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Having had time in France for work earlier in the month, it's now time for an actual holiday. I'll be back to the blog with lots of pictures and news in around 10 days time. I've nearly finished knitting a cardigan in Rowan Denim, so there may even be pictures of that, and a few other things I'm planning to make while I'm away. But most of all I'm looking forward to having some time to catch up with Jim. Freelance work hasn't left me enough time for that of late.
A bientôt!
Jen xx
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Back in April I experienced that sinking feeling that you get when you realise that you've not got yourself organised for a friend's birthday. I was particularly cross with myself, as Deb and I have birthdays on top of each other, so it really shouldn't be too tricky to remember! Anyway, in an attempt to redeem myself, I took a snapshot of some pretty skeins from my stash and offered to knit her a small shawl or scarf.
From left to right: Cariad Yarn Flimstone Bay, Fyberspates Sheila's Sock, Fyberspates Faery Wings, Posh Yarn Jeannie, EasyKnits Twinkle.
Deb picked out the EasyKnits Twinkle on the right and requested a shawlette. I duly warned her that there wasn't lots of knitting going on as I was so busy finishing off big work jobs, but promised to have it done before her next birthday!
In the event, she hasn't had to wait that long.
Knitting in the van on the way home from Woolfest.
I worked on Caricia by Anne Hanson in the Fyberspates van (I know! Knitting in someone else's yarn in the Fyberspates van! I'm surprised Jeni didn't kick me out as we were driving along!) on the way up to Woolfest in Cumbria. And I knitted on it all the way back down to Somerset again. The yarn was absolutely lovely to knit with - really bouncy and lots of stitch definition. I would definitely use it again.
And it wasn't long at all before it was all finished and blocking, ready to be packed and brought to Knit Nation, where I knew I would catch up with Deb (you can see my project notes and all the details on Ravelry here).
Deb wearing the finished shawl.
And most of all, it was a pleasure to knit a shawl for a friend who does so richly deserve it. Deb, you are a legend. I hope that this shawl will keep the air-con from being too fierce. Love, Jen xx
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When you craft it is rare for other people to give you something they have made themselves. Yet when you do receive a handmade gift it is all the more special. As a knitter, I understand every stitch that makes up a beautiful finished piece and I appreciate the care and attention that goes into each one.
I was hoping to have time to take some pretty, carefully-photographed pictures of this lovely gift, but the last few weeks have flown by, so this post will be illustrated by the pictures that just happened to be taken (they do give a good idea of just how much I've worn this lovely gift!).
The first night in France, eating Moules Marinières, pulling silly faces and wearing my Every Which Way.
To receive a hand-knitted gift from one of the designers I most admire leaves me pretty much without words. My first knitted garment was Heath by Sarah Hatton, and it totally hooked me into knitting. When I had the opportunity to work with her on The Knitter, it took me ages to pull myself together and stop acting like a dizzy fan-girl (I haven't totally lost the fan-girl, it's just better controlled these days!). Happily, since going freelance I've been able to continue to work with her. Over the last year or so we have shared our love of gardening, making food with home-grown ingredients, knitting, and most significantly perhaps, the colour teal. Given the choice, I would probably only wear teal and never knit in any other shade!
The gift is a garment that can be worn in oh so many ways. Here's my friend Jen trying it on at La Strada on a Saturday morning. She's wearing it cardi-style.
I'm a terrible enabler - Jen has now cast on for her own in Navy...
The shawl/waistcoat/shrug/poncho that Sarah has knitted for me is made from Rowan Cashsoft 4ply in teal (what other colour!?), but the design is also perfect for Scrumptious 4ply, which is what Sarah has used for her own shawl/waistcoat/shrug/poncho. If you fancy a bit of snuggle of your own, then Sarah's design is available to purchase through Ravelry. Here are the two of us having a good giggle at the Refuge Bingo Night at Knit Nation - thanks Lily for taking the pic!
Sarah's wearing hers shrug-style, while I am still clearly loving the poncho look!
Thank you Sarah! I will treasure it.
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I can't get over the pleasure of cooking and eating in France. Even a simple trip to the supermarket is a world away from visiting our local in the UK. The fish counter is more like an aquarium than a shop in its diversity. At home we get a choice of 4 or 5 basic fish and a couple of shellfish. In Normandy there were too many choices to know where to begin. Jim and I are going back over to France shortly, so I aim to work my way through the options available. Jeni and I were tired after the ferry last week, so we contented ourselves with a very pleasing Moules Marinières.
Creamy-mussels with shallots and a side order of baguette.
It's a quick dish to make once you've scrubbed the mussels, and even that didn't take too long. We slightly over-estimated the quantity of mussels needed - 1.5kg would have been plenty.
Restaurant heaven...
Once we were down in Lot, we threw ourselves on the mercy of the local restaurant in Marcilhac-sur-Célé. And the dinner we had was so good that I ate it two nights in a row! It was a pork steak, marinated in garlic and all sorts, with ratatouille and rice. Start was a simple but delicious tomato and mozzarella salad, with salted butter caramel ice cream for pud. Truly Scrumptious!
Food went slightly more surreal once we were in Marseille though, as we were treated to Chantilly cream from a shop devoted to... Chantilly cream.
Yes. That is indeed a parcel from a shop called the Kingdom of Chantilly (and this in a nation that's very proud to be a Republic!). And yes, they specialise in Chantilly (and some Italian food products, but really it's all about the Chantilly).
Not only is there one shop, but Marseille is home to a chain of Royaume de la Chantilly shops. My flabber is officially gasted.
It doesn't look much, but I can assure you that it was amazing. And if there's any left over (which can't happen very often), it freezes to make a fabulous ice cream.
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You may have seen my blog post over on The Knitter's website about contagious knitting patterns. Well, I wasn't lying, and I can now reveal that I've finished my Childry shawl in Fyberspates Faery Wings. And I don't know how long I will last before casting on another! Elly has created a pattern as catching as chicken pox!
Perfect for travel...
The pattern is perfection on so many levels. It's small so it will pack into a small bag - perfect for travel.
Not too tricky...
When out socialising (here at the pre-Lot picnic), it's easy enough to knit on without any real attention, thus leaving my brain to concentrate on conversation (in French or English!).
Quickly finished...
And just when you are getting right into the stride of it, you have the ruffle and a long cast off, and BANG! You're wearing it, and accepting compliments. I love how the halo of the Faery Wings is just so flooffy and lush to wear. This pattern works brilliantly with so many different yarns.
Lots of people have fallen for the bug of the Childry - here are a few more that caught my eye on Ravelry...
Siriusknitter's lovely in blue.
Rhian's pretty yellow-green Childry.
And a deep midnight-blue version from Ashvan.
Many thanks to Siriusknitter, Rhian and Ashvan for allowing me to share their pictures. If you're taken with the pattern, then you will find it in The Scrumptious Collection volume 1.
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Oh blimey Missus!
I've thoroughly fallen for a new pattern collection, and I'm in serious need of casting on almost all of the projects immediately! It's a while since I've felt like this about a booklet. I've got patterns and yarn aplenty in my stash, but this has sent everything else to the back of the queue.
It's the new Rowan Studio 24 booklet. You can buy it (and all the yarn you might need) from Laughing Hens online here (local yarn shops will have it shortly too). The collection contains 8 patterns which have been designed by Sarah Hatton (yes she is a friend, but no, I've not been paid to say nice things about her!). I knew that I was likely to be taken with the collection when I read in the blurb that the pieces were photographed in jewel-like teal and purple tones. Right up my street or what?! But it isn't just that the colour scheme speaks to me.
The garments also use some constructions that are more interesting than usual. The pattern above is called Daphne and is knitted sideways in one piece and uses short-row shaping for bust and yoke shaping. I'm not a big fan of sewing up, so anything that minimises the finishing aspects of a knitting project will always attract my attention. I also find that this sort of shape works well on my curves. So this one is in the queue!
The lovely Stevie cardigan comes with two options - cap sleeves or long sleeves as you wish (so it's really 9 patterns IMHO), which is great. How often do you like a pattern but wish it came with short/long sleeves or other variations? I think that the longer sleeve version is the one for me. But this cardi has the added pleasure of being knitted from the collar downwards. I like to try things on as you go. Although you can do this when you work from the bottom up, you don't find out how things will hang from the shoulder until it's too late. Whether a cardigan sits where you like it (on the waist/hips/lower) isn't apparent until the shoulders are joined. When you work from the top downwards, these things are clear from the start.
Charlie is a cute little vest top with a ruffle front edged with simple lace panels. The beauty of this is in the yarn, pattern details and the many layering options this type of tank top offers. The deep scoop neck is also going to work well with my assets (or so I hope!). And it only uses 3-5 balls of KidSilk Haze depending on the size. The only problem will be choosing a colour!
Other gems include Sandy, a lacy KidSilk Haze top that starts off like a triangle shawl and then folds over to make a waistcoat. Very clever! And then there's the cover garment, Margo, which looks like it will be straightforward to knit, but fun to wear. I think that this will be the first pattern I knit. Does anyone fancy doing a knitalong with me in the Sarah Hatton group on Ravelry? If you do, then come on over and join me!
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As predicted, the return to work has been super busy. I'm ploughing through patterns for A Stitch in Time 2 for Susan Crawford, and it's not leaving much spare time for catching you all up with stuff! So given that this is where I am, I thought you might like a few views from my desk...
Both cats (Scooter on the left and Rhubarb on the right) like to keep me company while I work.
I'm picking multiple bunches of Sweet Peas every day still (how long can it last?).
And of course some yummy yarn...
I shall be back to tell you what I'm making with the Rowan Denim on the right.
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It has been 4 weeks since I last posted about having a design in Simply Knitting, but this month it isn't me who has a pattern in the magazine... It's Jim! Hard as he might try, he just hasn't managed to completely avoid the knitting bug.
Once upon a time when the weather was good enough to sit in the garden...
The blanket has a Fair Isle design, combined with stripes (also knitted Fair Isle style to give the same thickness of fabric). It is then finished with a corrugated rib.
Colourful corrugated ribbing finishes off the blanket.
As ever neither Jim nor I would be able to work this design lark without the awesome help of Kim - sample knitter extraordinaire! Many thanks Kim for all your hard work. And since he probably won't tell you, this isn't Jim's first design. He also did a blanket pattern for Knitting Today! which was published last year in the States (and got him a lovely comment from Debbie Stoller on Ravelry!).
You can see his designs on Ravelry here: James Arnall-Culliford designs on Ravelry
The pattern will be published over 3 issues of Simply Knitting, starting with the issue on sale at the moment. If you'd like to pick it up at your newsagent or supermarket, here is the front cover to look for (and who could resist the beautiful Alan Dart baby toys?! Nephew would be getting one of those if I had any spare knitting time!).
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Bonjour tout le monde!
I'm back at home after two weeks of travelling, and needless to say, there is a lot to catch up on. It feels a bit as if the world order has shifted a little while we were away.
I have blog posts a plenty to catch you all up with our adventures, both in craft and in travel terms. So first up is the show that we went to in France - Le Lot et La Laine. It was the first wool festival that this group had organised, and Jeni (Fyberspates) and I had a terrific time.
There was picnic-ing and knitting to be done, in the beautiful Lot sunshine.
We had a stand with lots of yarn as well as all of the samples from the book and some French pattern leaflets.
Mmmm, there's a bit of this scrummy hand-dyed left (not much!) and I'm sure it will make its way onto the Fyberspates website shortly.
And this was Fyberspates HQ while we were in Lot. Yes, we braved camping for 3 nights. That was plenty, I can assure you!
We met lots of lovely French knitters while we were there, and have been really enjoying talking to them on our new French thread in the Ravelry Fyberspates group. Veuillez-nous rejoindre là-bas!*
A demain!**
*Do come and join us there!
**Until tomorrow!
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I was hoping to do a few more blog posts this week, but my plans have changed and I'm off to London tomorrow morning (and then to France on Thursday). So for now, it's au revoir.
If WiFi and time allow, I shall try to blog a bit from the other side of La Manche, but realistically, I'm not expecting to get back into the swing until after Knit Nation (16th & 17th July).
Have fun in the meantime mes amis, and I'll be back with lots of finished projects and news in a couple of weeks time.
Jen xx
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