Tag: shop local

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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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It’s beginning to look a lot like Advent!

Several things have improved or moved along since last week’s post, which is great.

After bemoaning my lack of kit sales – I sold one (Heart in my Hands Mitts Kit)! Admittedly to a friend, but it was through the website/payhip shop and she gave me a great shout-out on Facebook too. My Beanstalk Throw pattern continues to sell well on Ravelry and Knitpicks and I’ve been able to help some knitters out who were less experienced with reading cable charts or who wanted advice on adapting the pattern for specific requirements. I find that some knitters are just desperate to make ‘the thing’, despite never having used a particular technique before and I’m always happy (within reason!) to give them advice and helpful pointers, although occasionally it does get to the “it would be a really good idea to contact your LYS (local yarn shop) and see if they run any classes on this” stage as there is a limit to what can be done by email.

Which of course is even more reason to be excited about the launch of Craftucation next month! Once I’ve got more classes up on there I can direct people to those if my initial tips aren’t enough to get them through their sticking point. The launch date has been announced – January 18th 2021 – and I intend to have two courses up by then. This morning saw me recording a big chunk of the second one (Knitting for Beginners 2) and I shall be editing those videos tomorrow.

Speaking of supporting your LYS (and, indeed, any local small shop), it’s really important if you can. I have been just as likely as anyone to take the easy route and hit the amazon site (although I am consciously trying to reduce this), but when you buy from a small business it does make a big difference. I think I have mentioned my LYS – Yarn O’clock – in most, if not all, of my blog posts! Anne, who runs it, is phenomenally knowledgable about the yarn she stocks (British where possible) and has supported me both as a designer and knitting teacher. She is also my yarn supplier for my kits!

My lovely wife treated me to two *amazing* yarnie advent calendars this year (I know! Two!) and one of them is from Yarn O’clock. I love the fact there is a pattern that comes with the yarn and it includes both knitted and crocheted options. The image at the top of this post shows today’s yarn knitted into a flower which is attached to a handmade willow wreath (made by the very talented Janet – another local craftswoman). It’s going to look beautiful as it develops over the month. My other advent calendar is from Bear in Sheep’s Clothing and I was blown away by the colour this morning. There isn’t a daily pattern that comes with this one, so I’ll show you the first week’s worth of colours next time.

In other good news, the hand (and back) pain has lessened, helped by some compression mitts, a laptop stand that helps my posture and a soft and velvety wrist rest to go along the edge of the desk. This, along with a new December decision not to make myself do the things that are just ‘too much’ in the present climate of Covid, sees me signing off as a more hopeful and cheerful knitter.

Keep knitting and remember to treat yourselves kindly, K x