Hello blog, my fine friend. I've been working on the crochet version of the Hiking Reindeer Cowl. No longer are the trees listing drunkenly to the right. But something in the switch from knitting to crochet appears to have translated the reindeer into a moose. I'm not sure what a moose is doing in the southern English countryside on which the scene is based: it must have been hiking for some time. But the pattern will be done fairly soon, at which point I'll publish it on this site for Continue Reading
Go Home, Trees: You’re Drunk
People, there's still time to enter the marvellous book giveaway, right here. Spread the word! Meanwhile, have you heard of the sunk cost fallacy? It's a term used to describe how we tend to make decisions based on time/money/energy that we've already invested (i.e. irrecoverable 'sunk costs'), rather than on what would really benefit us in the future. This generally happens because we don't want to waste that investment. Fair enough, but that time/money/energy is gone already, regardless of Continue Reading
Free Pattern Alert! The Cowl Is Done!
I've been in a bit of a frenzy to finish designing and making the fiery sunset cowl, since so many of you said such kind things about it. I knitted round, and round, and round, so very fast that I was almost flung backwards across the room by the centrifugal forces. Anyway. It's done. And I've typed up the pattern for you. But first, a message. Mother Twisted was enormously touched by all your lovely comments about her cathedral window quilting, and she sends you heartfelt thanks. I think Continue Reading
Knitting A Fiery Sky
Hello. There's a stretch of motorway that I drive often. If it's dusk and there's a half-decent sunset, the view is stunning, with sharp conifers and rolling hills silhouetted against the sky. Often, I see deer. I've long wanted to show you this view because I know you like colour, but stopping on a motorway to whip out my camera would be both illegal and stupid, so it hasn't been possible. But then something happened that meant I could at last show you... in knitting! Because look what Continue Reading
Fancy Another Free Pattern?
Fancy another free pattern? Yes? OK, but before I reveal all, may I just thank you from the very bottom left corner of my heart for the generous comments that you left regarding the chair. However, I am deeply aggrieved that you've all sided with Stoic Spouse about whether or not anyone should sit in the thing. The twinnage certainly can't be kept away. Here's one young man and his car park:- In all the excitement of the chair, I didn't get a chance to tell you about another project - one Continue Reading
Free Colourful Cowl Pattern!
OK, would you like the free pattern for this fairisle cowl that I designed? You would? Well there's a link to the pattern near the bottom of this post. Enjoy! It's a fairly generous one size, that would fit an adult or teen. The version in the pictures was made using all 16 shades of Stylecraft Batik, but of course you could use fewer colours, or indeed a different DK/light-worsted yarn entirely. The cowl is worked in the round, so although you'll have a fair few ends to weave in, there's Continue Reading
The Moo-Cowl Pattern. AKA Simon The Cowl.
Before we knuckle down to the knitting, allow me to remind you that the absurdly overgenerous Wool And The Gang (WATG) giveaway touted in my previous post is still very much w-i-d-e open for business. Can I just say how much I've loved reading your warm, witty, woolly comments on that thread? Do pop over and enter (but only if you fancy a stonk-load of soft, fluffsome, chunky, Peruvian, pure wool in shades of your choice – no pressure). Oh and whilst you’re entering, I’d be most eternally Continue Reading
Ludicrously Generous Yarn Giveaway, Right Here
So. Today, we have a giveaway of such monumental extravagance that the Plausibility Police are after me because it surely can't be true. And yet it is. :-) Some of you will no doubt have heard of those fine fibrous folks at Wool And The Gang, yes? Well it turns out that they're rather generous as well as being super-friendly. I've had to keep this a secret these past few weeks, but they contacted me recently in order to hatch a little plan. No wait, that's a lie, it's a big plan. It's the sort Continue Reading
Heaven Is Purple Qiviut. Trust Me On This.
Somewhere amidst the frosty tundra of northern Canada, a musk ox (yes one of those vast and curmudgeonly beasts) is missing a little of its tummy fluff. Not very much of its tummy-fluff you understand, not enough to leave it with a shivery abdomen, for the musk ox is extremely well-insulated and tends to moult its excess in spring. But just a few grams, sufficient to make... oh I don't know... maybe a cowl for someone in the frosty - er - "tundra" of south Oxfordshire. All I can say is Continue Reading
Look! A Competition!
whispers Would you like to win lots (and lots) of yarn? In all sorts of near-edible colours? Yes? Well I have to declare an interest in publicising the Stylecraft competition below, because look who is one of the judges, along with Lucy from Attic24 and the editor of Let's Knit magazine! How much fun is it going to be to look through everyone's colourful suggestions and work out what would work best in fibrous form? I'm sitting here willing everyone to let their colourful imaginations run riot. Continue Reading