Tag: Knitting blog

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Keeping it Real

Pictured today is a shot of three dark pink peonies in the front garden, surrounded by cowslips that have gone over, some pink primroses and lots of weeds and grass that shouldn’t be in the border. We haven’t done the ‘big weed’ of the front garden yet (the back garden has been mostly tidied up), and this very ‘real’ pic seemed appropriate to the title of today’s post!

There have been a number of news stories and social media posts about AI recently and I felt I wanted to put down my thoughts and feelings around the subject.

There are certain phrases and structures that are beginning to stand out as massive AI indicators in writing, such as three short phrases each on a new line, “It’s not X, it’s Y, and that makes all the difference”, “and honestly?” and pretty much anything described as “quietly” when it has absolutely nothing to do with volume.

I’m now noticing it in so many things I read; newsletters, articles, social media – even BBC news articles seem to use some of these structures and patterns. Quite often I’ll be reading for a while and then spot one of these things and increasingly it just puts me right off reading any further.

What’s the reason for my antipathy towards AI? There are several! It uses massive amounts of water to run the data centres where it takes place. AI is literally costing human jobs – 8000 Meta employees lost their jobs recently as a way of funding the AI part of the business. It’s also built on the theft of real people’s creativity. Articles, books, poetry, art have all been fed into these machines to ‘teach’ them how to ‘create’ the responses you ask for, often without the permission or even knowledge of the original artists. And it all looks and sounds so much the same after a while. More ‘generic’ AI than ‘generative’.

Woolly Wormhead wrote an excellent post on May 11th on social media, asking people not to input their knitting patterns into ChatGPT or other AI systems when looking for help or translation. I second this plea wholeheartedly. If people need help with a pattern there are videos available, tutorials and groups with lots of people (over a thousand people in Woolly’s case) on Facebook very willing to explain things.

There are also apps that people feed their patterns into in order to mark their progress. This worries me too, as I’m not sure what the companies behind the apps are doing with that data. Please don’t feed the machine!

With my patterns, if you do need help, please just get in touch with me directly via the website and I will answer your questions. I’ve been known to draw diagrams to help explain things and even record videos with little demos of how to do something.

The news that Google search is becoming more AI driven is also a concern, especially since the answers given in the AI overview aren’t always accurate. For example, I just typed into Google “What is Kath Andrews’ most popular knitting pattern?” The AI overview came back:

“Kath Andrews’ most popular designs include the Nevern Throw (a stranded colourwork Celtic knot blanket), the Meg March Shawl (a cozy, large two-colour brioche wrap), and Caramel Slice (an approachable child’s slip-stitch cardigan).”

Me being me, I just did a bit of sales analysis to check this out. Now, the first one is correct as I thought – Nevern Throw is my best selling pattern, by quite some distance. I’ve sold 820 copies of this pattern, with 643 of these being online sales (that number took me a bit by surprise!). Meg March Shawl is well admired and has sold 152 copies, with 60 of those being online sales, but there are several other patterns in between Nevern Throw and Meg in terms of sales. But Caramel Slice? I’ve only ever sold 12 copies of that, and only one of those was an online sale. Although I think it’s a good design, it’s hardly one of my most popular! So, that rather throws the AI answer out of the window.

Anyway, those are my thoughts about AI today. What are your views on the subject?

On the more practical side of things, I am launching Making Tracks as an individual pattern tomorrow!
As always, if you’d like a subscriber discount for the pattern, please do sign up to my newsletter (always written entirely by me, occasional typos and all!). The jumper has finished chest measurements of 101.5-174.5cm (40-68.75 inches) with adjustable body and sleeve lengths.

If the weather cools down enough later I will also photograph my grey 4ply What Do Points Make?. That’s likely to be past 9pm though!

Unfortunately, my Steeking workshop at Ewe Felty Thing that should have been taking place this coming Saturday (May 30th) is being postponed until the autumn, as not enough people wanted to learn how to cut their knitting open safely (that’s what steeking is!) to run the workshop this weekend.

I should be teaching Stacked Stitches and Next Steps in Two-Colour Brioche workshops at Ewe Felty Thing on June 20th – there are plenty of spaces. Please do come. Both these workshops are a lot of fun. Stacked Stitches opens up a whole world of amazing designs, mostly created by Xandy Peters, who is a genius! If you have some experience in basic two-colour brioche knitting (straight stripes is sufficient) then you will be able to do the Next Steps workshop and create a little coaster/mat. Again, this workshop will open up a huge range of possibilities for you in brioche knitting patterns.

Before then, the next yarn show we’ll be at is The Wool Monty, at Magna just outside Sheffield, on June 13th and 14th. I’ve never been to this show before, but I’ve heard some wonderful things about it. I’ll have printed copies of the new version of Ice Diamond Mitts, Making Tracks and many many more, as well as kits and postcards. Do come and say hello if you visit the show! I’m teaching my Intro to Two-Colour Brioche Knitting workshop on Sunday morning – and it’s sold out!

I cast off my super secret knit recently which means I’ll be able to show you things that I’m knitting again soon!

That’s all from me for today. It is very hot (it’s 26.2 celsius in the house and apparently ’26 feeling like 31′ celsius outside which is hot as anything for our corner of North Wales in May!). We live only about 5 miles from the place that had Wales’ highest recorded temperature yesterday. I’ve stayed inside so far today in the shade, and I’m trying to remember to drink plenty of water. I may or may not attempt digging up the final mini sycamore tree in the border this evening. Make sure you stay hydrated wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. Take care one and all, K x

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Ready, Set, Go!

If you are a newsletter subscriber you may wish to check your inbox – there is a cheeky discount waiting exclusively for you to celebrate the relaunch of Ice Diamond Mitts. I’ve changed the yarn used to the gorgeous Welsh Cambrian Wool and knitted new samples in each size. The pattern has been re-written to make it clear and easier to follow and the lengths for each size have been slightly shortened, making the mitts easier to wear and also ensuring that even the largest size uses only 90m/45g yarn for a pair! You can seem from the photos that the smallest size still needs its ends weaving in and also that it looks really cool if you knit the ribbing in a contrasting colour! I did this partly to see how it would look and also because I didn’t have enough yarn of one colour that wasn’t red for a small mitt.

The photos on the wooden table are of the large size, the ones on the black background are medium and small.

Following hard on the heels of Ice Diamond Mitts will be my own self-published version of Making Tracks, which was first published last November in The Knitter. I just need to insert the charts into my own format of the pattern and add some of my new photos. The rights for this jumper return to me towards the end of this month and so I will have printed copies with me at The Wool Monty in June!

Making Tracks is a cabled men’s jumper with saddle shoulders and a round neck, knitted in pieces and seamed. The jumper is designed in 8 sizes (S-5X), with 10-12.5cm positive ease. Positive ease might sound ‘fancy’ but that just means how much bigger a garment is than your actual body measurements. If you had no ease on something it would be your exact body measurements. (If you have negative ease then the piece is smaller than you are, but hopefully stretchy enough so that it can be put on and then cling to the contours of your body). Positive ease on a garment means you can move in a garment and probably wear layers under it and approx 10cm (4″) is the amount of positive ease for a ‘standard’ fit to a jumper/top.

You may remember my mentioning that this jumper was modelled on a female model when published in The Knitter. It’s the same jumper and it was designed as a man’s jumper, but they didn’t have a male model available for the photoshoot. What those photos do show is that Making Tracks also looks good when worn by a woman. It gives more of a ‘boyfriend fit’ feel, and the sleeves are a bit longer than you might expect on a woman’s jumper, but it still works well!

If you want to knit this sweater for a woman you may wish to check the underarm length of the intended wearer. You can reduce the length of the sleeve easily as there is plenty of straight sleeve knitting between the increases and the point where the sleeve joins the body.

We had a day out yesterday, meeting up with some friends in Coventry. It was a super day. We visited the cathedral (both the bombed ruins of the old cathedral and the new cathedral next to it), walked, feasted and chatted lots. I recall going to Coventry Cathedral once on a school trip when I was quite young – and definitely too young too appreciate the beauty of the modern design when I had grown up going to churches that were hundreds of years old.

It finally occurred to me yesterday why concrete was a good idea for parts of the design of the new cathedral in Coventry. As well as being entirely fitting for the brutalist design, it was probably the only way to get the cathedral built quickly. Entirely stone built cathedrals can take more than a century to build. For example, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is finally structurally complete with the final piece of the central tower being put into position in February this year (building work began in 1882 and Gaudi took over as chief architect in 1883!), but construction will continue for another decade. The design for Coventry Cathedral was chosen in 1952 by competition, the foundation stone was laid by Queen Elizabeth II in 1956 and the finished building was consecrated in 1962. So there were just 10 years from “this one please” to it being opened. That’s incredible. The building is also full of modern art on the floor, walls, windows and in sculpture. Even the way the organ pipes are positioned looks like a work of art. The 23m x 8m tapestry behind the altar is mind-blowing, not just in how it looks, but in how it was made – in one piece! That must have been one enormous loom!

The ruins of the old cathedral, bombed in 1940, are also a very powerful place. “Father Forgive” was ordered to be carved behind the altar by the bishop of the time. It’s amazing that so much of the outer walls, as well as the tower and the spire survived. The cross has been made with some of the burnt remains of the original building.

It was a visit to Lichfield (including visiting the cathedral) with these same friends that inspired my Lichfield cardigan. So, who knows, perhaps yesterday’s trip to Coventry will result in a new design?

That’s all for today. Have a good week, and I hope you get to do something you enjoy. Perhaps it will be casting on some Ice Diamond Mitts? K x

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Whatever the weather, we knit!

I had to check the calendar this week as it’s been so cold! Even though it is nearly mid-May I’m back in my woollen dress and tights, especially important while doing exam invigilation in a very cool hall. The last thing the exam candidates need to be distracted by would be my teeth chattering!

Are you one of those people who doesn’t knit in the summer? I’m an all-year-round knitter as you might have guessed – and quite often I’m knitting quite thick autumn/winter items during the spring and summer months because of the way deadlines for magazines go, so in that respect the current coolness is not a problem, not when I’m at home knitting with a pile of wool in my lap anyway. It is slightly different when I’m out and about!

The rhubarb that we planted and that seemed to be settling in so well is sulking a bit, but I think that might be the lack of decent rain. We are due some more this week, but if it turns out to be more of a drizzle than a soak I might have to do some watering. The rain we did have recently made the chickweed and goose grass grow like mad, but not the things we actually want to flourish!

It is nice to see the aquilegias in flower again though. Did you know I have a shawl inspired by the colours of aquilegias? That’s the shawl in the main photo for today’s post. Aquilegia Shawl uses a Fibonacci sequence for the zig-zag stripes and is very adaptable in terms of both width and length.

You can tell it’s one of my older designs as my hair isn’t blue in the picture!

On Friday the updated version of Into the Vortex was released, now including all the information you need to knit a version of the shawl using 2 x 100g DK yarn as well as the original two sizes for 4 ply.

I’m planning to relaunch Ice Diamond Mitts next week now as this week has turned out to be quite busy!

If you are hoping to learn two-colour brioche knitting with me at a yarn show this year, there are still spaces at the Midlands Wool Festival (3 on Saturday, 8 on Sunday) and some at the Stafford Wool Gathering. The workshop at North East Wool Show in Newcastle is now sold out. I may put a Zoom workshop on in the summer if there are people interested who cannot attend an in-person workshop. Do let me know if this would interest you!

I finally got my grey 4ply What Do Points Make? blocked yesterday. It was not as easy as expected. Not because of the measurements, but because I got hiccups just as I started to pin it out! It’s not terribly easy to pin out knitting with straight edges when your diaphragm is kicking at you! It is done however, and the measurements are the same as the lace weight version! Do you remember when I knitted my multi-coloured 4ply one in Size 4 and it came out bigger than the lace version? I think that was definitely due to the yarn being a ‘thicker’ 4ply, at 365m per 100g whereas the grey is 440m per 100g. That’s quite a difference really and yet they still both count as 4ply yarn!

Now that I know what type of 4ply yarn maintains the original measurements I can update the pattern – and maybe include a note that if you want to use 365m/100g 4ply then it will come out bigger than stated!

I ended last week’s post saying that I was off to ask for some help with something. I did and got a very kind and helpful response.

That’s all for today as I can’t show you what I’ve spent most of my knitting hours on this week as it’s a commission using yarn that isn’t even publicly available yet! I do like how it’s coming out and hope everyone else will too once it’s published!

Take care one and all and I hope you get time to do something that makes you happy this week. K x

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Flying Solo

Saturday was Yarnies at the Flaxmill and it was a very good day, even though I was flying solo for a change! I’ve got so used to having Sue with me that I’d forgotten just how hard it is to put the whole stand together (and take it down again at the end of the day) when you’re on your own. I’m so grateful that it’s only occasional that I ‘fly solo’ now and mostly it’s something we do together. Shout out to Jo from Jo Knit Sew and the organisers of the show who between them carried most of the stuff out to my car once it was all packed down. Also to Antidote Yarns and Designs who were one of my stand neighbours and offered to keep an eye on the stand if I needed a loo break during the day and provided Candy Kittens during pack down!

Being on my own also meant that I wasn’t able to run the stranded knitting workshop. I remember a few years ago when Sue and I looked after Cat & Sparrow‘s stand at the Summer Wool Show so that she could go and teach a workshop when the person who was going to help her on her stand all weekend was unable to attend at short notice. It was fun, even though it felt like a big responsibility! We got to do it because Rachel had put out a call on her socials asking for help from anyone who would be attending the show. Last year my friend Matthew stepped in as ‘booth babe’ at East Anglia Yarn Show on the Saturday as we didn’t know if Sue was going to be able to make it to the show or not. Amazingly she did get there and they ran the stand between them splendidly in my absence while I taught.

Today I’ve been thinking about the importance of asking for help with stuff and how hard that can be for me at times. It’s always been something I’ve not been that good at (in fact it was once a target in my appraisal when I was teaching full time), and it seems to be something I still need to work on!

I started knitting a super secret commission yesterday. It’s not a gift for someone, but a design using a yarn that’s not even out yet. I’m really pleased with the colours I chose to use and it’s knitting up well.

While I was at Yarnies at the Flaxmill on Saturday I bought some yarn (colour me shocked!) from another Jo, this one being the lovely person behind Second City Yarns, my other stand neighbour for the day and who was good company in the occasional quieter moments of the day. Her yarns are properly ‘woolly’ and her hand-dyed colours are spectacular, but surprisingly it was some undyed yarn that I bought. Two gorgeous skeins to knit a sample of the shorter version of Leaf & Vine. This pattern was originally designed for Knit Picks using Palette, another ‘woolly’ 4ply yarn that comes in 150 colours, and my sample is the full length version in a leafy green. I want a sample of the short one, partly to wear at summer shows when I’m not wearing ‘What Do Points Make?‘ and partly so folk can see the difference in length. Sometimes it’s hard to just imagine these things.

The reason I bought this undyed yarn from Jo is that at 450m per 100g it’s closer to the original yarn thickness (of 422m per 100g) than her hand-dyed yarns which come in at 350m. The hand dyed stuff is gorgeous and absolutely perfect for other designs (and I am brewing some ideas for one gently in my head), but I needed the thinner option. Here it is!

Some exciting news to share with you is that Yarn Gathering will be back this September in Mold! The venue is booked, the licence is paid and the prospective vendors have completed their forms. We are once again at the Daniel Owen Centre in Mold and this year’s date is Sunday 20th September. The page with all the details and vendor info will go up on the website very soon.

The updated version of Into the Vortex should be available later this week, once the final checks have been made. I’ve added in details for knitting a DK version. It’s so gorgeously squishy.

Ice Diamond Mitts will then (hopefully) be relaunched either next week or the week after. I’ve changed the pattern layout and made it easier to follow as well as changing the pattern itself a bit (mostly in terms of length to keep the large size under 50g).

This is the pre-blocking photo of the large size. I also knitted a medium size mitt yesterday evening!

That’s all from me for today. I’m now intending to go and ask for some help with something else that I do. Wish me luck and have a good week! K x

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Wonderful Wonderwool

We had a wonderful weekend at Wonderwool Wales. It was the 20th anniversary of the show and our third time of being there. We were in the same spot as usual, W16 in Hall 3, and I love the fact that it felt easier to unload and set up this time – partly due to familiarity with the process and being in the same space. I think our stand looked the best it has done so far at Wonderwool, what do you think?

Here’s 2024:

And 2025:

And now 2026!

I think you can see that the pull up pattern display stands have been increasing in number! We also vastly increased the number of designs we brought with us – it was 66 this year!

We sold out completely of Lichfield before lunchtime on Sunday and only had one Nevern Throw left by the end of the show. These designs have been reliable best-sellers ever since they came out. It was also lovely to see some of the designs that don’t come out very often, such as the Lighthouse Blanket, get some attention too.

We had a lot of fun during the weekend as well as working hard and it was great to be able to chat with fellow exhibitors, even if that was mostly during set-up, break-down or occasional trips to the loo! Familiar faces of friends visiting the show and knitters who have visited our stand in previous years added to the camaraderie and fun. We laughed a lot during the three days we were there and the main pic to this post, when Sue was playing peek-a-boo, gives you a sense of the mood!

It really helps that the show is very well organised and as well as the main organisers, there are loads of volunteers around in high vis tops offering comfort breaks to anyone on their own and always ready to point people in the right direction.

Sue managed the stand on her own for a couple of hours each day while I went off to unravel some of the mysteries of two-colour brioche knitting with some fab knitters. They did really well and made excellent progress in two hours with a technique that was new to them and uses some unfamiliar terminology too!

I was absolutely delighted to see another Tiffany in the wild. This one was knitted by Kay who was with one of the guilds and popped over to show me her shawl. It’s a fabulous bright version with some extra colour changes added in!

Apologies for the magazine in shot as well – I had my latest designs that are out in magazines on display just underneath where we laid this shawl for the photo.

Sue has a new plan for a series of videos/reels with the theme of ‘swish or waft?’ and I was the guinea pig that had to try it out first. I’m always shy to be in front of the camera for things like this but I think her final video is fun. If you are a stall holder, you are quite likely to be asked the same question quite soon!

This coming Saturday I will be at Yarnies at the Flaxmill at the Flaxmill Maltings in Shrewsbury. I’m actually going to be flying solo for this one. If you are coming to the show, please stop by and say hello. Between now and then I need to go through all the sample bags and pattern cases and put together the patterns and samples I need as I won’t have 66 designs with me as the space is a more modest 4m x 2m. I think we’ve whittled it down to 48. I also need to reprint a few things!

We came home to a riot of yellow in the garden that wasn’t out when we left. Fortunately not all dandelions (though there are some of those too), but lots and lots of yellow poppies. We’ve never planted these, they’ve just self-seeded and spread themselves during the 22 years we’ve lived here, and I love them. The aquilegias are starting to come into flower as well. I will get some photos of them to share with you next week. Until then, take care and do something that makes you happy. K x

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Over the Finishing Line

Today’s main blog post pic is the swatch version I knitted for my submission for the August Moebius Cowl. It’s called August Moebius Cowl, because August Moebius was the name of the man who discovered this amazing mathematical shape! The design is now out in The Knitter (issue 227), complete with a step-by-step masterclass on how to work Rita Buchanan’s moebius cast-on. It’s not as well known as Cat Bordhi’s method, but I think it is quick to learn and slightly easier to get to grips with for those who have never worked a moebius cast-on before.

I was hoping to be able to share my new design in issue 193 of Knit Now with you this week, but there was a delay with its publication. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and checking the shelves regularly! I can’t wait to share that one with you as well.

I’ve completed a couple of projects this week. Neither of them are ‘new new’, but they are new versions of existing patterns, both worked in a different weight yarn from the original design.

First off the needles was my grey 4ply version of What Do Points Make? in size 3. I’m really pleased with this and I’m looking forward to seeing it blocked and seamed and comparing it to the bright 4ply size 4 sample as these yarns were very different even though they are both marketed as 4ply yarns. The grey has 220m/50g (or 440m/100g) and the bright yarn from LottieKnits is a more chunky 4ply at 360m/100g, which is quite a big difference.

Next to be completed was my DK version of Into The Vortex. I completed this while waiting for my car to be serviced. Current me is very glad that past me put lots of guidance into the pattern in Part 7 about what to do when you’re running low on one of your yarns. I skipped half of Part 7, jumped to the Eyelet Border and only did one repeat of the eyelets rather than two. This was because I wanted to see how big I could make the shawl using just 100g of Yarn A, which is RiverKnits Chimera DK. The answer, unsurprisingly, was about 16 rows shorter than the original small 4ply version. The extra guidance in the pattern was to allow for other knitters working on a looser tension or having a skein of yarn that was slightly underweight (that does occur sometimes!) and it was incredibly helpful here too.

I’m also still working on a new sample of Ice Diamond Mitts. This pattern was written for an undyed worsted weight roving yarn with 200m/100g and I wanted to make a sample in a coloured yarn. I’m glad I’ve been doing this as I’ve also discovered a couple of typos in the process!

My first attempt in red was too loose and too long, despite this yarn also being 200m/100g and using the same needle size. My second attempt in green was also too loose and a little bit too long, even though this yarn was thinner as a DK yarn (225m/100g) and on the same needle size as the original. So, I’m trying for a third time using the red yarn again, but with smaller needles this time. So far the fabric and tension looks like a better match to the original.

I’m also altering the pattern slightly this time, shortening the cuff and the body of the mitt because I noticed that the pattern says the large size used 55g of the original yarn. That wasn’t a problem with a 100g skein. However, this red yarn (Cambrian Wool) comes in 50g balls so it would be really annoying to need to start a second ball just for 5g of it. My plan is to adapt the large size so I can make a pair out of just one ball, including a 10% buffer – which means I need to ditch 10g worth of yarn by making the mitts shorter! They were incredibly long to be fair, which might be one of the reasons why the pattern has never sold particularly well.

We are just sorting out the last bits of printing and planning for Wonderwool Wales this weekend and I am really looking forward to being there on the stand and teaching my Introduction to Two-Colour Brioche Knitting each afternoon.

My brioche workshops are sold out at Wonderwool (and at The Wool Monty), but there are spaces available for this class at the Midlands Wool Festival (14th and 15th July, at Wolverhampton Racecourse), the North East Wool Show (9th August, at Newcastle Racecourse) and Stafford Wool Gathering (17th October, Staffordshire County Showground).

The weekend after Wonderwool Wales is Yarnies at the Flaxmill, and I am due to be teaching there as well! The workshop at that show is for Stranded Knitting and the fabulous deal at this show is that when you buy a workshop place you get your entry to the show included at no extra cost!

That’s all for this week – I’m off to redesign the cover of one of my older patterns (Calon Cariad) so it fits my ‘house style’ and so the picture on the front cover of the pattern matches the sample on display! Take care and I hope you manage to do some stuff that makes you happy. K x

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Spring Cleaning

The main pic on today’s post is a double rainbow (the outer one is reversed!) that I photographed through the lounge window yesterday. We had the most outrageous weather, starting with sunshine in the morning and followed up with really fierce hail in the afternoon – plus rainbows later on!

I’ve been doing some ‘housekeeping’ this morning. Not the dusting variety, though that does need doing as well, but the ‘sorting out my subscriber email list’ variety. If you’re a subscriber who hasn’t opened any newsletters in the past few months you’ll be receiving an email later today asking you to confirm that you’d like to stay on the email list. If you get that email and want to stay, please click the link or you’ll be unsubscribed by the end of the month.

It’s important that my subscriber list is made up of people who actively want to be there. Apart from anything it costs about £24 per month to have more than 500 subscribers (I currently have about 840ish), so if there are lots of folk who just haven’t got round to hitting the unsubscribe button it gets unnecessarily expensive!

I’ve been working on a new design submission this week. It’s even more top-secret than usual as I’m getting to use a yarn that isn’t even out yet!

What I can tell you about is that I have two new patterns coming out this week! I thought one was going to be out last week, but the kind people at what used to be called W H Smith (I think it’s now T J Jones, but I always doubt the initials) looked on their systems and told me that issue 193 is due out on 16th April, not the 9th as I’d thought. I have a pattern in there and also one in the new issue of The Knitter (issue 227) which also hits the shops on Thursday (16th) and many magazine subscribers will already have it. I’ll share pics of the actual design on my socials on Thursday and here next week.

Things are gearing up for Wonderwool Wales in just a few weeks time. The printer has been working hard, the kits are ready and I’ve been playing with the squared paper again to plan this year’s layout of the stand. Also, because Yarnies at the Flaxmill is the following weekend, I’m also trying to ensure that I’ll have enough patterns and kits for that as well.

On Friday I had the pleasure of photographing my Making Tracks jumper on a friend from my church choir. I may have mentioned before that this jumper was originally designed as a man’s jumper, but for various reasons was photographed on a female model for the magazine shoot. I’m really pleased with how the photos have come out and will share more pics in the next couple of months as the rights to self-publish the pattern return to me at the end of May. The jumper really fitted my friend well – and suited him too!

We have a new dishwasher arriving today. After we spent most of August and September without a working dishwasher (because it kept tripping the electricity) we got it fixed, although it turned out this was only temporarily. A few weeks ago it started tripping the electricity again and so we decided it was safer to replace it rather than try to get it fixed again. We had the old one (11 and a half years old) removed and last week we finally got round to ordering a new one! I’m hoping all goes smoothly.

That’s all from me today. I hope you have a good week and if you’re a newsletter subscriber and get an email from me later today asking if you’d like to stay, please click the link if you do, and do nothing if you don’t! K x

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Road Trip

Me standing next to the Nevern Cross holding my Nevern Lap Blanket which uses stranded knitting designs created from the carved decoration on the cross.

Yesterday my lovely wife took me on a very special road trip. As well as me, in the car were the Nevern Throw, the Nevern Lap Blanket and, of course, Ronnie. We went to Nevern in Pembrokeshire.

Nevern is a tiny village, nestling down a very narrow road (single track much of the time, occasional 16 degree incline, and a 60 mile an hour speed limit) with a few buildings and St Brynach’s church. The village hall has two small plaques on the wall celebrating winning Pembrokeshire’s Best Kept Village in 1957 and 1974. In the churchyard are some very old and magnificent yew trees and the Nevern Cross.

Many readers will know that I designed the Nevern Throw for KnitPicks in response to a call out for designs using Celtic knot work and I created all the charts from carvings on the Nevern Cross. It was published in January 2020 as part of the book “Entwined: Celtic Cables Collection”. I had found out about this 11th century, 13-foot high stone cross online and I was mesmerised and fascinated by the carvings that cover every side. Most of the designs came from carvings near the top of the cross and although the book refers to cables, my design used the technique of stranded colourwork. For quite a while Nevern Throw was on the first page of KnitPick’s ‘best sellers’ patterns! It’s currently sitting on page 8 (of 48 pages), with the Nevern Lap Blanket and Leaf & Vine on page 4 and Beanstalk Throw on page 6. In 2022, with the other carvings on the cross calling to me, I designed the Nevern Lap Blanket and this was self-published in December of that year. I used the same size of charts and the same construction as the Nevern Throw intentionally so that the charts from each design could be used together, if desired, in one large blanket.

Perhaps surprising, with all my interest and deep focus on the carvings of this cross I had never actually seen it in person. Yesterday we fixed that. Driving from our corner of North East Wales down to Nevern is a long journey, taking at least three and a half hours without a break, even though it is ‘only’ 130 miles. We were blessed with good weather and made a pitstop at Aberystwyth on the way. Much of our journey down was on roads with only mountains or fields of sheep (and their lambs!) on each side and we got a glimpse of Tal-y-Llyn on the way as well – a lake with a special place in my Mum’s heart.

We took photos. Lots of photos – I think Sue took over 100!

We also looked inside the church and I found some beautiful needlepoint kneelers also using some of the cross’s carvings for their designs. I didn’t photograph them though. We did buy a few postcards and a leaflet with information about St Brynach’s church and the Nevern Cross which I will enjoy reading later on and hopefully learning more about the history of this incredible monument. I can’t tell you how happy I felt to be standing in the sunshine next to this ancient stone cross (and yes, I know it’s not actually cross-shaped) that has helped me create two of my most popular knitting patterns, having been driven there by Sue, my wife and the best person ever. Ronnie loved it too and we got a great shot of him jumping for joy.

We took the journey back gently, stopping at Cardigan for our lunch and a mooch around (and some very good vegan ice-cream), then at Dolgellau for a much needed drink and loo-break. Our last stop was in Betws-y-Coed where we had hoped to have a pizza at Hangin’ Pizzeria, but we hadn’t realised how busy they would be on a bank holiday evening so, rather than wait for a table and then get home very late, we had some quick chips then hopped back in the car for the final leg of the journey home. We’ll be back to Betws-y-Coed before too long and pizza will happen then!

I hope you have managed to find some joy in the week just gone and that you get to do something that makes you happy this week. K x

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Getting Things Done

I’ve actually done quite a lot of knitting this week! The sample of Bryn I showed you last week knitted in Weku Yarn Bukom DK is glorious – these colours are Golden Yellow and Royal Purple and this yarn is now available on Weku Yarn‘s website! The purple is a lot more vibrant in real life than it looks here in the photo.

I’ve also tried out a new colour combination for Twisted (which would also work really well for Bryn) which is Lime and Blue in Town Ends Yarns Poldale DK. I had slightly less than 25g of each of these colours and completed the cowl successfully!

In trying to get ahead of myself for Wonderwool I’ve also been putting my kit boxes together. I like the boxes rather than the tins, although they are trickier to open once they’ve been closed!

Those piles of boxes are stacked six high and there are two more piles around the corner!

In more DK knitting I’ve also made progress on my DK version of Into the Vortex. I love how different the slip stitch patterns look in the different yarns.

I’m not yet sure how much more I’ll be able to do as I want to ensure I only use 100g of the Riverknits DK Chimera. I’m also not 100% sure how much purple I used (West Yorkshire Spinners Fleece) as I had a number of part balls in the basket and I’m not sure I picked up the same one each time… I’ll have to weigh it! I’ve realised this is the only shawl I’ve designed with this shape and I think it’s one I want to explore again – maybe swirling the other way next time!

My 4-ply grey sample of What Do Points Make? is also growing. I’m very much enjoying this yarn and I’m looking forward to how the finished item will look once blocked.

Someone kindly messaged me the other day as well to let me know there was a st count error in size 1 at the bottom of the first column on page 4. It should read : “Rep Rows 7-10 twice more, then rep Rows 7-9 once more. 53 (71, 89, 107) sts” (not 55 sts). After the bottom of that column the st count is then correct. It’s been updated on all the digital formats available and I’ve let buyers of the digital pattern know about the update where possible.

Last week I said that my next job was to update the events section of my website and that has been done too – there are lots more yarn shows and workshops showing now! I’m teaching at Ewe Felty Thing on Saturday and, while the two-colour brioche workshop is sold out, there are still some spaces on the stranded knitting one (10.30-12.30, £45 including tea/coffee/cake and of course your workshop handouts). Contact the shop if you’d like to attend!

I’m going to keep today’s post short as there are lots of things I want to get done before my lovely wife gets back from nearly a week away, so Happy Easter to those who celebrate it and I hope you all get to do something that makes you happy this week. K x

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Don’t Stop Me Now

We got home from the East Anglia Yarn Festival yesterday, successfully completing the third yarn show of the year. As always at EAYF it was a lot of fun, and we saw some old friends who we only see at this show, both visitors and other vendors. This included Victoria who I first met in person at EAYF in 2024 after knowing each other on social media beforehand and have been delighted to catch up with each year since. This year she brought her completed Am Byth hat to show me – knitted in a yarn containing camel fibre, it was super soft and silky and a very different beast fabric-wise to the original sample in WYS Croft DK – which is on display just behind her head!

One visitor wore her Meg March Shawl on the Saturday, to great admiration – and then returned on the Sunday wearing her Tiffany shawl!

If you’re on social media you may well have seen these pics already (apologies for the overlap!), but I know that several readers of this blog aren’t, and I didn’t want them to miss out!

I was most impressed by the knitting and greatly honoured too that she was wearing my shawl designs on both days of the show, especially as this was a show where Stephen West was present (sharing the same space two weekends on the trot!? Goodness!) and so there were a huge number of Stephen West shawls in attendance as folk queued for selfies. I was also highly delighted that he admired my Meg March Shawl and asked if I’d designed it on Sunday morning before opening when the vendors get a chance to wander around and chat with each other. I heard him say to Eddie of Madrigal Yarns while they were behind me that people at the show just had ‘mad technical skills’ and then realised they were talking about my shawl, so of course we had to chat!

Sue and I shared the most outrageously gorgeous vegan cinnamon bun on Saturday morning from Swirl of Norwich, who did very good business, selling out of most of their buns both days.

Since we got home we’ve been busy, catching up on the house and washing, and I’ve been weaving in the ends of the design commission that has a deadline of this coming Friday. Final checks of everything were completed this morning, the sample has been posted and the pattern and ‘all associated files’ – charts and schematic – have been emailed! Completed, done and dusted well before the deadline. I’m very pleased – I just hope they like it!

Now I’ve emailed the pattern I really need to sort out my desk. It hasn’t quite got to archeological strata levels, but it’s not far off – large working drawings, printed schematics, draft print outs of the pattern, inter-spliced with other paperwork. I know where everything is, but I also know that my brain will function more smoothly on the next things when it’s all tidied away.

The next things for me are to update the website with workshops and shows that are coming up and to start putting kits together in the new boxes ready for Wonderwool. I know there are technically four and a half weeks until Wonderwool, but that time will go by fast. We have nine more shows this year, six or seven of which I am teaching at (yay!), so there is a fair bit to update!

I’m also looking forward to my next workshops which are in less than two weeks at Ewe Felty Thing. I’ll be teaching an Introduction to Two-Colour Brioche Knitting and Stranded Knitting there on April 4th. The brioche workshop has sold out, but there are spaces on the stranded knitting workshop (10.30-12.30, 4th April)!

Closer to home, there are just 10 days left before Anne closes Yarn O’clock for good! Everything is now 20% off, so now would be a very good time to make a final visit (or two) while you still have the chance! I still can’t quite believe that very soon she’s not going to be there as she’s just celebrated the shop’s 10th birthday. However, all good things must come to an end one day and this particular ‘one day’ is April 4th. Don’t miss your chance.

I’ve also been knitting this.

It’s a Bryn Brioche Cowl, in a new-to-me (and new-to-everyone as it made its debut at East Anglia Yarn Festival!) yarn from Weku Yarn. If you watched Game of Wool, that’s Lydia’s and her sister Hannah’s company. Watch this space.

Until next week, take care and I hope you get a chance to do some stuff that makes you happy. Goodness knows we all need that! K x

P.S. If you don’t know the Queen song ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, I highly recommend a listen!