Category: 2024

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Fire It Up

A close up of knitted brioche in fiery autumnal colours. The pattern has a motif of interlocking leaves.

We had a wonderful time at Wool-in Garden City as you will know if you’ve seen any of my social media posts. The part I was nervous about (giving a talk as part of the Meet the Designers session) was great fun and my workshop students were amazing. An unexpected bonus was meeting a completely different set of vendors from the ones I have previously come to know at the shows I did last year. I think this must be because the location was that bit further away. It’s nice to expand my network of yarnie folk – and, just like the people I’ve met previously, they were such a warm, welcoming collection of people. As the event lasted a whole week, it gave proper time to talk to everyone and I got some excellent advice and top tips from other vendors and designers, most of whom are far more experienced than me in the business of yarn shows!

Do you remember how much I’ve been enjoying making my Mystical Lanterns blanket? I decided it was about time I extended my crochet skills further and I now have a copy of Persian Tiles blanket, also designed by Janie Crow. For Mystical Lanterns I took the opportunity to use some yarn that had been in my stash for a while and I’m loving the random colour approach of ‘pick a ball out of the bag without looking at it – whatever it is, that’s the next colour you use’ (it’s not finished yet, but it is growing well). However, for Persian Tiles I’ve decided to go down the traditional route of matching the colours of the original design. Not exactly, as I’m using West Yorkshire Spinners ColourLab DK rather than the Stylecraft used in the pattern, but I’m very pleased with the shades I’ve got. I already had the red and cream and picked up the rest this afternoon at Yarn O’clock. I like ColourLab as it’s pure wool and not desperately expensive and I use it in workshops quite a lot. The yardage isn’t as long as the Stylecraft at 225m/100g rather than 295m/100g, but I’m hoping it will be enough – if not, I’ll just have to top individual colours if I run out.

I realised this morning that there’s been a definite colour theme going on recently in what I’ve been knitting – perhaps I’m channelling orange to combat the darkness of the winter evenings (and some of the days)? I know that I’d love to go to Shetland for the Up Helly Aa fire festival one year.

Some exciting things will be happening soon with the lightest orange in that picture – watch this space!

The orange/fiery theme continues with my small Petulia which has grown quite a bit since last Tuesday! This pattern is currently exclusively available from RiverKnits as either a kit or just the pattern.

Speaking of exciting things happening soon, here’s another picture of beautiful yarn that is going to become something lovely in the near future.

This is Donegal Rich Tweed 4-ply from McIntosh in the colours Rossnowlagh, Raphoe and Ardara. Aren’t they gorgeous!?

At the beginning of the month I launched my year-long discount for members of my Facebook group (the imaginatively named ‘Kath Andrews Designs’ group) and subscribers to my monthly newsletters. Folk receive a discount code they can use each month (as often as they like) on specific patterns which change each month, so by the end of the year, my full portfolio will have been included. Facebook group members can get 10% off the full price of patterns and newsletter subscribers can get 20% off. January has been all patterns beginning with A or B – 11 designs in total. February will be – you guessed it – all patterns beginning with C or D.

This year-long discount has been introduced partly as a thank you to folk for signing up to the newsletter or joining the group and partly as a balance against the price changes I have been bringing in.

Garments are now £7 (for those with 4-7 sizes) or £8 (for those with 8+ sizes).

All other patterns are now £6 with the exception of my very simple patterns (Beginners Bunting Triangles, Furrowed Fields Scarf) and baby blankets (Croeso Baby Blanket and Nos Da), which are £5.

Those of you buying online in the UK won’t actually see a difference in price on the £6 patterns on platforms such as Payhip. Patterns will have already been costing you £6 because VAT was added on top of the main pattern price (the extra 20% is then kept by the website and passed on to the government).

However, I didn’t really like the fact that the price you paid depended on where you lived. So, I’ve now included any VAT due on digital patterns within the price – and raised the basic pattern price to cover this. This means that if you live in the US, patterns will cost you a little more and I will receive a little more. If you live in the UK (where VAT is 20% on digital patterns), patterns will cost you the same as they previously did and I will receive the same as I previously did.

It may sound a bit complicated, but it isn’t really. You’ll just see a single price that is the same for a given pattern regardless of where in the world you are.

Enough of the maths! During the rest of this week I will be putting Caramel Slice into my own format and continuing to knit the sleeves of the adult version of Honeybun (as well as playing with some fiery coloured yarns!). I’m nearly at the full width of the sleeves and then once I get to the sleeve cap things will progress quite rapidly as the stitch count drops.

We are hoping to visit the Process exhibition at Qube in Oswestry soon as well. The exhibition continues until 12th February and is open Monday-Friday 9-5 and Sat 9.30-12.30.

I’m hoping to have some completed sleeves to show you next week (and maybe a few other things too!). Until then, take care and stay warm. K x

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Consider Yourself ‘Wool-In’!

I’m sorry about the corniness of today’s post title, but I just couldn’t resist it. After rehearsing ‘Consider Yourself’ with Shelby’s Singers (our local community choir) last Wednesday, and now being at Welwyn Garden City for the week long wool festival that is Wool-in Garden City, that twist on the lyrics just won’t leave my head!

How are you after Storm Isha? It sounded pretty scary outside to me, but there didn’t seem to be any major damage where we are.

I’m having such a lovely time at Wool-in Garden City. I’ve met a whole new bunch of fab yarnie people, given a talk about my work as a designer (!) and taught 8 people how to knit two-colour brioche. The folk standing around the edge might have picked up a tip or two as well!

The mayor of Welwyn Garden City opened the event on Saturday morning, cutting the obligatory ribbon, and he and his wife spent time talking to every exhibitor as well.

A week long show as a pop up shop is a big undertaking, especially for the organisers, and I can’t thank Helen and Naomi and their extra volunteers enough. They’ve been helpful, kind, friendly and encouraging throughout. We have the opportunity to take time out from the event, at which point folk can pay for items from our stands at the central cash desk. As some of the exhibitors also have full time a Monday to Friday jobs this means they can continue with their regular lives and have their work on display and on sale at the same time – a brilliant idea.

I got very excited about having some of my designs in the window of the shop too…

As a result of a conversation I had at the weekend, I took my courage in my hands and wrote an email I’m now nervously awaiting a reply for. It could be very exciting.

As well as all this, there has been some knitting!

The sleeves for the adult version of Honeybun are gradually growing and I’m getting closer to the armhole shaping. this is one of the two sleeves – I’m doing them both at the same time on the same needle, but photographing them both together is proving to be tricky!

My small Petulia grew by 40 rows at the weekend.

And I finally swatched for and started (twice) my chunky version of Fiery Dragon Skin Cowl.

This will be added to the original pattern once I’ve got all the details down and photos of the finished sample. This is using my handspun yarn that I made last year from Velvet Sixpence in Polwarth wool. I have to say I was impressed that it coped so well with being frogged twice and re-knitted. I usually keep my swatches, but as I only have this one ball of yarn and I didn’t know how much I would need for the cowl, I decided not to risk it.

By the end of Monday it was nearly finished!

And I did finish the socks before going to Wool-in Garden City!

I’m really looking forward to the rest of the event this week and I will take lots more photos of everyone else’s stands to share on social media and to show you next week.

We were woken up by an owl this morning – another addition to the list of wildlife we’ve seen or heard in the area.

Until next week, take care and try not to get blown away by Storm Jocelyn! K x

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The Final Countdown!

Part of a folded black lace knitted shawl on a pale carpet with yarn ends that need to be woven in

We have snow! Just under an inch lying on the paths, roads, garden and roof. I’m hoping it melts more before I have to go out this afternoon and doesn’t just freeze…

The Process exhibition at Qube in Oswestry is now open. I’ve not been to visit in person yet, but the photographs show it to be a fabulous exhibition, with a wide range of arts on show. The A4 folder on the table contains all my preliminary drawings/sketches/colour exploration – everything! If you happen to visit, let me know what you think!

This does mean that I won’t have the sample of Honeybun with me at Wool-in Garden City, but I will have copies of the pattern! I’m very excited about this wool festival. The materials for my brioche workshop on Sunday morning are all weighed, sorted into bags, notes printed – and I think the workshop is sold out with 8 knitters booked in! My patterns are all printed and ready to display and my samples are packed away in their travel bags (apart from Nevern Throw which is currently one of many layers on the bed!)

On Saturday, 12-2pm, I am taking part in a Meet the Designers talk alongside Jane Crowfoot and Gurinder Kaur Hatchard. Tickets for this talk are free, but you do need to book a place. It’s been really interesting preparing for this talk as it’s a bit different from the Zoom event I took part in last month for Fasten-off Yarn-along. Then each of the designers was asked the same question in turn and we had a couple of minutes to answer it. For this I have up to half an hour to talk about how I got into designing, my favourite knitting techniques and the inspiration behind some of my designs. That’s quite a different prospect!

When Helen, one of the organisers, said there would be a TV we could plug a USB into for a slideshow I went for that option in my planning. It’s helped me to organise my thoughts and put some of my inspiration images next to finished items! I will have a tech-free option with physical samples and notes too – just in case!

Last Wednesday’s Introduction to Lace Knitting workshop went really well. Both the knitters there gained a lot from it and were quite rightly very pleased with what they produced! I started the workshop with a demonstration of blocking lace – the pink swatch was 12cm long on the right angled sides before blocking and the same edges were 18cm once pinned! Several days after the pins were removed the finished size has relaxed to 16cm. Folk who don’t block lace need to remember that (while that is their choice) not doing so will affect the finished size of their knitting as well as the appearance of it!

I’ve been on a ‘finishing off’ roll this week with my knitting. I’ve finished my second Barragán Shawl, apart from seaming the cast-on and cast-off edges of the knitted-on edging, then blocking it and weaving in the ends.

I’ve blocked Diamonds in the Breeze and that now needs to have its ends woven in before posting it off to its final home. (Top tip: leave weaving ends in until after blocking, especially with lace, to avoid have puckered sections where the woven ends stopped the knitting being fully stretched)

Sue’s socks are completed and already in use! This is my standard ‘vanilla’ sock pattern that Sue likes for her socks – no fancy textures, 80 sts per round on 2mm needles to give a firm long lasting fabric.

The second sock of the pair of Bodelwyddan socks I have been working on got started on Sunday and I’m already on the gusset – I’ve been taking note of the number of stitches worked as I go and I’m currently up to 8308 (plus another 80 for the cast-on)! If you ever receive a pair of hand-knit socks from anyone, know that a lot of time and love went into making them for you and treasure them well.

The photo on the left here with just the cuff and the first repeat of the pattern got a LOT of attention on Twitter on Sunday – it came with the caption “This is what 2000 stitches of a hand knitted sock looks like”. At the time of writing this little post has had 145 likes and over 2000 views!

I am hoping to finish this sock before I go to Wool-in Garden City and then I can focus on knitting my smaller Petulia shawl and get back to the sleeves for my adult version of Honeybun. There are other projects on the needles and in the pipeline as well; I’m trying to work on things in order of priority at the moment!

Do remember that I’ve got my year-long discount on – if you are a member of my FaceBook group you can get 10% off all patterns beginning with A or B this month (by using the code posted in the group) and if you are a monthly newsletter subscriber you can get 20% off the same patterns (by using the code sent in the last newsletter). If that sounds appealing to you and you’re not in either group of folk – sign up to the newsletter here!

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The next job of the day is to tidy my desk – it is somewhat jumbled at present! Take care folks, stay warm and do something that makes you happy this week. Maybe visit an exhibition! My next blog post will come to you from Welwyn Garden City! K x

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Picture This

It’s unusual not have lots of pics in my blog posts, but the website is misbehaving and I can’t add image blocks at the moment. I will come back and add them in as soon as it lets me! Edit – pics have now been added!

I’ve been busy planning my Two-Colour Brioche Knitting workshop for Wool-in Garden City this week. It’s fully booked with 8 knitters which is very exciting! I’ve combined two of my previous classes so that the maximum number of brioche stitches can be knitted, allowing knitters to get really comfortable with the technique, as well as learning an increase and a decrease.

The yarn I’m using is the same yarn I used for Twisted, Poldale DK from Town End Yarns, and it’s really lovely. A good high twist DK yarn with lots of body and bounce – perfect for brioche knitting.

Yesterday I delivered everything for my contribution to the Process exhibition at Qube in Oswestry. I can’t wait to see how the whole exhibition looks once Gemma has put it all together – it opens on Friday. I decided to include a photograph of the Size 18 body blocking on its boards, rather than the actual pinned out knitting. This was for a couple of reasons; 1. it would take up a lot of space and be potentially awkward to display with lots of pins in the blocking boards, and 2. if the body of the cardigan was in Oswestry until mid February, progress on it for the next month would be limited to finishing the sleeves!

Apart from knitting a new swatch for the brioche workshop, my knitting this week has been all on Barragán Shawl Part 4 – the knitted-on edging. A few days ago Sue asked me how long I thought it would take to complete and I (rather over-dramatically) said, “Forever!” It is however, looking much more likely that I will finish it before Friday. I must remember to video some of the single and multiple joins before I do get to the end though.

As you may know, I’ve been wearing clothes from The Slow Wardrobe for a number of years now. Two of the early skirts I bought were a black linen skirt and a gorgeous green check wool one, rather like suiting fabric, with linen panels top and bottom. But they were in the small size and I haven’t been able to wear these two skirts for years (since well before 2017!). In November I finally did what Linda had suggested when I saw her at Wonderwool Wales in April and sent the skirts back to her for enlargement. I could possibly have tackled this myself, but it involved taking the pockets off, before adding a panel at one of the seams and then reattaching the pockets which I didn’t feel confident doing. So, for a very reasonable fee, Linda has enlarged both skirts, adding new elastic at the same time and I can finally wear them again. This makes me very happy!

Lichfield, my cropped cardigan design inspired by Lichfield Cathedral, is now printed out and ready to head to Wool-in Garden City with me.

Somehow a lot of errors got into it during the editing process, which I only discovered when knitting my own Size 7 version from the magazine, but my printed copies, complete with new photos, are fully correct and will be added to my online platfoms very soon. The Knitter has also published errata for the magazine version (which themselves will be updated soon with two more corrections) and folk from the mag have been very helpful in trying to get to the bottom of how the gremlins got into the pattern in the first place. It’s a long list of errata and I would hate folk to think that was how I sent the pattern in!

I had a lovely moment in our local Aldi the other day. I heard a young voice behind me say “Hello Kath”, and turned to see one of the children who came to sing with Shelby’s Singers at the Buckley Christmas Market with her Dad. She wanted to know if we were going to be singing Christmas songs again on Wednesdays. I said that we were going to be singing a whole range of new songs, a lot of them from musicals (including ‘Tomorrow’ from Annie and ‘Consider Yourself’ from Oliver!) and there was a very enthusiastic response. It is great to see the enjoyment that can be gained from singing with others so clear in the next generation – and I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s rehearsal.

That’s all from me for today. By the next time I write I’ll have taught a one-to-one session on sewing up a sweater, an Introduction to Lace Knitting workshop, sung at an Epiphany Carol service, had a covid booster jab and been on a cinema and meal ‘date night’ with my lovely wife. I’m looking forward to all of these in very different ways! Take care of yourselves and stay warm. K x

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Process

The body of a hand knitted cardigan in light purple with bands of slip stitch colour work along the bottom is pinned out on red foam mats.

So, it’s 2024! The rain hasn’t yet stopped enough for us to go out for a walk since our midnight walk on New Year’s Eve where we saw and heard lots of fireworks in the neighbourhood. I’m hoping we’ll be able to get out soon, but at least for now we are warm and dry and once again thankful to live high up. The garage might get water in it from the steep driveway if the rain pours too heavily, but the house is pretty safe from flooding.

Floella, my lovely estate car, did her longest yet journey since I’ve had her, all the way down to Kent to visit my in-laws and back via Worcestershire to visit my mum. We were away for nearly a week and, while it is lovely to catch up with everyone, there’s nothing quite like your own bed!

Since we’ve been back I’ve been very busy, preparing to take part in an exhibition at Qube in Oswestry. I’ve never had my work displayed in an exhibition before, so this is quite exciting. It’s all about ‘Process’ and that is such a major part of being a designer. Folk usually only see the finished product, and I think it will be interesting to see all the different things that go into developing a design. I’ve focussed on Joseph’s Jacket, which was one of my assessment pieces for my City & Guilds in 2012 and which much later – in 2018! – became Honeybun Cardigan. And the process is still continuing, as this is the design I am currently developing into adult sizes. I’ve blocked the body now and that will be included in the exhibition too. The design process covers 11 years with this pattern!

As I said, I’m taking part in the exhibition – there will be lots of other artists and designers working in different media taking part as well, so it should be a really interesting exhibition. It’s open from January 12th until February 12th and admission is free. The full details of the ‘Process’ exhibition aren’t yet up on the website, but I’m sure they will be soon.

In addition to sorting out all my drafts, samples, swatches and notes for the exhibition, I’ve been getting ready for Wool-in Garden City which takes place in less than 3 weeks! Patterns are printed (all bar one), kits are now in snazzy tins which also make them a lot easier to transport and to display, and I’ve been adding price labels and codes to everything. I’m teaching a brioche workshop while I’m there and taking part in a designer talk too, so it should be a really fun week. And it is a WHOLE week! I’ve never done an event this long before and I’m really interested to see how the central cash desk for all exhibitors works. Tickets are still available for the Preview Evening on January 19th, 5.30-8.30pm – entry to the event during the rest of the week is free and unticketed.

I’m going to be increasing some of my pattern prices this year (not all), starting with garments. Adult garments with 8 or more sizes (currently Of Night and Light and Reaching Out) will be £8 and children’s garments with 5 sizes will be £7 (currently Honeybun). This change has already taken place on all my platforms. Later in the year I will be increasing the price of those that have multiple sizes such as my hat patterns and the more complex designs such as Drifting Leaves (that one is 20 pages!). These increases will be to £6 or £7 from £5. I know price rises are the last thing anyone wants, and believe me, I have thought long and hard about it.

To make up for the price rises, I will be running a year-long (!) discount in my facebook group and for my monthly newsletter subscribers. I know many people subscribe to my weekly blog and receive this as an email, but what I am referring to here is the monthly newsletter, which is different – you can sign up to my newsletter here.

Each month all patterns beginning with specified letters will be reduced for those folks (10% off for FB group members and 20% for monthly newsletter subscribers). This month covers letters A and B and that includes 11 patterns! They are:

Besides all this admin and travelling I have actually done some knitting as well! I have finished the black lace Diamonds in the Breeze shawl I have been knitting for my friend Lucy’s 50th birthday and that just needs to be blocked now. I’m pleased with how the yarn (Drops Baby Merino) worked up and it will be very soft around Lucy’s shoulders.

If you’d like to learn to knit lace there’s still time to sign up for my Introduction to Lace Knitting workshop in Buckley on Wednesday 10th January (6.30-8.30pm).

I have started Part 4 (the edging) of my Barragan KAL which came out in The Knitter on Wednesday 29th December. I’ve got photos of both the front and the back of the shawl here so you can see how the knitted-on edging works. The line of stitches along the back is the back of the joining stitch. From the front the join is almost invisible. I’m going to do a short video of the joining stitch soon too.

Sue’s sock now has more than half a partner – I cast the second one on on the journey up to Edinburgh if you remember and it’s been a good evening knit when I don’t want to have to keep my eye on a chart or pattern!

And I have begun my small version of Petulia! It was very exciting to see kits for Petulia from RiverKnits featured among “The Knitter Loves…” in this month’s issue of the magazine. Becci is seen modelling the large asymmetrical version of the shawl as shown on the front of the pattern.

The smaller version is symmetrical and I’m using RiverKnits Chimera and Nene 4ply again (bought from Yarn O’clock), but in a very different colourway to the orginal large shawl.

I love the vibrancy and autumnal feel of the leaf shapes. I’m knitting this project with a fixed circular Lantern Moon needle from McIntosh and it’s super smooth to use – really lovely.

The rain is still falling and it’s looking highly unlikely that a walk today will be possible (especially as my lovely wife is in a poetry event on Zoom for the next couple of hours). So, instead I shall settle down with a cup of tea and my new journal and work out some plans for the year/month/week/tomorrow and maybe even do some embroidery.

Take care and stay warm and dry. K x