HRYC
New fluffy yarn is here
It's been almost a month of having the new shop open, and our hearts are full from all the wonderful encounters we've had.
This week we have loads of new stock arriving - I wanted to chat about the two fluff yarns we've added to the shelves as they are similar but different.
First up is Kremke Silky Kid, which is a mohair and silk blend. This is your classic kid mohair lace, a light and fluffy yarn great for holding together with other yarns or using on its own.
Lots of people can't cope with mohair and so avoid it as much as possible. But we can't deny that the 'hold two yarns together' knitting patterns aren't going anywhere soon. In this yarn, i've gone for dark and jewel tones to add depth to your projects.
On the other fluffy hand, we have Lana Grossa Setasilk. Different to the Kremke yarn in that it's made with suri alpaca and silk, not mohair. Great for those with mohair allergies as it gives an alternate to all those 'hold two yarns together' projects.
In my experience, alpaca fluff yarns come out a little denser, the shade of this lace-weight yarn tending to dominate a bit more than its mohair cousin. It's also a little cheaper (which we all appreciate these days).
I've gone for pastels and brights in Setasilk, in contrast to the deep shades os Silky Kid.
There's also an entirely selfish reason for ordering in fluffy yarns - my next project.
Make Myself Flowers Vest by Vexnot Studio is bringing the whimsy I need right now, and it calls for a fluffy yarn held together with a worsted weight. I'm tossing up between using Woolstok or Ashford DK at the moment, rather than a cotton yarn which I think isn't very forgiving for intarsia.
While I haven't quite decided on a colour scheme yet, you can be sure it'll be bright and cheerful!
Chosen Family Project at HRYC!
We are so excited to announce a pop up event at the start of next month in Wellington! Keen to be involved? This is the perfect opportunity. In a nutshell:
When?
Next Sunday, 1st June. From 11-2pm
Where?
Holland Road Yarn Company, 1 Waiwhetu Road, Lower Hutt
What to expect:
A casual, inclusive crafternoon in a cosy yarn store, working on our Chosen Family Project.
🌈Intro:
The Chosen Family Project is a fabulous, collaborative crafting effort. The completed project will be a knitted and crocheted wall-hanging, started with the support of the Wellington Museum. The idea is to knit, crochet, weave (or whatever craft makes sense to you!) a house. This project builds on the Chosen Family ethos of coming together with the family you have made with people you have found. It celebrates our diverse queer crafting community by asking participants to contribute a part of a house to populate our little queer village. Each house will represent the unique chosen family in our lives, and how together we create something beautiful. This project aims to highlight the beauty of individuality, as well as the whole. Make your house as unique as you'd like to, because just like families, and just like people, our differences are what makes us beautiful.
🏡What will you see at the Chosen Family Project pop-up?
Steven and Arlo will be at the Chosen Family pop-up, alongside Tash from Holland Road Yarn Company. There will be a life-sized mock-up of what you can contribute to, with templates for you to take away to make. You will get to pick the pieces you would like to make and we will hand out yarn for you to knit or crochet your template(s) - you can customise your house however you see fit. We will sit and craft together, continuing our 2025 Chosen Family artwork. As this is a safe space for all makers, please ensure we are respectful of the space and each other. You will have the chance to admire the beautiful space Holland Road Yarn Company has lent us for the afternoon - check out their supply of yarn, crochet hooks, needles and more.
🪡When will we finish the Chosen Family Project?
We intend the artwork to be a living project, where a community of crafters will gather periodically to craft together and share their progress. Monthly weekend meet-ups will be scheduled in and around Wellington. Crafters can also work on their pieces in their own time and submit their pieces as they go. The project leads will lovingly collect and stitch together the completed house parts.
So rather than starting and finishing the artwork in one go, the project will act as a focal point for a community of crafters to gather until the artwork is complete.
🧶What will be supplied?
Base yarn will be provided to you for the pieces you wish to create, supplied by Wellington Museum. You can also dive into your stash, or the array or yarns available at Holland Road Yarn Company, picking colours that blend into the overall theme. We will be using DK or 8ply weight yarn. We encourage people to bring their own hooks or needles to work a reasonably tight fabric with 8ply (around 3mm to 4mm hooks or 4mm needles), but these can also be purchased on the day. We have a small set of spare hooks and needles we can lend to impromptu participants.
There will be a selection of yarn-safe snacks!
🏘️What will the overall artwork look like?
Check out the design work for the 2025 Chosen Family event at the bottom of this post. This is the inspiration and starting point of our group project – little houses in tie-dye rainbow colours stitched together in blacks and charcoals. The template for the artwork will be available to see at Chosen Family events, and you will see exactly which pieces you will be contributing.
Thank you again for your interest in this project. It would not exist without the support of our community, and we are so excited to see how this artwork grows and changes alongside us.
Feel free to share this event!! Beginners and advanced crafters welcome! We look forward to seeing you there.
Follow us on Instagram @chosen_family_project 
We're opening again!
With enormous excitement, brick and mortar Holland Road Yarn Co is back!
After five years, it felt like the time was right to open up a space where you can come and hang out, make new friends, catch up with old ones and shares stories with both.
The perfect spot became available, and we open this Friday!
Come by and see us:
From 10am - 4pm Friday 9 May
10am - 4pm Saturday 10 May
1 Waiwhetu Road
Lower Hutt
Regular hours will be:
10am - 2pm Thursday
10am - 4pm Friday
10am - 4pm Saturday
and 11am - 2pm the last Sunday each month
Knit Night every Thursday 7pm - 9pm
First session Thursday 15 May
We can't wait to invite you in!
A round up of March news - lots of events!
I'm so excited that Craft Camp tickets go on sale today! After chatting with a few people who were worried they'd miss out, tickets will go up in two rounds - 2pm and 8pm.
So if you can't get online during the day, there's another chance in the evening.
The weekend is shaping up to be an amazing one - we have embroidery, natural dyeing, notebook making, pottery painting, spinning and all sorts of other things to learn and make. 
Remember there's payment plans available, so you can spread the cost out over three to four months, with the balance paid by 11 July:
Full package over 18 weeks:
$30 per week ($60 per fortnight, $120 per month)
Non-residential package over 18 weeks:
$22 per week ($44 per fortnight, $88 per month)
Also on today, is a wee project a friend and I started - it goes by the name of Write Club, and it's all about getting together and writing side by side in silence.
So if you like to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, join us tonight (or the second Tuesday evening each month) and get some words down with us.
Tonight's session is at Otto Champagneria on Featherston Street in Wellington from 6.30pm - 8pm. Tickets are a small $15 which cover a drink on arrival and help us support a local hospo venue. 
Write Club edition one
I'll most likely use the time to write web content and blog posts - so don't feel like you have to come and pen the next great novel!
In yet more event news, Woollington is coming up again! I'll be there with some VERY exciting new stock, right as we head into perfect knitting weather.
Woollington
Moera Community Hall
Saturday 26 April
10am - 3pm
I'm so pleased to have this event in the calendar to look forward to!
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Creativity as an antidote to anxiety
Well. As the news of the world is increasingly worrisome, I've been thinking again about how we navigate things that are scary and uncomfortable. We learned a lot about coping strategies during covid, but this feels different, somehow.
At the start of this year I made a personal commitment to lean into creativity as much as possible; to cram creating in every corner of life. As someone who lives with anxiety, it's surprised even me at how much better I feel already. There's a great article on RNZ about just this, with author Martha Beck:
I've been sharing it with everyone, and have Martha Beck's new book 'Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity and Finding Your Life's Purpose' on reserve at the library. So alongside the usual knitting, there's been added sewing and cross-stitch and writing:
