Ramblings

2009-03-25T13:58:00.008Z

It's been such a long time since I've written anything on here-or at least it feels like it! My days seem so busy at the moment that I hardly stop and think about all the lovely things in my life and all around us all. I would imagine everyone reading this already knows about UK Ravelry day. Many people don't know how much time it takes to do the little things, like sorting out ticket orders. We're completely unimpressed by both the company that we're using for the online shop and PayPal, and one thing is for certain; we will not be using either again for next year's event.

On the subject of next year's event, we've already started work on that too. It's all in the beginning stages at the moment, but I know it's going to be a fantastic week.

One of the things I'll be eternally grateful for are the love and support of my children and husband; they are quite simply the most wonderful people in the world and my life was so empty before I met them/had them. Mothers always feel guilty for one reason or another, but I have to say I think my kids are pretty happy at the moment. It's been a tough time recently for my son - he's apparently 'talented and gifted'- at school but things are starting to look up there. My daughter is completely obsessed with High School Musical (I think I can probably sing every single song in the three films off by heart now), just as I was with Grease at her age. It's lovely sometimes when history repeats itself and lovely to share it with my daughter, through a mother's eyes.

In the madness, I do find times to spin, knit and dye. I've really enjoyed spinning some Bluefaced Leicester and (British) Merino that I got from the wonderful Bluefaced.com , which I then dyed with tea and turmeric (mordanted in potassium alum). It's fantastic how easy it is to dye with tea and the vibrant yellow you get from turmeric is fantastic (it reminds me of daffodils for some reason).

Bluefaced leicester: top dyed with tea, middle natural, bottom dyed with turmeric

Here are some more that I did a few weeks ago...

Another experiment with concentrated cake dye! Poppy Red & Navy Blue. Yarn (absolutely delicious Falkland Wool, purchased from World of Wool) was soaked in warm water & white vinegar for approx 1 hour and then I painted on some of the food dye (I didn't rinse out the vinegar on purpose). Then it got zapped in the microwave until it was good and steamy, and left to cool overnight. The result from only painting a few sections was that it ran and mized together, to make soft pinks, purples & mauves. Such good fun!

And here's one I'm super happy with. It's BFL/Tussah Silk (again from World of Wool), dyed in Poppy Red food dye with some tea bags thrown in half way through (it had gone almost fluorescent orangey-red). This was spun one evening after a long day which is probably why it's not the best spinning I've done of late, but I really do love it. The photo doesn't do it justice. It's such gorgeous soft stuff.

In the post today I got a fantastic package which has prompted me to write this post. It's from Debbie, the Mulberry Dyer:

It's part one of Debbie's dye club. This month: Weld (also known as Dyer's Rocket). I've had the pleasure of dyeing with this stuff before, and my word does it stink! It smells like cabbage, really stinky cabbage. But it dyes the most beautiful yellow you can imagine. I plan to tinker around with the acidity of one of the dyebaths (by adding vinegar) so it will be interesting to see what it turns out like.

One of the things I LOVE about natural dyeing is the time it takes. It had given me such a profound respect for our ancestors. It takes a long time - soaking the yarn, scouring it, mordanting it, soaking the dyestuff, preparing the dyebath, dyeing the yarn, leaving it to cool (always the worst part for me!) and then rinsing and drying. Can you imagine how difficult this was in the olden days?!

Knit Pros stand at the NEC (CHSI trade show)

2009-02-19T21:05:00.007Z

Just a very quick post with several photos, as I'm still not completely recovered from a very intense three days working at the CHSI trade show at the NEC.

Amanda (known as Noonie to many) and I had an absolutely fantastic time working on the Knit Pro stand. The Knit Pro team are such a fantastic bunch of people; I really admire them for their innovation, their dedication and also the way in which they treat their workers. Plus I love their sense of humour too!

On the stand with us were 'Uncle' Ashok, who is based in Germany and is to Knit Pros what Jess and Casey are to Ravelry (so you could call him Papa Knit Pro), Shirish (the boss) and his lovely wife Mietu. You know when you meet people for the first time that you're going to really like them? Rarely does it happen that I meet three people in one go that I know I will like and respect, but it happened last Saturday.

Apart from meeting lots of people I've met before, it was great to meet some fellow Ravellers for the first time too, as well as meet people I've been e-mailing about Ravelry day.

The best thing for me though was the huge boost in confidence it gave me; as I've already said on here, last year was a BAD year for me and I was as nervous as anything about being on public display (mainly because my weight has rocketed and I've got more spots than I used to have), but actually it didn't really matter. I love the fact that there are going to be more shops in the UK stocking them, so eventually I will only have a 20 minute drive to get them instead of having to wait several days for them to turn up in the post. I loved being able to use my knowledge too to help people decide which needles would work best for them, based on the range of yarns they stock and their target clients. And I loved showing off the newer products to the magazines too (e.g. the interchangeable tunisian crochet), so that you will all be able to read about them. I've given Elizabeth from Simply Knitting the challenge of coming up with a tunisian crochet pattern; it will be interesting to see what she does with it!

I love KnitPros/Picks needles simply because they are simply the best knitting needles to knit with.

And now for the photos.

Ashok (left, that's Papa Knit Pro) doing some 'extreme' knitting on the display needles. Notice Shirish's amused look at being made to hold some of his own products in his hands!
He looks quite the natural, doesn't he?! (He'll kill me for putting this on here)

Didn't the stand look pretty? I love the poster to the right of Amanda, which you'll no doubt see at a yarn shop near(ish) to you in hopefully the not-too-distant future!

It took ages for the stand to be arranged, and a mere 48 minutes to take it down and pack all away (with a double inventory done by Amanda and me). It will be interesting to see how long it takes next year!

2009-02-13T09:20:00.005Z

My life has taken on an edge of the surreal this year, as some of you reading this may well know. It has been so much fun talking to people I admire for their amazing skills and design abilities, as well as all our wonderful UK yarnies out there. The UK Ravelry day seems to have taken off hugely - far much more than I was expecting- and we've got some really fantastic people coming to the event for us to share their knowledge with... It is proving to be incredibly hard to keep my mouth shut - or rather my fingers as they're the ones that do the typing!- but all I can say is that I can't wait until 25th February - which is also my Dad's birthday- to announce the line up, both of people doing workshops and talks, but also about all the wonderful small indie companies that will be coming along.

Which leads me on to a problem I've been grappling with recently. What do you knit for one of the most ungrateful people you know (that's right, I mean my Dad!)? He's so bloody hard to buy for and has upset me, Mum and Angie (my sister) on more than one occasion over presents. When I said to Mum on Skype that I'd be knitting him socks, the reply in the background was "I don't wear woolen socks". So what have I done? I'm knitting socks with a huge cotton content in them; Opal Petticoat Cotton to be precise. I've not taken a photo of the WIP but will probably add this to the post later. The yarn is a lovely mix of blues, greys and sandy colours, which reminds me of the seaside - perfect for someone living in Cyprus.

When people think of Cyprus and Greece, they correctly think of hot sunshine, clear blue skies and the such like. What they don't realise - and I know only too well- is that Greek and Cypriot winters are, in many ways, an awful lot worse than they are in the UK. First of all, when it rains, it rains! Not the drizzly rain that we get here, but it literally power showers everything under it. Then there are the storms. I'll never forget a storm that happened in Thessaloniki in the winter of 1999- blew over trees and everything and was really a sight to behold. In Cyprus, they also get amazing storms which bring sand over from the Sahara (how cool is that?!) and amazing lightning/electrical storms too.

The reason I'm going on about the weather over there is that my mum has requested some knits from me. She's not a knitter (although she could be if she put her mind to it, but claims she's too impatient), but admires the knitting I do. Anyway, to get back on subject, she needs some woolies to keep her warm. The houses in Cyprus are made of concrete and the floors are all pretty much tiled, which is great if you've got underfloor heating (pretty much all of the houses there don't have underfloor heating btw) or if you've got air conditioning which blasts out heat in the winter. I've made her a Boho Waves scarf with two hanks of 'Pebble Sand' magic balls from the wonderful Adele's Mohair - beautiful fairtrade yarn from South Africa (which was sent to me last year for a scarf that was meant to appear in a magazine, but that's another story). I'm thinking of doing a really basic hat to go with it too...

I've done a bit of spinning recently to keep me sane. I got some gorgeous tops from World of Wool, and decided to dye some of it, and to leave some of it the natural shade. [Photos to follow]

And a bit of designing too, messing around with some yarn that was also in the stash - beautiful Scotian Silk from the fabulous Fleece Artist. This jacket (I think I can call it a jacket despite having short sleeves) took only two hanks.

I've called this 'In the Woods'
Yarn: Fleece Artist Scotian Silk
Shade: Woodland (yes, that's where I got the name from)

This is a UK size 10, and took just under 2 hanks of yarn (750 metres). The yarn is slightly heavier than aran; tension will be in pattern which I'll eventually write up after I've refined it with version 2.

Finally, one other thing I've been taught to do is play around with photos on Picassa. Here's one of my 'baby', Poppy (who's now 9 months old, but this was taken when she was about 6 months old). She is such a lovely natured dog (she is doing puppy dog eyes in this one, isn't she?) and we as a family can't thank the Dogs Trust enough for rescuing this little cutie so she could become a part of our family. She was abandoned in Ireland with her sister when they were tiny, tiny puppies. How can people be so cruel as to take puppies away from their mummy at such a young age? It's beyond belief.

Central Hall, Coventry

2009-01-28T09:27:00.010Z

So here is a photo of the Central Hall, on Tuesday morning. Imagine lots of lovely sunshine and people walking around in short sleeves and the such like, not a grey and wet day in January! To the right is one of the three spires of Coventry, a part of the old town wall. It's now a cafe, or art gallery, or both - it changes frequently between the two and admittedly I didn't go and see what it is currently.
This is the rather huge main hall. It seats 845 when all the seats are in. For our purposes, imagine that the central two blocks of seats aren't there. Upstairs there are over 300 seats, so plenty of space to watch proceedings as they take place.

And imagine a stage over where the lectern is, and lots of stalls where the seats are in the main part of the ground floor.

More dyeing photos

2009-01-26T12:59:00.005Z

I've done some more dyeing...

1 hank of Hicks Angora 4 ply mohair, dyed with Kool Aid

in grape and the really bright blue one (can't remember name off top of my head). This was dyed in the microwave. The yarn was soaked, but not mordanted (doesn't need to be as Kool Aid contains citric acid).

I've dyed with teal and logwood purple extract dyes from DT Crafts...

Yarn: BFL, DK weight (100 grams total)
Mordanted in alum and cream of tartar
Dyed in microwave

And here is the fun one. I got a load of yarns that I've had for a while (some were already dyed), mordanted overnight in 20% of total weight in potassium alum, 10% cream of tartar (I was experimenting with amounts, to really open up the yarn)

Left to right: 1 x 50 gr hank of Jacob wool, bought at the Wool Clip,
1 x 90 gr hank of 2 ply cashmere, which was initially bright orange,
1 x 100 gr hank of Bluefaced Leicester Aran
1 x 150 gr hank of 2/14 cashmere from Colourmart
1 x 50 gr hank of unknown light pink yarn, aran weight (I think it's BFL but am not sure).

So why different shades? Well, a couple of them already started as different colours, but I think the difference is that I filled about 1/4 of the pot with alkanet, then put the yarn in, and covered the rest with cochineal and a bit more water.

And finally, I've been having a play on the wheel, and this is a hank that I'm a bit proud of. It's small (haven't weighed it yet) but it's pretty much perfectly plied. I love this new wheel.

Handspun: Alpaca (from Sophie, purchased from the Alpaca Spinner) and a bit of bluefaced leicester, to give a mottled effect.

and the result is...

2009-01-25T07:53:00.005Z

Sometimes in life, things don't work out the way you thought they would. Sometimes they work out better. The same is true of dyeing, or at least my personal experience thus far.

Here are the five hanks I dyed yesterday.

Bluefaced leicester, aran weight (purchased from World of Wool)
4 x 100 gram hanks, dyed in Alkanet (with a little bit of cochineal)

Bluefaced leicester, sock weight (purchased from World of Wool)
1x 100 gram hanks, dyed in Alkanet (with a little bit of cochineal)

The photos are showing them to be a salmony-pink, but they are really a soft pinky purple colour and a fair bit darker than here.

Meet the new member of the family

2009-01-24T09:59:00.007Z

Here is the new member of the family, Cerys the Ashford Spinning Wheel. I learned to spin about six weeks ago and was taught by Linzi, the Alpaca Spinner. The wheel I learned on (Mary) is an Ashford Traditional and I took to it like a duck to water. So much so that I didn't want to try spinning on another wheel. I strongly felt that I wanted a secondhand wheel, one that had been well used and loved. And here she is; Cerys. Cerys has spent most of her 'life' in Wales hence the Welsh name.

Cerys is a wonderful wheel and will no doubt become a good friend. Spinning is the most therapeutic thing you could possibly do. I am now completely free of happy pills; I had been on them since my shocking Post Natal Depression some three and a bit years ago (I had been on the pills for two and a half years as I fed Zoe for 11.5 months), and although they did get me through some very, very difficult times, I had become a bit addicted to them I think. Spinning has been the release I have needed, if that makes sense, a way of coping with daily problems. I am a worrier (that's the Welsh blood in me) who goes through bouts of insomnia, so Cerys is just what I need.

On a day like today, all I want to do is curl up on the sofa with a nice big cup of tea and some knitting, watching Time Team. Thankfully I've got the house to myself this morning - a rare treat on a Saturday- and will be able to watch TT without 'Mummy when can I have CBeebies on' being asked repeatedly!

View from the back garden, about 10 minutes ago. See what I mean?!

I've already spun about 20g of BFL, kindly given to me by Debbie the Mulberry Dyer. It's dyed in madder.

So today I am spoiling myself; spinning,knitting and dyeing. I love dyeing almost as much as I love spinning, but not quite. There's a bit too much chemistry involved for me, but I do love using natural dyes and seeing what happens. Here is some bluefaced leicester, just gone into the dyepot, of mainly alkanet and some cochineal. It's really quite red, isn't it?! I've put in 400 grams of aran weight and 100 grams of sock, so it will be interesting to see how they work out. I've going to make another Liesl with the aran, and some matching? socks with the sock.

On the knitting front, I think I'm about to have an attack of sock knitting again. It's one of those phases I go through every now and again. I've finally finished the Silk Garden Socks (currently blocking and very wet) that I've had on the go on and off since November. The yarn is completely and utterly gorgeous, but I'm not too sure about how the shade (87 for those of you who know your Noro) works on socks. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just my big ankles and thighs. Nonetheless, they are incredibly warm and cosy and that's all you want out of socks isn't it?

The BFL in the pot. Hopefully some bits will be a bit more pink than red - I love really subtle variegation.

It's the 18th January and Spring is 'springing'...

2009-01-18T14:23:00.006Z

I do not usually use this space to rant, but today I just have to.

Here's evidence that climate change is in full swing...

That's right, our daffodils are almost ready to flower. I swear that only ten years ago this didn't happen until March at the earliest. In German, they are called 'Osterglochen' (Easter bells) as they used to flower at Easter, and here in the UK are traditionally associated with Easter time too.

It got me thinking...

We have a beautiful world.

Isn't it beautiful? How peaceful does it look from space?!

It makes me so sad that this is happening:

A little boy in Gaza. We are so blessed in this country that our children do not have to grow up like this. And instead, they can grow up like this.

(It's a photo of my daughter, who planted me a hycacinth as a Christmas present at Nursery. She's been looking after it really well and took huge delight in it blooming the other day.)

Barack Obama, you've got a world full of expectation on your shoulders. I pray that you will be able to deliver what other leaders are finding hard to do.

(I got the 2nd and 3rd images by typing 'planet earth copyright free' and 'Gaza copyright free in Google Images, by the way).

On the Ravelry date

2009-01-16T17:15:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

I am super tired- it's been a long week- so I'm just posting here to say that the poll has closed earlier than expected due to venue availability.

It's going to be on 6th June - hopefully those who voted for the May dates won't be too disappointed.

Jo
x

2009-01-15T10:57:00.008Z

Just a very quick post, because of my son feeling like this...

and my daughter feeling like this...

(She was aware she was having a photo taken and even in ill-mode still is fashioning some kind of pose.)

I just wanted to share with you some shade cards that arrived a couple of days ago and what I've done with half of one of them...

Incredibly lovely stuff. Here's the result:
A couple of mug cozies - the pattern for which I found for free on Ravelry. I am now hearing various strains of 'Mummy' so I should go.

Some interesting websites I've found today

2009-01-11T19:20:00.006Z

I've spent far too long on the computer today, but I've certainly found out lots and lots of interesting stuff. Here are a few that I thought I'd share with you:

Cotswold Woollen Weavers sounds like a very visit-worthy place:
"The smell of wool oil and the clack of the shuttles welcome visitors who tour our traditional 18th century woollen-mill set in the beautiful English Cotswolds"

British Coloured Sheep Breeders' Association is a very useful and interesting website to visit. They will be at Wonderwool...

An indie wool processing firm: Diamond Fibres

and I think this one is probably the best find of the day, and one I'll certainly be using: World of Wool (this links through to their Special Offers page) This is a website run by one of the largest commercial yarn companies in the UK, Europa Yarns Ltd. They say: "We do produce a selection of British yarns. We make aran, dk, lace and sock weight. All of which are on Shetland, BFL, Jacob and Black Welsh. All our british wool is sourced and bought through the wool auctions and is processed here in the UK."

LYS owners: "If you can order larger quantities than this we can send our wholsale catalogue". The prices are really quite reasonable, and they've got a fantastic range of yarns too.

Mad ideas while driving

2009-01-10T21:52:00.005Z

I don't know about you, but I tend to have some of my best ideas when in the car. One day I will figure out why. Anyway, today's idea was to organise a national Ravelry get together and destash day, the idea being that Ravellers all meet in one central location with their stashes and then either sell or trade them, as they can do on Ravelry. They can meet other Ravellers, maybe buy some more (British) yarn from a small independent producer, have some really good tea and cake, and maybe go along to a talk or workshop too. But the main idea was to be a bit like Ravelry in the flesh for a day.

So I posted this idea on a few forums on Ravelry, and it seems to have gone down well. The only problem is, when to hold it. I had originally thought of the beginning of May, and then it was soon pointed out to me that Wonderwool takes place at the end of April. And then I realised that Woolfest takes place at the end of June. So, for me, the logical idea is either the last Saturday in May (another Bank Holiday) or the first Saturday in June. My personal preference is the first Saturday in June, seeing as most working people get paid at the end of the month and this should therefore help in the destashing/stash enrichment programme that will hopefully be taking place for hundreds of Ravellers...

BTW, I will be inviting everyone mentioned below on the 'Buying British' post below to see if they'd like to come and sell you some of their wares...

ETA: I've just checked out dates of Bank Holidays in May. The 25th is the Spring Bank Holiday, so personal preference is for 30th May.

Here’s my brainstorming:

You decide you want to come along.
You buy a ticket* and get a table number.
You come along to Coventry on the day with your stash and cash, and a Ravelry badge
You perhaps donate an item you've knitted for the charities we will be collecting for
You then sell/trade/donate to charity your stash (as you can do here on Ravelry)
You meet fellow Ravellers, and perhaps do some knitting.
You have tea and cake (and believe me it’s good tea and cake )
You have a look at some stalls and maybe buy some yarn or something similar
You perhaps have a wander around the exhibition and/or watch a fashion show
You have some more tea and cake , and perhaps a sandwich too
You maybe listen to a talk or take part in a workshop
You have a book or pattern signed by that person
You knit
You have another cup of tea before leaving with lots of new yarn and catch the train home/drive home…

* Hopefully this will become a free event and all we'll ask you to pay for is a stamp!

Some amazing books

2009-01-09T12:22:00.003Z

I was lucky enough to get a few amazing books for Christmas, which I'd like to tell you about here.

A history of hand knitting by Richard Rutt (listed on Amazon for £80 or so, my DH got it from Wingham Wool Work for £26). This is, quite simply, an absolutely amazing book. It is so well written and researched. I'd highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the history of knitting in the UK. I was struck by how people used to fit knitting into their daily lives and around other chores, just to make ends meet. We're so blessed that we no longer need to knit to earn our daily bread.

Following on from that book, The Old Handknitters of the Dales by Joan Ingliby and Marie Hartley is a very interesting read too. I still cannot fathom how the knitters used hooked needles and only one hand... The only thing missing from this book is a map of the area.

If you're interested in knitting history in the UK, here are some links which may be of interest and provide you with some interesting days out this year:

The Fashion Museum, Bath

The V and A, London

Knitted Together

Knitting Together All about the East Midlands Knitting Industry

Scottish Knitting History from NMS You have to pay a subscription to view the images/packs, but it's well worth it if you're researching this...

FURTHER READING: The History of Knitting - Knitting History, website of the Knitting History Forum

Buying British

2009-01-02T07:34:00.014Z

Edited to add: Please note that this information is moving to a new website, www.britishyarn.org.uk, and I won't be adding any new companies/traders to this list. Please do e-mail any more to me though at: jowatso21@yahoo.co.uk. Thank you!

I've been trying to think of knitting-related New Year's resolutions (and other ones too actually) but I've not been able to come up with anything. And then I started reading a post on Ravelry about buying British yarn. So that's what I'm going to do in 2009: whenever I need to buy yarn (which, admittedly, is not much) it will only come from the back of a British-based sheep. This is going to be a hard one to keep, given all the lovely yarns that are imported into our country.

I'd like to find out about as many UK-based independent yarn producers this year, and in fact any other British-based companies selling British products. Please let me know if there are any others that can be included.

England

Farm Yarn

The Nude Ewe

Gedgrave Flock of Wensleydales

Coldharbour Mill

Crookabeck Angoras

Hicks Angora

Greengate Wools

The Natural Fibre Company (some very interesting links)

Frangipani

Bluefaced

The Wool Clip

Cornish Organic Wool

Devon Fine Fibres

Krafty Koala

The Natural Dye Studio

The Mulberry Dyer

The House of Hemp

Oxford Kitchen Yarns

UK Alpaca

The Alpaca Spinner

Great British Yarns

Wingham Wool Work

The Alpaca Wool Company

British Breeds Yarns (no prices on here but contact details are available)

Wildcraft (for handspinners only)

The Knitting Goddess

Heathland Hebridean

Skein Queen Debbie says: "I have several lines of British grown and dyed yarns - my Encore (BFL/nylon), Blissful (BFL) and some new BFL weights I’m introducing over the next couple of weeks. However, the rest of my stock is non-British"

Rosewood Farms

New Forest Mohair

Artists Palette Yarns

Aragon Yarns

Wool and Willow

Violet Green Jane says: "I sell British Bluefaced Leicester Aran.Most of the yarns I hand-dye are spun in the UK (Socrates sock yarns, both laceweight yarns, Utopia sock yarn, DK Alpaca), so using the tiny British spinning industry, but the merino used comes in from the Falklands."

Scotland

New Lanark Fantastic Soil Association- certified wool in DK and Aran weights. Incredibly reasonably priced. A world heritage site, well worth a visit if you're anywhere near Lanark.

Northern Lace Liz Lovick's website, full of patterns and her own North Ronaldsay Wool - Natural and Hand Dyed

Jamieson's of Shetland

Artisan Threads

The Yarn Yard

Virtual Yarns (Alice Starmore)

Shilsadair

Moondance Wools

Old Maiden Aunt

Wales

Posh Yarn

Fyberspates

Garthenor Organic

Bowmont Braf

Honourwood Flock

Knitwitches

Cambrian Mill (looks like a very interesting place!)

The Wool Hunter

Colinette

Preseli Mohair Centre

Wool Out of Wales
no website but e-mail to pjteamwork@aol.com
(Ravelry page: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/wool-out-of-wales-wool-out-of-wales)

Ireland
To be worked on at a later date!

Kimonoro sizing and yardage

2008-11-16T09:19:00.007Z

This is just a quick post about the Kimonoro. I actually calculated exact yarn requirements (to neareat 5g) which not only helps with having a larger skirt than top section, but also may well help more with yarn substitution. So here are the charts.

Please e-mail me at jowatso21@yahoo.co.uk if you want to discuss.

Happy knitting!
Jo
:-)

_________________________________________________________________

PATTERN NOTES

The band is designed to fit comfortably under your chest and can be pulled as tight or loose as you wish. If you do not like the buttons, or want to have the option of changing the tightness, you can knit I-cord ties (four stitches) and place where the buttons are on the band (you will still require a medium size button for inside). The upper section is designed to fit bra sizes A – C comfortably. If you are a larger cup size, you may well want add in some extra darts. An excellent online tutorial an be found at: http://web.mac.com/honeybee33/iWeb/Site/Reference/A8F85235-97FC-4B2A-9229-BB276C02C46F.html . Remember to add in some extra yarn if you add darts.

The size charts below are split so have the flexibility to make a larger top section or skirt, depending on your requirements. If you have a larger skirt than top (i.e. a size 4 top and size 5 skirt), you will need to add some short rows into the waistband to accommodate the different sizing. Likewise, if you choose to knit a larger top than skirt you will also need to do this. It is suggested that you do not go up/down more than one size.

Bust

30-32”

76 – 81cm

34-36”

86 – 91cm

38-40”

96.5 – 101.5cm

42-44”

107-112cm

46-48”

117-122cm

50-52”

127 – 132cm

54-56”

137 – 142cm

58 – 60”

147- 152.5cm

Finished bust

32”

81cm

36”

91cm

40”

101.5cm

44”

112cm

48”

122cm

52”

132cm

56”

142cm

60”

152.5cm

Waist

22-24”

55.9 – 60.7cm

26-28”

66 – 71cm

30-32”

76.2 – 81.3cm

34-36”

86.4 – 91.4cm

38-40”

96.5 – 101.6cm

42-44”

106.7 – 111.8cm

46-48”

116.8 – 121.9cm

50-52”

127 – 132.1cm

Finished waist

32”

37”

40.7”

44.9”

49.2”

53.5”

57.7”

62”

Upper hips

30 – 32”

34-36”

38-40”

42-44”

46-48”

50-52”

54-56”

58-60”

Lower hips

32 – 34”

36-38”

40-42”

44-46”

48-50”

52-54”

56-58”

60-62”

Finished lower hips

36”

91.4cm

40”

101.6cm

44”

112cm

48”

122cm

52”

132cm

58”

147cm

62”

157.5cm

66”

167.6cm

A: Yarn required for sleeves and upper section

	Yarn	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
A. Sleeves	MC	135g	145g	150g	160g	170g	180g	190g	200g
B. Back & chest	MC	45g +40g 85g	45g +50g 95g	50g +60g 110g	55g +60g 115g	60g +70g 130g	60g +80g 140g	65g +80g 145g	65g +90g 155g
C. Skirt	MC	120g	150g	170g	200g	230g	265g	295g	340g
D. Waist	CC	45g	55g	60g	70g	80g	85g	95g	100g
E. Edges	CC	21g +19g +11g 51g	22g +21g +12g 55g	24g +23g +12g 59g	26g +25g +12g 63g	28g +27g +13g 68g	30g +28g +13g 71g	32g +30g +13g 75g	34g +32g +14g 80g

NB You will need approx 5 grams of each shade for your tension squares.

On colour

2008-11-11T11:59:00.002Z

So it's been hectic as usual, but one thing has really struck me this autumn. The colours of the leaves on the trees have been absolutely fantastic due the ever-increasing silly weather we get here. I've been meaning to take some photos of the trees near home for a while, and finally got around to doing so this morning while taking the dog for a walk. Here are some of the photos from said walk...

I also took photos of the leaves themselves which I'm sure are not that inspiring to look at.

I've been thinking a lot about colour recently and significance to our lives. Why, for example, do we associate the Labour Party with the colour red, the Tories with blue and yet in America it's the other way around - the Democrats are blue and Republicans red? (That's a middle of the night, or rather early morning, thought which came to me when watching Obama give his victory address).

We're surrounded by so many glorious colours every day - just spend some time looking at the skies every afternoon for 10 or 15 minutes for a week and you will see what I mean.

I get so inspired by the colours of nature, I hope you do too.

The Olympics is almost over

2008-08-24T07:39:00.005+01:00

Thankfully.

I've knitted so much in the last few weeks and whilst it's been highly enjoyable I'm tired. Not of knitting, but of thinking about knitting. Here are yesterday's offerings to Bobicus Maximus, for which I was given two badges:

and

I also finished a quick hat yesterday which was intended to be a 'thank you' present to Doug for all his support of me knitting and not doing other stuff - but of course is a bit too small for him and makes his head look even bigger than it's 24", so this is obviously going to be Robbie's (his winter hat he says). One more thing to finish, a scarf, and then that's my knitting finished for the next few days. Doug says he gives me two hours. We'll see.

Our mad evening in Edinburgh

2008-08-24T07:21:00.003+01:00

So, on Thursday evening we had our first time away by ourselves and what did I do? I went to a knitting group at K1 Yarns while Doug went off for a walk around the Festival. This is what the street looked like when I arrived at K1 Yarns

That was just after 6.00pm. Soon the street really filled up and I felt like I was in somewhat of a goldfish bowl. Apparently there has not been one week gone by, not even in the deepest, darkest depths of winter, where the K1 Yarn knitting group has not been photographed. Knitting. What is so amusing to tourists about a group of women (and later on a man as well) sitting in a circle with a few pots of tea knitting is beyond me. I must have had my photo taken 20 times in two and a bit hours. Hopefully we might encourage more people to pick up some wooden sticks and some yarn. All in all, it was the most bizarre and most hilarious knitting group I've been to. I have to admit that the initial reason for wanting to go was to meet someone in person who has designed some patterns that I have knitted and love, Ysolda Teague

It was interesting to hear from someone who is considered to be a leading light in knitting's new wave (if I can call it that) of what she's up to (see the Twist Collective, it's fantastic).

I'm glad that I wasn't the only knitting tourist there - there were two ladies from California and another from London (who was dressed as a scientist as she had just finished a play). All very interesting and I look forward to going back there next time we're in Scotland.

We then tried to go and get something to eat. There's a very nice looking Indian restaurant called Kushi's that we tried to get a table at (depsite being huge and in a beautiful building, there was a wait of 45 minutes), so we went down to the Grassmarket and ended up going to the most fantastic pizza place outside of New York. I have only once eaten such good pizza, at Ray's of Greenwich Village in NYC in 1993. It's called Mamma's and they do the best gluten-free pizza I could possibly imagine. We're taking the kids back there next time we're in Scotland. So refreshing to find a place that does gluten free pizza, and then one that's a fantastic pizza. Doug and I, for a little while anyway, felt like we were in our 20s, not in our 30s, as the music was loud, from about 10 years ago (U2 and the such like) and made me all nostalgic for the States. I lived there in 1992/3 and loved it. God willing we will be going back within the next few years.

Then the heavens opened and we went back to his mum's for tea, QI and a blether with his family. And of course, knitting.

On Scotland

2008-08-21T11:05:00.004+01:00

I love Scotland. The countryside is so beautiful, colours are so rich (despite the dreich weather). I'm on a short break here at my mother in laws and had the pleasure on going up to Skye and Raasay for a couple of days. Yesterday, we visited a place I have long wanted to visit; Shilasdair yarns at Waternish on Skye.

The yarns are quite simply heavenly.

The best part for me was not so much as soaking in all the colour but was meeting Eva and seeing her dyeing room. She's such a lovely lady, and the kids really warmed to her too.

The lady working for Eva (didn't get a name but had on a fantastic Kaffe Fassettesque handknitted cardigan and beautiful silk skirt which matcher perfectly) was so fantastic with Robbie. He had a fantastic time helping stack the shelves and I had to get him a hank of aran red yarn to make him a hat as a reminder of his visit.

It goes without saying that I think a lot of the Scots. On our honeymoon, Doug bought me a book from Borders in Toronto called something like 'How the Scots invented the modern world'. You can see signs all around about what an ingenious people they are. Plus they make the best engineers too! I've been told that some of Doug's colleagues from Jaguar read my blog which I find absolutely hilarious, seeing as I'm sure they're not interested in the slightest in knitting. Doug will not divulge names, but you know who you are!!

I don't pay much attention to comments on my blog, I just see it as some kind of diary actually, but am grateful to said computer geeks at Jaguar for highlighting someone's comments to a previous post. I'm amazed that a fashion designer from Rio de Janiero has left a comment on here too (I had to translate the comment in Babelfish which was interesting!). Now get back to your CAD drawings! (I'm sure you must be CAD engineers but as I said, he won't tell me!)

Off to Edinburgh this afternoon, partly to see some of the Festival but mainly to go to K1Yarns. There was something in one of Yarn Harlot's books (I don't have time to read her blog but do read her books as I'm an avid reader) about knowing you're addicted to knitting when you plan holidays etc. around yarn shops and the such like!

I was very heartened to read that I can possibly throw in a couple of extra quick projects for the Ravlympics (I forgot to bring the Debbie Bliss aran project with me so need to make up by doing some quick projects!) and as it's Thursday morning I reckon I can throw in a couple of projects before Sunday's deadline.

2008-08-14T17:53:00.004+01:00

It really is a very long time since I've been on here. I really do admire people who have the discipline to blog every day. Anyway, not very much to write about as I've been knitting so much recently. So much so I have even neglected things like housework (like I've never neglected that before!). I thought it would be nice to have somewhere to put the recent fruits of my labours, so here they are:
I knitted three hats in three days - one being a warm up (Urchin by Ysolda) and the other two for the Ravlympics. The last minute beret was actually almost entirely knit during the opening ceremony while the other one was knit on days 2 and 3...

I am not feeling particularly inspired to write anything profound; Zoe has been sick today and I've spent most of my day so far looking after her. All I can say is that I'll be glad when the WIP wrestling is finished, not that I'm looking forward too much to a far too adventerous cable knit. I should have realised that cable knitting takes so much longer than normal knitting (well, it is obvious isn't it?!) and that even Debbie Bliss might find it a bit difficult to finish her ribbon tied aran in eight days. No doubt I feel more inspired soon and write something almost interesting.

Dishcloth frenzy and fab calculator

2008-05-16T10:01:00.006+01:00

First of all, I've been having a quick surf in the free patterns at Knitting Daily and found a fantastic calculator thingy which I've got to share with anyone thinking of designing their own sweaters...

http://www.interweave.com/Waist-Shaping-Calculator/Curvy-Waist-Shaping.asp

It's completely fab. Maths is far from my strong point and is the main reason why I've not attempted to design before. But with fab calculators like this available, I need have no fear. I can start putting all these ideas floating around in my head on to paper at long last...

I've not very much to post. I've spent the last couple of days franticall knitting dishcloths and am happy with the results, especially the last one. Here's what they look like.

1. A knitted textured discloth in P&C Peacock and Mardi di Gras

2. A plain ol' Grandmother's favourite in P&C Gumdrop
3. Another knitted texture with a larger moss stitchborder (don't really like how colours pooled on this one)

4. A really quick plain one for Zoe, with her name and flower drawn by Robs on a piece of paper and me copying them on to the dishcloth.

5. And finally a ballband dishcloth in White and Lemon-lime. I love this pattern - guess what people are going to be getting for Christmas and birthdays from now on?!!!
With regards to Crafty Cottage, I'm not sure what's going on. I'm in the process of closing the online shop for now and am probably going to set up an eBay shop. There's a lot going on in the family and I need to devote my time to them and not worry about sending out parcels. Plus the grumpy Post Office man here in the village won't let me send parcels with PayPal labels on as he doesn't get any commission from them which means I need to go into Coventry, and although that's not too far away I'm fed up of having to queue at busier Post Offices with two children who take delight in winding up their mother and being as naughty/loud/whiny/all three as possible!

A pretty perfect day

2008-05-10T21:31:00.004+01:00

I can honestly say that today has been the first day in a very long time that I have truly happy and content. It started by getting more done on the Clapotis and the kids playing very nicely together. Then the boys spent the morning cleaning the cars. Doug being the perfectionist that he is has done a valet-level clean inside and out...

So why was it perfect today? Major plus is the early summer weather we're having. The car said it was 26 degrees today, weatherman 24. It was a tad humid today which wasn't that nice and made me wish we were as close to the Meditterean as my parents are (can you believe they've been there almost five weeks and not been for a swim in the sea yet despite it being in the 30s!!!). But, alas, we are blessed with a truly wonderful garden. In the afternoon this is what happened.

Me, on the shady side of the garden...
and the boys planting potatoes on the other side...
The only thing missing was a glass of Pimms!!! Such a shame it is ending with Finham sewers stinking out the whole of Baginton - it is truly disgusting.

Overcoming technology

2008-05-01T10:01:00.009+01:00

I am not the exactly the most computer literate person there is in the world. I can use Word, Powerpoint, Excel to do basic things, Outlook and of course the internet. But I feel I have scored a major victory; I have started using Firefox - a thousand times better than Explorer- and got rid of the BT internet security pack in favour of Norton. The result? Much faster computer and no problems downloading & uploading stuff. I am so much happier that I don't have to wait half an hour to download things (Ok, half an hour is an exaggeration but it seems like that sometimes) and I have no problems whatsoever on the Ravelry pattern browser. The latter being the most important for someone who goes on Ravelry three or four times a day.

Things I've wanted to write about over the past few months now...

Shop closing
The retail shop of Crafty Cottage closed in March. Warwick is such a funny place. It seems there are shops opening and closing there all the time. I predict pretty much all of the delis/sandwich bars will have suffered a huge loss in trade thanks to the new M&S, but in all truth there is only one group of people who I blame for bad trade in Warwick - traffic wardens - or rather their employer, the Council. There were two that drove me particularly insane and waited by meters for tickets to run out so they could give me a ticket. I ended up getting eight....

The business didn't take off as I had hoped. Terrible location didn't help. Anyway, there was only one day a week when it was worth opening - Saturdays- and the rest of the week was generally very quiet. While I got loads of knitting done, made some great friends and people were popping in for cups of tea all the time, I was simply not making enough to pay the huge running costs. On top of that, I had got to the end of the reduced rent period and as the bank had taken away my overdraft and refused me a loan, I had to close. Part of me misses the shop, but acutally the majority of me is relieved. I never realised how much hard work is involved in running a shop and if you're doing it by yourself it is a constant struggle, and sometimes you don't get very much sleep....

My highlight of the shop was on 1st March, when we had a Ravelry day. In fact it was when 70 or so Ravellers made my dreams come true. The shop was absolutely heaving and along with the very generous buffet everyone had a great time. It was so nice to put names to faces.

Wonderwool
So I got a last minute stand at Wonderwool and snapped it up. Right next to all the sheep and alpacas. Here's a photo...
Due to the short notice and inability to get a van for under £250, we decided to take as much as we could in our two cars and camp there...
As you can probably tell, the kids though it was a fantastic adventure - we did not. It is the last time I am going camping. Ever.

We met some lovely people at the show and Robbie made friends with Thomas the Alpaca
and with Posh Dee

And by the end of the day, it had all got a bit too much for Zoe, who feel asleep in Daisy's arm (note Daisy's hippy new age festival outfit!)

On meeting Louisa Harding

2008-03-27T11:31:00.003Z

Left to right: Cheryl, Daisy, Sarah, me, Mandy is just about visible behind me, Louisa, Tanisha & Angie...

As you can see from this photo, a group of us met Louisa Harding in February. We had a great time, including Daisy getting lots of buttons from the Button Company. After visiting a couple of stands we descended upon the Designer Yarns stand where we met the fab Louisa Harding. It was fab to meet such a down to earth person - who is also a working mum- and someone who is incredibly talented. She told us where she gets her inspiration from; Dauphine was inspired by the film 'Marie Antoinette' by Sophie Ford Coppola and 'Summer Classics' by the Great Gatsby. Look at both books and you'll see the connections.

After meeting her, we all got inspired to knit some of her creations - from kids clothes (me) to accessories. It was so nice to see the real person behind the brand. The only regret from the day is that I didn't meet Debbie Bliss, but I did leave my Baby Knits for Beginners with Louisa and Debbie signed it for me.

3rd time lucky!

2008-02-23T20:46:00.001Z

So I've tried to post twice on to the blog from the shop, so I thought I'd try a quick go at home to see if this a better option.

Not much to report, except that it's Ravelry day next week and I'm very excited but also very nervous as there's so much to do before then. Lots of lovely people are being very supportive - lots of the Crafty Cottagettes are coming for the day to help out, and Louisa Harding is sending us some goodies for a raffle as she's unable to come along. We've got some fantastic new yarns winging their way to us - such as Rosarios4 milk fibre yarn from Portugal and the new Chou'7 sock yarn from Bergere de France - as well as everyone's favourite Noro Silk Garden and Kureyon- and some lovely Silky Merino from Manos del Uruguay... Just hope the Peaches n Creme, Handmaiden, Fleece Artist & Malabrigo arrive on time!!!

Also very exciting is that we've got some local small companies' yarn at the shop now- Charkha Yarns and Shades of Cashmere, and there may well be more by the end of the week.

I've got to get back to tension square knitting now - I'm determined that there will be a square of prett much every yarn before the end of the week!

Look forward to meeting you all

A very tired Jo
x

2007-12-24T18:02:00.000Z

So I've finally recovered from having to knit with acrylic. It was horrible. I spent a lot of time knitting the horrible little things, only for them not to be picked up yesterday. I shoved them and the horrible yarn in the cupboard at the shop. Here's a photo of me two nights ago, knitting away. Notice I have a cup of tea and slice of cake nearby, plus some gorgeous Malabrigo Gruesa (with which I whipped up a quick hat for my brother in law, which my mother in law seems to be wearing).

And I've started the Harry Potter scarf. Having never watched a Harry Potter film, I had no idea the scarves are so long. The pattern calls for 86" of scarf. Needless to say, there's no way it is going to be that long. I love the yarn - Cascade 220- it's such a pleasure to knit with, but I can't wait to get my teeth into something more interesting. I've queued some interesting socks on Ravelry as a reward, a promise of things to come, and also the lovely Snowdrop Shawl by Yarn Harlot. Ravelry drives me crazy because it is so wonderful; there are so many things that I want to make, I don't know how my hands will get everything done!

So it is Christmas Eve. I'm sitting here with carols on in the background, from King's College Cambridge. All very nice, with the occassional undergraduate - all with very posh accents- doing readings. The kids are running around being noisy, the inlaws are in the kitchen chatting and Ewan is making the kids' tea. Doug and I have two minutes to ourselves, where we are not being climbed over etc. My wonderful mother in law has spent the day doing all of our laundry. A true Christmas present in itself. I can't remember the last time I saw the top of the washing machine and tumble dryer not covered in stuff waiting to be ironed! Pre-kids, I used to be incredibly house proud and was always on top of housework. The last year or so, I've given up trying to keep on top of the housework seeing as these two generally get very raucous when I try to do housework and usually mess it up again within five minutes of me cleaning it up. Plus I've got the knitting bug too so when I do have time to do housework, I actually knit. I'm sure others reading this are the same.

I actually am not looking forward to wrapping presents tonight, as it is going to detract time away from my needles!!

OK, well I'm going to wish you all a very merry Christmas now. Have a fantastic day tomorrow!

2007-12-19T11:35:00.000Z

This is going to be a very short post today, seeing as I have a stack of knitting to get done for the end of the week. After the post yesterday, I took the kids to see Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium. I highly recommend this film to everyone - it is absolutely wonderful and I think Dustin Hoffman deserves an Oscar for it. The kids thought it was amazing and it gave me a kind of renewed vigour. Everyone, adults and kids alike, came out the cinema smiling at each other. I can't remember the last time I went to a film and the cinema staff smiled at me.

We then went to the new Ikea. It was quite busy and we didn't stay that long. They've got a play area in the kids' section which the kids enjoyed greatly - and which I also enjoyed as I got some time to do more of Robbie's sock, purched on a bright red kids' chair. Amazing how many looks I got off people, looking at the sock and trying to figure out what I was doing. I wonder if I am the first person to knit there?!!

So back to the figures from hell. After I got home last night and the kids were safely tucked up in bed, I decided to have another go. But not at old Chippy, but the Mayor. And guess what?! It's working perfectly. I've still got loads to do on them, but I should get them finished by the end of the week.

No hangover!!!

2007-12-18T09:11:00.000Z

Thanks to the wonderful advice of Dr Hillary Jones on Steve Wright in the Afternoon, I do not have a hangover. I will have to send them an e-mail to thank them. Despite drinking copious amounts of alcoholic beverage last night at the shop - so much that I lost count and couldn't say 'Wingham Wools' at one point- I drank two pints of water when I got home, one with 2 tablets of vitamin C and then had paracetemol this morning with a cup of tea. OK, so I haven't had the banana smoothie that Dr Hillary swears by, but I did pretty much follow all the other advice. I think this is the first time in my life that I've actually thought he's been of any use.

Well, we had a very good night last night. It was lovely to see someone I hadn't seen for a while (Wendy Knitwit) as well as welcome a newbie (Davina). Heaven only knows what she thinks of me; she must think I am a complete alkie! Cheryl looked fantastic in a jacket she had knitted all by herself - photo to follow tomorrow when I've got the camera. I have to admit that my memory of the evening is somewhat patchy, although I do remember some of the conversations! I also remember being determined to do some knitting - heavens only knows what it looks like. I am sure I will find that quite amusing tomorrow when I have a look at it. Perhaps someone can fill me in on what was discussed?!! I remember asking people not to buy anything so I didn't have to use the computer. I must have been bad. Hopefully I was just amusing.

So I brought in the deceased Chippy Minton last night (he got cut up in frustration). The other figures are just as much a pain in the arse as him. Hopefully a miracle will happen and I will get them done in two days - there's absolutely no way I'm going to get any knitting done until this evening, given the way I feel just now.

I have a day with the kids to look forward to now. We're off to the cinema later. I don't know if you saw Yarn Harlot's blog a few days ago, but she talked about having small children and about them essentially running your life, allowing you to have a life of your own when they feel like it (or something along those lines). You would think that being self-employed means that you can mix your professional life in more easily with family demands. I don't think that's true for a minute, in fact it is harder as people have different expectations of you (i.e. your husband). There are certainly benefits though, like the fact I can essentially decide not to open the shop should my kids be ill, and I wouldn't be able to not go into work if I had an office job (I don't know how people with small kids who both work cope when the little ones are sick).

POTED, or Putting Off the Evil Day

2007-12-17T10:20:00.000Z

Anyone who went to Finham Park School in the 1980s-1990s will know this phrase, thanks to Mr Hyland the History Teacher. He has left this earth since I learned this phrase, but it has always stuck with me. Such a nice guy, bit bonkers, huge fan of Ozzy Osbourne (apparently they grew up around the corner from each other).

Anyway, I am completely putting off the evil day and procrastination is the name of the game today. I refer to Camberwick Green figures. I can't help it, I just hate acrylic yarn! Doug said to me last night that I really should be getting on with them, seeing as I need to have them finished for Friday at the very latest. So what did I do? I started a sock for Robbie, justifying it to myself that he had handpicked some Opal sock yarn ages ago and asked me to make a pair for him. I've almost completed the first sock. It's so much fun knitting socks for people with smallish feet (he's already a UK 10.5 and he's only 4 and a bit). I highly doubt that I'm ever going to buy socks for them again. Well not for a few years anyway. I've already eyed up some Tofusies in pick for a pair for Zoe, and also some of the rainbowish Opal yarn. And then I'll perhaps eventually get around to a pair for myself. I am now a confirmed sock knitter so will have to join the sock knitting groups on Ravelry. Why oh why are socks so addictive?

In further attempts to procrasinate, I am currently eyeing up the base of the Christmas tree, planning to do a skirt for it as soon as possible. I obviously don't have time to knit one (I'd love to do one Manos one in the Holiday Handknits book but me thinks it would take about four weeks at least, not four days!) so am going to do a patchwork one instead. I've been inspired by my visit on Saturday to the quiliting shop in Smith Street, so I'm going to get out some of my fabrics and machine.

And if that weren't enough procrastination for the day, I am going to shut the door on the utility room. The washing machine and tumble dryer are literally covered with piles of laundry waiting to be ironed (ha! good joke) and desperately wanting to actually being put in wardrobes and draws. This now only gets done when my mother in law is here. Too much knitting, not enough time.

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

2007-12-15T13:47:00.000Z

... but inside Crafty Cottage it's delightful!

You've guessed it, I'm in super festive mood. I've found there's a free Christmas music radio station on iTunes and have been feeling festive all morning. Well, since Doug and the kids left at 11am that is. I love my kids more than anything, but it is so nice to have some time apart - as I'm sure most mums feel some of the time.

Warwick is freezing, grey and miserable today. I know - I've been for a walk around the town today to go and visit a few shops and have a wander around the market. There's a fantastic new stall there, a lady selling organic jams (who can go wrong with 3 for a fiver) so of course I bought some off her. She was standing there shivering, just trying to get her new venture off the ground. I've taken some of her little cards and there'll be on the counter in the shop.

So I went down to the fantastic quilting shop on Smith Street. I highly recommend a visit. They've got some beautiful fabrics for sale as well as lots of ready made items too. I bought the kids some little handmade Christmas stockings, which will probably be used to shove a load of sweets in. They do workshops there, so when I get their website address I'll post a link on my blog and the shop website too. I went to the knitting and sewing machine shop too and have found out that they stock everything I could possibly need for the knitting machine.

I'm so glad that I went for quite a generic name for the shop, which sort of encompasses all crafts, really. We're putting together a new business plan in the hope that we can get another loan to help fund the rest of the improvements to the shop, but also because we've had so many people come in asking about embroidery threads, cross stitch and tapestry. I have to admit I know little about these three crafts, having only dabbled in cross stitch and tapestry, but there appear to be plenty of people in the area who are interested and are willing even to come and run workshops for us... Here's praying!

My knitting has come to a bit of a standstill over the past few days. I think it is the shock of having produced a relatively lovely hat for my sister in a relatively short amount of time that has done me in! I've started on a pair of the Opal Picture Bergere de France socks, which you knit on two normal needles (Ok, bloody small normal needles) so the stripes run along your feet and not around. Does that make sense? Here's a photo.

Since completing Doug's socks earlier this week (which we is wearing today for the first time - smiles of joy on my face!!) I am now going a bit mad for sock yarn. Is this a common problem for sock knitters?! I have the sense of achievement of one pair of huge socks so now am planning to make socks for the entire family. I bought some fab patterns from Getknitted last night so I can plan to be a bit more adventerous with the next pair.

I love Getknitted and aspire to their greatness. David and Sue are such lovely people and have been so supportive of this shop. David has been so kind, sharing his experiences of the past four years with me on several occassions and it is great to have someone on the end of a phone who can give some fantastic advice. I have purchased some Cascade 220 from them to make a Harry Potter scarf for my sister-in-law for Christmas, and I also want to have a go at using Cascade before I potentially get any in next year. I have only ever heard good things about them, unlike some other online shops, too which says a lot.

A customer has just walked into the shop and I really should talk to her seeing as she looks like a serious knitter!

Bye for now!

2007-12-11T07:24:00.001Z

So I can hear a Bob Marley - yes him of Liquid fame (the Cov KnitWits will know what I mean!) - singing 'don't worry about a thing, 'cos every little thing going to be alright'.

First of all, I feel very blessed that I have made some wonderful friends this year. Thank you to everyone for caring. I'm really glad that you all like the shop so much!

I am feeling pretty confident that the shop is going to be OK. I've had lots of prayers and offers of help from some lovely people, so here's hoping that it will all work out. I really believe that everything happens for a reason and perhaps I'm not meant to be doing this on my own anymore.

The baby on the blog, by the way, is Zoe. It's the very first photo of her, taken literally a minute after she was born. She was the inspiration for me to knit again, so it seemed fitting to put a photo of her on here.

I've got to get back to the needles. My sister goes to Canada tomorrow and I've got to finish the lace chevron beret for her. It's a pretty simple knit but interesting enough that you need to think a wee bit, which is pretty good seeing as I feel tired and sore. I'm doing it in Silk Garden Lite to match the Argosy scarf. I think she's going to look quite fab and ever so stylish. I've then got to get back to the Camberwick Green figures that I'm doing for a lady at the solicitors next door. She can't knit, and told me that her three year old son loves Camberwick Green. So the mug I am said I would knit them for her. I am hating it; firstly she got the required horrible acrylic from up the road- how can anyone enjoying knitting with acrylic is beyond me (yes, I am a complete yarn snob)- and they're so bloody fiddly. Alan Dart has got a lot to answer for! Note to self: refuse to knit anything designed by Alan Dart ever again unless it can be knitted in proper wool and is of a decent size (i.e the Ark)!

Have a good day all

Jo
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2007-12-04T20:02:00.000Z

In the 'old' days of six months ago, I used to love nice, simple projects which used lots of garter stitch and were preferably for babies. How times have changed. I've got several WIPs on the go at the moment which are simple garter or stocking stitch and I am so BORED! The worst WIP by far is the socks for Doug, although I am chipping away, doing a few rounds a day to get them finished by Christmas - they were only started in September! Note to self: don't make your first pair of socks for the person with the largest feet in your family!

Tanisha brought a copy of the most fantastic knitting book I've seen in ages to the knitting group last night- called something like Holiday Knits (by Melanie Fallick). Sorry for vagueness of title-this will be corrected tomorrow as I rushed around to Warwick Books this morning to order a copy in. There are so many fantastic projects in there, for beginners to amazing knitters like Jo, Jane and Kate.

One day, not too soon away, I'm determined to have a go at doing lace proper so am going to drop some not so subtle hints to Doug about Christmas presents (and the fact that I've got a wish list on Amazon!!)

So why is some things never work out how you expect?! I made a little stocking (30 stitches on 2.75mm DPNs) out of some sample 4 ply mohair that I was sent by Jan at Hicks Angora. I was under the impression that all animal fibres are meant to felt. Not this stocking - it actually grew! Can anyone please explain this to me? Needless to say, I'm going to stick to smaller needles and less stitches so no felting is needed.

I can't wait to get to a newsagents tomorrow morning and buy Simply Knitting; the mums and tots knitting group is club of the month. It's so exciting to see something that I've worked pretty hard for over the past 10 months to get some good coverage in the major national knitting magazine.

So, to Victorian evening. For those of you who know me well, it will come as no surprise that everything was done at the last minute. I spent most of Thursday making a semi-authentic (well authentic pattern at least) dress on which to put the wonderful Bosom Friend (I'll get some photos on here tomorrow when at the shop). I was lucky to bump into a fantastic signwriter too so the window is looking quite cool.

I need to get on with some actual knitting now; I had Robbie in the shop all day and while he was pretty amusing to the two customers who came in, he completely distracted me and then I've spent far too long on Ravelry this evening.

A busy day with my little helper

2007-11-22T20:13:00.000Z

So Zoe wasn't at nursery today and therefore I had to bring her to the shop with me. She was generally in pretty good form seeing as she has a cold, all thanks to the Barbie Princess DVD. Thank the Lord for DVDs that can keep children entertained for hours on end.

I'm starting to learn that you can never predict what happens in retail from one week to the next. Last Thursday I had the quietest day since opening, today the busiest non-Saturday since opening. Did the half-price Debbie Bliss help?! Probably.

Due to being busy in the shop and being on mum duties all day, I hardly have done any knitting today and am therefore going to knit a few rows in a couple of minutes. I'm sure my friend sitting next to me, Char d'Onnay will also help the knitting too!

The only exciting knitting news for today is that my 'Bosom Friend' is now dry and is awaiting button and tassle - and the very tiny size 10 mannequin to arrive! I only wish I had more time to get some Victorian patterns done but I don't think it's going to happen. I'm still undecided as to whether I am going to get dressed up in Victorian costume for next week - any ideas?

So here's my first post

2007-11-21T19:00:00.000Z

Here I am at home, after a fairly long and quiet day at the shop. I'm afraid to say I'm being a bit of a bad mum as the kids are still up and playing as I want to spend some time on the computer. And they were late to nursery/school this morning for the same reason.

So Kate (Knit the Knits) came into the shop for the first time today. I've been reading her amazing blog, looking at her amazing WIPs and was inspired.

I'll post some more tomorrow when I have a bit more spare time.