Seasons Greetings

Hope you have all had a very jolly Christmas and look forward to having a great new year!

Baby vs Baby

For Project A – Lan and I have recently come across a lot of yarns, colours and varieties…

A quick review of two baby yarns…

Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino – one that we are all very familar with and the winner of last year’s baby yarn competition by Let’s Knit magazine. The soft and quality feel of the yarn is yummy. Made with a blend of 55% Merino Wool, 33% Microfibre and 12% Cashmere.

The other great plus is the colour pallet for this range – I think every colour you can think of is available.

A great choice for the little and big garments alike. It knits on 3 1/4mm needles with a tension of 25 sts/34 rows. Fo r 125m/50g  it makes good value for money at £4.25 per ball.

   

Louisa Hardings Kashmir Baby – is another favourite baby yarn of mine! Not so “widespread” but just as lovely! The blend is very similar: 55% Merino Wool, 25% Micro fibre and 10% Cashmere. Suggest needle size is 3 3/4mm with a tension of 24 sts/32 rows.

You might not see it in the picture – my macro skills need fine tuning. But the twist is very unconventional and will make the yarn “wear” better. Slightly more expensive at £4.45.

If I had to choose…. I think it really would depend on the colour of my project – DB’s Baby definately has a wider range of colours, but then I do like that special twist in LH’s Baby… The needle size is slightly different so depending on that as well!

Happy Birthday Mummy!

Today is Mummy’s Birthday!

We had a little celebration this evening and it was a lot of fun. I think everyone was very happy.

At the third flower shop I called on – I finally managed to find something special for her. Happy Birthday Mummy!

Not so baby…

I received a nice surprise this morning when I received a picture message on my phone:

 

It was picture taken at Lewis’ Baptism by Kieran (my cousin)- he was just four weeks old at the time.

He is now two and a half – another reminder to me of how quickly time passes and how fast children grow up.

Lewis has recently got to the “question” stage of childhood, “why mummy?”, “what is it mummy?” and “where did you buy it mummy?”

These are his favourite questions.

 

Recently Lan and I have been working very hard on “Project A” (something I will share with you in the new year). We have been up till around 1am for the past 4 or 5 nights, then waking up again (me with a 6am alarm) to see than Lan had already emailed me at 5am! Crazy women you might think…

Thought it is very hard work – I am enjoying it very much. It is a whole new project and learning experience for me! It will be a busy Christmas – Lan and I will be working all the way through… lets hope all the hard work pays off!

Christmas post update – though Post Offices have said the last posting date for parcels have gone, we have found that our parcels are still getting there the next day, there have been one or two which have taken two or three days with First Class – but they are an exception rather than the rule.  As always we will aim to dispatch as soon as possible, and fingers crossed all parcels are getting there safely!

In the meanwhile I better start my nightshift on Project A. 

Happy Knitting

Christmas Presents

How many presents have you knitted this Christmas?

I have only decided to do one… it is an Araucania scarf for Mummy! I started a long while back… I have made very little progress, I hope I will have it done on time…

Better get back to picking up my needles!

Vibro Gym Training

For those who know me personally and for those who read my blog regularly – you will know that every minute of my day is usually occupied. From yarns, post office and Lewis, home and the office… I am often very very super busy.

My day starts when the alarm goes off at 6am, getting myself ready for the day as well as Lewis. It is like military regimented training each morning in an effort to get out of the house. Then I will be out at work often until 7 or 8pm till I get home. If I am lucky then I get a precious half hour with Lewis before he takes his bottle and goes to bed. Then I grab a bite to eat and start working again.

Then a lot of the behind the scenes Yarn Box work is done in the evenings, website updates, stock checks, email suppliers, out standing emails etc etc.  I will be up until at least 11.30pm on most nights.

I have recently taken on a third project with Lan – this will be keeping us busy, intensely busy between now and April! It is a very exciting project which I really want to share with you, but I won’t be able to do so until later in 2009!! I promise to share as soon as I can. I guess in a 24 hr day where hours of 6am to 11.30pm are already taken – where do I find the time for Project 3? As with most of my life – I somehow will make it work – it will just fall into place and all will be fine (says she – who is actually getting worried!)

So Lewis is now two and half years old. The excess weight I have been carrying and blamed on “baby fat” does not work so well any more. (I guess he will be a full grown man and I might still be calling my excess weight – baby fat!). I do not have the leisure of having time to go to the gym – unlike TT who is there every day! Nor can I resist a naughty treat after working so hard – so my weight has been piling on. I have gone up 3 sizes from pre-pregnancy to now! My wish the Christmas was to wear a pair of jeans – sadly Christmas is now less than 2 weeks away and I am no where near being able to wear them nicely!

So – how do you fit in training into a jam packed day?

The answer: Vibro-gym! It is literally a vibrating plate and you have to hold a number of strange positions whilst keeping your balance on the vibrating platform.

Today has been my second session – I think it works! After the first session, I was shattered – the day after was “painful” especially going up and down the stairs. Today, I already feel a bit light in the legs  – so it must work.

The philosophy behind it is – in the 30mins on the plates – it is like an intense 2 hour work out. Well – it certainly feels that way. In January – I hope to increase this to two sessions a week.

Wish me luck!

Christmas Shopping

The last newsletter of the year has just been sent out! It is quite rare for me to cut off and say “that is it” no more for this year, afterall there are still three weeks to today till 2009!

But the number of ongoing projects are Yarn Box are intense. We have been very busy working through the last minute Christmas orders and to get as much stock as possible before the suppliers close for Christmas.

Some of the projects which were intended for Christmas were delayed – so I will be kept very busy for the rest of December working on these.

We do have new yarns coming in January – in fact I have been told it might even get here before – but I am not speculating until I know for sure!

Therefore with all this (and more) I will not have the time to manage another newsletter until next year!

In the meanwhile I hope to keep everyone posted via our BLOG here, and hopefully after this weekend I shoud have more time to blog.

My little reindeer

So I have a little reindeer…. Lewis is still at the stage where you can dress him up, but strange things on his head and he would not mind much…

ZEN

It is here – it has arrived – ZEN! On the site with all the photograph, labelling, all complete. It has taken up most of yesterday and today – but I am glad to say it is here. We have 100% Baby Camel in 4 ply, aran and chunky. Handspun Angora in dk. Cashmere and Silk in Lace… all yummy and wonderful!

A new and exclusive yarn to Yarn Box:

This particular one is a handspun Angora in DK – shade – Orchid.

We have also tried to go for the more bold shades – away from the pinks and pastels (though we also kept some favourites pinks and purples):

 

This is Baby Camel Chunky weight in shade – Cinto.

Do CLICK IN to have a look – you will not be disappointed. As this is a project I have been working on since September/October – I am glad it has all come together now! Hopefully I will now have more time to deal with my long list of to-dos.

 I am off now to wrap Christmas presents – hopefully my next blog will be soon – and I promise to to neglect here as much as I have in the recent past

Brief update…

Firstly – a big apology for the long silence. We have been super busy on a number of fronts.

Shop: a number of ranges: Noro, Louisa Harding and Mirasol have all been updated to reflect the new yarns and colours.

Yarns: ZEN will be here (hopefully arriving with me tomorrow)! This is a new brand of yarn exclusive to Yarn Box. All are hand-dyed in a rainbow of colours. More details to follow as soon as it arrives.

I will have to get ready for the photoshoot, labels, website update etc etc… the list goes on – but all very exciting.

Christmas is now only 23 days away. I am busy working to pull together a pre-Christmas newsletter, one with lots of gift ideas…  And my list goes on and on…