I am calm. I am serene. I am not going to fling this ball of yarn across the room in a fit of temper. I am calm. I am serene. I am not going to... Oh! Erm, hello! Didn't see you there. Oops. Please don't mind me, I'm just having a little... trouble with a scarf that I'm designing. The sort of trouble that involves unravelling several hours' knitting and muttering darkly at my yarn whilst I rework the whole thing. This happens a lot, but I've learned hard lessons about how it's never ever Continue Reading
Zen and the art of marathon knitting
Wow. I already know from your comments that you people are lovely, wise, witty, and creative (yes, even YOU lurking at the back, there), but now I know that you're generous too. Thanks to you, £1646 and rising is going to pancreatic cancer research. You're awesome. More than awesome. Awesomer! Awesomest! Thank you. One day when you read about a new treatment for pancreatic cancer, you can smile in the knowledge that you've helped that happen. A heartbreakingly high number of you have Continue Reading
Hiatus
A confession: I've been neglecting my knitting. This is problematic when you're a knitting blogger. The yarny hiatus is temporary, and it's partly because we've reached peak season in the veg-growing calendar. My coping strategies for covid, cancer, Brexit, and perimenopause are all pretty similar: grow as much fruit and veg as possible, drink wine, go running a lot, and laugh in the face of adversity. Oh, and - usually - knit or crochet too, just not these past couple of weeks. It's the Continue Reading
Dynasty
Throughout history, powerful figures have established dynasties, enabling their influence in a pre-Instagram world to continue beyond their own mortal years. The Nehru-Gandhis in India, the Ming dynasty in China, plus my personal faves, the Plantagenets.* But more ambitious and proud than any of these is the dynasty in our own back garden, right here at Twisted Towers. Many of you will remember Robyn-the-robin, the four-inch-high adorable tyrant who stole hearts and mealworms around here 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
A New And Colourful Knit
Hello, my Fine Fibrous Friends. I hope you're reading this somewhere warm and cosy, because outside has been relentlessly soggy and grey and cold around here lately. Also, it's the time of year when we Brits traditionally exchange comments about how we canNOT belIEVE it's DARK so EARLY. For reference if you're reading this in North America, even here in the south of England we're on a latitude with southern Canada, so winter vs. summer daylight differs a lot. But actually, there are Continue Reading
If Knitting Patterns Were More Realistic…
...then a pattern for a basic jumper might read rather like this... (NB: Photos are indeed of a jumper-in-progress, but not one based on the instructions in this post. In case you're curious, it's Jared Flood's 'Cobblestone', in Malabrigo Rios, colourway 'Tormenta'. It's taken years to persuade the Stoic Spouse that he might like to try wearing a jumper when he's shivering in our freezing cold house. Hope he likes it.) Instructions:- Cast on. Place pretty, Instagrammable stitch-marker Continue Reading
Ramblings
Oh yikes, has it been that long since I posted? Apologies. Let's pretend that my absence was due to Very Worthy And Important Stuff, rather than the truth, which is that I was struggling with post-cancer-treatment side-effects that made my right arm medium-useless for a while. Fortunately, I was still able to walk and run in pretty places around here. This is Thrupp Lake on a crisp November morning:- Since I wasn't able to knit very much, I didn't feel as though I had a great deal to share Continue Reading
The Half-Filled Kettle Dilemma
One of the odder consequences of having breast cancer is finding yourself standing in the middle the street wondering how much horse poo would half-fill a kettle. When you're diagnosed, they send you a chunky booklet about what to expect, and absolutely nowhere does it mention either kettles or horse poo - a disappointing oversight. But I'll come back to all this silly cancer stuff later in this post. For now, let's discuss the vastly more serious matter of yarnery, specifically knitting. Continue Reading
Would You Like A Hefty Discount On Some Hand-Dyed Yarn?
Sitting down to write this post with knitting and wine beside me is the most normal thing that I've done for a while. I hate the word 'normal', along with the word 'should' - as my patients rapidly discover when I ban both abominations from their vocabularies. But whatever on earth normal is, these past few weeks have not been it. (This whole year hasn't been normal, of course, but you've doubtless noticed that. And if you haven't, then I really don't want to be the one to burst your Continue Reading