Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Unravel 2015 round up

We had a day out on Saturday. I took eldest to a yarn show for the first time, and the great news is that it was a big hit! I've been to Unravel three times now, and it's been great every year.

I was pretty restrained in purchasing terms. My main splurge was at the Textile Garden stand. You've already seen the red rockets and the blue buttons I've used on my recent cardigans, but I also picked up a few more sets for the button tin.

              

Birds! Octopuses! Elephants! Owls! You can click on the pictures above to get a larger version. And if you're feeling button inspired, then head over to Textile Garden for hours of candy store fun!

I limited myself to one skein of yarn, which was some pretty Skein Queen Blissful Plump in a denim-y shade of blue. This is going to be knitted up pretty quickly, as it's planned for another POP! cardigan, probably teamed with the blue owl buttons above. I also couldn't resist another tin of stitch markers from Fripperies and Bibelots. I think I've bought a tin each year I've been to Unravel. They are my preferred stitch markers, but I have a habit of gradually losing them.

 

As ever, I almost completely forgot to take pictures of the show itself. I always get too caught up in enjoying the moment (probably no bad thing)! But I did manage one picture of Rachel and her gorgeous CoopKnits stand, with the new Sock Book (more on that another time...).

Of course going to a yarn show isn't just about the purchases... It's mostly about catching up with friends! As well as the many lovely stall holders that we chatted to (far too many wonderful friends to list - just check out the vendor list online!!), I was delighted to finally meet Anna Maltz (aka SweaterSpotter) - keep your eyes peeled for her GORGEOUS new collection! And I was also lucky enough to kidnap the wonderful Bristol Ivy and talked the hind legs of a donkey off her over lunch. Then to top it all off, we had dinner with Rachel, Nez, Felix and my publishing comrade Nic! By the end of the day my inspiration levels were sky high, and I was itching to get my needles and my editing pen going again. Luckily we didn't leave too late and eldest slept all the way home. Hurrah! Now to plan the next show... Possibly Ally Pally if we have the stamina!

Cataloging the stash

It's that time of year when I get a desperate urge to tidy, sort and catalogue. I'm not sure where it comes from, but spring cleaning is definitely more winter cleaning in my house! I last went through and made sure that all of my stash was on Ravelry in December 2011: Gulp! At that point in time, I had nearly 5,000 patterns in my Ravelry library and 38,638m of yarn (or enough to go from here to Illchester!).

I spent this afternoon photographing and sorting (checking moth repellents were in place while I was at it), and I'm proud to say that all my yarn is now catalogued on Ravelry. So I nervously downloaded the Excel spreadsheet that tells how much yarn I have... and our survey says: 21,852.7m HUZZAH!! That's 13.5 miles, which is considerably less than the 24 miles last time.

My aim over the last few years has been to work through some of the gorgeous yarns in my stash, and projects in my queue. Everytime I get the yarn out to have a hunt for something, I'm struck by how many beautiful things are waiting to be made here. I didn't manage to hit many of my Knit the Stash 2013 targets - it was a busy year! But last year I did quite well at working through some of those patterns that I've had my eye on for ages.

Now that the stash has been beaten into submission, I'm onto the next stage, which is a serious case of startitis... I've been browsing Ravelry for patterns, and matching up yarn and designs. There are so many brilliant garments and accessories just waiting to be made. This year I think that I'll have a go at making some kids jumpers - for my own, but also for a few special friends and family with little ones on the way. I've got some yarns in just the right quantities for kids sweaters - amounts that until now have been too little for a garment, and too much for an accessory. I've been sucked down a rabbit-hole of cute kids and baby patterns... I may be a while...

Don't forget to enter the Vivacious Volume 1 giveaway. It's open for another week. Full details here: Vivacious Volume 1

FO: Scatness Hat

I'm aiming to catch up with myself a little. There's been a fair bit of knitting happening, but much of it has been uncatalogued here on the blog, which I'd like to rectify!

First up is my Scatness Tam.

As you can see from the photo, I finished this last summer, but I wasn't overly excited by the photos, so I put off blogging about it. Now that I'm in a New Year frenzy of catching up with myself, I've taken a few flat photos, and I'm calling it done. I really enjoyed knitting this. I realised / remembered that I absolutely love Fair Isle designs. There's something about the rhythm of them that is a complete joy to me.

I used Kate's colours, straight from Colours of Shetland (where you will find this and many other beautiful designs), apart from forgetting to use the brighter white shade in the centre of the main Fair Isle band. Doh!

I'm really pleased with the finished hat, which hasn't yet decided who it wants to live with. My knits tend to tell me these things, but Scatness hasn't yet spoken!

I'd highly recommend both the pattern and the yarn (J&S 2 ply Jumper Weight) - they were a symphony of perfection! :)

Getting ready to knit a sushi roll

Well there's a weird post title, if you're not familiar with EasyKnits' beautiful sushi sock rolls...

I've had this in my stash for what feels like forever, but for some reason I've not got around to knitting from it... And yes, there's what's stopped me right there: I know that you can knit straight from the end of the knitted panel, unravelling the panel as you go, but I also know that it would drive me crackers. I hate knitting with kinked yarn. It drives me bonkers.

So last weekend (or thereabouts) I finally got around to preparing it for knitting...

Finrstly I unravelled the panel and wound it onto my swift. It would have been best to wind it onto a niddy noddy, but I don't seem to have one any more, and my swift was already set up for another job. It worked.

Then I soaked the kinky-noodle-like yarn in a bowl of warm water and Soak. I left them there for long enough for the fibres to really relax.

Once the yarn was fully soaked, I gently squeezed out as much water as I could, without wringing it, and possibly stretching the yarn.

And finally I hung the yarn up over the bath, weighted down by another clothes hanger. It's not perfect, and you can see in the picture that the yarn is still a little bit wibbly-wobbly, but it is WAY better than it was. If I was really bothered I could soak it again for a bit longer, but now that it's all wound up I am itching to cast on for some socks. I just need to decide on a pattern that will do these lovely hanks proud. Any suggestions?

Unravel 2014

What a brilliant day out! I'm sure that by now you will have seen a number of post-Unravel blog posts, all agreeing on what a lovely show it is. Never mind, I'm going to wade in and add my praise as well!

Before I had even got in the car to drive to Farnham, I had fallen in love with this skein of beautiful Entwist from Skein Queen! I was over the moon when I discovered that it hadn't already been snapped up, so I have given it a new home here in Somerset. It's destined to become some plain vanilla socks, just as soon as I get it wound up. When I first started knitting socks I went a bit mad on variegated and self-striping yarns. I knitted pairs and pairs of crazy socks, and then I got bitten by the cable and lace bugs and started to realised that patterned socks usually need more sensible yarn choices - solid or semi-solid at the most - if you want people to actually be able to see the pattern. Looking at my sock yarn collection before I left home, I realised that I now have very little fun yarn for a straight pair of socks! Given that these days I need to have some super-simple knitting on hand, for the evenings when my brain just can't cope with a chart or anything more complex than stocking stitch, this needed fixing!

My only other yarn purchase was a ball of Toft's new 100% British wool, Ulysses in the aran weight (also available in DK and chunky). Quite a few of my friends have mentioned how amazingly soft, and yet still woolly, this brilliant new yarn is, but I was not prepared for how soft! It is properly next-to-the-skin soft. And it's 100% British wool! I know! Isn't that fantastic? It really does need to be felt to be believed. You can find it on Toft's website here: Ulysses (dangerous and possibly pocket emptying link alert!!). My ball is destined to become a hat, just as soon as I decide how many stitches to cast on...

Like last year, I stocked up with a heap of Tilly Flop cards. I love the newest additions too - knit tattoos!!

It was brilliant to be able to catch up with so many knitty friends in one place - particularly as it has been a whole year since I've seen most people. I was treated to a few bits and bobs too. First up is Rachel Coopey's new book: Toasty

I'm casting lots for what to make first - either Eppleby or Ripon probably... All of the designs use Titus (the 4ply yarn from Baa Ram Ewe), which is a lovely woolly confection. Since I'm working on my stash, I think I'll most likely be using some Excelana 4ply that I have already. I took the book to knitting last night, and it was MUCH admired. Gorgeous designs!

  

Belinda and Wendy from True Brit Knits was there, and kindly gave me a couple of their ace knitting notebooks as well as a Knitter badge to match my Head Girl badge from all those years ago! The notebooks have knitter's graph paper and plain alternating pages, with a chart key inside the front cover and a ruler in the back. They are brilliantly handy for sketching out an idea, or keeping track of and modifications you make when you're knitting a pattern. The last few pages are even detatchable so that you can pass them to someone or pop them in your project bag. What a great product! These, and the badges will shortly be available from their website, so I'll let you know once they are in stock.

Finally, Nic was very naughty, and treated me to one of the fantastically beautiful yarn bowls from Fyberspates (might be out of stock, but that's where they will be!). Apparently the puffin was irresistible! I'm keeping a close eye on it at home though, as we are a bird crazy family, and puffins in particular are not only my favourite...

I also picked up a copy of Knit Night by Louise Zass-Bangham plus coordinating beads, which is perfect for a skein of Juno Alice Sock that I've had kicking around for a while...

What a lot of lovely things! I wish that I was able to go to Unwind in Brighton later in the year, as it looks amazing, but I'm hoping to do a quilting workshop with friends in July, so that will probably be my next dollop of me-time fun. It was brilliant to have a day out, but also fantastic to get home and see everyone. I miss them when I'm out and about!

WIP: Betty Mouat Cowl

This has been such a fast project to knit up, that it's almost a finished object before I've even had a chance to mention it here!!

This mess of knitting is the two halves of my Betty Mouat cowl, just waiting to be grafted together. I cast on just over a week ago, as this is a pattern that's been in my queue ever since it was first released. I bought the yarn at Jamieson & Smith in summer 2012, thinking I would knit it up before I returned to Shetland that October... Oh well!

Kate gives the option to work the garter stitch in the round with no purling, but since I really don't mind purling that much, I just worked it normally. This meant that the cockleshell lace ended with a p15tog. I have a feeling that this stitch might be why I've waited so long to cast it on, which was entirely unnecessary, as it's really very easy! Once you've slipped the stitches in order to drop the extra loops, you can purl the last of the 15 sts, and then simply lift the remaining 14 sts over the one you have purled. This will make much more sense if you're knitting the cowl at the moment! Otherwise it's probably just gobbledygook!

All I need to do now is to sit down and weave in some ends, before I get on with grafting the two halves together. I plan to spit-splice lengths of the yarn together while I'm grafting so that I don't have to pull too long a length of yarn through. Luckily the beautiful J&S Shetland wool is perfect for splicing together so it will be easy peasy. The hardest job is going to be deciding who this cowl wants to live with...

I have loads of wool left over from this project, as I've only made the small cowl. I'll be putting the leftovers on my for sale or trade page on Ravelry, so do drop me a message if you'd like to make this cowl too!

Edited to add: The yarn has now been claimed! Thank you to everyone who expressed an interest in it. :)

WIP: Making progress on Pippin

It's been a busy old month - as I'm sure it has for many of you. In between the Christmas festivities and attempts at recharging some very run-down batteries, there hasn't been much time for knitting.

I am however, nearly finished with both sleeves of my Pippin jumper, which means there are just pockets, cowl neck and cuffs left to do. It feels like the end is in sight, so I'm looking forward to adding a new jumper to my wardrobe for the chilly months to come.

I've been knitting the sleeves at the same time - a new thing for me. I've seen it recommended lots of times, but not got around to trying it until now. I'm quite excited about coming to the end of the first sleeve and realising that there is only a cuff remaining on the second one! Of course now that it's almost a whole jumper, it is really tricky to photograph...

One of the jobs that I managed to get done over the holidays was to sort through my yarn stash a bit. Now that we have such a busy family life, there just isn't the same amount of time for knitting that there was before. I know that time will come back eventually, but I'd like to release some of my yarn back into the wild. I'm then hoping that I might be able to buy some new yarn that will be more suitable for children's projects... If you're interested in enhancing your stash at all, then do have a look at my Ravelry for sale page: JenACKnitwear's Yarn For Sale

I've no idea at all what 2014 will bring in the way of excitement... Lots of family fun, hopefully a few more knitted projects and maybe a tiny bit of work - I miss my clients!!

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!

Jen's Green - New shade of Fyberspates Scrumptious

Ever since I started working with Jeni at Fyberspates two years ago, I've been nagging her about having a really great shade of green in her Scrumptious range. It's no secret that I love blues and greens - if you look at my stash page on Ravelry, you can see that my choices are skewed to that end of the spectrum. Jeni already had a stunning TEAL that's available across the whole Scrumptious range, so I pestered, cajoled, and downright demanded a Great Green, and I'm thrilled to be able to share with you the results of this harrassment:

This is me with some skeins of the new "Jen's Green" shade of Fyberspates Scrumptious! If you haven't worked with it before, let me introduce you to Scrumptious - it's a 45% silk, 55% merino blend (the 4ply is superwash merino, but the others are standard merino). The yarn comes in 5 different weights, and Jen's Green is available in three of them:

Scrumptious Lace (click to be taken to the purchasing page): A 2ply constructed yarn, with 1,000m to 100g. More on my plans for these skeins in a moment...

Scrumptious 4ply (click to purchase): A 2ply constructed yarn made from the superwash merino with 365m to 100g. This yarn was designed to be perfect for luxury baby knits. I might be planning to use some of this to knit a Corlyna cardigan for my niece... Probably with matching legwarmers!

And finally, the Scrumptious DK (click to purchase): This is a single ply yarn with 220m to 100g. Thanks to the construction, this is the least hard-wearing of the three yarns, BUT it is like cushions of fluffy clouds and is just dreamily soft. I'm thinking of turning these 2 skeins into a simple scarf - maybe a Clapotis or something similar.

You may have noticed that the yarn name features the possessive apostrophe, so I'm pretty sure that ALL of this delicious yarn belongs to me... It does after all say so clearly on the labels!

This also seems like a good moment to let you know that the designs I created for Fyberspates (both for the Scrumptious Collection volume 1 and for Simply Knitting), are now available to download individually. You can find these patterns in my Ravelry store here: Jen Arnall-Culliford's Ravelry Store or follow the links below.

I plan to make my very own Tirrold from my 2 skeins of Scrumptious Lace in Jen's Green. I think that it will be a really useful top to wear with a long-sleeved T-shirt in the great British summer. Here's a picture of Jeni's recently finished version (hers uses Fyberspates Elegance Lace in a hand-dyed shade):

Tirrold costs £3.95: 

Then there are a couple of possibilities for the 4ply... First up is my Arncott Hat, which uses less than 1 skein of 4ply:

Arncott £2.50:

Or my Ultra-Violet Shawl, which was designed for Simply Knitting a while back, and is now available as a download with both written and charted instructions. This uses just 2 skeins of 4ply and works brilliantly as a snuggly winter scarf as well as a dressy stole.

Ultra-Violet Shawl £3.00: 

You can find all of the designs that I sell individually, by clicking through with the Patterns tab above from any page on the blog. Happy Knitting!

I can't wait to see what people make with the new shade! I've already started to pester Jeni to extend Jen's Green into the Aran and Chunky weights - I'll keep you posted with my progress!!

Woolly Adventures in Shetland

What do you get when four knitters stay in a flat in Shetland, within walking distance of Jamieson & Smith? I think that the answer, LOTS OF YARN, is hopefully fairly obvious. We visited J&S almost every day of our stay.

Just look at the effect it had on us...

By us, I do of course mean Nic...

How could we not get carried away? There was just so much inspiration. I kept spotting more and more colours that I wanted to knit with... and they weren't all teal!

Well, not quite anyway...

Ella and Sandra gave us lots and lots of help and encouragement with chosing combinations. They really are fantastic!

Many thanks to Ella for taking this lovely picture of us against the wall of yarn. Left to right we are: Jen (that's me), Nic, Sarah and Rachel.

Rachel and I were also lucky enough to have a brief chat with Oliver Henry about the grading of the Shetland clip. He talked us through the qualities of Shetland wool, and showed us how it's all sorted by hand. It was absolutely fascinating!

Finally, on Monday I taught a lovely class all about pattern writing, as part of Shetland Wool Week. It was great to work surrounded by all the delicious yarn, and the class were brilliant! Thank you all!

I didn't take any photos at Kate's trunk show - I was too busy picking colours for the hoodie I'm planning to make from her new book. There will be more on that when my yarn arrives in the post (no spare space in my luggage!). I'm dreaming of my next (as yet unplanned) visit already.

We pooled our photos, so some of these were taken by me, and some by Rachel Coopey. Thank you m'dear!