Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

FO: Rosa's Quilt & London Marathon stuff

I simply can't believe that this has taken me so long to complete. But it's done now, hurrah! I had completed the top and basted it together with the backing and wadding back in January. I knew that quilting and binding wasn't going to be a big job, but I've had a bit of a block about getting my machine out and just doing it. I really don't know why - I love sewing, and was really looking forward to getting on with a few half-finished quilt projects. Somehow there have just been too many other things to do.

On Friday afternoon, once I had finished our packing for London, I finally sat down and quilted. It took me all of about an hour and a half to do shadow lines around each of the main blocks, and then to attach the binding. I then set to slip-stitching the other side of the binding in the car.

We are staying with lovely Belinda this weekend, and Immy has been keeping careful watch over the quilt. She came for a sniff, to investigate what it was all about, but didn't seem too impressed with it!

We headed out and about yesterday - first stop was the ExCel centre to pick up Jim's race number. He's number 45699 and if you want to track his progress, you can do so at this link: London Marathon Tracking

I also want to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who has donated or bought a Ready, Steady Go! pattern. Jim's fundraising has been more successful than we ever dared to imagine, and he is now flying past his £3,000 goal. As it stands just now, the totaliser says: £3,108.48 which is flipping incredible. Refuge does amazing work with people experiencing domestic violence and every penny of that money will be put to good use. We will continue to add pattern sales to the total as they sell. I also can't believe that there are still a few skeins of the GORGEOUS Go! Green for Refuge Semi Precious yarn by BabyLongLegs. It's £14 for a 100g skein and all proceeds from sales of this yarn are going to Refuge. Do treat yourself (or I'm going to have all the remaining skeins, as it's just my colour!!). Once again a huge thank you to everyone who has helped with any of the fundraising. You are all BRILLIANT!

Once we had picked up Jim's race number, we took the cable car over to the O2, and then walked along the river to Cutty Sark. It was such a beautiful day yesterday. And it was the first time in ages that I've been outside and done some exercise. Thanks Belinda & Neil for a lovely day!

When we got back, I collapsed on the sofa and set to finishing the binding of the quilt. And before I knew it, I was fastening off the last thread. I'm really pleased with this little quilt - it's got lots of lovely pictures and colours and things, and I hope that Rosa will enjoy snuggling under it as she gets bigger.

I really enjoyed making it for her. (It's a Riley Blake layer cake, backed with a simple blue and white spot fabric and plain cream binding in case you're interested.)

So that pretty much brings us up to date, I think. I should now get out of bed, as Jim is about to head off to run the furthest he has ever run. I am too proud for words of his acievements already. He more than deserves every single one of these cakes that his students made for him last week:

Legendary!

I hope to be back later with a marathon report, but I might not manage it as we have to drive home tonight, and tomorrow is a very big day for us. If nothing appears here, then head over to TrueBrit Knits, as Belinda has said that she will pop something up for us. :)

These aren't the socks you're looking for...

Forgive the cheesy Star Wars inspired title for today's post. The news this morning must have infiltrated my brain!

I was expecting to be sharing with you some pictures of my first Willowherb sock from Coop Knits Socks (have you bought your copy yet?). But instead, I've had a fit of guilt about some socks that were promised earlier in the year. My brother-in-law has long been a connoisseur of hand-knitted socks, and in January, his lovely partner, Charlie, asked if she could go on the list for a pair of her own. I think that she borrows Ed's socks from time to time...

We searched through my sock yarn stash, and looked at the sock patterns in my queue, and she picked out this lovely skein of Natural Dye Studio Dazzle, and the Oak Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

I cast on a few days ago, and I've been really good at just working on it. I've missed Charlie's birthday by a few weeks, but I'm determined to get these socks done without too much delay now!

The yarn is beautiful to knit with - it's really bouncy and the colour variation is very pretty too. I'm well on the way with sock number one, so hopefully I'll get these cranked out quickly, and then on to Willowherb...

This is as far as I've got - yarn is wound and the book is at hand!

In other news, I did a small photo shoot on Tuesday, so there are some new patterns to be released at some point soon. However, I'm not sure how quickly it will happen as next week is The Big Week - we meet our little ones and then they move in. Between that and the London Marathon this weekend, it's all a bit non-stop. Phew!

Super socks

It's gone to press, so it won't be long before I have a copy in my hands! Coop Knits Socks is the last complete book project that I technical edited before I went on adoption leave. It was an absolute delight to work with Rachel on a project - she was one of team Shetland last year, and we've been looking forward to geeking out over long-tail cast on methods and the rest ever since!

Nic did the layout for the book, so I had virtual coffee breaks with her on Skype too. It was excellent!

I had my first go at modelling for a proper book (as opposed to standing in for the gallery pages in The Knitter, or modelling my own knitwear). It was a bit scary, as Caroline and Jeni looked amazing in all their photos, but I think it worked out OK in the end!

Here we are, keeping warm in the beach hut just after lunch on the first day. I'm wearing the Saltburn socks, which are knitted in The Knitting Goddess Merino and Nylon Sock. The cable pattern is really lovely, and combined with the contrast cuff and toe, these were very popular on the shoot - we had to check Jeni's bag for them before she went home!

If you want to see the sensible shots, then head over to the Ravelry page for the design here: Saltburn. I figured, what's the point of blogging about it, if I don't share the daft out-take pictures with you? I'm not known for being sensible in front of the camera...

Here they are on Caroline's gorgeous feet - for a closer look at the lovely design. One of the things I love the most about Rachel's designs, is the attention to detail. She makes sure that the two socks are proper mirror images of each other, so there are often slightly different stitch patterns for the first and second socks. I love touches like this. It helps to stave off second sock syndrome!

The second pair of socks that I modelled were Saxifrage. These are cabled socks, knitted using Opal 4ply Solid - a great workhouse sock yarn. Perfect for wearing whilst perched on a ladder... :D

This book is (in my ever-so-slightly-biased-opinion) a must-buy for even infrequent sock knitters. The designs are stunning, and great knitting care has been taken at every stage of the production process. There are photo tutorials for Kitchener stitch, the long-tail cast on method and how to work an afterthought heel, as well as hints and tips to improve your sock knitting. If you'd like to buy a copy, you can get an eBook only from Ravelry for £14.00 or purchase the print book and get a free digital version too for just £15.00. It's a bargain, what are you waiting for? :) I'll be back shortly to tell you which of the designs I cast on first...

Getting ready

The last few administrative and decision making hurdles have been safely jumped, and we are now on the last leg of this waiting game. The number of sleeps until we meet our little ones is now much less than 20. Whoop!

So naturally, this has inspired some heavy duty nesting instincts in me. First up has been the need to fill the freezer. We're very lucky to have a chest freezer under the stairs, which we use seasonally to preserve fruit and veg from the garden. At the moment it is stuffed to the gills with home-made ready meals: The sort of thing that you can warm through in the microwave or saucepan and eat with simple accompaniments such as bread, rice or pasta. I thought it might be of interest to share some of my favourite recipe sources for this type of large-quantity cooking.

First up was Lentil and Bacon Soup for Lots of People from The River Cottage Family Cookbook. This is a recent book purchase, and I've loved reading through it. There are lots of ideas for cooking with your family, which we will definitely be trying out. It's sadly currently out of print, but I found a secondhand copy online without any trouble. I upped the quantities a bit - I bought a bag each of red and green lentils, poured them into measuring jugs and then adjusted the other ingredients to use all of the lentils. We've actually already eaten a few bowls of this and it's really tasty - definitely one to add to my normal repertoire. I think we have around 15 portions remaining in the freezer.

I then started to work my way through the Cooking in Advance chapter of How to Eat by Nigella Lawson. This is one of my most-used recipe books, along with her How to be a Domestic Goddess, which I hold solely responsible for the stone I gained in my first year of marriage!

Beef Stew with Anchovies and Thyme has been cooked and frozen in two person portions for Jim & me to eat. I think that the rich red wine sauce is probably a bit too grown-up for all the family, but I might be wrong.

Next up was a double quantity of Chicken and Chick Pea Tagine - you can see that I had to break out an even larger pan as I was making this! But well worth the washing up for the many, many portions now stowed in the deep-freeze. I think this will be good for all of us, as it's a nice balance of tasty, but not too spicy. Jim and I can add Harissa to taste if we want a bit more kick to ours!

Finally from How to Eat, I made about 20 portions of Greek Lamb Stew - a recipe that I adore, as it combines two of my favourite things: lamb and cheese (in this case Feta). The only way this could be more of a favourite would be if I could find a way to add some aubergine to it... Which would probably work really well actually! I've got a box of this defrosting for us to have for supper tonight, with some macaroni and lots of coriander sprinkled on top. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

My other go-to recipe book for simple, but delicious, large-quantity cooking is The River Cottage Meat Book, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I've got a couple of tupperwares of the following recipes tucked in the freezer from previous cooking binges:

Picadillo - a lightly spiced meat sauce, made with minced beef and pork. We eat it like Chilli con Carne in tortillas or with rice. This is another real favourite of mine as it has sultanas, almonds and olives in it. Yum!

Chilli con Carne - Having made Hugh's recipe, I'll probably never make Chilli any other way. This recipe can easily be made in double quantities, providing you have a pan big enough (the recipe says that it serves 8-10 and I froze 24 good portions last time I did a double batch). It's got pork shoulder, beef mince and chorizo as well as kidney beans - Heavenly!

Finally, I really love the recipe for Spaghetti Bolognese in The River Cottage Meat Book. It seems more tasty than any of the other recipes I've tried (I've never quite forgiven Delia Smith for making me put chicken liver in a Bolognese sauce - I've tried, but I'm really not a fan of any type of offal!). Again this can be made in double quantities very easily, and the serves 6 label gives portions larger than I usually eat, so it goes a long way too.

As well as all of the cooking I've done, my brother and his family came to stay last week, and they too have cooked up a storm for us - the chest freezer is almost completely full to the top! The temptation now is to eat it all before we start introductions, but we're resisting so far.

Finally, following the news that Google Reader is to cease to exist in a couple of months time, I have migrated over to Bloglovin' for my blog reading. If you want an easy way to keep up to date with the posts from your favourite blogs, I can really recommend it. I'm actually finding it much better than Google Reader, as there's even an app for my phone too. You don't have to, but if you want to then you can follow my blog with Bloglovin'.

FO: Thorn Shawl

As promised... Here is the other project I cast off recently. Can you spot a green-theme?

This is Bristol Ivy's Thorn shawl, designed as part of Brooklyn Tweed's Wool People 4. I would have loved to use the Brooklyn Tweed Loft called for in the pattern, but I'm trying to work the stash, so I pulled out some skeins of Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply in Jen's Green and set to it.

I may have mentioned before, but it bears repeating: this design has awesome rhythm. It's broken down into steps and they are each totally manageable. So if you're someone like me, who likes to tick things off a list, and complete sections of a project, you'll love this design! I asked Bristol how she came up with the idea of it, and she said that she was "just seeing what would happen"... I can't think of a better way to come up with new ideas.

The shawl is quite an unusual shape - just like the thorn on a rose - so it took me a couple of tries to work out the best way of wearing it, but I've cracked it now! I'm using a lovely NovaSteel shawl pin from Skein Queen. If you've not looked at Ro's shawl pins before, then I'd like to send you to look now! I'll wait here until you're ready to come back... She uses strong magnets, so there's much less chance of the pin snagging your knitting. And her designs are stunning. This one is based on Skein Queen's signature humming bird, which is a favourite of mine, but there are many more to choose from.

The drape of the shawl down one arm is particularly pleasing. It would be a different sort of drape in a more woolly yarn, but no less enjoyable: I'm a big fan of woolliness.

I've been knitting on my Thorn since the end of January, and as such it has accompanied me through the most stressfull couple of months of my life to date. It's been good stress. Definitely good stress. But nonetheless tiring and I've not had a lot of spare brain capacity for much of the last couple of months. It's done me proud though, as I wore it to our matching panel meeting this week, and we are now approved. I'm anticipating a flurry of blogging over the next couple of weeks as I try to cram in as much craft as possible into the remaining time before we meet our children. Once the London Marathon is done, things will go silent for a while as we establish our new family and all learn the ropes. I'll be back at some point after that, but I don't know when!

In the meantime, hold on to your hats - I'm on a mission!

FO: Go! Scarf

Don't faint, but I've cast off a project. In fact, I've cast off two projects, so I'm going to blog tomorrow as well. Wowzers!

First up is my finished Go! Scarf. This is the final pattern in Jim's Ready, Steady, Go! eBook, which he is selling in aid of Refuge, the UK Domestic Violence charity. You can find out more about it, over on his blog here: Go! Scarf

I knitted the sample scarf for Jim, from his pattern. He's more than capable of knitting this himself, but it would have taken longer than we had available in time at the moment, so I whipped it up for him.

It's a straightforward pattern, and he's given both written and charted instructions in the pattern, which you can buy individually from Ravelry for £2.50 here: 

I found myself knitting just one more repeat before going to bed rather more often than I expected. It definitely had a potato chip quality to it. I shall be wearing my Go! Scarf with pride in 3 1/2 weeks time when Jim runs the London Marathon in aid of Refuge. I couldn't be more proud of him just now.

If you want to buy the whole eBook of 3 patterns (Ready Fingerless Mitts, Steady Hat and Go! Scarf), it's available for £5.00 here: 

All proceeds after Ravelry and Paypal fees goes straight to Refuge, and you can keep an eye on Jim's fundraising progress on his Just Giving page here: Jim's running the London Marathon for Refuge.

This was my favourite scarf photo... it's just a pity that I'm looking totally gormless! The yarn is beautiful - it's Babylonglegs Semi~Precious in a special Go! Green for Refuge colourway, which you will be able to purchase on Wednesday next week in a limited edition with all profit going to Refuge too. Keep an eye on her website for more information (sadly, I am not for sale myself, despite my picture being over there!! :D). I will definitely be keen to knit with this lovely yarn again. Happy knitting!

Chilly

The weather here has been so chilly for the last few days. But it hasn't been quite as cold as it was on the day we were on location in Lyme Regis the other week!

© Jesse Wild

This is a test shot from the location shoot that I did with Rachel Coopey (for her fabulous upcoming book) and Fyberspates (for the next Scrumptious Collection). We were delighted to be working with photographer Jesse Wild again - he really is a superstar!

I think I'm wearing nearly every possible piece of wool that I own! I'm certainly way over my normal 5-item limit. When it's that cold, anything goes!

© Jesse Wild

Here I am later in the afternoon, wearing slightly less wool... ready to model! Yes, I modelled a couple of designs for Rachel's book, so I can't wait to share those once the book is released. I also seem to have stolen Rachel's Puffin Apple hat, which is a great shade of yellow Shetland Aran from J&S.

It's so much fun getting out and spending time with fellow knitters. These are both going to be brilliant collections, so I'll be sure to shout about them once they are out.

Jim has poached all my knitting time, as I'm making the final sample for the Ready, Steady, Go! collection. It should be off my needles fairly soon, so keep your eyes peeled for the pattern release. His fundraising is going brilliantly - safely over half way to his target with 6 weeks still to go. Do purchase the pattern collection, or make a donation over on his Just Giving page: Jim's Running for Refuge.

Unravelling...

Jim and I went to Unravel at the Farnham Maltings last weekend. What a show!

It was absolutely heaving with knitters! This is the main hall, and there were a good number of smaller rooms full of vendors around the building. The show had a real buzz about it, and I felt that the selection of vendors was brilliant. I could have happily spent money at almost every stand.

In the event, I was actually quite restrained, and kept myself limited to a heap of beautiful cards from Tilly Flop and 3 mini-skeins and some stitch markers from Skein Queen. I have already given 2 mini-skeins away to sock yarn blanket friends, and the stitch markers went straight into use, so avoided the photo!

It's been a very busy week this week, as I've been on photo shoot with both Fyberspates and Rachel Coopey - I even did a little bit of modelling! Both collections are absolute stunners, and I can't wait to share them with you. Until then - Happy knitting!

And the winner is...

Many thanks for all the entries into the Knitting Masterclass book giveaway! I really enjoyed reading all of your recommendations. I appear to have made a little birthday wishlist based on your suggestions (although I was surprised by how many of the books I already owned!).

Congratulations to commenter number 43 - Lindaran on Ravelry, who said this:

Knitting in America by Melanie Falick. I love the background and the history of the designers in the book.

I've sent you an email Lindaran, so keep an eye out for it!

I'm still knitting away on my Thorn shawl, which doesn't look much different from when I last photographed it. But I'm now on step C4, and it only goes up to C6 and then border, so I must be nearly getting there...

Are you Steady?

Jim's next Ready, Steady, Go! pattern is now available! You can read the full details over on his blog here: New Pattern: Steady Hat

All pattern proceeds after fees are going to support the brilliant work of Refuge with women and children experiencing domestic violence.

The Steady Hat is £2.50 here: 

And the whole Ready, Steady, Go! eBook is available for £5.00 here (the final pattern will be added automatically when it's released in March): 

Please do tweet, favourite, queue and generally spread the word about this collection as Jim has worked super-hard on it! Or why not gift a copy to a friend too? You can purchase as a gift through the Ravelry page for the eBook here: Ready, Steady, Go! eBook

Many, many thanks for all your support!