Every time Hazel Tindall (world's fastest knitter) sends me something in the post for review, it snows. It snowed when her brilliant DVD of knitting advice arrived, and it snowed again months ago when a parcel containing this new book flolloped through the letterbox and onto the doormat. This, despite the fact that it hardly ever snows here. You might argue that a sample of two has very little scientific validity, but I love snow and I'm sticking to my theory that THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. 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
The Hat
Some time ago, Mother Twisted (my mum) asked me to knit her a hat for Christmas. If you type the word 'hat' into the knit part of the Ravelry pattern database, you'll get 68 624 alternatives. Yes, that is the real number. You might think that's a lot, but we Twisteds are fussy blighters, and I wasn't very optimistic that we'd find the right pattern amongst such a small collection. My pessimism was justified, and all 68 624 were rejected, lovely though most of them were. So I realized that I'd Continue Reading
The ‘October’ Cushion Pattern And The Stylecraft Blog Tour Yarn Giveaway: Hurrah!
Good morning all, especially to those of you who are here for the first time because you're following along with the 2017 Stylecraft Blog Tour. Welcome! Feel free to stay awhile, have a poke around, and make yourself at home. (You may even sit on The Chair.) And yes, this post will include both a brand new free pattern, and the chance to win oodles of yarn, regardless of where in the world you call home. GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. So. Very, very, late last night, the Stylecraft Blog Tour Bus pulled 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
Technology
Technology and I have had a little falling out. The laptop in this house knows full well that I'm a pen-and-paper lass at heart, and so it taunts me with nonsense such as "The file you've been working on for three hours without even so much as a loo-break is no longer available". You can't go wrong with pen-and-paper, though. I even draft this blog on paper:- I like to design stranded/fair isle motifs on paper, too, but then I have to type them up. And that was the origin of the problem Continue Reading
The Mandala Picture: A Free Knitting Pattern
Another free pattern? Really? Well, yes. Aeons ago, I designed and knitted this large piece of craziness:- I wanted to play with the idea of the mandala, subvert the medium a wee bit, so I knitted a picture of a mandala. The idea of writing up this monster as a pattern was then filed away in Volume XII of the Great To-Do List in the bottom left corner of my brain**, between ‘learn to speak Finnish’ and ‘organize my sock drawer’. But then a nudging comment on a recent post prompted me to 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