Fancy another free pattern? Yes? OK, but before I reveal all, may I just thank you from the very bottom left corner of my heart for the generous comments that you left regarding the chair. However, I am deeply aggrieved that you've all sided with Stoic Spouse about whether or not anyone should sit in the thing. The twinnage certainly can't be kept away. Here's one young man and his car park:- In all the excitement of the chair, I didn't get a chance to tell you about another project - one Continue Reading
It’s Not A Popularity Contest! Oh, Wait, Actually It Is…
Hello blog. Just a short one today. Thank you for all the kind comments that you've left lately, you lovely yarny lot. On Sunday, this blog will be three years old. Three! I can scarcely believe it. In my experience, three-year-olds are obstreperous and independent little spirits, prone to embarking on unhinged adventures and removing all of their clothes on a whim. So read here at your peril. Talking of the blog, I discovered by chance the other day that I've been shortlisted for the British 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
Stylecraft Batik Yarn Review
It's about time I published a review of Batik, Stylecraft's brand new yarn. (Disclaimer: I didn't pay for the yarn, so clearly my fickle head has been turned by this freebie and not a single word of the following is to be trusted.) I wanted to thoroughly road-test the yarn before I wrote this, so I got the knitting needles out and started designing something that incorporated all sixteen shades:- You know what you need in the heat of August? A nice warm, fluffy cowl, that's what. So I Continue Reading
Quick And Easy Hack For Controlling Bobbins In Colourwork
In this post, an easy hack for how to control all those bobbins when you’re doing complex colourwork, especially intarsia. :-) Colourwork is a fantastic thing in knitting and crochet: it’s like painting with yarn – even painting in three dimensions, should you choose to engage in that level of crazy. I love most colourwork - stranded/fairisle especially, but also, slipped stitch work, and stripes. But I do not love intarsia*. Intarsia hurts my sanity. It’s a technique in which even the tiniest Continue Reading
It’s The Knitting And Stitching Show!
Wow, what a day. For those of you not in the UK, the Knitting And Stitching Show is the yarn-related event of the year in this country, held amidst the splendour of Alexandra Palace on a hill in London. It started today, and runs until Sunday. May I just at this point thank Stylecraft Yarns for my complimentary ticket - very much appreciated, you kind people. Settle in, my friends. This threatens to be a long post. With many photos. Help y'selves to some of that wine. There will be moments Continue Reading
The Carnival Bag, And The Stylecraft Giveaway!
Welcome to day five of the Stylecraft Blog Tour! Fancy a free pattern and a chance to win a whole caboodle of yarn, regardless of where in the world you are? Read on, Macduff... So, just for the benefit of anyone who is new round these 'ere parts, (hello at the back, there), a few months ago I co-judged Stylecraft yarn's competition to find a new shade for their range of Special DK. With me were the editor of Let's Knit magazine (who waited very patiently in the car park before we went in, Continue Reading
The Skirt Post
Ah, the skirt. (And thank you to the kind people in the comments threads who've been asking about it.) This post could probably be retitled 'How not to design a skirt, you fool!' but it will at least give you a laugh or two, I hope. For those of you who are new around these 'ere parts, allow me to elaborate. I decided on a whim to design a knitted stranded skirt and a crocheted bag, ahead of judging the Stylecraft competition. It seemed like a good idea. And whilst the bag was done in plenty Continue Reading
This Isn’t Going To Work, Is it?
A quick one, my fine friends, because I'm knitting against a deadline. And for now, the deadline seems to be winning. :-( I haven't even drafted this post on paper; just opened the little flap in my brain behind which all the crazy lives, and let it all dribble out uncensored onto the keyboard. Consider y'self warned. And maybe fetch a stiff drink. So Tuesday is Stylecraft judging day with Lucy from Attic24, and having self-imposed this ridiculous deadline of designing/knitting a new skirt to Continue Reading
Spring! Don’t Jump Out At Me Like That!
WOAH-there. Spring, where on earth did you, um, 'spring' from? That was a bit sudden. A few days ago I was pondering whether our log supplies would last the month at our current rate of huddling in front of the log-burner, and whether I could afford another lorry-load of logs, and whether my stinking head-cold was turning to bubonic plague (being prone to diagnostic melodrama), and now I'm sitting in my parents' Herefordshire garden, enjoying these colours whilst the Toddler Twinnage rampage Continue Reading