Tag: small business

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Mysterious Girl

Last week I met someone in the main car park of my little town and exchanged two jars of homemade preserves (blackcurrant jam and seville marmalade) for a large and very full black bin liner. It sounds very mysterious, doesn’t it?

The bag has since been sitting in my study as the other parts of my life have taken on some deadlines (more later) and I haven’t yet been able to play with the contents. But it keeps reminding me it’s there and every time I take a peek inside I get excited.

So, what on earth did I swap for jam and marmalade?

A black bin liner has its top rolled open to show it is full of freshly sheared sheep fleece

A fleece. A whole one, from a sheep named Doris. Here are her before and after shots!

She is currently Mandy’s only sheep and, knowing I have taken up spinning, she asked if I would like it. Oh, yes please! It’s completely unprocessed and Mandy and her hubby sheared Doris themselves. Doris is a very clean sheep so there are not too many bits in it. So, I have a new learning curve to go on. Having washed a few locks of fleece is somewhat different to this type of quantity, but I have some notes and I will do some more research. A fine day on the patio seems like a good starting point. I did learn from the tv last night that any remaining less spinable parts of a fleece are excellent for rhubarb – Mandy mentioned this too as being generally good for homegrown fruit etc.

So what kept me away from Doris’ fleece? Well, I have submitted two (yes, two!) designs to a magazine I haven’t worked with before (deadline is next week, but, as you know, I don’t like to get too close to deadlines). Fingers crossed!

Also, I have finished my latest shawl design which I showed you last week and it’s going to be published in the next couple of weeks. It also now has a name – Angel of the North. See if you can tell why:

Finally, the MKAL I have been working on in conjunction with Yarn O’clock begins in 2 weeks!! It is in 7 parts, beginning on July 2nd and each part will be released weekly on Fridays. Because we like to keep you guessing, we’re not even saying what item the mystery knit will become, but you do need to know that for this one we are using Riverknits Chimera and 50g of Nene, both British Bluefaced Leicester 4ply and hand dyed in Northamptonshire (or 50g each of a multicoloured 4ply with a contrasting solid/semisolid one). Yarn kits are available for £25 from Yarn O’clock or you can buy the pattern on its own for £5.00 from me. The needles you will need are 4.5mm (60cm circular or 30cm straight).

An image of a simplified vortex in shades of blue with the Yarn O'clock logo in the bottom left corner and "Into the Vortex, MKAL by Kath Andrews" in the top right. This is the image placeholder for the pattern while the MKAL is running.
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Tea and Toast

Well, this week has seen me doing a lot of knitting and there’s so much of it that I can’t show you! The next MKAL with Yarn O’clock is developing well and I’ve been working on a swatch for a new submission (which I’m tentatively quite excited about).

I can, however, show you the finished tea cosy! It’s a little snug getting it on and off our teapot, but that does at least mean that it doesn’t flop about when pouring and it does a really good job of keeping the pot warm. I’ve had some tea cosies in the past that you end up pouring the tea *through* which is annoying – they’re not designed to be tea-strainers! The Cartref Yarn is good and sturdy and the double layer of yarn is highly insulating. I may need to reinforce further around the steeked edges (to stop the cut ends wiggling free) as it’s going to be pulled around quite a bit by the spout and handle, but that will be easy enough.

A bright blue Fair Isle tea cosy with dark blue and cream pattern sits on a red teapot on a bamboo kitchen worktop.

There has also been pleasing progress with the border of my new shawl design, using Queensland Yarn’s Llama Lace which is imported by Knitting Fever. Despite the name, this yarn is actually a 4-ply weight as it is 420 yards (384m) per 100g, but it is 100% llama. The shawl doesn’t have a name yet, but it will soon.

The image below shows how well the blocking holds up. The right hand side of the image has been soaked, pinned out and left to dry. This opens up the lace and shows the pattern to its best advantage. The left hand side of the image hasn’t been blocked yet and is more bunched up and almost corrugated. As I mentioned last week, I’m quite impressed by how well the blocked lace (on the right) has coped with being squashed into a small project bag and carted across the country. It’s not perfectly flat still, but it hasn’t been treated with any special care and shows the shawl will work well as a garment in the real world.

A copper coloured garter stitch shawl with a silvery deep edging lies on a pale carpet. Part of the edging has been blocked and lies flat, the rest is bunched up.

If you’re a newsletter subscriber you’ll already know there’s a 20% discount code in this month’s newsletter on the four other knitting designs I have using yarns from the Knitting Fever stable. It can be used multiple times and lasts until the end of June. Of course, you can make the patterns in any brand of yarn you wish, but it might also introduce you to some new yarns. I’ve also added a new subscriber link to my linktr.ee in my social media bios to make it easier for people to sign up.

I’ve also been baking again – banana bread and a sourdough loaf this weekend. There’s nothing quite like sourdough toast. I’m going to need to do some more preserving, having ordered five *bags* of pears instead of the intended five pears last week! There were so many helpful suggestions as to what to make with them on social media last week after I confessed to my lack of attention when ordering the shopping online. I’m planning on pear and ginger jam and bought the sugar this afternoon. The wasps and bees are out in force at present, so I think I’ll be making this early tomorrow morning with the windows shut!

I hope you all have a good week. I’m going to have something very exciting to show you next week and I can’t wait!! Stay safe and keep knitting, Kx

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Any Colour You Like

How can a week have gone so quickly? It was wonderful to see my mum again last week (and to achieve the journey). I am very glad to report that she approves of both the marmalade (possibly my best yet!) and the sourdough bread, though the crusts were a little too crusty once toasted. I, of course, came back with some freshly cut asparagus, plants and some other lovely things too.

The yarn Mum chose to keep was the first skein I ever spun on my wheel. I was a bit surprised as it’s not the most evenly spun yarn by any means, but it is soft and colourful.

A multicoloured marled skein of handspun yarn of varying thicknesses lies on a wooden sideboard.

While I was with her I swatched with the yarn so I could write a pattern for her to use it with. I cheated a bit as I didn’t block it, but it’s garter stitch, not anything fancy. I mainly needed to find out what size needles would work best to create a fabric soft enough to go around Mum’s neck, what size the stitches were and therefore how many stitches she would need to cast on. It was one of those moments when mathematics just works. 20 sts measured 13cm. This meant that 1cm is 1.538etc sts. The circumference required is 65cm. 65 x 1.538etc = 100 sts exactly! Tidy, beautiful and satisfying.

I also realised whilst swatching with the yarn that it was the first time *I* had knit with my own handspun yarn. I’ve had a wheel since late September/early October and I’ve spun quite a lot, but not knitted any of it! One skein has been balled up ready to go, but for some reason I haven’t got it on the needles yet. That needs to change.

A very close-up image of a cake of handspun yarn in blues, greens and golds is shown from the top.

Both my time with Mum and the travelling there and back encompassed almost all varieties of weather – sunshine, cloud, rain, hail, thunderstorms. Pretty much everything except snow. It’s amazing to think that in less than four weeks it will be midsummer’s day and I still haven’t put my winter wool dresses away. The rain over the weekend did inspire us to have a rearrange of some of the furniture in our little home, tidying up generally and making things easier to find.

The past couple of days have seen me updating and streamlining my website. So far I’ve done the Wooden Treats and Kits pages. The main pages now look a lot sleeker and should be easier to navigate. Along with the rather lovely redesign of Payhip storefronts, I like how my work is being presented. The Knitting Patterns page comes next and I know that will be a mammoth task as there are something like 43 individual patterns and three collections.

A screenshot of the Wooden Treats page of my website, showing the five different categories of items for sale.

My new rubber stamps arrived yesterday. One of them I will definitely be able to use for wood burning designs – I stamp the design on the wood and then burn over it – and it’s the perfect size for coasters and hanging hearts along with a little message. What do you think? What messages would ‘ewe’ like to see?

A wooden coaster with a cartoon image of two friendly sheep and the words "I love Ewe!" burn into it lies on a wooden table.

That’s all for today – I’m off to knit some more edging on my new shawl design. Take care, stay safe and keep knitting! Kx

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We’ll Meet Again

Today I will make the longest journey I have undertaken in over 8 months. I’m driving 120 miles to visit my mum. I’ll be so glad to see her after all this time, but I don’t mind telling you that the prospect of that drive and being away from home is making me anxious. It will be worth it though.

So many new things have happened since I last saw her. Sourdough for one. I baked a loaf this morning to take down with me.

A round seeded sourdough loaf sits cooling on a wire rack. Behind it are two jars of marmalade and a jar of Marmite peanut butter.

Spinning is another. Although my lovely Ashford Joy 2 is very transportable in its carry bag, I’ll probably just take some skeins of handspun yarn to show Mum (and to keep if she feels her hands are up to knitting it). I’m only there for two days so there probably wouldn’t be time to spin anyway. Maybe next time.

A large bouncy skein of handspun yarn sits on a white windowsill. It is in serious shades of blue and light sea-green.

Remember the marmalade I made in January – unsupervised for the first time? Two jars of that will be coming with me too. The marmalade used to travel in the opposite direction, but that’s just another sign of the way the years change relationships.

13 jars of marmalade are lined up on chopping boards, cooling down. Behind theme are various kitchen items; bananas, a stand mixer and casserole dish.

My new shawl design is coming on well. I’m using Queensland Collection Llama Lace from Knitting Fever Inc which is 100% extrafine baby llama. The main body is very, very simple; just garter stitch, with a double slip stitch edging on the top. There will be a knitted on deep lace border in a contrasting colour once the main shawl is complete. Llama is a new fibre to me – there are the (very) occasional spikier fibres in it which can be pulled out easily, but overall it is incredibly soft. Knitted on 4mm needles the garter stitch is light and airy and the ‘halo’ on the yarn (the fuzzy bits) will trap the air between the stitches to add an extra layer of warmth.

A garter stitch shawl in a copper colour lies draped on the carpet. The ball band is on top, next to a silvery-blue ball of the same yarn which will be used for the lace border.

Finally, there is one more very new thing in my life. A couple of weeks ago I began ‘A Masterclass on Grading’ by The Tech Editor Hub. It’s a very well-structured course, with lots of support and feedback from the three tutors and it has a flexible scholarship scheme too which can reduce the fees by 50%, 75% or 100%. I’m learning all sorts of new tricks to use with Excel. Previously, if I used Excel at all I would treat it like a table in Word; do my calculations on a calculator and type them in! Now I’m learning more about formulae. The historical aspect of how sizing charts developed is fascinating too – initially, it was done so that military uniforms could be mass-produced in the American Civil War. Grading (working out all the different sizes for a pattern) was the one thing not included in my City & Guilds course, so I feel like this will give me more confidence and skill, especially when designing garments. I’m sure I’ll be telling Mum loads about this too – she specialised in tailoring at teacher training college when she trained to be a Domestic Science (home economics) teacher, so I’m sure she’ll have loads to contribute.

I hope you are able to catch up with someone special soon. Stay safe and keep knitting. K x

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Early Bird

A close-up of knitted hexagons made from a random mix of leftover sock yarns

Last week was a first as I wrote my blog post sitting outside. Today’s first is that I’m drafting this a day early – on Monday! Normally I like to write about how things are right there and then, with the topics inspired in the moment (though you have probably noticed some regular themes).

So, why am I writing ‘early’ this week? Well, early on Tuesday morning (I wanted to write ‘tomorrow’, but then that gets confusing as I intend to post this on Tuesday morning!), I am due to have my first Covid-19 jab! I’m both excited and a bit nervous and not sure what sort of side-effects I might get – I’m keeping my fingers crossed for not much more than a sore arm – so I’m trying to clear the decks a bit.

The Grand Secret Project is coming on really well. I did the really scary part today and now it’s just the finishing touches. The pattern itself is written up to almost the same point which is great. Do you remember how I was feeling a little apprehensive about the 1st June deadline when I got my commission through? It seems like I *should* (touching wood and hoping the gods aren’t reading this) even be able to send it in early!!

There’s some sourdough having it’s ‘bulk proof’ in the kitchen right now. I’m trying seeded and wholemeal flours for the first time with sourdough – that’s the mix I tend to use with instant yeast so it will be interesting to see how it comes out. It’s going to have a sleep in the fridge overnight and be baked first thing tomorrow. Elaine Boddy‘s method is brilliant – and I especially like the fact that you can put the loaf (inside a lidded roasting pan) into a cold oven so no waiting for the oven to heat up first.

I’m trying to decide what knitting to take with me to my appointment tomorrow. My lovely wife has already been there for hers and they ask you to sit and wait for 15 minutes afterwards to make sure you’re ok. 15 minutes isn’t a lot of time, but it’s long enough to need some yarn between my fingers. My advent calendar sweater is rather large – I think I would prefer to take something small. I had to look for my 3mm crochet hook earlier today and I discovered it in a bag with my left over sock yarn that I’m using for my Beekeeper’s Quilt. The fab thing about this project is you only have a small hexagon to work on at a time and, once you’ve joined them all together, you can keep adding to it over time. I did stuff some of my hexagons initially as the project suggests, but I definitely prefer ‘hexiflats’ to ‘hexipuffs’.

Has anything been early for you lately?

Take care and keep knitting, Kx

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Stepping Out

A close-up of turquoise, purple and blue knitting; part of a sweater in progress

This is the first blog post I have written whilst sitting outside on the patio. We are so lucky to have outdoor space of our own and this year I am determined to make the most of it.

The birds have proved extra greedy this week – I put up a new coconut half yesterday and it’s already half gone! I’m hoping this means the birds need extra energy for flying around and feeding small ones. It’s great to see the blackbird still doesn’t know he’s supposed to be a ground feeder too – though he is a very messy eater when perched on the apple tree. There is so much birdsong around me and it’s wonderful; it almost distracts from the roofing that’s going on a few doors up!

I’ve planted some of the seeds for our veg patch – courgettes, broad beans, mange tout peas and coriander, along with some nasturtiums, which are lovely and peppery in salads. We were given some potatoes by a friend (already chitted) and these have been planted into potato sacks. Recent years have been very disappointing potato-wise when they’ve been in the ground as they’ve been riddled with crawlies when dug up. And we always manage to miss one or two which gets messy later in the year. This method should be more successful, as long as I remember to water them. There are still other seeds to sow, but not for a weeks or so yet – squash (a couple of varieties) and cucamelon which my sister-in-law had great fun with last year.

Things have been quiet sales-wise this month. I’m thinking of expanding the range of images that I burn onto coasters, hanging hearts and stitch marker pots, to include more knitting themes. Think along the “I love ewe” type of route and you won’t be far wrong. I intend to develop some prototypes over the next couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled! If you have any suggestions or requests do let me know 😊

My knitting commission, AKA the Secret Project, is coming on apace. There is now a jolly big spreadsheet, lots of drawings to help check calculations of different sizes and I this morning I wrote out the rest of the pattern (in rough – there are some stitch counts to fill in). I am now ready to pick up the pointy sticks and carry on with the sample, which is great.

Forced downtime from knitting the Secret Project hasn’t been all bad though as it got me back to working on the sleeves of Serenity by Joji Locatelli – that jumper I began in January! I’m on Day 22 of the advent calendar yarn, as there were three mini-skeins I chose to put aside for bed-socks, and I’ve found a 50g Triskelion Yarn Elen Sock (now discontinued, but I have a chunk of different colours in my stash) skein which seems to use the same yarn base and the colour flows on perfectly from Day 25 if/when I run out of the yarns from my Bear in Sheep’s Clothing advent calendar.

My Serenity sweater at different stages of construction

I’ve also stepped out into the world and been to the shops early this morning, before it got busy. I got most of what we needed, dropped some bags in to a charity shop that wasn’t full for donations and even saw a friend to talk to briefly! In person!! What with that and our mini trip out to Llandudno (NOT the pier – it was heaving with people, but we found a quiet corner of the West Shore to enjoy for half an hour or so), it almost feels like I’m emerging from hibernation. Must remember to spend more time outside. It’s good and the sun on the back of my head makes me happy.

Take care and, if you can, do more of what makes *you* happy, K x

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What’s New Pussycat?

Following last week’s excitement of getting the Little Orme Hat pattern and The Little Orme Collection out into the world (and photographed at the Little Orme, too!), there has been a real change of activity in the past couple of days.

I’ve done lots of knitting on my garment commission and I *so* wish I could show it to you, because I am absolutely in love with it. However, you (and I) will have to wait until October before it gets revealed.

As I can’t tell you very much at all about the current main knitting project in my life, I shall have to focus on the other things I’ve been doing. I was very kindly sent a bag of Bowmont Merino fleece locks a little while ago, and over the past few days I’ve been cleaning them. Fortunately, the kind person who sent them to me also sent a couple of links to some very helpful videos (thank you, Anne M and YouTube!), so I had some idea of how to go about this. The change of colour was quite astounding, although the first dip in really hot soapy water and rinse in even more really hot water left quite a lot to be desired. So, they got dunked again, and this time came out gleaming.

Today I attempted to spin some of them – the idea being to spin the yarn as finely as possible. This was much easier said than done, even to get it to catch onto the leader yarn to get going. Eventually it did though and I got about two and a half locks spun, before frustration at the constant falling apart of the yarn finally got to me. So I took a deep breath and put that to one side for the time being.

And then to console myself I got out a plait of Polworth fibre dyed by Rachael of Cat and Sparrow. I got this at The Knit-Tea Retreat marketplace and it was said to be a great fibre type for newer spinners. I love it. As well as the fact that I’m not attempting to spin as finely as possible with this, it’s a gorgeous fibre that so far is behaving beautifully.

Do you remember me talking about the next Craftucation course I’m working on? It’s called An Introduction to Lace Knitting and goes through all the important aspects of lace knitting. You learn many of the common stitches one at a time (yarn overs and eight types of knit decreases!), before putting them together into a practice piece, as well as learning how to follow both a written lace pattern and a lace chart. You then move onto a similar but larger and slightly more challenging small blanket/throw. In this you learn about lifelines – the amazing lengths of thread that stop your knitting unravelling any further – and how to insert and make use of them. You also work a knitted on lace edging and block your finished piece. How cool is all that? All you need to know before undertaking this course is how to cast on, knit, purl and cast off. If you can follow a basic pattern already that is a bonus.

Here is the practice piece:

I’ve recorded a fair chunk of this course already, but I can’t record the next part until my skin heals a bit more. The sudden change back to very cold weather has caused my knuckles to split and that’s not a great look close up on video. I want people to be looking at what my hands are doing rather than the state they’re in!

Hopefully I’ll be able to record the next section soon, but the joy of these courses is that I’m able to create them on my own schedule. Which is the same for the people who take the courses too – no deadlines, no weekly meetings that might not work in your time-zone – you just work through the course at your own pace, in your own way, with access to the tutors and other students on your course via the individual online course forums. There are videos, downloadable and printable pdfs of notes with the video script transcribed and lots of still pictures as well as the original patterns used in the course. So, if you want to try knitting and would like a course that can work for you and around your schedule, have a look at my beginners’ courses: Knitting for Beginners 1 and Knitting for Beginners 2. These links give me a higher proportion of the course fee than if you simply go to the website so if you’d like to starting learning to knit (or know someone else who would), please do use these links!

My current audiobook, Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness (the fourth book in the All Souls Trilogy….), has given me one of those weird coincidences. Last week we watched Hamilton on Disney+ (it’s amazing what you get when you upgrade a phone these days), which I found fascinating and really enjoyable. I previously knew nothing about this period of history. Then, Time’s Convert takes me to the same time period and some of the same characters as well! It’s funny how things sometimes line up together in life like that.

It seems I had plenty to tell you about after all, despite not being able to share the Grand Secret Project!

Stay safe and warm, and keep (or start!) knitting, K x

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Snow in April

Overhead view of three sizes of colourwork hat in a row on a dark grey background. All use the same colourwork pattern, but the changes in colour order give different effects

My Little Orme Hat is done! Hurrah 🥳 While I write this it’s freezing outside (what a change from the 20 degrees of last week) and there was snow and ice on the ground this morning. So, although it’s April, it doesn’t feel inappropriate that I will be releasing a hat pattern on Friday.

Newsletter subscribers will be getting a discount for any of the following: Little Orme Hat, Little Orme Cowl, Little Orme Mitts, or indeed the whole Little Orme Collection which will be available on Friday as well (this already gives a discount on individual patterns, so newsletter subscribers get a double treat!). I will be sending out April’s newsletter on Friday with the discount code in it. You can sign up for the newsletter here! (Please note, this is separate from subscribing to my blog).

The different effects that come with changing colour order in stranded knitting never cease to inspire me. All three of these hats were knitted using the same four shades of Knit Picks Palette.

The Medium size uses the colours in the same positions as the mitts and cowl.

Overhead shot of the crown of a hat with six segments against a dark grey background. The hat is silver grey with three shades of green worked in stranded colourwork.
Medium Little Orme Hat

The Large size uses the dark green (Contrast Colour 1 in the mitts) for the main colour (MC) (so CC1 became MC) and then the other colours rotated round (CC2 became CC1, CC3 became CC2 and MC became CC3).

Overhead shot of the crown of a hat with seven segments against a dark grey background. The hat is dark green with two lighter shades of green and silver worked in stranded colourwork.
Large Little Orme Hat

For the Small size I changed it again, going for the greatest contrast between background and pattern colour in the centre of the design as I’d really liked that effect with the Large hat. I returned to the original main colour and then swapped C1 and C3, leaving C2 where it was.

Overhead shot of the crown of a hat with five segments against a dark grey background. The hat is silver grey with three shades of green worked in stranded colourwork.
Small Little Orme Hat

Aside from all this, you get a kaleidoscope effect (remember those cardboard tubes with the bits of glitter and plastic shapes in) due to the changing number of segments in the crown. The smallest size has five, the medium has six and the large has seven. Because of that (and maths) the angles being created at the point where the segments meet are different in each hat and so the decrease rate and shaping has to change to accommodate this – otherwise you can end up with a hat that looks more like the top of a baby’s bottle if you know what I mean! So there’s a fair bit more to writing a hat pattern in different sizes than just changing the number of stitches cast on (or at least there can be).

The three stranded colourwork knitted hats in different sizes pictured separately earlier are grouped together on a wooden table. The angle shows more of the sides of the hats as well as the crowns
Little Orme Hat family group

As well as this the yarn has arrived for my design commission – yay!! I’ve re-swatched, as it’s a slightly heavier weight yarn than I’d originally designed the garment for, played with the numbers for all nine sizes, tweaked the charts and I’m ready to cast on! ☺️ This bit is very exciting. I’ve written the opening part of the pattern and there’s a solid chunk I know I can do now following that. I could do the rest of the maths first, but I want to get it on the needles so it feels real.

Also – rhubarb and ginger jam has been made. I tried a recipe this morning that I’d not used before (from the same very traditional book my marmalade recipe is in). The ginger part is root ginger that you ‘bruise’ (or in my case, smash) then tie up in some muslin and drop in the pan with the rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice that have been steeping since the night before. The muslin bag is taken out before potting the jam up, so there is no physical evidence of the ginger but, oh my word, it’s got quite a presence!

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What a difference six months make

A view from the top of the Little Orme towards Penrhyn Bay and Rhos-on-Sea. The sea is calm and the sky has a few hazy clouds.

Can you believe it’s six months since I launched this blog? So the website is six months and one week old! Reading back over my first post I was concerned then about the changes Ravelry had made (though I left it un-named), was excited about Craftucation (from which I received my first payment yesterday!) and showed a picture of the view from the Little Orme, one of my favourite places, and the place after which the collection I am currently working on is named. The hat pattern will be released soon by the way! Today’s picture is unashamedly the same one as from that first post.

I didn’t know then that I would be getting a spinning wheel, or bringing a sourdough starter into existence and doing lots more baking. I also didn’t know that I wouldn’t see my mum once in this whole six months. Sometimes it’s good not to be able to see into the future. Hopefully the restrictions on travel between Wales and England will be lifted soon and I’ll be able to visit her again.

Today, there are butterflies in the garden, it’s 20 degrees outside and the sun is shining. The blackcurrant bush is coming into leaf and the redcurrant is just starting to think about joining it. Last year I allowed all the redcurrants to be eaten by the birds, partly because I hadn’t pruned it and the stems were so overlapping that it I couldn’t face the tangle. Now, of course, that means we have run out of redcurrant jelly, which is a real shame and meant that on Sunday I did something I’ve never done before; I *bought* a jar of redcurrant jelly! Inspired by the weather today and Sunday’s purchase, this morning I pruned the redcurrant bush and promised to take better care of it in future.

Sunday itself was an adventure; we went to a garden centre. They were allowed to re-open in Wales just over a week ago I think. Our nearest one is exactly five miles away, though it felt further! We bought some red cowslips which I have never seen before, some cell trays for the veg seeds and a few other bits and pieces, including the redcurrant jelly. It was so strange to be out in a place where there were quite a few other people and, although our trip was quite a brief one (less than 30 mins), by the time we were through the tills I was glad to be going home again.

It feels late to be planting seeds in a way, but with the extreme winds of yesterday and the snow and sleet forecast for Easter weekend here I didn’t want to kill off delicate seedlings, so I still haven’t done it. Next week!

Following my post about Ravelry last week I had a lovely message from someone offering me an extension/theme that might help. If you’ve seen my social media posts you’ll know what happened; I stupidly compared the version of Rav showing with the theme to the actual NuRav page and got hit with a horrible headache and nausea. It slowed me down somewhat on Friday to say the least. But, at least I know the theme works! I won’t be going onto Ravelry more than I have to after tomorrow though.

Speaking of which, there is a plan to stage a three day boycott of Ravelry from 31st March to 2nd April. Why bother? Well, their main income is from the advertising that users are shown and if you’re not on there, you won’t be shown adverts and so their revenue will drop. It may not have any impact at all or change anything, but I’m happy to wait to pay my March invoice for a couple of days!

Some exciting developments happened during the week with my magazine commission. Having received the email listing the chosen yarn and colours, I expressed some concerns about the way that yarn would behave given the nature of the design. Those concerns were listened to, considered and a different (much more appropriate) yarn was proposed. There is a whole new colour scheme and a new name. Also, a new gauge as the yarn is a slightly different weight, but that just means I get to play with numbers a bit more. It’s making me want to stalk the postman for yarn deliveries, but fortunately I have plenty of other things to keep me busy in the meantime.

I hope the year is being kind to you so far and that you are benefitting from the longer daylight hours. I know I am.

Stay safe and keep knitting, gardening, baking, spinning and doing what makes you happy. K x

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Unravelling

How’s your week going? Mine’s going quite well.

I’ve done most of what I can with my design submission until I get the yarn. Hopefully that will be quite soon as I’d love to crack on with it.

I’ve made a few different sourdough recipes – the last loaf was fab and the hot cross buns were amazing! The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg in the house was divine.

A well-risen sourdough loaf on a cooling rack.
Sourdough loaf
A dozen homemade hot cross buns sitting on baking parchment.
Hot cross buns

I’ve also re-recorded a chapter of my latest Craftucation course (not yet published) where my hands kept disappearing off the screen. Most distracting!

My Little Orme Hat took on a life of its own during the week and I’ve finished the medium size, started the large one and written up the pattern. It’s quite possibly the most comfortable hat I’ve designed so far and I’m wondering whether that’s because of the brim. The folded, ribbed brim extends the knitting time considerably, but it’s so worth it! The pattern will be out soon!

A blue-haired middle-aged woman (me) looks at the camera over her glasses wearing Little Orme Hat, a stranded colourwork hat with a striped folded brim. She is sitting in front of a patchwork blanket.
Little Orme Hat
A top-down view of the crown of Little Orme Hat being worn. The wearer (me) is holding their arms up as the camera is above their head.
Little Orme Hat crown (Medium size)

Despite all this progress, something is niggling at me.

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that, although my patterns are all listed on Ravelry, I don’t recommend you visit the website if you have a tendency towards migraines or any kind of visual impairment. That includes common issues like astigmatism (which I have). The design of the site was completely overhauled in June 2020 and caused many people problems, from eye strain to migraines to seizures in some cases.

After a couple of weeks they introduced ‘Classic’ mode which was supposed to be the old version of the site that people could toggle back to if they ‘didn’t like’ or couldn’t use the new version of Ravelry (NuRav). It’s not quite the old version though. I switched to ‘Classic’ as NuRav was making me queasy after about 10 minutes, but I still need to limit the time I spend on there if I can. Which is a shame and a pain, since most of my pattern sales are made through Ravelry.

Yesterday I spent about an hour adding the Payhip link for each of my patterns and adding Lovecrafts as a clickable source and my eyes were very relieved when I was done. By adding these links I’m trying to make it easier for people to access my patterns through Payhip and Lovecrafts even if they originally found them via Ravelry. I’m not adding links to Ravelry here for what I hope are obvious reasons.

I haven’t said much about the whole Ravelry re-design previously (apart from cheering on those who have been trying to push Ravelry to hire an accessibility consultant and raise awareness of the real harm being done to some people), so why am I raising my voice now? Possibly, selfishly, it’s because at the end of this month ‘Classic’ Rav will disappear (be retired) and the only option will be NuRav. I don’t know how much I will be able to use it and that worries me. I’ve already told my (largely inactive) Ravelry group that I won’t be using it as a social forum in future and will be focussing efforts on my website/newsletter and social media instead.

As a concept Ravelry is brilliant and for over 12 years it’s been the go-to place for designers to host their knitting and crochet patterns as a selling platform, for knitters and crocheters to log all their stash, projects and notes (and for others to search them) and a social forum that was a lifeline for many. We were probably far too reliant on it in retrospect, but it was so damned convenient.

If you buy knitting or crochet patterns, from me or anyone else, and you usually get them via Ravelry, please consider buying them from other sources if they are available elsewhere.

Right, I shall now step down off my soap-box and go and transcribe some videos.

Take care folks and keep knitting, K x