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
Winter Colours
There is knitting in this post I promise, but there's also lots of winter colour because if you're anything like me, you find the natural world and the landscape endlessly fascinating and inspiring. (And if you're not anything like me, then congratulations on being such a well-adjusted member of society.) Those eleventy hundred bulbs I planted in the autumn are beginning to reveal themselves and I can't resist showing you a few:- Judging by the green fronds poking up all over 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
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
Blogstars Weekend, Part Two.
PREVIOUSLY, ON THE TWISTED YARN... the Stylecraft Blogstars began their twice-yearly meetup in West Yorkshire with a visit to the textiles department at Huddersfield University. Afterwards, we headed to our hotel. Everyone else was probably thinking terribly sensible, grown-up thoughts, but my mind was full of SNOW! SNOW! SQUEEE! Granted, it wasn't much, but the following morning it snowed a little more, and the needle on my over-excitement dial spun so far out of control that centrifugal Continue Reading
It’s Winter: Bring Yarn
There's still time to enter the awesome yarn/pattern giveaway, right here and here! (For your bonus Facebook entry, don't forget to 'like' the 'Yarn's overall Facebook page, not just the post about this contest.) Wa-hey, it's December! I remember my teacher at primary school telling our class that we Brits are all obsessed with talking about the weather. So it's my patriotic duty to say right now, Man, it's COLD! In fact, the mercury has shrunk so shiveringly low in the glass that it's Continue Reading
Anyway, I Digress…
←Don't forget the Bloomsbury children's book giveaway in the previous post. There's still time to enter. As it is in yarn, so it is in life. Honestly, my head's been all over the place this past week, and so has my knitting/crochet. One minute I'm tinkering in the undergrowth in the garden of that crochet project, the next minute I'm wondering what sort of mittens to knit for the twinnage because I made the mistake of buying them some gloves with fingers which turns out to be more fiddly hassle Continue Reading
This Really Is Terribly Important
So I'm busy writing an extremely important letter to the Met Office on the subject of SNOW. (For non-UK readers, the Met(eorological) Office is our publically-funded national weather forecasting/monitoring service.) Feel free to knit and crochet whilst I talk. Oh, and help yourself to some of that wine. So what do you think of what I've drafted so far? Dear Sirs/Madams (Madams? That sounds dodgy.) I am writing to respectfully request that you cease your current practice of knowingly and Continue Reading
Winter Knitting
A small quiet post for a cold, cold December evening. Come sit here beside the fire and tell me honestly what you think of these fat green olives. Oh, and do have a dribble of rioja, too. We've been hunkering down for winter here at the brewery, a statement that I appreciate will sound faintly ludicrous to those of you blessed/cursed with proper winters. In my defence, all I can offer is this: ice-on-the-inside-of-the-windows. Not now, obviously, but sometimes. Time, I think, to head off Continue Reading