HRYC

September 24, 2012

Rock and Purl: knitting with Rock & Roll

This week it is super exciting to have Ruth Garcia-Alcantud, aka Rock and Purl, as both our #twitknit special guest and in a guest blog post. Hooray! Add your comment to this post by 5pm Wednesday 26 Sept and we'll draw a couple lucky winners who will receive a free Rock and Purl pattern!

As part of the conversation it was decided that we'd have our first #twiknit KAL - and what better pattern to go for than Ruth's new self-release pattern, Lichen Mists. It's a real beauty of a shawl pattern! We've set up a thread in the Holland Road Yarn Co group over on Ravelry if you fancy joining in.

Ruth has been featured in loads of knitting publications including Twist Collective, Vogue Knitting, Yarn Forward and also releases independent designs.

Tell us your knitting journey: when did you learn, who from, and how did you decide it was

a craft for you?

I learnt, of course, from my grandmother! I spent all summers at her house and I

remember my first project was a horrible "scarf" with holes in it. I believe she still has it

hidden somewhere! She also taught me how to crochet with a teeny 2mm hook and #5

crochet cotton, do cross-stitch, sew in a straight line (by hand!), repair clothes... I picked

the needles back up in 2006 when I found myself unemployed after moving to the UK for

good.

Do you have a favourite item to knit? Or do you like to dabble in a bit of everything? Is

there a pattern you adore and return to knit time and again?

My favourite thing is designing garments. The first handful were so difficult and organizing

the information in my head was a headache in itself, but now I love the problem-solving. If

I'm knitting for fun (it happens only Friday-Sunday evenings!) it tends to be vanilla socks or

gloves. My favourites would be Ricardo or Flecha, both my designs, both very easy socks

with 4-row repeats that makes them go veeery fast.

What do you love about the knitting community and being a designer?

The thing I love the most about this is the friendship. It's a lonely job, especially if you

live in a remote area like me. I don't have a knit-night or anything, so the friendships I've

formed over the internet with customers, students, designers and yarn companies are

such a good source of fun and feedback.

As a business owner I join tweet chats and blog comment threads and have started

relationships with writers, marketing people and business coaches that push my

boundaries and allow me into a 4th dimension where what I do for money is not as

important as how I manage and develop my business - which is more abstract and allows

my creative self to be applied to something other than knitting!

Adoro, on Tash's list of 'must knits'

What inspired you to start designing patterns?

It all started as a bit of a challenge during a time in my life where I had time to study

garment making and apply what I had learnt from my family (dad works in fashion and

both grandmothers were fine seamstresses!). I knew I needed a change of path since my

career was making me unhappy. I read all I found online about garment design and bought

some books on flat pattern drafting, then realised until I put my hands to it I wouldn't

be able to apply it. My first garment was a men's cardigan that is now out on the Fresh

Designs for Men book.

I now look everywhere for inspiration and try to knit a swatch every couple of days and

think of ways to apply it to a garment - it's good to have a backlog of designs to look at

when inspiration runs dry!

Do you have a favourite yarn, tool or accessory to that makes you knitting life complete?

My absolute favourite yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed. I could knit with it forever and never

get tired, you can imagine how thrilled I was when they expanded to Aran and Chunky!!

Tools? Circular needles! The best in metal are ChiaoGoo (the ones with the red cable!)

they are made of stainless steel and glide like lightning!

Being a professional in the knitting industry, what’s most interesting thing you’ve learned

through being on ‘the other side’?

This is, regardless of how "cottage" it feels, a business. You have to present yourself to

each project proposal as if you were having a job interview - be it with a yarn company,

a book proposal, a magazine submission... They expect professional results, in a timely

manner, with appropriate communication.

Also, it is not a business free of expenses - hardware, software, needles in all sizes

and lengths, yarn to swatch, travel to events and conventions... Something I advise all

newcomers to do is to evaluate and discuss with their family how much money you can

invest in this business and how much return you expect to see, with a timeline. Essentially,

make a business plan.

These are points rarely discussed when you're blinded by the possibility of "I get to knit

all day" and all your partner sees could be "you are sitting on your behind all day". I put

nearly 10-12h of work into this job every day (including weekends!) and most successful

designers do too, since we tend to be one-person businesses. It's essential to analyze

whether you and your situation (at home and at the bank) can take the risk of making this

your livelihood.

Lastly: tell us something we don’t know! What are your passions outside knitting?

I love cooking and photography - I'm good at the former, trying to be good at the latter! I

also love reading philosophy and political current affairs books and articles. Who woulda

thought!

September 19, 2012

Getting giddy over crochet

I've never been a lover of crochet. Perhaps because when I grew up there was the same problem with crochet as there was with knitting: epic ugliness.

Lately, though...i'm getting a little obsessed. That doesn't mean i've actually picked up a crochet hook yet, but it's really only a matter of time.

Before I get into sharing a whole load of crochet inspiration, I had better let you know about our crochet classes!

We're lucky to have Sofia back on board with another round of her beginner crochet class - hooray! The next set is Sunday 7 & 14 October from 12.30pm - 3pm. You can book online - just be sure to add the code crochetSHIP at the checkout to remove the shipping component.

For those who have a few crochet skills sorted, we've added a new class: Next Steps. Learn new tricks and techniques to take your crochet further - again, you can book online. Hooray!

Ready to drool over some crochet amazingness? Yeah, me too!

Flowers in the Snow blanket by Solveig Grimstad

Hexagon How-To by Lucy of Attic-24 - I am OBSESSED with this blanket!

Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket by Celeste Young

African Flower Hexagon (image from Tangled Yarns) by Lounette Fourie and Anita Rossouw

Yep, definitely need to work on my crochet skills!

September 17, 2012

#twitknit technical help...

Sourced by our Twitterers!

A quick run down of our favourite technical help sites and links, as mentioned during #twitknit on Monday.

Technical Knitting - a seriously good site with clear written and visual instructions, neat wee tricks and sidesteps when you make mistakes.

Techniques With Theresa on knitty.com - I particularly love the tutorial on kitchener stitch, increases and decreases and fixing mistakes. Actually, ALL Theresa's tutorials are excellent.

There's also a bunch more instructional posts on knitty.com that are well worth a look through.

For those who love to learn from videos, pop on over to knittinghelp.com or tried and trusted Youtube.

My absolute favourite Magic Loop tutorial can be found over here on knittingdaily.com - in case you fancy venturing into socks if you haven't already!

And the book Tash learned from - Stitch 'n bitch by Debbie Stoller

Not just for learners, this is full of handy technique tips and is a great book to have on hand when you can't be bothered going to the internet.

Have I missed anything?

September 14, 2012

Weekend Treat - there's two!

Hip hip hooray it's FRIDAY!

Which means it's time for another Weekend Treat. This time round it's 20% off all printed patterns in store....and as they are only stocked in store, to make it fair we'll throw a free tote bag into every order placed online from 5pm Friday 14 September to 9am Monday 17 September.

Hooray!

And because i'm loving the excuse Saturday Sit & Knit gives me to bake, i've got all the ingredients assembled to make this tasty treat...

I hope you can join me in eating it, or i'll be sporting a big fat tummy full of chocolate tart.

September 11, 2012

#twitknit pattern round up

Our first ever Twitter Knit Chat was a huge success - thanks so much to everyone who took part! You helped make #twitknit the top trending hashtag in New Zealand! Now that's pretty awesome. I think we should try for the same every week...

Number one!

I thought a quick round up and links to some of the great patterns mentioned would be useful - so here you go!

Pathways Blanket by Frankie Brown

I Heart Aran sweater

Flying Without Wings

I'm already looking forward to next Monday! Join us at 8pm NZ time for a whole lot of fun knitting chatter. There's a also a growing list of special guests being lined up for future sessions...hooray!