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The Gather shop.

Construction No. 4 & Melbourne Workshops

Announcing Construction No. 4 and Melbourne Workshops.  Construction No 4 is a new pattern in the Construction Knitting Project series, and is a Triangle Construction.  It will be available to purchase in the first week of June on our online store.  Coming up in August, are 2 x 2 day workshops held at Harvest Textiles in Melbourne.  I will be artist in residence at Harvest in the month of August, and the workshop dates are 18/19 August, and 24/25 August.  Details of the Harvest Workshop and how to register are here.  There will be only 10 people per class, and the workshop covers 'how to knit' and 'how to create your own knitting construction'.  So using the Construction Patterns as a visual aid, in the workshop you will be able to design and construct garments using my adaptation of a construction technique.  You get involved in the design process by following a logical progression of design and construction solutions in using graphic shapes.  You get a Workshp Kit, which includes big knitting needles, and my new bespoke Wooli yarn, and a pattern, and over the 2 days I promise you will be able to whip a garment range.  This workshop requires only basic knitting skills, and absolute beginners are also encouraged to register.  This workshop is also perfect as a follow-on from one of my previous workshops as it develops on the knowledge gained from following a construction pattern.

Melbourne Winter

That chilly Melbourne Winter must be coming on by now because the re-orders for Wooli, patterns and needles are coming faster than I can pack them up.  Another shipment for Est is leaving for Melbourne today.

Our Gather Bird

I found this wrecked old mannequin at an auction house with a revamp in mind.  I had to call on a friend who's a bit of a master wood turner to construct a bird head like our Gather logo.  He sent me these pics of the process, I think to make me aware of how much work was actually involved.  Thanks Rog - you're a star!!  Then my multi-talented husband, who's a super star!, fitted the head, cleaned her up, resprayed it, and now she's finished and holding a space nicely in the shop.  Wearing the Triangle Construction Knit jumper for Cleckheaton and merino scarf knitted up in all the MillaMia colours.  The comments I've received so far; the Surrealists Exquisite Corpse, Anthropomorphic Creature, but nobody seems to be freaked out by it, well of course not - she's gorgeous!.

Viva Magazine Mother's Day Special

The NZ Herald newspaper magazine Viva, has published in their Mother's Day Special edition that they Love the Merchant&Mills Sewing Box.  Available online at the Gather shop, or instore.

Mother's Day Gift Guide

Our Gather shop is a haven for Mother's Day Gifts.  Here are some suggestions. A Gather Gift Voucher, or 1.Sewing Notions Gift Box from English Draper, Merchant & Mills.  2.Botanical Dyed Hand-Spun Silk.  3.Angora/Wool Gloves.  4.Book: with Bold Needle & Thread, Adventures in Vintage Needlecraft. 5.Needle Threader from Merchant & Mills. 6. Angora/Wool Gloves in a selection of hand-dyed colours   7.String Bags from the Omie Artist group in Papua New Guinea. 8.Hand-woven flax Kete. 9. The world's finest merino wool from MilaMia Sweden.

Workshops at Gather

Some late Autumn workshops will be held at Gather in Napier.  To register or for any enquiries,  email us at the shop. 

Shop Gloves

A fresh batch of hand-dyed fingerless gloves from Pene Durston have arrived in the shop,  all the way from Melbourne.  Knitted in an Angora/Wool blend, each one is unique so get in here quick before your favourite colour disappears.

Wooli Stockists

Just sent some nice big shipments of Wooli to Koskela in Sydney and Est in Melbourne, for those looking for local stockists.

The Shop's 1st Birthday

The Gather Shop has just had its first birthday last week, and I'd quite forgotten to celebrate, until I received flowers and messages from friends and customers congratulating me on my first year of trading.  This prompted a little celebration, and some reflection.  Small town culture takes quite some acclimatising; Seriously, some people still peep through the windows and either run away when I see them, or come in with great trepidation; or actually tip-toe in!.  Then there are other moments, that with gratitude I soak up; such as the elated customer (to have found such an awesome knitting shop in the middle of nowhere), engaging conversation, a fleeting meeting of minds, a kinship of spirit, some culture from other places.  While there's plenty of provincial and uncharitable commentary, believe me!, all these other moments actually make up for it.  Yesterday was Earth Day, I'm celebrating that this week, because I'm so glad to be part of a bigger world.

CHUNKY Knitting

I've created some Chunky Knitting projects for the shop.  Massive 35mm knitting needles made from recycled pine, and 100% Wool slivers with a pattern for a Chunky Cable Rug.  Apart from being able to whip this up in no time; this is the way to use wool; raw, snuggly, chunked and cosy. You can buy the needles and the Chunky Wool on our Gather Online Store.

Knitting Symposium at AUT

Auckland University's Knitting Symposium was a whole day of presentations on Research in Knitting, held at the new Auckland City Art Gallery. Even for non-knit nerds, it was fascinating!!!: Professor Sandy Black from the London University of Arts spoke on the development of knitting from its origins to present day, and still asserts that "handknitting skills continues to inform the development of new knitting technology."  Ben Schaffer from Nike skype presented from Milan, and told us all about the product development process of the new Nike Flyknit Shoe.  The shoes are on the market now - a pair was passed around to have a look at.  A point was raised that the Nike logo was printed on the shoe, and not knitted in!!  I think they need some knitwear designers on their product development team.  Dr Jenny Underwood from RMIT, spoke about her research project, involving a Copenhagen Bio-Chemistry team for the development of a knitted structure for architecture, and she's certain that one day we will be able to knit a building.  I spoke about the development of the Construction Knitting Pattern product, and the process of creating a product that's designed to reflect our current culture as opposed to nostalgic craft.  A knitting pattern being the object of design ephemera can reposition the notion of knitting and improve it's social value.

 

Handspun Silk, Natural Dyes

I have a range of beautiful handspun tussah silk in the shop, hand dyed by myself with a selection of our natural dyes.  The silk is from a wild-silk farm, a family run business in Indonesia, and it has been handspun for us especially by Han from 'HanMade Yarns' in Wellington.

Shop Garden & New Products

We've created a little outdoor garden around the shop bike, hoping that will now prevent people from climbing, and trying to carry it off, even though it has a lock on it, with a sign 'Gather' below a shop window with the same name. Crikey!  Anyway, for those who realise the bike is a shop prop, and are enticed by it and our lovely garden to come in to the store, we promise we have lots of exciting new products; chunky felted yarn, pom-pom garlands; and more!!  Have a look at our new products page online here.

Crochet Easter Eggs

A nice alternative to chocolate!, Our Amigirumi display in the shop should inspire an interesting Easter hunt this year.

Easter at the Shop

We've created an Easter 'Amigurumi' display in the shop.  If you're not familiar with this craft, it is a miniture style of Japanese knitting and crochet, super-cute and strange.  We also have pattern books including 'Knitting Mochimochi', and 'Kyuuto, crocheted Japanese crafts'.  On another bender we have the new book in by Swedish knitting duo, Arne & Carlos; 'Easter Knits; Eggs, Bunnies and Chicks with a Fabulous Twist'. 

The Handknitter's Yarn Guide

'The Love of Knitting Blog' has an interview and competition to win a copy of 'The Handknitters Yarn Guide'; a book I wrote in 2011, which was published by St Martin's Press in New York and Murdoch Press in Australia.  We have a copy of the book in Gather, for those who aren't in America to enter this competition.  The book was a time-consuming project, but extremely rewarding; and the project became the inspiration to open a yarn shop.

Wooli Online

My new bespoke yarn; Wooli is now available on my Online Shop.  And a reminder that if you're not motivated to knit yourself, I do have made-to-order Construction garment service also.  Garment colours are in the new Wooli 2 shades.