The other weekend, the 'Stylecraft Blogstars' headed to West Yorkshire for our twice-yearly gathering of woolly minds. Imagine an entire weekend spent with kindred creative souls, where people will look at you funny if you don't chatter on (and on) about knitting and crochet. Imagine a get-together where it's practically de rigueur to cast on at the breakfast table. Imagine a weekend where nobody would dream of interrupting you whilst you're counting. Imagine getting a glimpse into the Continue Reading
Want To See Around An Old Woollen Mill?
Would you like to see around a really old woollen mill? Step this way. And yes I know; there's been a wee bloggy hiatus, caused by us spending a week scrambling through the forests and mountains of Snowdonia*... ...plus taking the twinnage down to Pinewood Studios to get fitted for costumes for a small non-speaking part in a major feature film. The film thing is something of a surprise because amongst the things that we Twisteds do each day - step over casually abandoned piles of yarn and Continue Reading
Yarn Shop Day
Saturday was Yarn Shop Day here in the UK. Knitters and hookers everywhere showed their love for yarn shops, whilst in return, the yarn shops showed their love for knitters and hookers. What's not to like? A crack team of Stylecraft Blogstars was despatched to various events around the country. In my case, I landed at Masons in Abingdon (Oxfordshire), which happens to be my favourite yarn shop. Eek, what's this outside?! Well it was a good thing that the sign said 'about 2pm' for the Continue Reading
An Over-Excited Book Review And A Splendid Giveaway
Since it's a dull Monday, shall we have an over-excited book review and a giveaway? Yes? OK, here goes:- Somewhere in Greenland, there are small birds living in more luxury than you do. See this nest? It's lined with pure qiviut - you know, that crazy-expensive luxury fibre from the tummy-fluff of the musk ox. Lucky birds. That said, after such a pampered start in life, the chicks will probably grow up completely unable to cope with the harsh realities of the world. You and I would have to Continue Reading
And The Winners Are… Also, Will You Look At This Patchwork!
Wowzers, that went quickly. A whole week has galloped past, and the Stylecraft voucher giveaway has closed. A huge thank you to everyone who entered, and to the generous folk at Stylecraft for providing the prizes. So shall we find out whether you've won? Oh, and may I just thank you for your kind comments (and name suggestions) for the sunset cowl. I've finished the knitting, and I'll be posting the finished thing with a free pattern - and a name! - within the next week or so. :-) But let's Continue Reading
Giveaway! Yarn Review! Also, Worms And Moonlit Eunuchs, All In One Post.
Buried somewhere in this blog post are a giveaway and a product review. It's been a week of minor frustrations. Nothing catastrophic or blogworthy. Nobody has been squished by a falling grand piano, and nobody accidentally clicked 'Delete Entire Database' during a meeting at work. Just lots of trivial challenges. On the bright side, I have learned how to re-programme a car key, I have ordered the reclaimed Victorian bricks for this project, and the twinnage have adopted a pair of worms - Continue Reading
So Shall We Find Out Which Lucky Folk Have Won The Giveaway?
I know. It's been a fair few days since the gong sounded, marking the end of the It's A Stitch Up giveaway. (To be fair, the gong didn't sound particularly loudly, since it's made entirely of yarn.) In meagre defence of my tardiness, we've had the inspectors in at the hospital where I work this week, and I had to pop across the Severn Bridge into south Wales, in order to go and endure the viva exam for my MPhil degree in (novel-)writing. The viva went surprisingly well. And no, the novel has Continue Reading
A Small Diversion
Yes, (on the off chance that you were about to ask) there is still time to enter THIS most fabulous and fluffy of giveaways! Go take a look! Also, if you're in the mood to win stuff and are reading this post within an hour or two of it being published, I designed and knitted a little decoration which could yet be yours through the Stylecraft Advent Giveaway, today only: look! So, yeah. Following this debacle, I had a post almost written about my change of plan, jumperwise:- But then Continue Reading
The Perfect YARN GIVEAWAY For A Winter’s Day
On a cold and dull* November day, what do you need to warm the cockles of your heart? Well, duh: lovely hand-dyed yarn, of course, and a pattern with which to knit it. So don't you reckon it's time for another giveaway, open worldwide? Enter from stage left, Suzie, bearing skeins of marvellously colourful wool. Twisted: Hello, Suzie. Suzie: Hello, Twisted. Twisted (shivering): Cold, isn't it? Suzie (also shivering): Gosh yes, it is cold... as one might quite reasonably expect at Continue Reading
Getting Cosy
Our letterbox is a mean and fearsome beast. Unusually narrow but psychopathic of nature, I swear that I’ve heard it growl on occasion. Postal staff approach with dread, and if you saw the state of the few letters that make it as far as the doormat, you’d be forgiven for assuming that we owned a very large and ill-tempered dog. So when I was contacted about a company that claims to deliver vacuum-packed, letterbox-friendly yarn, I said, “Yeah, right. Charming idea, but you haven’t met our Continue Reading