Occasionally, life flings me a hint that the knitting/crochet thing may be getting out of hand... but I do my best to ignore such clues, and get on with choosing which WIP I can work on whilst giving birth to any future children.* The other day brought one such hint. I took the twinnage to a children's theatre group,** and when we arrived, part of the floor was covered by those bright, interlocking, floppy mats that babies and toddlers can play on. They were a bit like these:- My children's Continue Reading
Oh My Goodness…
It's no secret that I like to knit/crochet whilst walking. It's pretty rare that I'm out and about without yarn. Maybe it'll get me labelled as the village weirdo, but we all have to decide our priorities in life, and it turns out that I like knitting more than I dislike being called a weirdo, so meh. It's also no secret that I like to go running most days. Goodness, those are words that I never expected to write, way back when I was the dunce of the PE class at school. But it turns out Continue Reading
Fancy A Hefty Discount On Some Gorgeous Knitting Patterns?
Good morning, yarn-loving friends. May I bend your ear about something exciting, please? (It involves knitting and saving money: you're going to like it.) There's a designer of seriously stylish knitwear out there and if she's not already on your radar, she really should be. (Nobody is paying me to say this, I promise.) When I first saw her work, I gasped. I wish I could have shown her designs to the woman who once said to me, "You knit?! Oh... so do you make horrible, lumpy, jumpers that Continue Reading
Winning Some, Losing Some. Actually, Mostly Losing.
May I sit with you a-while, please, and knit? (I know, I promised posts on Salts Mill and the tatting workshop - they're coming.) Today has been one of those days when you end up with less yarnery than you had at the start. Do you ever have days like that? I've been working on creating a design using Stylecraft's new yarn ('Tweedy'). But it just was not working. Would you like to take a look at my failure? (I can't believe I'm doing this. Will you still respect me in the morning?) OK, here Continue Reading
How To Knit Socks In An Hour (Sort Of)
Whilst I sort through my photos from the Stylecraft Blogstars weekend (and tweek my over-excited posting about it all), shall we knit/crochet a-while? I have a couple of finished objects that you might like to see. The nice thing about getting round to finishing long-neglected projects (LNPs) is that, if - and it's a big if - if you can figure out where you were up to, and why on earth you put that stitch marker there, and why for that matter you thought that fluorescent yellow would look good Continue Reading
Knitting: It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint
(We have a giveaway winner: more on that in just a moment.) Hello from a splendid hotel in West Yorkshire! I'm 200 miles from home, attending the twice-yearly gathering of the Stylecraft Blogstars at the Stylecraft woollen mill in Slaithwaite. But I'll tell you about that properly in my next post, because there is so very much exciting loveliness to show you. I love these weekends. (In case you're newish to these 'ere parts, I've written before about jollies such as touring the mill, and Continue Reading
Time For A Catch-Up
OK, people, you have until tomorrow lunchtime (UK time) to enter the luxuriously colourful Noro giveaway. Just thought I'd mention that, in case you haven't cast your (knitted) hat into the ring, yet. The competition is open worldwide. Anyway, settle y'self in a chair (yes, even the chair if you so wish) with your crochet/knitting, and let's talk yarn. May I see what you're making, please? And of course you can join us in the pub for out knitting group if you so wish. Our membership spans quite Continue Reading
Want To Win A Marvellous Noro Book? Yes?
Have you ever knitted (or hooked) with Noro yarn? If not, then this unique Japanese producer should be on your fibrous bucket list. You might love Noro, you might hate it, but you're unlikely to be indifferent. A quickish guide for the uninitiated: Noro produces s-l-o-w-l-y colour-shifting self-striping yarns in various combinations of wool, silk, cotton, and alpaca. Here's a very old and dodgy photo from my little-more-sophisticated-than-a-chap-sitting-inside-my-phone-drawing-a-sketch phone Continue Reading
Comfort-Knitting
Sometimes, you just need a mindless comfort-knit. This fellow is going to be a cardigan, worked in 'Nepal', a wool-alpaca blend by Drops:- What I was too ashamed to tell you in my last post when I showed you this lovely new yarn I'd bought... ...was that in a moment of financial insanity, I actually bought three different bundles of yarn, to make three different cardigans. (I'm always cold. As is this house. The cardigans will at least get a great deal of wear.) The Drops Nepal is well on Continue Reading
I Fought The Yarn… And The Yarn Won.
See this blog? It should probably be renamed the Don't Try This At Home blog. Because whether it's knitting, crochet, running, or general adulting, these pages sometimes feel like a catalogue of mild inadequacy. That baby blanket I mentioned last post? Well I knitted my portion, and all was good... or at least as good as you can expect for a blanket knitted by three different people using three completely different kinds of stitches. Let's call it... unique (but it is plenty snuggly enough for Continue Reading