TexStyle is a new fibre and textile festival in the north of England. We’re bringing together independent stitch craft creators under one roof and I am delighted to be part of it!
Join us at Manchester Central to celebrate all the fibre crafts you love. We’ll have a hall full of knitting and crochet, sewing and quilting, weaving, and more.
I will have a ‘designer stand’ at this event, so I will have patterns and samples only with me, no kits or other items.
You know I enjoyed the sewing workshop last week, when I made the zipped pouch with Jo Paloma Makes at Amanda’s Fabrics? Well, I enjoyed it so much I made another! There will be more…
Are these boxy little bags something you’d like to see on my stand at yarn shows?
I’ve also finished, blocked and photographed my new sample of Amy March Shawl (though I haven’t updated the pics on the webpage yet), so I shall have the new sample and printed patterns with me at the Pop Up Wool Show on Saturday at Hulme Hall. In fact, I’ll have Amy March AND the updated version of Marianne Half Hap – as well as all my other patterns of course!
This week has also seen the completion of the second sock of the largest size in my new design that will be out in October. The pic shows it just after turning the heel. That’s five socks I’ve knitted using this pattern now. I’m going to make one of each of the second and third sizes as well, in different yarns, so folk can see how the pattern works well with striped, semi-solid, variegated and speckled yarns. The pattern still needs a name, but I have a few ideas now, so it won’t be nameless for too much longer.
My Mystical Lanterns Blanket, designed by Janie Crow, now has a fifth row. It’s interesting to see how, despite the random colour selection process, some colours are grouping together in the same area of a row each time. I think I shall have to give the bag a good shake after I put the yarn balls back in next time.
There’s even been some spinning! Having been working hard at getting thicker yarns more consistently I decided to ring the changes and explore the higher ‘gears’ or ratios on my spinning wheel. That just involves moving the elastic band that links the big wheel turned by my feet to the small wheel that spins the bobbin where the yarn goes.
The higher the ratio, the faster the top wheel spins and the faster the yarn goes on to the bobbin. While I’ve been getting used to it I’ve actually slowed my feet down dramatically, just so the fibre doesn’t fly out of my hands before I’ve put enough twist in it to hold together. But it’s certainly more successful than the last time I ventured onto the fastest end of my wheel and this time there was no swearing!
My week hasn’t been all yarn and fabric based. I’ve been busy designing and editing the flyers for my knitting workshops taking place at Shaz’s Shabby Chic and advertising them on social media.
If you know someone who would like to learn to knit from scratch or develop their skills further with slip stitch knitting or knitting in the round, please send them in my direction! You can even scan the QR code in the image above with your phone’s camera, which will take you straight to Ticketsource where you’ll find all the details for each class and be able to book tickets (or click the link!).
The final preparations for the Pop Up Wool Show are taking place, with printing of patterns, checking of kits and wooden items, clarifying my display set-up etc.
I know that I’ve got a space against a wall this year, which is good for me, and I hope you’ll come and say hello to me and my lovely wife if you get the chance.
I couldn’t leave you without mentioning Yarn Gathering.
We’ve got 12 lovely vendors lined up for you this year. There are a few more folk to add to the webpage, but do have a look and see who’s coming. There will be some cafes open in Mold, parking is free on a Sunday (as is entry to Yarn Gathering), and of course, the Mold Food and Drink Festival will be taking place as well, so there is a lot to come and enjoy on September 17th!
What have you been up to this week? Take care and I hope to see some of you on Saturday! Kx
This morning I spent 3 hours at a sewing workshop run by Jo Paloma Makes at Amanda’s Fabrics in Mold. There were four of us taking the class and by the end of it we all had our own completed zipped pouch. I learnt so much during the morning and made copious notes on the handout as well as taking plenty of photos of specific stages.
I chose to make the smaller of the two size options and it’s the perfect size for a sock project or similar!
Another great thing about this size is that you can get two of the smaller bags from two fat quarters of fabric. The large size would be ideal for large scissors, pencils/brushes/projects with straight knitting needles.
Jo is a great teacher – very kind and patient – and was super helpful if any of us got stuck or just wanted to check something before we sewed or cut.
For the majority of the time we were looking at the lining fabric and sewing the corners became quite a feat of origami.
But when we turned it out through the gap we’d left it was like magic! I just couldn’t stop grinning. It’s not perfect; the seams next to the zip are not identical and the tabs aren’t exactly centred, but it was the first time I’ve made anything like this, and I shall certainly be making more – and improve my sewing with each one!
The end of the Summer KAL went well last week and the updated pattern of Marianne Half Hap Shawl (the laceweight sample of this was my KAL project) has now been published. If you have an older copy, please do download the new version.
You may remember I recently started a new sample of my Amy March Shawl using two gorgeous skeins of yarn from The Yarn Artist. It’s zooming along now – and might even be finished before the Pop-Up Wool Show on August 19th.
When you’re knitting two colour brioche, there’s a decrease called the ‘Br4st dec’ (brioche 4 stitch decrease) where you have to put the centre stitch of five onto a locking stitch marker or similar while you work on the stitches around it. I find this quite fiddly as locking stitch markers are quite small and it’s easy for the stitch (and its accompanying yarn over) to slip off. However – I may have a new solution! I popped into Yarn O’clock after the sewing workshop and saw the new ‘Flox’ multitools from Floops Stitch Markers that Anne has. I’d seen them on her Instagram, and had thought they were the size of regular bent cable needles.
They’re really not – they’re much smaller and the cable in the middle is moveable (and stays where it’s put) and I think they’ll be perfect for this brioche decrease. I had to get the rainbow one!
I’ve started advertising my September knitting workshops. They’re all taking place at Shaz’s Shabby Chic in Buckley on Wednesdays 6.30-8.30pm. All the details are here, but the short summary is:
Places are limited to 8 per workshop, which means everyone gets plenty of individual attention, and yarn is included with all of them. If you know someone who would enjoy one or more of these workshops, please pass on the details to them.
That’s all from me for today – I need to go and marvel again and what Jo taught us to make! Take care and why not think about learning something new? K x
Well, it’s been quite a week. Lichfield came out in The Knitter last Thursday and I’ve had some lovely comments about it.
I’m coming to the finishing stages of my Treasure Chest Socks design. The largest size is being added and knitted and I’m working my way through the gusset decreases currently. That will be out in October.
I do need a name for this design still. With some designs the name actually comes first because of the inspiration (as with Lichfield), but with others it’s one of the last things to do. I might even ask for suggestions…!
Tomorrow sees the halfway point of my Summer KAL. There’s another Zoom – this one is a knit and knatter, 12th July, 7.30-9pm BST, and just as before, the tickets are available online for free with a £3 paid option should the mood take you that way. If you’re knitting something of mine and you’d like to join us it would be wonderful to see you there.
I’m more than halfway through my Marianne Half Hap (my SummerKAL project), though I always forget how long a knitted on edging can take. There are some super fine sections in this second skein of yarn so I will need to be extremely careful when blocking it. I don’t want any nasty popping or snapping of yarn to occur!
I’ve also realised that it’s only five and a half weeks until the Pop-Up Wool Show in Port Sunlight. That means there are spreadsheets to sort out, patterns to print, kits to put together and wood to sand, oil and burn.
I picked the redcurrants! Well, most of them. After the fourth massively overloaded colander went into the sink I decided the birds could have the rest. The netting is now just on the blackcurrants which are waiting patiently for their turn.
I think I got about 10lbs of fruit, after pulling the berries off the stalks. I was going to freeze it all, but there just wasn’t room in the freezer for that much, so I turned 6lb of berries into jelly and the rest is frozen.
I’m doing quite well with my plans for this month so far. I finished reading Melmoth. I have also finished spinning the singles of the Polwarth dyed by Velvet Sixpence and I shall ply it once I get back home.
I’ve spun the whole braid onto one bobbin (didn’t plan ahead), and, as I want a two ply yarn, I think I shall bracelet ply it, which means I will need to ply the whole thing in one go.
I finally did some embroidery. I realised that my plan of completing two 10 x 10 squares of the chart in a month was a little unambitious. At that rate I will still be stitching this piece in 2045! So I have completed 6 squares of the chart and I’m going to finish the whole of the bottom row this month as well if I can.
Even if I complete one whole row of 10 x 10 squares per month that will still take until about Christmas 2024. Crikey.
I’m at Mum’s again for a few days and she has completed the bag for me that was originally supposed to be a folder cover. It’s really rather amazing. I’m going to add a couple of magnetic closures to the inside top.
There were two partly completed folder covers and Mum wrote out the instructions for me to do the other one!
I also was allowed to have a look through one of her fabric boxes and choose some fabric to take home – there will be lots more sewing in my future!
Do you ever feel you have more things you want to do than there is time to do them in? I do, but I’m finally realising that I can only do is what I can, one stitch at a time.
Take care one and all. Have a good week and do some stuff that makes you happy, K x
Today I tried quilting for the very first time, under the guidance of my Mum, an experienced quilter. She had already made the top piece from four different fabric strips to make a simple but very effective seascape.
I’d like to share the process with you.
First up – ironing! A non steam iron and dabbing water on the more stubborn creases did the trick. The top right of the panel gives a particularly good sense of before and after.
Then I smoothed the top piece onto the batting, pinned it and cut it with the batting larger than the top panel. I cut it a bit more than was needed – first time over cautiousness!
The final layer was the backing fabric which was cut to the same size as the batting. It’s actually pinned and cut already on the right hand pic above. It’s the most gorgeous fabric!
Following the cutting and pinning I tacked it all together and took the pins out.
The sewing machine finally got a look in at this stage! I learnt how to ‘sew in the ditch’, joining the three layers together with three lines of stitching along the joins between the strips of fabric. Mum’s machine has a walking foot which apparently makes sewing quilted items much easier.
After sewing in the ditch, I had to trim the batting back to match the top layer, whilst being careful not to cut the back layer! That was when I realised I’d been overly generous with my margin – the batting is cut bigger in case the top layer shifts when sewing it, but it didn’t need to be quite that much bigger.
Then, we worked out how much the back piece of fabric needed to be trimmed, using a very high tech gauge (a piece of card cut from a Weetabix box) so it would be big enough to fold down to the batting edge and then fold over the front piece. I don’t think I took any pics of this stage.
I folded the pinned the long edges first, then I tacked them and finally I sewed them on the machine, aiming to keep the seam 1-2mm from the edge.
Once the long edges were done, I did the same with the short edges, trimming the corners a little so the folded fabric didn’t poke out at the corners.
The last steps were to sew the corners by hand, using the thread ends which I’d cut long and then to remove the tacking threads. I’m really pleased with how it looks and Mum is delighted too – she is both pleased with the sea-scape she created and being a proud Mumsie having shared a skill with me.
So, that’s what I’ve been up to today! I’m really looking forward to doing some more (there are two more top pieces made that I’ve pinned to batting – have you spotted that the first three pics are a different panel from the other pics?!), but my next immediate focus is the start of my Summer Knit-along tomorrow! There’s still time to get a ticket for the Zoom Cast-On Party at 7.30pm (BST) tomorrow evening.
What have you been up to? I’d love to hear all about it. K x
