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
Nuts And Bolts
Hello! Do come and sit here beside the fire. I have much yarnery to share with you. (But the latest Stylecraft Blogstars weekend shenanigans should probably wait until next post.) Meanwhile in response to a dozen or so requests, I promised a post about how I went about designing this thing:- So here goes. I've written before (five years ago! Oh, for the youthful naivety of being 41!) about designing stranded motifs. But this 123 500 - stitch behemoth made its own rules. Just as I write Continue Reading
A Thing
I've finished knitting a thing. It's a big thing. 110cm (43") square, to be precise. You're looking at 123 500 stitches which, it's fair to say, took a good while to complete. It's made of Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift, and it weighs in at 500 grams. That's a kilometre of yarn. It was knitted in the round with a steek, which I then cut. (Steeks aren't as scary as folk think, I promise. Here's a quick how-to.) I used 3mm needles for the stranded work, then 2.5mm needles for the Continue Reading
Frogging The Frog
The other morning, I picked up my knitting (nothing unusual in that), muttered some words that aren't repeatable here (not as rare as it should be), and frogged FOURTEEN THOUSAND stitches of stranded colourwork. (Youch.) I even frogged this little diving frog. (But forgot to photograph it first, so this is the reknitted version.) I tried to film the experience in a speeded-up, time-lapsy, sort of way, but technology was against me. So then I went off to do my tax return Continue Reading
The Revenge Of The Metallic Gold Yarn
That demonically-possessed gold metallic yarn I told you about? It ran out, a couple of words before I'd finished the back cover of Mary's book. I swear I could hear the stuff sniggering as I tried to eek out the last few centimetres of fibre. So I ordered more, and sat waiting and waiting for it to arrive. By the time this thing is done, Mary's recovery will have progressed so far that she'll have forgotten that she was ever ill. I am a well-meaning but inefficient friend. Fortunately, Mary is 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
Keep On Hookin’
I’m still working on the crochet version of The Hiking Reindeer cowl. It’s slow, because slow is what tends to happen when you work 4-ply (US: fingering) black yarn in a gloomy room when your previously-stupendous eyesight has suddenly remembered that you're not young any more and has gone all blurry. When the cowl is done, I’ll post the pattern here... if I can still see well enough to find my computer. Meanwhile, do please have a seat. Yes, you may indeed sit on the chair, although you may 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