Behind the Scenes : Making Work Fun

If you've already bought the first issue of TEND, then you will recognise this model straight away as the one showing off the knitting pattern. She also happens to be my sister, a good sport, generous with her time and, above all, a complete loon.

Taking snaps for an afternoon can get a little tedious once the novelty has worn off, but you can guarantee that at some point the fun will start, and we'll be giggling and laughing like silly school girls, usually when I look through the eye-piece to start shooting and am met with....




Seriously. Silly shots, catalogue pointing-into-the-middle-distance shots, crossed eyes, knitting needles up noses - anything stupid and we're off cackling and I can hardly keep the camera straight. We do get the shots we want eventually, but not before a lot of side-tracking.

Laughter is the best medicine, and sometimes when it all gets a bit serious and too much like hard work I stop what I am doing and I take a glance at these pictures (and images like them) and join in the laughter. Because, honestly, life is too short not to, and without a giggle, what's the point?

Foray into Fair Isle

So, over the festive period I managed to acquire a Kate Davies pattern package kit - with yarn enough to cover the hot water bottle that was provided.

My first real foray into Fair Isle knitting I was met with learning a new cast on method from the get-go (Turkish cast on, which is genius pure and simple). The pattern was simple and easy to follow and it wasn't long before I had knit the project up (sans pom poms. I detest pom poms) and was itching for more. So two new small hot water bottles were found on eBay and that's my next mission.








I even dabbled in combining my obsession with my childrens' - Minecraft. We'll see where that leads...


What can I say? I love yarn, but this yarn blew me away. I just love it. Jamieson & Smith 100% Shetland Heritage comes in a number of shades and just goes on and on and on. With such pretty shades, and such a simple concept to produce amazing results (and such speedy delivery times from Meadow Yarn, oh dear) I think it's safe to say I'm not done with Fair Isle just yet.




Oh no, not by a long shot.

A Simple Cowl : Take 2

I like the Simple Cowl I knitted a while back, so much so that when I found some more chunky yarn in another colour I couldn't resist, I just had to make another.

I love the warmth of it, the ease of the knit, and the fact that it acts as a khimr meaning I can wear a hat instead of scarf when I go out. Not that I mind wearing a scarf, but I do so like a good hat in this weather.

Any patterns you could recommend? What are you knitting?

The Makings of a Hat

The Peace Fleece was quickly worked up into this, another Butterfly Hat. Every version of this I have so far made has been snaffled by other people, so I'm hiding this one just for me.

Details to follow on Ravelry at some point.

A Simple Cowl

There is one thing you should know about me - I hate having my photograph taken. I hate it so much that I actually refused from the age of 23 to 30 to have a picture with me in it. Because I never like what I see. And that's silly, because now I have children, they NEED pictures of us for their own memories when we're long gone. The irony that I looked my absolute best at the very time I would not let anyone capture it forever has not been lost to me. I do tell my boys, 'I once looked human - like a real lady, not this brain-dead, sap-sucked, withered specimen you have before you', but alas, without proof they think I'm joking (I actually found my old passport last week and showed the midget - he was shocked, IS THAT REALLY YOU!!?! so perhaps all isn't lost).

But photographs? Not me.

So understand these coming images are hard to share, but as I wanted to show you my new cowl in situ and not just plonked on the bed I thought a recent day out with the boys would be a fine time to get them to hone their photographic skills and to get me into photographic existence.







This cowl took one evening to complete. A break was needed from other projects with no pressure and no deadlines and this fit the bill perfectly. It is the Woodland Cowl knit up on 10mm needles flat. Yarn was two skeins of Seriously Chunky Wool, in Barley.

It's a seriously warm cowl, and seriously easy knit. And even though this yarn is acrylic (I know!) I still like it a lot.

Details to follow on Ravelry.





And now mama would like her camera back. Yes, she would. Yes, she wooooould.....

It's a yarn thing

Yarn: it seems to be the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of before I fall asleep - the first thing I reach for over morning tea, and the last thing I put down before turning in.

Some people comfort eat? I comfort knit.

Does it matter that I've got several garter knit projects on the go? In the same colour? In various weights of yarn? Not really. Does it matter that I've got about five (or six. Or seven. Oh my.) projects on the go all at once? Nope. Does it matter that some of those projects have been on the needles for over a year? Hmmm no. Not really.

Because yarn? It keeps me sane, soothes my shattered nerves and lulls my brain from red alert!! to soft amber. When those needles are in my hands my babes know they are at liberty to talk to me till my ears bleed, that they can admit to past wrongs, ask for future favours and generally sit in my presence safe in the knowledge that no nagging, yelling, whining or snapping will be forthcoming, because those needles? They might as well have diazepam in them.

An oasis of calm in the middle of hectic days.

Knitting By Night

Knitting by lamplight, (fake) fire flickering, Jane Eyre blaring, blankets on knees and warm milk and tisane at hand. It's a little bit of heaven, really.

I can feel the slump in my energy levels beginning, nothing seems to thwart the onset of that - any herbs I haven't tried? Suggestions? Oh, but if you are going to hibernate, I can think of no better way to do it.

With knitting and Jane. Bliss.

Progress

The FLS replacement sweater in progress. Still in Quince in the honey shade, this time in Lark, not Finch. I cannot bring myself to repeat the FLS, so garter it is.

The Thing With Wool....

So. I love the FLS sweater I knit a while back. It kept me company and lovely and snug all last winter. It came to London with us on holiday. I cannot say enough nice things about this yarn, this yummy yarn that is JUST the right colour, and JUST the right bounce and is JUST so nice to knit with. I love it so.

But what can I say? I should not left loose with a nice knit in real yarn and a washing machine? Yep. That, and possibly what was I thinking??

Because that's the thing with wool - it needs gentle handling. It needs love, cosseting, gentle soap and a sink to waft it around in... gently (I mentioned the gently part?), because wool, if handled incorrectly has a tendency to... oh, I don't know... felt?











Yeah. Felt. SHRINK and felt.

So next time I think I'll just quickly place a lovingly hand knit into the washer to give it a bit of a freshen up, that perhaps I should a) not do that b) not place spin on 1000rpm and c) get a lobotomy.

The upside is the midget has a new sweater. The downside is I'm an idiot and need to knit another sweater.