Purl City Design Competition

I was very flattered to be invited to be a judge for the Purl City design competition. It was my first judging experience and it was much more difficult than I anticipated! All the beautiful designs were very different but each had special qualities. The inspiration was Manchester and the participants had drawn from a very diverse range of things "Mancunian". Architecture featured prominently and some of Manchester's great landmarks were creatively interpreted into knitted projects. Perhaps less well-known to those outside Manchester, there is an amazing history of science and scientific discovery in the city and this, too, was reflected in some very imaginative designs. And, being Manchester, the weather inevitably played a part with some stunning interpretations of our "(in)famous" propensity for the wet stuff!

Jeni from Fyberspates was my fellow judge and we had a tough time picking the winners. I won't spoil the surprise but look out for the announcement on the Purl City blog soon. And if you're in the area, be sure to drop into the shop for a warm welcome (and awesome yarn of course!).

After the judging it was onto a well-earned drink in Porterhouse, the great new bar that's just opened opposite the shop (did Charlie know this when choosing her location I wonder.....?). Given that we knitters can often be persuaded to enjoy a beer (or two) with our knitting, it is the ideal pairing - yarn shop with real alehouse opposite - perfect!

We rounded off the evening with a great meal at the St Petersburg Russian Restaurant. The food was yummy and we did a respectable job of trying some of the 47 different vodkas on offer! Highlight of the evening was the in-house cabaret. Difficult to describe but try to imagine a human slinky doing flips and turns to Russian music - yes, it was as unique as it sounds - if you're in Manchester I'd highly recommend a visit!

February clubs ready to go!

A big big thank you to all my club members who waited patiently for their January club parcels while I was out of action with my dodgy eye. I had so many lovely messages and cards I was overwhelmed (tho' one should never underestimate the kindness and generosity of the fibre community!). February clubs are now ready and will be going in the post tomorrow so look out for your squishy grey parcels : )   

I always enjoy dyeing up clubs but the last two months have been particularly special. There's nothing like being told you can't do something to make you appreciate it all the more when you can!

The inspiration for this month was Aquarius the water carrier. Both Pete and Will are Aquarians and, if you hold with that kind of thing, they fit the profile down to a "t". Very different to my Cancerian nature! Anyway, when I was looking for suitable images for Aquarian birthday cards, I found this striking picture and thought it would make a great colourway.....

So, for socks, timeless merino/nylon

For Roving Medley club members, lovely Bluefaced Leicester

And last but certainly not least, Fibre Adventure Club members received a parcel of shiny goodness - Bluefaced Leicester roving, Bamboo top and Teeswater fleece. Shiny shiny : )

Knitting Club week two - quick learners!

Today was the second week of Knitting Club at the DS's school. An excellent turnout of enthusiastic girls (no boys yet, but maybe next time!). After casting on and a bit of knitting last week, this week everyone was making great progress on their garter stitch i-pod/i-phone/mobile phone covers (what did we make before electronic gadgetry?). Even tho' the girls couldn't take their needles home last week it was  amazing how quickly they picked up garter stitch and started producing their knitted fabrics. I am seriously enjoying this teaching thing....

Website back up : )

A quick update to say that we appear to be back to business as usual with the website and emails. I've checked various "clicky" buttons and everything seems to be working, but if you are having any ongoing problems, please don't hesitate to get in touch (details in the previous post).

Many thanks and sorry for any inconvenience : ))

Website down : (

Huge apologies to all our customers and visitors to the website but we have just discovered that our website is down. We can still access your order information via paypal so orders already placed are being processed as normal. Please note that all payments are handled by paypal not through our site so your payment details are held on paypal's secure website and are not accessible via our site. This applies whether you ordered with a paypal account or by putting in your card details online.

We can still accept orders and if you have any queries at all please don't hesitate to contact me either by posting a comment here, by telephone on 0161 718 3818 or by email me at hueanddye@googlemail.com.

We are currently in contact with our webhosting service who are doing all they can to get us back to business as usual.

My apologies again for the inconvenience and I'll keep you updated with progress.