Tag: Knitting Design

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All Fired Up

Yarn Gathering went really well on Sunday. We had plenty of visitors despite the rain, and everyone commented on what a good range of vendors we had. It was a shame that one of our number (Tecstiliau) was unable to make it on the day, but hopefully they will be able to join us next year!

I’m really only properly tidying up the study after Yarn Gathering today, as yesterday was a trip down to the midlands to visit Mum. Fortunately my car is sturdy enough that we didn’t feel too much buffetting from the wind! Part of the tidy up process after a show involves analysis of sales, what went well and what stayed on the shelves – and then a look ahead to what needs printing for the next show!

One of the more popular patterns on Sunday was Fiery Dragon Skin Cowl. It’s a design that gives you a lot back for what you have to do and that makes it ideal for newer knitters who want to try a new skill, like slipping stitches with the yarn at the front or trying the ‘knit 1 under’ stitch where you put the right needle underneath the strands of yarn to create the wonderful textured effect of the fabric.

I had an email from Anthony last week, who had previously shared his gorgeous multicoloured Fiery Dragon Skin Cowl with me, and had allowed me to share it with you, with an update on the cowl. He had entered it at his local show the day he emailed – and came away with first prize for the knitted or crocheted item class! How fantastic is that? He also told me that his mother, who taught him to knit, had entered the jumper she knitted for him (which he is wearing in the picture below) the previous year in the same show, and she won second prize! A talented family. Anthony’s mother no longer knits so it is now up to him to maintain the family tradition. I think they both deserve a resounding hurrah! Many thanks to Anthony for sharing this wonderful news and for allowing me to share it with you all.

If you have any exciting news of items you have knitted from my designs please do share it – even if the exciting news is simply that it’s finished! You don’t have to have won a prize – I’d love to hear about your knitting progress.

Some news of my own: I’ve decided to mostly wind down my kits. I’ve got about a dozen left at the moment. I will continue to keep a few pride flag kits in stock as they are great little gifts and ideal for beginners and maybe some Bryn or Twisted kits, but for the most part, I am aiming to focus on just patterns. Yarn shows have plenty of yarn options for folk to buy once they’ve chosen a pattern from me and I always think choosing your own colours is a large part of the fun! This will simplify things quite a lot in terms of packing the car (and be a lot lighter too) and it will mean less space is taken up in the house with storing the kits, tins and yarn. Also, many of the shows I apply to are in a ‘pattern only’ capacity, so it will mean that what you see from me at different shows is more consistent. I will bring the kits I’m not going to continue with to shows until they are sold and you may even see a few ‘last chance’ offers on some! If you’re coming to Yarndale, keep an eye out for a bargain!

Speaking of Yarndale, there are still 5 spaces on my moebius workshop. So if you’d like to learn this amazing mind-bending cast-on technique (which is a lot easier to do than you might think!) have a look at the Yarndale website and maybe book yourself a spot. The workshop runs from 10.30am – 1pm on Saturday and, as well as the class handout, you will receive approx 60g of aran weight wool (100% wool) to use in the workshop.

This afternoon my Crenellate shawl sample arrived home! There was the quietest tap on the door and when I opened it I found a packet leaning against the wall with my shawl inside. This is wonderful as it means I can take some new photos and get the printed version of the individual pattern ready to re-launch. I should have it with me at Yarndale in a couple of weeks! I’ve got some ideas about where to do the photographs – tied in to the name of the shawl. I wonder if you can guess where in my corner of North East Wales we will be heading to snap the new shots? These photos are of the shawl in a bit of a heap on my desk – I promise the new shots for the printed pattern will look a lot tidier! The colours on the right are the most true to life.

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

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Gathering Together

This week sees the final lot of planning and organisation for Yarn Gathering which takes place in just five days! We have been making last minute tweaks and refinements and continuing to promote the event on social media and in our local area. Things that can’t be done until just before the event are setting up the venue with tables as requested by each vendor, marking out and labelling each vendor’s space, putting the signs up, and (most importantly) putting the snack basket together!

There will be 15 vendors this year, four of whom are new to Yarn Gathering and they cover a wide range of fibre arts. 11 vendors are downstairs and 4 (including myself) are upstairs. If you are coming to Yarn Gathering and you can’t manage the stairs, do ask to see the videos we will be taking at the start of the day once everyone is set up. This is so you can see what is up there and, if there is an item you want to see in more detail or buy, we can bring it down for you.

I promised to show you my progress on my 4-ply version of What Do Points Make? this week.

On the right hand side I’m almost ready for the next short row corner, then everything gets quicker as I work towards the top right hand corner point and the rows get progressively shorter. Then I will return to the stitches on the left hand needle, rejoin the second colour of yarn (the darker purple) and work the left hand side.

My progress on this project has been slower than anticipated, partly because I have had some secret knitting/designing to do at the same time, and partly because I have been under strict instructions from the osteopath not to overdo things again and risk returning to the pain I was experiencing in mid-July. I’m being more careful now about my posture when I knit, knitting for shorter periods of time (30 minutes in a row, then stop for a bit and stretch rather than 3 hours without moving) and I’m paying attention when niggles and aches do arise – and stopping! It might mean I don’t complete projects quite as fast, but if it means my back, neck and arm are not trying to gang up on me, that is fine!

One of the new designs I’ve been working on will be getting its ‘big reveal’ fairly soon. What I can tell you now is that I am once again designing the exclusive pattern for advance ticket holders to the North West Winter Wool Festival. Their instagram post yesterday gave a great teaser:

“Something special is sailing in for our advance ticket holders at the North West Winter Wool Festival ⚓✨ A free exclusive pattern designed by the talented @kath_andrews_designs will be waiting for you… but we’re keeping the details under wraps for now.

Think cosy, think seasonal, think a touch of the sea 🌊❄️

🎟 Advance tickets are your passport to this secret treasure. – don’t miss out!”

Do you remember I told you about my lovely wife and her sister climbing Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) overnight? This is a ‘before’ shot of them taken in the bar of the hotel I was staying in overnight while waiting for them to navigate the mountain safely.

They completed this epic challenge at about 7am on Sunday morning, having set off about 12.30am, alongside nearly 140 other people, who had all gathered together to challenge themselves and raise money for Macmillan in the process. Not everyone who started completed the walk/climb, but everyone did as much as they could and over £31K was raised!

Sue and Katie completed the whole walk, and were able to reach the summit as the winds had dropped by then. I am in total awe as I wouldn’t even be brave (or fit) enough to try this walk in daylight, let alone at night. It does make me want to be able to get to the top of Moel Famau again though. The last time I went with Sue I managed about two thirds of it, which wasn’t too bad for my first attempt in over 8 years.

If you don’t make it to Yarn Gathering on Sunday, I’ll tell you all about it next week. But if you do come, please say hello!

K x

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Milestone

So, this is post no.250! I had no idea when I started this blog that I would still be writing 5 years later. I’ve missed a few weeks along the way, but not many, and a lot has happened during this time.

The main post photo shows Sue and me at Rhos at the weekend – it’s been a while since we were there and it’s still a wonderful place to be and to walk. And we love the newly sandy beach – I even had a paddle!

During the past few years, as well as increasing my adventures to yarn shows and publishing quite a few patterns, I’ve also been getting increasingly involved with music once more. Now I sing in one choir and lead another. I have instrumental pupils again as well as teaching knitting. This pleases me.

My lovely wife is walking up Snowdon at the weekend. At night. They register at 11.30pm and there is a big list of stuff they have to have (including a head torch!). She’s not going alone; her sister is walking up too, along with about 140 other people. They expect to be back down at about 6.30am. My role is to drive them there and home again afterwards and that is fine with me – I’m better at walking in the daylight! The walk is being organised by Macmillan. If you feel like making a donation to a very worthy cause, then here is the link:

https://defeatthepeaksnowdonatnight2025.enthuse.com/pf/sue-finch: Milestone

Next month I will be back in the learning seat as I take a week-long introductory course in tech editing knitting patterns. It seems only logical to put my attention-to-detail brain that homes in on any error (unless it’s my own, in which case I can be quite blind to it) to use!

Last week I finished the poppy I was knitting and did some more on my 4-ply version of What Do Points Make? I will photograph the latter for next week’s post. For now, here is the completed poppy. It isn’t the same pattern as those being made at Mum’s care home, but I don’t think they minded too much.

I am currently working on two new designs. One uses four colours and will be revealed soon – I’m knitting up two samples in different yarns. The other one is a submission involving cables and the softest yarn I’ve used for a while. I can’t tell you any more about that at the moment as the yarn hasn’t even been launched by the company yet, so I’m extra lucky to be able to experience it in advance – it’s a bit like a film critic being able to see a film before the release date, I suppose.

I got my contributor copy of The Knitter today and saw the gorgeous photos of my Lorelai wrap. It looks super and Issue 218 is still available in the shops! There are a host of gorgeous designs in this issue – well worth a read.

If you are anywhere near Mold and enjoy yarn based crafts, do come to Yarn Gathering on Sunday September 14th!

We will have dyers, weavers, spinners, designers and more at the Daniel Owen Centre in Mold with lots of amazing things to see, learn about and buy. Entry is free and Yarn O’clock is likely to be opening her shop for a couple of hours too!

I realise today’s post has a lot of different things in, but that’s because today my head has a lot of things in it! I promise to show you the progress on my What Do Points Make? next week and you could show me the progress you are making on your knitting or other creative endeavours in the comments – I’d love to see!

Until next week, take care. Kx

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What to Wear?

It’s been quite a week and it’s only Tuesday!

The Pop-Up Wool Show on Saturday at Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight was lovely as always, with the most popular design of the day being Lichfield. Last year it was What Do Points Make?.

I had a fab conversation with someone who was partway through their What Do Points Make? and wanted a little reassurance that it was looking correct and what part of the garment they were working on. They had the project with them and it was wonderful to see the design being knitted up in that knitter’s own hand-spun yarn, a bit thicker than 4-ply and creating the most amazingly soft and textured fabric. I was glad to be able to say it was all perfectly on track and I could compare it to the sample I was wearing to show them what part of the garment they were working on and how the construction ‘worked’. One of the amazing features of What Do Points Make? is that you can make an entire garment from less than 100g of laceweight yarn (or 150g for the largest size as shown in the picture with the blue and purple sample).

Lichfield is a garment that really catches the eye. It might be the colour, it might be the design or the fact that it’s waist-length, but it always gets comments. Some people love a seamless garment, some folk like to knit a garment in pieces and seam it. Lichfield is made in pieces, which are then blocked, the shoulders joined and stitches are picked up all up one front edge, along the neck and down the other front edge in order to knit the neckband. Sue has become really good at saying to folk that if they want to increase the length they just need to add multiples of 4 rows to the length before the armhole (that way the pick-up rate for the neckband is unaffected).

I find that one of the most common questions I get is about the sizing – possibly because the sample size on display is small. It’s Size 2 in the pattern which is to fit Size 8-10. Yes, the pattern is designed for UK4 – UK42. No, not 42″, Size 42. I’ve started giving the inch measurements as well, as people tend to be able to relate to that more immediately. So, the largest size is to fit a 64-66″ chest, with a finished garment size of 68.25″, without including the opening at the front of the jacket. Which makes it more like 70″+ finished chest. I know that still won’t cover absolutely everyone’s requirements, but it’s a pretty good range I think. When it’s cooler weather and I’m wearing my version in a larger size it’s easier for folk to see how the design scales up and imagine how it might fit them.

This is the info on the front page of the pattern:

The day after the Pop-Up Wool Show we travelled down to the midlands to start packing Mum up for another move, which took place the following day. She’s only moved 2 miles, but any move is an upheaval. I think she’ll enjoy the new place a lot once she gets used to all the new stuff. We drove back home again last night with a very heavy bed frame in pieces in the car. Needless to say, that stayed in the car until this morning! If today’s post has any typos that I’ve missed – I apologise in advance…!

Our next show is going to be Yarn Gathering! I can hardly believe that it’s coming round so quickly, but it’s now less than 4 weeks away.

Do come! One of the risks with a free entry event with no tickets is that we have no idea how many visitors will come through the door on the day. We’ve been lucky so far that folk have responded to our social media advertising and posters in local shops and other venues and I would love it if this year is just as good. Anne from Yarn O’clock and I are working on the floor plan this week which will be fun. The first thing is to work out which floor each exhibitor will be on – I know straight away that the large floor loom for the Iron Age weaving demonstration will need to be on the ground floor! 

I still need to pick the raspberries that are ripening fast at the bottom of the garden, but as I said, it’s been a busy few days. I read very recently that a lot of fruit is ripening early this year, not because we are having an early autumn, but because the trees and plants are under stress from the lack of rain and the multiple heatwaves. Ripening fruit early is an insurance plan in case the main plant doesn’t make it.

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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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Angel of the North

One of the key things to do in preparation for a yarn show is to review the patterns and decide which ones are being packed into the carry cases. I can predict which patterns are the stalwarts of the collection and therefore sell well at each show, and I also like to have something new to share. It is important to me to make sure I have patterns to appeal to knitters of different levels of expertise and interest. A range of brioche for those who like this technique and the wonderful possibilities it has, hats that range from simple stranded knitting to more complex patterning. A baby blanket to welcome in a new addition to a family and the larger Nevern blanket which can be made in any size .

It is exciting to think that Angel of the North will be on sale this weekend in its home town at the North East Wool Show. As a shawl it makes a clear statement of the inspiration for its origin in the colour way and shape. I am looking forward to displaying it alongside my other shawls and seeing whether it feels different sharing it in Newcastle compared with sharing it at other events.

I have been enjoying preparing my materials for the sold-out brioche knitting workshop and if you are coming to this I am excited to meet you and share knitting time.

At home there has been time set aside to reorganise the lounge. This has involved a good sort through of mine and my wife’s books and the local charity shop has well-stocked shelves as a result of our decisions. It’s a bit like a belated spring clean, but is also attributable to the fact that we have ordered new chairs to be delivered in a few weeks time. It was fun to seize the moment and sit on a lot of different chairs in a number of different furniture shops in order to identify the kind we wanted. We knew what we didn’t want as well as what we did, and had to laugh when online searches often recommended riser recliners to us.

Until next week, take care. K x

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On Your Marks, Get Set…

We had our first homegrown raspberries this week. They’re autumn fruiting ones so it’s a little early for them to get going properly yet, but the half dozen or so that we picked were delicious.

Last week I mentioned I had some shoulder/back pain and wondered whether it was from knitting in the car. It turns out it has been building for a while and is most likely from knitting for extended periods with bad posture over a number of months or even years. So I say hurrah for osteopaths! I saw one for the first time yesterday and I can already feel some difference. I’m going again tomorrow. She’s also a crafter (a crocheter) which I think helps a lot with understanding what I do! Today is all about rolling my shoulders back, applying ice periodically, and not staying in one position for too long.

I have made a decision about which part of What Do Points Make? to work on next and it’s the third colour. Its a little gloomy outside today with the drizzle, so the pic isn’t quite as vibrant as it is in real life, but hopefully you get the idea.

I love how these colours blend into one another, keeping some of the same shades whilst adding new ones. This is part of a 5-skein gradient set from LottieKnits, bought in 2018 and while I don’t think she’s dying these colours currently, I highly recommend you have a look at her yarns. The yarn base is Little Bird Sock which Lottie does still have and it is really soft and gorgeous to work with.

I’m delighted that my two-colour brioche workshop at the North East Wool Show is now fully booked! I will be running some more Zoom workshops and in-person workshops in North Wales from the Autumn, so if this is something you’d be interested in, keep an eye on the events tab on the website (see below):

It feels as though planning for each show we exhibit at should get easier, but that isn’t always the case. Stand sizes and shape can vary a lot – at the North East Wool Show we have a 6m x 1m stand which I’m very excited about. The preparation involves considering that space and how to maximise it. Even when it’s a show with a similar layout to a previous one, there are nearly always new designs to bring with me as well. My current portfolio on Ravelry shows 72 designs and there’s one more (Crenellate published in Knit Now in March) that needs to be added there, plus a few more designs that are yet to be published. I’ve just purchased two more of the pull up display stands like those on the left below (giving me a total of 5), as it’s so much easier for folk to see the front covers of the patterns when displayed in these, rather than in the rigid plastic table top stands as shown on the right. What do you think?

So I can now show 25 patterns off to their best in these stands, with others (for smaller items) displayed on the table next to their samples. As you can see, I’m going to have to be quite ruthless about which patterns to bring with me! For example, I have two children’s cardigans, one of which tends to be more popular, so that one will come with us and the other one will have to stay at home. Patterns are almost all printed, kits are ready and samples are nearly all packed up. There’s just one mark I need to remove from Sugar Loaf Cardigan:

It’s not really obvious, but I know it’s there. I think it’s ink from a stamp that hadn’t dried. I meant to remove it straight after that event, but life got in the way and it’s still there. I’m hoping it will just need a bit of a dab with a wet cloth or a spot of Vanish soap – that stuff seems to get anything out of anything! I’ll report back next week on how successful I’ve been.

That’s all from me today. Pop back next week for updates on everything! K x

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A Slice of Lime?

I’ve been working on an updated version of Elinor Hap Shawl (one of the reasons I’ve been knitting a new sample of it) and it was fascinating to see how I used to write things. It’s funny how when you go to update an old pattern you suddenly notice how your standard ‘house style’ has gradually changed over the past six years! I’m now so used to writing patterns with capital letters for a lot of the instructions (for example: K2, K2tog, yo, K3, yo, SSK), that seeing it all in lower case apart from the first instruction feels strange (that previous example would be: K2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk). It’s a fairly niche thing to be interested in, but that might be why I’ve signed up for an introduction to tech editing in October!

We took lots of photos of Elinor Hap Shawl yesterday and I’ve added some of those to the updated version of the pattern, as well as tweaking a few things that needed to be phrased better. The updated version of the pattern will be live very soon – probably tomorrow! By the way, isn’t the colour incredible?! The colour is called A Slice of Lime and it’s dyed by Ripples Crafts. It’s the finest yarn I’ve ever used at 1200m per 100g and the shawl uses approx 2000m (yes, 2km!) of yarn, yet it only weighs about 165g!

Over the weekend we also made a video of the process of blocking the shawl on the hap stretcher and also one of putting the hap stretcher together. The versions of the videos on social media came out really small for some reason. I sped them up in iMovie so they each last just over 1 minute. In reality it was about 20 minutes for each part of the process. I figured no-one wanted to see that! I had to remove the sound anyway as there was a lot of background noise and I wasn’t saying anything particularly useful! It was more along the lines of “Oh heck, we’ve put this piece on upside down…” or other words to that effect!

Here are the videos in case you missed them:

We also took lots of photos of Draig y mor (that’s Sea Dragon in Welsh, there should be a circumflex on the ‘o’, but I can’t work out how to do that in WordPress), including one of it flying in the air and it really does look like a flying dragon!! This new design is currently with my tech editor and I’m hoping to get it ready to launch at one of the shows I’m attending in August. The yarn is a gorgeous 100% Tencel DK dyed by Penny Stitch Craft.

See that photo in the middle of the top row? See the big black dot on my head? That’s a massive bumblebee that was playing around. I’ve got a zoomed in shot of it where it seems to be looking right at the camera!

I’ve realised that even with my reactive glasses I find it hard not to close my eyes outside when I’m having my photo taken!

We’ve had rain for the most of today and I am so grateful that I finally picked the blackcurrants yesterday. To be honest, nearly half of them were already on the ground when I got to them and they were so ripe they were falling from the bush as I touched them. So they got picked, picked over, washed, washed again, dried a bit and then frozen. I realised they were so ripe that they would just go off if I didn’t either immediately freeze them or make jam. It was way too hot for jam making, so into the freezer they went. If I’d delayed picking them any longer and left them out in today’s rain they would have been ruined! So, yay to yesterday morning getting up early and picking them before it got too hot. Boo to waking up this morning with a really stiff and sore back… Must be getting old!

I’ve finally started a 4-ply version of What Do Points Make?! I’ve been thinking about doing this for a couple of years now and it’s coming on a treat. I’ll get proper pics to you next week, but for now, here’s the start of it, doing a very good impression of a top-down triangular shawl. I’m using three skeins from a five skein set of gorgeous yarn from LottieKnits. I’ve had it for seven years, so I doubt she’s making the same colourway now, but she still has lots of lovely stuff! Go and have a look!

Right, that’s all from me for this week. Take care, stay cool and do something that makes you happy this week. 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