Crucci Crush

Landscape (left) & Gorgeous (right) add some spice to the Skeinz shelves!

If you have been a knitter in New Zealand at anytime over the last 30 years you'll remember & love Crucci.  This is a classic kiwi yarn brand which has been bringing innovative yarns to knitters for decades and now at Skeinz we are delighted to be able to offer Crucci yarns to you.

My Shrug knitted in Crucci Landscape

In a special brand partnership, we have 3 yarns which really suit the Skeinz brand ethos - Bright, vibrant & fun!  The first is Crucci Landscapes, a 10ply wool alpaca (75/25) blend done in contemporary random shades.  This means you can use them across a wide variety of ages and genres & it knits up like a dream, I knitted a shrug in it & just thrash it, so I am quite smitten with Landscape.

The bright jewel colours of Crucci Angora

If brighter is better - the you are spoiled for choice between the zany bespoke handspun look of Gorgeous 12ply or the rich jewel colours of Crucci Angora.  All yarns are available now for a limited time, at very special partnership prices.

Remembering Rena

The Penguin 'Dressing Table'

It is hard to believe that this time 2 years ago we were in the heart of the chaos that was caused when the Rena ran aground off the coast of Tauranga.  From this disaster the Skeinz Penguin Rescue fund was created after a small local campaign to gather some knitted jumpers to aid the penguins caught in the disaster went viral.
Five thousand jumpers & many more dollars later - Skeinz has been delighted to help NZ Forest & Bird with funds to clean up the BOP back it's pristine best & we are now helping penguins here in Hawkes Bay get reestablished back onto Cape Kidnappers.  It was great to have a follow up piece on Sunrise Breakfast Television in Australia (view here) & I have also set up a separate Flickr page of all the penguin related images from the work that has been done.
So if you are looking for a great gift idea for someone special this Christmas - pop over to skeinz.com and grab yourself one of our penguin mascots!

Just Like Christmas

Alpine & Merlot with a shawl pattern I have in my queue.

Spring time for us is the chance to catch our breath and work on the new season yarns.  Vintage Filigree which has been in the pipeline since May is almost here.  The labels arrived today & I couldn't help myself by mocking up the couple of sample balls I had cluttering the office.  With any luck, I will have the stock to load up this time next week - Exciting!

Ravelicious!

The Heritage Pack for our lucky 500th Ravelry Group Member

Congratulations to Melanie Watt from Wanganui, she was Skeinz 500th member of our Ravelry group & we wanted to treat her with a surprise Heritage parcel of the new Heritage Polwarth colours with their match Brushed Mohair partners.

What's Ravelry?  

Ravelry is the largest online knitting community.  If you like to knit, crochet, weave or spin, you'll love Ravelry.  The online pattern & yarn database is extensive, easy to refine your searches and will soon become an invaluable resource.  It's also a great place to meet other crafty people & keep in touch with us - our Skeinz group is where we update news first & where you can ask questions, chat & figure stuff out.  So not a Ravelry member?  Join today - it's quick, easy & free.