely crapped itself, just as I sat down to do all the monthly accounts & GST!


This week however has seen glorious weather, happier boys' (and Dr. Phil), and a computer which is now on the mend, plus a brand new rig, just for me, is now at home.

The first few rows started on a new tie front cardy for me...

I have also finished a couple of projects, plus cast on a few more with yarn I have been itching to knit up for ages. Yep things are definitely on the improve.


Changes are also afoot at work. We have changed our name at the shop from 'The Knitter Factory Shop' to 'Skeinz', the shop has had a make over, freshened up with new paint, yarn display cabinets, flooring and some extra space & a new website is under construction so people outside of Hawkes Bay can get the advantage of the value that buying from a manufacturer can provide.
It's been exciting watching the transformation take place & also getting my teeth into formalising our range to stock in both the online & retail store. We have new designs to be launched for our organic Forever Green yarn, Justine from Just Jussi (http://www.justjussi.com/) has created some stunning garments, which are about to be photographed with a real live baby, a first for us - I can't wait! I will keep you posted when the new site goes live...

Completion Satisfaction PartII

Lastly are these two beauties, both knitted from the same Shepherd Baby 4ply yarn. They have finished up beautifully. The jacket is from a Debbie Bliss pattern, recently published in tthe Australian Womans Weekly & the tunic dress is of my own design. I hope these knits will help our girls (both of whom are child #3) stand out in the crowd.

Completion Satisfaction

The best thing about shitty cold weather is plenty of knitting gets finished!

Like the cashmere cowl I had been carrying in my purse, it has been a God send when it comes to walking the dog, I will definately do more for next Winter. It has been so unseasonably cold here. Yesterday I bundled the boys up to go and do some errands, pulled out of our place up to the parrallel street to ours & this was the stunning view I was greeted with. Usually the snow doesn't come down this low, but it were the hardy souls out surfing I couldn't get over - you can't keep a good surfer down! I have also been good & got Edies socks done, for my Mum's friend. She's almost 80, never married, worked hard all her life & is fold of a drink, so I couldn't resist posing the socks on a few spent corks (saved from my hazy days in the wine trade). I have now started a possum merino pair for myself, which I am proud to say I am almost done...