Released Soon: Proserpine
Heads-up that the Proserpine shawl is heading for general release tomorrow (Wednesday, March 11). I will be bringing hard copies of it with me to Edinburgh Yarn Festival and you'll be able to see the shawl on the Old Maiden Aunt stall.
The original sample was knitted out of two skeins of the truly gorgeous Triskelion Amaethon 4ply for the Arts & Crafts issue of Knit Now (and you'll see me wear that at EYF). That sample was sadly unavailable for me to wear at the photo shoot, so I was incredibly lucky to have my friend Gwen step up to the challenge with a sample knitted in OMA merino 4ply in the "Crazy Ivan" colourway (observant readers will note that this is actually the same colourway/yarn I used for my Byatt shawl!). Unfortunately Gwen is rather unwell, so I really appreciate her help and support on this. Thank you so, so much!
This week will be really unusual for me and I have a huge to-do list to get through before EYF. This means I won't be around as much and I might take longer to reply to pattern support queries. I don't know what possessed me to release a pattern during this week too, to be honest. I have these moments of "Yes, of course I'll do that!" and then later I actually realise what I've decided to do may be .. slightly silly.
I'll leave you with a gorgeous little piece of street art that David spotted the other day during our walk in the beautiful sunshine. Spring is here.
The Fibre Festival Survival Guide - The Edinburgh Yarn Festival Edition
Attending a fibre festival is always a great day (or weekend) out. You are surrounded by people who love the same activities as you do, and you get to do some serious knitwear-spotting too. It can also be a really exhausting time because there are just so many things to see and do - and you might find yourself so overwhelmed that you end up leaving empty-handed and slightly burned out. With Edinburgh Yarn Festival just around the corner, I thought I'd share some of my tricks for having a fabulous time.
- Plan ahead. Start by looking through the vendor list and visit their websites, so you know roughly what to expect. Make a short-list of your must-visit vendors and grab the official EYF programme to find out where their stalls are. This stops you from feeling completely overwhelmed by all the squishy yarn goodness on offer!
- Plan ahead, pt 2. Look through your Ravelry queue and make a note of yarn requirements for those must-knit-next patterns in your queue. Do the same for any needles or hooks you may want to pick up at EYF. You don't want to buy a 3mm needle when you actually wanted a 3.25mm needle! And nothing's worse than picking up a perfect skein of yarn and then realising the pattern calls for two skeins!
- Plan ahead, pt 3. If you are meeting up with far-flung friends at EYF, make sure you have exchanged phone numbers before heading out! Also make sure to describe yourself ("I'm short with curly brown hair and will be wearing a blue/white/yellow Colour Affection") if you are meeting up with internet friends who may not have met you before.
- Food. If you have special dietary requirements, always make sure to bring a back-up lunch. Personally I always carry some bottled water to keep myself hydrated and a small bag of mixed nuts to snack on so my blood sugar stays level throughout the day.
- Bags. Scotland has implemented the carrier bag charge (very good news for the environment!) so remember to bring your own carrier bags. You can also buy gorgeous tote bags at the events, of course.
- Wear sensible shoes! You will be on your feet most of the day, so leave your high heels at home. I hear the "wear sensible shoes!" advice all the time and yet I keep seeing miserable-looking people in high-heeled boots at events.
- Budget. Unless you are a multi-millionaire, chances are that you will have to make some tough decisions at EYF. Decide before you leave home how much you are going to spend. Decide how much you'll spend on yarn, how much on notions, and how much on cute accessories like tote bags, mugs etc. Then leave room in your budget for impulse buys. Even the smallest budget should have an impulse buy allowance. You will fall in love with something unexpected.
- Travel. The EYF brochure contains everything you need to know about transport, so make sure you know your train times and keep your tickets in a safe spot. Allow yourself plenty of time to get to and from the venue. Make sure you have a perfect travel project on the go - travelling to a fibre festival is part of the festival fun!
- Be Social! Say hello to people! Smile and talk knitting while you are waiting in a queue. Let strangers know how awesome their cardigan is. Enjoy the atmosphere. If a vendor or a tutor has been especially incredible, let them know! Take pictures of amazing things and share them on the internet. Use the hashtag #EdinYarnFest both during the weekend and afterwards when you share your memories.
- Remember to Breathe. Fibre festivals can be exhausting (especially because so many of us are introverts). If you get tired, take a break. If you need some fresh air, go for a short walk. Nothing is more important than you enjoying yourself, so be kind to yourself rather than push through. The perfect buttons will still be there ten minutes later.
- And just have fun! This is going to be one of the highlights of your year.
And this from the comments (THANK YOU, Jackie!): "if you’re taking a class, make sure you check what you need to bring 5 days before you need it. Then you’ll have plenty time to stash-dive or pop to your nearest lys before the event itself!"
Looking Forward To The Edinburgh Yarn Festival, pt 2
The second Edinburgh Yarn Festival is almost upon us. In part one I wrote a little bit about the first EYF and I touched upon some of the vendors I am really looking forward to seeing. I think it is time to write about what I'll be up to and then look out for part 3 in which I'll give you some tips on how to best navigate the festival!
I'll be teaching two classes, both fully booked: how to use beads in knitted projects (there are several methods that'll give you different results) and a continental knitting class. I've taught both classes before and they are so much fun to teach. The beading class usually has a lot of tiny beads rolling around and the continental class usually has people side-eyeing me as they try to make their hands do funny things.
I'll be appearing in the Podcast Lounge with Louise Scollay at 11am, Sunday morning. We'll be talking about the first day of EYF as well as catching up with all my news and I'll try my best to make The Scollay spill a few beans too. If you listened to Knit British episode 18, you know you can expect a lot of banter - but also some more thoughtful reflections.
I'll be at the Ca-BAA-ret on Saturday night - there will be door prizes galore, Felix Ford is performing and she'll host a woolly pub quiz together with Ysolda. I'm one of the defending pub quiz champions from Unwind Brighton, so bring it on!
And I think I might also be doing a signing session at some point (I need to find the email). Once the programme goes live, I'll have all the details for you and will be able to confirm things fully.
I'll be bringing my Byatt shawl and don't forget that if you wear a Byatt shawl to the Old Maiden Aunt stall, you get 10% off your purchase. Also, if you show up in a Byatt and you manage to grab a photo of yourself and me at EYF, you get a staggering 50% off my next Authors & Artists pattern. I'll also be bringing the Proserpine shawl pattern which is going into general release in the days leading up to EYF.
Phew.
I have been knitting a cardigan to wear at EYF. It's a bit of a cheat as it's actually not my own pattern, but I wanted to learn about different construction methods and didn't have time to grade an entire cardigan and launch it at EYF. So, I'm two rows of buttonband-knitting away from having finished Andi Satterlund's Hetty. It has been a super-quick knit and once I grasped the construction method, I was pretty much just away doing my own thing. I'm amazed that I've used just under 700 yards of worsted weight yarn to knit myself a cardigan. I'm not a petite lady.
(I'm tempted to start another EYF project, but that would just be madness! Right?)
Since I wrote my first post, several more vendors have been added. I simply won't have enough time to really go in depth with stall-browsing, so I have spent time making a (very short) list of new-to-me vendors I really want to see. I'm excited about Black Bat Rare Sheep Wool, SiideGarte, Whistlebare Yarns, and Susan Sharpe Ceramics. Obviously I'll have a good look at all the other stalls too and I cannot wait to see so many of my friends (I have a lot of hugs to hand out).
Will I see you at EYF? As these things can be a blur of faces, make sure to say who you are because I am rotten with names & faces (I remember knitwear though!). Many apologies - it's totally me and not you.
Counting down the days now..
Review: Defarge Does Shakespeare
I was asked by the lovely folks at Cooperative Press if I wanted a review copy of the forthcoming Defarge Does Shakespeare. As a former English Grad with a 'keen interest in knitting' (euphemism), I could not resist. So, just to make things clear, I was given my review copy for free because CP wanted to hear my thoughts. Once more unto the breach, dear friends!
Defarge Does Shakespeare is the third book in CP's Defarge series. The series features knitting patterns inspired by classic literature (and is named after a knitter in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities) and now the focus has landed on good, old Will Shakes.
The first thing that caught my eye was that the book is divided into Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies - just like the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. It betrays a level of literary nerdery that I can only applaud. Each pattern is accompanied by an essay in which the designer writes about the play she has been working with and how the design developed. If you are unfamiliar with Shakespeare plays, or only know the really famous ones, then the essays are a great read. For me, the literary analyses were less interesting (I'm very tetchy about these things, sorry!) but I really enjoyed reading about the design processes.
Most of the 29 designs are accessories. Six sock patterns (all of them very strong; is a Madame Defarge Does Socks book forthcoming?), 15 other accessories, two home items, two baby items (including the very witty Exeunt, Pursued by Bear (reference) baby cardigan by Amy Tyszkiewicz), and three garments.
I particularly liked the Twelfth Night-inspired socks by Elizabeth Green Musselman called The Yellow-Gartered Dude Abides which are both fun to look at and also calls back very specifically - and wittily - to the text that inspired them. The socks have two different cuff options and they function amazingly well as a nudge-wink to historical costumes and as a 21st century knitting design. Kudos!
Another stand-out is the puntastic The Taming of the Shrug by Heather Ordover. Obviously inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, Heather's design is reversible so you can either be a flame (Katherine) or a leaf (Bianca). The shrug can also be knitted in two different weights - I always like when this is given as an option. The 'Bianca' option is especially appealing with its quirky lace edging. I have up-coming bridesmaid's duties and this shrug is now on the list of 'cover up them shoulders' options.
There is a lot to like about Defarge Does Shakespeare and you can spend a great deal of time digging through this book. Apart from the designers already mentioned, It has a really distinctive feel that is different to many other knitting books I have seen, and it is unashamedly nerdy about William Shakespeare. If you know a literature student who loves knitting small projects, DDS would make a very thoughtful gift.
Copenhagen Dreaming
I moved to Copenhagen in 1995 to start university. It was a hot July day, but my student hall kitchen had a fire escape from which you could watch the Tivoli Garden fireworks and the Vor Frelsers Kirke spire. I listened a lot to the Danish band Love Shop while I biked around town. I sat in cemeteries/parks reading the massive Victorian novels required for my coursework and met some of the best people I know in small cafes. Copenhagen remained my base as I travelled a lot from Norway, Sweden and Scotland to New Zealand. I always returned home to the fire escape and the best view in town. I graduated and bought a flat on the other side of town. I spent most of my time with friends in the Nørrebro and Vesterbro districts - and occasionally biked across my beloved Langebro (obligatory Love Shop link). I left Copenhagen for Glasgow in 2006, but Copenhagen is still home. 
On Saturday night one of my oldest and dearest friends ran for his life in Inner Copenhagen. Without going into details, I am so very grateful that he is still alive and well. I have very mixed feelings about how the media narrative surrounding the incidents was set up from the get-go, how things were interpreted on the ground, the extent of the media coverage and what the probable aftermath in Danish politics will be. But, I don't write about politics on this blog and I have no intention of starting. I just feel very far away from a city I love so much and my friends who are all so very dear to me.
So, I'm (yet again) restarting my project of sharing beautiful things and celebrating all the things in life that matter to me.
This is my first "selfish" project in a very, very long time. I'm knitting the Hetty cardigan by Andi Satterlund in Cascade 220 (shade "Birch Heather"). I am hoping to complete it in time for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. I chose Hetty because I love the silhouette but also because I wanted to learn more about a structured top-down construction. The pattern is fun to knit (though I freely admit rewriting it so it suits my brain) and the construction is interesting. I have four skeins of the yarn and I've opted for the L size (though it does look tiny and I should maybe have gone for the size up, but I trust Andi's sizing comments).
In other news, I released the second instalment of the Old Maiden Aunt/Karie Westermann 2015 Sock Club on Friday. The pattern is called Mad Larks and it is knitted in a gorgeous, rich and layered brown shade. The Byatt KAL is going great over in my group - please do join in! We are having great fun discussing colour options, how to customise Byatt and if anybody would freely admit to being a Hufflepuff!
Finally, I am exceptionally honoured to announce that The Island Wool Company has set up a Designer Collective and that I am one of the six designers involved. We are all very passionate about North Atlantic knitting traditions and we are huge fans of the yarns that the Island Wool Company works so hard to bring to a larger audience. I look forward to reinterpreting and communicating a very strong knitting heritage - one in which I am lucky to have a very small stake.
Beauty exists and I'll do my very best to keep bringing more beauty into this world.
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