Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Snatched Moments

Everyone else is out. I've got a couple of hours to myself...

Quick! Drink a can of Diet Coke while no-one is here to say, "It's not fair!"

Make those phone calls that you've been meaning to catch up with for weeks. They aren't in today?Oh well, it will have to wait for next week then.

Put away some toys on the way upstairs. Never walk from one room to another with empty hands - there's always something that needs to find its home.

Don't forget to eat lunch! And yes, reheated toast from breakfast is as uninspiring as it sounds. But hey, more time for doing what I actually want to do...

...which is to sort out some photos from a shoot in April(!) so that I'm one step closer to releasing some new designs.

All photos are © Jesse Wild - my official photographer! He was, as always, a complete joy to work with. The top two are a pair of sock patterns, related to my Spiralling Socks, but this time worked top-down, with two heel options. The red shawl/cape was originally published in The Knitter as Vita, and I'm now releasing it myself as a single pattern. And finally, I've written up the pattern for my Noro Sweater Dress, after much pestering!

I'm working on the pattern layouts and final edits at the moment, so I'm hoping to release the patterns over the coming month or so. There's one last completely new design that I'm not yet ready to reveal. It's for a collaboration that I'm really excited about, and will hopefully be out before the end of the winter. I'll share more about it when the details are all finalised.

And now, the mad dash to collect everyone! Bye for now!

WIP: Willowherb

Huge thanks to everyone who commented on my Northmavine Hoody post. I'm afraid that I ran out of time for replies this week. In the end, I've taken Belinda's sound advice and popped the yarn and pattern in the post to a good friend, who will enjoy working on it for me. It feels most strange to ask someone else to knit for me. Very, very odd. However, I instantly felt better about things. I'm not someone who likes to feel stuff is hanging over me, and a good clear out does me the world of good. I can't wait to be sewing the zip in and sporting it in the playground!

On to new projects, and I'm finally catching up with myself! Instead of telling you about what I was working on back in August, this post is actually about what is on my needles at the moment. I'm knitting on Willowherb - my absolute favourite of the designs from Rachel Coopey's Coop Knits Socks collection.

They started well, with a bit of twisted rib to get settled down into the design. I love twisted rib. It looks so smart and orderly - unlike my slightly less pleasing normal rib (I suffer with loose stitches at one end of the ribs). If you are very eagle-eyed, or just a knitting geek like me, you'll spot that I'm using the same yarn as I did for my Budleigh socks. It's Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply, and I can't say enough good things about it. It's completely perfect for this sort of textural stitch pattern.

I'm making good progress on these socks. I've turned the heel and finished the gusset decreases, so I will now steam through the foot and then crack on with sock number two. Satisfying knitting, which is just what I need.

I was talking to a friend today about different types of knitting for different states of mind, and it's interesting what's working for me at the moment. I don't have much knitting time at the moment, but when I do have time for knitting, I want to make something interesting. It needs to have some pattern, but be small enough that it won't take me too long to complete. Back before the children were placed with us I had quite a lot of knitting time, but I was feeling quite stressed with all the preparations. At that point, I needed a simple project, and it didn't matter if it was quite big. Do your knitting tastes change depending on your state of mind?

WIP: Northmavine

This has now been on my needles for nearly a year (my Ravelry record shows it was cast on on October 20th 2012). I hang my head in shame.

I so want to be wearing this hoody. It would be perfect for slipping on over a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans and running out of the door in the mornings. I'm finding it hard to keep up my mojo with the project though. At the moment I need my knitting, and the rest of my life, to feel manageable. I know that this hoody is well within my knitting skill-set. It's not that I don't think I can do it. It's just that I know that it's going to take me quite a long time. I don't get nearly so much knitting time these days (not a huge surprise!!), and it's hard to keep working on a project that I can't imagine finishing this winter, even if it's the only thing I work on.

I worked on it over the summer while we were away, and it was great to crank out some stripes. The changes of colour provide some visual clues to the progress being made. I swapped from spit splicing the yarns, to just knitting them in. It's not quite as neat, but it's less fiddly to do, and interrupts my knitting rhythm less.

You can see from these two pictures, that when I do work on it, it gets bigger! So I'm stuck in a negative cycle with it. I really want to wear it, but I can't get enough motivation to work on it as I can't see quick enough progress at the moment. Which doesn't help, as of course if I don't work on it, it doesn't grow... I think that at the moment, if I want a new cardigan it really needs to be in DK or aran wool. I maybe need to ease myself back into feeling successful at larger projects.

This makes me feel a bit sad though, as I totally adore the design, and still remember the excitement of seeing Kate's first pictures of it when I was working on Colours of Shetland last year. Life changes though, and at some point soon I'm sure I will work up the speed to get this finished. That moment isn't now though - unless you all have some great motivational or time-bending ideas for getting this project going again?

In the meantime I will be knitting on some socks...

FO: Small socks

I rattled off a couple of pairs of small socks over the summer. Once I had cast off my Budleigh socks, it was pure pleasure to cast on a pair of socks which was finished again so quickly. I know that the children will grow out of these stupidly quickly, and indeed, they were barely large enough when the second toe was grafted shut, but there was something immensely satisfying about knitting for my family.

These little stripey socks were made using a Rico self-striping yarn that I was given a while back. I wasn't hugely impressed with it. They seemed to go bobbly after the first time they were worn. But I think that the actual fabric is pretty sturdy, so they won't wear out too fast (certainly not before they are grown out of!).

I wish I could share the pleased face at the top of this photo! Thank you all for your kind comments on my last few blog posts. We are continuing to settle down to family life here. It has many, many challenges, but we are having lots of fun too.