Tag: Stranded Knitting

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Have You Any Wool?

It’s been a full week, with much of it being dedicated to my next design commission. The pattern is written for the back and both fronts and for the sleeves up to the underarms. So, really it’s just the sleeve caps and the collar to do in terms of writing/grading. This design is in 10 sizes. The sample size required will be too small for me to wear once I get it back, but it does mean that it will take less time to knit! The yarn arrived a few days ago and it’s a really gorgeous, vibrant colour:

It’s a really soft pure wool yarn that I’ll tell you more about in the coming weeks. Later on today I’m going to cast-on the back for the sample! Hurrah!

This evening I’m teaching a stranded colour-work workshop at Yarn O’clock. Stranded colour-work is one of my favourite knitting techniques, as you’ll know if you’ve looked at my pattern pages. It used to almost always be referred to as Fair Isle knitting, but the term stranded colour-work is becoming more common now. The idea is having two contrasting yarns being used in each row, one as the background colour and one as the pattern colour, and handling the yarns so they create neat ‘floats’ or strands of yarn across the back and a consistent colour-work design on the front. I’ll be taking some of stranded designs with me this evening for the knitters to examine and help them understand what they are aiming for.

This is what they are going to be making:

I’ve left the yarn ends loose on this swatch deliberately so I can demonstrate how to weave the ends in tonight.

As well as working on my new design, I’ve been making good progress with my Umbriel sweater in Cirro from The Fibre Co. I found a few issues with numbers and mirrored instructions in the back shoulders and front of the pattern and have made a note of them. I ended up counting stitches in one row at least six times, along with checking the fabric for dropped stitches, before going back to the pattern and doing some maths. One too many stitches instructed to be knit after an initial cast-off caused me quite a headache for a good few minutes! I have now finished the whole body and I’m pleased with it:

The next stage is to seam the shoulders. Stitches are then picked up around the armholes to work the sleeves top down. I might do both at once, or I might just make notes of any changes I have to make as I go. Knitting two sleeves at once avoids the ‘sleeve island’ that many knitters often feel marooned on, and it does mean that the sleeves are highly likely to match – so long as you remember to swap between the two sleeves every one or two rounds. However, I often prefer to make sure a sleeve works for me, writing down any changes to the pattern, going quite slowly with the first and then knit the second one more quickly from my notes. Also, there is always the possibility of getting the two balls of yarn tangled or more seriously mixed up by knitting on a sleeve with the yarn from the other, or forgetting to switch between the two or it just feeling like a sleeve is taking twice as long as it should (because you’re making two at once)!

I probably won’t start the sleeves now until after Buxton Wool Gathering.

In preparation for Buxton Wool Gathering, I’ve printed even more patterns over the past couple of days, including the final version of Am Byth, which is also available as an update for those who’ve already bought it, and Bargello Aurora Wrap which was first published in The Knitter in September (Issue 180). Before the printing could take place, the photos had to be taken and much laughter and fun was had on Saturday afternoon in the garden as Sue took over 200 pics! At least with so many to choose from I can be ruthless about the ones I don’t like – these are usually the ones that catch me looking gormless or pulling an odd face!

Am Byth
Bargello Aurora Wrap

Am Byth is already available in my online stores, and Bargello Aurora Wrap is available as part of The Knitter issue 180 either as a back issue or as an ebook on Ravelry. I’m going to add Bargello Aurora Wrap as a single pattern to my online stores after the show at Buxton this weekend.

I’m really looking forward to Buxton. I’ll be heading there on Friday to set up in the afternoon and my lovely wife will join me later in the weekend as my ‘booth babe’ – the amazing person who talks enthusiastically to knitters, helps find things, get cups of tea and holds the fort when I need the loo!

I’ll be on Stand 31, circled in orange and a full list of vendors can be seen here.

It’s only £5 entry for the day or £8 for a weekend ticket, which is very good value I think. Held in the Buxton Pavilion Gardens, the show is open 10am-4pm on both days, with entry from 11am for those who buy tickets on the door.

The only potential spanner in the works at the moment is the weather forecast. We woke up to a centimetre of snow here in North Wales this morning. It’s all gone now – even though it took some of it until about an hour ago to melt where the sun wasn’t shining. I usually like snow, but not when I need to travel in it. Still, the tyres are all good and I’m going to allow myself plenty of time. But please keep your fingers crossed for good weather for me anyway?

I’ll tell you all about how it went next week! ‘Til then, take care, stay warm and do something that makes you happy. 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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All At Once

Three wooden spoons lie face down on a darker wooden desk. The back of each is decorated with a pyrography design of two comical sheep. A fourth spoon is just visible at the top of the image.

It’s one of those week’s where everything is happening at once and some of them are coming to fruition after quite a while!

I’m on the final flag of my Safe Space cross stitch! Once that is complete I shall do the final bit of cross stitch (the word “Welcome” in the middle), then crack on with the outlining and blackwork.

I do want to get this finished in 2022 and it’s starting to look more feasible, which is very encouraging.

On Thursday I will be teaching my Introduction to Two Colour Brioche Knitting workshop. I’ve re-jigged the course and re-written the notes, and therefore also re-knitted the samples! We’re going to start with straight brioche knitting with a garter stitch border so folk can get comfortable with the brioche stitches before having to deal with the fancy cast-on. We’re also using DK yarn this time, so the stitches will be bigger and it will be easier to see how it all works.

Brioche front
Brioche back

Once the straight sample is done we’ll move on to the Italian two-colour brioche cast-on and add an increase and a decrease into the mix!

Brioche leaf front
Brioche leaf back

On Friday I’m launching Nevern Lap Blanket on my website, Payhip, Ravelry and Lovecrafts. Newsletter subscribers have had their discount codes already! The pattern is already live on KnitPicks and it’s selling well so far. If you’re not a subscriber and you can’t wait until Friday you can buy it there!

Nevern Lap Blanket on sofa
Nevern Lap Blanket on floor

And on Saturday I have a stall at the Christmas Fayre at The Rise in Buckley! It’s open 10am – 4pm, so if you’re in Buckley and you still have any Christmas shopping to do, this will be the place to come. (This pic is from a post on their facebook page in October, so there probably aren’t stalls still available now!)

I will have my knitting patterns, kits and pyrography (wood-burning) decorated coasters, hearts, wooden spoons and spatulas with me. I’m really looking forward to it, and have been adding a couple of items to my products in preparation – sheep- themed wooden spoons!

Among other kits, I will have the Mini Socks Advent Calendar kits with me. You may think this a bit strange as Advent has already begun, but bear with me… If you start now for next year and knit one sock every week or so you will be ready without having to knit lots and lots all at once!

Speaking of Advent and Christmas things, how cool is this post box topper? It’s on the post box outside the Spar in Buckley and was made by a group of knitters who meet regularly in the town. A huge amount of work has gone into it and it looks very impressive. It makes me smile every time I go to the post office (which is in the Spar) – a frequent activity at present!

I do have a very exciting piece of news to share with you. Next March I will be a vendor at the Buxton Wool Gathering! This is held in the Buxton Pavilion Gardens and tickets are only £5 for the day, or £8 for the whole weekend, which is brilliant value. There will be over 50 exhibitors there alongside me, so lots to enjoy as well as the beautiful town of Buxton to explore.

I’ve paid for my table, booked the accommodation, but somehow when the leaflets came through the post that was what made it feel totally real.

As well as all this I’ve been selecting a few more patterns from the #FastenOffYAL pattern sale (which finishes at midnight on 8th December Eastern Standard Time – that’s 5am on the 9th GMT), and this morning I wound the yarn for the next design I’m going to cast on. It’s Confluence Cowl by Mary W Martin and it’s a new technique to me as well as being a pattern from a new-to-me designer. Two yarns are held together and knitted together for the main fabric and then some magic is worked so that there are different cables on each side of the fabric! I’m using two colours of Amble from The Fibre Co. It’s a sport weight rather than fingering weight yarn, but it’s so soft and I think it will work really well.

All in all, the rest of the week is quite a busy one, but in a very good way. The Christmas presents are mostly posted (or wrapped if they’re not going in the post) and the cards are written, so I can tick the most pressing aspects of home Christmas prep off the list, which is a great feeling at this stage. I even remembered to feed the Christmas cake with brandy at the weekend – you should have seen my lovely wife’s face when she walked into the kitchen at 11am to see me putting the brandy bottle back on the shelf…!

That’s all from me today – quite enough, I hear you say – so I will leave you with this: Mae smygu’n ofnadwy, dw i’n hoffi cerddoriaeth a dw i eisiau paned a bisgedi! (Translation: Smoking is terrible, I like music and I want a cup of tea and some biscuits!)

Take care one and all, K x

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Turning The Lights On

It’s just turned 4pm, I need the main light on to see what I’m doing and it’s getting really foggy outside. This morning there was bright sunshine and a pale blue sky as I walked up to town for an appointment. For myself, I’m glad the fog waited until now, but I’m sure those driving in it as it gets even darker won’t be thinking that way. (The photo for today’s blog was taken at 5pm – very dark and still foggy. Yes, it seems it does take me an hour to write this!)

I have good news! I went with the concept of the Nevern Lap Blanket with full joining instructions, rather than just a set of six charts as an expansion pack for Nevern Throw, and today the pattern has gone live on KnitPicks‘ website! You can find the pattern here.

As it’s been published as part of the KnitPicks’ Independent Designer Program(me), there is no exclusivity period before I can also publish it here on my website, and on Payhip, Ravelry and Lovecrafts. It will be going live on my platforms on December 9th – and newsletter subscribers will be hearing from me next Monday with details of their special new pattern discount code.

I’m waiting until December 9th as that is just after the Fasten Off Yarn-a-long sale period ends and I can a proper ‘launch’ with the bells and whistles.

And shortly after this, likely around December 16th, Ceridwen will be launched as an individual pattern!

There will be a subscriber code for this too, so if you’re not a newsletter subscriber, but you’d like discount on either of these patterns, now is definitely the time to sign up!

Speaking of the Fasten Off YAL, I cast on and completed my first purchased pattern from the yarn-a-long today! It’s a mosaic stitch coaster called Jasmine Tea Coaster by Arella Seaton, a designer I’ve not come across before. Mosaic stitch is a technique I’d never tried previously and once I understood the concept it was quite straightforward and very satisfying and the pattern was really well written and clear. I think this coaster will definitely be getting some friends.

One of the brilliant things about the database that has been put together for Fasten Off YAL is that it is fully searchable. You can search by designer, by type of pattern, by yarn, by technique and so on. You can also search by inclusivity features such as patterns for low vision. There are 109 designers taking part this year and ALL their available patterns are in the database, not just the ones they’ve included in the 25% discount period; that’s well over 4300 patterns for knitting, crochet, loom knitting and Tunisian crochet, with over 3500 eligible for a discount using the code FO2022!

Several designers are putting together collages of some of their designs, such as this one I posted yesterday. The globe/yarn ball in the centre with the crochet hook and knitting needle through it is the Fasten Off YAL logo.

Even if you don’t want to get involved with the games and social media side of the YAL, it’s a great resource and a wonderful way to find ‘new to you’ designers. AND the databases for 2021 and 2020 are still available to search as well.

I’ve joined seven extra rows of hexiflats on to my Beekeeper Quilt. That’s 161 hexagons added in total, all with the yarn ends from the joins at each corner hidden inside them. I don’t even want to think about how many ends of yarn that adds up to, but it is looking really good. I haven’t got a photo of the ‘updated version’ yet, but I’ll be sure to take one to show you next week.

At the beginning November when I set my monthly goals I wrote that (among many other things) I wanted to finish my socks, finish the Safe Space embroidery, spin at least three times a week and go out for a walk daily. I’ve achieved the spinning goal and the walking goal has been partly achieved. I’ve walked 20 days out of 29 so far. I’m not sure you’ll see much difference in the amount of yarn on the bobbin since the last photo of my spinning wheel – the photo on the right is from today.

The socks are still very much in the singular (and I haven’t finished that one yet…), so a definite fail on that goal and, while the Safe Space embroidery won’t be finished either, there has been a lot of progress! It now looks like this:

I think that when I go December’s monthly goals in a couple of days I will need to be a touch more realistic about what can be achieved. And remember that these things are in addition to my work goals!

Take care out there folks. K x

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Something New

Three sets of stitch markers from Yarnistry lie side by side on a wooden desk. Each set is on a wire loop attached to a rectangular white card. From left: 6 acrylic sweater shaped markers with different types of glitter embedded, 8 wooden Christmas themed markers, 8 acrylic circular markers with snowflake designs.

These beautiful stitch markers arrived today. The postman was a little concerned as the corner of the box was a bit squashed and water damaged, but I checked and everything inside was untouched! They are made by Yarnistry and they are super – I highly recommend having a look at her Etsy shop. There are lots of different items on offer – including glow in the dark stitch markers!

Last night’s workshop at Yarn O’clock went well. There were five lovely people there learning new ways to cast on and cast off and which ones work particularly well for different stitches or different purposes.

We covered four of the six samples on the notes I’d prepared for them: Garter stitch with a crocheted cast-on and a basic knitted cast-off, stocking stitch with a cable cast-on and a graft, ribbing with an alternate cable cast-on and sewn cast-off and lace with a long-tail cast-on and a Russian cast-off. We didn’t have time for the pinwheel cast-on and picot cast-off or the two-colour braided cast-on and cast-off – but we did only have two and a half hours!

They sound like simple things, but pairing up the right techniques with the right stitches makes such a difference to the finished piece of knitting and it never fails to delight me when something ‘clicks’ for someone or they learn a technique they then really want to use in a specific project.

It was the first workshop I’ve given in the shop itself since the before times and it was nice to be back, surrounded by yarn. In the early part of the year we were in the very chilly church hall, all spaced out and masked. Later in the year we moved to the Daniel Owen Centre cafe space and now we are back in the shop. We have smaller groups in the shop than in the cafe or the church hall, partly as a result of the lovely new arrangement of the shop and the beautiful new wooden counter that Anne has, but also to avoid overcrowding the space.

We were all so engrossed in what we were doing that once again I forgot to take photos of the event!

The next workshop I am giving is an Introduction to Two Colour Brioche Knitting on Thursday December 8th and I am determined to remember to get some pics then. This workshop will also be at Yarn O’clock in Mold, and there are a couple of spaces available if you would like to join us! Ring Anne at Yarn O’clock to book a place (01352 218082).

Fasten Off Yarn-a-long begins this Friday and I am delighted to be one of the participating designers again this year – and it begins with a pattern sale! Fasten Off YAL is an off-Ravelry event with a focus on patterns that are accessible (size-inclusive, colour-blindness friendly etc), and all designers have to have their patterns available on at least one platform other than Ravelry.

From November 25th until December 8th all my available individual patterns will have a 25% discount ON PAYHIP when you use the code “FO2022”. I am only putting the discount code onto Payhip, but as my website is linked to my Payhip store you can still use this discount code if you buy a pattern via my website. The only patterns it won’t work for are ‘Leaf & Vine’ cardigan as you can only buy that through KnitPicks until 2024 and the three eBook collections.

Have a look at the Fasten Off Yarn-a-long website – there is lots of info there about how you can get involved. There are games and prizes and all sorts of fun to be had. And because it’s a ‘yarn-a-long’ and not just a ‘knit-a-long’, many of the designers will be offering crochet designs, and maybe even loom knitting or Tunisian crochet designs!

You may have seen that Ceridwen has come home from The Knitter. I’m busy putting the pattern into my own house style and taking, editing and adding new photographs. It will be available as soon after the 8th December as I can manage, and there will be a new pattern discount exclusive to newsletter subscribers!

I’m also in the last stages of getting the new charts for Nevern ready to publish. Following some photography requests from KnitPicks, it occurred to me that the six squares all joined up make a jolly good lap blanket, so my plans are having a mini re-jig.

Rather than publishing the charts simply as an extension pack to Nevern Throw with the joining information only in the original pattern, I’m now thinking of publishing it as Nevern Lap Blanket (a little sibling to Nevern Throw), with all joining instructions included and highlighting the fact that the charts between the two patterns are completely interchangeable and all come from the Nevern Cross. What do you think?

There are several other things in the pipeline too and some exciting news about something I’m doing next March that I’m looking forward to sharing with you very soon!

Til next week then, take care out there, K x

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Blue

Three squares of stranded knitting with celtic knot work designs are joined with dark grey garter stitch borders. The centre square has a blue background with grey pattern and the outer squares have a grey background with blue pattern.

Many of the things I’m making seem to be blue at the minute! But then it always was my favourite colour, even when I was little.

The Nevern Throw Expansion Pack is nearly there. I’ve joined as much of it together as I can until I get back home to where the final square is pinned out. It will definitely be dry by the time I get to it.

The blue doesn’t show up so well on Mum’s carpet, but I promise you it is blue and dark grey. I’m just making one of each chart for the expansion pack so folk can see what each of them look like – and to give me something lovely to put on the front cover!

Also blue is my Morph, from Woolly Wormhead’s Cuboidal collection. It’s growing well and I’m very pleased with it so far. I keep thinking that with the crown at the bottom it would also make an excellent bag…

That’s the inside of the Hat I’ve shown you there – it’s so clever how you don’t break the yarn at all until you finish a round of mitred squares, so even if you’ve got a single ridge of one colour at the start of each square like I have here, there aren’t loads of ends to deal with.

The outside looks like this:

NOT blue is the sock I started at Yarndale. This is my usual plain sock to fit me (80 stitches on 2.25mm) and it is in the RiverKnits’ Open Day Special colourway of “Ankh-Morpork” on Cormo wool. Again, I’m very pleased with how it’s turning out so far, although it has been a little neglected in the past couple of weeks. I’m hoping that by posting a pic of its progress here I will actually remember to take it out of it’s project bag and work on it!

I used the hat for background as I thought there might be a chance the sock would be completely camouflaged by the orange and brown carpet (c.1978 – wool lasts, but you knew that).

Just a short one today as I’m at Mum’s and there is a cup of tea to be made and a game of scrabble to be played.

Take care of yourselves and make something in your favourite colour, K x

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Did You Miss Me?

A close-up of lace knitting in light green

I’m a day late! Sorry, folks. It’s been a *really* busy couple of days – including at least six hours on the road – and I didn’t plan ahead very well to get my post drafted in advance.

The image at the top of this post is part of my Leaf & Vine Cardigan, published in Haven: Knit Lace Patterns published by Knit Picks. I will be running a give-away of one printed copy of the whole collection in my Facebook Group this month – if you want to be in with a chance of winning a copy of this, join the group!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I made the rookie error of going away and only taking one knitting project with me. I wrote about it in the post “Coming Together“. So, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of this shocking state of affairs, I made sure that I wouldn’t be without knitting on this trip to Mum’s. I took this little lot:

That’s five projects (one is hiding in the project bag – I’m working on the next MKAL!) that I took with me. Six to do there if you remember the cowl I did some knitting on for Mum last time I was there and is being kept now as back-up knitting for me!

Guess how many I worked on while I was away? One (the MKAL). But at least I didn’t run out of knitting – just time.

My Nevern Throw Expansion Pack is nearly complete! I have one more square to knit up, then the borders and joining to do. These are three of the new six:

Remember this is an addition to the original Nevern Throw, doubling the original number of designs. The gauge, yarn, needles and making up instructions are all in the original pattern and the expansion pack will just include the six new charts. All of the designs are drawn from the Nevern Cross in Pembrokeshire:

As each of the squares has the same number of stitches and rows they are all interchangeable, meaning you can choose how many different squares you include in your throw.

I did mention I’ve been working on the next MKAL, but it’s a *mystery*, so I can’t show you! You’ll just have to join in with us if you want to see it as soon as possible.

I’ve also been revising and updating the notes for my Cast-On/Cast-Off workshop, which I will be teaching at Yarn O’clock on October 18th (6.30-9pm) and at The Knit-Tea Retreat at Insole Court, Llandaff, Cardiff, October 22nd-23rd.

There are six small swatches that students will make, each with a different cast-on and cast-off and appropriate stitch pattern:

The workshop notes are now laid out with a page per swatch with a space at the bottom of the page to attach the swatch itself, thus building a library of cast-on and cast-off techniques. I’m ridiculously pleased with this layout as previously the notes were organised in two sections: Cast-Ons and Cast-Offs. This pairs relevant ones together and makes a lot more sense to me – and hopefully it will to the students as well!

Speaking of The Knit-Tea Retreat, did you know that as well as teaching three workshops there (the Cast-On/Cast-Off workshop is just one of them!), I will also have a stand at the Sunday afternoon marketplace which is open to the public, not just the retreat attendees. If you’re near Llandaff on October 23rd, 2-5pm, come and say hello!

I’ve made a little pledge with myself to spin a little each day when I’m at home this month as I didn’t get to my wheel at all in September! So far (out of three possible days) I haven’t actually done any, but tomorrow is another day and I am determined to do some spinning! On the other hand I did get to spend some time with a knitting friend this afternoon which was lovely.

I’m away again next week but, as I won’t be travelling on Tuesday, I’m hoping to get my blog out on time! Take care one and all, K x

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Showtime!

We did it!

The PopUp Wool Show on Saturday was definitely a success. The organisers were great and there were even some people on hand to help haul heavy things up the steps when we arrived. I am incredibly grateful to Sue for being such an amazing assistant – and for bringing all the stuff in her car that wouldn’t fit in mine. We were both a little tired when the alarm went at 5am on Saturday morning, having had an interrupted night driving to check Sue’s workplace after the alarm went off at 12.30am… However! We survived and I would bet that none of the lovely people who stopped by the stand would have guessed we were each running on two chunks of less than three hours sleep.

So, today I’m going to show you a few pics from my stand and show you the one thing I bought myself – yes, even though I was running a stand I still managed to buy something!

All these pics were taken early in the morning just as we were finishing setting up (we arrived just after 7.30am and were set up by about 9am), so there will be other folk in the background setting up their stands, and lots of bags and boxes around.

A few vendors were unable to attend due to illness which meant there were some spaces. I ‘cheekily’ offered to take a larger space if it would help fill a gap and surprised myself by filling up a lot more room than I’d anticipated!

From left to right, this was my stand:

With ‘Daisy’ on the left, modelling West Country Gothic and the single colour version of Marianne Half Hap:

The classic bunting across the front of the stand and Calon Cariad at the end in Wool Local. Other designs on this table were Beth March Shawl (which was a lot more popular than I’d anticipated and I ran out of printed copies), Little Orme Hat and Mitts and Heart in my Hands Collection. I love how the covered heads look – so much better!

Nubble Mitts on the top of the mini table were also popular – I sold two kits of that design. They were the first Mystery Knit-along that I did with Yarn O’clock! Next to the mitts is a head wearing Nubble Hat (which you can’t really see) and Mirror Mirror Möbius. At the end of the table is Maid Marion Shawl with another sample of West Country Gothic overlapping it.

Propped up against the second (!) table is a framed set of sheep photos taken and edited by Sue. Aren’t they cute? This table has Anne’s Jubilee bunting across the front and some bunting kits on the end of the table, along with Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary lavender bag kits. Much of this table was used for patterns and for my portfolio, showing the requirements for each of my (50+) designs.

Just in front of Sue is another head form wearing Llanberis and Fiery Dragon Skin Cowl.

The right hand side of the second table has our bare stem tree behind it with the Mini Socks Advent Calendar displayed on it, along with my hand burnt wooden hanging hearts and some beautiful hand turned light pulls that were made by a friend’s dad. In front of the tree are the Advent Calendar kits, coasters and some more stitch marker pots. And, of course, a bottle of hand sanitiser just in shot.

Another sample of Calon Cariad is at the end of the second table (this one in Socks Yeah! that I made during the KAL in February) and in front of that is a folding table I borrowed from Anne. Drifting Leaves is tied on the left and Nos Da is draped over the top. Yarns for these designs fill the ‘shelves’. And what is that to the right…?!?!

This, my friends, is a very Heath Robinson set-up. A small side table with an old-fashioned folding sweater blocker on top of it. This was held securely in place with four bungee cords (cunningly hidden by the knitting). Draped across the arms of the sweater blocker are (L-R): Into the Vortex, Amy March Shawl, Diamonds in the Breeze, Helena Rose Stole, Jo March Scarf and Angel of the North. Below on the table is Croeso Baby Blanket.

It may look a bit as though wash-day has become very fancy, but I wanted to display as many shawls as I could and, without wall space (or any ‘gridwall’), this was my solution – and it worked! (In my defence I did see another stand which was using a clothes airer for the same purpose.) There was a lot of interest as people rounded the corner – they would stop and pick up the corner of a shawl or turn over the brioche scarf to see the reverse side – and often enough that interest turned into a lovely conversation and sometimes even a sale. It was a huge boost to my confidence to hear people’s comments as they looked at my designs too.

My purchase was some incredibly vibrant Bluefaced Leicester fibre to spin. I bought this braid of gorgeous neon green from Wild Field Fibre – do look them up!

I can hardly believe there have only been three days since Saturday! I’ve launched the Mini Socks Advent Calendar pattern online, written a newsletter for subscribers with a discount code, completed an application form for NEXT year’s Pop Up Wool Show, re-printed patterns, reorganised stock, been to IKEA and got some boxes to help create clearly defined kits and allow me to exhibit almost the same amount of items with one table instead of two, reorganised stock again in light of new boxes and knitted some more of nibling’s sock (finished the heel gusset now!).

Tomorrow I have to crack on with my secret knitting project and double check / correct some patterns that have just come back from my tech editor!

And can I remind you about Yarn Gathering?

Social media posts are going to focus quite a lot on this in the next couple of weeks, in particular showcasing each of our vendors in turn – today it’s Trevor Blackburn’s turn. We’d love to see you there.

That’s all for today – it was quite a lot, wasn’t it! And it was quite a show. Take care, K x

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Back on Track

A close up of part of a stranded knitting square with designs based on the Nevern Cross. The background is dark grey and the pattern colour is duck egg blue.

So, after last week’s own goal of knitting from the wrong chart, I’m all sorted again. The correct chart has been completed and blocked (and I’m so glad I bothered!) and I’m halfway through one of the other new charts in the Nevern Throw Expansion Pack. Yes, I really do use that many pins when I want completely straight edges – especially when the vertical edges have the two yarns twisted at the end of every row.

I’ve been helping Mum sort through some of the mountain of craft supplies she has – some of it has gone off to the church fete and some of it will be re-homed with me! (I will find room, I will find room).

Having rediscovered stitching, Mum has let me raid her embroidery floss collection (and there was a lot!). These beauties are now joining my stash:

I’ve finished her socks and have been able to get the toe shaping just right, with the classic and very scientific approach of getting her to try one on and pinching the end until it felt like it fitted. She’s very pleased with them. So, it’s not all been a one-way street.

I’ve also finished the fibre I’ve been spinning for the past couple of months (I posted these shots on my socials yesterday):

And! The rainbow of Riverknits Nene minis is starting to turn into something fabulous… Here’s a sneaky close-up to tempt you!

My phone’s personal hotspot is being a little temperamental today, so I’m not going to write much more, but I hope that, despite the awfulness of much of the world at the moment, you are able to find some moments of peace and tranquility. I find that looking at and playing with yarn helps.

Take care one and all, K x

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Let’s start (again) from the very beginning…

A piece of stranded knitting in progress. The background colour is dark grey and the pattern colour is blue. It shows the beginnings of a Celtic knot and is pinned onto a pale gold carpet.

At the weekend I had one of those moments that most knitters have had at some point. I’d completed something, washed and blocked it, photographed it and THEN I noticed an error.

If this was just going to be a thing for me it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but it is a sample of one of the squares from the Nevern Throw Expansion Pack (coming soon!). And the error was fairly significant – I’d knitted the square from an old version of the chart. I mean, I could have decided to just go with that version of the chart and forget about the new version, but there was a reason I’d altered it and I wanted it to be correct. So, now it’s all been frogged and reskeined and is dry yarn again, ready to be used once more. I found a little more of the same yarn and so have been able to start again – this time definitely working from the correct chart! The first third of it is in the main blog picture.

I remember the Yarn Harlot writing on her blog (possibly more than once) that the thing about being a fast knitter was that she was able to make bigger mistakes more quickly – it certainly felt a bit like that for me! The lesson I need to learn is to throw out old print outs once I make updates – or at least label them as not being the most recent version!

I’ve been doing some other stranded knitting as well. When we were at the RiverKnits Open Day last month, Sue chose some yarn from the Travel Knitter for me to use knitting up her poem that I’d translated into morse code. It has begun! Her name will certainly be nice and clear. I’m hoping the morse code will become clearer as I go on. It’s quite odd to think that I’m quite literally knitting the poem backwards as each round (line) goes from right to left and from the bottom to the top, so I will knit the first word of the title last!

The spinning is slowly making progress. This is (still) the gradient yarn from Cassiopeia Yarns that I bought at Wonderwool in April. It’s not until I look back at the photos of its progress that I realise just how much the colour has changed – it’s so gradual and subtle that you hardly notice at the time. I’m hoping to finish and ply this by the end of the month.

This was the view I had the other afternoon when I was doing some work in the study. That pigeon looked really comfortable on Medium’s head and sat there for quite some time! He’s called Medium, because when Sue bought him he had a label on his underside that said “Medium Lion”. The rose is The Poet’s Wife and it’s settling in nicely with lots of buds ready to bloom.

The shawl in Aysgarth yarn from RiverKnits is complete! Like, really complete. Washed, blocked, ends woven in, gauge measured etc. The pattern is written up and with the tech editor! Isn’t the Sloe Gin colour gorgeous?

That means that I’m on to the Nene rainbow minis – yay! I’m so excited with these colours and I love that I get to knit in a rainbow in June, Pride month.

Leaf & Vine Cardigan is out!! The physical book is not out for another week or so, but you can see (and buy) the individual pattern and the whole Haven: Knit Lace Patterns eBook of 13 lovely lace designs on KnitPicks.

This afternoon I had a very productive meeting with Anne at Yarn O’clock. We are planning something exciting and yarnified to take place in Mold during the weekend of the Mold Food Festival – there will be more details coming soon! (I’ve linked to the food festival’s picture gallery page, just because the home page is very meaty).

Random observation of the day: “The Humming Chorus” from Madame Butterfly sounds awfully like “Bring Him Home” from Les Mis!

Take care one and all, and remember the sunscreen and water. K x