I knew you guys would love the MillaMia knitting pattern books as much as I do! It was great to hear that I’m not the only one in a knitting mood at the moment.
Well, today I want to introduce you to a super cool yarn store, Suzy Hausfrau.
I really love coming across an easy to navigate, clearly set out and inspiring online store and Suzy Hausfrau has mastered all of that! Suzy Hausfrau is based in Canberra, but ships worldwide and stocks a sensational range of yarn, knitting and crochet supplies and patterns.
To entice you even more, Suzy Hausfrau offers FREE postage on all Australian orders and a very generous 10% discount on all orders over $60!!
I was generously sent some gorgeous MillaMia 100% Extrafine Merino yarn to knit up a dress for Lil. I chose Storm colourway for the dress. Not like me to go with a neutral colour, is it? I’m envisioning this looking cool with some really bright stockings and long-sleeved top underneath so thought it would be good to have a basic base-colour for the dress.
This yarn is gorgeous. It really is super-soft and high quality. I’ve always been one to encourage others to use the best quality products that you can afford when hand-making clothing. If you are going to spend hours pouring so much time and effort into the making, you definitley want to use quality products. I’ve already been scouring through knitting patterns to decide what I’m going to knit with this yarn next!!
MillaMia yarn comes in a great range of colours. You can see all of them here.
Suzy Hausfrau specialises in selling exquisite yarn sourced around the globe – many of the products in their range have not been stocked in Australia before. You’ve got to and check out their gorgeous range of BC Garn, Debbie Bliss, Holst Garn and Kalinka Lingarn. And keep an eye out for new Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett yarns arriving any day now!
Make It Perfect readers are very lucky today – Suzy Hausfrau are giving away $100 gift voucher to spend in their store!!
All you have to do to enter is one or all of the following things…there are four ways to enter and each way is worth a new entry point! Giveaway closes next Wednesday, 16th May and winner will be drawn randomly. a Rafflecopter giveaway
I don’t know about you, but cold weather makes me want to break out some yarn and get knitting. I haven’t had a lot of success with knitting in the past (not meaning I’ve had failures, but I just haven’t known where to go for good patterns). I happened across this book, “Bright Young Things” by MillaMia a few weeks ago. I couldn’t stop flicking through the pages and was super keen to find some good yarn and knitting needles and get to work!
Lucky me was sent a copy of the book direct from MillaMia to review and share with my readers!
If you’re looking for some modern knitting inspiration, then look no further. MillaMia’s patterns are amazing – they are stylish and cute, definitley something that I’d want my kids to wear. I want to knit one of everything for my kids. The instructions look really clear and easy to follow but lucky for me, my Mum is a super-star knitter so if I get stuck or lose momentum I’ve got technical support right at hand!
My first project is going to be the Pernilla Dress for Lil. How adorable is it?
Here are some of my other favourites from Bright Young Things:
MillaMia have two other sensational knitting pattern books, “Wonderland” and “The Close Knit Gang” – take a look at some of the lovelies in these books:
MillaMia’s next book, “Little Rascals” is going to be released very soon…the sneak peek is to die for, I can’t wait to see what else is inside!
Word on the street is MillaMia are currently working on launching a collection of knitting patterns for women, which is also very exciting!
So, you’ve got the books but now you need the yarn…MillaMia also provide a superior range of coordination 100% extra fine Merino Wool. But I’ll tell you more about that in a few days…
MillaMia products are avaliable on their website, or at a large range of stores within Australia and throughout the rest of the world – take a look at their stockist list, here.
It’s been quite awhile since my last Cool Shop blog post. I’ve got a great new one for you tonight though, have you heard of Hooked Zpagetti?
I was first introduced to Hooked Zpagetti when I was at the Craft & Quilt Fairs in Sydney and Melbourne earlier this year. There were people walking around everywhere with these great big cones of chunky yarn and I was intrigued! After a little questioning and was directed to the Hooked Zpagetti stand and after seeing some of their funky creations, I guess you could say I was hooked!!
Zpagetti uses offcuts of latest knit fashion material and makes a chunky yarn ideal for crocheting and knitting. The yarn is avaliable in a huge range of colours and designs. The number one draw-card for me was that because the yarn is so chunky anything you knit or crochet with it is going to be a FAST project!
You can quickly and easily make handbags, soft toys, cushion covers, scarves, bowls, baskets and other home ware items with Zpagetti. I was immediately taken by some lovely bowls they had displayed on their stand so grabbed a couple of spools of yarn, a pattern and bamboo crochet hook and was set!
Being a novice crocheter, it did take me a few tries to get used to the weight and elasticity of the yarn and to work out exactly how big I wanted my bowl to turn out, but once I had everything sorted out I had TWO bowls crocheted in under 2 hours! So if you think you can’t crochet, don’t be scared to give Zpagetti a go – it really is simple.
First off, I made a fruit bowl for the kitchen bench – love the rustic, earthy feel the crochet look and chunkiness of the yarn gives.
I had a bit of yarn left over so started on a second bowl, it ended up a decent size and at the moment is housing eggs!
I couldn’t believe how cheap the cones of yarn are – $17.95 and you’ve got yourself two funky bowls! These would be great to give away as gifts, and don’t have to be used in the kitchen…pop them anywhere to attractively store odds and ends.
I’m enjoying mine in the kitchen at the moment though…
Here’s a pic of the Hooked Zpagetti stand at one of the Fairs…they have HEAPS of colours to choose from. There was also a gorgeous big floor rug on display at the fair, would love to make one of those…or some big floor cushions…or maybe a big round pouffe…
If you would like to try your hand at a bit of Zpagetti (and you really should!) then order now because until the 7th November, all Make It Perfect readers will receive a 10% discount on all orders placed through the Hooked Zpagetti website! Use the code “Makeitperfect” during checkout to activate the discount.
It’s been a little while since I last shared a Cool Shop! with you – but it’s back again today and I know you will love it – welcome to Simple Shapes…
Simple Shapes is a gorgeous online store full of tasteful, unique and modern removable wall decals. We have been looking at wall decals for quite some time…something to put on our long green entrance wall…but were having a hard time finding a design that was just right. When I discovered Simple Shapes, we knew we had found a winner!
Simple Shapes vinyl wall decals are cut from high quality removable vinyl – so if you ever want to remove them, there will be no damage to the wall or paint.
They are so easy to apply, with very thorough instructions and helpful videos to watch, we had no trouble putting them up.
I actually stumbled across Simple Shapes one day and was taken by their chalkboard vinyl wall calendars. I am a diary/calendar freak and love having everything written down and organised, however, I haven’t had a calendar on the wall for a few years because I can’t find something that I like. Simple Shapes Chalkboard Decals are perfect!
I ordered the Weekly Planner Chalkboard Calendar and have been using it for a few weeks and it is amazing – even Jaron has been commenting that he is happy that he knows what is going on with everyone now! I’ve been using the Chalk Ink Marker Pen with the calendar and it is much better than regular chalk – no dust, nice and bright and once it has dried, it can’t be wiped off unless you use a damp cloth.
We also got a Blowing Leaves Tree decal to decorate our green wall. Ever since moving into our house, I have wanted a statement on the wall – the green is a statement on it’s own, but I wanted something a little more arty to pretty up the hallway a bit.
We stuck with all white (you can choose from a heap of different colour combos) and love how it looks against the green. This decal is HUGE – 4m long and 2.2m high, and it took Jaron and I almost 3 hours to put the whole thing up. It was really easy to do though, I had visions of stuffing it up and ending up with a deformed tree, but everything was smooth sailing. It could easily be done with one person, but faster and more fun with a friend 🙂
The one thing I was really worried about with the decals is that the kids would discover that they were just stuck to the wall and start picking them off over time, they vinyl is much thinner than I imagined though and is stuck on really well so I can’t see them doing any damage.
And to top things off I asked Simple Shapes to custom make me a speech bubble that I can use as a “To Do” list on the wall behind my computer nook.
It’s a little quirky and brightens up the space and is much more enticing to look at than a scrappy piece of paper! Maybe I’ll actually start crossing things off my list more often now!
Fashionable Fabrics is a lovely fabric boutique filled to the brim with fabrics from your favourite designers. Fashionable Fabrics sent me some gorgeous cotton voile and cotton lawn fabrics to use for my review. If you haven’t used voile or lawns before, I highly recommend them – especially when making clothing. They feel amazingly soft and drape beautifully.
I made another Shearwater Kaftan from some Anna Maria Horner voile. I love the summery colours and light weight feel that voile brings to this top. This one is going with me to Sydney next week so if you want to see it in the flesh, come along!
How about some FREE FABRIC for two lucky winners? Simply “like” Fashionable Fabrics on Facebook and you’ll go in the draw to win a $25 gift certificate to use towards anything in the shop!
(Giveaway ends Sunday 19th June and winners will be drawn randomly.)
