Good morning, yarn-loving friends. May I bend your ear about something exciting, please? (It involves knitting and saving money: you're going to like it.) There's a designer of seriously stylish knitwear out there and if she's not already on your radar, she really should be. (Nobody is paying me to say this, I promise.) When I first saw her work, I gasped. I wish I could have shown her designs to the woman who once said to me, "You knit?! Oh... so do you make horrible, lumpy, jumpers that Continue Reading
Milling About
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Saltaire. This West Yorkshire village is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and home to an awesome art gallery at the former textile factory, Salts Mill. Like colour? You're going to love this. I'd never been to Saltaire, but the folk at Stylecraft organised a visit as part of our recent Blogstars meetup. We arranged to meet at the mill, specifically at the 1853 gallery, which is home to a large collection of David Hockney's artworks. See? I told you this post Continue Reading
Winning Some, Losing Some. Actually, Mostly Losing.
May I sit with you a-while, please, and knit? (I know, I promised posts on Salts Mill and the tatting workshop - they're coming.) Today has been one of those days when you end up with less yarnery than you had at the start. Do you ever have days like that? I've been working on creating a design using Stylecraft's new yarn ('Tweedy'). But it just was not working. Would you like to take a look at my failure? (I can't believe I'm doing this. Will you still respect me in the morning?) OK, here Continue Reading
Weekending. With Yarn.
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
How To Knit Socks In An Hour (Sort Of)
Whilst I sort through my photos from the Stylecraft Blogstars weekend (and tweek my over-excited posting about it all), shall we knit/crochet a-while? I have a couple of finished objects that you might like to see. The nice thing about getting round to finishing long-neglected projects (LNPs) is that, if - and it's a big if - if you can figure out where you were up to, and why on earth you put that stitch marker there, and why for that matter you thought that fluorescent yellow would look good Continue Reading
Knitting: It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint
(We have a giveaway winner: more on that in just a moment.) Hello from a splendid hotel in West Yorkshire! I'm 200 miles from home, attending the twice-yearly gathering of the Stylecraft Blogstars at the Stylecraft woollen mill in Slaithwaite. But I'll tell you about that properly in my next post, because there is so very much exciting loveliness to show you. I love these weekends. (In case you're newish to these 'ere parts, I've written before about jollies such as touring the mill, and Continue Reading
Time For A Catch-Up
OK, people, you have until tomorrow lunchtime (UK time) to enter the luxuriously colourful Noro giveaway. Just thought I'd mention that, in case you haven't cast your (knitted) hat into the ring, yet. The competition is open worldwide. Anyway, settle y'self in a chair (yes, even the chair if you so wish) with your crochet/knitting, and let's talk yarn. May I see what you're making, please? And of course you can join us in the pub for out knitting group if you so wish. Our membership spans quite Continue Reading
Want To Win A Marvellous Noro Book? Yes?
Have you ever knitted (or hooked) with Noro yarn? If not, then this unique Japanese producer should be on your fibrous bucket list. You might love Noro, you might hate it, but you're unlikely to be indifferent. A quickish guide for the uninitiated: Noro produces s-l-o-w-l-y colour-shifting self-striping yarns in various combinations of wool, silk, cotton, and alpaca. Here's a very old and dodgy photo from my little-more-sophisticated-than-a-chap-sitting-inside-my-phone-drawing-a-sketch phone 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
Comfort-Knitting
Sometimes, you just need a mindless comfort-knit. This fellow is going to be a cardigan, worked in 'Nepal', a wool-alpaca blend by Drops:- What I was too ashamed to tell you in my last post when I showed you this lovely new yarn I'd bought... ...was that in a moment of financial insanity, I actually bought three different bundles of yarn, to make three different cardigans. (I'm always cold. As is this house. The cardigans will at least get a great deal of wear.) The Drops Nepal is well on Continue Reading