The GK YouTube Channel is here :)

November 10, 2021November 24, 2021Leave a comment

Last week I talked about making some changes to GK. Probably the biggest one after closing the online shop is I officially started the Gynka Knitwear YouTube Channel and I have just uploaded my first video! These videos will always come with some explanation which you will find in the main menu under the title tutorials. The explanation for this particular video is here.

If you check my channel on YouTube, you will see that there are two videos there (if you are reading this at the beginning of November 2021, of course…). That is because I had one uploaded about a year ago but that was quickly made for someone who asked for help and I realized the best I can do for her is to film how I do it myself… I don’t count that video to the series I am filming now but it was a milestone for me in a way that it was the time when the idea of a GK YouTube Channel first came to my mind, so I left it up there.

The reason for the YouTube channel and the video series is that in my experience, most of you, Lovely Knitters, are visual-minded like me, so I believe demonstrating a solution for a problem for you is a better way than just telling you what to do. After almost 5 years of experience in designing, writing and supporting knitwear patterns I know the points where almost every beginner knitter needs help with my patterns. All the questions I am asked are concentrating to the same part of a pattern and every pattern has its own “problem part”. Most of the time it is a knitting technique that knitters are not familiar yet. I tried to help to all of those who got to me for assistance with an already existing video on YouTube (there are plenty of fantastic ones) but in many cases they are not helpful or they not the exact technique I use in my pattern (for example I haven’t found a video that is using the exact same method for joining an I cord to a knitted piece that I use) and it can be rather confusing.

I also know that many beginners are not asking their questions, they try to find a solution on their own and if they don’t succeed, they put the project aside and probably never return. My aim is to go ahead of this problem and create a visual aid to all beginner knitters and link these videos into the patterns so they will be right there when they are needed. This way all the help I can possibly offer will be right there in the pattern without making it too long (or over-explained for the advanced knitters if that is a word…).

I struggled a lot about the structure of these videos. They would probably be more informative if I talked you through some parts but since English is not my mother language I believe it is better for everyone if I don’t talk :D… Let us stick to subtitles and you tell me if it helps or not.

For now, my plan is not to post videos on a regular basis but to publish them in line with the new patterns. So there may be no videos for a longer period but then there’ll be more of them at the same time when I release a new design. I am making a series now for my existing patterns and when I am finished with the series, I will update all of my patterns with the links. Everyone who purchased my pattern through Ravelry will get an automatic update when it is done but I will also inform you through the blog.

I really hope you will benefit from these videos. I am always willing to listen to your thoughts about them, so if you have something to say, please do in the comments and I will try my best!

Happy Knitting!

Mici

It’s been a while…

November 3, 2021November 3, 20214 Comments

…since I last posted here. I am so sorry I have neglected all of you. But there are times when life puts so much weight on your shoulders, you must decide which to carry on and which to drop. I don’t want to make excuses because I don’t like them either but if you are interested in what happened to me, please go ahead and read the story of my last three years… If you prefer not knowing anything about me because you are so angry at me, I totally understand, please just skip this post then, I was struggling writing it anyway because I don’t like to take my family-related stuff out to public. Just know that I feel terrible guilt to neglect you.

If you decided to stay with me for the rest of this post and get to know the reason for my absence, let’s jump into the middle of it… About two years ago my daughter was diagnosed with ASD and it was quite a shock for my family. The thought that something is not right with her wasn’t new to us, life had always been hard with her, she literally never slept, someone (usually me) had to be awake with her through the nights, too and she hadn’t started communicating with humans like other children do (by communicating with humans I mean she didn’t even seem to notice anybody. But she did notice dogs… in fact that is how she finally learnt to speak: with the help of dogs… but let’s not jump that far ahead in the story just yet…). The year prior the diagnosis was extremely hard with more and more frequent meltdowns, therefore I had less and less time and energy to focus on work. We needed to do something about it so we started to investigate the problem. After about a year, at the beginning of 2019 she got the diagnosis. We started to search for educational possibilities immediately and we soon realized that we need to move to the capital city to be able to provide her with the help that she needs. So we packed everything – including my mother 😀 – and sold both our house and my mother’s house to buy one in Budapest. We found a house that had a small apartment attached to it (for my mother – this way she would always be around if we needed help…). They were cheap (by cheap I mean according to other real estates in the capital city. According to our budget it was the only thing we could afford) but they needed renovation badly and the previous owner had a huge amount of bank depth on the houses, so they were in a state before auction. We decided to make a deal with the bank and buy the houses even if that meant that we need to do construction works while we are living in the house.

A few days after we signed the contracts in March 2020, the pandemic reached Hungary and everything was shut down. I don’t know if you have ever tried to sell two houses and buy a third one at the same time with all the stuff being moved from the two houses to the third one. Top that with a pandemic, a renovation (during a pandemic), a child with ASD (who doesn’t like changes, during a renovation, during a pandemic) and the struggle with bureaucracy to clear the depth of the previous owner in the estate records (during a pandemic). This was the worst. There was a misunderstanding between the bank and the land registration office and even though we settled all payments towards the bank, the land registration office didn’t want to delete the mortgage from the papers. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget about the problem that the previous owner had nowhere to live anymore so he tried to stay in the house as long as he could with his daughter, two huge dogs and a huge cat… and we let them live with us in the smaller apartment for months because we couldn’t bear the thought that they haven’t got a home any more because of us (I know. It was not because of us. We payed their depth, and their depth was not our fault… the bank would have taken the house from them anyway… but still. We wanted to move in a house that we payed for – and that meant they have to leave at some point. By now they managed to find a small apartment nearby and took out another loan to pay for that apartment but they are not homeless at least…). All in all, I don’t want to say we have tough two years behind us but WE HAVE TOUGH TWO YEARS BEHIND US…

Some photos of the renovation for you to get a picture of what I was talking about… 🙂 (the last of the works were finished in March 2021, that is when we could finally took over all parts of the house):

With all the above going on, as much as I would have loved to continue working on Gynka Knitwear, I just couldn’t manage. All my yarn, needles and even my computer were in boxes in a garage for months. At first I tried to read and answer all mails and Ravelry messages at least but after a while I had to let go of this too, because I couldn’t keep up and I was tired to excuse myself all the time for being so slow on reacting. If you happen to be someone who hadn’t got an answer to a question, I hereby apologize and please feel free to contact me again via email: gynkaknitwear@gmail.com. I will monitor this email daily from now on and start to catch up.

As to our struggles, we are over the worst part now and everything is settling down. We cleared the depths from the estate records, construction works are finished (inside at least. But before we start the works outside we have to take a deep breath to forget the hell of the last two years…). We were able to find a kindergarten for my daughter which she finally loves and she slowly starts to communicate with us (she is 5 now). She has also learnt the difference between night and day so she started to sleep 6-7 hours at night and we couldn’t be happier because if she sleeps, we can sleep, too.

Now that life is getting back to normal (if life can be called “normal” nowadays…), I would like to slowly get back to work, too. I decided to stop making ready-made items, so I shut my online store down. It is too much work for me right now and I had to choose between knitting and designing. I will continue writing patterns and I am currently working on something totally new to GK… I hope to announce it soon because I am very-very close to being ready.. I also hope you will like it. I am also planning to continue to write new posts to this blog biweekly or so, this way I can keep you updated about what is happening. It is hard to promise anything at this stage because you know… we have good weeks and bad weeks with my daughter… it is hard to tell whether I will or won’t be able to do any work regularly. But I will try my best, as I always do. I know some of you are relying on me, and I won’t let you down.

I also won’t spam you here with my private life anymore but in case you are interested in the end result of our new home, I have an Instagram account dedicated to my hobbies (creating our new home, indoor gardening and knitting) I would be more than happy if you joined me there, too! Please follow my account: @plantaknit on Instagram to see updates.

At last but not least I would like to say a huge thank you for being here, for reading my blog, for knitting my patterns, I can not tell you how much it means to me! You are the best! Hope to welcome you back next time!

Happy Knitting!

Mici

Putting the knitter to sleep mode – here comes the designer!

February 17, 2018February 17, 20183 Comments

Last Sunday I was attending a craft show in Budapest so I’ve had a tense week before it. I’ve sold out quite many beanies and bonnets before Christmas and I was in lack of my most popular hats but was too tired to restock them in January. On the other hand I wanted to destash a huge pile of yarn because I needed space for the newly arrived ones which were lying all around the house in baskets like this:

So I was knitting 24/7 for some days to catch up… The craft show went fantastically well, we sold almost all of the hats that I knitted the week before (only 1 hat and 2 cowls left…) which fully compensated me for my 7 days knitting-marathon with oceans of coffee and without sleep… 🙂 Here’s is our table at the beginning of the show (I’ve rearranged it later as we started to run out of things – but unfortunately I forgot to take photos of it…):

My newborn props debuted at this craft fair and they were surprisingly popular. I was overwhelmed with kind comments, everyone stopped by to admire them at least. I was happy to find out that it had been a good idea to put newborn props on the palette.

Finally I think I can declare that the hat season here in Hungary is officially over. At least from the perspective of a knitter. To tell you the truth (and please don’t share this secret to anyone… 😀 ), I don’t mind it’s over. Knitting is my life but until January I was knitting 12-14 hours a day, often with my wrists in bandage to kill the pain… I was counting the hours until Christmas, I knew I have to hold on and it will end on Christmas Eve… 😀 Anyway, my inner-knitter goes for a well deserved and loooong vacation until August and my designer-self takes her place in the next few months.

I have many designs in progress but the one closest to publication is Tyche (Tike-ee), a textured hoodie for toddlers. The sample is almost ready and I am beyond satisfied, it turned out just the way I imagined:

I will show you sneak peeks soon but I still have to write and edit the pattern and I need a tech editor for this one (since it is not at all a beginner-level, to be honest…) If you are interested in test-knitting this hoodie, please join my Ravelry group here: –> GK Test Knit. I would be very happy to welcome you in there! I will start a thread for Tyche test knitting as soon as the pattern was tech edited.

Until then, here’s a little history of the hoodie: I was knitting Rililie’s Diane cardigan (link to her Ravelry pattern here: –> La Maison Rililie – Diane) for myself at Christmas (it’s so embarrassing but I still haven’t finished it… two words: sleeve island…). I purchased the pattern because I really like Rililie’s designs and I needed to knit something other than hats. Diane was love for the first sight and when I read through the instructions, I found the techniques and implementations so phenomenal, I had to cast it on right away. As I was knitting, the idea of this hoodie struck me, so I started to draw sketches and along with the Diane cardigan on my needles, Tyche was born.

I named it after the greek goddess of good luck and fortune. Tyche has raglan sleeves and it is joined in the round after reaching the armhole. It is knitted mainly in seersucker stitch (which is one of my favourites at the moment) and it has a kangaroo pocket (which is my 3-year-old son’s favourite 😀 ). The top of the hood is grafted with kitchener stitch and has an icord hem, just like the pocket. I used Lang Yarns’ Merino 120 for this project.

More photos and details coming in the next few weeks! Happy knitting!

KNIT. WEAR. SHINE.

Mici

Let bygones be bygones

February 4, 2018Leave a comment

I’ve had a few resolutions for this year, both professional and private. I’m always cautious of these New Year’s resolutions because I think that adding a new habit or getting rid of an old bad ones don’t depend on a date. If you can make something a daily (or weekly) routine, you’ll succeed anytime. But its a good starting point.

My private resolution is to regain my pre-natal strength and shape. It sounds cliche but what you probably don’t know about me is that I used to be quite athletic before I gave birth to two babies in 2 years. And soon after the second child-birth I lost almost 20 kgs (44 lbs). I can only blame myself (I just didn’t have time to eat) but let bygones be bygones… The problem is that I’m all skin and bones now and I really have to regain weight and I have to make it fast. Fortunately my spouse is a kettlebell instructor and we have quite many bells at home so I don’t even have to move outside the house to have an instructed workout. To make workouts a daily routine, I took part in the 10 000 swing challenge, which meant that I had to do 333 swings every day between 1st and 30th January (for those of you who don’t know what a kettlebell swing is, here’s a short video to demonstrate: (link) ). Sometimes I really thought that my whole day consisted of eating and doing swings… there were times when I hated it and wanted to give up but I didn’t. And finally it’s over! I made it! And I’m so proud! It really motivates me to continue (and by the way, managing 1-hour workouts three time per week seems a lot easier then managing 30-minutes 7 times…). So now I’m eating five times a day, doing workouts 3 times a week and keep counting calories to gain muscles and weight…

My most important professional resolution is to improve in designing knitting patterns. I designed a few hats last year but I didn’t find them challenging enough so I purchased a lot sock, shawl and sweater patterns from other designers to learn new techniques and I have already started to design my own pieces. Unfortunately I can’t show you anything yet because they are only existing in my head (and some ideas in my sketchbook) for the time being but as soon as I will have a quiet moment, I will start to write them down. This will come about the second half of February. My Ravelry group for test knitting is already open (it is called GK Test Knit), so if you would like to sign up, I will be more than happy to welcome you! ❤

I will have a really busy week since I am preparing for the last local craft show of the hat-season next Sunday (11 February) and I want to knit a ton of hats and cowls until then (I think it will do good to my yarn stash, too. It really needs refreshing). Plus my newborn props are debuting so I’m quite excited about this, too… 🙂 They are based on the patterns of a very talented designer called 3PLittleKnits, you can find their Etsy shop here: (link ). I just love their designs.

The beautiful pictures were taken by Englert Orsi Photography

Thank you for being with me, I hope to see you next week! And before I forget to mention: my GK Birthday Sale is still live but it ends in a few hours, so please check out my Ravelry Pattern Store today (February 4, 2018) because it will be gone by midnight CET! All patterns of The Enchanted Forest have 20% discount, no coupon codes needed.

KNIT.WEAR.SHINE.

XOXO,

Mici

The 1st Birthday of GK and of a new me

January 28, 2018January 28, 2018Leave a comment

Usually Saturdays are my blog post-days but today is different as Gynka Knitwear turned 1 year old exactly today! Which means, I created my Instagram account a year ago 🙂 .

I had Gynka Manufaktúra before, where I shared my WIPs but I wanted a different account for my own designs. It became much more successful and had more followers and likes in quite a short amount of time.

A whole lot of things happened this year… it seems it was much longer than a single year and yet it was gone so fast. I have many achievements to be proud of and I feel I have learnt many things. Not just as a knitter but as a person as well. I don’t want you to be bored of my knitting successes, I listed them a few posts back in my end-of-year summary, I won’t repeat myself. I would rather write about my personal improvements.

The most important lesson I learnt from this past year as a person was to handle critics and offences (I am thinking about those nasty nay-sayers and not the constructive ones. I like the constructive kind, which I can improve from). I always had a problem with showing up. That is why it was a really hard decision for me to step out of the crowd and show my art to others. The critics are always there watching every move. So I didn’t move for a long time.

But being locked in a house alone with two little babies made me want to have some attention. I could be the mom posting cute pictures of the kids all day to every social media sites possible but that is not really me. It’s the kids. It was me, who wanted that attention. And I wanted it really bad. So I got it. And very soon I got my @ss kicked for it. My first reaction was I must have done something wrong. The second was disappointment and anger, and the third was: “OK, I should do something about this issue before it starts influencing my creativity”. So I started searching for motivation.

What I found was a speech of Theodore Roosevelt, held in 1910 (the exact day was April 23 which is actually my birthday – so this must be meaning something 😉 ). I share it with you because I know there are plenty of makers struggling with the same thoughts as I was. I hope it helps putting things back into place, like it did for me. It is called The Man In The Arena:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

OK, so here am I in the arena, showing up. My face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who am I? I am an enterpreneur. And so here is another one of my favourite motivations for all of you, my maker friends, an excerpt of Common Sense by Thomas Paine:

“I do not choose to be a common man.
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can.
I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen,
Humbled and dulled by having the State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk,
To dream and to build. To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done.
All this is what it means to be an Entrepreneur.”

Conclusion: I have the creativity in me. I have the power to make new things, to transform yarn into a whole new piece of art that hadn’t existed before. But I am human and I make mistakes. And I am really proud of this, too. Should I care about the ill will of those people who doesn’t even know how to knit? NO. It is that simple. Learn to design a knitting pattern and knit it up yourself, otherwise I am in no way interested in your feedback. This was the lesson of 2017.

And this, my dear friends, is a H.U.G.E. lesson! Life is much more easier, more beautiful and I can use my spare positive energies for creating. I am pretty sure the year ahead will be even more prosperous than 2017 was.

So let’s celebrate! I am hosting a giveaway on Instagram: the winner receives any 3 digital copies of knitting patterns of The Enchanted Forest Collection! Anyone can enter the giveaway until midnight (January 28, 2018). For further details please check my Instagram account: (link).

If you missed the giveaway, do not worry, all patterns in my Ravelry Pattern Store are on sale until Sunday February 4, 2018! To shop GK patterns, go to: (link).

Aaaaand, if you happened to miss my Birthday Pattern Sale on Ravelry, too, I still have something for you 🙂 : grab your 15% discount on your first GK digital download by joining Gynka Knitwear U-Knit Club here: (link)! This way I can guarantee, you will never miss a GK Pattern Sale any more! 😉

KNIT. WEAR. SHINE.

XOXO,

Mici

Holiday Mode: off

January 20, 2018January 20, 2018Leave a comment

I tried so hard to stick to the Christmas tree and the holidays but let’s admit: we are in the middle of January… holidays are over… I should have some work done here…

Anyway, I wasn’t completely inactive during the past few weeks. I was knitting for family, friends and of course myself – only… There are still some WIPs left but I hope they will be FOs soon… 😀

Here’s a successfully finished object, a Christmas gift to my daughter’s therapist at Bethesda KIDSz (pattern is Lemmy K. by Isabell Kraemer):

It knitted up very quickly (I needed two days from cast on to bind off, and another one to wet block) and it turned out beautifully. My mother fell in love with it instantly, so I will have to make another for her as soon as I have two days off… 😀

This past week I tried slowly getting back to everyday routines like planning, designing and posting on social media sites.

My first announcement on my Facebook site was an announcement I’ve been excited very much about and prepared for months. I’ve always loved newborn photo props but I wasn’t sure if I should design any as I have several other things in my mind that seem more important. But I had several referrals from photographers and I didn’t want to disappoint them. One day last summer I was searching for something on Etsy, and a shop hit my eye accidentally… It is a Bukarest-based shop, selling knit patterns and I was shocked by all the beauties there… and I quietly asked myself: “do I have to design every single piece myself in the GK webshop or is it OK if the Newborn section is designed by someone else, like this really talented Romanian designer…?” You problably know my answer… I bought some of their knitwear patterns, knit them up and we had the first photo sessions by November… and so GK Newborn was established…

More photos are coming soon and ready-made pieces will be available in the GK webshop from February.

For those of you who would like to browse this beautiful pattern shop I’ve talked about above, here’s the link: 3PLittleKnits

Photos were made by Englert Orsi Photography – Orsi, if you happen to read this, I’m blown away by your pictures – again… ❤

From this week on, I will write weekly blog posts and next week will be an important milestone in the life of Gynka Knitwear with a little surprise, so stay tuned ;)!

KNIT.WEAR.SHINE.

XOXO,

Mici

Turning a page

January 16, 2018January 16, 2018Leave a comment

Language has been a huge dilemma since the launch of the GK blog. I insisted on Hungarian for a long time for many reasons. One of them was that that English is a foreign language for me – and I am sure I am not alone with the fact that blogging in a language different from my first one is not so comfortable…

The other reason for the Hungarian blog was that handknitting is not yet as popular here in Hungary as it is in other countries and my mission was to bring people closer to this fantastic world of handknits… I was quite successful I think but I soon realised that I have so many orders, I am knitting 24/7 and still can’t keep up with my endless to-do-list… Hiring help was not an option since I am one hell of a perfectionist… Well, I don’t want to talk about that, really 😀 … I am sure you know what I mean… 😀

But times change, so GK is changing, too. Designing and knitting new things was always a bit closer to me than simply knitting them. Last year my main profile was knitting and selling finished products, mainly in Hungary but as soon as the Enchanted Forest Collection went live in September, I received quite many inquiries from all over the world about selling my knit patterns. Due to these referrals and the huge success of my very first knitting pattern, the Aurora romper, which had over 400 downloads on Ravelry in a few months, I decided this year I will be putting a little more emphasis on writing patterns and this blog will be an integral part of it. Since my patterns are written in English, I must let go of my doubts and continue my blog in English. I am sorry for the mistakes in advance… 😇

This change doesn’t include closing my webshop of ready-made items or stop showing up at local craft markets. Oh, no! I love doing those, too. It only means I will be concentrating more on writing patterns and less on taking custom orders. In fact, I am closing up for custom orders forever. I am hoping this one little step will solve my time schedule issue.

So let’s roll the dice, here is GK only in English from now on! I still need a few weeks off from work to spend with my family after this really tough 2017 but I promise I will be back soon with the patterns of the Enchanted Forest Collection!

Until then, grab your 15% discount on your first GK digital download by signing up to the Gynka Knitwear U-knit VIP e-mail list HERE and don’t forget to follow me in Instagram 🙂

KNIT.WEAR.SHINE.

XOXO,

Mici

Évösszefoglaló

December 27, 2017January 16, 2018Leave a comment

Elég sűrű év volt, feszített tempóban, és a blogon régóta nem követtem le az eseményeket, ezért most jócskán van mit behoznom, hosszú bejegyzésre készüljetek 🙂 .

Ez a blog tavaly novemberben hobbiból indult, a hobbi munkáimnak, de nagyon gyorsan rájöttem, hogy szeretném összekapcsolni a hobbimat a hosszútávú, komolyabb terveimmel, ezért a január végén megalapított márkám, a Gynka Knitwear dolgai is itt kaptak helyet, és szépen lassan át is veszik a hatalmat az oldal felett, mert hobbiból nem nagyon maradt időm kötni/horgolni a márka és a két gyerkőc vezénylése mellett. Aki hasonló cipőben jár, gondolom, érti, miről beszélek 😉 .

Tehát, január végével beindult a Gynka Knitwear szekere, és azóta is dübörög megállíthatatlanul. Az évi büszkeségfal első momentuma volt az Aurora overál, ami egy Drops Muskat fonalra tervezett, könnyű nyári viselet kislányoknak. Nevét Csipkerózsikáról kapta, mert az első elkészült darab rózsaszín volt + csipkekötéssel készült, így ez a név automatikusan adta magát. Óriási munka volt kidolgozni, pedig csak egy méretben készítettem el a leírását. Viszont hatalmas büszkeségemre rögtön a beharangozó után megkeresett a Drops Design, hogy nagyon tetszik nekik, és szeretnék megosztani, reklámozni. A bejegyzésnek, és az overálnak is nagy sikere volt, Aurora év végére elérte a 400 letöltést Ravelry-n, ami nekem hatalmas dolog, hiszen életem első kötésleírása, ráadásul angolul.

A következő hatalmas lépés a május végi DIP Design vásár volt, itt álltunk ki a márkával először nyilvánosság elé, ez volt az első vásárunk, és itt találkoztunk Vigvári Judittal, a Milli and Bro, a Judit Vigvári Design és a Mommy and Milli megálmodójával, aki nekem addig is példakép volt szakmai tudása és kreativitása miatt, de miután személyesen is megismertem, teljesen elsodort a személyisége lendülete, a saját hivatása iránti rajongása, és gyakorlatilag azonnal elkezdtünk dolgozni egy közös projekten az őszi kollekciójához. Kimondhatatlanul boldog vagyok, hogy így egymásra találtunk, rengeteget tanultam tőle/vele, és nagyon remélem, hogy lesz még lehetőségünk együtt dolgozni. A kollaboráció eredménye egy sapka-nadrág szett lett, ami alkalmazkodva Judit őszi kollekciójának bárányos mintájához, ún. popcorn mintával készült.

Judit biztatására jelentkeztem a Pici Piacra árusítónak, és nagy örömömre pozitív elbírálást kaptam (azoknak, akik kevésbé ismerősek a témában: a Pici Piac baba-mama témában a legpopulárisabb kézműves vásár itthon, a bejutás várólistás), így elkezdhettem a felkészülést szeptemberre.

A nyár a saját őszi kollekcióm, az Elvarázsolt Erdő megtervezésével és kivitelezésével telt el, megtörtént az első profi fotózásunk is, fotósunk Englert Orsi volt, aki fantasztikusan hozta az elképzeléseimet a témában, de beszéljenek magukért inkább a képek:

Szeptemberben piacra is került az Elvarázsolt Erdő Kollekció, és meglepően nagy sikere volt (és szerencsére van azóta is… :)). A szeptemberi Pici Piac elsöprő volt, varázsütésre megindult a közösségi média oldalak látogatottsága és a webshop is szépen kezdett el teljesíteni.

Októberben a Milli and Bro színeiben voltunk jelen a Pici Piacon, és itt is az elvárásainkat meghaladva debütáltak a kötött darabok, azt hiszem, Judit nevében is mondhatom, hogy nagyon elégedettek voltunk.

Novemberre egy új mini kollekcióval, a Mainly Monochrome -mal készültem, ami a Gynka Knitwear közkedveltebb darabjainak monokróm változata.

A fotókat Szabó Gabónak köszönhetjük, aki nagyon eltalálta azt a mozgalmas stílust, amit ehhez a világhoz képzeltem. A kollekciónak akkora sikere volt, hogy december közepére szinte teljesen lefogyott készletről, illetve ami elfogyott, azt többször is pótolnom kellett külön megrendelésre.

Újabb momentum a büszkeségfalra, hogy a webshop üzemeltetője, a Big Cartel megkeresett, hogy annyira tetszenek nekik a webshopon és az Instagramon szereplő képek, hogy szeretnék felhasználni őket az új sablonjukhoz.

Természetesen beleegyeztem 😀 , az erről készült bejegyzést itt olvashatjátok:

Big Cartel: Introducing the Hopscotch Theme

Hát ezek voltak a főbb események röviden-tömören február óta…

Rengeteg pozitív visszajelzés, bátorítás érkezett a vásárlóktól, a képekről nem is beszélve, amikért nagyon hálás vagyok, és amiknek itt a blogon is fogok egy galériát létrehozni, GK Manók címmel. Ezekkel az elismerésekkel vágok bele 2018-as terveimbe. Hiszem, hogy most már egy éves tapasztalattal a hátam mögött jóval könnyebb dolgom lesz, mint egy évvel ezelőtt, amikor minden ismeretlen és bizonytalan volt. Erősítem a gyengeségeimet, fejlesztem az erősségeimet, haladok előre a Gynka Knitwear útján!

Sikeres új évet mindenkinek!

Apróságok kicsiny gyűjteménye

March 4, 2017March 4, 2017Leave a comment

Eltelt egy kis idő az utolsó bejegyzés óta, de nem ültem tétlenül. Sőt, konkrétan elég sok dolgot csináltam, amik látszólag apróságnak tűnnek, de valójában nagyon is sok időt és energiát emésztenek fel.

Első körben például olyan dolgok, amik kiegészítik majd a termékeket. Ilyenek a címke, a mosási segédlet vagy a felvarró. Nem is gondolná az ember, mennyi idő megy el az ilyen látszólag kis munkákkal, amíg bele nem kezd. Jónéhány óra eltelt szerkesztgetéssel, még több olyan beszállító felkutatással, akik az elképzelést kivitelezni is tudják, de a leghosszabbnak a várakozás tűnik, amíg készhez kapja az ember az elkészült dolgokat… 😊

Amibe teljesen szerelmes vagyok, az a felvarró… imádom az első pillanattól fogva, ahogy kibontottam a csomagot, amiben érkezett. Már akkor is sejtettem, hogy jó lesz, mikor a látványtervet megkaptam, de a valóság minden képzeletet felülmúlt. Amit nem lehet leírni vagy képekkel visszaadni, az az illata 😊. Lézerrel égetik a logót a fába, amitől olyan isteni illata lesz, hogy az leírhatatlan 😊. Ahogy kinyitottam a dobozt, és meglegyintette az orromat, a nagyanyám sparheltja jutott eszembe… amikor téli reggelen odakucorogsz mellé, a belsejében ropog a tűz, beszívod az illatát és közben kortyolod a jó meleg kakaódat… Na ilyen a felvarró 😊.

Sajnos nem minden sikerült azonban elsőre. Például fejben eldöntöttem, milyen lesz a címke, kerestem hozzá beszállítót, megrendeltem, megérkezett, és kiderült, hogy mégsem lesz jó, élőben egyáltalán nem volt szép. Egy pillanatra elkeseredtem, de aztán újra megálmodtam az egészet, és újrakezdtem. A csomagolással hasonlóan jártam, de úgy tűnik, ez most működni fog, és végre ez is véglegesedik. Jövő héten derül ki, amikor megérkezik… nagyon izgulok!!! 😁

Aztán alakul a webshop is… Nos, hát igen. Egy része. Hogy is mondjam szépen? A magyar jogszabályoknak nem könnyű megfelelni 😂. Nem könnyítik meg az egyszeri kézműves dolgát, na 😊. De természetesen, amíg maximálisan eleget nem teszek az előírásoknak, addig a webshop “coming soon” üzemmódban marad: rendelni nem lehet, csak nézelődni.

Nézelődni viszont érdemes lesz majd, mert a webshopba szépen gyűlnek a sapkák, sálak, kesztyűk, illetve dolgozom a nyári kollekción is, remélem hamarosan képet is tudok mutatni. Addig is álljon itt egy kis galéria a téliekről:

Ha szeretnétek naprakész fotókat látni, kövessétek a Gynka Knitweart a Facebookon: @gynkaknitwear, illetve az Instagramon: @gynkaknitwear 😊. Ez utóbbin egyébként márciusban egy kihíváson veszek részt, amelynek folyamán minden nap megmutatok valamit az “Alkotóból”, hogy ne csak a termékeket, hanem engem is jobban megismerjetek, illetve kicsit beláthassatok a műhelybe, a színfalak mögé 😋.

Legközelebb részletesen írok majd a mintákról és a fonalválasztásról, úgyhogy maradjatok velem! Napfényes tavaszi hétvégét mindenkinek! 🌼🌻🌸🌷

Gynka márkanév lett…

January 30, 2017January 31, 2017Leave a comment

Ahogy az előző bejegyzésben is beharangoztam már, a blog életében változások lesznek. Aki követi a honlapot, az láthatja, hogy mostanában az oldal felépítése is megváltozott, de ennél van egy sokkal nagyobb újdonság is:

ezúton jelentem be nagy-nagy örömmel, hogy megszületett saját márkám, a Gynka Knitwear 😄❤.

A márkanév alatt saját tervezésű kötött és horgolt kiegészítőket találtok majd. Egyelőre csak kiegészítőket, azaz sapkákat, sálakat, kesztyűket és fejpántokat készítettem, de később szeretném majd bővíteni a kínálatot. Jelen pillanatban ezeket még nem lehet megvásárolni, de többen dolgozunk rajta, hogy ez megváltozzon, és reményeim szerint nemsokára elérhetőek lesznek a Meskán és/vagy az Etsyn 😊.

A Gynka Knitwear a Gynka Manufaktúra részeként működik tovább, de saját Instagram (@gynkaknitwear) és Twitter (@GynkaKnitwear) felülettel. Hogy ez miért így van, annak megvannak a maga bürokratikus és egyéb okai, de mind közül a legfontosabb, hogy mások szellemi termékeit nem szeretném a sajátommal keverni. A Manufaktúra folytatja tovább ingyenes tevékenységét, tesztel és fordít mások által készített leírásokat, eszközöket és fonalakat, míg a Knitwear ellát benneteket pihe-puha gyapjúsapikkal! 😉

Igyekszem minden héten bemutatni egy-egy új darabot, amit majd felveszünk a bolt kínálatába, kezdve rögtön a favoritommal, ami a Bobble nevet kapta. A Bobble egy pixie/bébi bonnet, luxus minőségű merinoi gyapjúból készült, szép textúrájú és nagyon meleg. Kislányos és kisfiús változatban is elérhető lesz. Fogadjátok szeretettel! 😊