Tag: Brioche

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Fruitful

Having a more organised workspace has already made a big difference to how I feel about being in the study and I think it has had a positive effect on my levels of productivity too!

I also had a chat with the resident coach-in-training about my lack of progress with my embroidery, and through that I was able to pinpoint a few things that were holding me back from working on it and ways I could get past them. As a result I can now see some definite progress has been made since I last photographed the embroidery in July.

Mum’s embroidery Nov 2023

Part of what was getting in my way was the feeling that my aim of completing a square at a time was so huge that it felt overwhelming. My current goal is to set 30 minutes on the timer and do however much I do in that time, rather like my approach to spinning. With this approach I’ve done 2 hours of stitching in the past week, as opposed to the ‘nothing at all’ of the past few months.

I haven’t posted anything on social media since last Friday, which is most unlike me. It’s been a bit busy. My passenger car door doesn’t get looked at (and hopefully fixed) until Thursday, but yesterday I was exploring the capacity of my amazing boot space by taking mum to a local nursing home for a respite/trial week. Once the back seats are down it really is tardis-like and this bodes very well for show transportation. Fortunately a friend was also able to help out – she was the one who actually transported Mum there, as although all her stuff fitted in my car, she herself couldn’t get in with the passenger door not working!

Naturally, visiting Mum involved more than just taking her to her respite week. I am also now the owner of a large box of quinces and will be making quince jelly for the first time this week. The weird looking furry bits aren’t mould – they’re just what the fruit is covered with as it is growing. It will be washed off before they go in the jam pan! They smell quite amazing already.

On to the knitting. The adult version of Honeybun is now speeding along. I’ve tweaked and triple checked all the calculations for the armhole and neck decreases and the back should be completed this evening. The main colour in this photo has not come out true to life, but you get the idea! This is the full length version in Size 18. There are 20 sizes, UK4 to UK42, and two length options for each.

Once the body is done, there are the sleeves to calculate and the stitch counts for the button band. Then it’s a case of finishing the knitting, blocking and getting the pattern to the tech editor.

I don’t think the pattern will be ready for my first show next year (Wool-in Garden City in January), but it should definitely be printed and available for the second one (East Anglia Yarn Festival in March)! I’ll tell you more about upcoming shows soon.

Both pairs of socks I’m knitting are growing. Sue’s socks have a completed gusset on the first foot and it’s just plain knitting for 30 rounds now until I get to the toe. Good TV knitting.

This extra pair of Bodelwyddan socks have a nearly completed gusset as well. These are Large, reducing down to Medium (4th size to 3rd size).

You might be able to see where the extra decreases are positioned near the needle. This is so the decreases don’t just continue from the main gusset and go underneath the foot, which could be uncomfortable.

We finally had the first part of the Twisted Workshop last Thursday at Yarn O’clock (postponed because I was ill). Everyone did really well, learning so many new skills and techniques that I think their heads were truly mashed by the end of the evening. The yarn we are using for the workshop is Podale DK and it’s a great choice. We began by getting the knitters to select their two colours to use and using the B&W feature on our phone cameras to help check they really were different in tonal value (one dark and one light).

This was as far as we got by the end of the first session.

The knitters have a little bit of homework to do before the next session completing their current round. Then next time they get to learn the final stitch and then repeat the whole stitch pattern once more to complete the cowl (and reinforce what they learnt last time!).

I bought some yarn this afternoon online. You may remember that my old school-friend treated us to a very special afternoon tea at the Pump Room in Bath where she is part of the piano trio for my 50th birthday. Wanting to celebrate her 50th in a similar way I have offered to knit her any of my designs in the colour of her choice – even black! I knew the choice was likely to be black, as that is the uniform of musicians, and her design choice is Diamonds in the Breeze, a lovely geometric lace shawl in a sport-weight yarn, originally worked using 2 skeins of Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia Organic Merino in a dark green. I’m really looking forward to knitting this design again and enjoyed scouring the internet for an appropriate yarn in a true black

That’s all from me today. Take care, K x

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Dw i ddim yn rhugl…

…yn Gymraeg, ond dw i’n dysgu! (I am not fluent in Welsh, but I am learning!)

Yesterday I hit a big milestone in my Duolingo progress – a 365 day streak! That means I’ve been learning Welsh for a whole year. Some days it’s only a quick 3-minute lesson, but that’s balanced with days where I focus for quite some time.

I am still really enjoying it and that is from someone who thought they weren’t that good at languages. I ‘did’ French and German at school to GCSE and got As in both, but it was never something I actually enjoyed – and I certainly wouldn’t have practised every single day for a year by choice!

But I’m motivated. I want to understand the adverts and signs around us when we’re out. I want to be able to watch S4C and listen to Radio Cymru! I want to read stories in Welsh, and continue to find relevant Welsh things for knitting inspiration and pattern names.

Living in Wales all signs and official communications are bilingual. It was quite funny when I bought my new car as my V5, being an official document, was bilingual, and the chap doing the hand-over had to keep turning it over to find the English sections.

So, I’m quite proud of my one-year achievement. It doesn’t say anything about how much I’ve learnt or how ‘rhugl’ (fluent) I’m getting, but it does say quite a bit about the importance of regular practice.

When you’re learning anything new, you need to keep doing it, over and over. That’s one of the reasons that my absolute beginner’s workshop sends knitters away with a project bag, needles, more wool and more stuffing and the pattern they’ve just used, so they can make more little creatures. If they were to just borrow the needles during the workshop and only have enough yarn to make the one creature in the workshop, they would need a lot of extra motivation to then go out and buy the materials to knit more. But if they’ve taken everything home with them and it’s right there? Making it easy for people to practice and repeat the new motions of knitting helps them to become fluent knitters. Just like Duolingo makes it easy for me to practise Welsh every day.

Tying in with this idea of practising new skills to help embed them through repetition, I’m going to be linking upcoming workshops with relevant patterns of mine. I’ll take the samples with me to the workshops along with copies of the printed patterns and talk about them on social media in the lead-up to the workshops. Some of my designs even came about as a result of developing workshops!

For example, Jodie Scarf was designed from the three slip stitch patterns I teach in my slip stitch workshop, and Small Acts came from the swatch I created for my Knitting Cables workshop.

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I had been hoping to be well enough last Thursday to teach the first part of Twisted (the 2-part moebius brioche cowl workshop at Yarn O’clock), but unfortunately my cold had other ideas, so it has all been moved back two weeks. Part 1 of Twisted is now on 16th November and Part 2 is on 30th November. So, you still have time to book if you’re interested in learning this combination of techniques (ring Anne at Yarn O’clock on 01352 218082).

This is an unusual one to tie other designs in with, as it’s the only moebius brioche or even brioche-in-the-round design I have so far, but I do have two other moebius designs which folk may well be interested in, and I have plenty of brioche designs that are worked flat!

Coming up in December I will be running my Knitting Cables workshop on Dec 6th and Introduction to Lace Knitting on Dec 13th, both at Shaz’s Shabby Chic in Buckley.

The flyers say that the skills needed for each workshop are to be able to knit, purl, cast-on and cast-off, and that really is it. Everything else is taught during the workshop. So, if you’d like to develop your knitting skills and become more fluent in the language of knitting – now’s your chance!

And, by the way – Branwen is out now as a single, self-published pattern!

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Thriller!

Four small pumpkins of different colours and shapes have googly eyes stuck on and mouths drawn with black pen sit on a wooden cabinet. Behind them is an acrylic painting in shades of orange and red.

Sometimes as an independent designer you get no feedback from customers, especially if a pattern is bought online and you never see their finished project.

At other times though, there is lots – and it can be thrilling! I’ve had really useful feedback from people who’ve asked questions because something wasn’t clear to them, and it’s helped me tweak the instructions or notes in a pattern to avoid that confusion arising again for someone else.

Sometimes knitters need more help and I try to break the instructions in the pattern down further for them. In some cases, of course, the help they need goes beyond what I can provide by email, so I might recommend a book on a particular technique or even suggest they book a 1-to-1 online or in-person tutorial session with me.

(Occasionally I do get emails from folk who expect a bit too much and can be rather ‘direct’ in requesting it – the one with “It doesn’t make sense. Write this pattern out line by line in my size” without even mentioning what size they were trying to make – was a particular highlight. You can guarantee the emails stop immediately when they’ve understood and they rarely acknowledge the help or say thanks…Thankfully these are rare!)

The feedback I love best is when a knitter proudly shows me their finished item, especially in person, but a photo and message can be just as exciting.

Three days ago I had a lovely message from a knitter showing me their finished Meg March brioche shawl – and it was their FIRST EVER brioche! It’s stunning, even before being blocked to size. It’s quite a thrill to see other knitters take your instructions and follow them, to create exactly the piece they wanted. And to be thanked for “such a beautiful and well written pattern” made me really happy.

The same day I also got an email from a knitter who had made Marianne Half Hap Shawl. The edging had initially caused her a few issues, but she cracked it and finished the shawl quickly from there. This was the shot of it blocking:

I knew that Ella had wanted to enter the finished shawl in her local show (Berwickshire Scottish Women’s Institute) and this weekend she won first prize in the Half Hap class! It’s the one on the bottom right – the colours look different from the pic above in different light and with the shawl folded up. That red sticker? That’s the First Prize label! I’m so delighted for Ella.

Something beautiful arrived in the post today. I had a RiverKnits voucher from one of my friends for my birthday (thanks Julie!) and, perhaps surprisingly, I chose something that wasn’t yarn! It’s an item I’ve had my eye on for a while, calling to me every time I see the RiverKnits stand, but it had always felt too much of a ‘treat’ before. Now though, with a voucher? That’s exactly the time for treats!

This is a handmade pencil case / notions bag, made with hand-woven fabric using RiverKnits’ hand-dyed yarn. It’s gorgeous and I can’t wait to use it!

There’s not a lot of my knitting to show you this week, for two reasons.

The dull reason is that I’ve had a bit of a cold (no, not Covid – I tested twice) and I haven’t done a huge amount. I am definitely on the mend and expect to be fighting fit by Thursday evening when I have the first part of the Twisted workshop.

The more exciting reason is that much of the knitting I have been doing is swatching for a submission and I can’t show you that!

Speaking of Twisted – the moebius brioche cowl workshop, here is the front page of the pattern:

We’ll be making the small DK version (top left pic) in the workshop, but the pattern folk get as part of the workshop includes all the options. Once the second part of the workshop is over (on 16th November) I’ll be publishing the pattern on all my usual platforms. If you want to book a space on the workshop, it’s not too late – ring Anne at Yarn O’clock on 01352 218082.

Tomorrow sees Part Two of Barragán Shawl being published in Issue 195 of The Knitter. I’ll be knitting along and sharing my progress on here and on social media as I did with Part One. Part Two contains the stripy borders and buff coloured sections of the lace shawl.

And next week (Monday 6th) I’ll be self-publishing the whole Branwen pattern.

Sign up to the newsletter if you’d like a lovely discount code to use for that!

Today is Hallowe’en and my lovely wife, Sue, is hosting Top Tweet Tuesday all day on Twitter. She’s getting to read lots and lots of spooky poems – it’s well worth having a look.

We may or may not get many trick or treaters as the weather is very changeable at the moment – the rain keeps suddenly starting and then stopping again – but we are prepared with sweets if we do. We haven’t carved any pumpkins this year. Instead, we have a range of cute small pumpkins and the googly eyes and sharpie pen came out to play! This way we get to eat the pumpkins as well as display them on the windowsill – no waste!

That’s all from me today. Stay safe, and do some stuff that makes you happy. K x

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Twisting the Night Away

‘Twisted – a workshop with a twist!’ is being held at Yarn O’clock over 2 sessions: 2nd and 16th November, 6.30-9pm. It’s £50 for the two sessions and includes the yarn to make the cowl.

Contact Anne at Yarn O’clock (01352 – 218082) to book a space on the workshops – please note her shop will be closed from 14th to 24th October!

Skills needed: Ability to use a circular needle, knit, purl and cast off.

Equipment to bring: 80cm circular cable with SHORT 5mm tips – these can be bought at the shop if you don’t have them. 1 x 5.5mm or 6mm needle or double pointed needle (for Twisted 2 only).

Twisted 1 (2nd November)
Understand and learn to create the unique structure of a true moebius ring and how this technique can be used for wonderful neckwear and more. Learn the Moebius cast on. Learn the basic brioche stitches (brk and brp) and how to work brioche in the round. Discover the magic that happens when you work brioche in a moebius ring! This part of the workshop ends with learning a brioche increase.

Twisted 2 (16th November)
Continue the cowl, learn a brioche decrease and repeat the main pattern once more, revising the brioche increase and sharing your progress with the group. Discover what happens as you cast off!

Bodelwyddan, my sock pattern to raise funds for Treasure Chest YGC has sold 7 copies so far. That’s £17.50 raised for the charity, which is a start. I’m hoping it will go above £30 by the end of the month, so do spread the word if you know any sock knitters. The pattern is available on all my platforms. If you can support this good cause, please do!

Progress on Umbriel (the sweater I was knitting in the pub) has gone even better than I anticipated – I’ve finished it! Completely finished, as in all ends woven in and it’s been washed and is now drying. As the design by Sylvia Watts-Cherry was done in the round with sleeves that were picked up from the armholes and worked down to the cuffs, there was not even any sewing up to do. The neckline is particularly lovely.

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I’m knitting 10 rows a day on my Barragán Shawl, my design which is The Knitter‘s current knit-along. If you’re knitting it too, please share your progress with the hashtag #BarragánKAL when posting on social media. You can still order a yarn kit from McIntosh too if you want to use MY Serenity and MY Joy (the same colours I designed the shawl in) in his hand-dyed Bluefaced Leicester 4ply – or subscribe to The Knitter and get the yarn kit as a free gift!

It’s a completely different experience knitting along with everyone else, with only one section to complete per month, rather than the experience of writing the pattern and knitting it to a much shorter deadline. Some folk will think I’m a bit mad knitting the shawl a second time (in the same yarn no less!), but I wanted to be there along with other knitters, able to help out in case of any problems, show them how it should be looking and generally join in the fun. And, as I say, just doing 10 rows per day and photographing the progress for my Instagram and Facebook Stories is really chilled. This is how it looks today, after 70 rows (1 week):

I’ve also started knitting Mum some more bedsocks that she requested.

The pattern is Bob (Friend of Dave) by Rachel Coopey, which I’m glad I printed out as I cannot for the life of me find a link to it anymore, and I’m using CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK. Having been at Mum’s last week it would have been clever if I’d remembered I was going to be knitting more of these socks soon, and checked the stitch count on her current socks, but no. Fortunately I was able to ask Mum to count the groups of knit stitches around the cuff and tell me over the phone so I could work it out! I have now finally made a note of the stitch count to cast on – 64 on 3mm needles.

I had some very good news yesterday – a submission was accepted, which was lovely. It won’t be out until May next year, and I’ve got until January to complete the sample and write up the pattern. It’s a design on a smaller scale this time, which will make a nice change as many of my recent designs have been on the very large side! There’s also another submission I sent out at the weekend which I’m keeping my fingers crossed for and four (!) yarn shows I’ve applied to (not all in the past week I hasten to add) that I’m waiting to hear back about as well.

Speaking of scale, did I tell you that I’d started working on the pattern for the adult version of Honeybun? This will be published separately from the child’s version and will have 20 sizes, none of which overlap with the child’s version, which only goes up to Age 8. The sizes are UK 4 – 42 and the spreadsheet is quite something. The construction is the same as the child’s one with the body worked in one piece and I’ve got as far with the numbers as the division of the fronts and back and underarm cast-off. I’m currently undecided whether to crunch the numbers for the raglan armhole and neck decreases, or to cast-on for the adult sample (I’m going to make an 18 as that’s the size of my dress-form/mannequin) and knit as far as I’ve got to. I might do a bit of both.

We’ve got a jaunt at the weekend as Sue is reading at the Gloucester Poetry Festival. I’ve not been to Gloucester for decades and I’m really looking forward to it.

With this oddly warm weather, we’ve been out in the garden quite a bit over the past few days, cutting back and tidying the veg patch and deadheading the many roses. Some of the nasturtiums are making a bid for freedom across the patio! If I remember I’ll try to grab a photo of them to show you next week.

That’s all from me for today. You’ll probably have noticed I haven’t mentioned the events in the wider world. That’s because I’m having trouble processing how some people can behave the way they do to other humans. Have a good week if you can and be safe out there. K x

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Launch

There have been some lovely comments about Petulia on social media that was launched with RiverKnits at Yarndale last weekend. I wasn’t there, but I know Becci was wearing the shawl at Yarndale on the Saturday, and she said it was super cosy.

This photograph of Petulia was taken by Anne from Yarn O’clock when she visited Yarndale on Sunday:

Hopefully some knitters now have the means to make their own version of Petulia! I’m itching to knit the smaller version of the shawl myself – and that thought led me to choose some lovely skeins of RiverKnits Chimera and Nene 4Ply this afternoon (at Yarn O’clock)! These skeins are Pumpkin (Chimera) and Zwergpflaume (Nene 4ply) – photographed in evening artificial light so they’re showing up a bit darker than they really are.

The release date for Part One of Barragán shawl (4th October) is drawing closer and there is still just about time to order a yarn kit from McIntosh if you’d like one to arrive by then.

It’s been really interesting seeing people’s reactions to the shawl and the kit on social media – MY Joy and MY Serenity are high contrast colours, with MY Serenity being a vibrant pink/plum colour. Lots of people love it, (even if they don’t usually like pink!) which is wonderful. Sometimes it can be hard to imagine a design in a different colour-way from what is shown, but one of the great things about knitting is that we can take a knitting pattern and make it our own through our colour choices. Someone suggested using two tones of the same shade and I think that could be really beautiful too.

If you love the McIntosh BFL in the colours I used for Barragán, there are a couple of ways you can get a yarn kit:

You can subscribe to The Knitter magazine and select the yarn kit as a free gift (How awesome is that as a free gift!?). There are limited quantities available for this offer so don’t wait around if this appeals to you. You would also need to buy the magazine on October 4th to get Part One as the subscription would start on Nov 1st.

You can order the yarn kit directly from McIntosh (there are four options here; you can also add pattern/needles/both to the yarn/tote bag). (Note – this is an affiliate link; I get a small commission if you order the yarn via this link).

If you don’t love the colours, or already have 150g/600m in each of two colours of 4ply yarn that you’d love to use for Barragán, just buy the magazine each month for the next four months! The first part is in Issue 194 out on October 4th.

I can’t wait to see what combinations people choose to knit this shawl in. Share progress on social media using the hashtag #BarraganKAL

Before Barragán gets going, there’s another pattern being launched! Designs are a bit like buses sometimes…

Bodelwyddan is my new sock design for Treasure Chest YGC – a charity that aims to support and raise funds for patients who have had or are having surgery or treatment for breast cancer in Glan Clywd Hospital, Denbighshire.

Bodelwyddan is a top-down textured design in five sizes with a heel flap and gusset, worked on 2.25mm needles.

I’m donating 50% of the pattern price (that’s £2.50) of every copy sold throughout October to the charity..

I finally have photographs of all five sizes – the largest two sizes are modelled – and the pattern is ready to go live on October 1st. It will be available via my website, Payhip, Lovecrafts and Ravelry.

Bodelwyddan is the village in Denbighshire where Ysbyty Glan Clwyd (Glan Clwyd Hospital) is based and this is the reason for the pattern name.

I’ve now taught three workshops at Shaz’s Shabby Chic now and I’m really enjoying them. This is what my two students last week achieved in just two hours! Three swatches each – impressive!

Tomorrow is Knitting in the Round and there are a few places left. Three more workshops are booked in at Shaz’s Shabby Chic next month, including another Absolute Beginners’ Knitting Workshop. So, if you were thinking about coming to learn to knit and missed out last time, now’s your chance! All workshops are detailed on the “Where I’ll Be” page.

I’m delighted to announce that I’m teaching at The Knit-Tea Retreat again this year. The Retreat takes place at Insole Court in Cardiff on October 28-29 with a social evening in the pub on the Friday night (27th). Booking is open now!

It was great fun last year. There are lots of workshops to choose from – felted landscapes, ‘fun with fibre’ and drop spindling as well as three knitting workshops from me: intarsia, slipped stitches and ‘not basic lace’. There’s a wonderful atmosphere at the retreat, lots of cake, a fab social evening on Saturday and a mini market on Sunday afternoon. I highly recommend it!

In other news, I’ve finally returned to knitting the sleeves of my Umbriel sweater! I hope to have some photos to share with you next week. It will be finished before the end of the year.

Until next week then, take care and I hope you get a chance to do some stuff that makes you happy this week. K x

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And Then There Were Two…

You know I enjoyed the sewing workshop last week, when I made the zipped pouch with Jo Paloma Makes at Amanda’s Fabrics? Well, I enjoyed it so much I made another! There will be more…

Are these boxy little bags something you’d like to see on my stand at yarn shows?

I’ve also finished, blocked and photographed my new sample of Amy March Shawl (though I haven’t updated the pics on the webpage yet), so I shall have the new sample and printed patterns with me at the Pop Up Wool Show on Saturday at Hulme Hall. In fact, I’ll have Amy March AND the updated version of Marianne Half Hap – as well as all my other patterns of course!

This week has also seen the completion of the second sock of the largest size in my new design that will be out in October. The pic shows it just after turning the heel. That’s five socks I’ve knitted using this pattern now. I’m going to make one of each of the second and third sizes as well, in different yarns, so folk can see how the pattern works well with striped, semi-solid, variegated and speckled yarns. The pattern still needs a name, but I have a few ideas now, so it won’t be nameless for too much longer.

My Mystical Lanterns Blanket, designed by Janie Crow, now has a fifth row. It’s interesting to see how, despite the random colour selection process, some colours are grouping together in the same area of a row each time. I think I shall have to give the bag a good shake after I put the yarn balls back in next time.

There’s even been some spinning! Having been working hard at getting thicker yarns more consistently I decided to ring the changes and explore the higher ‘gears’ or ratios on my spinning wheel. That just involves moving the elastic band that links the big wheel turned by my feet to the small wheel that spins the bobbin where the yarn goes.

The higher the ratio, the faster the top wheel spins and the faster the yarn goes on to the bobbin. While I’ve been getting used to it I’ve actually slowed my feet down dramatically, just so the fibre doesn’t fly out of my hands before I’ve put enough twist in it to hold together. But it’s certainly more successful than the last time I ventured onto the fastest end of my wheel and this time there was no swearing!

My week hasn’t been all yarn and fabric based. I’ve been busy designing and editing the flyers for my knitting workshops taking place at Shaz’s Shabby Chic and advertising them on social media.

If you know someone who would like to learn to knit from scratch or develop their skills further with slip stitch knitting or knitting in the round, please send them in my direction! You can even scan the QR code in the image above with your phone’s camera, which will take you straight to Ticketsource where you’ll find all the details for each class and be able to book tickets (or click the link!).

The final preparations for the Pop Up Wool Show are taking place, with printing of patterns, checking of kits and wooden items, clarifying my display set-up etc.

I know that I’ve got a space against a wall this year, which is good for me, and I hope you’ll come and say hello to me and my lovely wife if you get the chance.

I couldn’t leave you without mentioning Yarn Gathering.

We’ve got 12 lovely vendors lined up for you this year. There are a few more folk to add to the webpage, but do have a look and see who’s coming. There will be some cafes open in Mold, parking is free on a Sunday (as is entry to Yarn Gathering), and of course, the Mold Food and Drink Festival will be taking place as well, so there is a lot to come and enjoy on September 17th!

What have you been up to this week? Take care and I hope to see some of you on Saturday! Kx

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Do It All Over Again

My new sample of Marianne Half Hap in RiverKnits Northampton Shear Shetland Lace is now blocked and awaiting some proper photos. I’m very pleased with how it has turned out – and the fact that it uses less than 100g laceweight yarn! The updated pattern with new photographs (and some other general improvements to the layout) will be available soon and I will definitely have printed copies of it with me at the Pop Up Wool Show on August 19th.

As I mentioned last week, finishing this new sample of Marianne means that I have been able to cast on my new sample of Amy March Shawl. This uses two skeins of 4-ply yarn from The Yarn Artist: I’m enjoying working with it and am very pleased with how it’s looking already! As I was knitting my new sample of Marianne as my project for the Summer Knit-along, and that runs until August 2nd when the final Show & Tell Zoom takes places, I thought it was only right I should get another knit-along project on the needles asap. Tickets are available for the Show & Tell Zoom event – if you’ve been knitting one of my designs during the past month and a bit, it would be lovely to see what you have created.

One of the things I love about 2-colour brioche knitting is that both sides look great – and very different! More about brioche knitting later on.

I’ve been burning stitch marker pots this week – and coasters and hearts as well! If you’ve seen my stitch marker pots before you’ll notice the ones at the back in this pic are considerably bigger than ones I’ve had previously, at 6cm diameter. These are more the type of pot you would have on the table by where you knit, whereas the smaller ones are ideal to throw in a project bag with just the stitch markers you’ll need for that project – especially as the smaller pots have screw lids! I’ve enjoyed trying out a couple of new designs, as well as working out how to get the lines fine enough on the balls of yarn on the medium pots – that required a very steady hand. Again these will be with me at the Pop Up Wool Show in Port Sunlight next month.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a new shawl design coming out with RiverKnits. Let me introduce you to Petulia – a lacy, 2-colour brioche shawl!

We had been hoping to launch Petulia this month, but the pattern will actually now be coming out in September – so it’s not too long to wait. These are not the official pics, just a couple I took before sending the shawl off to Becci and Markus, and both both shots show the large asymmetrical version of the shawl which takes 3 x 50g Chimera and 2 x 100g Nene 4-ply. It is a big shawl! However, there is also a smaller, symmetrical version using the same motif that only takes 2 x 50g Chimera and 1 x 100g Nene 4-ply. And BOTH of these designs are included in the pattern!

When I was at Wool@J13 in May, several folk loved and bought the pattern for Honeybun Cardigan and many more would have got a copy if the sizing had gone beyond 8 years, as they wanted to make it for themselves. I have made a couple of steps in the direction of sizing Honeybun up for grown-ups: I’ve chosen (and bought) new colours for the adult sample, and set up a new spreadsheet. I’ve got a couple of submission deadlines coming up in the next couple of weeks, and then I hope to get cracking on this as soon as I can!

Alongside all this planning ahead, it’s good to look back and see how the journey is going. Can you believe it’s now 11 years since New York Nights was published in Issue 11 of Knit Now? This beaded lace stole was my first ‘proper’ publication and I was SO excited it made the front cover. I still get really excited, but I no longer go round all the local shops that stock a magazine I’m in and place it at the front of the shelves (I have to admit I did do that with this particular issue!)!

New York Nights Knit Now 11 Front Cover

Yarn Gathering plans are coming on well. It will be taking place at the Daniel Owen Centre in Mold on Sunday 17th September, coinciding with the Food and Drink Festival, just like last year. There are a few small changes, but if it worked well last year, it will be happening again. We have some returning vendors and some new vendors, and we have a new logo! We’ll be revealing this on social media in the next few days, the website will be updated with all the info and I’ll share the logo here next week too as I know not everyone uses social media. It’s very cool and has been designed by someone who really knows what they’re doing!

Last week’s leaving ‘do’ for my lovely wife was super by the way. Just right. I don’t have anything quite as momentous to do this evening, but I will be deciding on the best finish for my stitch marker pots and coasters, as well as starting my fifth row of the Mystical Lanterns blanket!

‘Til next week, take care, K x

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Spring is Here

I’m so glad I took photos of the snow last week as it’s quite hard to believe how much the weather has changed in just a few days! More daffodils have started to bend their necks and open their flowers and there has even been warmth in the air, which the bees have been enjoying as well.

The dentist was able to sort me out last week too – such a relief and they had this magic blue light that set the filling instantly. No injection and no numbness either. Amazing! All the same, I’m hoping not to go back until September!

The cardigan is coming on a treat. I still can’t show you it, but I’m partway through the second sleeve and then I just need to do the border that goes up the edge of one side of the front, round the back of the neck and down the other side.

Knitting this sample has really got me thinking about the difference in knitting for different sizes. The sample is a size 10. I’m not. (No, really? What a surprise!) It’s been so quick to knit the sections of this garment and has used far less yarn than making the garment in my own size would have done. The volume of yarn required also affects the cost (and viability) of making the garment for a knitter. If a ‘big and beautiful’ (as Maggie Righetti gorgeously describes us in her brilliant book “Sweater Design in Plain English“) knitter wants to make a garment, it’s a much bigger (pun intended) investment than for someone working at the other end of the sizing table. The design therefore needs to be appealing, enjoyable to knit, flattering and to FIT properly. This cardigan includes 10 sizes – but these cover TWENTY dress sizes, to fit busts from 28-66” and I’m making very good use of what I learnt during the “A Masterclass on Grading” course to ensure that the garment works properly at each size. Grading truly is a cross between a science and an art.

Anyway, on to things I CAN show you!

I’ve been spinning again. This is the second braid of this luscious fibre, in a colourway called “Faded Blooms” from Fibrehut. The first is all spun up into singles and once this one is done I shall ply the two together. I’m really enjoying creating something a bit more substantial – although I do have to remind myself every now and then not to allow the fibre to draft too finely!

I’ve also been putting some yarn on eBay. I know, it sounds like selling your children, doesn’t it?

There’s been quite a bit of interest already, including some very cheeky offers, but the bidding has begun which is very encouraging with another 5 days left to run on the listings. This very lovely yarn is discontinued and has been for a long time. That means I can’t design with it and the one pattern I have used it for (and why I bought more, in two colours) is one of mine that has not been published. You can tell from the pics that it was made a while ago, while I was studying for my City and Guilds in Hand Knit Textiles (so, about 10 or 11 years ago!). It was one of my assessment pieces. I loved the sweater and I still love the design, but I’ll need to rework it in a different yarn if I want to publish it.

I’d like to publish it, but it will be quite an undertaking. The original single size, designed specifically to fit me, had some quite complex shaping in the bust (dart increases AND short rows) and I’d need to think very carefully about how to handle that in a multi-size pattern. I think going with different shaping options will probably be what I end up doing – I might have that as a goal to complete by the end of next year.

We took more photos at the weekend of knitting (and some of it was airborne!). I’ll be sending my third shawl to RiverKnits in the next day or two and wanted to get some shots of it of my own so I can start to share sneak peeks in the lead up to the release (intended to be in May). Here’s a close-up of one of the pics. I love the way the Chimera yarn (the lighter, more variegated one) works with the Nene 4-ply. This photo gives you a sense of the fabric, but not of the shape!

I started using my ChiaGoo shorties knitting needles for the first time at the end of last week too – I’m beginning a new pair of socks for my lovely wife. I’ll share progress and thoughts on the needles with you next week. I think they might take a bit of getting used to.

Have a good week, stay safe and do something that makes you happy, K x

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Open the Door

I bought this book a couple of weeks ago in our local Welsh shop along with The Welsh Learner’s Dictionary. It was encouraging that I could understand the title (Agor yr Drws, 6 stori i ddysgwyr – Open the Door, 6 stories for learners) even then, and that each page has a couple of new words in bold with their definition at the bottom of the page. Today I sat down to read part of one of the stories and, although I didn’t know or quite understand every word, I certainly got the gist of the first half and was using my dictionary as best I could with some of the other new vocab! I’m looking forward to finding out how Martin gets on with his plan to get fitter now he’s turned 50 – he’s already visited the gym and bought lots of vegetables (llysiau) and fruit, but his boss is causing him stress.

Having said last week that I thought my plan to finish the Safe Space cross stitch by the end of the month was looking more possible, I went and finished it on Sunday! It needs a wash and a press and then it can be stretched over the mount board that I picked up from the framers today. What do you think? I’m really pleased with it.

The Christmas Fayre on Saturday at The Rise was well attended and it was good to see people getting out and supporting a local event even though it was snowing for much of the day.

I didn’t sell a lot, but I did have some lovely conversations with other stall holders and visitors to the fayre. Sometimes we were talking about the knitting they used to do but found themselves unable to do any longer, sometimes about types of knitting needles, techniques or letting people know about my online courses. And sometimes it was talking to the primary age children with their parents who were quite fascinated seeing knitting in action. A number of people said they didn’t knit, but wanted to learn – or refresh their skills from many years ago. This makes me think that it would be a good idea to book in another series of Knitting for Beginners classes in the New Year – so watch this space!

Saturday was also a great opportunity to catch up on my sock knitting. The ball of yarn can easily sit in my dress pocket while I move around and chat with folk. The heel and gusset fit really well, although the toe is less marvellous. I’d got carried away on my rounds and had done 40 from the end of the gusset before I realised it. Never mind, thought I, I’ll just do a squarer toe. It works well by my big toe, but there’s far too much spare fabric by my little toe, so it won’t work in shoes. Fortunately I didn’t have my tapestry needle with me on the day so was unable to graft the end. This will make it a lot easier to rip back and reknit. Normally I find my socks are a bit too short when I do 30 rounds between the gusset/instep decreases and the toe shaping. Maybe 35 rounds will be the sweet spot?

This Friday sees Ceridwen published as an individual pattern on all my usual platforms (my website, Payhip, Ravelry and Lovecrafts). The pdf is nearly ready; I just need to do a final check that everything is in the right place, comparing it against the version that went in The Knitter in September, and choose a second photo for the front cover. It takes 250g/2000m of lace weight yarn. Yes, that is 2km of yarn! The Lammermuir Wool I used was so gorgeous to work with and so comfortingly sheepy. They are currently sold out of the lace weight yarn – hopefully they will be getting some more spun.

Today I popped into Yarn O’clock for a natter and to set some dates for our next Mystery Knit-a-long in the New Year – more on that on the socials at the end of the week! While I was there I picked these up; Repair Hooks. You get 5.5mm, 4.5mm and 3.5mm in the pack, each with a crochet hook at one end and knitting needle point at the other. I’ve been doing some brioche knitting in the evenings recently and if a stitch pops off the needle in the middle of decrease it can have unravelled a couple of rows before I catch it – especially if it’s happened on the other side to the one I’m looking at! I think these little tools will be just the thing to quickly hook any dropped stitches back into place without stretching the stitches near the tips of the knitting needles out of shape.

Next week I might even given you a little sneak preview of what I’m working on!

Until then, take care, stay safe and warm – knitting really helps with this! K x

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All At Once

Three wooden spoons lie face down on a darker wooden desk. The back of each is decorated with a pyrography design of two comical sheep. A fourth spoon is just visible at the top of the image.

It’s one of those week’s where everything is happening at once and some of them are coming to fruition after quite a while!

I’m on the final flag of my Safe Space cross stitch! Once that is complete I shall do the final bit of cross stitch (the word “Welcome” in the middle), then crack on with the outlining and blackwork.

I do want to get this finished in 2022 and it’s starting to look more feasible, which is very encouraging.

On Thursday I will be teaching my Introduction to Two Colour Brioche Knitting workshop. I’ve re-jigged the course and re-written the notes, and therefore also re-knitted the samples! We’re going to start with straight brioche knitting with a garter stitch border so folk can get comfortable with the brioche stitches before having to deal with the fancy cast-on. We’re also using DK yarn this time, so the stitches will be bigger and it will be easier to see how it all works.

Brioche front
Brioche back

Once the straight sample is done we’ll move on to the Italian two-colour brioche cast-on and add an increase and a decrease into the mix!

Brioche leaf front
Brioche leaf back

On Friday I’m launching Nevern Lap Blanket on my website, Payhip, Ravelry and Lovecrafts. Newsletter subscribers have had their discount codes already! The pattern is already live on KnitPicks and it’s selling well so far. If you’re not a subscriber and you can’t wait until Friday you can buy it there!

Nevern Lap Blanket on sofa
Nevern Lap Blanket on floor

And on Saturday I have a stall at the Christmas Fayre at The Rise in Buckley! It’s open 10am – 4pm, so if you’re in Buckley and you still have any Christmas shopping to do, this will be the place to come. (This pic is from a post on their facebook page in October, so there probably aren’t stalls still available now!)

I will have my knitting patterns, kits and pyrography (wood-burning) decorated coasters, hearts, wooden spoons and spatulas with me. I’m really looking forward to it, and have been adding a couple of items to my products in preparation – sheep- themed wooden spoons!

Among other kits, I will have the Mini Socks Advent Calendar kits with me. You may think this a bit strange as Advent has already begun, but bear with me… If you start now for next year and knit one sock every week or so you will be ready without having to knit lots and lots all at once!

Speaking of Advent and Christmas things, how cool is this post box topper? It’s on the post box outside the Spar in Buckley and was made by a group of knitters who meet regularly in the town. A huge amount of work has gone into it and it looks very impressive. It makes me smile every time I go to the post office (which is in the Spar) – a frequent activity at present!

I do have a very exciting piece of news to share with you. Next March I will be a vendor at the Buxton Wool Gathering! This is held in the Buxton Pavilion Gardens and tickets are only £5 for the day, or £8 for the whole weekend, which is brilliant value. There will be over 50 exhibitors there alongside me, so lots to enjoy as well as the beautiful town of Buxton to explore.

I’ve paid for my table, booked the accommodation, but somehow when the leaflets came through the post that was what made it feel totally real.

As well as all this I’ve been selecting a few more patterns from the #FastenOffYAL pattern sale (which finishes at midnight on 8th December Eastern Standard Time – that’s 5am on the 9th GMT), and this morning I wound the yarn for the next design I’m going to cast on. It’s Confluence Cowl by Mary W Martin and it’s a new technique to me as well as being a pattern from a new-to-me designer. Two yarns are held together and knitted together for the main fabric and then some magic is worked so that there are different cables on each side of the fabric! I’m using two colours of Amble from The Fibre Co. It’s a sport weight rather than fingering weight yarn, but it’s so soft and I think it will work really well.

All in all, the rest of the week is quite a busy one, but in a very good way. The Christmas presents are mostly posted (or wrapped if they’re not going in the post) and the cards are written, so I can tick the most pressing aspects of home Christmas prep off the list, which is a great feeling at this stage. I even remembered to feed the Christmas cake with brandy at the weekend – you should have seen my lovely wife’s face when she walked into the kitchen at 11am to see me putting the brandy bottle back on the shelf…!

That’s all from me today – quite enough, I hear you say – so I will leave you with this: Mae smygu’n ofnadwy, dw i’n hoffi cerddoriaeth a dw i eisiau paned a bisgedi! (Translation: Smoking is terrible, I like music and I want a cup of tea and some biscuits!)

Take care one and all, K x