Shescraftyness

Welcome back readers! The kids are back to school after a very long break and I am gearing up for a very exciting year as the proprieter of Shescrafty Knits as well working on a few fun projects. My plan for this year is to use my blog as more of an online style notebook for children's knitting as well as offering other inspirations I find along the way... things I think you would like as well.

Many of you may know, my family and I had the opportunity to travel from New Zealand (where we have been living for 8 years) to New York last September. We spend 4 months being New Yorkers and it was quite an exciting time for us as we were completely inspired by all the creative energy around us. The trip co-incided with the launch of my new knitting pattern book Vintage Knits for Modern Babies and so it was a very exciting time for me. I was able to meet some lovely people when I did book signings which turns out to be a great way to find out more about my customers. I learned a lot about new yarns and was hugely inspired by NY fashion.

One of my favorite things to do in NY was searching for inspiration for new designs. I was so in awe of the beautiful children's shops in Brooklyn and Manhattan; Acorn on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn with it's beautiful toys and hand knitted baby wear. The baby section at ABC Home and Carpet on Union Square. The baby department at Takashimaya on 5th Ave and the insanely expensive kids styles at the Japanese Trico Field in Soho. Yes, I have no shortage of inspirations and so now it is time to get to work designing planning and oh yes...knitting!

New York as we all know is home to some of the worlds best yarn stores and so I also made it my mission to check out as many as I could. My local shop, Brooklyn General stocks many of my favorites and lots of beautiful new yarns I had never seen or heard of. I like to design with yarn that is practical, versatile as well as beautiful so I brought back bag loads of scrumptious yarns that beg to be designed with.

It was a wonderful trip and I can't wait to work on some new patterns and designs with New York in mind. In the meantime, please follow me on Twitter for more updates...