Morning all. Right, before we go any further, a quick announcement. I've just made all of my patterns free (using the code ANTIVIRAL at the checkout) because it doesn't feel right to take money whilst people are losing their livelihoods. You can find the patterns here. Most of my designs were free anyway, but for now, they all are. Robyn-the-robin says hi. She couldn't care less about the coronavirus, as long as she gets her mealworms. Anyway, to the subject of today's post. I don't Continue Reading
Clothes For Vegetables
Meet the leek-cosy. It's knitted in a 2x2 rib using Stylecraft's 'Life Changes' yarn. (Yes, that's a portion of twinnage outside in the background.) Oi, stop laughing about this terribly serious matter! There really is a good reason for this. Allow me to explain... Being someone who wastes far too much time nosing into oddball corners of the internet - peering into its cupboards, opening the occasional drawer - I come across all sorts of things. On nights when I can't sleep, it Continue Reading
Hair
Today's thesis: it's amazing how many hair products are also useful in knitting. No seriously, hear me out. I posted a tip on Instagram about using elasticated hairbands to secure your circular needles when your knitting is squished into the bottom of your handbag. As your knit-in-progress languishes down there in the dark, stitches slip from the needles amongst the till receipts, samples of oolitic limestone, and tulip bulbs. (What? Why are you looking at me like that?!) I bought a Continue Reading
Progress, Of Sorts
Many thanks, you ridiculously lovely lot, for every single one of your kind words about my book deal. And if I've been quiet since the announcement, it's because I've been busy designing and writing. I'm breaking the habit of a lifetime by working hard from the outset, instead of leaving the task until 10pm on the night before it's due. Trust me when I say that this is deeply unfamiliar behavioural territory. I'm running quite a bit, too (twenty miles per week), which is helping to keep Continue Reading
Booked
There's something that I've been desperately excited to tell you about, and now - at long last - I can. Stylecraft Cotton Classique. Next year, Dover Press are publishing a very colourful new book about stranded knitting. And the author is, erm, me. You could possibly make a case that I'm biased on the matter, but I think it's going to be a cool book. With a respectful nod to traditional approaches such as Fair Isle, it'll strip stranded work back to its core principles and encourage Continue Reading
Hunting Parsnips
It's that oddball week between Christmas and New Year's Eve when nobody is sure what day or time it is, how many mince pies constitute an adequate breakfast, when the bins might next be collected, and whether or not the cat has been fed. We don't even have a cat (sadly), so this problem really shouldn't tax us as much as it does. I was back at work yesterday. Driving to the hospital on near-empty roads, I battled anxious thoughts about whether it really was definitely, definitely Friday, Continue Reading
Florence
Florence. You've (possibly) visited the city, you've seen the photos, now knit the cushion! But more on that in a minute. Here in southern Britain, it's been raining since... well actually I can't remember when this wretched rain began. Last month? Last decade? The Pleistocene epoch? Who knows. The landscape is grey and soggy. Gazing out of the window is not an uplifting experience, unless you're inspired by sludge. Every time I go for a run, I'm not so much running as dancing, in Continue Reading
Comfort Knitting
Thank goodness for yarn, eh? Isn't it pretty out there at the moment? No matter what you're dealing with, there's a knit or crochet project that'll help you through. Feeling so stressed that you just gnawed your own leg off through sheer nervous energy? Allow me to recommend a simple ripple blanket. Practically expiring from ennui? Why not intarsia a reproduction of the Mona Lisa in laceweight? (Because it'll shred your last reserves of sanity, that's why not.) When the sun comes out Continue Reading
Cowls Against Brexit
OK, own up. Who was it? Who invoked that ancient curse, 'May you live in interesting times'? Because if it was you, please understand that by this point some of us have had quite enough interestingness, thanks very much, and could really do with a bit of tedious, safe, predictable, stability. TIA, yeah? In a week when my beautiful old nation might just hurl itself off a cliff whilst yelling about how fun it feels to be flying through the air, I'm struggling to concentrate on normal stuff. Continue Reading
Fun With Power Tools
Never, ever, in the history of everything, has a woman waited with such excitement for a mountain of well-rotted compost to be plonked on her doorstep. Oh hang on, perhaps I need to rewind this a teensy bit. Shall we knit/crochet a little whilst I explain? If it’s OK, I’ll finish sewing the buttons on to the Trip To Town cardigan that I’m making for my friend Alice. (Pattern by Drops here.) If you’re reading this, Alice, please pretend not to have noticed that last sentence, or the photo Continue Reading