Yum, yum! The yarn I was enthusing about yesterday is giving me such a thrill! It looks like a pretty tartan pattern knit up in this quick slip stitch, doesn't it?
I've almost finished one sock (it'll be done in the pub tonight).
If anyone wants to join me, I knit in the Rose and Crown in Stoke Newington every Friday night between 5 and 7:30.
Like many other knitters, I developed intarsia fatigue after Kaffe Fasset's appearance. Fairisle knitting never appealed to me much because of how quickly and easily it could be done on a machine, leading to lots of cheap and ugly patterning.
But now I have finally discovered the joy of fairisle! I owe this partly to Kate Davies and her wonderful Neep Head hat. (She models it beautifully on her blog so I won't post pictures of me wearing it.)
And partly to the discovery of the pleasure of using real Shetland wools. These beautiful wools are soft but wiry enough to make colourwork knitting a breeze. They come in a huge range of solid and heathered colours. Combining colours is endlessly fascinating.
These yarns are pure wool and wouldn't be strong enough to run through a knitting machine easily. They are best hand knit. I've tried:
Spindrift from Jamieson's
2-ply jumper weight from Jamieson and Smiths
2-ply from Alice Starmore's Virtual yarns
and Rowan 4-ply Scottish (used to be called Harris) tweed
They are all beautiful and I would love to have some in every colour!
Yes, I've been knitting a lot of tams. I've knit many other things too, but tams are such a great way to explore colour and patterns and perfect wear at this time of year. I've even worn one to bed on cold nights!
That's enough tam time for now. I don't want to give you colourwork fatigue. But if you are interested pick up a copy of Alice Starmore's recently republished Book of Fair Isle Knitting. It's a great history and technique book as well as knitter's eye candy.
Just a quick final word for those of you who don't know, I'm working at Loop several days a week now. You can find me there every Monday, Tuesday and alternating Sundays. Please say hello if you read my blog. My yarn passion of the week from Loop is this Misti Alpaca sock yarn:
All my favourite colours in one gorgeous yarn! Yum!
I've got so much I want to blog about but no time at the moment. However, I was so excited by this Latvian Mitten project that I had to link to it and tell the world immediately.
Maybe it's my inner Canadian, but I love mittens. I've been planning my own mitten post for a while. Let these wet your appetite...
Just a small sampling of the 3000 Mittens the Latvians have knit for the NATO summit.
More from me soon!
I'm still not feeling settled back in London or my studio. The list of things I want to do is so much longer than the list of things I can do in a day. I'm having trouble settling to one task and putting aside the others.
So, ignoring my task list, I went off to the flower market with my sister. Look giant polka dot tea!
And dreamy flowers...
I hate to be another blogger to fill my post with flower pictures, but tis the season.
I'm knitting this Louisa Harding number.
China has a population of a billion people. One billion. That means even if you're a one in a million kind of guy, there are still a thousand others exactly like you. ~ A. Whitney Brown
I'm back in London. Back in the hubub and the stink. But I'm making good use of it. After my summer of Project Runway veiwings, I can't wait to start sewing some fabulous clothes and I've been looking around for inspriration. I have all of my September issues and I've even visited a few fancy shops to check out my faves.
As always, I love the clothes at Future Classics. I think this is the perfect dress:
Funky, vintage-looking, flattering and fresh. It is draped ingeneously and the silk crepe de chine with dirty-dip-dyed hem is to die for.
However, the price at £761, is far beyond me!
I'm also loving Future Classics tailored jackets. I'm determined to wear the new shoulder. My son says it makes me look like I have muscles.
It's also supposed to make your waist look smaller. We can dream, can't we!
I like a bit of military influence in a jacket too. Especially the front cut away and the all the vertical braid detailing like in this jacket by Bird Juicy Couture.
Or this Twenty8Twelve jacket:
It has some great lacing and flap details in the back:
Although, I think it needs more shoulder. How quickly my eye has readjusted to the pad! Or rather not the pad, but the height, as the new shoulders are not so much padded as cut and interfaced or boned into their shapes. Fun pattern cutting stuff.
As soon as I've unpacked and decluttered my studio, I'll be off and drafting. Stay tuned.
It's my last few days in the woods and then home to London and urban life. I hate to leave. Every year it's such a wrench!
I didn't do much painting this summer but the knitting juices have flowed and my design brain has been recharged and is very excited to get back to some autumn sewing. My friend lent me the first four seasons of Project Runway this summer, and I'm a comlete addict. I've come late to the party but I'm a PR fan now!
I lost 35lbs last year and it took a while to get used to dresssing my new figure. I'm used to it now and I have big plans for a fabulous coat wardrobe (with some embroidered details) and a special dress or two. I'll have to draft slopers for my new measurements, so I'll post about that for anyone who is interested. It's not that hard. (Slopers are the basic template from which patterns with styling and ease are drafted).
I joined the shawlette love club this summer and knit lots of little shawl/scarves. I tried the ever popular Ishbel pattern by Ysolde and agree it's wonderful! I think it's great because:
It's also beautiful in the large shawl size, here in the scrumptious Handmaiden Maiden Hair in Hummingbird colourway:
My son took this slighly embarresing picture of me modelling it by the lake.
I look silly (and the summer's pie is showing on my thighs) but I think the shawl will be great with my autumn wardrobe. I plan to do a month of regular posting to Wardrobe Remix in autumn so you'll see more of me in costume if you stay tuned.
I've been working on a number of my own designs, some have gone well, others still need work. This Scribble shawl will have to be frogged:
I love how it resembles moths wings but I was having trouble with the increases. I need to work out an easier way of achieving this look. I'll keep at it.
Time to pack up. I'll see ya'll back in London!
I'm feeling elated to be home in Canada in my cabin in the woods - to smell the cedars and the lake and walk through the woods! Absolute joy!
Another of the many exciting things about being in Canada is having a good snoop around the yarn stores looking at hard-to-get-in-the-UK yarns. My favourite yarn is anything by Handmaiden/Fleece Artist. I love the fibres, spins and the colours!
I am in love with this beautiful Handmaiden yarn, Silk Twist. The silk ply shimmers as it twists around the wool. And look, it comes in a perfect colour for a girl in love with the woods.
I knit it up into a Eliina shawl.
To wear in the woods.
Although today I go to town. Maybe I'll take it with me.
I've just been camping with my son's graduating primary school class. He got lost with another boy in the woods of Epping Forest for a few scary hours, but came back happy. They were on an adventure and imagined themselves as a wizard and a monk, which is much better than what I was imagining!
While away, I knit my Camp Betty hat in Rowan's Purelife 4-ply cotton:
I'm writing the pattern for it now and will be offering it for free next week.
If you go into the woods, remember your magic wand!
I've knit up two Meret Berets (pattern by Woolly Wormhead) with the merino I dyed last week. It is much too hot to model them so I'll show you flat pictures. This is the Chalcedony colourway. And this is raindrop:
This merino is softer than cashmere. So lovely!
I'm writing my summer knitting patterns and packing my painting materials for my trip to Canada. I get so busy before I leave!
I love dying yarn! It combines several of my passions; colour, painting and yarn! Last night, I demonstrated dying to my friend Dawn.
I took two skeins of Colourmart merino and painted on acid dyes. I then steamed them and Voila, the colour is set. If you you are a knitter and don't know about Colourmart, you are really missing out: great value, (mostly cashmere), high quality yarns.
I call this colourway raindrop. It is mostly pale blue-greens with a sprinkling of lilac.
This is Chalcedony. I was aiming for a semi-solid here, the colour of a chalcedony stone in my friend Henny's (check out her website, she's a great painter) earring.
I think I got it. I'll have to see what Henny thinks.
I've also been to the Hayward Gallery to see the Walking in my Mind exhibition. Not so interested all the junk in the men's minds but delighted to discover Yayoi Kusama and her polka dot hallucinations.
Me so happy!
