Tag: Inspired by and living in Wales

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And Then There Were Two

As if by magic – a second sock appeared! Well, not magic obviously, by spending some time knitting. It’s funny that many people experience what is known as ‘second sock syndrome’, where they they will happily zip through making the first sock of a pair, but stall on the second. I seem to have the opposite. Once one sock is made, the other wants to get done and make the socks ready for use. It’s also helpful that this past week we have been taking things a little more gently due to a nasty throat/chest virus thing that got me first and then moved on to my lovely wife. I’m much better and she is just starting to come out of it. It has meant that we’ve spent a bit more time watching Grantchester (we’re almost up to the end of Series 3) and I’ve been knitting.

I’ve also started another DK version of Into the Vortex. I know I knitted one of these a while ago, but I wasn’t in love with the colours, so it’s still sitting there waiting to be blocked. However, I decided that this time I would keep it more in line with the original. RiverKnits now have a DK version of their Chimera yarn – and it was the 4ply version of this that we used in the original design along with their Nene 4ply, both of which are British Bluefaced Leicester yarns. I’m using the Chimera DK in the colourway ‘The Fifth Element’.

I’m going to pair it with a deep purple skein of West Yorkshire Spinners Fleece, which is another Bluefaced Leicester yarn. Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) is a breed of sheep, so this means the yarn is made solely from the fleeces of that breed of sheep.

Yesterday saw me doing more maths than I have done in over 30 years! I needed to calculate how deep the front neck drop of a new design can be. You might think the depth of the front neck drop (where the fabric at the front stops for the neck) is just a matter of choice and in many designs it is, but this design has an unusual shape and this measurement will dictate whether the top falls off the shoulders or not (and I would prefer not!).

I knew the length of one side of the triangle and all three angles (courtesy of this very fancy protractor that I bought on Saturday), but I had to google how to calculate the other lengths as I couldn’t remember! I knew it was likely to be something to do with sin/cos/tan, but it’s been a very long time since I last used those things. Hurrah for BBC bitesize and other maths support websites. It was time for the calculator and the tan function! Weirdly, I also found a TAN function in Excel, but it didn’t give me anywhere near the same result (and I know the calculator version is correct as I knew the side length I was trying to work out was going to be close in length to the one I knew, and the results I was getting from my attempts using TAN in Excel were nowhere near close). So, there are obviously some hidden extras that I need to learn before I can use Excel to work those things out for me.

On Sunday I got to take some pics of Lorelai Wrap, as Jo, a friend from my church choir, had kindly agreed to model it for me. Even the weather co-operated by stopping raining for a while. I got some great shots and this is the one that is going to be the main pic on the front cover of the pattern:

Lorelai Wrap will be available in printed form at the North West Winter Wool Festival in Blackpool this coming weekend and online within the week. It was first published in The Knitter magazine six months ago. It’s knitted in one piece using 4.5mm needles (you can use straight needles) and Jamieson’s of Shetland Ultra Lace, which is a beautiful yarn with a mix of 50% Shetland wool and 50% Lambswool. I used the colourway ‘Strawberry Crush’ – there are 39 other colours in this yarn to choose from if that’s not the colour for you!

That’s everything from me today. If you’re coming to Blackpool at the weekend do stop by and say hello – our stand is right near the door (stand B9) so you can’t miss us! If you’re not coming to Blackpool for the North West Winter Wool Festival, don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about it next week. Until then, take care, K x

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Reaching the End

So, I did it. I finally finished the first sock last night. Well, almost. I still need to graft the remaining 12 stitches at the toe. This sock has a graft that is at 90 degrees to the usual one. Instead of joining the remaining stitches top and bottom along the top of the toes, this one decreases more (which is why I only have 12 stitches left rather than 24) then joins the left and right stitches together down the centre of the toes. I can’t remember where I first came across this toe shape for socks, but it works really well.

The reason it’s taken me so long to get back to this sock is that I’ve knitted the front neck of the jumper design I’ve been working on three times. I mistrusted my first calculations thinking the neck would be too low, so I ripped that out, made the neckline higher and knitted it again. It seemed fine. Joined one shoulder seam, knitted the neckband. Again it seemed ok (this is with me draping it around Sue to check fit). Joined the other shoulder seam and all of a sudden the neck looked really small. It was indeed not easy to get over the head. So! I undid one shoulder seam, ripped out the neckband, undid the other shoulder seam, ripped back the front neck to 2cm lower than the too-small one. I re-knitted it all – holding my breath and also making the neckband shorter with a looser cast-off. This time, once I’d seamed one shoulder and knitted the neckband, I joined the other shoulder seam with lockable stitch markers to check it would actually go over the head. Phew! At least there were no sleeves to worry about, so I just had armhole ribbing to knit and side seams to sew before it was finished. And I can’t even show you any pics because it’s for a design submission.

I realised today that we are already in February and I haven’t yet sent out a single newsletter. If you are a newsletter subscriber and are wondering where your newsletters have gone, don’t worry – there will be one this week!

I mentioned a while ago that I’m scaling back / rethinking my kits. I’m also looking at changing the packaging from tins to cardboard boxes. There are several reasons for this – not least of which is cost, but also the fact that the empty cardboard boxes come flat and so take up far less room in our little bungalow! I think I’ve found the right size – it’s almost the same size as the larger tins were and now I’m choosing between natural brown and white.

I’m leaning towards the brown as I think that will show off the white sticker with the kit details far better and the white looks like it could get grubby quite quickly. I had considered black cardboard boxes to match the black cloths and metal cubes I use at yarn shows, but looking at them closely the black dye seems to rub off where the box is folded and I was then worried about it rubbing off on customers hands etc!

This week my local yarn shop, Yarn O’clock, announced that, after 10 years of trading, the shop will be closing in April. This is very sad for me. Anne, who owns the shop, hired me to teach my first knitting workshops, commissioned seven mystery knit-alongs from me and has sold me the yarn for nearly all of my kits! And of course, Anne and I have brought Yarn Gathering to Mold for four years. And when things were difficult for me personally a number of years ago, Anne’s shop was just about the only place I was able to leave the house to go to – it was my safe space. Things won’t be the same without her there, but as she put in her social media announcement, all good things must come to an end. I wish her so much joy for her new adventures, but will really miss being able to pop in, even though I haven’t been there as much as I would have liked over the past year or so. If you have a chance to visit Yarn O’clock before it closes in April I highly recommend it! Natural fibres with a focus on British yarn and a lovely range of needles, patterns and other items too.

It’s not long now until my first show of the year – the North West Winter Wool Show. If you have bought an advance ticket you will have a code to download the Seaside Winter Cosy pattern for free!

I will also have printed copies of the pattern with me at the show for sale for those people who buy a show ticket on the day – or in case anyone who already has their own copy of the pattern wants to buy one as a gift for someone else. If you do have an advance show ticket you have until March 15th (one month after the end of the show) to download your free copy of the pattern.

Until next week, take care of yourselves and each other and do something that makes you happy. 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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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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Licenced to Crenellate!

On Friday I will be (re-)launching Crenellate! We had lots of fun at the end of last week taking new photographs and I have been scouring through the pattern to make sure everything is listed in the abbreviations and the pattern is presented as clearly as possible. As the pattern has already been published in a magazine (this was published in Knit Now, Issue 179 in March 2025) this should be easy, but I still like to make sure everything is correct and it all fits my own ‘style’ of layout.

A friend of mine told me that in the medieval period a licence from the king was needed to be allowed to add crenellation to a property. I didn’t know this, but find it very interesting and will definitely be reading more about it, especially since I’m finding my recent audiobook listening is becoming a lot more historical fiction based.

As it happens, much of my Crenellate design is very straightforward. Sue had a look at the printed pattern and asked, “Do the charts really only use these symbols?” Yes they do, because it’s a textural pattern with no lace.

In fact, here is the chart key:

Crenellate just uses knit and purl to create the textural design, with yarn overs (yo) creating the increases for the shaping. The blue and red outlines show the sections of the chart that you repeat. That’s it. And, of course, if you’re not a fan of charts, the pattern is also written out in full.

The textural design is one of the aspects of Crenellate that make this design one of my easier patterns to knit. It’s a top-down triangular shawl with the body of the shawl simply increasing in size until the border. The border is also straightforward, even though it has a very fun shape! The border is all garter stitch, with the crenellated shaping created through casting on and off to change the length of the rows.

If you are a newer knitter there are three things in this design you may not have encountered before.

The first is the ‘garter tab’ that begins the shawl. Lots of top down shawls begin this way and I’m going to be recording a little video for my website and youtube channel to show how it works. Essentially, you cast on a few stitches (usually about 3), knit a few rows of garter stitches (often 6, giving three garter ridges) which creates a tiny garter stitch square (or tab, hence the name). You then knit one more row, but instead of turning and knitting back, you pick up some stitches down the side of your little square, then pick up some stitches along the bottom from where you cast on. This means you’re now working around three sides of the square and it becomes the centre top of a triangular or semicircular shawl!

The other two possibly less familiar things are both included in the border. One is a wrap and turn short row, which is used four times in the whole shawl and is described step by step in the abbreviations. I’m going to add a new video on my youtube channel for this as well. The last is the joining stitch to join the border to the body of the shawl as you knit it. That sounds more complicated than it is – it just means you knit the last stitch of the border together with the next stitch of the body of the shawl. As these are in different colours it’s easy to know when you’ve got to that point in the row – you’re knitting two stitches together, one of each colour.

Crenellate is worked in DK yarn so it’s ideal for the cooler weather we’ve started to experience. The original sample was knitted using West Yorkshire Spinners Elements DK which is a wool and Tencel mix, but it would work very well in other fibres too, including pure wool for a super cosy version.

Newsletter subscribers already have their exclusive discount code for Ravelry and Payhip which lasts for 48 hours from 10am on Friday until 10am on Sunday. The sample and printed copies of the pattern will also be at Yarndale this weekend. The timing is a bit of a gamble as I’ve not done an online launch at the same time as a yarn show before and I’m hoping that the two events will boost each other, rather than cancel each other out.

All the patterns are now printed and ready for the show and I now just need to plan the layout for our spot. We are in D5 this year, which is very near the Wharfdale entrance, and almost as far away from where we were last year as we could be!

think we may well be one of the first stands people come to if they come in this way to the show so we will need to make sure the stand is attention grabbing. We may well need extra woolly layers to wear as well being near the entrance, but that’s not going to be a problem!

There are still a few spaces left on my moebius knitting workshop on Saturday 10.30am-1pm. We will explore the unique structure of a true Moebius ring, where the knitting grows from the centre outwards, and discover how this technique can be used to make wonderful neckwear and more. You’ll learn two Moebius cast on methods and create a simple headband. From there you can tackle a range of moebius designs! Go to the Yarndale website to book your place if you’d like to learn this amazing technique – it’s a whole lot more than casting on and then twisting your knitting before you join it!

Who is coming to Yarndale at the weekend? Do come and say hello if you are there. Remember, we are on Stand D5.

Until next week, take care and do something that makes you smile this week in this mad, mad world. K x

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Poppies Bloom

The past week has included updates from my Mum about the activities she engages with each day at her new care home. It has been lovely to hear her talk about painting in the garden and taking part in a variety of exercise classes. This morning I have added a small project to my needles because I want to join in with one of her activities. She has started knitting a poppy for a Remembrance Day display. Last night I was able to give her a couple of top tips about how to make sure her stitches were not too tight when she asked me what the term was for ripping back a couple of rows. I am not sure she used to call it frogging, but I heard her say “Well yes then, I have frogged a couple of rows and will carry on with it again tomorrow”. I am pleased she is going to finish it and will take her a crochet hook to help her pick up dropped stitches more easily on future projects. Since she was the one who taught me to knit all those years ago it feels good to be knitting something alongside her which will be part of a larger whole.

The pattern for my knitted poppy is from ‘100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet’ and I have to say the knitted field poppy pattern is a lot easier to follow than the crocheted oriental poppy pattern. I tried that one a couple of times and it really wasn’t working for me, so I’ve stuck with the knitted one.

In other projects I am still working on the 4-ply version of ‘What Do Points Make?‘ and look forward to wearing it at some point! My time knitting per day is still reduced from what it was and I am being very conscious of my posture while knitting. On a related note, the osteopath is pleased with my progress and my appointments are down to one per week.

We saw an elephant hawk moth caterpillar in the garden when we went to deadhead the roses yesterday and I knew Sue would take a photo of it because she has been waiting to see if there would be one this season. I turned round to take a breather to see Sue sitting next to it on the ground talking to it and watching to see where it was heading. Last year we could see it each day on a slightly different place the fuchsia bush and this year it has headed for the border and can no longer be spotted.

Sue has been noting her countdown to her 100th blog post (and she would love people to sniff the air where they are and tell her what it smells like!) and it made me wonder how many posts I’ve written. I recently had a notification of my 5th anniversary of my website (I got things done during lockdown!) and I know that I started my blog in September 2020. Checking my dashboard tells me that I have 248 published posts and this one in draft. So next week must be my 250th blog post! Crumbs.

There are a few more events this year that I need to remind or tell you about:

14th September, Yarn Gathering, Daniel Owen Centre, Mold, CH7 1AP. Free entry. I’m one of the organisers and also an exhibitor.

27-28th September, Yarndale, Skipton Auction Mart, Skipton, £17 + £2.50 booking fee for a day ticket, £32 +£2.50 booking for a weekend ticket. I’m teaching a moebius workshop on the Saturday and exhibiting all weekend.

18-19th October, Woolly Away, Manor of Groves hotel, Hertfordshire, £495-£595, including meals, accommodation and ‘toolkit’ for the weekend including items for all the workshops regardless of which ones you select to attend. I’m one of the guest tutors at what promises to be a smashing weekend retreat.

13th December, Yuletide Yarnies, Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, SY1 2SZ, £5 in advance, £7 on the door.

That’s all from me for today – catch up with me next week for blog post no.250! Take care, K x

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It’s (not at all) grim up north

The North East Wool Show in Newcastle was a lot of fun and Angel of the North got a fair bit of attention – certainly more than usual! Everyone we spoke to during the weekend was so friendly and enthusiastic about what we were doing, even if they weren’t knitters themselves. We had time for walks in the evening and learnt a fab new phrase: ‘nae bother’. We even stopped by the actual Angel of the North on the way home and were struck by how absolutely enormous it is, but unfortunately, due to the way everything was packed in the car, we weren’t able to photograph the shawl with its namesake – I will plan ahead better next year as I really hope to come and do this show again!

If you came and said hello or bought a pattern or a kit during the weekend – thank you! We really appreciate it and we hope you enjoy your knitting! Our stand was not quite as large as the Angel of the North, but it was fairly immense at 6m x 1m and we loved filling it up! There’s a bit of overlap in the pictures here, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the fab space we had.

My brioche workshop was good fun and I’ve been impressed to see on social media that some knitters have already finished their swatches and even started on the projects they bought. From little to no brioche experience to this in just under two hours is pretty cool!

This weekend sees us at a show much closer to home. The Pop-up Wool Show in Port Sunlight was my first ever yarn show as a vendor and it holds a special place in my heart as a result. This show is held in Hulme Hall on Saturday 16th August, 10-4, and tickets are £4 on the door or online.

I can hardly believe that it’s less than 5 weeks until Yarn Gathering! Our lovely vendors are going to have some wonderful things to share with you on Sunday September 14th. We are once more in the Daniel Owen Centre from 10-4 and entry is still free! As the show does not coincide with the Mold Food and Drink Festival this year, there will be lots of free parking available around the town.

I have a new design out in the world! The latest issue of The Knitter mag has a lace wrap in called Lorelai that I designed. I hadn’t realised it was being published this month, so it was a really nice surprise to see the pic on Instagram yesterday. Here’s their instagram shot (photo credit: @theshed_photostudio):

I used Jamieson’s of Shetland Ultra Lace for this which is a gorgeous laceweight ‘toothy’ wool that I haven’t used for a while, but adore. It’s a yarn with personality and holds a stitch pattern incredibly well.

The colour is reminding me that there are lots of raspberries at the bottom of the garden that need to be picked, so I’m off to do that.

Take care this week and do some stuff that makes you happy. And if you come to the Pop-up Wool Show, do say hello! K x

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Show Me

Last week I shared a video with you on how to create a provisional cast-on using a crochet foundation chain. I showed you how to work the chain, pick up your knitted stitches from it and how easily it comes undone when you want to get rid of it. I also explained why you end up with one fewer stitch than you cast on when you’re picking up from a provisional cast-on.

That video is now on my YouTube channel as Provisional Cast-on Part 1 of 3, along with Part 2 which is a short video showing you how to crochet the provisional cast-on directly onto the knitting needle, thus avoiding the step of picking up the stitches from the foundation chain.

Provisional Cast-on Part 3 of 3 is a how-not-to video! This shows you why it’s a bad idea to just work a regular knitted cast-on in waste yarn and then change to your main yarn. Basically, it’s a right royal pain to undo when you come to free your stitches from the provisional cast-on! In my video I have to unpick the waste yarn bit by bit and even snip it with scissors to get it out (I did put my knitting needle into the stitches I wanted first before doing this).

I’m really surprised to see that even though these videos only made it onto my Youtube channel yesterday (there was a delay because my caption software decided to sulk and not work for a few days), they’ve already had some views!

Why did I do three videos on the same thing – especially since one of them was “don’t do it this way”?

Well, I’ve been talking about Rhiannon Hap Shawl being relaunched recently and last week I talked about it starting with a provisional cast-on and how to do it. I remembered that one time a number of years ago I was making something that needed a provisional cast-on, but I hadn’t done one in ages. I thought I just needed to cast on in my usual way with the waste yarn and it wasn’t until I came to undo the waste yarn (after knitting quite a lot!) that I remembered this wasn’t the way to do it. I had a lot of stitches to deal with and I wasn’t as experienced as I am now, so wasn’t able to get around the issue as I did in the Part 3 video, by putting the stitches I wanted on the knitting needle first, then slowly unpicking and snipping the waste yarn to get rid of it. So what did I end up doing back then? I ripped the whole thing out, went to look up how to do a provisional cast-on properly and started again from the beginning. If you’re going to knit Rhiannon or any other pattern with a provisional cast-on, I want you to be able to avoid this stress! I’ve added a link for Part 1 of the video to my pattern pages as well for this reason.

If there’s a knitting technique or stitch you would like to see a video of, let me know! Sometimes seeing something done and being talked through it at the same time can make all the difference. By the way, did you know ‘Show Me‘ is a brilliant song from My Fair Lady? If you didn’t, have a listen, it’s great!

Do you remember me telling you about Elinor Hap Shawl, that I’ve been knitting a new sample for? I finished the edging! Quite a lot of that was down to my lovely wife doing the driving for a couple of long distance trips this week which enabled me to knit in the car. Though I have to say the concrete on the M54 is not a lovely surface when you’re knitting lace!! I’m going to share an unblocked photo of it here, and video the blocking process using my hap stretcher so you can see how it works. With any luck I’ll get that recorded for next week. The actual colour is somewhere in-between these two photos!

Elizabeth from Sew Woolly sent me a lovely thing she’d read in a book last night and it’s perfect to share with you while we’re talking about lace knitting:

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. Marie Curie

This is surely the motto of designers who work in knitted lace. It can only be faith alone that drives them, because before it is stretched and blocked, lace in progress often resembles Chinese noodles.

I will reserve judgement on my lace in progress until the magic of blocking has worked its charms.

I have no idea which book this comes from, but it’s very true. Lace knitting only reveals its beauty when it’s been blocked. This is partly why I start my lace knitting workshop with a demonstration of blocking a knitted lace swatch: it’s dry by the end of the workshop and it’s really clear to folk how different it looks at the end than it did at the start!

I’ll also let you into a secret regarding designing with lace: that’s why designers swatch a lot! We’ll knit a small sample of a stitch pattern (though not too small!) and block it to see what it will really look like. It also helps us try out different yarns and needle sizes to see what is the best combination of stitch/yarn/needle for what we’re trying to achieve.

The new design I’m working on now isn’t lace and it isn’t a hap shawl! It’s stranded knitting (often called Fair Isle) which I haven’t used in a design for a while and I’m really enjoying playing with the charts and planning it. It’s an accessory for the home rather than a garment and it’s small enough to be a good piece for people trying out stranded knitting for the first time. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you in a couple of months time!

I made an exciting discovery in the garden the other day. As well as the one nibbled broad bean plant that is hanging on for dear life in the veg patch, there are two French bean plants on the other side of the currant bushes. (Please excuse the weeds!)

I had forgotten we had planted the seeds near canes that are permanently in place to stop us treading on our rhubarb while it tries to establish itself, and the beans have grown, twisting round each other before finding one of the canes (how do they do that?!) and making their way up it! I’m hopeful that they’ll survive long enough that we’ll get flowers and some beans from these. I still need to pick the blackcurrants and redcurrants and the rest of the gooseberries, but I haven’t been able to find time to do it yet. I think we may need a small chest freezer for all this fruit if I can’t turn it into jam, jelly or crumbles quickly enough!

That’s all from me today. Take care and, if you get a chance, do something that makes you happy this week. K x

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Making Movies!

Today whilst awaiting a UPS collection I have been making videos on how to do a provisional cast-on. I also recorded a bit on how not to do one as well!

When I first encountered a pattern that used a provisional cast-on, I thought I just needed to use a different yarn, cast on in my usual way and then change yarn and possibly needle size. Wrong! It’s called provisional because it has to be undone and removed and it’s really hard to remove a regular cast-on. See part two of the video for evidence of this!

Why did I make a video? Because it occurred to me that there are bound to be other knitters who are encountering a provisional cast-on for the first time. Especially if they are knitting Rhiannon Hap Shawl which launched as a single pattern last Friday and it would be helpful for them to see how it works!

I’m only going to upload Part 1 here, because it takes ages to upload and I don’t want to slow down your ability to load the blog page. Both parts of the video will be on my youtube channel later on.

Because it’s taken a while to get the video recorded, add captions and uploaded, today’s blog will be a little shorter!

I have sad news on the broad bean front. I planted six really happy looking plants into the veg patch last week and now there is just one half eaten plant left. The others have been munched away. I have however picked a lot of gooseberries and the blackcurrants and remaining redcurrants are ready to pick as well.

These gooseberries have been top and tailed and are now in the freezer ready for when it is cool enough to enjoy crumble again. There are more gooseberries on the bushes too – I’m just waiting for them to full ripen before picking them.

Maybe spiky plants are the way forward? Something that the slugs and snails won’t dare approach? Although, having said that, the two newest gooseberry bushes had very few leaves left by the time I got to them – caterpillars I think.

It was a busy knitting week last week. I got the rights back to Rhiannon Hap Shawl and launched that on Friday. Thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of the pattern so far!

I posted off the big jumper and emailed the pattern and all ‘associated files’ to the publisher! (Also on Friday!).

I finished the gorgeous Tencel shawl I’ve been working on using yarn dyed by Penny Stitch Craft. I’m going to call it Draig y Môr which is Welsh for ‘Sea Dragon’. I love how the edging shaping works at the point of the shawl and it reminds me of dragon wings and I also love how the stitch pattern of the edging looks like waves and the main yarn colour (although called “Oil Slick” which you perhaps wouldn’t want to find in the sea) looks like the complex colours of the sea. Proper photos will follow soon! As will the pattern, once it’s been formatted and checked thoroughly – note to self: contact tech editor!

And… because I finished all those things I have been able to return to knitting the edging on my new sample of Elinor – another hap shawl! I turned the final corner yesterday and I’m on the final side. Only 40 reps of the edging left to do!!

What have you been up to this week? K x

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Feedback

I’ve had some lovely feedback recently. Two instances were messages showing me finished knitted items made from my patterns and both knitters were very pleased with what they had created.

The Fiery Dragon Skin Cowl was this knitter’s first knitting in the round. He has said that I can share that he is 62 and has been knitting for 2 years, taught by his 91-year-old Mum and that knitting has helped with his PTSD. I think this is going to be lovely and cosy when autumn comes around.

Menai on was knitted and modelled by Enid and she loves it. She has done a fabulous job with her two-colour brioche knitting and I love how her yarn choices match so well with the rest of her outfit too!

It’s so good to get feedback from customers and I treasure it when they’ve enjoyed a pattern. It gives me a real buzz at a yarn show whenever someone says “I bought this pattern from you last year and I loved it/it was really easy to follow/I learnt something new and now I’m going to buy another pattern”. This is what my lovely wife calls “Know, like, trust”.

Often, in the world we find ourselves in, people are quick to let you know if something isn’t right for them, or they can’t make it work, but they can be less quick to let you know when you are doing it right. I know I can be just as guilty of this as anyone else, so it’s especially touching when folk do take the trouble to get in touch with a success or a thanks.

Occasionally people have even left reviews on Payhip when it’s something they’ve bought from there and that’s really valuable to me as this feedback is visible to anyone who looks at that product page and will hopefully encourage others to make the purchase. Some examples of these are in the featured photo at the top of the post.

There are even whole designs that only exist due to customer feedback!

Sugar Loaf came about when knitters were disappointed that Honeybun cardigan was only sized up to Age 8. Sugar Loaf is the adult version and is sized to fit UK4 to UK42.

Heart in my Hands and Little Orme were originally only mitt designs. The matching hat and cowl to complete each set came about after a couple of customers wanting them – and now the hats are more popular than the mitts!

You may know that I always respond to emails and if it is an email expressing difficulty or confusion with a pattern I aim to respond quickly. I know it’s horrible when you’re working on something and become stuck with it and know you can’t do anything until the person you’ve reached out to for help responds.

I know that not all designers provide pattern support, but I do. This help can involve explaining something in a different way in an email, sending sketches or videos to show a technique, either specially recorded or a link to a video already on my youtube channel. If I’ve recorded something specifically for someone I usually then pop it on my youtube channel as well, as they may not be the only person to need that bit of help.

Some folk are really clear about what they’re finding tricky, others are less so and it can take a couple of emails before I understand what they’re actually asking, but we usually get there. Mostly, the final email from a knitter will then say something like “Yes! I get it now, thank you.” Sometimes I get complete radio silence after what I think was the reply that would really solve their problem. On these occasions I just have to tell myself that this probably means they’re now knitting away merrily.

There is, of course, a limit to how much help I can give. Once, a knitter wanted me to rewrite a whole garment pattern to include only their size! I had to politely decline, but I did do the first line of the pattern for them, to show how they could do this for themselves.

The other lovely feedback I’ve had this week was related to the music side of my life, one indirect and one direct, but both heart-warming. A positive comment on Facebook about the great sound made by the community choir I lead (last week’s rehearsal was in the centre of the shopping precinct so it was very public!), and a personal thanks from the music teacher of someone I’m working with.

On another note, the broad beans are hanging in there, just. They didn’t like the heat wave, but perked up after some watering. We need to get them planted out soon, but I’m not sure how long they’ll last in the ‘bad lands’ of the veg patch. I think the slugs and snails will find them quickly. I think I’ll be picking gooseberries and blackcurrants this week as well. Crumble and jam making season again!

You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned the utter madness going on in the world. This isn’t because I don’t care, but because I don’t know where to begin and feel somewhat helpless in the face of it all. Small businesses are getting criticised on social media for continuing to sell and promote their products at this time, but, as others have said there, we still need to pay the bills and no-one is criticising the big companies for advertising!

So, I’ll continue to promote that Rhiannon Hap Shawl is launching on Friday as a single pattern (you can still buy the four issues of The Knitter it was originally published in).

And if you want a tasty introductory discount code for it, sign up to my newsletter before tomorrow at 8am (British Summer Time)!

That’s all from me for today. Until next week, take care, keep knitting and share some feedback with people! K x