Only a few more weeks to Christmas and for those of you looking for gifts Woolybutt has a great selection of books and gifts for knitters, crocheters and textile enthusiasts. A shipment from Dublin arrived last week so lots of new bits and pieces. One of the big sellers is the Wacky Woollies PVC bags. These sturdy bags can hold all manner of things and are very well made as well as being bright and colourful, great for holding projects, shopping and I’ve been told they’re great beach bags! The tape yarn range continues to expand with some great holiday colours from Panda. For many of the Panda range you will need two balls whereas for CanCan and Katia yarns one ball is often sufficient to knit a scarf. If you really are having trouble getting the hang of knitting this yarn just pop into the shop and any of us will be happy to help! The scarves make pretty inexpensive gifts and for those of you who are knitting challenged there are a number of pre-knitted scarves available for sale.
We get a lot of requests at Woolybutt for “possum” wool from New Zealand. The processing costs for possum have been climbing steadily and even ‘though possums are a common pest in New Zealand the processing of the fur has become so expensive as to rocket the yarn into the super luxury category range. Woolybutt does carry yarn with possum blended with wool. It is called Waikiwi and is a 4ply. The addition of the possum fur makes any item knitted from this yarn warm and light and so this particular yarn is very popular for accessories such as socks, hats and gloves. We are trying to source thicker plys incorporating possum for next winter but the yarns currently available are just too expensive!
New colours of Rowan yarn and new books and magazines have recently arrived. The ranges we currently carry are Cocoon, Felted Tweed, Lima and Kidsilk Aura. It may seem like winter is far away but now is the time to start planning a project for the colder months and the winter books from Rowan are a good starting place. The indications for next winter are that cables will continue to be very fashionable and muted jewel tones with earthy cred will be popular. For those of you who can’t wrap your minds around winter knitting Woolybutt has currently a huge range of summer yarn, lots of cottons, acrylics and silk. Recycled cotton from Sirdar is one of the new summer ranges. The colours are lovely and it is one of the few summer yarns that knits as a 10ply (ideal for those cool summer days or to throw on over a t-shirt for a brisk walk along the beach when the wind is chilly). Being a 10ply it knits quickly as well so if you start now your garment should be ready for the summer holidays.
The Melbourne Cup is on this month and Woolybutt will be closed on Monday 5th and Tuesday the 6th of November. Things will be back to normal on Wednesday the 7th i.e. 10am until 5pm Monday to Friday and 10am until 1pm on Saturdays.
Current projects: A summer cardigan in emerald green Sorrento for me, yes I do treat myself occasionally!
Happy knitting
Lorraine