Knitting by Zen

I received my new colour card from Bendigo Woollen Mills today. It’s always exciting to get tactile items from the mill - especially when I buy lots of stuff from them! I have to say though that I’m kind of confused. Do I keep my cards for cotton and the boutique-y kind of yarns still? Are they being phased out?

And what is *with* the colour selection for the new yarns? There are a very large number of shades of pink, purple and red but one yellow (insipid, pastel kind of corn colour), a smattering of greens (and *wail* my favourite shade has been discontinued!!!!! Venetian in Classic), two somewhat-oranges (or is it 3? The Butternut looks like flesh…) and a couple of blues.

It’s also hard to see what colours are new - the last colour card I had had the new colours underlined. I will have to take to my new one with a pen I guess. It is interesting to see that the bulk of the selection is Classic (much more sensible to be able to machine-wash ones woollens, yes?).

I love BWM, don’t get me wrong. Love that it’s Aussie wool and that it’s made in Australia. I buy a lot from there to make lots of garments, and for stashing and for presents But yeesh - what is with the pattern selection? There is not a single one there that makes me think "yep that’s for me". They all look like somethng my mother would make. There is nothing wrong with that except my mother no longer knits. There are LOTS of Australian knitwear designers around the place who could quite happily design clothes but ya know - even updating the shots would go a long way to encouraging the new, younger, hip ‘n’ happenin’ crowd to get into them. I know that BWM doesn’t make lots of $$ from their patterns but it’s a good way to showcase them. And I’d like to think that at 28 I’m no longer the odd one out in being a knitter.