I've fallen for Noro

I am a recent convert to Noro yarn. I took it to the beach at Galveston State Park with me. If you look very closely you'll see my hubby and two kids out there in the surf.

 

The yarn store where I work has a wall of Noro yarn from Japan. I had stayed away from it until very recently with three main objections:

1. It feels itchy to me. People tell me "it softens up when you work with it" but I have refused to believe them.
2. It's pricey and I just can't help being the thrifty Brit. I don't really enjoy spending money.
3. In my mind it's mainly self-striping yarn and historically I just haven't had good experiences with finding a pattern I like which suits multi colored yarn.

I have a brand new way of building my stash after reading a super article on the Crochet Unites website building a yarn stash on a budget. I go for the bulk buy - purchasing large quantities of just one type of yarn in the same color when on sale. In the past, I have often been one skein short of completing my pattern. How frustrating! 

And last month I found soft Noro yarn Shiraito containing cashmere in large quantities on sale totally overcoming the above objections #1 and #2. I bought all 11 skeins in the same dye lot. I picked two very simple patterns that would work with the stripes. I AM getting better at picking patterns. I found a moss stitch scarf pattern in one of my all time favorite books The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket and have just finished a quick and easy traditional granny square crochet blanket. I don't need a pattern for the latter I can practically hook it in my sleep.

I am really loving working with Noro yarn. The colorful stripes are gorgeous. There is aqua and turquoise in there, two colors I am always drawn to. It's extremely soft to work with. I have learned to deal with the thick and thin bits which can split by being very gentle with the yarn. A fellow knitter and Noro lover told me "Don't pull!" I am enjoying the experience immensely and I am a total Noro yarn convert! Yay!

And I just discovered one my Twitter buddies the super talented knitwear designer, tech editor and blogger Kephren Pritchett has a design in the most recent edition of the latest Noro magazine. It's gorgeous!! And it isn't even in self-striping yarn. Check out her Leaf Lace Shrug on Ravelry. Beautiful!!

 
I predict I will be looking out for more Noro very soon.....

Brand new crochet magazine launched this week

One of my crafty friends, Catherine Peacher, from just up the road from me in Kingwood, Texas has just launched her magazine Crochet Unites, with the Spring Edition available this week. Hurray and congratulations to Catherine!

 

I met Catherine totally by chance via Craig's List, the US equivalent of the UK's Gumtree. Close to two years ago I was randomly looking at Craig's List. I've never advertised or bought anything there and have only visited the site a handful of times since moving to Texas. But for some serendipitous reason I searched for "crochet" and found Catherine seeking a partner to start a crochet business. Of course, I had to call!

We met at a Starbucks half way between our homes and became firm friends. How could we not with our shared love of all things crochet?! I didn't become Catherine's partner because after deep reflection I felt that I couldn't devote the time to building a second business from scratch as I had with TG Research, my primary business but we stayed in touch. I helped Catherine out when I could mainly with encouragement and brainstorming ideas! 

It's absolutely fantastic to see her magazine launched. Catherine has some great content in there. I wrote an article too: The Amazing Health Benefits of Crochet. It's available in digital or print format or both! I'd highly encourage you to buy yourself a copy! Here is the link on Magcloud: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1071707?__r=607820