Cityknits is a family
run online business, which also has a retail outlet in Bournville, called “Christine’s”,
which has been trading for nearly 40 years.
The online shop stocks a good variety of wool and knitting supplies,
with great brands such as Debbie Bliss, and one of my favourite value yarns,
Stylecraft. The website is really user
friendly and set out in such a way that it is truly easy to select the supplies
you need for your next project.
My little parcel
arrived neatly packed and included a pattern, 2 balls of Katia merino, and 7
tiny little buttons.
I’ve not used
Katia yarns before but am always eager to give new brands a go. The wool is nice and tightly spun, which
gives a good finish to the knitting, and the quality is exceptional, which
means the finished item has a luxuriously soft feel. The only minor disappointment I had with the
yarn was that both of the balls I used had been loosely wound so the ball
basically fell apart as I knitted from it.
I normally knit
with the ball of wool in a basket at my feet, tugging at it to release the
required yarn as I go. I wasn’t able to
do this with the Katia yarn, and instead had the ball beside me, gently unwinding
as I went. That said, I will definitely
use Katia again as the quality and finish really outweigh the minor hiccup I
had.
As for the
pattern I received, I was asked to knit a little baby jacket, and since my
beautiful sister-in-law and her husband welcomed their first baby into the
world just after Christmas, the timing couldn’t have been better.
I started on the
jacket in mid November but with Christmas approaching, I couldn’t give it my
full attention and so popped it in a drawer until New Year’s Eve. After the slog and stress of getting knitting
finished for Christmas presents, it was lovely to rattle along with a pattern
which was relatively small, because it meant the garment knitted up nice and
quickly.
Worked on
No.10’s, and with the DK yarn, the little jacket only took a total of 20 hours
to knit (yes, I did time it!). The
little short sleeves were less than an hour a piece, with the back coming
together in an evening, the sides the same.
The most time consuming bit, which is so often the case, was the making
up and finishing. I always slip the
first stitch in a row, and knit into the back of the last, which means I have a
very definite line of stitches on every piece to sew it all together.
I had a slight
problem with the finished item in that I ran out of wool! I checked my tension before I started, and
made sure I measured correctly, but I simply didn’t have enough wool, by about
10 yards, and that was really infuriating.
The pattern should have had tiny pockets, finished with little buttons,
but they couldn’t be done, and it should also have had one cable pattern
running up each side, but the only way I could finish the front was to make it
k2, p2 rib on the fronts instead.
Although not
finished as it should have been, I am still really happy with it. The design is really pretty, and the little
bit of cable is a nice detail. :o)
It’s a chunky
little knitted, which will provide much needed warmth this winter, and it has
already been posted and is winging its way to the new mum and dad.
With so many
independent craft and wool shops closing, online shopping is the way to
go. City Knits’ prices are incredibly
competitive, they stock a great range of products, and offer a brilliant,
personal service; I cannot recommend them enough. Their very user friendly website can be found
here, or you can follow the link on my sidebar.
And even better, from now until Sunday, they have 25% off all online orders
using the code NEWYR at checkout!
Happy shopping
:o) x
The little cardigan looks so pretty. Had a quick loo at site, I will go and investigate further
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxxxxxx
Aw the little cardi is adorable. It looks so soft. Just love it xx
ReplyDeleteThat is such an adorable cardie. I've used Katia before and found that its a great brand, especially for value.
ReplyDeleteSuch a pretty cardigan, the yarn looks lovely & soft. I'm off to check out the website, I hate buying yarn online but with so few shops left I think I'm going to have to start :( xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous cardie - I'm sure the new parents are delighted with it!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful knit, it looks so soft! I'm hoping to learn knitting this year so I've added the website to my favourites.
ReplyDelete