Songbird Designs Samples!

Here is something you can use for your next few finished items. Sarah from Songbird Designs has sent in some amazing gift tags made with knit-themed card! Each little packets contains three cute gift tags in matching colour ways. How impressed will your gift recipient be when they get your knitted item with a knit gift tag? (they had better be impressed, that's for sure, otherwise you are completely entitled to take it back and storm off in a huff!)

You can find Songbird Designs in real life at a variety of Auckland craft fairs, including Crafternoon Tea and the Devonport Craft Market, and of course you can check out their awesome felt store http://www.songbird.felt.co.nz/ - if you are quick, you might get something in time for Christmas!

RW Scissors Winners!

Thanks to all the entrants in the RW Scissors competition. The winners are:

Cynthia McCaughan
Helen Bovet

Congratulations! There will be another competition probably next week I think.

Vintage Purls Samples!

Oooh, this is good! The Vintage Purls samples are here! And even more exciting - there are two different samples - a superwash merino/nylon sock yarn that might as well have my name on it (actually it does!) - this is totally my colour scheme - I LOVE this sock yarn! (I'll have to design a pattern just for this yarn). It's an extremely generous sample too, approx 20g.

And other other sample is some NZ Merino hand dyed fibre in beautiful soft grey/lilac/bluey-grey. It's also approx 20g, so there is a good amount to spin up or craft with. I really must learn to spin - that's my summer goal (along with finishing my sock book).

Have you visited the Vintage Purls website lately? I went to check it out last week and discovered it was totally my lucky day as the Summer Sock Club had only just been loaded, and I managed to buy one! I can't wait to see what the colours are. If you need some sock yarn for a summer holiday project, order some right now - consider it a gift from Santa. I'm sure you've been good.

DKNZ Designs Samples!

Deena Kirk is a designer of beaded jewellery and other beaded treasures, and she has sent in a sparkly selection of stitch markers! This picture shows a few of the designs - there are lots, and you are going to love having a bit of glam in your knitting.

You can find more of Deena's designs at dknz.felt.co.nz and dknzdesigns.etsy.com - and of course you can see her in real life at craft fairs around Auckland. There is still time to buy Christmas presents! Check out her felt and etsy store and pick up a few last minute Christmas gifts.

Marshmellowmagic Designs Samples!

Here is something for all you crocheters - the NZ Yarn Sampler Box is not just for knitters! Marshmellowmagic Designs have sent some absolutely gorgeous samples - beautifully presented in an organza bag. There is a pattern to make super-cute baby booties, plus the leather soles already punched so you can make them immediately. AND... there are even two lovely crochet stitch markers as well!

This will be the very first completed item you can make with your sampler box - just choose any of the lovely yarn samples, pick up your crochet hook and before you know it, you'll have a pair of cute booties. I expect to see lots of photos of completed items in our Ravelry group forum!

You should check out the other crochet patterns and completed items for sale that Marshmellowmagic Designs has available: http://marshmellowmagic.blogspot.com/

RW Scissors Samples & Giveaway!

These cute badges from RW Scissors always make me smile. I bought one from them at the very first Kraftbomb last year, and it lives on my favourite winter hat I knitted. It's the perfect kind of accessory for wearing on items you've knitted (for obvious reasons), and of course your smarty-pants non-knitter friends think they are hilarious when they get the joke "Oh KNITS, like NITS, haha". However, earlier this year when I very briefly had a slight problem (thanks to my young son and daycare), I wore my badge as more of a public health warning...

Moving right along... RW Scissors have a couple of prizes to give away! Up for grabs are two sets of badges - a large knits badge, and a small 'Darn It' or 'I've got knits' badge. All you have to do is tell me which craft fair you can see RW Scissors at this weekend. Email me your answers at blendy@blendy.co.nz by Sunday 20 December 9pm NZtime, and hopefully the winners will get their prize in time for Christmas (if in NZ - international entrants will take longer to arrive).

Check out more from RW Scissors, and visit them in real life at the Love Handmade Christmas market this Saturday - details here: http://www.lovehandmadecraft.blogspot.com/

Christmas Gift Ideas / Wish List

Need ideas for last minute Christmas gifts for your crafty friends, or hints for your own wishlist for your friends to give you? I've put together a selection of amazing products available from NZ Yarn Sampler suppliers - please support their wonderful businesses! Get all your crafty gifts purchased right now, and then email this page link (www.blendy.co.nz/wishlist.html) to your partner/family/friends so they can buy you something you actually want...

Christmas Craft Markets

Make it a handmade Christmas and shop at local craft markets! I hope you made it to Craft 2.0 last week - I was sad to have missed this one.

Saturday December 12

The Porirua Christmas Carnival Under The Canopies on Saturday December 12th 11am till 3pm.

Crafternoon Tea Saturday 12th December 2009, 10am-3pm at the Mt Eden Normal Primary School Hall, Valley Road, Mt Eden.

Sunday December 13

Plimmerton Community Market 10am - 2pm, Railway Carpark

Sunday Devember 20

Kraftbomb Sunday Dec 20, Grey Lynn Community Centre 11am - 2pm

Southern Alpacas Samples!

Here is a real treat from Southern Alpacas! What vibrant colours - and perfectly named to match the colours of a summer garden: Lovely Lavender, Sunburst of Poppies, and Pretty Pentstemons. These hanks are hand-dyed 2 ply yarns – which are incredibly fine, and they go a long way.

They have clean raw fibre in a dozen natural shades, and washed and carded slivers of pure alpaca fibre, in natural colours. They also blend natural coloured alpaca with hand-dyed silk for luxurious blends in fabulous bright colours. This year the range is luscious and almost edible – raspberry, bananaberry, apricot swirl, blackberry, black spice, and lavender.

Check out their website for crafting hints for working in alpaca http://www.alpacasnz.co.nz/fibre.htm, or buy alpaca fibre, yarns and products at http://www.alpacasnz.co.nz/alpacaproducts.htm

Loop Knittery Samples!

I could just snuggle up with this wonderfully soft box of samples from Amy at the Loop Knittery. They are just gorgeous! There are 12 different colours in this 100% New Zealand made Merino, spun in Canterbury and hand dyed by Amy. It is a single spun "felted" yarn, a fine 23 micron, gorgeously soft Merino. This yarn is perfect for jerseys you want close to your skin, places where other yarns don't dare to go! This is a versatile wool that begs to be touched.

And as an exciting added bonus, each generously sized sample comes with a couple of lovely stitch markers, and a needle inventory chart! Now THAT is something I totally need. It's a handy little chart where you can mark off what needles you have in your collection, and what type of needles they are (eg metal, bamboo etc). Thanks Amy!!

You can check out a larger picture of each of the colours here: http://loopknittery.co.nz/yarns/loop-knittery/merino

FREE Blendy Pattern!

I had to take a quick deviation from working on my sock book because it's nearly Christmas, and a handmade tree is the best kind. I've written 5 patterns for knitting your own cute little mini stocking decorations - for your tree, or give them away to your friends! And the best part is they use up all your little bits of leftover yarn.

AND, I'm giving away the Fuzzy Santa Mini Stocking for free! Visit my patterns page where you can download it, and see pictures of the other mini stockings. You can also buy all 5 patterns for the bargain price of NZ$5. And... you are totally welcome to knit these up and sell them at craft fairs etc :)

Spinning A Yarn Samples!

Here's something amazing for all you spinners - samples from Spinning A Yarn! Jessicah has submitted three bright colourways of Merino Sliver 'Venom Green', 'Hydrangea', and 'Californian Poppy'. They are dyed with wash and light fast Jaquard Acid Dyes.

I can't wait to see what these look like when they are spun! I'm not a spinner, but I think I'm going to try out a drop spindle and see how that works. Once I've got the technique down, I'll spin up the Hydrangea sample - it is all my favourite colours.

I'm sure you will love Spinning A Yarn's delicious sample! And you can also check them out at spinayarn.felt.co.nz and spinningayarn.etsy.com

Winners!

Congratulations to DgitalMisfit for winning the Touch Yarns pack, and to BibandTucker for winning the FabFibres pack!

Grrrl Shaped Yarns

Today I'm featuring a new NZ yarn producer called Grrrl Shaped Yarns who has just set up business and is joining in the NZ Yarn Sampler Box! Brooklynne has some amazing yarns - I have my eye on the Pukeko colourway, 50/50 merino/silk. But I also love My Grandmother's Quilt (and it does look like a quilt my grandma made!) - and a bamboo/merino blend sounds divine to knit with.

I'm about half way through knitting up all the patterns for my upcoming sock book, so I might have to buy some Grrrl Shaped Yarn to knit up a cool pattern to use for photography in my book!

AND.... Brooklynne tells me that all the samples she is sending in for the boxes are all colourways that will be exclusive to Blendy's NZ Yarn Sampler participants! So that is really exciting - I can't wait, can you? Go check out www.grrrlshapedyarns.com now and treat yourself to something (from Santa of course)...

TWO Giveaways this week!

We are very lucky to have two giveaways this week - details below for Touch Yarns and also Fab Fibres. Enter both! Competition ends Monday 30 Nov at 9pm NZ time.

Giveaway: Touch Yarns Wool & Pattern

Wow, Touch Yarns are giving away this beautiful 100g skein of 2ply wool (that's 900m!), and a cute baby singlet pattern to knit. I love this colourway, it's just gorgeous.

To enter, all you need to do is visit www.touchyarns.com, find something you like and spread the word via your blog, Twitter, Facebook, email etc. Make sure you post a link to your promotion in the comments below so I know you've entered the competition. Each link you share gets you an entry, and if you buy anything from Touch Yarns, you'll get 5 extra entries :)

The prize will be randomly drawn from all entrants in the comments on Monday Nov 30 9pm NZ time. Good luck!

Giveaway: Fab Fibres Goody Bag

Ooh how exciting - you could get your hands on this super sparkly goody bag from Fab Fibres! The prize is a skein of 5 assorted turquoise yarns and threads (2 metres each), a 10 metre hank of thick gold metallic thread, and a sample of turquoise/blue/black wool paper. Perfect for making your Christmas craft creations even more special.

To enter, all you need to do is visit www.fabfibres.co.nz, find something you like and spread the word via your blog, Twitter, Facebook, email etc. Make sure you post a link to your promotion in the comments below so I know you've entered the competition. Each link you share gets you an entry, and if you buy anything from FabFibres, you'll get 5 extra entries :)

The prize will be randomly drawn from all entrants in the comments on Monday Nov 30 9pm NZ time. Good luck!

Fab Fibres Samples

When I opened the box of Fab Fibres samples, it was like opening a box of treasure! You are going to love these samples. Each bag contains 3 colour co-ordinated yarns - an assortment of 5 different thread (2m each), a 10m hank of metallic yarn (perfect for knitting feature stripes on the Christmas stocking patterns I'm currently working on), and a sample of handmade wool paper. Fab Fibres is where you go to get amazing supplies for whatever your handcraft talent is. Check them out - and their fabulous Treasure Packs for $30 would make great Christmas presents for your crafty friends.

Fab Fibres was created to fill a niche of providing textural threads, initially for embroidery but also for general craft use, such as scrapbooking, tassels, embellishments, cardmaking, costume design and lots more. All threads are commercially manufactured. The product range has gradually increased to include handmade fibre papers, collections of fabrics and threads, and most recently packs of textural yarns for freeform knitting/crocheting or "scrumbling".

What are you waiting for? Check out www.fabfibres.co.nz

My Phat Fiber Sampler Box

I just got this in the mail today! It's the PhatFiber Sampler Box from the US. Exciting! This is the type of thing you can expect from the NZ Yarn Sampler Box, although of course from mostly NZ crafters. We also have knitting accessories too. Check back soon for more sample photos as they arrive!

Touch Yarns Samples

I'm very excited to have Touch Yarns be a part of the NZ Yarn Sampler Box - take a look at their beautiful samples! They are all different, so whatever gorgeous wool features in your box will be a big surprise.

The samples include Mt Pisa merino, Merino Slub, Kid Mohair/Merino, 12ply superfine kid mohair, 8ply merino. And they are all a very generous size, so you can have a good play with it before buying a full size version from their website.

Touch Yarns are from Central Otago, where inspiration has come from the stark beauty of thyme fields, mountains and the historic goldfields. They have a huge variety of wonderful yarns - 2ply, 4ply, 8ply, 12ply, 14ply, and a collection of amazing patterns so you can knit up something truly special.

Visit Touch Yarns now and see what inspires you!

Nut and Bee Samples

Cute cute cute!!! These little badges arrived today from www.nutandbee.com They are a happy little ball of yarn with knitting needles - this would be the perfect accessory to top off your latest knitted hat!

Nut and Bee is a range of character goods designed and made by Annette M. Russell in Auckland, New Zealand. Check out their website and get all your non-knitting Christmas shopping done in one spot - they have an amazing selection of cute stationery sets, notepads, rubber stamps, stickers, magnets, badges - and all feature sweetly drawn friendly animals and objects.

Winners!

Thanks for the entries - I know there were lots of others (i saw a few around the place) but I only selected random entries from those listed on the comments.

Here are the winners of the Comvita Skincare packs - please email me at blendy@blendy.co.nz and tell me your postal details.

Sam
Kate
Celeritas
Marjorie Dawson
Leith

Don't forget that each sampler box will also contain one of these sets as well, worth $42.

Anzula Sock Yarn Samples

Today the beautiful samples from Anzula arrived! And it is sock yarn - my favourite kind of yarn. But this is extra special - it is 50% superwash merino and 50% silk, and has the most beautiful texture. I can't wait to knit this up!

The name is perfect for the colourway - "Full Bloom, like knitting a vase full of hydrangeas". I have hydrangeas this colour in my garden, just starting to bloom, so in a month or so, I'll have to take another photo of the samples with my flowers!

Anzula have been very generous with the number of samples provided, so I would say almost all boxes will contain this delicious yarn. You should also check out the large range of other yarns available at the Anzula store.


Anzula is one of the specialty international suppliers to the NZ Yarn Sampler Box.

Giveaways!

I know it's not knitting related, but it is from New Zealand, and I'm sure all knitters would love to try some free NZ Skincare products!

In my 'other' life, I'm a nutritionist and naturopath at www.absolutehealth.co.nz, and my friends at Comvita have donated some wonderful UMF18 Manuka Honey skin treatments - EVERY BOX will contain a Lipclear Cream (great for coldsores as it also has lysine in it, SkinClear Cream (perfect for problem skin) and Skintensive Cream (to help with scar healing), and a sachet of Huni Every Day Cleanser. This set of products retails for $42, so this is an amazing bonus addition to our Yarn Sampler Boxes!

I have 5 extra sets to give away this week. Hooray! All you have to do is use your social networking to promote the NZ Yarn Sampler Box and post a link to what you've done in the comments section of this blog. Each link gives you another entry to the draw. You can promote either the Ravelry Group, this blog, or the website at www.blendy.co.nz (any or all!)

Anyone can enter (I'll post your prize to any country), and the competition ends on Friday November 13 at 9pm NZ time.

Don't forget to sign up to be alerted when the boxes go on sale!

Yarn Traders Recycled Sari Silk

Wow, look at the beautiful yarn samples that Yarn Traders have supplied! I am so excited to have these in the NZ Yarn Sampler Box. They are something really very special - recycled silk sari yarn. It is called Annapurna, and is 99% silk, hand spun in India. Each 25g skein is like an electric rainbow, with incredibly intense colours! I've never seen such an exotic yarn before, and Helen at Yarn Traders is being extremely generous and wants every Sampler Box to contain some beautiful sari silk.

I bet you can't wait to buy a box so you can get your hands on this amazing yarn, so why not check out the Yarn Traders website and be tempted by tantalising yarns that you might have to add to your stash...

Yarn Traders - your online resource for exotic and unusual yarns, fibres, felt and fabrics
www.yarntraders.co.nz

My Needlefood Stash

It has come to my attention that I have quite a few beautiful skeins of Needlefood yarn. So I thought I'd take a picture of my collection. This excludes completed projects, as they've been knitted up into socks from patterns for my upcoming sock book!



If you need to add to your stash, check out the Needlefood website :)

Anzula Yarn Halloween Sale

We are very lucky to have Anzula yarns as one of our specialty US suppliers to our NZ Sampler Box! They carry yarn from lace weight to worsted & all kinds of luxury spinning fibers. Anzula are going to be contributing silk & superwash merino sock yarn - sounds delicious!

And if you can't wait to see if Anzula's sample is in your box, check out their very generous Halloween Sale - 15% off all purchases through the weekend. Just enter the discount code Spooky. (prices in US$)

Our list of suppliers for the NZ Yarn Sampler Box is growing fast - check out the list.

Pricing

Wow, this concept is really taking off and every day I am receiving confirmation from more suppliers who want to contribute to the boxes! I'll have a full list of suppliers soon, but in the meantime, check out the current list at http://www.blendy.co.nz/suppliers.html - and I have more to add as well!

At this stage, I anticipate the price of the NZ Yarn Sampler to be NZ$35 (approx US$25) plus shipping. This is approximately in line with the EweBeaut Sampler, and is cheaper than the PhatFiber Sampler.

Shipping costs will be:
New Zealand NZ$6.50
Australia NZ$9.50
Rest of the World NZ$15

So as a guide a box sent to the USA will be NZ$35 + 15 = NZ$50 which is about US$36 at today's exchange rate.

Ewe Beaut Yarn Sampler

I received my Yarn Sampler from Ewe Beaut in Australia this week! It is just like Christmas opening up a surprise package of amazing samples of beautiful yarns and accessories. I've already checked out several of the websites so I can buy more goodies (it's a little bit dangerous really!). I particularly like the various sock yarns, and I have designed a perfect sock pattern to make use of the samples! Once I've knitted up my samples into this sock, I'll take pictures and will include the pattern in my Sampler Box.



So this is the sort of thing I'm planning on putting together. Mine will be presented in a box though (this came in a postal bubble bag) and will likely have additional edible treats as well :)

Welcome to our blog!

Blendy's New Zealand Yarn Sampler Boxes are getting underway with some great support and interest from an amazing selection of yarn and knitting accessory suppliers.

Check out our website www.blendy.co.nz for more information and to register to buy a box!

This blog will be used to update you with photos of samples that will be in the boxes, special promotions from suppliers, and more.

Join our ravelry group to take part in discussions.