Thank you, my Fine Fibrous Friends, for your kind words in response to my last post about how Twin One* has cancer and potentially also another alarming condition. We're continuing to wait for more news about Twin One's more precise diagnosis, plus his prognosis and treatment plan. I assumed that we'd know more by now but they're still testing the portion of him that was surgically removed. It's taking so long that I'm beginning to suspect that they're culturing a whole new twin (ergo Continue Reading
Chicken
Against my limited better judgement, I've been playing yarn chicken with a cardigan. This unequal match between knitter and wool has been ongoing for two whole years. It's important, you see, to act casual around the yarn so that it doesn't sense your fear. (To briefly explain yarn chicken because I know that some people read here who don't - yet - knit or crochet, the term describes the situation in which your remaining yarn may or may not be sufficient for the current project, so you knit Continue Reading
Kittens
November doesn’t have much to commend it, here in the UK. It’s cold, it’s grey, it’s aggressively dark far too soon after lunch, and it’s very, very, soggy. Our wonky old brewery home is reliably cold and damp. Sometimes the Stoic Spouse suggests we put the heating on or light a log fire as he stands there wearing his woolly hat and his two pairs of socks and his hypothermic skin tone (though to be fair, blue as a colour does rather suit him). But if we put the heating on now, who knows what Continue Reading
The Wrong Ystradowen
We all make mistakes, right? Errors such as thinking, "I can finish knitting this jumper before my friend's birthday." Or deciding that of course you'll remember what size hook you were using to crochet that half-done afghan. The Stoic Spouse has a foolproof method for avoiding knitting and crochet mistakes... which is to never once in his life attempt either knitting or crochet. He has thus maintained a laudable 0% failure rate in all things yarny, unlike the rest of us fallible mortals. Continue Reading
Doodling
Just occasionally, life runs smoothly. Traffic lights turn respectfully green as I approach (am I the only person who has good-traffic-light days and bad-traffic-light days?) and the twinnage clean their teeth on something less than the seventeenth time of asking. Other days, the roof springs a new leak, next door's cat poos on my veg beds, and I go to work in the day-job unaware that there are dinosaur stickers attached to the back of my jumper until a patient or a colleague points it Continue Reading
On The Weighty Matter Of Orange
The reworking of the Falling Leaves cowl is going medium-well, but it's been temporarily stalled because the orange I was using was just a bit too exuberantly orange (think irradiated mega-pumpkins on steroids), so I've ordered an alternative yarn, and am drumming my fingers on the kitchen table, impatient for its arrival. Chris-the-postman will doubtless deliver it soon, with his usual unnerving ability to know exactly what's in any given parcel/letter he pushes through the letterbox. "Looks Continue Reading
Knitting Covid
Fancy a discount on my new pattern? Read on... But first, to those of you who celebrate the occasion, a (belated) merry Christmas! Doubtless it was a different sort of day from the one you might have planned, but I hope that there were some smiles. This post is coming to you from the sofa, because I've just finished radiotherapy, and I'm tired. Strictly between you and me (if you're willing to keep a secret) I, um, may have spent large chunks of the big day asleep. I'm not sure the twinnage Continue Reading
Fair Isle Designs From Shetland Knitters, A Review
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