Knit August Nights

On Sunday morning, with a couple of friends, we headed up to East Pier at Ahuriri, Napier, for the annual Knit August Nights (KAN) market. The retreat actually runs for a couple of days for registered attendees but the Sunday market is open to the public. 

I'd been so looking forward to going along, and once again, it didn't disappoint, I was in knitters heaven!!  It was a lovely day in Napier too - the venue for KAN couldn't be more perfect, right beside the sea.

We found the market very busy this year, KAN was celebrating 10 years, and there were people jammed packed into the whole place. As always, the yarns, accessories, etc were amazing, so much to see!

There were several new stall holders this year and all my favourite NZ dyers and knitwear designers back again to see and have chats with.

So this was my haul!!

Some pretty dishcloth cotton and a pencil from Holland Road Yarn Company:

Sweet Sweet Manuka, a merino by Prosper Yarn from Loopine Wool Co

These fun faux fur pom poms were from Nana Cindy NZ

Some 2019 souvenirs, including this fab calendar supporting the Yarny Army, a group of Hawkes Bay knitters providing warm knitted garments for those that need them :

Gorgeous yarn from Catrien of Yarnflozzy

A new pattern from Libby of Truly Myrtle Designs

And lastly, I was so pleased to see Union Fibre's stall so added these two squishy skeins to my shopping.

We could have spent hours browsing around, and spending a lot more too!  I'll have to start a KAN 2020 saving fund as I'd really like to attend the whole weekend next year.  It's well worth a visit if you get the chance.

See you soon xx

New Yarn and the National Aquarium

When Libby from Truly Myrtle Designs released a new shawl pattern, Nessa, a couple of weeks ago, I jumped straight away on to Ravelry to purchase! 

Catrien from Yarn Floozy had knitted the shawl in some of her gorgeous silk merino so I decided to purchase a couple of skeins of the colour Sodalite, love it.

I also purchased a skein of Smashed Gemstones for a special project later this year.

So looking forward to getting this shawl underway, I just need to finish my Washed out shawl first.

A couple of weeks ago, we spent an enjoyable day in Napier with the clients from work.  We started off with a visit to the top of Bluff Hill, where there are amazing views over the Napier Port of the bay.

The ladies and I stopped by Starbucks at the top of Marine Parade for a coffee and had a quick stroll along the top of the Marine Parade.

After lunch, it was off to the National Aquarium for a visit, we haven't been there in a few years.

The water dragons were having a spot of lunch.

Not a very good close up but I did spot this tuatara coming out from it's hidey place. Tuataras are rare reptiles only found here in New Zealand.

We also got to see the little blue penguins being feed by the Aquarium staff and watch them racing around in the water, ducking and diving and showing off.

I tried to snap a few pics of the fantastic murals painted on the outside of the Aquarium walls:

Well worth a visit if you have the time  - there's also a gift shop and cafe. 

See you soon x

Two Shawls

Sorting through my photos recently, I came across the photos of two shawls I knitted during our winter.  This blue one was the very first shawl I knitted and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is the Settler Shawl by Libby Johnson of Truly Myrtle and the yarn I used was New Denim by Catrien of Yarnfloozy.

A bit hard to tell from the light in these photos but the yarn has a sparkle to it.

My second shawl is Spindrift by Helen from Curioushandmade, and this was also a lovely design to knit. 

My yarn choice for this was a silk merino mix by Bonnie from Union Fibre called Not Quite Pink.
It was dream to knit with, so lovely and soft.

See you soon xx

Knit August Nights 2018

One of my favourite things to do now every August is take a trip up to Napier to the Knit August Nights (KAN) event. This is a whole weekend of classes, yarn shopping, mill tours and lots more but my friends and I just go along to check out the market which is open to the public on Sunday morning. 

For the third year in a row, Napier turned on the sunshine and it was a beautiful day. The venue for KAN couldn't be in a more perfect spot, right beside the sea at Ahuriri. 

Look who I found - Kath! We arranged to meet up for the morning and had a fab time checking out all the gorgeous yarn, accessories, patterns and chatting with several NZ designers and hand dyers.

If you are a NZ knitter you probably would have heard of Libby from Truly Myrtle Designs.
Kath and I had a great chat with Libby and checked out her wonderful designs.

Here are the samples for the Floozy cardigan, which Libby has released recently.  Using Catrien from Yarnfloozy lovely colourways, the pattern and kits have been a huge hit here in NZ and around the world.

I had so much fun spending my yarn money, photos of my purchases at the end of this post.

Once we'd finished at KAN, we decided to head into town for lunch and a browse of the shops, it was such a warm sunny afternoon.

And my goodies - some new pins for my knitting bag

This yarn by Revive Designs is so lovely to squish, so soft, its a silk and merino mix.

One of my favourite hand dyers to visit is Alice from Bleating Art yarn and I've purchased from Alice several times before. Alice and her Mum dye the most fantastic colours.  These three skeins are intended for a shawl, which is going to be an ambitious project for me considering I've only ever knit one small shawl before.

My first ever skein of Hedgehog Fibres, in the Cheeky colour way. Hedgehog Fibres is from Ireland.

It wasn't intentional but I must have a thing for pinks and greys at the moment, lol.

If you get the chance to visit KAN one year, please do so as its well worth it. Maybe next year I'll get along to some classes.

See you soon xx

Shawl Knitting

Last year when I went to KAN (Knit August Nights) the Knitting Retreat & Festival held yearly in Napier, I purchased a skein of Yarnfloozy yarn, called New Jeans, a gorgeous blue with a stellina (metallic) sparkle.  Not sure what I was going to make with it, I stopped by to see Libby from Truly Myrtle, and because I'm new to shawl knitting, Libby suggested her Settler pattern, nothing too complicated :)

All winter I've been wanting to cast it on but needed to finish some socks first, finally last week I made a start.  Of course a new knitting project needs a new project bag right?  I had a pattern in mind too, recently purchased from Sandra of the Cherry Heart blog, the Stocky Sock Bag.

The fabric I used was given to me several years ago by Kath, and is from Minick & Simpson's Prairie Paisley II range.

The perfect little bag for a one skein project, I'll definitely making more of these soon!

See you soon xx

Knit August Nights

On Sunday morning, with my friends Janet and Elsie, we headed up to Napier for the annual Knit August Nights, a retreat weekend for knitters. We didn't register for any classes but instead checked out the market, which is open to the public.

I've been so looking forward to going along to this market, and once again, I was in absolute knitters heaven I can tell you! It was actually quite overwhelming, people everywhere and so much gorgeous, gorgeous yarn and other accessories.

The weekend was held at East Pier, at Ahuriri, one of my favourite spots in Napier.

And my acquisitions? Well, I was quite restrained this time ha ha.  I was really excited to get a ball of Straycat sock yarn and one of the little bags, as apparently the stock had sold like hotcakes and there wasn't much left on the table.

I also picked up a gorgeous skein from Bleating Art Yarns. Based in Napier, Alice and her Mum's yarns are just divine. I'd remembered to take along the socks I'd knitted from the limited colour way available at last year's market, Inky's Empty Tank, to show Alice and she was so pleased to see how they had turned out.

                  

I couldn't resist the set of cool knitting markers. They will come in very handy when I attempt my first shawl! I just loved this New Jeans colour way from Catrien at Yarn Floozy from Auckland, and then I had a lovely chat with Libby from Truly Myrtle. She recommended her Settler pattern so I can't wait to get this underway sometime soon.

We could have spent hours browsing, and spending more of course, so it will be a definite visit there again next year. I'd better start a Knit August Nights fund!!

After picking up a coffee from Starbucks, we had a quick look at some of shops in the Napier CBD before heading to our next destination, the Silky Oak Chocolate Company, which is just on the outskirts of Taradale.

Lots of delicious looking food to be tempted by, in the end I went with a hash brown, kumara mash and bacon stack, yummo!

After lunch we had a lookie in the gift shop and the chocolate shop, and as I had a voucher to spend, I couldn't leave without picking up a few treats to take home.

The passion fruit vinaigrette is so tasty, it will become a favourite for our salads over the summer I think.

See you soon x