Feel-good knitting

...or...
How $5 spent on your knitting habit can help a child in need

Knitting for charity is a fantastic idea, but wouldn't it be good if you could knit for yourself and still be doing your bit for sick children?

Well, here at Wool Addiction we've come up with not one, but TWO ways you can help someone else whilst indulging in your favourite hobby, for as little as $5...

1. Download Frankie Brown's Ten Stitch Twist Blanket pattern for $5
2. Buy Naturally Loyal 100% wool for only $5 per ball

Frankie Brown's Ten Stitch Twist is a stunning spiral rug worked in Noro Kureyon (or any other yarn of your choice). As this delightfully different design works out from the centre, there's no need to decide on the size before you start - just add a ball at a time until it's big enough, or you're too dizzy to go on!

Neither Frankie nor Wool Addiction are making any money from this design - all proceeds are donated to Frankie's chosen charity, the Children's Liver Disease Foundation. We are charging $5 per download, which we are paying to the charity in $100 blocks in advance of each 20 sales, but if you love the pattern please feel free to make a further donation yourself on Frankie's Fundraising Page.

Loyal from Naturally Yarns in New Zealand is a DK/8-ply machine-washable 100% wool yarn, which is available in a wide range of bright colours. At only $5 per ball, it's an easy choice for whipping up quick winter woollies!

Naturally Yarns are donating 5c per ball to the Child Cancer Foundation of NZ and the Children's Cancer Institute Australia.

If you're feeling extremely charitable, you could even knit a Ten Stitch Twist Blanket in a rainbow of Loyal colours ... !!

Let them eat cake!

All Wool Addiction Workshops include
a delicious selection of pastries
for morning tea

Apparently I haven't made this clear up until now, and, for obvious reasons, that needs to be rectified!

Now, our next two Workshops could be considered to be at the less-than-funky end of the knitting scale, and perhaps pastries are what's needed to entice you to attend. Buuut, when you think about it, Tension Squares and Finishing Techniques really are the keys to starting and ending your project right, and surely the perfect finished product is all the incentive you need?

Knitting is fun, of course it is, but what a huge investment of time and money we all make! And sometimes things don't turn out quite as we'd hoped, do they?

If your problem is a baby dress that she'll grow into by kindy, or a fantastic stash that you just can't find the right pattern for... then the Tension Squares Workshop is for you!

If (like me) you're always looking for patterns to knit in the round, so that you don't have to sew anything up... then we'll see you at the Finishing Techniques Workshop.

And, if you really, really like pastries... we'll see you at both!

Or, if you're stuck on something in between the Tension Square and the Finishing, then perhaps a Private Lesson is what you need? Maybe you're confused by cables, or tense about intarsia? Well, for the next few weeks, Jill is available between 11am and 12pm on Wednesdays to offer hands-on help with your current knitting challenge. Just pop along to our online shop to book your slot, and jot a few lines in the Comments section to let us know what you need help with...

Workshops run from 10am til 1pm, and cost $65

Sunday 31 May - Tension Squares Workshop
Sunday 7 June - Finishing Techniques Workshop

Private Lessons run from 11am til 12pm, and cost $50

Wednesday 27 May
Wednesday 3 June
Wednesday 10 June

Workshops and Private Lessons are all held in the Knitting Room at Wool Addiction in Bowral, NSW, and can all be booked online at www.wooladdiction.com.au/shop

Room for two more...

There are only two places left in the Sock Workshop
this Sunday, 24th May!

If you're keen to join us for this fun workshop, why not jump onto the online shop to book your place right now? It's easy to book online, and don't forget that Bowral is only an hour and a half from the centre of Sydney.

The Sock Workshop is a great chance to learn about knitting in the round on double-point needles, which is really useful skill for making garments that require little or no sewing up. Socks are a great example of this: as soon as you knit the last stitch, they're ready to wear. And slipping a freshly-knitted sock hot off the needle straight onto your foot is a great incentive to start work on its partner!


We've also scheduled a Tension Squares Workshop for Sunday, 31st May 2009. Come along and spend a few hours unravelling the mysteries of the tension square with us. We'll explore what changes when you use different needles, different yarn, and even different fibres. You'll leave this workshop armed with inspiration to go forth and experiment!

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Book Workshops online!

Book your place on a Wool Addiction workshop online!

Wool Addiction workshops are held in the Knitting Room of our shop in Bowral, NSW. They are friendly, relaxed classes, with a limited number of participants to make sure everyone gets enough attention.

We are starting the Winter 2009 schedule with our popular Sock Knitting Workshop. We'll help you to knit a small child's sock, so that you can learn all the techniques you need to warm the feet of your entire family! This is a great introduction to knitting in the round, on double point needles.

The cost of the Workshop is $65, which doesn't include materials, in case you want to BYO. Alternatively you can buy what you need online when you book, or in-store before the class commences.

The Sock Workshop will be held on Sunday 24th May from 10am til 1pm, but you're welcome to carry on knitting til we close at 4pm!

The full schedule of classes and workshop can be found on our website. You can even click a button to add it to your own Google Calendar, so you'll always have the latest information at your fingertips.

Keep your eye on the blog for details of our upcoming Tension Squares Workshop...

Pastries and discounts for Mothers Day!

It's not too late to treat your Mum for Mothers Day!
Sunday, 10th May 2009

Wool Addiction are offering not one, but two Mothers Day treats this year: a 15% discount in our online shop, and free coffee and pastries in our "real" shop.

Of course, it's too late for an order to be delivered by Sunday, but here's a thought ... why not order online, then bring your Mum along to the shop on Sunday for coffee and pastries, and her present will be ready, wrapped and waiting for her!

How's that for a perfect day out?

Not only will you save 15% by using the 'MUM' discount code, but by choosing 'Store Pickup' you'll also save yourself the cost of postage, so you can spend even more on Mum.

It's easy to use the online discount: just choose the items you want to buy, then enter the discount coupon code 'MUM' at checkout. You can use the coupon for anything in the shop - yarn, needles, patterns, books - as long as the total is $50 or over.

If you intend to collect your order in person, don't forget to select the 'Store Pickup' option, which will remove the postage costs.

Mum's the word...

It's our guess that you either
ARE a Mum,
HAVE a Mum
or KNOW a Mum...

...so we'd be delighted if you'd come and celebrate Mother's Day with us on Sunday 10th May 2009!

If you're in NSW, why not bring your Mum (or someone else's Mum) along to Bowral, and join us at Wool Addiction between 10am and 4pm for coffee, tea and cake? As we're Mums too, we'll be treating ourselves to lovely pastries from the famous Gumnut Patisserie, and we'd be delighted to share them with you...

But don't worry, if you're shopping online you won't miss out - just spend $50 or more between now and Mother's Day, and we'll give you an instant 15% discount! All you have to do is enter the discount code MUM at checkout, and your total will magically be reduced.

So now you can buy your Mum 15% more than you were going too :-)

As usual, we've added plenty of goodies to the webshop this week, including Anny Blatt pattern books, KnitPicks Harmony Straights needles, and Namaste bags, as well as two new free pattern downloads: the Striped Garter Baby Blanket, and Harry's Library Bag.




The Small Print: The online discount code can only be used once per customer, for a single order of $50 or more, so make sure you order everything you want at the same time!