Tag: Online learning

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Spring is Here

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

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

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

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

Anyway, on to things I CAN show you!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Cymru Am Byth!

There will be no surprise I’m sure that when I chose the name of our newest MKAL I was influenced by the wonderful phrase “Cymru am byth” – Wales forever! On it’s own ‘Am Byth’ also gives a nod to some of the design features – I wonder if you can guess what they might be?

Dw i’n mwynhau dysgu Cymraeg – very much. I’m on Day 66 of my Duolingo ‘journey’ – I know that because I’m on a 66 day streak and I haven’t missed a single day since I started learning. I’m currently on Unit 8, which is the last of the ‘Intro to Welsh’ units and there has already been a noticeable increase in difficulty level! Phrases are spoken more quickly now and words are gliding into each other. I’m often very grateful to the tortoise button, which replays the phrase at a slower speed, although it does rather sound like someone speaking sarcastically slowly to the hard of thinking!

There are some words I’ve found really difficult to remember – particularly the different between the various versions of the verbs ‘did’, ‘made’ and ‘went’. The present tense is fine, but the past tense seems to have all kinds of complications! I started off the course by writing words and phrases down in my journal and those have really stuck, so my plan is to revisit the more recent lessons that had me most flummoxed and write these down as well. Sometimes writing by hand can stick in the brain more than typing – I don’t know why that is, but it seems to hold true for me when I’m trying to learn something new!

(The groovy red dragon at the top of the post is a version of a Welsh flag available from wikimedia under creative commons license, designed by NikNaks.)

Speaking of new things…

There are only three days until Am Byth MKAL is launched! You’ve still got time to buy the pattern from me or get a kit from Yarn O’clock. I’ve even recorded, subtitled and uploaded the video for the Pinwheel Cast-On. You can find it under ‘Knitting Tuition – Free Video Tutorials‘. I’ve moved things around on that page so the most recent videos are at the top as I think that makes it easier to locate the latest additions. There’s quite a collection of these short videos now.

There’s also a new page on the website! Titled “Where I’ll Be”, it lists all events and workshops I’m booked for. Two days ago, when I set up the page, there were two yarn shows listed. Now there are four workshops added as well, and there’s going to be more! I’m adding contact details and links where I can so you can go straight to the right place to book a place or a ticket.

The way it’s set up you only see one ‘event’ at a time, and you use the arrows at the right and left of the screen to move through them. I’m considering adding a calendar underneath with the same info, so you can see it all at a glance as well if you want to. Would you find that useful?

I got accepted for the yarn show I applied for last week! I really wasn’t expecting to hear back from them until after the closing date, so that was a lovely surprise. I’ll add it to the page of ‘Where I’ll Be’ once I’ve paid the invoice and it’s all confirmed.

The Safe Space cross-stitch has been stretched onto mounting board and is at the framers! He’s a busy chap, so it’s in the queue; he expects to get it framed at the end of the month. The stretching took about an hour or so and used a HUGE amount of thread! I’m showing you the back as well as the front as this work will never be seen again once framed.

Since finishing this cross-stitch and getting my magnifying lamp (I wrote about that on social media last week) I have done quite a bit on Mum’s photo embroidery. I’m not sure you can actually see much of a difference from the last time I took a pic of it (last July!), but I promise you there are at least 8 hours of stitching added in, if not more. The July 2022 pic is on the left and the January 2023 pic is on the right.

This morning I cast off the reworked Llandudno Promenade. As the pattern went on, more changes were needed, including a rewrite of the border lace as the number of stitches and rows were different from the original. The shawl will now be blocked and I’ll get the new version of the pattern written up and off to a tech editor. I’m really pleased with it, especially with how well these colours match the paintwork on Llandudno pier! You can probably see how the darker turquoise sections are shedding colour onto the cream – that’s the crocking (the excess dye rubbing off) – it *should* all just wash out when I soak it for blocking. I’ll report back next week!

That’s all for now – unbelievably it’s already 8.30pm. It looks as though the brownies I’ve been trying to make since Sunday might have to wait until tomorrow!

Take care, stay warm and do something that makes you happy this week, K x

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

A couple of women stand in front of a tree constructed from silver baubles. They are grinning into the camera.

We’ve come to the last blog post of the year! I know there is still one Tuesday left, but I am taking a week off (!), so my next post after today will be in 2023. I’ll still be posting periodically on social media during the next two weeks, but not daily.

Speaking of social media, I’m now on Mastodon (@KathAndrews@toot.wales) as well as Twitter (@KathAndrews7), Instagram (Kath_Andrews_Designs) and Facebook (Kath Andrews Designs)! I’m finding my feet there and that’s where I share my progress in learning Welsh. This week I learnt how to say “Dw i’n hoffi gwisgo sgert a ffrog” – I like wearing a skirt and dress (yes, both at once, it’s called layering). Also; dw i’n gwisgo siwmper newydd, heddiw! (I’m wearing a new jumper today). It’s not hand-knitted, but it’s 80% wool and 20% recycled nylon, from Seasalt. It’s what I’m wearing in the pic of me and my lovely wife while we were in Chester this morning.

Christmas is only five days away now, but the cake is decorated, most of the cards are written (just the very local ones to do later today), everything is wrapped and the tree looks fab. Apologies for the very poor styling of the photo – a tub of tomatoes next to the cake isn’t exactly slick is it? It is however, very real.

I only made one knitted gift this year, which I shared on here a few months ago. Socks for one of my niblings – they know they’re getting them as we did a ‘try on’ part way through the first sock to make sure the fit was right, so I’m not spoiling any surprises here. They were knitted with British BFL/Nylon yarn from The Knitting Goddess in semi solid black and transgender flag colourways.

There have been times in the past where I’ve wrapped up one sock and a second one in progress on the needles, and another occasion where I’ve wrapped up a pattern book with a note saying “choose the style you like and I’ll make it for you”! That was when I was working full time in a school as well – it’s good to be more in control of my time now and to have been able to get these finished a while ago.

Looking back on the working year there has been a LOT happening – I published nine patterns during the year (they’re all in the picture above), completed my online course Introduction to Lace Knitting for Craftucation, taught several workshops, some for Yarn O’clock and some at The Knit-Tea Retreat, was a vendor at my first yarn show (Pop-Up Wool Show), jointly organised a yarn show (Yarn Gathering), had space on the RiverKnits stand at Yarndale, was on the cover of The Knitter with my first design with them and took part in the Fasten Off Yarnalong once more. There’s loads of other stuff too that hasn’t even come to fruition yet, but has been bubbling along in the background.

Next year I will be adding a new page to my website – a “Where I will be/What’s on” page listing events and workshops, which I think will be even more useful as I get out and about more.

The event that will be happening first in 2023 is my next MKAL (mystery knit along) with Yarn O’clock. Called “Am Byth”, it just requires 100g of DK yarn (We are using West Yorkshire Spinners Croft DK) and 3.5mm needles (dpns or circulars). Can you believe it will be our 7th MKAL since September 2018!?!

There will be three parts to the MKAL, each released on a Friday:

  • 13th Jan – Part One
  • 27th Jane – Part Two, where you find out what it is you are making!
  • 10th Feb – Part Three

To take part, you can buy a kit from Anne at Yarn O’clock at £15, or just the pattern at £5 from either Yarn O’clock or myself. I will be adding a ‘placeholder’ for the design with just the basic info to the MKALs page in the Patterns section of my website, to Payhip, Ravelry and Lovecrafts very soon so you can buy the pattern if you want to get it from me. The three parts of the pattern will be uploaded to those places by 10am GMT on the dates given. We’ll be sharing our progress on all the socials using the hashtags #AmBythMKAL and #YOMKAL.

And you might want to keep en eye out for Issue 185 of The Knitter…!

For now, though, stay warm, stay safe, and hold those you love close. Take care one and all and thanks for reading! K x

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Open the Door

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Roses in November

“Another unseasonable season” – a line from the song Roses in November by Tret Fure on her album Roses in November. The song is from 2018, but it sounds very current. We do have roses still – and having deadheaded the rose bushes last week some flower buds are getting ready to burst. It’s a very odd feeling going out for a walk in only a cardigan at this time of year.

There are at least three designs that I’m working on at the moment, and it’s so frustrating that I can’t share pics of these with you. But I can tell you that they are going well. I’m also hoping to get the Nevern Throw Expansion Pack up by the end of the month!

Back in 2013 I started a Beekeeper’s Quilt. This is a design by Tiny Owl Knits. Each of the hexagons is intended to be stuffed and I did indeed stuff them to start with, but I didn’t like the overall effect, so I created lots of ‘hexiflats’ instead of ‘hexipuffs’.

The idea of this blanket was to use up leftover sock yarn. I ‘finished’ the blanket in April 2014, but of course you never really run out of sock yarn leftovers, so I carried on making hexiflats and kept them in the bottom of my leftovers bag.

Last weekend we were moving the furniture around, doing a bit more of a deep clean in one corner of the lounge, partly in preparation for the great rearrangement of furniture that will come in two weeks’ time (hint: we put the tree up on Advent Sunday. Yes, it is that soon!). Having moved the bag of leftover sock yarn I thought it would be a good idea to check on the hexiflats. There were quite a lot more than I thought – 173! These hexagons are more than ready to be joined onto the blanket. The joining process is really straightforward and my plan is to get them added on this week.

Llandudno Promenade, one of my shawl designs, is having a make-over. There’s nothing wrong with the pattern, but it currently uses a yarn that is 450m/100g and the minis are 90m/20g. This isn’t the most common length for 4ply mini skeins (which is 80m/20g), so I’m re-knitting it on slightly smaller needles and will adjust the pattern where necessary so that it will work with more widely available mini skeins. I also really like the colours of the new yarn – I’m using RiverKnits’ Nene Minis Turquoise Gradient and Garthenor Organic Presseli. I think these colours match Llandudno Promenade far better as well!

My fine spinning is definitely getting more consistent – it’s not completely the same all the way through, but when it’s plied it will be a really nice yarn to knit with. This is blue faced Leicester wool dyed by Sealy MacWheely, that I bought at Wonderwool in April.

This afternoon I signed up as a designer for the Fasten Off Yarn-a-long 2022. Last year’s event was a lot of fun and I hope that this year will be even more so! FOYAL runs from 25th November until the end of December and involves lots of independent knitting and crochet designers offering 25% discount on some or all of their Off-Ravelry designs as well as lots of online social interaction. You can find out more on the Fasten Off Yarn-a-long website.

The Safe Space cross stitch is really coming along now. It’s amazing how much progress you can make when you do a bit each day (shock, horror!). There are another 9 blocks/flags to do and then the ‘Welcome’ sign in the middle with the blackwork section.

Do you remember me telling you about my embroidery floss storage? I tried to do the second drawer for my Anchor threads, but I had to re-do it last week. There were two reasons for this. Firstly this drawer is deeper than the top one and the dividers needed to be taller. I hadn’t noticed this before I made them and the fuller sections were trying to overflow onto their neighbours. Secondly, the cereal box I used just wasn’t the same quality cardboard and the dividers were floppy. It seems trivial, but it made a big difference. If you are going to try making similar drawer dividers I highly recommend the boxes that Harvest Morn Bran Flakes from Aldi come in. (The bran flakes are fantastic too and one third the price of Kellogg’s!). I used the fronts and backs only. One box was enough for the shallower top drawer but I needed three pieces of card for the deeper middle one. It’s a lovely little old chest of drawers that Mum has passed on to me and I really enjoy using it for my embroidery threads.

That’s all from me for today. The Welsh learning is continuing on Duolingo and I’m trying to use it a bit, but the thought of actually speaking to someone is scary in case they then launch into a whole conversation that I can’t follow! Anyway, here’s a true sentence about me in Welsh: Dw i ddim yn bwyta cig, ond dw i mwynhau llysiau. – I do not eat meat, but I do enjoy vegetables.

Take care one and all. Until next week, K x

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Slowly Does It

A flatfish sourdough loaf is held in the right hand above the bread board. It has been cut and the crumb (cut side) is held up to show the camera.

I’ve done three hours of knitting today and I can’t show it to you (it’s for the next MKAL!), but there are some other things making some (albeit slow) progress that I can share with you.

Over the past couple of days I’ve made my first sourdough loaf in quite a while. The dough was still very soft when it went into the fridge overnight and spread a lot when I tipped it out of the banneton this morning. It’s a little on the flat side, but nothing like the frisbees that I have been known to create in the past. And, regardless of how it looks, it tastes amazing.

I’m pleased with the crumb – not too many large holes. Next time I will try reducing the quantity of water as I think in the past that has helped create a dough that holds together more before baking. Lots of sourdough bakers keep a journal of all their bakes with details of temperature, timings and quantities of everything. I could do that, but I’m not sure I’d remember!

My sock is growing. If you remember I’m using RiverKnits Open Day 2022 Show yarn in 100% Cormo wool. It’s not a breed I’ve come across before, but it’s knitting up really nicely. I paused a little with this over the weekend as I wasn’t sure if I’d made the leg too long. I knew the answer was to try it on and if the top of the cuff was tight on my calf I would need to rip out the foot, gusset, heel turn and heel flap and a little of the leg. You can probably tell from that list that I was not keen on this option, but I knew that if the socks were tight at the top they would either sag down my legs or stay in the drawer unworn. So, I was putting off the moment of finding out. Eventually I plucked up the courage and tried it on – it fits! Phew!

I don’t often knit ‘regular’ socks for myself, but when I do I knit them top down with 80 stitches on 2.25mm needles. I do a slip stitch heel flap and reduce the foot down to either 72 or 68 stitches over the gusset. I’m hoping to finish the pair by the end of the month, but then I’ve also challenged myself to finish my ‘Safe Space’ embroidery this month as well, so we shall see – I may have been somewhat over optimistic when I set my monthly goals as I do actually need to do some work as well!

Speaking of which! The Safe Space embroidery is coming on – the big flag at the bottom left that I posted about yesterday is now more than half finished.

I was able to do some of it in front of the telly last night with the aid of my little Serious Readers lamp that came as a freebie (!) with my desk lamp. They are both great and the little one is charged by USB which has proved handy in power cuts (while the battery lasts!).

I’m going to set up a new page on the website of “Where I’ll be” as I’m doing more workshops and other events now. In the meantime, there is an Introduction to Two Colour Brioche Knitting workshop coming up on December 8th (Thursday) at Yarn O’clock that has a couple of spaces remaining. Contact Anne at Yarn O’clock if you would like to book a place.

I’m trying out Mastodon as a new social media platform and am gently finding my way around. If you are on there you can find me as @KathAndrews@toot.wales – it’s also encouraged me to have a go at learning Welsh and I’m on Day 3 of my adventures with Duolingo. So I now know how to say “Noswaith dda, Kath dw i. Sut dych chi? Dw i wedi blino!” That’s “Good evening, I’m Kath. How are you? I’m tired!”

So, as ‘dw i wedi blino’, I’m going to stop here, make dinner (bread plus curry made yesterday!), have a cup of tea and put my feet up for a little while before watching ‘quiz night’ on BBC2. Take care one and all. Hwyl! K x

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Summer Rain

A blue knitted lace swatch pinned out on a purple foam mat.

The past couple of days have been something else weather-wise and I’ve been hunkered down in the house with the curtains and windows closed. I did walk to the new bakers on Monday morning. I was out of the house for 15 minutes around 9am. By late Monday afternoon, my forearm was hot and red – I could hardly believe I’d been sunburnt at that time in the morning in such a short space of time, but I had!

The wind starting getting up yesterday afternoon, but it was still around 34 Celsius outside and 27 in the house. This morning was a different matter though. There was a lively breeze still and the air was cool and more breathable than it has been for days. And then – it rained! Good steady rain that lasted for over an hour. It might even help our courgettes grow.

All of this is a long way of saying, ‘this week’s blog post is a day late because it was too hot yesterday to think/write’. If you follow me on social media you will have seen my little post giving a heads up on it, along with the rescued roses. The roses were gifted to my lovely wife, but with the heat they had all drooped within less than 24 hours. Mum’s wonderful suggestion was to cut the stems off and float them in a bowl of water. It works beautifully.

Lots of woolly things have been coming to fruition this week (as well as the gooseberries being harvested and the red and blackcurrants being ready to be harvested).

My new online course, Introduction to Lace Knitting, is now live on Craftucation! The course is £40, for which you get lifetime access to the four hours of course videos, downloadable materials, including a pdf of the full video transcripts with still photos and access to the student forums (where you can ask questions of me and other students). There’s lots more information on the course when you click on the link or the image above.

I have finished and cast off the second RiverKnits shawl, the one using the rainbow minis of Nene 4-ply. This yarn is gorgeous; it’s 100% Bluefaced Leicester Wool, the colours are mesmerising and it blocks like a dream! The pattern is all typed up and has gone to the tech editor. So, there should be two new designs coming out in September with RiverKnits yarns! RiverKnits will have a 6-month exclusivity period on them, so you’ll be able to buy the pattern (or kit!) directly from them only to start with. After this initial period I’ll be selling the pattern as well.

I’ve also finished knitting and typing up the pattern that will be launched at the Pop-Up Wool Show in Port Sunlight on August 20th.

It’s an advent calendar of 24 mini socks (12 pairs) made with WYS ColourLab DK, using a mix of their solid and Zandra Rhodes shades and the pattern also includes a bonus Day 25 larger sock pattern – if you’re feeling particularly generous to the recipient! It would also be a great stash busting pattern.

I will have kits in two different colourways as well as the pattern on its own. The mini socks are big enough to hold all sorts of little treats – even those small little skeins of yarn that many dyers or yarn shops create now!

Why sell an advent calendar pattern in August? Well, with 24 little socks to knit before Dec 1st, I need to allow knitters plenty of time to create the calendar so it can be filled! There are 14 weeks between August 20th and December 1st, so you could knit one or two socks per week and you’ll be on schedule. (I knitted six on Monday…!)

There are many ends now to weave in and hanging loops to sew on, but I held off from doing that until they were all complete so I knew how much yarn the pattern needed. Once I’ve got all the ends woven in, the loops attached and the socks hanging on their ribbon, I’ll show you the finished article again in all its glory.

I definitely couldn’t have concentrated long enough yesterday to tell you about all of these things coherently! I hope the weather is bearable where you are. Take care and stay hydrated. K x

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Gathering it all Together

A close-up shot of part of my table at the pop-up shop in Feb 2020 - various yarn kits, patterns and knitted samples arrayed on the table.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Anne at Yarn O’clock and I have been planning something for September. Well, it’s going to be happening!

We are hosting a small yarn gathering in Mold on Sunday 18th September!! We’ll be open 10-4, which will allow you plenty of time to visit us AND the Mold Food and Drink Festival which will also be happening that weekend.

There’s a dedicated page on the website that has the full details and the same page will be on Yarn O’clock’s website too.

On the subject of yarnie events, did I mention I’m going to be exhibiting at the Pop-Up Wool Show in Port Sunlight this year? It’s at Hulme Hall on Saturday 20th August. Although the exhibitor list isn’t fully up to date on their website, I will be there! It’ll be my first event of this kind since the ‘before times’ and my first proper wool show – exciting! I’ve been checking through my designs and planning which ones I will have kits for there. There will also be a completely new pattern launched at the show – with kits! Suffice to say that I came away from Yarn O’clock with bags-a-bulging this morning!

At the weekend I worked out that I’m currently working on four designs, with a fifth submitted yesterday, a sixth swatched that will be submitted next week and two others that will be worked on in the coming months. One of those will be a mystery knit-along, but it won’t be happening until October. This is probably why I’ve not had a huge amount of knitting that I can actually share with you recently…

So here is a sneak peek at my progress with the Rainbow minis from RiverKnits:

I’m loving these greens! With 20g of each colour, it’s possible to plan the design so the colour changes fit in nicely, and with 12 colours to play with I’m always keen to jump into the project bag to check out what the next one is going to be.

What else have I been up to? Well, I’ve started spinning some chunkier yarn. I’ve got 200g of undyed Polwarth that is a dream to spin with and, as I knew it wouldn’t be all knotty and misbehaved, so it seemed like the perfect choice to practice spinning thicker singles. It’s working out really well at the moment, but I’m going to have to weigh what’s left to work out when to start the second bobbin. This yarn won’t be chain plied (3-ply), so the two strands will need to be on separate bobbins, as there’s no way I’m going to wrap 200g yarn round my wrist to bracelet ply it (working from both ends of the yarn simultaneously)!

I’ve sort of found room for all the embroidery floss and other bits and bobs I came back with last week, but I’ll probably end up reorganising the study again at some point as I don’t think everything is in an entirely logical place yet. However, that will need to wait a little while!

My ‘Safe Space’ cross-stitch, designed by Peppermint Purple is making some progress. I’ve decided to do one flag at a time, rather than complete one colour at a time and it’s making it much easier. Of the 33 flags in the design, I’m on my fifth.

I’m so pleased the design includes a map identifying all the flags as there are lots I don’t know. I also didn’t realise before that the gender queer flag uses the same colours as terfs use (the suffragette colours) and which are ALSO my old college colours (purple, white, and green).

I’ve also been working on ironing out the issues with the pdf that will accompany my next Craftucation course (An Introduction to Knitting) – Graeme, the amazing tech wizard behind their website, had to do some rummaging to work out why I was unable to edit it and figure out some workarounds. I can now make it behave and get photos on the same page as their captions (I’d list that under ‘quite important’!) with a little bit of prodding. There’s one more section (5 chapters) left to do and (I’ve done 22 chapters already!) then it can be uploaded for approval and listing.

On Sunday we spotted a ripening raspberry in the garden, so very soon I hope to be able to share pics of our first harvest of the summer with you. The blackcurrants are nearly ready to pick as well!

Take care of each other and stay safe, K x

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Be Careful What You Wish For

A wooden box of tissues, a packet of paracetamol and a strip of Strepsils lie on a small wooden table.

Yesterday afternoon I was bemoaning the fact that I had a dentist appointment for one (maybe two) fillings this morning. One was the large molar I broke back in February, the other an upper tooth with fractures that were discovered during an X-ray at my last appointment.

I didn’t want to go to the dentist today as I was nervous. I have limited movement in my jaw so holding my mouth open for long is painful (and it was a 40 minute appointment!) – that was worrying me more than the injection and more than the fillings themselves.

And then yesterday evening I began to feel ropey. During the night and this morning I could barely swallow – my throat feels like it’s full of razorblades. I’m now sneezing very loudly and repeatedly. Bugger. It seems I have my wife’s cold. I say ‘cold’ and not Covid as we’ve both tested negative recently, though I will check again tomorrow.

So, I rang the dentist first thing and croaked that I would not be able to make my appointment. It’s been rebooked to mid-June. I promise not to wish I didn’t have to go next time!

On the positive side of things I have only one chapter (16 minutes) left to capture still pics from for my Introduction to Lace Knitting Course and I’ve been swatching for my next two in-person knitting workshops – closed ring cables and 2-colour brioche. The first isn’t for another couple of weeks, fortunately.

Three small foam playmate have knitted samples pinned out on them. There are five swatches with a variety of closed ring cables in grey Aran weight and two identical brioche swatches in maroon and silvery lilac 4-ply yarn - one on left washed and stretched a little, the other not.

I cast on Mum’s new bed socks last night – for some reason I had to do it three times as things kept going amiss. That should probably have been a sign that I wasn’t well, shouldn’t it!? I used the alternate cable cast-on that I learnt knitting a Woolly Wormhead hat as it gives a lovely smooth edge to a ribbed cast-on. I also went up a couple of needle sizes for the cast-on to ensure they stretch enough that Mum will be able to use them even when her legs are bad.

One inch of 1x1 ribbing on a top down sock on dpns in purple/white yarn. It is resting on the ball of wool on my blue dress.

So, it’s a short one from me today. Stay safe, keep well, wear a mask when you can and keep knitting! K x

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Waiting for the Phone

I should have saved last week’s blog post title (A Little Fall of Rain) for today. We were going to have a day trip to Prestatyn and have lunch on the beach. Except it’s been raining. All day. Fingers crossed for drier weather in the next few days. 🤞

Today’s title is just as fitting though (Check out Waiting for the Phone by Jeff Ronay)!

We had planned to have a seaside day yesterday, but ended up waiting for a plumber for the second day in a row. On Day 1 (Sunday) we had a leak from the pipe into the toilet, so I rang the Home Emergency line of our house insurance. Yes, it was covered if I paid a £25 excess charge, yes, they could get someone to us – he was with us and done within four hours of my first phone call. Though the number of times I had to explain on the phone that no, we didn’t have another toilet, it is our only toilet would make you laugh if it wasn’t true!

However, it seemed we had merely swapped a big leak for some new piping and a smaller, slower leak. We hoped it might just be condensation on the new copper pipe, but it wasn’t. So, on Day 2 (yesterday, Monday) I rang again at 8.45am. Same procedure (except no queries about the number of loos this time) – the contractors would ring within two hours and tell us when the engineer would be there. But… Three hours came and went and no phone call.

I rang the insurers again. Got put through to the ongoing claims line to find out what was happening only to have a phone line so distorted I could barely make out what the chap was saying. I’m pretty sure he said to hang up and he’d ring me back. Except he didn’t. So, 40 minutes later, I rang again (bear in mind I’m not a massive fan of official phone calls). This time I got Tracy, who put me on hold while SHE rang the contractors and then connected me directly to them. Brilliant – thank you Tracy! Our plumber (Ben – a different chap from the day before) arrived at 3.30 and was able to fix the problem quickly, having agreed that the new nut shouldn’t be wet and dripping water on to the floor.

In theory this was all good knitting time, and in fairness I did get quite a bit of my secret project done (10 very long rows), but being in ‘waiting mode’ for that long? It’s exhausting and for some reason it stops me from being able to settle properly to other tasks. It’s been such a relief to get up today knowing we won’t have to have an another day of waiting for the phone – or keep checking the floor for puddles (they’re all gone!).

Today I plied the sparkly yarn that I’ve been working on for a while. I did include the clump of multicoloured long curly locks that came attached to the fibre batt in one of the singles, though I’m not sure I handled them very well. Looking at Hairy Dog Crafts‘ website, who prepared and dyed the fibre, I think they must be Valais Blacknose – they certainly had a longest staple (length of fibre) I’ve yet experienced. So, I now have some ‘fluffy unicorn’ style yarn sitting on my lazy Kate – the main fibre was a mix of Merino, Corriedale, ‘glitter’ (Angellina?) and Rose Fibre. It will be really interesting to see how it looks once it’s been skeined and washed.

As it’s that time of year I made hot cross buns – a week early, but never mind. They were (and still are) delicious. There’s something about the smell of mixed spice laced dough baking as well that just makes me smile. In case you’d like to try them, this was the recipe, ‘Easy No-Knead Sourdough Hot Cross Buns’. I used all white bread flour and vegan butter (Flora Plant B+tter) in these ones.

And I finished my Good Riddance socks by Lauren Rose (Laur_oftheBlings Designs) – since I hadn’t even turned the heel of the second one when I last wrote I’m quite impressed with myself on this. The ends are still waiting to be woven in though.

These did use a goodly amount of my leftover 4-ply yarns, but I still have a huge amount remaining – a full bag of little bits, as well as several bigger part-balls in one of my yarn storage boxes. I may have to make a second pair. And make more hexiflats (I prefer not to stuff them, so I call them hexiflats rather than hexipuffs!) to continue expanding my Beekeeper’s Quilt.

The transcription of my Introduction to Lace Knitting course is nearly done. Of course, this is the stage where I’m looking at the videos at my most critical and half wishing I could re-do some of them – especially the wet-blocking. Unfortunately, once a lace item has been blocked it never returns to that pre-blocked state, so it’s possible I’d have to re-knit the whole project just to block it again… I think I need to get a more objective pair of eyes on it!

If you want to see the Nos Da baby blanket in the real world and are in the North Wales area, I am glad to say it will be taking up residence at Yarn O’clock in Mold very soon! The hedgehog will be staying at home though.

That’s all from me for today. It’s time for a cuppa and to finish off those transcriptions!

Whatever you do this week, hold your loved ones close (whether human, fur-babies or stuffed hedgehogs!) and do what makes you happy. K x