Show & Tell

The Poplar Scarf using Harvest Saffron

We are also luck to have a number of designers now using Skeinz yarns to showcase their new designs.  A few recent releases are:

Simply Beautiful

The Poplar is a pattern collection by Julia Stanfied The Scarf features Harvest Saffron & her Poplar baby Blanket features Merino Soft Baby Leaf - all patterns are simple, classical & a valuable additional to your pattern collection.

A must have for busy boys

Also new to the designing fold is Sarah Ronchetti - her Zipped Up vest is a must have to any mother with busy boys or girls this Winter.  Seen knitted here in Harvest New Leaf.

So cool you'd want one in every colour imaginable!

Lastly in this designing Trio is Rhiannon McCulloch - she designs under the Theatre of Yarns umbrella & has recently released Gangstar - a great childens pattern.  Fun funky & very practical.  Knitted here in Harvest Geranium & Urban Coffee.

Make sure you support these local designers in purchasing their patterns & we hope to bring you regular show & tell updates of what is happening with our budding designers downunder.

If you are a knit designer & have a pattern you would like us to share - email me & we will add you to our show & tell roll call!

First Funds Distributed!

L-R: Neil from Forest & Bird, Brendan from Skeinz, Tamsin from Cape Sanctuary

We have been very excited this week to have distributed the first funds raised by the Skeinz Penguin Rescue Fund.  Three thousand dollars was divided between Forest & Bird who will use the money towards the BOP Shorebird clean up fund - helping the penguins that had their homes destroyed by the Rena spill & Tamsin Ward-Smith from Cape Sanctuary, who overseas a Little Blue Penguin burrowing programme, helping LBP get re-established around Hawkes Bay coastline.

We are still working on our fundraising efforts & Flip, our very popular LBP mascot which has the authentic penguin call is now back in stock.  So if you are stuck for a gift for a friend or family member - give them a Skeinz Penguin mascot & continue to keep helping the penguins!

Good Energy

Our jumpers in the Mercury campaign

If you were anything like me - I almost dropped my drink & fell off my chair when I saw the new Mercury Energy 'Good Energy'  TV commercials air recently.  If you haven't seen the commercial - watch here for yourself. 

Peggy with her LBD

We are thrilled that the team at Mercury Energy think our penguin project has 'Good Energy' - we have sent the team at Mercury their very own Peggy complete with her own wardrobe, including the LBD pictured above.  Make sure you check out Mercury's website & the fundraising they are doing for Starship hospital.

On the Skeinz Penguin Rescue Fund fundraising front - we are about to hand over two cheques.  Both parties have been contacted & we are just co-ordinating the handover with their representatives - so watch this space.

Hiding in plain sight.

My version of the Nicklas Cardigan from MillaMia.

When you work around so much yarn like I do you have to become very hardened to temptation & a sort of 'Yarn Blindness' starts setting in after a while.  Like an addict you start prowling around the mill seeking new yarns, new fibres, new colours - all to feed that need of what is next, new & exciting.

Over the non existent Summer months in Hawkes Bay, I took on a small commission piece for a friend.  Usually I avoid these as I barely have time to do my own knitting, or knitting for Skeinz, but in this case I was caught at an overally generous moment & agreed to knit a toddler cardigan, on the proviso that I had no fixed deadline. I was provided the pattern & as the sex of the child was undetermined, I got free reign on the colours. Merino Soft White, Navy & Lime.

Nicklas Cardigan from MillaMia.com

The pattern (from MillaMia) printed in the May 2011 issue of the Australian WW was designed for 4ply merino - so our Merino Soft fit the bill perfectly.  Now Merino Soft is one of our oldest yarn ranges.  NZ babies have been enveloped by its gentle caress for decades & I hadn't knitted a project in it for years.  So I cast on the project in late Spring & slowing chipped away at it over the holiday months completing it last week.  This is when the revelation happened.  The more I worked on this, the more I kept thinking how good the yarn was to work with.  How soft, great stitch definition, excellent bold colours.  Where on earth had this wonder yarn being hiding?

Swatching & prep work for Cria

Just as I was completing this project I was also swatching for another.  A knit along with a couple of friends of Ysolda Teague's Cria from her book Little Red in the City.  I swatched Prism Limited edition colour Dark Cerise, Harvest's New Leaf, Vintage. All reached the required gauge - just, but they weren't quite right.  Then again, like a blinding light it hit me - Merino Soft.  So  I swatched Merino Soft Barney Purple & the reached the required gauge effortlessly.  How could this be - why have I not seen this yarn before?
Like a blind woman after cataract surgery I was seeing what was right in from of me fresh again in a new radiant light.  Merino Soft 4ply - Hiding in plain sight.

Yarn.... Yes Yarn!

Uber cool - Te Pohue Alpaca/Wool DK

It's great to be back after the Summer break here in Napier.  The online store has been very busy this year - largely aided by the wettest festive holiday period in many a year.  Great to see that even in a New Zealand Summer, knitters are not deterred!

It was great to get back to the mill & see a few yarn surprises for me.
On the Organic front we have the most buttery organic Classic Navy DK.  It is a 4 fold twist - so has plenty of rich body & will knit up on the 4mm - 5mm needle with ease.  A new Prism limited edition colour has been released - a vibrant jewel deep Cerise.   This screamed at for days until I finally relented & took some home.

Screaming Cerise - now to be found in Buscke's stash!

Organics don't get all the limelight - we have had a couple of Alpaca yarns arrive in stock also - an Alpaca/Wool blend in an uber cool random print I have dubbed Te Pohue & an ultra premium fine micron 100% Alpaca in Ocean Blue.  We have also added another colour to the Urban MW stable - Coffee.  A great taupe that compliments the Denim, Bay Leaf & Ice beautifully.

Speaking of Urban - as you may know - 20c of every ball purchased goes to the Skeinz Penguin Rescue Fund.  At the end of the month we will be having a reconciliation of all the funds raised from the sale of Urban, Penguin Jumpers & T-shirts.

The Rena splits after the weekends rough weather.

 Now that the Rena has split into two & one part has sunk adding additional complications for salvers, & rescue crews alike, we want to make sure we can get the first lump of funding across to NZ Forest & Bird to keep up all their good work in the region.  We still have plenty of Penguins dressed in jumpers available if you wish to help out! 

A Christmas Wish.

The Pohutukawa - NZ's Christmas Tree

 I just wanted to take this chance to thank everyone for their support this year.

Times are tough out there - we have seen that in our industry will the closure of the only other Worsted spinning mill besides ourselves in NZ today.

The crucial part of our survival has been the creation of Skeinz.  We launched a little over 18 months ago & the last 6 months we have seen growth beyond our wildest dreams.

We have you to thank for that!

Our very own Holiday Peggy

Over the last few months the shop has been dubbed the Penguin Pit by the staff - something that came out of left field for us.  We are getting really excited as early next year we will be reconciling the amount in the Rescue Fund & hope to have the first big cheque go across to NZ Forest & Bird for the clean up.  Our hope is to grow on the story & to be able to help the threatened Little Blue Penguin here in NZ long term.  So stay posted for future developments & thank you to all of you who took time to knit a jumper to help the cause.

Even Santa heads to the beach when he's here!

So from today we are all taking a break.  skeinz.com will still be open, however due to NZ stat holidays deliveries will be delayed, Skeinz the Natural Yarn Store in Napier will reopen on the 9th of January.

So from all of us here - have a Happy & Safe festive season.  For our Northern Hemishere friends, I hope your Christmas' are snowy & white - we on the other hand a praying for sunshine, BBQ's & beaches!

Cheers Maree, Suzanne, Mary & Em

And Now Tee Shirts Too!

We are super excited today.  During the media mania we were approached by girls clothing designers LittleMissMatched.  They wanted to produce an ethical range of tee's feature the penguins & donate $1US to the Skeinz Penguin Rescue Fund.

Once we saw the design it was love & we couldn't help ourselves getting a few for ourselves.  We have very limited numbers available at skeinz.com but I will post the link when they come available on littlemismatched's site very soon.

Meanwhile enjoy Em, from our Account department, who kindly modelled her own Tee snapped straight from the box moments after their arrival!