Pre-xmas yarn sale – 4 days only
Don’t miss out on 40% off the entire Marta’s Yarns Collection for the next 4 days.
Sale includes the glorious new Marta’s Yarns lace merino mini hanks. Perfect for intarsia, fair isle, graduated work, needlepoint and embroidery.
Simply enter this coupon code before checking out XMAS2014.
NB: We refund you the difference between the flat shipping rate and the actual shipping costs based on weight prior to finalising your order.
Sale ends midnight Thursday 13th November.
Merino Wool Lace weight mini skeins
Jumbo sized i-cord
I had some fun over the weekend making this super-sized i-cord using a new technique I came up with last week. It involves a mix of finger knitting and finger crochet.
It can be used with up to about 6 stitches, depending on the yarn used. It is also a fun way to teach children how to knit. Here is the video demonstrating the technique.
The green rope used 8 strands of the Marta’s Yarns Retro (Bulky weight) wool blend yarn and I used the Marta’s Yarns hand-painted Slubby in the video demonstration.
Enjoy.
Pat
The mini rainbow merino collection
The Marta’s Yarns rainbow collection has inspired so many projects over the years. Gradient work, fairisle and intarsia projects have all used this lovely palette.
I have just added our new mini skeins of the Marta’s Yarns rainbow in a lace weight merino yarn (2ply). It is super soft and super durable and perfect for needlepoint and embroidery as well as knitting and crochet projects.
There is also the complete rainbow collection of 24 skeins, which includes 2 FREE skeins. Please note that we will refund the difference between out flat rate postage and the actual postage costs for your order.
Dissecting the granny square
I have finally finished production of my Granny triangles video and it is loaded up to YouTube.
It is a new take on the traditional granny which I hope will inspire many new projects.
Pat
Granny Triangles launch this week
I have been working on this idea for a few months now and had done a few samples in New Zealand. Splitting up a granny square into two triangles is easier than you think.
I am now experimenting with the same technique splitting into into one quarter and also 4 quarters. It is super fun.
Pattern and video launching this week.
Bare Hands Crochet – Cave Mitts launch
It has been a few years now since the talented designer Rachelle King taught a series of finger crochet workshops at The Thread Room. I still have one of the lovely scarves that emerged from the workshops in a heavenly hand spun angora.
I was experimenting with the technique again recently and came up with a spiraling tube form. I was impressed with the stretch of the final fabric and thought it would work well on wrist warmers. The Cave Mitts were born. They turned out a little longer than expected but I love them!
The new Cave Mitts pattern is super fast and makes a lovely statement accessory about which you can proudly say “I made these”. Once you get the hang of using your bare hands to crochet you will be making these in under an hour.
The pattern is now available for purchase and contains a link to a 5 minute tutorial showing you the 7 simple steps to make your very own Cave Mitts.
Yarn kits in the Marta’s Yarns Retro knitting yarn will also be available from the Kits page shortly.
The mighty treble crochet stitch – video tutorial
The treble crochet stitch is perhaps the most used stitch in crochet – thanks to the granny square no doubt. Known as the double crochet (DC) in North America, this stitch is the main stitch used in the granny square and often features in motif and circular crochet designs.
Last week, I finished production of the treble (double crochet – US) video tutorials. I have demonstrated the technique into a four chain ring – as it would be used in a granny square.
I have also started to load up closed captions for all my video tutorials – knitting and crochet. This helps for those who struggle with my broad Aussie accent and also allows for the translation of the captions into a number of different languages. If you want to read the subtitles in another language, simply click on the “Subtitles/CC” icon – second from left in bottom right hand corner of video. Click on drop down box and choose top option – “Translate captions”. A pop up box will appear in the center of the screen. You need to click on the drop down box down arrow, scroll to and select the language you want and click “OK”.