News

Shipping rates reduced by 50% for international orders and 25% for domestic!

We have in the past received a significant amount of customer feedback about the high cost of shipping overseas from Australia. We are accordingly happy to announce that, on account of successfully negotiating a better deal with Australia Post, we are now able to offer half-price international shipping (Air Mail only) on all orders! For example, if you’re in the USA and you order up to four skeins of yarn, shipping will now cost $7.05AUD (around $6 USD) instead of $14.10. Similarly, shipping to the UK for the same amount will now cost $9.10 (around $5 GBP) instead of $18.20. So, no matter where in the world you live or how much you buy, shipping is now half price. This means huge savings and, hopefully, international customers who have been previously put off from buying from us due to the postage cost, will now be able to do so.

Australians need not feel left out, for we’re equally happy to announce that parcels shipped to all states and territories have been reduced by 25%!

Great news and just in time for Christmas!

xx

I used to be a tea drinker, but over the past few years I have turned to the dark side preferring coffee over tea any day.  A well made coffee with lots of creme and smooth, frothy milk is the bomb.  The little hand woven placement in the picture above was bought overseas in Cyprus which, as in Greece serves the best iced coffee, called Frappé, made with condensed milk, milk and ice cubes. Sounds rather gross but it is soooo good, wish I had one right now!

I love freshly cut flowers and, now that spring is here, my house and even the dye studio is adorned with vases of bright, cheery colour.  So this weeks colour palette is inspired by the floral bouquets that add colour and happiness to my surroundings.

What's inspiring you?

xx

Over the years I have found that there is nothing more fulfilling than seeing our yarn and fibre, photographed by customers, either as stash pictures, WIPs or finished objects.  So, it's wonderful to be able to add an Instagram feed to our website which will allow you to share your Skein pictures with us and the rest of the Skein community!  #skeinyarn will update daily with new pictures that have been tagged with this hashtag, so start tagging!

Every week I post a 'Colour Palette of the Week' on the shop.  I thought it would be interesting if, every week, I share the inspiration behind these colour combinations.  So this week's inspiration is the beach!

Our local beach is surrounded by a national park which is rugged, beautiful and full of Banksia trees.  There is a paved  walking track that takes you all along the headland and down to the beach.  Most days you will see wallabies and kangaroos and, if you're very lucky, dolphins or whales (and sometimes snakes if unlucky!).  Last weekend I collected a few things during our walk and these items are the inspiration behind this week's 'Coastal' colour palette.

Banksia husks, purple shells, banksia leaves, coastal wild flowers and pebbles collected from the beach. 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

xx

Its now Friday afternoon and I'm just about to lock up the studio for the long weekend - just one last picture before I go.  This is my currant  WIP, Japan Sleeves by Joji Locatelli.  I'm using Skein, Merino Cashmere Fingering in the Rye and Tickled Pink colours -  so looking forward to working on this while relaxing in the sun and listening to a podcast or two over the long weekend.

Have a great weekend and if you live in NSW happy long weekend!

xx

A few months ago, I created our newest colourways called 'speckle dyed'. I was very interested to see how these colours would knit up, so I took two skeins of the colourway 'Neon and Grey' off the shop and, at the very same time, spotted a new shawl design called Dotted Rays by Stephen West - perfect!  I immediately cast on and over the course of the next few months, knitted happily away on this project.  There's lots of short rows, comforting garter stitch and an easy to remember pattern - the perfect equation for chilled-out couch knitting.  I have said this before but the speckled yarn is a delight to knit with: each stitch knits up into a new colour, which creates a knitted fabric that is lightly sprinkled with bright pops of colour; it's fun to watch which colour will appear next.  As you can tell I had a lot of fun knitting this shawl, so much so that I'm almost sad to say that I have now finished.  Almost sad, but very happy to have a wonderful new shawl to wear.

Pattern: Dotted Rays by Steven West

Yarn: Skein - Merino Cashmere Fingering in the colourway 'Neon and Grey' (two skeins)

Needle Size: 4mm/US6

Pattern notes: See here

Happy creating!

xx

A few months ago I noticed that our semi-solid range of colourways was lacking in variety, so I set about filling in the gaps  in hopes of offering you guys a nice palette of colour to choose from.  This task was both challenging and a lot of fun, I don't know how many shade cards and websites I viewed for inspiration, but I think I nailed it!  Last week I introduced these 34 new colourways to the shop, and the feedback that I received made all the hard work worth while.

I'm totally smitten with all of these colours, I can tell you it was VERY hard not to pinch a few off the store for myself. 

The new colourways are now available to custom order, as always if you have any questions or need help in selecting the perfect colour combination, feel free to contact me!

Happy creating!

xx

Last week just flew by and here we are again back to Monday. 

So what have I been up to?  In truth, not a lot.  Last week in the studio was really nice and cruisey, I got everything that needed to be done, done. I have swatched with my new yarn bases and have already cast on two new designs. 

One of them is finished, the other is almost done.

I enjoyed a relaxing weekend, ate dinner and lunch out with hubby (not something we normally do, just felt like spoiling ourselves!).  Even dusted off the sewing machine and quickly sewed up a few lavender sachets to put in the drawer. 

These were made with some fabric scraps that I had left over from a simple patchwork quilt that I also worked on.  It's my first ever quilt and I chose to make it a queen size (what was I thinking!).  I decided to machine quilt the top myself in a simple straight line pattern. 

It'll take forever but it will be worth it!

And now Monday is here again.

After a busy few months I really enjoyed last weeks slow pace, it was nice to finally take a breather before the rush begins again.

Last week I finished my Worsted Boxy jumper designed by the lovely Joji Locatelli.  Apart from being the quickest garment that I have ever knitted (took me less than two weeks!), its my new favourite.  The boxy design is soooo comfortable to wear and the worsted yarn makes this jumper very cosy.  I love knitting with colour but sometimes variegated yarns can be a little bit 'too much'.  I was, however, really pleased by how the Speckle-Dyed colourway 'Inner City' complimented the boxy's simple design, adding some bright pops of colour without taking over.  I can see more of these in my future!

In collaboration with Joji Locatelli, we are very pleased to be offering Worsted Boxy Kits using our Speckle-Dyed colourways!  There are sixteen Speckle-Dyed colourways to choose from: each kit includes all the yarn you need to complete your project (please read the pattern page over on ravelry to determine the size you will need) plus the option to purchase the pattern, which will be emailed to you.  If you purchase the pattern and would like to have a copy to keep in your ravelry library, please leave your ravelry username in the comments box and Joji will send you one.

Pre-order kits will go on sale this Wednesday 20th August at 12pm AEST. The colourways available for the kits are featured below.  Please note there are a limited number of these kits available, so grab one before they sell out!

Cost

Pricing WITH pattern

• XS, S, M (5 skeins of Skein Worsted) = $131
• L, XL (6 skeins of Skein Worsted) = $156
• XXL, XXXL (7 skeins of Skein Worsted) = $181

Pricing WITHOUT pattern

• XS, S, M (5 skeins of Skein Worsted) = $125
• L, XL (6 skeins of Skein Worsted) = $150
• XXL, XXXL (7 skeins of Skein Worsted) = $175

**Prices do not include shipping.

Shipping - Regular Post / Air Mail

• Australia - approx $14 (depending on where you live)
• New Zealand - $21.15
• Asia Pacific - $25.30
• USA/Canada - $29.70
• Rest of World - $39.10

Don't forget about the SKEIN discount!

Please note that this is a pre-order, therefore yarns will take around 3-4 weeks to dye and ship. As the pattern PDF will be emailed manually, please allow us time to do so.

This week I released my first sock pattern called Sounion.

 The stitch pattern is a simple rib which incorporates a twisted purl stitch that provides an interesting woven texture.

 Very simple to knit, this pattern suites both variegated and semi-solid colours and is written for women's sizes S (M, L, XL) and men’s sizes XS (S, M, L).  These were knit using one skein of Top Draw Socks in the Static colourway.

Sounion is available now as a free download here. 

Hope you enjoy!