Would you like a new crochet pattern? Yes? Then you've come to the right blog post. There is of course a backstory. There's always a backstory. I've confessed here before that I'm rubbish at planning ahead. No matter how deeply I care about the people around me, I'll only begin contemplating what to cook for their lunch once lunchtime has almost passed, or considering their birthday gifts once the big day has arrived. It's as though a can-now-have-ideas key is activated only after the Continue Reading
Spotting Stripes
I'm not trying to put you off my coming-soon pattern... but I'm probably about to put you off my coming-soon pattern. I've been busy making one of each colourway of the crochet version of the Four Seasons cowl, after working the four colourways of the knitted version, and creating the original as a 50th birthday present for a lifelong friend. That's quite a lot of spotty stripey cowls. I'm kind of over it, truth be told. Yikes, I shouldn't be grumbling about a product that I'm about to Continue Reading
A Distraction
Well thank you, good people of the internet, for your kind response to the Four Seasons Cowl. There seem to have been some techie glitches with the blog that may have prevented access at times, so I did what any right-minded IT-whizz* would do, and swore with creative abandon, drank too much wine, then hit the internet quite hard with a hammer.** It appears to have worked. So hopefully you can read this post. If you can't, let me know. Oh... um... wait... [Sound of mental cogs grinding very, Continue Reading
The Four Seasons Cowl: A New Pattern
It's done. The new cowl pattern is complete in all four of its seasonal connotations, and the pattern is HERE. Not that you're likely to wear a cowl all year round, but each of the above palettes has been inspired by a season, so that you can for example bring bold summer cheerfulness to your grey Monday in February as you run for the bus in the rain. I'm sure that those joyful pinks and purples will lift your mood as you watch the bus leave your stop when you're almost there, passing as it Continue Reading
The Leaves Have Fallen And The Free Cowl Pattern Is Here
Would you like a free pattern for a cosy autumnal cowl? It's this one, that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. There's a link to the pattern near the end of this post. In the unlikely event that you didn't devour and memorise every word of that blog post (Whaddya mean, you've "got a life to be getting on with"?) here's a recap: I was commissioned to design the original version of the cowl nearly five years ago, for the 'Hobbycraft' chain of shops. Sadly, the specified yarn is no longer made, Continue Reading
Comfort Knitting
Thank goodness for yarn, eh? No matter what you're dealing with, there's a knit or crochet project that'll help you through. Feeling so stressed that you just gnawed your own leg off through sheer nervous energy? Allow me to recommend a simple ripple blanket. Practically expiring from ennui? Why not intarsia a reproduction of the Mona Lisa in laceweight? (Because it'll shred your last reserves of sanity, that's why not.) I've been glad of a couple of easy projects these past few weeks. Continue Reading
Cowls Against Brexit
OK, own up. Who was it? Who invoked that ancient curse, 'May you live in interesting times'? Because if it was you, please understand that by this point some of us have had quite enough interestingness, thanks very much, and could really do with a bit of tedious, safe, predictable, stability. TIA, yeah? In a week when my beautiful old nation might just hurl itself off a cliff whilst yelling about how fun it feels to be flying through the air, I'm struggling to concentrate on normal stuff. I Continue Reading
The Wandering Cowl: A Shiny New Knitting Pattern!
Would you like a new pattern? Yes? OK then, read on... Twice a year, I head up to Stylecraft's mill in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, with the other Blogstars. In between gossip, trips out, wine, and knitting, we get to see the new yarns that Stylecraft will launch over the coming months. (Did I mention the brutally tough, lonely, life of a knit-blogger?) Back in February when we last visited, the yarn that caught our attention the most was Linen Drape, the DK-weight linen-viscose blend that I Continue Reading
Linen Drape, A Mini-Review
Well goodness me! Based on your reactions, anyone would think my last post was a joke, instead of the Terribly Serious Piece Of Journalism that it actually was. But thank you for all the acryla-love. Maisie says hi. (It turns out that acrylas can get addictive. You know that phenomenon where people tell a lie so consistently that they start to believe it themselves? Meanwhile, thank you again to Jo Ray for making this gorgeous beast.) Anyway, enough about the serious matter of Continue Reading
Many Things
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