I've just completed winter. Not actual winter, since it's August and we're in the northern hemisphere, but the chilliest colourway of the four-season cowl design that I'll be publishing shortly. But as I said in my last post, this is a British winter, so discard any notions of sparkly white snow against a blue sky, and instead embrace the dank and soggy undertones of sludgy reality. They're quite pretty once you get used to them. The yarn is Stylecraft Highland Heathers DK. Next up on my Continue Reading
The Easiest, Tastiest, Cake Recipe Ever, Or My Name’s Not Hieronymus Winklebottom
A knitter's gotta eat, yeah? You need fuel in order to retain your grip on sanity when you get to that part of the pattern. You know, the part that the designer wrote when they were having a really bad day because they'd just accidentally boil-washed their cashmere, so they decided to give free rein to their inner sadist because if they were suffering, then you should sure-as-eggs be suffering too. So instead of the easy, restful garter stitch they'd been suggesting for the body of this Continue Reading
And Then Suddenly, Dinner Was Ready.
Gosh, thank you for your kind words on the crocheted garden. I'd best get on with the next section, then... Meanwhile, let's talk about food. Way back in April, I promised you dinner. Yeah, yeah, you've probably worked up quite some appetite by now: sorry for the delay. Well the good news is that dinner has finally finished growing, muchly helped by this mad sun-rain-sun-hail-sun-apocalypse-sun weather we've been a-having. Even the clouds have been a little crazy. Here's a few I snapped during Continue Reading
Dinner Is On Its Way
Just as I love to be able to turn any ol' yarn into something you can wear, or sit on, or fly from the flagpole atop your roof, I also love to be able to pop a vegetable seed in the ground and wait for it to turn into DINNER. OK, you do have to wait months for that dinner to even be ready to cook (just like you have to wait weeks for the cardigan to be ready to wear), but hey, it's good to work up an appetite, no? Last spring was a wash-out on the growing things front (final unsuccessful IVF, Continue Reading
Ridge And Furrow, Gone Tomorrow
Whilst we knit/hook, shall we indulge in a little ancient history? So on a scale from 'bewildered' to 'undisputed world authority', how au fait are you with the concept of ridge and furrow? I have to ask, because I tend to assume that if even I know something, then it really must be painfully obvious to everyone else. Long car journeys of my childhood often involved spotting examples of ridge and furrow in fields beside the motorway: it's pretty distinctive once you know what you're looking Continue Reading
So That Was 2015
Oh all right then, I submit. Every other blogger in the world has produced lovely collages of their stuff for an end-of-2015 post, so I suppose I should follow suit. Here are six images of 2015-y goodness from TheTwistedYarn. I hope you enjoy them. (And for those of you kind enough to have followed this blog a'while, I hope you don't expire through boredom from the repetition of these pictures.) So let's begin with some of the things that I designed from scratch in 2015. As you'll see, there's Continue Reading
English Landscape In Yarn
I've been quiet these past few days because the cough/lurgy descended even further into Dickensian melodrama, whilst I descended deeper amongst the sofa cushions. The one thing I did do was attend Blogfest in London, but I'll leave that for the next post, because I promised you pictures of the finished Cladonia. Look! The Burrow and Soar yarn is beautiful, and was a delight to knit. The main colourway that I used for the non-lace section was named 'English Landscape In Yarn', which rather Continue Reading
Autumn Outdoors
It's a satisfying time of year to be outdoors, clearing away a season's-worth of overgrown undergrowth whilst it's still mild enough to work unencumbered by eight layers of clothing. Also the colours, of course. Ah, the colours:- Many times before, I've mentioned this village's long cherry-growing heritage, and now the few remaining cherry orchards are in their autumn livery. I'd been feeling guilty about 'growing' yarn vegetables in the garden of my big-crochet-house-project whilst Continue Reading
When Did ‘Doing Something’ Become Such A Thing?
So it’s our first ever school holiday, at the end of the twinnage’s first ever term of school, and the boys and I are embracing the gentle art of pottering. Unscheduled, routine-free time suits us far too well, and it’s entirely possible that I’ll forget to send them back to school next week. The only downside is that I can’t go running, because the Stoic Spouse is at work and the boys are with me whenever I’m not at work. But anyway. Tempting though it is to stay home and crochet whilst Continue Reading
We have a winner! (And autumn colour is lurking.)
And.... we have a winner for the signed Arne and Carlos books giveaway! Chosen randomly by the helpful algorithms at random.org, the winner is entrant number 58:- ...which on my list of entrants translates to Mary Beth Wiggins' entry over on Facebook. Wa-hey! Congratulations. :-) I'll be in touch to get your address, and then two lovely shiny signed Arne and Carlos knitting books will be winging their joyful way across the globe to you. Thank you to everyone who entered - you made it Continue Reading