And... breathe... Right, so this is my post about co-judging the Stylecraft yarn competition. Settle y'selves, friends, for it threatens to be a long'un. There may also be gaps where I run upstairs to gullibly respond to yet another request from the Toddler Twinnage. (Y'know, twins, I'm not convinced that you're really scared of the rain any more. Anyway, you're still in trouble for that water fight in your bedroom half an hour ago that I've only just finished cleaning up. Now will you GO TO Continue Reading
Archives for April 2015
Stylecraft Competition, Yorkshire, Internet Friends, And Champagne.
Oh where to even begin? I'm back from yarn-filled, sun-drenched (despite any regional stereotypes you've encountered) west Yorkshire. I have so much to show you - more, I think, than can realistically be shoe-horned into one blog post, unless you like your blog posts encyclopaedic. Obviously, to anyone who's been dabbling 'Yarnside a-lately, there's the main event, co-judging the Stylecraft / Let's Knit competition to find a luscious new shade of yarn. Here's a teaser photo, but this Continue Reading
Hello West Yorkshire!
Another quick one. I've just arrived in Holmfirth in West Yorkshire, ahead of tomorrow's judging for the Stylecraft competition at their mill in Slaithwaite. If you entered, very good luck! I can't wait to see all the colours that you've sent in (although I'm a teeny tiny bit nervous about the objects that might have been sent in!!) I know that they've received loads of entries, so it'll be quite a (happy, colourful) task. Here's the view from my hotel room: rubbish photo on iPad camera because Continue Reading
This Isn’t Going To Work, Is it?
A quick one, my fine friends, because I'm knitting against a deadline. And for now, the deadline seems to be winning. :-( I haven't even drafted this post on paper; just opened the little flap in my brain behind which all the crazy lives, and let it all dribble out uncensored onto the keyboard. Consider y'self warned. And maybe fetch a stiff drink. So Tuesday is Stylecraft judging day with Lucy from Attic24, and having self-imposed this ridiculous deadline of designing/knitting a new skirt to Continue Reading
Thank You, People :-)
A quickie, because I'm busy knitting. But I wanted to post a wee bit of enthusiasm because there's a chance that maybe, just maybe, the Yorkshire Skirt will be done by Tuesday's deadline (if I employ a team of minions to weave in the ends and block it on the back seat of the car on my way north). Look! But mostly I've come on here to say thank you for all the kind words and suggestions for my sore, knit-weary hand, and also for the encouragement. You're kinder than I deserve, and I appreciate Continue Reading
In Which Life Conspires Against Knitting
My first thought when I woke up this morning was... "Ow." My second thought was, "Owwwwwwwwww. Ow." The over-ambitious design-and-knit-a-stranded-skirt-in-10-days insanity plan just got even more unfeasible. Lately I've been having problems with the knuckles of my right hand two littlest fingers hurting if I, (i) knit/crochet too much, and (ii) surf the net on the iPad continuously and insomniacly from 2am to 5am, and (iii) spend too many nocturnal hours indulging the Toddler Twinnage's wish Continue Reading
This Is Crazy, No? NO?
I know you’ve all been there: the three more pairs of gift socks still to be knitted and it’s 10pm on Christmas Eve. Or the exquisite, fit-through-a-wedding-ring bridal shawl that the bride really needs like, erm, tomorrow, for her wedding, and you’re only half way through the working the lace. OK, I made up these exact scenarios, but to a knitter/crocheter, they’re normal and completely understandable, right? But I think I might have over-stretched myself this time. The knitting in question Continue Reading
The Bag Lady
The crochet house-bag-thingummy is done! Want to see it? (Please say 'yes'. Or at least, 'Oh all right then, if I absolutely must.') I began construction of the crochet house around the same time that men in big boots and hard hats arrived round here to build far too many new houses on the periphery of our previously lovely village and buy up all the best sandwiches from the village shop for their lunch each day. And I can now report that building a house takes a couple of months, regardless of Continue Reading
Spring! Don’t Jump Out At Me Like That!
WOAH-there. Spring, where on earth did you, um, 'spring' from? That was a bit sudden. A few days ago I was pondering whether our log supplies would last the month at our current rate of huddling in front of the log-burner, and whether I could afford another lorry-load of logs, and whether my stinking head-cold was turning to bubonic plague (being prone to diagnostic melodrama), and now I'm sitting in my parents' Herefordshire garden, enjoying these colours whilst the Toddler Twinnage rampage Continue Reading
Notes From A Crime Scene
Woe, 'tis a dark day, here at the 'Yarn. A heinous crime has been committed. I've been working on the crochet house-bag (doing the boring stuff; weaving in dozens of ends - an ideal job for when you've got a stinking head-cold.) I have to say, it's going extremely well and I'm rather excited about the finished product. It's gone from this:- ...to a proper 3-d house-bag with shoulder strap, but I'm hanging back from showing you until I can ta-da it properly. Thank you to commenters who Continue Reading