We haven't had a book review for a while, have we? Let's rectify that:- Knitting and crochet often get a bad rap. Both crafts are regarded by some as the fast route to frumpy, style-less, doom*. And yeah, there are some... interesting patterns out there. But hey, it's not as though all the ready-made clothes that you can buy are super-stylish, either. Fortunately there are plenty of designers who do understand how to breathe elegance into their work, and a fair few of those people have Continue Reading
Labels For Your Yarnery: A Review And A Discount
For those who've never tried it, I have to tell you: blogging is mostly fun. The very best thing about it is that you get to chatter online with likeminded folk. A smaller benefit is that sometimes, you're offered free things to review. Mostly this is stuff that's relevant to your readership but you do occasionally have to write emails saying, "Thank you, but I'm not sure your drain clearance products would be of very much interest to readers of my knitting and crochet blog". (It irks the Stoic Continue Reading
Design Your Own Crochet Projects: A Book Review
Evening, all. Is that seat taken? May I? Thank you. So, whilst I write up a couple of patterns for you, let's have a book review. A while ago, I was having a silent grumble in my head about how there seem to be fewer books on crochet pattern-design/writing than there are knitting-related equivalents. To be fair, there are a lot of silent grumbles in my head, most of which should get a grip and definitely remain silent, because they're about such weighty problems as, "Why-oh-why is that ball Continue Reading
Look, It’s Hazel Tindall’s New DVD! (Also, We Have A Giveaway Winner)
So there I was, trying to persuade the twinnage to stop putting worms in each other's hair, when my phone pinged with an email from none other than Hazel Tindall. (By the way, there is an extremely lucky giveaway winner to announce, right at the end of this post.) Just in case she's not on your radar, Hazel Tindall is from Shetland and she's the world's fastest knitter. In the time it's taken you to read this sentence, she's finished off two fisherman's keps and a jumper. She's fast, and she Continue Reading
Would You Like Some Tea?
So I was contacted by Adagio Teas, who sell all sorts of luscious tea-based loveliness in various parts of the world, plus the equipment with which to make it. "Help!" they said. "Quickly, please!" I was puzzled. "Huh? I'm a knitting/crochet blogger - I'm not sure how I can help you..." "But it's an emergency!" they insisted. "The weather has turned freezing, and..." "Yeah, tell me about it: you should try living in this house." (Here, for the record, is what this house looks like at the Continue Reading
Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible: A Review
One of the magical things about knitting and crochet is the way that traditions vary a little from country to country, so you'll probably never run out of interesting things to discover. Let's talk about Japan. I confess that until recently, my awareness of Japanese yarn-related traditions extended not much further than amigurumi. I'm not proud of that fact. But then Tuttle Press sent me a review copy of Hitomi Shida's new book, Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible (translated into English by Gayle Continue Reading