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Meg and Mog

I posted on social media today that I’m exhibiting at Wonderwool Wales in a couple of weeks’ time. Held at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells, Wonderwool is an aptly named show that I really recommend (it’s always been by favourite to go to as a visitor) and I’m going to have quite a few new kits (including six kits for Meg March Shawl!) and one or maybe even more new patterns with me.

In case you don’t access social media, here is the content of my post (apologies if you’ve already seen it everywhere):

In just a couple of weeks I’ll be exhibiting at @wonderwoolwales for the first time!

Hall 3 Stand W16.

As well as samples and patterns, I will have lots of kits, some handmade project bags, hand burnt wooden items and printed postcards of my designs. 

Come and say hello if you are visiting the show. 

27-28 April at the Royal Welsh Showground.

Pictured are: Top – Meg March Shawl (patterns and kits available), Bottom, left to right – stand display from Wool-in Garden City; Lichfield (pattern available); more of my stand from Wool-in Garden City.

Something else you may already have read about if you follow me on the socials is that I’ve done some work on my website and you can now browse my knitting designs by yarn weight.

The Patterns page has a set of yarn weight links as well as the original links to the pages that organise the designs by type:

Clicking on one of the yarn weight options will take you to the relevant page where all the patterns that are designed for (or also work well in) that particular yarn weight are grouped. These are the first six designs on the DK page – all designs on each page are listed alphabetically:

Even quicker, the yarn weight page links are also options in the main menu, so you can jump to the one you want straight from any page:

I am going to be doing some more work on the website during the year, setting up a WooCommerce store which will give folk lots of different ways to search for what they like – I can’t give any promises on when that will be done by though!

Cleo, my mum’s cat, has been on my blog before. This photo was taken in February when she was slowing down, but still doing ok. The past week has been a fast decline for her though and yesterday, when I arrived at Mum’s, I could see she wasn’t well at all. This morning I took her to the vets and for Cleo it was a one way trip. It’s been a very sad day as you can probably imagine, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I stop here and leave you with Cleo’s beautiful eyes.

Take care, look after yourselves and do something that makes you smile this week. For me that will be casting on the full version of a new design that will (I think) be out in August. K x

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Promenade

Tomorrow is the (re-)launch day for the new version of Llandudno Promenade! I’m really glad that I’ve done this as it will work with a much greater range of yarn now that the yarns I’m using are the more standard 400m/100g than the previous version. The undyed yarn is 100g (1 skein) of Preseli (Rigging) from Garthenor Organic (100% British organic wool) and the turquoise is a Gradient Mini Skein Set of 5 x 20g minis on Nene 4-ply from RiverKnits (100% British Bluefaced Leicester). Deb Bramham has done a fabulous job on the tech edit, and my lovely wife Sue kept my laughing throughout one of the windiest photoshoots I’ve ever experienced.

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Last week was half-term and, although I no longer work in a school, my lovely wife does. This meant that we had a slightly different routine from usual and even had a couple of mid-week outings!

Midweek was a day trip visit to Mum; games of scrabble, combined with take-away pizza and setting up new phones were combined with lots of chatting. My mum is a big fan of snowdrops – we have quite a few different varieties that she’s shared with us, but I hadn’t seen this one before – it’s especially splendid:

Snowdrops always seem so unassuming, keeping their heads down and getting on with things, but they are tough – they have their own built-in anti-freeze to withstand frost and snow – and utterly beautiful. I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

As we were able to travel together to visit Mum, I got to do some travel knitting and my new sweater, Umbriel by Sylvia Watts-Cherry, has come on in leaps and bounds! I’ve reached the underarms and divided for the front and back, with the back being worked first.

On the left is the pic I shared with you last week and on the right is from this morning! The colour looks so different, doesn’t it? Both pics were taken in the same part of the same room, but at different times of day. Last week was late afternoon, today was about 9am and the sun rises on that side of the house. I promise it’s the same sweater though!

I also seamed up the amazing Confluence Cowl, designed by Mary W Martin Knits. I used Amble Sock Yarn (another yarn from The Fibre Co!) to make it and it’s really soft and cosy against my neck.

The design adds a lot to the cosy factor as the yarn is held double (for most of the time) and the cowl folds over when worn, but if the yarn had been at all prickly that would just have created extra skin irritation. Amble makes it feel like a hug! I really like the fact you get to see both sides of the design simultaneously too.

One of our other outings during last week was to Powis Castle. We rejoined the National Trust while we were there and got to the see the Kaffe Fassett exhibition that is being hosted there. It’s on until September and I highly recommend it. Try to go on a sunny day if you can, as the lighting is quite low to protect everything. Patchwork quilts, knitted shawls and tapestry cushions have been placed throughout the castle. One of the guides told us that Kaffe Fassett decided on the precise placement of each item himself to best complement each room and it does work well. I also treated myself to a new book in the gift shop!

It’s an interesting book that shows how the different designs were inspired by different rooms or features of Powis castle as well as including the patterns to make the quilts yourself. I’m not a quilter (yet), but I’m fascinated by the construction of these pieced designs and the combination of colour and pattern.

I’ve also done a LOT of work on a new cardigan/jacket design, but I can’t show you anything of it yet. It’s nearly done up to the armhole shaping (back, fronts and sleeves). This is not the knitting as the yarn hasn’t arrived yet, but the calculations and pattern writing in ten sizes. It’s to fit a range of people from 28 – 66″ chests! That’s a lot of calculations – you should see my spreadsheet, it’s quite mind-boggling!

I can hardly believe that Buxton Wool Gathering is now less than two weeks away. In fact, in ten days I will be packing up the car and driving everything over there to set up my stand. The show is open 10am-4pm on both Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th March, and there will be over 50 different stands in Buxton Pavilion Gardens. I’ve got nearly everything ready – I just have two more patterns to print out; Am Byth and Bargello Aurora.

That’s everything from me for today. Stay safe, stay warm and do something that makes you happy this week. K x

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A Little Fall of Rain

This week has flown past – I can hardly believe I’m writing another blog post already!

The main image of today’s post is the Helmet hat I made for Sue from my hand spun yarn, the pattern coming from Woolly Wormhead‘s Introspection collection. I realised I hadn’t taken a photo of her wearing it since it was blocked – and this overhead shot shows the crown decreases really nicely.

Some good news – I have finished recording and editing my videos for my new Craftucation course, An Introduction to Lace Knitting. They are currently in the process of being uploaded to the website and that just leaves the final bits of transcriptions to write and the still images to capture from the videos for the pdf downloads. Hurrah!

In a week or so I will upload one of the introductory chapters here – they are free to view before buying the course anyway, to give you a flavour of it. That’s probably better than showing you the out-takes where I end up blowing raspberries at myself for tripping over my words!

Looking back at last week’s post, I see that more knitting progress has occurred than I’d realised. The first of my Good Riddance Socks by Laur of the Blings Designs is complete and I’m just about to start the short row heel on the second one.

I’ve also passed the half-way mark on my ‘secret’ project, so that will be complete in the next couple of weeks which is fabulous as it gives me plenty of time before the deadline. I really wish I could show you this, but you are going to LOVE it when you do eventually get to see it – in September. The yarn was dyed especially for me to match a picture I sent the dyer. The picture relates closely to the name of the pattern. The dyer will then be making yarn kits for the pattern to coincide with publication in September!

I don’t yet have photos of everyone’s finished Calon Cariad shawls, but they are going to make a stunning collection when I do manage to bring them all together. Some people are still working on them I know. It was lovely to get feedback about including Zoom events as part of a KAL. Those who attended really appreciated them and said it gave them more of a sense that they were taking part in a group event, rather than just knitting and sharing photos of their work online. It’s something I think I will do with future KALs and MKALs – though I might need to invest in the Zoom package that stops your meeting unceremoniously ending after 40 minutes!

The embroidery of Mum has stalled a bit, although I did do a couple of hours on it yesterday for the first time in a while. I’m not sure I can see the difference yet from my previous update photo as my current colour – dark brown – is so close to the black that it’s hard to see. I have decided the next colour I choose to work will have a clear contrast with the dark brown, black and olive green there so far. I need to be able to see some progress being made. What do you think?

A book I pre-ordered back in August arrived recently. The Sourdough Whisperer by Elaine Boddy. It’s the second of her books that I’ve had and they are both brilliant. I love the tips and tricks and ways to revive and boost your starter and different things to try if your dough isn’t behaving the way you want it to. As you may remember I’ve had some spectacular failures in my baking adventures (total frisbees!) as well as successes and this book mentions the effect that being in a hard or soft water area can have. We have incredibly soft water, so I followed the suggestion to reduce the water content by 30g and it worked a treat. At first I wasn’t sure all the flour would mix in, but it did and we’ve been enjoying a cracking loaf for the past few days.

It had finally stopped raining and drizzling – there was even some sunshine! – so I interrupted my blog writing to grab the opportunity to go for a walk. Less than ten minutes out the door en route to the post office the rain began once more. Just a little fall of rain. It’s a shame we weren’t wearing our hats when we went out!

Take care, keep safe and keep knitting, Kx

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Daffins

There’s an awful lot to tell you about this week and I’m not sure I’ve got time to write about it all properly. So let’s have lots of photos instead!

I’m currently at mum’s and her daffodils are something to behold (see post pic). I’m borrowing her daffodil bulb catalogue for a bit, so there could be some additions to our garden soon too! Daffins is one of the Scots word for Daffodils and is the name of one of the pieces in the song cycle “A Suite O’ Bairnsangs” by Thea Musgrave (1953). I sang ‘Daffins’ and ‘The Man in the Mune’ as part of one of my later singing exams back in 1992 and still remember most of the words!

The Calon Cariad KAL Show & Tell Zoom was a jolly affair – small and select, but we had a good giggle and the winner of the Nordic Shawls book was drawn from those who had finished. Congratulations to Patricia Gilbert! This is her finished shawl blocking. I’m going to do a big photo feature once everyone has got theirs complete.

I had to send a short bio and headshot to a magazine that I will be published in for the first time this June, so I thought it would be an ideal chance to update my profile photo across all my social media. This was taken in January just before the launch of Small Acts.

I finished seaming the Kaffe Fassett blanket for Chris! I shared a photo of the completed piece on my socials and it quickly became my most liked and re-tweeted post on Twitter ever! (713 likes and counting). Isn’t it fantastic?

I’ve done some more on my Good Riddance socks by Lauroftheblings Designs and I’m loving them. The shadow wraps on the short row heel is a new technique for me and it’s definitely one I’ll use again.

My Gridlock Mitts by Karen Butler are finished and blocked (ie washed and dried flat). I’m very happy with them.

I am getting to the nitty gritty parts of editing An Introduction to Lace Knitting. Only the short to-camera bits at the start and end left to record and then a whole chunk of transcription for the PDF.

See? I said it was a lot. And that’s not counting the ‘secret’ knitting project that I’ve spent MANY hours on – all the ripped out rows have been replaced and I’m much happier with it now – I should have stuck with my original plan from the start. Can’t wait to show you pics of this one!

Take care, do what makes you happy and hold your favourite people and animals close. I’m off to play scrabble with Mum. K x

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This is the Day

I began yesterday’s newsletter telling subscribers how we had started the year drinking a cup of tea on the patio at first light, with a warm breeze blowing. It was unseasonably warm then and the weather seems to have caught up with itself today, as there is currently hail bouncing off the garage roof!

One disadvantage with this return to colder temperatures is our current need to keep the windows open as much as possible, as ours is a Covid house. Not me (I’ve managed to dodge it so far), but my lovely wife. She is on the mend now and we are trying to do all the right things to contain it, but it isn’t half chilly today. It’s just as well there are a lot of woollen things around here 😊

The main image on today’s post is Cleo, my mum’s cat, somehow sitting on my lap whilst I was knitting the Water Dragon Shawl by Red and the Wolf Designs. She didn’t seem in the least perturbed that there was a ball of yarn by her back that kept turning. I’ve never known her do this before (and neither has Mum!).

This morning saw the (re-)launch of Nevern Throw. It’s the biggest piece I’ve designed so far, yet being made in individual squares means you aren’t carting a double bed sized blanket around with you while working on it. This is the first square being blocked. Once I done that one I drew lines joining up the dots of the pin-holes in the back of the blocking board so that the other 23 squares would all be blocked to exactly the same measurements.

Not until the latter part of the making up stage, anyway. At this point it definitely stops being a portable project!

It’s been on our bed for most of the past two winters and is wearing *really* well. I’d not used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash yarn before making Nevern and I am truly impressed with it. When you’re making something on this scale, you want the yarn and all your hard work to look good for as long as possible! The colours in the blanket I made are nearer to the image below than in the one above.

I’m also looking forward to designing more charts from carvings on the Nevern Cross in the coming months as an ‘expansion pack’ to the original Nevern Throw pattern. There are so many more designs on it still to explore.

Before Christmas I mentioned that live workshops are back on the agenda (Covid permitting). With the support of Yarn O’clock, there will be a day of two classes on Saturday 22nd January. We are using St Mary’s Church Hall in King Street, Mold to give plenty of room for everyone (classes are still limited to six). I think there is one space left in the morning workshop and I know there are spaces in the afternoon one. Each workshop is £30 and can be booked directly with Anne at Yarn O’clock (she re-opens 11th January).

I have been busy prepping the materials – I’ve done four of the 14 squares I shall need since yesterday!

Finishing Techniques 10 – 12.30pm

Learn to block and seam your knitting to give fabulous end results. Learn to pick up stitches, make neat buttonholes and how to choose the right type of increase and decrease for your project.

You will be supplied with 2 pre-blocked pieces of knitting to seam which you will turn into a knitted purse by adding a buttoned flap.

Skills required: cast on, cast off, knit, purl.

Equipment to bring: 4mm needles, tapestry needle, everything else will be supplied.

Introduction to Sock Knitting 1 – 3.30pm

Learn all the steps of knitting a top-down sock on double pointed needles: Cast-on, ribbing, leg, heel flap, heel turn, gusset, foot, toe, grafting. 

We will be working on a scale that means you can complete the whole sock in the workshop!

Skills required: cast on, knit, purl, k2tog, ssk.

Equipment to bring: 3mm short double pointed needles (you can buy these from the shop if needed), tapestry needle. Everything else will be supplied.

These little socks are so cute that I’m also planning on turning them into an advent calendar. Not like a yarn advent calendar where you make one a day during December, but one you make in advance and hang up with sweets in for Advent. There would be 24 small socks and a slightly larger sock for 25th December. Patterns and possibly also kits will be available in September.

Now look at that! It’s January and I’m talking about September already. That’s because I actually sat down at the weekend and started planning what I want to do this year with my design business and even began mapping out a publication schedule! Not every month has some in it yet, but it will I hope.

I haven’t made resolutions this year, but I have set some goals. How’s your year shaping up so far?

Stay safe and keep knitting, K x

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Here We Go Again

I’ve just re-read my post from this time last year. On Dec 22nd 2020 we had been told that non-essential shops were closing (again), and most people’s plans for Christmas had been curtailed, cancelled or, at the very least, altered in some way. Fast forward to today and we are in an exhaustingly similar position, but with Covid case numbers at a point I never imagined they would actually reach. I will be surprised if they don’t go over 100,000 cases a day this week. Ronnie (pictured) is clearly feeling it too.

So, I’m even more grateful to have had my booster jab last Tuesday. Side effects were one afternoon of being really cold and a couple of days of being foggy-headed (I forgot to go to the hair-dressers – and only remembered seven hours after the appointment!), which is fine by me considering what it might help me avoid. My lovely wife has managed to get hers as well. Thank you NHS Wales.

On a more creative note, I’ve been swatching like mad for my new design idea – I keep wanting to try out tweaks and different combinations of colours. I managed to get my responses to the tech edit that came in last week done, though it did involve a few more hours of number crunching. Fortunately the foggy head was wearing off by then!

The socks are so *very* nearly finished. Here they are. Just one toe to go, right?

Actually, no. I got the recipient (my lovely wife, of course!) to try the first one on, and the toe was a couple of rounds short. Not loads, but enough to feel a little tight. This would no doubt consign them to the back of the sock drawer, which is not the aim of knitting socks – they need to be worn and worn out with joy and comfort. So, once I have completed the second sock (later today), I will be undoing the first sock toe and re-knitting it to match. They’ll still be done in time.

I got some spinning in this morning for the first time in a week or so.

I’m not one hundred percent sure what’s happened to stop me spinning so regularly of late, but maybe it’s something to do with the big pile of knitting project bags by the sofa? It’s daft though, because I set the timer for 20 minutes on my phone this morning and got a good chunk of fibre spun up. It’s much more productive than spending the same amount of time playing games on your phone and that is SO easy to do (and then some).

There was a request for dystopian sci-fi recommendations on Twitter recently and I remembered a book called Wool, by Hugh Howey that stayed with me long after I had read it. Having recommended it I then looked it up as an audiobook and I’m right back in that world, just over halfway through. Quite why listening to dystopian fiction seems appropriate right now I couldn’t tell you, but maybe it’s something to do with the national mood?

I’m hoping to be with mum over Christmas as long as the lateral flow tests keep showing negative and we don’t get told we can’t travel. Whatever you’re planning, I hope you enjoy it and stay safe at the same time.

See you on the other side – my next blog post will be Jan 4th 2022, when it will be marmalade making season again! Kx

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Raspberry Beret

Much knitting progress has happened this week and I can actually share some of it with you today!

I am really enjoying my Get Garter Beret from Woolly Wormhead and I am now two thirds complete on it, having worked four of the six panels. It’s a sideways knit beret that’s also on the bias and the crown shaping is achieved with short row shaping. When I had done two panels I was convinced it was never going to be big enough, but with four completed I am a lot more confident. The yarn, Neps and Tatties from Ewe & Ply in ‘Raisin Girl’ is fantastic and I really like the little ‘neps’ in cream and brown that randomly poke out of the surface of the knitting.

Sue has been asking for a Woodstock (Snoopy’s pal) from the kit that came with Knit Now Issue 133. Last night I knitted all the pieces, which took just over half an hour. I think it’s going to take longer than that to assemble! It doesn’t look much like Woodstock at the moment, just seven small, scrappy bits of knitting… Hopefully by next week I’ll have something more bird shaped to show you.

The baking is continuing and my loaves are getting quite consistent now which is very encouraging! I think the problem previously was a combination of too much water and over-proving the dough. I’ve even managed to use up most of the jar of discard I accumulated while getting Audrey2 up to full strength; this week we’ve had vegan sourdough banana bread and seeded sourdough crackers, both of which have been lovely. I haven’t taken any photos of them though.

On the ‘secret knitting’ front, I have finished the first item!! Half of it has been blocked and the other half is currently taking up residence on the lounge floor. It took me an hour and a quarter to pin out this morning. The trickiest part was in working out what measurements to pin it to. I know the final measurements I want, but I also knew that this particular project would ‘relax’ after being unpinned, so I needed to block it larger than I wanted it to end up. Adding 10% to the width seems to have done the trick.

On Sunday I cast on for the second secret project. I’d done two rows when it occurred to me that as I’d not used this yarn before (and the ball band says it whitens and fluffs up after washing and blocking) it would be a good idea to do a couple of swatches to make sure the needle size I’d originally intended to use would work with this yarn. I tried the intended size and a couple of sizes larger in case any ‘fluffiness’ obscured the design. Both actually looked good, although the original needle size gave the main fabric more stability, so I’ve stuck with it and now I’ve done a couple of inches of the main project. It’s going to be gorgeous though I say it myself.

Do you remember I said that this yarn had been spun ‘in the grease’ and smelt wonderfully sheepy? Having lanolin still in the fibres has already had a good effect on my hands and some of the splits are healing – hurray! I’m looking forward to getting really stuck into this project and also hoping to try out some more of their yarns in the future. I’m also looking forward to being able to show you what I’ve been doing – but it will be another seven months before I can do that!

At least five of the roses are still in flower and the fuchsias are looking very blousy! It’s weird how warm it still is a lot of the time (sometimes it seems warmer outside than in!), and the birds are really enjoying themselves in the bushes, pecking little creatures from the stems. Various parts of the garden still need tidying up before the winter, like doing the last mow and cutting down the crocosmia, and I’m hoping the weather continues to hold until after I’ve met my first deadline which is just under two weeks away.

That’s all from me today. Stay safe and do more of what makes you happy. K x

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What a difference a ply makes!

I’m not sure I will ever get over the thrill of seeing fluffy fibre turn into actual, knit-able yarn. Or the fact that I seem to be able to achieve this magic trick myself now.

This afternoon I balled up the yarn I finished spinning last week, using my ball winder and swift (wonderful time- and wrist-saving inventions!). This was not because I intend to use it imminently, but because I wanted to get a better idea of the colour changes, especially in the larger skein. That’s the fractal spun one.

How does fractal spinning work? Well, you take a braid of fibre and split it lengthways, keeping the two pieces as equal as possible. One of those lengths will be spun as it is, with no further splitting. But then you take the other piece and split that in half, and then take one of those pieces and split that in half as well! All these splits take place lengthways down the fibre, so each division gives you a narrower piece of fibre, but they are all the same length and hopefully all have all of the colour changes. This gives you one piece that is 1/2 the width, one that is 1/4 and two that are 1/8.

On one bobbin you spin the widest piece, the half. One the other bobbin you spin the other pieces; I did both smallest pieces first followed by the 1/4 width one. After spinning these as singles they are ready to be plied together. Because there is less fibre of each colour at a time (thinner, remember?) on the 1/4 and 1/8 width bobbin the colours here will change more rapidly. This means that when you ply them together you get the colour changes happening on both strands of yarn, but at different rates, giving a very dramatic result! Shown below is the bobbin with rapid colour changes which I spun first, with the remaining fibre draped around the flyer. The Southdown fibre (that’s the sheep breed) was hand-dyed by Katie Weston of Hilltop Cloud and was a delight to work with.

Of course, my initial split of my fibre wasn’t exact and I ended up with quite a bit of the single ply yarn with the longer colour changes left over. I decided to try chain plying this to create a 3-ply yarn (thicker than the 2-ply fractal) that changed colour very gradually. To chain ply you make a big loop and pull a strand of yarn through it, creating a new loop through which you pull a strand of yarn – it’s a bit like a giant crochet chain, which is being twisted as it goes onto the spinning wheel. Because it’s all coming off the same bobbin there are some places where one strand of the three is a slightly different colour (that would be the strand pulled through the loop) and it gives a fabulous graduated effect. Also, a really nice plump yarn! Next time I do some chain plying I will make a little video as I think that would make my explanation clearer.

I didn’t initially sit down to write a whole post about spinning today, but it seems I have. There has also been lots of knitting on one of my ‘secret’ projects this week, which of course I can’t show you or tell you much about, other than that I have started the final piece of it and completed the numbers for the pattern. I promise to have also knitted something else by next week that I *can* show you!

The yarn arrived for my other commission piece (aka secret project 2) last week as well. It’s been spun in the grease and smells wonderfully sheepy! I’m really looking forward to getting started with that, but again it will something that I can’t share with you until next June and that feels like a very long way away at the moment!

Audrey2 is behaving well and I got a beautiful loaf on Friday – I’m hoping for a repeat performance later on today.

And I even spent an hour in the garden this morning, clearing the vegetable patch of weeds and spent plants!

That’s all from me for today. Stay safe and I hope you are able to do some things that make you happy this week. K x

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Autumn Leaves

I’m sitting at my Mum’s dining table looking out at her garden in all its autumnal glory. There was a frost on the lawn this morning and it was jolly cold outside, but there is now a brilliant blue sky and a brisk walk through the town warmed me right up!

A total contrast from the weather as I left Wales yesterday morning – torrential rain and strong gusts of wind meant that my raincoat got very wet even going from the front door to the car!

I’ve finished the back of my deadline knitting garment and cast on another section last night. I am now wondering about the selvedge stitches though and so the new section was cast off this morning… I will block it when I get home to see if my slip stitch edge adds stability as I’d hoped, or just stops the pattern opening up properly! (Can’t show you pics, sorry!)

And this is why I always bring more than one knitting project with me when I go anywhere. If something crops up that means I need to press pause on one, then I’m not left knit-less. So, my Woolly Wormhead Get Garter Beret will be getting some action later.

Yesterday, I sent out my monthly newsletter to my lovely website subscribers and it contained a brand new exclusive discount code for them to use in my Payhip store. 15% off all my hat, mitts and cowl knitting patterns from now until the end of the year! If you’re not yet a subscriber, but think you like the sound of that, sign up by the end of the week and I will make sure you get the November newsletter too. There’ll be a reminder of it in the December newsletter as well.

I haven’t talked about my Craftucation courses in a while, and that’s probably because I’m feeling guilty that I still haven’t finished my ‘Introduction to Lace Knitting’ course. My hands are still in a right state and certainly not ‘camera-ready’, but I have every intention of getting it done in the next couple of months. Any encouragement gratefully received!

That’s all from me for today – I’m going to go and make some lunch happen.

Stay safe, keep knitting and doing what makes you happy, K x

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Better late than never

Ok, own up; who actually noticed I didn’t publish a blog post yesterday? Answers in the comments please!

It was our return journey from Kent yesterday and, at the weekend, while we were still at home, I wondered whether I should draft a post in advance. Then I thought, “No, it’ll be fine, I’ll just write it when we get home”. Well, that plan didn’t work. We got home at 6.30pm (having left at noon), unpacked, I made dinner, read and signed a contract (missing the first 10 minutes of Bake Off while doing so) and then? I just didn’t have the spoons left to do it.

It was a good trip to Kent. We were visiting my lovely wife’s family – only the second time I’ve been there since Xmas 2019 and only the third for Sue – and we had a great time. My niece had made a birthday cake for me – it was gorgeous and I am absolutely going to investigate the non-dairy alternative to condensed milk that she used. On Monday we had a long walk to the sea front, up the pier and then along the harbour arm with my sister-in-law. There was brilliant sunshine, a fabulous rainbow, a carousel ride for Sue and Katie (I couldn’t have decently got on the horses in my long dress, and I don’t think side saddle would have worked) and a detour through the park.

And then? The heavens opened. There had been a little rain/drizzle prior to that, but it went full biblical downpour. Katie had a coat with a hood and I borrowed her umbrella and Sue had a neckband that she put over her hair, but, to be honest, none of it did much good. We got thoroughly drenched. So much so that the only solution was a shower to warm up and a complete change of clothing. I am eternally grateful to my lovely mother-in-law that she washed and dried our wet clothes for us that evening as otherwise we would have had no clean things for the following day.

While we were away I did a fair bit of knitting. The majority of it I can’t show you for quite a while yet. One lot of commission yarn I was waiting for last week arrived last Wednesday and I got cracking, only to change my mind about six inches in about the placement of the stitch patterns. I left the original version on the needles, went back to my spreadsheet, copied the sheet and played with the numbers again. Then cast on for the new version. Once I’d done the same amount for both versions so the comparison was fair, I was so glad I had listened to my misgivings and paused. The new version is so much better – and so that was the majority of what I worked on in Kent and in the car. I’m getting better at knitting on rumbly concrete motorways!

The other project I took with me was a new type of knitting project for me – a sideways knit hat by Woolly Wormhead. I’m definitely enjoying the process of seeing how the structure develops and I can’t wait to see how the whole thing looks when finished. The variegated yarn is playing nicely with the short rows too. It’s going to be a beret style hat, but it looks nothing like it at the moment! The yarn is Neps and Tatties in ‘Raisin Girl’ by Ewe & Ply. There’s a knitalong running on her Facebook group (and on Ravelry) at the moment for sideways knit garter stitch hats – it’s definitely worth a look as there are a huge number of exciting designs and ways of constructing a hat that I’d never imagined.

The other creative thing I had a rethink and restart on last week was my embroidery. I was finding it hard to keep track and, though I knew I had gone ‘out’ (wrong) by a stitch or two in some colours that I’d done, I couldn’t quite work out which they were. This meant that I was finding it hard to trust the stitches that were in place when it came to using them to position new sections. So, I began again, this time with a more thoroughly prepped piece of fabric. Again, it was worth it, as my progress has been quicker and easier since. It probably also helps that I reprinted the chart (again!) so it is larger AND with colours on the squares as well as symbols so it is easier to follow. It does take up 16 pages now instead of 9, but hey. It’ll be worth it.

What have you been up to this week? I hope some of it has been fun.

Take care, stay safe and keep wearing a mask! K x