April's news

Phew! It's been busy here at the K&S offices in Swansea this month. We're constantly adding new items to our stores, both online and in our real store in the city centre, adding to existing ranges and bringing in new ones.

To keep it brief, here's a list of what is new:

• SALE needlework kits are now available online at http://www.needle-work.co.uk/
• Popcorn the Bear and friends range comntinues to expand, now available as cushion & rug kits http://www.needle-work.co.uk/Popcorn_Bear.htm
• We continue to expand our online networking with pages on Twitter and Facebook. Do find us and follow us! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=159279&id=83939721313&saved#!/pages/Swansea-United-Kingdom/Knit-and-Sew/83939721313?ref=nf and http://twitter.com/KnitandSewcouk
• Our original site http://www.knitandsew.co.uk/index.html has had a slight facelift with an easy to navigate front page and links to the needlework site.
• We have introduced a testimonial page, so you can log in and leave comments about the service you have received http://knitandsew.co.uk/comments/gbook.php
• We continue to modernise our storage solutions, with new knitting and sewing bags and boxes being added regularly.

Do call soon and see for yourselves!

New Storage Solutions

For the avid knitter and crafter we have introduced some modern storage solutions...

Sirdar Snowball Scarf in a Ball

For the perfect Christmas present why not knit a gorgeous cosy scarf with Sirdar's Scarf in a Ball Snowball wool?

A free scarf pattern is on the ball band. What could be simpler? Or if you are looking for presents for a knitter this Christmas, why not just buy them the wool to make their own scarf?

ONLY £8.25 per ball - one ball is all you need to make a woman's scarf or 2 smaller scarves for girls.

Available in 8 fantastic shades including 3 multi colour shades.

Snow White, Bunny Tail, Hot Pink, Glamour Red, Berry, Rosie Pink, Vivid Violet, Neon Blue, Velvet Black, Magpie, Tutti Frutti and Leopard.

NEW Sublime Luxurious Woolly Merino

Available now in a range of 8 delicious colours - gorgeous texture (shown here in Pink Floyd and Moody Blue)...£4.70 a ball

Fabulous patterns!

New Stylecraft Wools and Patterns

Knit and Sew is pleased to announce the arrival of a new selection of Stylecraft patterns and yarns.

Stylecraft Chunky Signature is a gorgeous new yarn available in a range of colours with a selection of supporting pattern leaflets for ladies including unusual cardigans, jackets and sweaters. Also there are new patterns in Stylecraft Life DK.

There is also a range of babies and children's patterns in Stylecraft Wondersoft DK, including gorgeous sets of cardigans, dresses, hats, shoes, socks and boots.

Teddy love fills police stations

The teddies will be handed to children brought to police stations

Cuddly toys will be kept at every police station in Northamptonshire to help children cope with stressful and traumatic situations.

Teddies with Love are hand-knitted by the Mothers' Union from the Peterborough Diocese.

The women have already knitted more than 1,000 teddies for child protection teams, family liaison officers and domestic abuse centres.

Now enough there are enough for every Northamptonshire police station.

'Friendly face'

Barbara Haynes from the Mothers' Union said: "The idea of Teddies with Love was formed when we saw a TV documentary about an ambulance service in the north of the country which gives teddies to children in times of stress.

"The teddies are knitted to help reassure children who may be experiencing trauma.

"In addition, knitting the teddies is a great way to get all our members involved, some of whom may not be able to get out much."

Sgt Sharan Wildman of Wellingborough Incident Resolution Team said: "It's the friendly face of the police, helping to reassure children and their families in times of need."

from BBC News

Wendy celebrates 110 years with new yarns...

We have mentioned these new wools previously, but now they are available at our online store, we feel they are well worth flagging up!

There's a prediction for the coming season, the prediction is BIG! The coming trend for big and chunky knitwear is no more pronounced than at Wendy, where they have introduced two new yarns in honour of their 110th birthday, including Viva - a super chunky knitted on 10mm needles.

Viva is a roving yarn with 8 subtly printed colours including Lipstick (shown), Vanilla, Skylight, Crocus, Delph, Lichen, Cranberry and Cinders. The yarn has a super soft feel, ideal for cosy winter wear or just to take the chill off a summer evening out. The yarn has a 20% wool content and over at Knit and Sew is retailing for just £3.39 per 100g ball - a real steal!



The second yarn just introduced by Wendy is Skye - a double knit tweed yarn, made from a blend of mohair, acrylic and polyester. Again, there are 8 colours to choose from: Birch, Hazel, Willow, Blue Spruce (shown), Chestnut, Mahogany, Violet and Scree. Cardigans and waistcoats are tipped to be winners this coming season, and with light-weight, easy to knit yarns such as Viva and Skye - start knitting and get ahead of the trend!

At just £2.33 at our online store, Skye will prove to very popular. There are pattern leaflets and books to support both yarns too - these will be available on our site any day now from £2.25 each, so check back regularly to find them online.

New Patterns due in stock July 1st

A wide range of NEW Sirdar patterns is due in stock on July 1st.

With the introduction of new yarns such as Crofter Chunky, Nomad and Persia Sirdar have also designed a range of exciting new patterns to go with these and existing wool ranges.

There are also additions to may other ranges including Snuggly Baby Bamboo, Snuggly Snowflake DK and Chunky, Crofter DK, Big Softie and more!

Many of these ranges have had new wool shades introduced too, so make sure you check out our site to see everything!

You may browse some of these patterns online already, but if you do order, there will be a little wait until they arrive next month.

NEW - Wendy Wools Now In!

Now in stock Wendy Skye and Viva...


Skye - a new tweed DK yarn from Wendy in mohair, polyester and acrylic, in eight appealing colours - the added mohair gives a unique surface appearance.

50 gram ball, approx 120 metres, tension 22sts - 29 rows, 4mm needles.

Patterns 5488-5496 and book 329.



Viva - a super chunky yarn, knitting on 10mm needles, perfect for the predicted big chunky fashion trend next season. In eight subtly printed colours, Viva has a soft feel and is made up of 20% wool, 10% nylon and 70% acrylic.

100 gram ball, approx 80 metres, tension 10sts - 14 rows, 10mm needles.

Patterns 5480-5487 and book 328.

Sirdar Price Increase in June

Due to the continued situation regarding the strength of the Euro against GBP (£), the prices of Sirdar yarns are set to increase in June.

It would be well worth buying your Sirdar yarns now to avoid the price increase...

Visit Knit and Sew to order now!

New 'Spirit River' pom-pom wool now in

Now in stock Grundl's Spirit River Wool - a pom-pom textured wool in a range of 6 beautiful colours. This yarn knits into a fabulous, unusual bobbly textured scarf, or a cushion or throw.. the only limit is your imagination!

6-7mm needles, £2.25 per 50g ball

Coming Soon - Pompadour from Patons

A brand new exciting yarn from Patons - Pompadour.

Pompadour is a yarn with pom-poms, so as you knit the surface is covered in mini pom-poms. Perfect for snuggly items like scarves or baby blankets!

Each ball of Pompadour is enough for one scarf and you can see from the picture the unusual finished effect.

Choose from a great range of random colours: white/black spot, white/red spot, white/jeans spot, white/lilac spot, sylt colour (pictured) and fantasy colour.

New Knitting Kits now in

Knit and Sew now has a selection of new knitting kits available, including 'Shaun the Sheep', 'Winnie the Pooh', 'Grey Bear in a Bag' and much more!

All are great fun to knit and each kit contains everything you need - priced from just £6.20.

First Knitting Kits

For all the budding knitting enthusiasts out there, we now have a brand new kit available to make knitting easy!

Including full instructions, 10 balls of wool, needles, French knitter and bodkin, the First Knitting Kit contains everything a child needs to get started and become inspired.

With instructions for casting on, increasing and decreasing, knit and purl stitches and casting off, as well as simple patterns to make this kit makes knitting fun!

(for children over 3 years)

Unusual Storage Solutions

A new item to add to our storage range - these vintage looking chest-style boxes with a New York coffee theme.

Available in two sizes, the boxes could be used to store any craft items, craft supplies such as wool, perfect for a sewing box - or any other items you need to stow away!

The larger size is approx 31 x 23.5 x 30cms. The smaller one (which handily fits inside the larger box!) is approx 27.5 x 19 x 24cms.

New Colours in Stylecraft Life

We've just introduced new colours in the ever-popular Stylecraft Life range. In double knit and 4 ply, the new colours include subtle shades such as Duck Egg, Cobalt, Mint, Taupe and Silver Grey.

The Life range contains 25% wool and is very economical at only £1.92 per 100g ball!

Click the picture above to link to the Stylecraft range of yarns in our online store...

Announcing the arrival of new yarns

We're pleased to let you know that we have received our range of Peter Pan double knit yarn today.

Every new born baby deserves the best and we now stock these hand knitting yarns designed for babies and toddlers.

The range of yarn colours includes white, pretty pastels and a dazzling array of bright colours. Choose from stunning brights with pretty names such as 'poppy' or 'summer pudding', or more subtle shades such as 'freckles' or 'ballet pumps'. There is also a 'speckled' range including such colours as 'speckled rose' and 'speckled blue'. As well as these, there are also random mix shades (pictured) like 'rose surprise', 'tropical surprise' and 'denim crush'.

The yarn contains 55% Nylon / 45% Courtelle and is fully machine washable and tumble drier safe. Knitting up on 3.25-4mm needles, Peter Pan dk contains approx 170 metres per 50g ball.

A wide range of patterns is also available for both babies and toddlers.

We have also taken delivery of new shades in Peter Pan's 'Cupcake'.

Cupcake is a super soft handle tots-teen yarn. We have lovely shades for you to choose from and it is easy to care for as it is mild machine washable and cool tumble dry. Knitted on 3.35 and 4.50mm needles the tension is 19 sts to 26 rows. It is made of 50% acrylic and 50% nylon.

Cupcake is a beautifully soft yarn in subtle colours, some plain and some with the pretty speckled effect (pictured).

Choose from delicious-sounding shades such as 'fruit salad', 'glacier mint', 'jelly tots', 'sherbet lemon' and 'rainbow duet'.

WOOL SALE CONTINUES - New lines added

More yarns have been added to our Spring Sale - make sure you don't miss out!

Sirdar Ocean is on offer in stunning colours for summer including Scallop Pink, Oyster, Black Pearl and Echo Blue, plus we're offering Ocean patterns for summery fashion so there's plenty to inspire you!

At less than half price, Sirdar Vegas (pictured left) is not to be missed! A glamourous yarn with metallic strands for a hint of luxury and glitz, Vegas is only £1.99 a ball.

A popular yarn, Sirdar Confetti is back for a limited period in Playtime Blue. A soft and cuddly yarn in speckled shades of blue, ideal for many projects and machine washable.

We are also offering the ever popular Wendy Chic on sale at the moment - usually £4.29 and now only £1.75 a ball - an amazing saving! Chic is a gorgeous and luxurious version of the extremely popular eyelash yarns, and it has a highlight of glitter running through it with the long eyelashes interwoven with metallics, perfect for scarves and hats, ponchos and shrugs. An extremely soft long-haired yarn, very much like a fur, which when knitted is gloriously soft and light - like an angora rabbit!

Sirdar Surfer is still a popular choice during our sale, with the summery feel and look of the yarn it is making everyone think of the summer and holidays to come!
Make sure you act fast and order your sale wools while stocks last - some colours and yarns have already sold out!

WOOL SALE - NOW ON

This week, Knit and Sew is having a sale of some great fashion yarns. Choose from Sirdar Surfer, Filigree (pictured), Zanzibar, Denim Sport Aran, Bigga, Curly Wurly, Country Style and Organza.

Most of these yarns are less than half price! Make the most of a great saving and enjoy knitting with these sale wools - and don't forget - when they're gone, they're gone!

Surfer has a soft fabric feel and comes in summery sounding shades like 'Bondi Blue', 'Purple Wave', 'Shell', 'Splash', 'Quicksand' and 'Boogie Pink' all at just £1.99 a ball. There is a range of stunning patterns for Surfer (which are reduced to just 50p) featuring a jacket, cardigans and tops. Great for the coming Spring and Summer, the perfect fashion for holidays here or abroad!

Filigree (pictured above) is a colourful, floss-like yarn available in a wide range of appealing shades such as: 'Marzipan', 'Gemstone', 'Cameo', 'Sunset', 'Harlequin' and 'Tartan'. At only £1.25 a ball, that's half price!

Zanzibar is a stunning and classy yarn with a hint of the glitz! Choose from the gorgeous range of soft colours, all with a metallic thread to add some glamour! Colours include 'Mirage', 'Bedouin' and 'Arabian Nights'. At £2.49, Zanzibar is less than half price!

Denim Sport Aran is a machine-washable, 25% cotton yarn which is ideal for a wide range of knitting projects. At just £1.99 a ball, Denim Sport is less than half price! Our Sirdar Denim Knits book contains patterns suitable for this wool as well as a range of other yarns.

Bigga is a super-chunky 50% wool yarn, and knits on 15mm needles. Choose from our limited stock of 'Tundra' and 'Hawaii' - all just £2.50 per ball.

Curly Wurly, a 30% wool yarn, is a delightfully curly yarn at just £1.65 and comes in a wide range of colours, some bright, some subtle. Choose from 'Cinnamon', 'Chamele', 'Celeste', 'Jade' and 'Harlequin'.

Country Style DK is now only available in two colours and at £1.75 a ball is sure to run out soon!

Organza is a flat ribbon-style yarn with a 20% cotton content. Unusual colours include: 'Laquer Blue', 'Panama', 'Silken' and 'Glaze'. At only £1.99, it's less than half price!

More sale wools will be added in the next few days - so make sure you check back to see Funky Fur, Confetti, Ocean, Denim Ultra, Milan, Cosmic, Shimmer, Chic, Fizz, Foxy and Supersoft Toddler Aran - all at super sale prices!

Knit and Sew presents new season wools...

New in for Spring 2009 are Sublime Baby Cotton Kapok, Stylecraft Baby Life and fashion yarn Bubble, Sirdar Juicy DK and Snuggly Snowflake DK. Check our online shop for more yarns and patterns!

Knit and Sew (http://www.knitandsew.co.uk/) will be presenting the latest news from it's online shop via http://www.blogger.com/ on a regular basis.

Knit and Sew is a UK-based online shop where you can find a huge range of knitting,sewing and craft supplies. From wool to beads, thread to ribbon, sewing boxes to buttons, you will find everything you need at Knit and Sew - http://www.knitandsew.co.uk/

We ship worldwide and offer a next day delivery option for those in a hurry! Our service is fast, reliable and friendly. We're always on the end of the phone to help with any queries.

Check our blog again soon to read our latest news!

Knit and Sew - a Brief History

About us: The business was first established in 1972. Back then, the store was a tiny traditional knitting and sewing shop based in Neath, South Wales. In those days knitting was a pastime enjoyed by a largely older customer base and was not being taken up as a hobby by the younger generation.
To increase trade, the Neath shop founders ran sales in local church halls and expanded sales through local clubs and groups.

In 1974 the store amalgamated with a Swansea firm and became Knitters and Sewers World. By the 1980s the firm had also established a strong wholesale arm to the company, supplying all wool, haberdaashery and sewing stores within a 50 mile radius of Swansea. In 1985 the some of the proceeds were invested in a second store.

By the 1990s, knitting and sewing were becoming dwindling minority crafts, despite this the company was turning over a six figure sum, but margins were becoming increasingly squeezed. It became obvious that the company would have to make some changes in order to survive. The obvious choice was internet sales as the items we sell are mainly light and unbreakable, making them ideal for mail order. This seemed a daunting undertaking for the company as the range of items for sale is huge, but with the help of 'Shopfitter' a risk-free, pay-as-you go solution, Knit and Sew was established online.

By December 2005, the turnover was 30 times more than the preceding December and a colossal 112 times the monthly turnover from eighteen months ago.

Together with the strength of the online shopping market and also with the increase lately in crafts the store goes from strength to strength. Knitting has become more popular in the younger generation, celebrity knitters have been spotted and photographed and more and more knitting clubs and classes are starting across the country.

Our store, often nicknamed 'Aladdin's Cave', is full of interesting and unusual ideas and is visited by over 20,000 customers who enjoy browsing our vast product range.

Our extensive stock provides all materials and accessories to complete any project large or small relating to knitting and sewing, as well as other crafts such as jewellery making, rug making, cross stitch, tapestry etc.

We hope you will find browsing our site as fascinating and interesting as our customers who visit us regularly.

We hope to see you soon! Do let us know if we can help you with your project.