Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Work is fun!

I am lucky enough to have a brilliant set of regular clients who keep me out of mischief with new and exciting projects. I don't think it's a secret that I love working with all of them - you only have to look back at posts about patterns in Simply Knitting and The Knitter and finished book projects for Fyberspates, Susan Crawford, Jamieson and Smith or Sarah Hatton to see that I am just loving my freelance life!

Today I'm delighted to add a new logo to my "I'm working with..." list, and it belongs to Kate Davies. To say that I was excited to receive an email from her asking if I was available back in November is something of an understatement! I'm not sure I calmed back down again for at least a day or two! I then went on to technical edit Boreal for her, and we've just finished work on Betty Mouat and the BMC (Betty Mouat Cowl).

Betty Mouat © Kate Davies (used with kind permission)

Betty posed some interesting technical editing conundrums. Not least of which, that to begin with there were 154 different possible size combinations, and 3 shades of yarn to contend with (that meant a total of 462 figures for the yarn requirements)! After some deliberation, Kate decided that not all of the possible combinations of under- and full-bust measurements would either be required, or would give sensible shaped garments. For example, the smallest under-bust measurement (24.5"/62cm) going to the largest full-bust (50"/127cm) seemed unlikely to be a combination in great demand! We narrowed the options down so that they cover a range from cup size AA to KK, thus reducing somewhat the number of yarn quantity calculations required, and general potential for errors.

 
The BMC © Kate Davies (used with kind permission)

Both Betty Mouat and the BMC use Fleegle's no-purl garter stitch in the round method. This is a really nifty technique whereby you work alternating RS and WS rounds using two balls of yarn. You can see more on Fleegle's blog, or by watching the Betty Mouat tutorials on Kate's website. Mel did a fabulous job of filming these techniques - I find her voice so reassuring and confidence building. I can't wait to try this out!

We ended up charting the stitch pattern in such a way that you can read the chart either for standard knitting in the round, with all rows read right to left and alternate rows purled, or alternating right to left and left to right so that you can also read it for the no-purl garter stitch version. Hopefully much easier to do than to explain!

© Kate Davies (used with kind permission)

I absolutely love the colour combination she's used in the cowl, and as soon as my finger is up to it, this will be going on my needles. It just sings of summer days at the beach, and ice cream, and rainbows, and all good things!

Kate is absolutely brilliant to work with, and I am really looking forward to more projects with her as the year goes on.

If you are interested in either of the patterns shown here, then they are both available as part of Kate's Textisles magazine issue 2. This issue focuses on swimming attire and includes 3 articles by Kate and 1 on the rise and fall of the hand-knitted swimming costume by the fabulous Susan Crawford. I love it when people I work with come together in a project like that! The articles are all completely fascinating, and any of the components of this issue would be more than worth the £3.95 price tag on their own.

A Quilt for Gran

Finding the right gift for a 90 year old is pretty tricky. I've spent weeks thinking about what my Gran would like most on her birthday, and other than the desire to see all the family around her, I can't think of anything that I could purchase. At least not anything that would be really meaningful.

Given this feeling, I thought that I would make her something. Over the years my Gran has been a highly accomplished knitter, seamstress and embroiderer, but as far as I am aware, she's not really done much quilting, so it seemed like a nice plan to make a quilt to mark her 90th.

When I was in London in January, I picked up a fat quarter bundle at Ray Stitch that included 12 FQs from the Savannah range by Sara Morgan. The colours were perfect for Gran - the dusty raspberry pink and turquoise-green are colours I really associate with her, and her home.

As an afterthought, I chucked this bundle into my bag for the weekend at The Sunday House, along with a smaller FQ bundle that my lovely swap partner Sarah had sent to me for Christmas. I figured that while I had such a wealth of quilting expertise at my fingertips, I should ask for suggestions for a design to use...

We settled on a simple design that Anne calls Battenburg (after the cake!). To start with, I cut all of my fabric into the largest possible squares. As I had a mix of UK and US fat quarters, I cut to 8.5". You can see the cut squares above - I fanned them out so that Sarah could see how well her fabrics went with Savannah!

The were then sorted into sets of 3 well contrasted designs, and the groups of 3 were cut and pieced in one set. The aim of doing it this way (rather than chain piecing the lot) was to avoid incorrectly mixing the pieces. They are currently well organised to give good contrasts.

By the end of Sunday, I had a good stack of blocks sewn together, and I think I have about 5 more hours of piecing to do before all the blocks are complete. Although it's not a complicated design, each set of 3 blocks is taking around 25 minutes to piece together, so it adds up.

I've ordered some more of the pink flowers to use as borders, and I'm going to make a very skinny fillet in the deep turquoise green to frame the central panel. Now I just need to get back to my production line and get this bad-boy done. :-)

Weekend delights at The Sunday House

I thought that you might like to get a peek at the other delights involved in my weekend quilting at The Sunday House. It was a joy from start to finish.

Based in a converted Methodist chapel in Cornwall, The Sunday House quilting weekends are such a treat. Anne Baxter is the quilting tutor, and Corinna Knowles produces the most amazing feasts to fuel the crazy dawn to dusk sewing activities.

Ceiling detail - inspiration at every turn.

I'm not sure how best to describe the food. There are always plenty of tasty and unusual vegetable dishes alongside delicious main pieces - stew or quiche or soup. It's probably easiest to just show you some pictures...

This was a pear, walnut, parma ham and crouton salad with a blue cheesey dressing. I'm trying not to add Masterchef-style descriptions of it being packed with flavour, but it really was!

The main meal on Sunday was particularly spectacular, and I couldn't help but try a bit of everything. Working clockwise round my plate, starting at midday, you can see:
Roast baby potatoes
Mushroom risotto covered in parmesan
Apple, celery and walnut salad
Carrots with cumin
Smoked fish and pea puree quiche
Cauliflour cheese and bacon quiche (this is to die for!)
Pasta salad with pine nuts and herbs of some sort
Mixed bean salad

I'm feeling full just thinking about it again...

And here's a taste of what everyone else was up to while I was on my snowball/Gran quilt mission. Above is Julie's snowball quilt top. It really reminds me of French Parterre gardens, don't you think? So pretty! And quite unlike mine. Click on this and the following pictures to see a larger version in a pop-up window.

Val made this incredible string stars quilt top. The amount of work that went into the careful piecing of the stars and those scrappy borders was astonishing to behold. One day I'd like to have a go at something like that. I don't think my skills are up to it just yet though...

Di produced this completely stunning Milky Way quilt, which is all layered up here, ready for quilting. She's used some beautiful Tilda fabrics (not unlike ones I used in Jeni's quilt some time back). This is another large quilt, and just gorgeous!

Finally, Denise worked on a Glad Tidings quilt, which is just awaiting applique stars in the centre of each block.

Aren't they all amazing? And hopefully they give you a flavour of the variety of designs that were worked on over the weekend, as well as what a contrast the fabric choices make. Tomorrow, I'll share the first pictures of Gran's quilt with you. I think it's pretty safe to say that she won't be surfing and reading my blog, so I can share the secret with you.

Snowball quilts

I finally got some proper advice about my numb finger, and it's not brilliant. I need to drastically cut my knitting time, and avoid using a mouse with my right index finger. So there probably won't be much knitting action round here for a while. Bah!

But in good news, I do have other crafty activities to indulge in, so there will be lots of sewing and I've got a few knitting designs still to be published, so it's not all bad.

I spent last weekend at The Sunday House in Cornwall, on a quilting weekend. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and stayed until Sunday afternoon, and goodness me, you can get a lot done in that time! We were given 3 quilts to choose from, and I chose to work on the Snowball Quilt. Here is a picture of Anne's sample quilt.

Photo © Anne Baxter, used with permission

This version used Liberty prints for the snowball blocks and then denims for the contrast blocks and borders.

I hunted through my stash, deciding what to use, and came upon the It's a Hoot Layer Cake that I was given for my birthday in April last year. I did some calculations on the back of an envelope, and wondered whether I might use if for both the snowballs, and the white contrast sections of my quilt top. A quick email to Anne confirmed that this would work, and a plan was hatched!

I sliced my Layer Cake up to give 6.5" squares and two sets of 3.5" strips (one set 10" long, and the other 6.5" long).

There was much tedious drawing of lines on squares, but it was a great way of making the snowballs.

And before I knew it, the snowballs were all made!

My workspace transformed into a nine-patch production line! I should be good at nine-patch blocks by now, shouldn't I? A friend almost launched an intervention, thinking that this was yet another in my disappearing nine-patch obsession! Happily not though, and soon things started to take shape.

By late on Saturday afternoon I was piecing them into strips and starting to think that the top might be complete before too long...

I stayed up sewing until 10 and started again at 7.15 on Sunday. When I'm on a mission to finish something there's really no messing about...

The borders went on around breakfast time, and I completed the whole of this 63" quilt top before morning coffee! Which was great, as I had a plan to start on a special quilt for my Gran's 90th birthday present, and it needed some time to get going.

I'm going to leave you with a mean shot of the wrong side of the quilt. I want to get it sandwiched, tied and bound before I show you a proper picture of the finished thing. It won't be done that quickly as Gran's quilt has taken precedence. More on which on Friday...

FO: Penumbra cowl

On Friday I had the immense pleasure of being driven down to Cornwall for our quilting weekend. I love long car journeys where I can sit in the front and knit away, providing conversation and entertainment whilst working on my latest project. I took the opportunity of Julie driving, to finish off my Penumbra Cowl.

This photo was taken in the car, the very instant after the cowl came off my needles. Perhaps not the world's greatest picture, but I think it conveys my enthusiasm nicely!

We stopped at the beach in Portscatho before heading up to The Sunday House for our quilting weekend, so Julie kindly took a picture of me, complete with my lime green Namaste bag that goes rather well with the cowl!

I'm working on not grinning like a complete lunatic in photographs, and I'm strangely happy with my expression in this picture. I look happy, but not completely bonkers!

There were later requests for a flat shot to show off the shadow knitting design, so here's a snap from my cutting mat before I launched into sewing craziness (more about that tomorrow...).

The design is Penumbra from Sweet Shawlettes by Jean Moss. You can read more about the book in my review post here: Sweet Shawlettes Review. There are still some opportunities to win a copy of the book, so check out the blog tour dates for more information: Sweet Shawlettes World Blog Tour

I used Rooster Almerino DK yarn, which was perfect for the job, and very enjoyable to knit with.

You can see all the relevant technical details of my project on my Ravelry page here: JenACKnitwear's Clever Shadow Knitting

I'm still not knitting very much as my index finger is fairly numb, but I think it might be improving a bit, so fingers crossed I'll be back to something nearer to normal soon. And yes, I will take it easy. Promise!

FO: Deja vu quilts

I've posted in progress pics of these disappearing nine-patch quilts at various points in their creation process, but for my own need to document my making, here are some finished pictures:

This is one of a pair of quilts inspired by some lovely blue and red fabrics from Millie Moon and the V&A. It has already moved to its new home, and is hopefully getting some use.

It has a plain gingham back, made from some Laura Ashley fabric leftover from making house furnishings back in the depths of time. It's a lovely soft fabric, and will make the quilt very snuggly I hope!

This is its partner, this time with a white border and white stars on blue for the binding. I used a gorgeous Westfallenstoffe print from Millie Moon on the back. These fabrics are slightly heavier than standard quilting cottons, and are extra-wide as well. Perfect for backing! I need to get this quilt in the post today, as its new home is ready and waiting...

Finally, this quilt is the partner to The Boss's quilt, and is the only one that currently doesn't have a home, but I'm pretty sure that one will appear soon.

It has the same centre panel as the previous quilt, but this time the owls are used as the border. It's a bit busier, but I like the fun feel that it has. I pieced every last scrap of related fabric to make the back of this quilt, and I'm very pleased with the results:

Having spent the weekend sewing down in Cornwall, there will be more quilting pictures forthcoming, and even a bit of knitting as well!

Sweet Shawlettes Winner!

There were 30 eligible comments on the Sweet Shawlettes blog post, and the random number generator has picked 13, which was Rose. Rose said:

Because Spring is just around the corner, my first project would be Garland with lovely spring-colored flowers. It just is so fun looking and could dress up a plain top to be so much fun.

Thank you for the fun giveaway.

I'm emailing you now Rose, so if it doesn't show up, then check your spam filter. Congratulations!

In other news, I have started to do a bit of knitting again, and I've made some progress with my Penumbra cowl. It's coming along nicely, isn't it?

Baking: Herman Carrot and Pineapple Cake

I've been caring for a portion of Herman starter for some time now. Herman is a German sweet sourdough mixture that can be used for the basis of all sorts of delicious cake recipes. Having made two apple cakes from the recipe that came with the starter, I decided it was time to break out something different. I went on the hunt for recipes online, and discovered these instructions for carrot cake.

Oh my! The results were delicious!

The original recipe was a little sketchy and somewhat confusing, so here are my UK-icised instructions:

375mL Vegetable oil
450g Granulated sugar
250mL Herman starter
3 Medium eggs
1 x 435g Tin crushed pineapple (drained)
3 Medium carrots (grated)
75g Chopped walnuts
2 tsp Vanilla extract
320g Plain flour
3 tsp Cinnamon
0.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
75g Desiccated coconut 

For the icing
200g Cream cheese
450g Icing sugar

Oven temperature: Gas Mark 4 / 180C / 350F

Preheat the oven.

Combine the oil and sugar and stir in the Herman starter. Add the eggs one at a time and stir thoroughly. Fold in the drained pineapple, nuts, vanilla extract and grated carrots.

In another bowl, sieve together the flour, cinnamon, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Mix in the desiccated coconut, and add these dry ingredients to the wet mixture previously prepared. Make sure that the batter is thoroughly combined and no floury bits remain.

Grease a baking tin approximately 20cm x 30cm x 5cm and if desired, line with greaseproof paper. Pour the batter into the tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes. After this time, start to test the cake with a skewer (or metal DPN!), and when the skewer comes out clean, remove from the oven. My cake took around 50 minutes in total.

Beat the icing sugar into the cream cheese, adding a little at a time until it is all incorporated.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin and allowing it to reach room temperature. Then pour the icing over the cake and try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting!

Patterns Available!

I'm delighted to let you know that you can now purchase many of my designs for The Knitter and Simply Knitting as single pattern downloads from The Making Spot. All of my patterns that are available are found on my designer page there: Jen Arnall-Culliford 

My Golden Wheat Shawl (still my favourite of all the things I've designed!) is among the designs that have been listed, along with the fun Have a Ball Cable Hat (below).

The men's gansey inspired socks that appeared in Simply Knitting last year are also available, which reminds me that I should really make another pair for Jim...

And last but not least, the Aqua Ripples cowl and fingerless mittens set. This set is perfect for a last-minute gift. Both can be made from a single 100g skein of DK yarn (210m of yarn needed), so the perfect use for a special hand-dyed treat!

As a designer, I receive a percentage of the sales on all the patterns shown here, so do go and treat yourself if you missed any of these in print! Prices range from £1.99 to £4.99 depending on the complexity of the design.

There's still a little time to enter the Sweet Shawlettes giveaway (it closes tomorrow night), so head over to this post if you missed it last week: Sweet Shawlettes Giveaway

Plenty: Aubergine and lemon risotto

I LOVE AUBERGINES.

Oh my goodness me! This was one of the loveliest things I've eaten in a long time!

Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water quite a lot. It's another of the recipes from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.

I didn't entirely follow the instructions on how to burn the aubergine, as to me it looked unnecessarily complicated. Someone must tell me if there was a reason for doing it as described... I simply spiked the aubergine all over (to avoid an aubergine explosion), and then placed it under the grill on its highest setting. I turned it regularly, and left it there until it was burnt. Simples! And it didn't smell too bad or make anything much in the way of a mess. This will definitely be on my must-cook-regularly list.

Did I mention that I love aubergine, and that this was just awesome?!

In other cooking news, we made the Leek Fritters from the same book on Monday evening. They were really nice too. But we had to conceed that the tastiness to washing up ratio for that recipe doesn't really fall the right way round, so sadly I don't think they will be on the regular cooking list.

If you haven't entered the book giveaway, for a copy of Sweet Shawlettes, then what are you waiting for? All the details can be found here: Sweet Shawlettes Book Tour