Category: 2025

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Laying it all out

Our last yarn show of the year, Yuletide Yarnies, took place on Saturday. It was held at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, organised by Bijoux Events and Wild Field Fibre. As well as all the amazing stalls, there were mince pies, live festive music from a range of soloists and a super a cappella choir as well as a rather good chip van! We had a good day, despite it being really chilly – we simply added more layers of woolly goodness to what we were wearing. It was great to catch up with other vendors too and have a chat about our plans for next year. Amazingly I already have 8 shows confirmed for next year, another 2 I am waiting for confirmation on and 2 more possibles.

It was lovely to talk to the visitors to the show as well – hearing from people which of my designs they’ve already made and which they’re planning to, seeing the yarn they’ve bought from other vendors for a pattern they’ve bought from me earlier in the day and hearing people express their love of knitting and crochet.

Yesterday I set up next year’s planner/journal – I use a grid dot notebook and write the months out at the front – and it made me start thinking about how I want to plan aspects of work/life next year specifically, and generally in the future. Sue and I haven’t been very good at blocking ‘time off’ for ourselves and we haven’t had a holiday in a number of years. We go away a lot for one or two nights, but it’s always for a yarn show (which is work even though it’s enjoyable!) or to visit family. Next year we will actually be having a break just for us – it’s our Christmas present to each other. We know where we want to go – now we just need to plan when it will be!

The first time I used a planner like this I put the monthly plan at the start of each month as I got to it, dotted through the journal, but that meant I couldn’t write it out until I got to the end of the previous month and with lots of shows and deadlines coming up I actually do need to see the year as a whole. This way I get a year of monthly plans all in one place, and then I can use as much or as little of the rest of the book per day/week/month as I need. I’m showing you next December as it’s one of the months that doesn’t yet have anything in it!

We had our first round robin letter of the year with a Christmas card today. I think I appreciate these more than I used to, especially when they come from friends we don’t see very often. That might have to do with not being as manically busy at this time of year as I was when I was teaching full time – reading two sides of A4 felt like just too much sometimes back then, but now it’s a pleasure.

Earlier this morning I popped back to the optician to get some new lenses put into my new glasses. The varifocals I got a few months ago were the correct prescription, but the height at which the close, medium and distance vision changed from one to another was too high, making a lot of things blurry and generally making me feel a bit seasick! Now, however, I’m able to turn my head without everything swimming and I can read music without having to bend my head right down to focus in on it. The difference a small change has made is incredible.

I think that’s going to be my aim for next year. Looking for ways to make small changes in the way I do things that will have a big impact. Like putting all my monthly planner layouts together at the front of my journal. I wonder how that will feel by the time I actually get to December 2026?

I seem to be feeling philosophical today, which is perhaps understandable at this time of year. This is my last blog post of the year – the next one will be on Jan 6th, the day we take the tree down and put all the decorations away. So, until then, take care, I hope you all have a good Christmas however you spend it, and I’ll write again next year! K x

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Third Time Lucky

I started working on a hat design yesterday and cast on what I had calculated to be the correct number of stitches for the medium size. After about four rounds on the brim it was looking very small (admittedly it was on a 40cm circular needle, but it looked barely larger than a sock cuff), so I ripped it out, changed my numbers about and cast on again with more stitches. This seemed better. I finished the brim, changed needle size and worked two and a half repeats of the pattern on the main part of the hat. Wishing to check again, this time I put the stitches onto a rubber cord/stitch keeper. These are brilliant as they are hollow so you just poke the end of the needle inside the cord then slide the stitches off the needle onto the cord, enabling you to try on your knitting as you go. I tried the hat on. It felt good. But my head is 58cm, a large rather than a medium (which is up to 56cm), so I got Sue to try it on (her head is 54cm). Too loose.

So I ripped it out, returned the numbers to what I had originally started with and began again. Third time lucky! I can’t show it to you as it’s going to be published next year, but do know that when a hat design by me comes out next, there has been a lot of consideration on the sizing! The yarn in the main post pic is from the cast-on edge as I decided that it had been through enough having been cast on twice already. For some reason yarn used in a cast-on tends to get a little bit more ‘rough around the edges’ and stick to itself when being ripped out more than once than yarn used in the actual knitting does. There’s probably a scientific explanation for it.

The moral of this story is perhaps two-fold. I should have trusted the maths I did in the first place that gave me the original numbers to cast on, which were in fact right even though it looked too small all squashed up on the needle. Also, it’s never too late to admit something isn’t working and do something to fix it.

The reason for my initially doubting my numbers is a thing called negative ease. Most knitting that we wear has positive ease, that is, the fabric measures more than the body part it’s going to cover. However, with certain hat styles (and a few other things) you need negative ease – the fabric needs to be smaller than your head, at least on the brim. This makes the fabric stretch and grip your head while you’re wearing it so it doesn’t fall off!

This week I have been updating my website with more workshops and yarn shows that are happening next year! I am teaching a lot of brioche workshops in various places, including the North West Winter Wool Show on February 14th where there are just 2 places left! Other places I will be teaching my Introduction to Two-Colour Brioche Knitting class next year include the Midlands Wool Festival in July (bookings are open) and the North East Wool Show in August (bookings open in the new year) and there will be more!

I am also teaching moebius knitting at The North West Winter Wool Festival on Sunday Feb 15th and there are plenty of places available on that. It’s a great technique and includes a sized up version of the headband we make in the workshop so you can knit moebius cowls.

Mum loved the knitted gnome I made for her. She has named it Gnu.

That’s all from me today. I’m off to do my neck stretches which I have sadly neglected for the past week and knit some more hat! Take care, and I hope you get a chance to do stuff that makes you happy this week. K x

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Advent – a time of waiting

On Sunday I sang at the Advent carol service at the church where I am a member of the choir. There was quite a bit of plainchant (we did the Palestrina Advent Responsory and the ‘Great O Antiphons’ as well as the much more modern The Lamb by Taverner and some good solid advent hymns. Before the service began the rector said there were some children in the congregation in Christmas jumpers and that perhaps they thought they were going to get Christmas carols rather than Advent carols. They are very different! Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation.

A tradition here is that we put our Christmas tree up on Advent Sunday, so it is now in pride of place in the lounge, complete with lots of decorations. Some are new, some are as old as I am. Some are homemade and some are bought. There are even a couple of glass baubles she and Dad bought when they were first married. Putting the tree up and decorating it (two separate things!) always takes much longer than we expect, perhaps because it also involves moving furniture to other rooms in order to make room for the tree! We now have an armchair in the kitchen and a rocking chair in the front room where I teach. The other result of having put the Christmas tree up, is that I know realise I will have to wait until it comes down again (on January 6th) to block my 4ply What Do Points Make? as there simply isn’t enough floorspace anywhere at the moment. Another example of Advent being a time of waiting and anticipation, perhaps!?

Later today I will be getting my sewing machine out as I have some mending to do. A couple of months ago we were re-arranging the front room ready for piano lessons and I caught the pocket of one of my smocks under the radiator. I have been meaning to mend it ever since.

And then in the past couple of weeks I have discovered that two of my skirts are going on a seam and one of my favourite dresses has a hole developing so I really need to get these things fixed.

Of course, these are all garments from The Slow Wardrobe and I have had them for years (I think you can tell that in the case of the purple skirt), but I want to keep them going for several more years. It’s all the more important as Linda has moved to France and isn’t currently selling any new clothes! I really can’t imagine wearing anything else on a day to day basis. I can’t decide at the moment whether to patch the dress or try to darn it. Any suggestions welcome!

Making Tracks is now out in issue 222 of The Knitter! It looks great on the model.

This is the jumper I was writing about earlier in the year where it took me three tries to get the sleeves exactly the way I wanted them. The yarn quantities are quite large because it was designed as a man’s jumper and therefore the body and sleeves are longer than might be expected in a woman’s garment. As long as you have completed all the sleeve increases you can make the sleeves the length *you* want them to be. The same goes for the body. When I republish this as an individual pattern in six months I think I will add in additional length measurements for body and sleeves for female sizing charts as well, and include yarn quantities if following these length measurements.

The knitted gnome is complete and will be delivered to his new home at the end of the week. I’m very pleased with how it turned out! I think I will make one for us to keep as well, maybe reversing the colours.

I completed my tech editing course last week!

As well as this badge I have a certificate and now I just need some people who would like me to edit their knitting patterns!

Our final yarn show of the year is happening soon! On Saturday December 13th we will be at Yuletide Yarnies at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings. There will be mince pies and live music too! £5 for advance tickets bought online or £7.50 on the door.

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Gremlins and Gnomes

If you are a monthly newsletter subscriber you will have received an email yesterday telling you about some website issues I have been having. My contact form has been the target of spam bots and it’s been causing me a few issues that also affected my email list. Late morning yesterday I asked for assistance from the “Happiness Engineers” at WordPress, specifically asking for help from a person rather than an AI. The person who was assigned my case was amazing. They stayed online with me, ensuring they understood what my problem was, suggesting solutions, walking me through installing them and even checking to see if they’d worked in the desired way. When the original solutions didn’t work they went back to see what other options there might be. All in all this took about five hours! But I am very hopeful that these issues have been resolved. It wasn’t quite how I had been intended to spend the majority of Monday, but with any luck, it will have been worth it.

The main pic of today’s post is part of the front garden which is looking good in the cold, crisp sunshine. The fuchsia is having a major prune now we’ve had a hard frost which killed the flowers. I still find it hard to believe that the rosemary giant grew from one sprig of rosemary cut from a bush in the back garden that we just shoved into the ground. It’s looking a big ragged round the edges these days, so it may be time for a front garden refresh in the spring.

I’m glad to say Mum is out of hospital and improving. The knitted gnome from the book The Gnomes of Grimblewood that I am making for her is also coming along. Yesterday evening I finished the body and also made the arms, nose and beard. Once the beard is dry I will be able to complete it.

I am glad I asked Becci of RiverKnits exactly what she had used for the weighted stuffing in the bottom of her gnome when I saw hers on display at Stollen & Wolle (dried red lentils) and decided to use the same. It’s given the gnome a good stability without being too solid.

During the week I’ve also been playing with a ball of Zauberball yarn that I’ve had in my stash for a very long time. I decided to see how the long stripes worked with a simple moebius cowl. It’s a sized up version of what we knit in my moebius workshop, using 3mm needles and 4ply yarn over 400 sts rather than 5mm needles and aran yarn over 120 sts! The stripes in the yarn have a mirror image repeat, so using them in a moebius means you get twice as many colour changes as just knitting straight – I like it.

I’ll be teaching this technique again in February at the North West Winter Wool Festival in Blackpool on Sunday 15th February. The workshop is 2.5 hours, costs £36 and includes yarn, needles and handouts.

I’ve spoken a little about the tech editing course I’ve been taking. I’m on the final module now and I’ve learnt a lot. There are several things that will be useful for me as a designer as well, which is a double bonus. Once I’ve completed the course, the next step will be to find some people who would like me to tech edit their patterns!

On Thursday the new issue of The Knitter magazine (Issue 222) comes out and there will be a garment in it designed by me. I really enjoyed working on this garment – it’s been in the pipeline for quite some time. It was originally envisaged as a unisex item, was commissioned as a man’s jumper (and so was designed as such using male sizing charts), and finally was photographed on a female model – bringing the whole thing full circle! I’ve seen one of the photos and it looks great. When the rights return to me in six months I’ll also be asking which of my male friends has a 40″ chest and if I can photograph the jumper on them too!

That’s all from me for today. Until next week, take care and do some stuff that makes you happy. K x

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Cake and Wool

I can hardly believe that it’s already Tuesday again. The weeks are spinning past. Sometimes I wish I had a regular structure to my blog as my wife does. She always starts with what the morning smells like, describes the photo she is using to accompany her post, writes her main section and finishes by sharing a poem. However, my blog doesn’t have that regularity of form. It’s more a ‘this is what I’ve been doing and this is what’s coming up’, which is useful for me (and hopefully for you!), but also can make it hard to know at times where to start. So, I’ll start by telling you what I’ve been doing.

Sunday was Stollen and Wolle at the RiverKnits studio in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire. It’s a lovely venue and there were five visiting exhibitors (including us) plus RiverKnits’ own yarn for visitors to peruse. It was lovely to see the familiar and friendly faces of Ishrat (Fruitful Fusion), Christine (Rauwerk), Rachel (Skein Queen) and, of course, Becci and Markus of RiverKnits again. The chap from Yellow Bourbon was kept busy all day providing visitors with coffee, gluhwein, stollen and cake. Two of the cakes were vegan as well (carrot cake and blackcurrant and apple crumble/flapjack) which delighted us! And to top it off, Susan Crawford of Susan Crawford Vintage was there. She had a lovely stand with her yarn, books and samples and gave a 1 hour talk in the afternoon which was absolutely fascinating and included her handing knitwear round the audience for us to look at, handle and even inspect on the inside (if you’re a knitter, you’ll know this instinct!). One of the samples was the first sweater she had ever knitted which was an impressive picture knit (using intarsia technique) of a Roy Lichtenstein image worked in cotton. The re-worked sweaters made from studying samples in the Shetland museum were incredible, as were the stories that accompanied them – especially of how knitters from Shetland were ‘breaking the rules’ of Fair Isle knitting even in the 1940s. I was excited to meet and chat with her.

We had originally planned to do the whole journey in one day, but once we realised that would probably mean getting up at 3.30am, we decided to stay in Daventry the night before, giving us just a 6-mile journey to the studio to set up and get ready. The set-up was quick as we had stripped it right back, bringing only 28 patterns (a few were doubled up in the pull-up stands), the pull-up display stands and the relevant samples.

It was the first outing for the height extension on the 3-foot rail and I have to say I am very pleased with that. It doubles the hanging space and makes it easier to display the samples. The other benefit to stripping back the set-up was that it all fitted in Sue’s little Aygo! That was the first time I had been driven to a yarn show we were exhibiting at and it meant I could relax and even do some crochet in the car on the way there before it got dark. It was lovely. Despite Storm Claudia lashing large parts of Wales on Friday and Saturday we were luckily unaffected and the journey was smooth with clear weather.

Our next event will be the last one of the year – Yuletide Yarnies at the Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings on Saturday 13th December. Opening hours are 11am-4pm, tickets are £5 in advance and £7.50 on the door – so if you are coming, I recommend buying an advance ticket! As well as this I am teaching my Introduction to Two-Colour Brioche workshop tomorrow at Shaz’s Shabby Chic in Buckley (there are still spaces available if you want to come!).

There is lots of singing happening too, what with it being the run up to Advent and Christmas and I need to decide the running order for the songs at the first Christmas market that is in 11 days time!

I’m also working through the modules in the tech editing course that I’m taking – I’m enjoying it and finding it appeals very much to my sense of order and logic.

All of this sounds as though life is swinging along smoothly, but Mum has spent most of the last three weeks in hospital and so I’ve also been travelling down to the midlands much more frequently and for longer to visit her. It’s been a worrying time as you might imagine.

So, my 4ply What Do Points Make? remains unblocked, and while I’ve done some of the website updates I haven’t done them all yet. But, even if I haven’t done these things next week I will able to tell you about a new design of mine that will be in the next issue of The Knitter which is due out on Nov 27th. Until then, take care and I hope you are able to do something that makes you happy this week. K x

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Going round in circles – or squares

Recently I have been enjoying the simplicity of crocheting a large granny square with a set sequence of colours. I can relax and as long as I can count to three it pretty much sorts itself out. Mind you, the counting bit isn’t foolproof!

It’s steadily and slowly growing which is good. I’m still not entirely convinced whether or not the two darkest shades of green are in fact the same colour – I think they might be, but as long as I keep to the sequence I’ve chosen it doesn’t actually matter.

This urge for simplicity may surprise you as I am more known for my love of knitting quite detailed and sometimes complex things. There has been a bit of that too. I’ve finished the new sample of my Prime Cowl and love this colour combo. I still haven’t got it listed on the website – apologies for that. I will get it on there soon.

It did languish in the sink for about 5 hours yesterday evening as I had forgotten I’d left it to soak. I don’t think it minded.

I also began this yesterday:

It’s a knitted gnome from the book The Gnomes of Grimblewood by Sarah Schira and it’s intended for my mum. Don’t worry, she doesn’t use the internet so she won’t see this. What you can see so far is the hat and the start of the body. The arms, nose and beard will be knitted separately and sewn on.

I’ve gradually started updating the website, beginning with events – I’ve added two more yarn shows to the listings this morning. There are several more and some workshops at the yarn shows to be added as well. The next event we are at is Stollen & Wolle at the RiverKnits studio in Weedon Bec this Sunday. It’s open from 10-4 and entry is just £5. If you are coming, please try to get an advance ticket as this greatly helps their caterers.

Also still languishing is my 4ply What Do Points Make? which is still waiting to be blocked. However, since I saw someone’s recent post that said their’s had waited two months for 15 minutes of sewing up (the two short side seams), I know I’m not alone here. It will get done. It won’t be ready by Sunday for Stollen & Wolle, but hopefully it will be ready by mid-December for Yuletide Yarnies at the Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings which is our last show of 2025.

I hope you all have a good week and if you come to Stollen & Wolle on Sunday, please say hello. K x

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Remember, Remember

The main pic on today’s post is a poppy brooch I knitted a couple of years ago. Last week I saw the lovely display of knitted poppies on the railings outside my mum’s care home to which Mum contributed about four, but I wasn’t able to get a photo of that without including lots of cars in the car park behind so I will just share this single poppy here.

I had hoped to be able to show you my finished 4ply version of What Do Points Make? all blocked and gorgeous today, but life has got in the way a little this week and so it’s still waiting to be blocked, let alone have its little side seams sewn or the ends woven in. Maybe next week!

My moebius workshop was a lot of fun last week. There were two brave souls trying out this new-to-them technique and they both cracked it! Their knitting is that edged with cream.

There are some evening workshops this month as well:

Both these workshops are being held at Shaz’s Shabby Chic in Buckley and tickets are available via TicketSource (booking is essential!).

This morning I’ve been deciding which samples and patterns to take with me to Stollen & Wolle at RiverKnits on November 16th. It’s a process that gets harder the more designs I have out in the world as there is a limited number I can bring with me. Fortunately if there is something specific someone wants that I don’t have with me I can sell it to them and then either drop a digital copy in their Ravelry library (if they have one) or send it to them.

The large crochet granny square in shades of green is growing and I will show you the progress on that next week.

I’ve been making another sample of my new Prime Cowl in Poldale DK from Town End Yarns. It’s really soft and it’s the yarn I use in some of my kits (Bryn Brioche Cowl and Twisted). I’m very pleased with how this combination of colours is working out – you might even see some kits appear next year!

It’s knitted top down and inside out so what you’re looking at as you knit (left) is a bit different from how it looks when it’s finished and turned the right way out (centre and right)!

Prime Cowl is not online yet – that’s another job I still need to do, but I will get it up as soon as I can.

Take care all and I’ll hopefully be able to tell you that I’ve caught up with myself a bit next week! K x

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Making and Baking

This weekend I did some baking for the first time in absolutely ages. I made biscuits that are the simplest things ever and they are lovely. The recipe suggested dividing the mixture into three and adding chocolate chips, lemon zest and almonds to get a trio of different flavours, but we just had them plain as we didn’t have any of those extra ingredients, but we did have marg that needed using up as it was near it’s date, flour, sugar and semolina! You can find the recipe here.

I have finally finished my 4-ply version of What Do Points Make?! I decided to make the fourth colour match on each side to be consistent with what I’d done with each of the other colour changes. I used hardly any of the fourth colour, you can see it on the top outer corners – in fact that yarn still weighed over 100g once I’d finished!

The next step is blocking it and I will do that this week – it takes up quite a lot of space on the floor as I will be pinning it out in the shape in the photo above, unless I decide to fold the fronts over while it’s blocking as in the photo below, but then it has double thickness so takes longer to dry.

I had to cancel and postpone a few things last week as my cold took its course, but I’m much better now and looking forward to teaching moebius knitting tomorrow night!

I think I mentioned that I will be teaching both brioche knitting and moebius knitting at the North West Winter Wool Festival in Blackpool next February. The workshops are now available to book and the times are as follows:

  • Two-Colour Brioche Knitting: Saturday 14th February 2026, 1.30-3.30pm (2 hours), £25 including yarn and handouts
  • Moebius Knitting: Sunday 15th February 2026, 1-3.30pm (2.5 hours), £36 including needles, yarn and handouts

I will also add links to these on my Events page of the website. Do remember also that when you book an advance ticket for the North West Winter Wool Festival you will get a code to download the Seaside Winter Cosy hot water bottle cover knitting pattern for free! It can be made in four colours of DK yarn. Two different yarn brands are suggested, but you can use any brand you prefer and there are two finishing option, either to add poppers/press-studs or to seam the bottom edge closed.

When I was invited to take part in Stollen & Wolle once again this year, November 16th seemed a very long way off, but it’s happening in less than 3 weeks! The RiverKnits studio is in a lovely setting in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire, and last year’s event was super. This year there are eight vendors and the renowned Susan Crawford is a guest speaker, which is even more exciting! If you can get to that area of the country on November 16th I would highly recommend it. Tickets are only £5 with under 16s and carers attending for free, and the lovely RiverKnits folk have requested that you book in advance if you can as it helps their caterers to know how many people to expect.

I had a chance to get right into my baskets in the lounge this week and found a crochet project that had been languishing there for about two years – using yarn that had been in my stash for far longer! I’d done three different squares, trying out a couple of patterns from a book and a pattern I’d found online and left it at that. Now I’ve chosen my favourite one and I’m using it as the centre of what should become a huge granny square. I’ve now had the sense to label the balls of yarn with numbers so I’m not squinting at them in the lamplight trying to work out which shade come next!

That’s all from me for today. What have you been making recently? Take care and I hope you get the chance to do something that makes you happy this week. K x

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Stacking the Stitches

I had such a lovely time teaching the knitting technique of Stacked Stitches at WoollyAway this past weekend. This is the technique that is used in a lot of designs by the amazing Xandy Peters.

The retreat was so well organised by Deb and Diana that for me as a tutor I didn’t need to worry about anything once I arrived – there were even pre-printed lanyards with everyone’s name on which had the schedule for the weekend on the back which is a genius idea and meant we all knew what would be happening when.

I met some fabulous knitters and crocheters and was delighted with how well they learnt to use this technique. This is what they had all achieved by lunchtime.

And then yesterday was my birthday which I also enjoyed greatly! My lovely wife made a super cake with sprinkles on it.

I am lucky to have had some lovely gifts, including a trip to see a touring production of Pride and Prejudice at Theatre Clwyd last week. It was wonderful, with many of the cast playing two roles. It took me quite a while to realise that Mr Collins and Wickham were being played by the same person as the characterisation was so very good.

Unfortunately today I have come down with a cold, so I am very glad that this is a written blog and not a video! Hopefully it will be gone soon as I am meant to be teaching again tomorrow evening (today’s teaching has been cancelled). It does mean that today’s post is likely to be shorter than usual.

I think I told you about the introduction to tech editing course that I was taking last week. It really clicked for me and I’ve signed up for the full self-study version. I’ll let you know how I get on! I’ll be tackling the first assignment soon.

As there was some social knitting time at the WoollyAway retreat I have made good progress on my 4-ply version of What Do Points Make? I’ve finished the second front to the correct length – I realised while working that front that the first side was one repeat short. So, I’ve undone the first front back to the corner, added the extra repeat and begun the final decrease section. I’ve realised that these 3 skeins of 4-ply won’t give me quite enough yarn as they are only 365m long each rather than the full 400m of most 4-ply yarns, so I’m wondering whether to make the two front corners match with the little bit of the fourth colour that I will need to use, as I matched the position of all the other colour changes. I think I will. I will also need to calculate just how many extra metres the 4-ply version took than the laceweight one. It won’t be much, but it will be because this yarn is thicker than laceweight it will use a little bit more to get around the needle for each stitch. It’s a tiny amount per stitch, but multiplied up through several thousand stitches it becomes measurable and an amount that makes a difference! I will post a picture of it next week – I think I will have finished the knitting by then.

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Turning Out

This week is turning out to be very productive. I was a bit apprehensive in the run up to this week that it would be a bit too busy and I would get overwhelmed, but so far I’m really enjoying the variety and bustle of what I’m doing. I know, it is only Tuesday, but it’s a good start!

On Saturday I started a new sample for the moebius version of Gnarly Roots. This is using one of Knit Picks‘ new yarn lines, Modish Merino, and it’s very soft with a lovely stitch definition. I was sent a couple of skeins of this yarn recently when submitting a design idea. I decided a second moebius sample would be useful. The original sample I made uses the very gorgeous Shropshire Ply 2018 Double Knitting yarn from Ewe & Ply which is a semi-solid colour on a yarn with attitude. The semi-solid colour and slightly toothy texture is wonderful and very appropriate for the pattern name, but I also wanted a sample that showed the two sides of the reversible cable very clearly – especially as the lighting can be variable at different events! This yarn seems to be doing that well and the colour is ideal for a sample for shows, light and easy to see; I would probably choose a more ‘forgiving’ colour like the rich green Lady’s Mantle of the Ewe and Ply yarn if it was going to be worn next to the skin regularly!

The joy of a moebius pattern is that you get to see the front and back of the knitting at the same time, so a pattern that looks good on both sides is ideal, and reversible cables certainly fit the bill! It’s lovely to see visitors to shows exploring both sides of the straight version of Gnarly Roots which I knitted using HeartSpun DK dyed by Woolly Chic (the design was originally commissioned by Helen of Woolly Chic), especially now its label states “I’m reversible!”.

As part of my preparation for my stacked stitches workshop at the WoollyAway retreat this coming weekend, I’ve been developing one of my workshop swatches into a full design.

Prime Cowl uses prime numbers throughout the design and there are two versions, each using three colours. One has a ‘tabbed’ edge with 13 tabs and the other has a straight edge. It’s worked with the wrong side facing you throughout and is turned out once completed. This is because it is worked in the round and all the ‘action’ in the stacked stitches technique happens on wrong side rows. Today’s main post photo shows the side you look at while knitting.

Winter Seaside Cosy is the 2026 show pattern for the North West Winter Wool Festival held at Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool on 14-15 February and the big reveal of this design happened last Friday on social media!

I was really pleased when Shirley asked me to design the show pattern once again, following on from The Imperial Cowl last year (thinking about it, the in-the-round version of that design was also worked inside out, just like Prime Cowl is!). Advance tickets for the show go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday 15th October at 8am UK time. When you buy an advance ticket you also receive a code that allows you to download the pattern for Winter Seaside Cosy for free! Currently that’s the only way you’ll be able to get this pattern, but you will also be able to buy copies at the show (if you didn’t get an advance ticket) and afterwards. This hot water bottle cosy is worked in the round from the bottom upwards. Once it is finished and washed, you turn it inside out to weave in the ends, then you have two options. You can either place the hot water bottle inside and sew up the cast-on edge with a mattress stitch seam to permanently keep the hot water bottle in place. Alternatively you can sew five press-studs/poppers along the bottom to allow the hot water bottle to be removable. This option is useful if you think you will need to wash the cover frequently.

I’ve applied to some new yarn shows for next year. Some of them are brand new and some have been running for a while, I’ve just not applied to them before. Six of the shows I’ve applied to have been confirmed already and I’m waiting to hear back on a few others. Lots of shows like you to wait until closer to the show before you tell folk you are going to be exhibiting there, but I already have ‘social media badges’ for two of the ones new to me! TexStyle is a brand new show in Manchester that will feature a whole range of textile crafts, including lace-making, embroidery, quilting, macrame and weaving as well as the usual knitting, crochet, felting and spinning. It’s being held in the Central Hall at Manchester Central on March 14-15. (Manchester Central used to be known as G-Mex.)

The Wool Monty has been running since 2019 and is now held at Magna, in Templeborough on the site of the old Templeborough steel works on June 13-14. It’s a show that has accessibility and inclusivity at its heart and I’m so thrilled to have had my application to exhibit there accepted.

The other big thing I’ve been doing this week is an introductory course on tech editing knitting patterns. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it started on Sunday and has Zoom calls every day this week, each day focussing on a different aspect of tech editing and some days finish with a quiz to submit! I have to admit I was super confident when I pressed submit to yesterday’s quiz, but it turns out I hadn’t thought about every single step of one question so I got 9/10. I will triple check my answers today before I submit them! I am enjoying it a lot so far.

We’re in the process of gathering feedback from the vendors at Yarn Gathering. If you were a visitor to that event and would like to contribute your own feedback, please contact me via contact@kathandrewsdesigns.com and let me know what you enjoyed about the show and anything you felt could be improved!

That’s all from me for today – there’s lots to do and I’m quite impressed that I’ve managed to get this post completed before 9.30am! Take care, and do some things that make you happy this week. K x