Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

The Vivacious Collection Volume 1: Giveaway!

Happy New Year!

I was absolutely delighted to be asked to assist with some of the technical editing for Fyberspates' latest collection - a book of ten patterns for the DK and 4ply Vivacious yarns.

The book is now published and you can purchase the print book from your local Fyberspates retailer (£10.50), or download the eBook from Ravelry ($16.00 / approx £10.86).

This is a brilliant mixture of accessories and garments from two of my favourite designers - Belinda Boaden and Rachel Coopey (and yes, of course I'm completely biased!).

I'm going to be mean though... I am not going to show you a pile of beautiful photos of the lovely designs. Instead, I'm going to just give you a teaser photo, and send you over to Ravelry to browse all of the patterns in full technicolour!

Jeni at Fyberspates has been kind enough to give me an eBook copy to give away to one lucky blog reader. Just head to Ravelry and favourite the design you like the most, then pop back here and leave a blog comment telling me why you like that design. Please don't forget to tell me your Ravelry username as well (so that I can send over the eBook pdf). No alternative prizes are available. The competition will remain open for 2 weeks from the time this blog post is published. Only one entry per person.

You can see the patterns here: Vivacious Collection Volume 1

Happy knitting!

The Scrumptious Collection Volume 3: Giveaway!

It's no secret that I love working with Fyberspates - both the yarn and the lovely Jeni herself - so I was delighted to be asked to take part in the blog tour for the new Scrumptious Collection.

For the first time since Jeni started to publish pattern collections, I wasn't involved with the technical editing and actual book preparation. That all happened after I went on adoption leave last year. So it was really exciting to finally see the ebook when it landed in my inbox last week.

It seems like a very long time ago (actually it was 20 months ago...), that I sat on Jeni's sofa as we sorted through all of the submissions for Collections 2 & 3. Commissioning a collection is a tricky task, and we had such a wealth of beautiful designs from which to choose. Finding a balance of garments, accessories, yarns, designers, colours and complexity, all whilst only commissioning 13 designs is like a massive logic puzzle. Luckily, it's exactly the sort of thing that I love doing! You have to try to put aside your own preferences and think about the wider knitting market. If it were down to me, everything would be knitted in Jen's Green and there would currently be a massive bias towards socks and hats! I'm not sure that's a collection that would have particularly wide appeal...

Fast-forward a few months, and I helped out on the photo shoot as my last task in the book's journey from idea to publication.

We managed to persuade Jeni to model some of the designs herself for the first time - I absolutely love this picture of her wearing Kyoko's Iwerne Cardigan. Our photographer, Jesse Wild, is completely brilliant at making you feel comfortable in front of the camera - not always an easy task with non-professional models! I've worked with him many times before, at The Knitter and then on my own projects, and he's fantastic!

Our other model was Caroline White, the daughter of a knitting friend, and you would never have guessed that she wasn't a professional model. She had that brilliant knack of adjusting her poses ever so slightly, and always having new ideas of things to do. Caroline was also completely uncomplaining in the face of extreme cold in Lyme Regis last February when we did the outdoor shots. What a star! Above, she is modelling Amanda Crawford's sumptuous Larigan Jumper - knitted in Scrumptious Chunky and perfect for cold February days on the beach!

We also shot on location in Frome - basing ourselves at my great friend Pepita's house (she's moving - what will we do?!). I love my town. There are so many little lanes and nooks for taking great pictures. The photo above is Shepherd's Barton, a lovely little lane just off Catherine Hill. This pretty Rosemorran cardigan in Scrumptious 4ply is by Belinda Boaden - if you haven't read her post about this collection, do head over there right now. Belinda is one of the funniest bloggers I know. Her posts always teach me something and make me giggle, which is a great combination!

These ace Lerryn Mittens were all set to be my first project from the collection, until I realised that I had cast on with Scrumptious Aran instead of Scrumptious DK and they were coming out rather too large. Doh! The design is lovely though, as you would expect from Rachel Coopey. She has contributed 5 of the 13 designs in the collection, and I'd be happy to be casting on any of them. Although, I would of course read the pattern more carefully this time...

I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings about the collection - I'm looking forward to casting something on now. I just need to do a bit of stash diving to find the right yarn and pattern combination...

To buy your copy of The Scrumptious Collection Volume 3, head over to the Fyberspates website (it's had a facelift and is all new and shiny!!), where you can get a print copy for £12, and if you leave your Ravelry username in the comments, Jeni will gift you the ebook as well.

Alternatively, if you can't wait to start knitting, you can purchase the ebook only from Ravelry for £12.00: 

Or you can check out the collection and yarn at your local Fyberspates retailer.

Jeni has kindly donated a copy of the book for one of my lucky blog readers, so to be in with a chance of winning, leave a comment on this post telling me about your most embarrasing knitting mistake. Only 1 entry per person. Jeni is happy to post the book anywhere in the world. No alternative prize is available. Comments will close exactly 2 weeks from time of publishing this blog post. Comments that do not fulfill these criteria may be deleted. Good luck!

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.

WoolFest Wonders

I spent most of last week up in Cumbria running the Fyberspates stand at WoolFest with my fabulous partner in crime, Nic!

The first thing you need to know about travelling anywhere with Nic, is that you will be well catered for. I realised that I wasn't going to go hungry at any stage when I spotted not one, but two bags of snacks in the van! I think I might have turned into a Tunnock's Caramel Wafer.

This was our first meal stop - a pub not far from Fyberspates HQ. I had a delicious Welsh rarebit, Nic had a sandwich, and we shared a bowl of fabulous chips. A good start! The first evening we stayed at a hotel in Chester and caught up with Andy and Team NDS. One of the best bits about shows is catching up with colleagues in person!

After our epic meal at L'Enclume, we drove up from Cartmel to Cockermouth along the length of Windermere. This is a stunning drive and really made both of us want to book a holiday in the Lake District instantly! There were lots of sheep to spot as we wound our way through the countryside.

On our full bellies, we then spent 4 hours setting up the stand in the cattle market at Cockermouth. It was hard on my willpower to open all those boxes of gorgeous hand-dyed yarn - I nearly sneaked a few into my handbag...

How could any knitter resist when Jeni had done such an amazing job on the colours?! Watch out for an update soon, as she will be loading the leftovers onto the webshop before too long. You can keep up to date in the Fyberspates Ravelry group.

The following two days were a blur of selling, talking, eating and more talking. Ella Austin's gorgeous Tawny Owl Kit (as featured in The Knitter) was a big hit on the stand. I know a few people who would love one of these beauties...

I'm not going to list all the lovely folk who we caught up with, as I'm bound to miss someone out, but it was absolutely brilliant to see you all!

And then once the selling was done, and we had packed the stand back away, Nic drove us all the way back to Fyberspates HQ. I spent the journey looking at the green out of the window. What a star she is! I couldn't have wished for a better WoolFest buddy. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the two of us on the stand, but there's a typically giggly one of the two of us over on Kate Davies' blog here: WoolFest 2012

Special thanks to Steph and Fred for their epic stand break-down skills and to Ernie and Pauline for their very kind hospitality - I hope you're drying out a bit now!

If you've never been to WoolFest, make a note of next year's dates now: Friday 28th & Saturday 29th June 2013. It's a brilliant show in a stunning part of the world - well worth the trip.

Scrumptious Babies!

It's always nervewracking when a book arrives back from the printers, but it's particularly nervewracking when you've been involved with much of its creation. Generally it turns out to be fine though, and just sometimes, it turns out even better than you could have hoped for...

The Scrumptious Baby Collection arrived last week, and I'm chuffed to bits with it. This time round I didn't do any of the designs, but I helped Jeni (of Fyberspates) to commssion the gorgeous designs, and worked with her and with Nic to bring the collection to life.

The collection features patterns for newborns through to 2 year old toddlers, and we commissioned designs from Kyoko Nakayoshi (it's her Temari kimono top above), Belinda Boaden, Mélanie Edgar and Judy Furlong. They all did us proud with the beautiful garments and accessories that they created for this book.

I think my nephew might need a set of Ensar dungarees (designed by Mélanie), don't you? Each of the kids that modelled these seemed to love them (or perhaps more importantly, their parents did!).

Here is the rest of the Corlyna set that goes with the legwarmers I made the other week. Belinda did a lovely job with this set - I can see myself making the cardigan at some point too.

Judy Furlong created this stunning lace shawl for the collection. It's a perfect Christening shawl, and in fact, it arrived the Friday before my nephew was to be baptised, so we were able to give it a little test run. Here are the proud parents along with ickle neph.

The garments and accessories all use Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/sport, apart from the lace shawl which uses 1 hank of Scrumptious Lace. If tyou'd like to purchase a copy of the book, then do ask at your local yarn shop. Here is a list of current Fyberspates retailers. If you are in the US, then Lantern Moon distributes the yarn and books, so do contact them to find your local reatailer. You can also purchase the book directly from Fyberspates.

In other news, the endless 1x1 rib is over and I'm wearing the cardigan. Photos need to be taken, and then I can share it with you.

FO: Corlyna Legwarmers

It might sound unlikely, but baby legwarmers are my latest go-to small-person gift. These are from one of the patterns in The Scrumptious Baby Collection, which we sent to press last week. The pattern is part of a set that also includes a hat and cardigan, and is designed by Belinda Boaden.

Legwarmers are in fact, way more practical than booties. They don't come off for a start, and with lots of little girls wearing dresses, legwarmers work really well on colder days.

These were a gift for my friend Harriet's new daughter. And were declared an instant hit! In fact, she tweeted a couple of days later that they're in regular use, along with the following adorable picture. Result!

This pair feature a sea-shell inspired stitch pattern. It's a little bit fiddly to do, but looks brilliant when it's done. I recommend using smooth, pointy needles to make the "K1, P1, K1, P1, K1 all into the 5 big loops" section MUCH easier. I started with my Brittany needles, and it was painful as they are sticky and blunt. Once I swapped to KnitPros, it was a much happier experience.

I used Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/Sport in the water colourway, and the pair only used approximately 20g of yarn. The Scrumptious Baby Collection will be available from Fyberspates retailers very shortly. You can see more details about my project in my Ravelry notebook: JenACKnitwear's Corlyna Legwarmers.

Woah Woolfest!

Wowzers, what a Woolfest. It was the most fabulous weekend, but it has taken me a few days to catch up with sleep and work that were neglected while I was away. There will be a flurry of blog activity now, but then I am expecting to be pretty quiet again while I'm away in France for the show in Lot and some R&R in Marseille afterwards. I hope to get in a lot of knitting time though.

Woolfest was completely non-stop. We set up the Fyberspates stand on Thursday afternoon, and then sold all day Friday and Saturday before packing up and driving back down to Chester. We were so overwhelmed by the reaction to the book, that it's actually quite hard to describe it in words. Check out the slightly stunned look on my face as I open yet another package of books!

Selling on the Fyberspates stand at Woolfest (thanks to Nic for the pic).

We christened the new stand set-up arrangement, and it seemed to make it really easy to keep track of all the different shades of Scrumptious. I must say that it is incredibly hard work to be surrounded by such beautiful yarn and not buy it all for myself!!

Lots of lovely Fyberspates yarn to fondle.

I just end up telling myself that none of it is for sale - it's just for looking at like some type of modern art installation. However, in the little bit of time that I had wandering the other stands with Amanda and Lily (France from the book super-team), I succumbed to a few treats for myself. It wouldn't be a trip to a show if I didn't buy anything would it?

Knit by Numbers from Fibre Harvest.

First up is this irresistible 100% merino DK yarn from John and Juliet Arbon at Fibre Harvest. It's called Knit by Numbers and starting with solid dyed tops, the yarn is spun with increasing amounts of white fibre to give this beautiful graduated effect. I think there are more than 50 shades already, with more planned. I can't wait for the greens... I had to rein myself in from sticking with my usual teal. Everyone has assured me that this yellow palette really suits me, so it's a new dawn here at the A-C household, who knows what might be next. Tea drinking? Or eating sprouts? Eughh no thanks, just knitting with yellow for now.

A little fabric and some silk.

One of the stalls that really sucked me in for a good look was Cocoon. I adore my Japanese knitting pattern books, and love Habu yarns, so it was a great stand for me. I gave in and went back for my cheque book so that I could purchase some Habu silk and these pretty fat quarters. It's probably very good for the bank balance that they didn't take cheques or I might have really fallen down a Habu rabbit hole. I must have enough fabric for a house-sized quilt by now! Better get sewing.

Dazzle sock from The Natural Dye Studio.

Lastly for the photos is some squishy Dazzle Sock from The Natural Dye Studio. Along with a group of friends we are knitting a blanket for another friend. I'm quite certain she doesn't read the blog, but just in case I'm going to leave it pretty vague. I already had 6 hanks of this lovely Bluefaced Leicester yarn in my stash, so I just wanted to top it up with another couple of hanks to ensure we had enough for a lovely big, snuggly blanket. Hmmm, the yellow reminds me of trousers.

My final purchase was some handspun faux-cashmere from Daniela Klopmann. This is all wrapped and ready for a SnB friend. She wasn't at knitting on Tuesday, so I'm hoping I might bump into her at the pub tomorrow.

Phew - a long post. Congratulations on getting to the bottom. Tomorrow's won't be quite as long, but I have got a few lovelies stored up to share with you...

Ready, steady, launch!

Saturday was the official launch day for the Scrumptious Collection.

Bubbly to toast the project.

We were lucky enough to be able to hold the launch at Nicki Trench's Dancing Hens craft studio in Radlett. Nicki has created a wonderful, light space, filled with crochet, knitting and sewing inspiration. I would love to return one day for one of her workshops - they looked fabulous.

After a few words of introduction and thanks from Jeni and I, we had a wonderful mini-afternoon tea, prepared by Jeni's fabulous Mum (the coffee meringues were absolutely delicious, I must get the recipe!).

 
Jeni Hewlett (left - Fyberspates herself), and me (right). Apparently I don't stand still for photographs! 

Then there was eating and chatting with the book team, as well as lots of planning and plotting of projects for next year. Things are looking really exciting!

Me (left), Mélanie Edgar (centre - pattern checking and translation), Nic Blackmore (right - Art and Production Editor).

To celebrate the launch of the book, I have a copy of the book, as well as a skein of Scrumptious yarn to giveaway. Leave a comment on this post before midnight (GMT+1) on Friday 3rd June 2011, and the winner will be chosen at random. One entry per person.

If you can't wait for the giveaway, then you can buy the book from Fyberspates here (£12.50 + P&P): The Scrumptious Collection volume 1

Fyberspates Open Day

We had a brilliant time at the Fyberspates Open Day on Saturday. I was quite restrained, and only came home with some fibre for spinning for myself. If you would like to snag some beautiful bargains then Jeni is opening the workshop again on bank holiday Monday (30th May 2011) starting at 10am.

The Maintenance Room, 
The Nalder Estate, 
East Challow, 
Nr Wantage,
Oxfordshire,
OX12 9SY 

There is a LOT of yarn (the sale tables are priced at £2, £5 and £10 per skein), plus some lovely pattern books (new and second-hand ones), fibre for spinning or felting, gizmos like sock blockers and spindles, and piles of needles.

For more information, email [email protected]

Look at all that yarn!

What Jen did next

In March, The Knitter invited me back to do a guest blog post about what's been keeping me out of trouble since I left them in December 2010. You can read about what I've been up to in the early months of this year here: What Jen did next