That demonically-possessed gold metallic yarn I told you about? It ran out, a couple of words before I'd finished the back cover of Mary's book. I swear I could hear the stuff sniggering as I tried to eek out the last few centimetres of fibre. So I ordered more, and sat waiting and waiting for it to arrive. By the time this thing is done, Mary's recovery will have progressed so far that she'll have forgotten that she was ever ill. I am a well-meaning but inefficient friend. Fortunately, Mary is Continue Reading
Cardigan Design
When normal people - whoever they are - want a new cardigan, they probably go to a shop and choose one to buy. I dunno, but I'm guessing that's approximately how it works. Some people knit or hook their own, of course, and those folk will definitely have the upper hand come the apocalypse. I decided to go one step further. (I always decide to go one step further - even if it's over the edge of a cliff.) Having rejected every extant cardigan known to humankind, I decided to write my own Continue Reading
Knitting
Lately, I've been knitting a lot. The only downside to this is that it's left less time for blogging about knitting. I'm working on the prototype of my first cardigan design. You'd think this'd be a quick process since I'm working plain ol' stockinette in a single self-striping yarn, but... no. It's taking forever. I even did a recount to check that I hadn't accidentally made an extra six sleeves because that would at least explain the slowness. It's not as though I'm making it out of Continue Reading
Back To The Mill
Twice a year, the Stylecraft Blogstars gather at the mill in Yorkshire for a weekend of yarnery, laughter, samples of the yarns of the future, fine food, deepening friendship, yarn industry news, stunning scenery, a trip out somewhere interesting, a workshop, wine, and luxurious hotel rooms where absolutely nobody tiptoes in at 2am to ask, "Mummy, how long do kestrel eggs take to hatch?" Or at least if they do, you can say, "Sorry kid, that's an excellent question but I'm not your mummy; I think 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
Getting To The Bottom Of The Matter
Are we all here? Yes? Well good evening, and thank you for coming at such short notice. I just thought it would be a good idea to have a blog post updating you on various bits and pieces that I've mentioned recently. It's a pretty full agenda, so assuming you're all settled with your knitting or crochet, let's get going. First on the agenda is the naming of the spinning wheel. A big thank you to all 247 people who voted. And as per the outcome, may I proudly present Monsieur Algernon Spinburne, Continue Reading
A Knitted Skirt
I ought to tell you about my knitted skirt, because every time it sneaks into a photo, somebody asks about it. OK, this one wasn't so much of a 'sneak', as a 'pose':- Because I wear it so much, it sometimes makes an appearance in photos here, or over on my Instagram, or Facebook, or Pinterest pages. (Yes I did just plug my social media pages, in the hope that you'd hop over there and subscribe. I really am that shameless.) And whilst it would be an exaggeration to shout OMG YOU GUYZ, LIKE Continue Reading
Design Your Own Crochet Projects: A Book Review
Evening, all. Is that seat taken? May I? Thank you. So, whilst I write up a couple of patterns for you, let's have a book review. A while ago, I was having a silent grumble in my head about how there seem to be fewer books on crochet pattern-design/writing than there are knitting-related equivalents. To be fair, there are a lot of silent grumbles in my head, most of which should get a grip and definitely remain silent, because they're about such weighty problems as, "Why-oh-why is that ball 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