Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
First of all let’s have a look at how everyone got on with last week’s honeycomb pattern. Wnelcome to blog follower Liz who is knitting her blanket in yellow, aqua and white.
Here’s R’s pink and white…
…and L’s salmon pink
They all look great!
Here’s mine.
This week Yvonne has brought us a lacy pattern – it should look like the yellow stripe in the pic at the top of the post.
Yvonne writes, “Hi guys, it’s that time of week again and ready for the next part. I hope you all enjoyed last week’s instalment and didn’t find it too hard. This week we are changing the tempo and having a bit of lace and no cable needles in sight but we still have to count very carefully. Not that much to it but we do have long rows, it’s done over 4 sts and in 4 rows repeat so have fun.”
Week 7
The abbreviations for this week are: Yf yarn forward which means put yarn round the needle. Sl slip one so you slip the next st onto the other needle. K2tog knit 2 together which I think is self explanatory. PSSO pass slip st over again I think it explains itself.
Here we go.
Row 1. K2, (yf, sl, k2tog, psso, yf, k1) repeat what’s in brackets as far as you can remembering the 8 garter st at beginning and end. Row 2. P. Row 3. K1, k2tog, yf, k1, (yf, sl, k2tog, psso, yf, k1) repeat to end. Row 4. P. These 4 rows form pattern so repeat rows 1-4 again then the first 2 and that’s all there is to it.
Just remember to count carefully and also the borders and I will speak to you next week. Happy knitting guys. Yvonne
How are you getting on with your blanket? Do keep sending in your photos.
The KAL blanket is growing! Before I share the next instalment of Yvonne’s design, here are what some of the other group members are looking like. If you’ll remember, last week’s pattern was for a 5×5 check effect.
Here’s mine so far
…and L’s salmon pink…
…along with R’s pink and white
This week, Yvonne introduces a honeycomb pattern.
She writes,”Hi guys. Hope you are all well and managed last week’s pattern without too much trouble!
This week’s pattern consists of a 4 row repeat and uses a cable needle, it’s a little tricky but remember it’s all in the counting.
Week 6
We will be using abbreviations so here is the explanation for this pattern TW2R Twist 2 right which means put next st on cable needle and hold at back of work, knit 1, then knit 1 from cable needle. TW2L Twist 2 left which means put next st on cable needle and hold at front of work, knit 1 then knit 1 from cable needle.
Ok here we go. Row 1, (TW2R, TW2L) repeat to last st k1. Row 2 and all even rows purl. Row 3, (TW2L, TW2R) repeat to last st k1.
These 4 rows form pattern so repeat rows 1 – 4 again and then rows 1 & 2 again.
That’s all there is to it, good luck and happy knitting. See you next week.
Yvonne.
I love a bit of cable so I’m looking forward to getting on with this one. To see what it should look like, look at the photo of Yvonne’s blanket at the beginning of the post – it’s the purple stripe at the top.
Keep on knitting and sending photos of your blanket so far!
I’ve taught a fair few people to crochet over the years, friends and members of the various craft groups I attend. I was recently asked if I would run something at The Amble Pincushion as their usual crochet tutor has retired. I’ve agreed to teach a 2-hour session on making classic granny squares, something suitable for beginners. If it works out I may do more.
Granny squares seemed a good choice. The catwalks and clothing shops have featured loads of garments that include crochet squares this year. I’ve even just seen a picture of a jumper made of crochet-printed fleece on the Nicola Knits Blog– simulated granny squares!
To get ready, I’ve been preparing yarn packs and handouts. I’ve even made a promotional video.
I’ve also been making lots of granny squares, most of which I made up into a sleeveless pullover. I used shades of brown, beige and white, crocheted them together and added a double crochet edging.
I used four different colour schemes for the squares and joined them sequentially.
The only thing I would have done differently is join the squares together as I went along – it did take ages to join them up. I used the crochet method which gives a really neat join.
I edged the neck, armholes and waist with a band of several rows of double crochet, placing some decreases at the underarm to improve the fit.
If I wear this for my course I’m hoping it gives my students confidence that I know what I’m talking about. Maybe I should call it my credibility top!
I just heard today that the course is fully booked, which is great news!
Have you been on a craft workshop recently? What did you enjoy most about it?
Last week’s pattern was a line of hearts – Yvonne’s prototype blanket included this in bright orange.
R’s pink/pink and white blanket is pictured below…..
…along with L’s vivid salmon pink…..
..and my striped blanket – I used a soft peach yarn.
This week we are knitting 10 rows in a square check design (pictured in lime green at the top of the page).
Yvonne writes,
“Hi guys. It’s that time again and I don’t know where the weeks go! I hope last week wasn’t too mind blowing and that you can all count really well now as it comes in very handy. This week is quite easy going so here we go, please remember the edging on both sides.”
Week 5
Row. 1, P5, K5, to last 5 sts, P5. Row. 2, K5, P5, to last 5 sts, K5. Row. 3 & 4 repeat rows 1 & 2 Row. 5, repeat row 1 again. Row. 6, 7, 8, 9 work as row 1 & row 2. Row. 10, repeat row 1 and that’s all there is to it!
“Hope you are all enjoying this little pattern and this blanket but after this week we are all going to learn some new skills I hope. As always I’m here to answer any questions or problems so happy knitting.”
Yvonne
It looks like things are going to get a bit more tricky next time!
Carry on enjoying the KAL and sending me your photos!
I had a lovely day yesterday. I went to the first ever ~North East Wool Show with two friends who are also keen knit/crochet/sew/crafty people. The event was held over two days at Newcastle’s Gosforth Park Racecourse. The main building is full accessible. I’ve been to events there before so I had no worries about getting round on my disability scooter.
Inside the building we found dozens of stalls, full of yarn, spinning fibre and all sorts of woolly paraphernalia .and spent several very pleasant hours, browsing and buying, with pauses for refreshment. As we went on the Sunday (Saturday sold out) we missed the sale of sheep fleeces, but it was not hard to guess this has been held in the tunnel at the back of the building that retained a distinct sheepy odour…..suspicions were confirmed as a stray wisp of white fluff wafted by!
I came home with quite a haul, though I think I was quite restrained when you consider all the lovely items on sale….and it was all so colourful, with all those gorgeous skeins of wool on display, There were also kits of every type (knitting, needle felting, hookwork, embroidery….you name it) and some beautiful knitted, woven and crocheted garments and softs furnishings.
We all end up with magazines and books we no longer need or want and a rather nice idea was the book swap table – people had donated their unwanted knitting/crochet reading matter – items could be taken in return for a donation to a local hospice. I donated to get this book about Fair Isle knitting – it’s full of information, pattern and design ideas, and even full instructions on methods of steeking -when knitting in the round you have a continuous pattern, but steeking enables you to cut into the finished knitting to create an opening – at the front of a cardigan for example – The idea of it has always sounded terrifying to me but this could give me the confidence to try.
My next purchase was this natural dye starter kit from Blotz Natural Dyes– something I’ve wanted to try for ages – it includes small quantities of three dye plants and three mordants along with protective gloves and a mask and items to measure out the materials . While I was buying this the loud reversing beep on my scooter may have drowned out a tiny bit of the stallholders’ interview on local radio. Sorry Blotz!
There were several stalls selling fibre for spinning in all sorts of sumptuous and soft blends and colours. It was a very difficult decision but I ended up with these:
From Adelaide Walker A Merin0/Shetland/Corridale blend in shades of green and teal with sari silk adding little pops of red – This colourway is named “Rainforest”
From Wooltops some undyed Corriedale roving – I’ve never spun sheep from this breed before but hear good things about it. I had an interesting chat with the stallholder about the lineage of the breed, which includes Merino for softness and Lincoln Longwool for lustre and staple length.
From Tine and Floyd, two braids , one is in a merino/suri alpaca blend, in shades of pink and purple, the other is merino and bamboo, in vivid pinks with streaks of shimmery white. There were some little thank you gifts in the bag too – herbal tea and a lavender bag.
I enjoyed a lovely long chat with Tine from Tine and Floyd. That’s one of the things I love about events like this – you get to meet the traders and ask questions, handle the wool and fibre – it’s essential with something so tactile. Online shopping is really convenient but nowhere near as much fun.
I also bought some knitting accessories – a short circular sock needle and some stitch markers – you can never have too may stitch markers – both were bought from Knitting for Fun
Finally, I couldn’t resist this. It’s a set of markers on a shawl pin – very pretty, and useful too, purchased from The Cocoon Tree.
I bumped into several friends from my knitting and spinning groups too so it became quite the social occasion.
With a sellout first day and great comments from the traders about how successful it has been, we’ll all be keeping our fingers crossed that the event will be back again next year.
Over the last week I’ve finished one project and started another.
I completed the Jacob Jumper, using the Lata Sweater pattern and Jacob Sheep wool that I handspun from fleece I was given a while back, I sorted the black and white fibre and spun it separately and used the two colours to make this houndstooth check design sweater,
I’ve been wearing it ever since. It’s warm and comfortable with room to wear layers underneath – I’m really pleased with the result.
I was thinking that I hadn’t done a crochet project for ages. I’ve also been meaning to use up some of my ridiculously large yarn stash. Recent projects have all been handspun which a project in mind. I’ve been following the Coastal Crochet blog for a while. Eleonora has designed a number of beautiful colourful crochet blankets, originally released on the blog as crochet along projects. I decided to work on the Seaside Stash Busting Blanket, which was first published in 35 weekly parts.
I pulled a variety of colours of dk yarn from the stash….
…and got started. I really can’t put it down! I’ll never get bored with this one as the pattern changes every few rows. It’s exciting to open the next post to find out what the next pattern is and it’s fun to work out the next colour to use.
So far the different patterns used in the blanket have included zig zags…
…waves…
…bobbles…
…granny square-style triplets…
…and shells.
I only started 3 days ago but I’m already on to week 10! I’m really enjoying making it and all those bright colours really make me smile.
After two lovely sunny days when we were busy with other things, a day out together yesterday had to coincide with a break in the weather: clouds and rain all day. As it’s the Easter school holidays, the holidaymakers and day trippers have returned to the Northumbrian coast in droves. We decided to head north of the Scottish border, where the coast is still lovely, but quieter. Daughter is on holiday and we are looking after her Labrador, Wren.
Most of the year we can let the dogs off their leads to have a good run about. but when it gets busy there can be conflict with non-dog owners (especially if they have a picnic) and inexperienced dog owners who have not trained their pets how to behave off the lead. Our two are friendly, don’t jump up and have reasonably good recall (though if Buddy can smell food or something particularly stinky to roll in he doesn’t always respond!
St Veda’s Bay is pretty well deserted in winter (we were there a while back) but things are starting to wake up a little bit. We drove down to the disabled parking area overlooking the sands so I could sit and enjoy the view and do some knitting while K walked the dogs.
Alas I’d forgotten to put the current sock I’m making back in the small bag I use – the yarn, pattern and first sock of the pair were there but nothing to actually knit! There was plenty to see though. I noticed that ramped boardwalks extending on to the sand have been installed – we subsequently found out that beach wheelchairs are available to use here. They have big tyres to negotiate the soft sand. Although I can walk short distances on a firm flat surface I struggle on sand and my trusty electric scooter just digs itself into a hole. Though I hate being pushed and much prefer the independence the scooter gives me, it would be nice to get to the water’s edge and peer into some rock pools sometime.
Brightly coloured beach huts line the bay.
One of these was providing shelter for some sea swimmers to warm up after their dip. There were a few dog walkers and families about and a someone was having a surfing lesson.
A horse and rider arrived to take advantage of the quiet beach. It was the ideal place to do some schooling, following their own tracks to execute perfect circles at walk, trot and canter in both directions. They finished with a gallop along the shoreline, splashing though the shallows.
Meanwhile out at sea I spied a couple of male eider ducks. The females are probably sitting on eggs now. There were some auks on the water and feeding too (either guillemots or razorbills – too far away to tell which). We are not far from St Abbs Head here: an important site for cliff-nesting seabirds
Meanwhile, K and the dogs walked along the beach, exploring the rock pools…
…and climbing up on to the headland to see into the next bay.
Wren, loves nothing better than carrying a stick; the bigger the better. Today was no exception!Maybe I should do a “Stick Of The Day” post while she’s staying with us!
When the walkers returned we got coffee from the little beach cafe. The bay really has everything you need to spend the day there. There are picnic tables , toilets, and well maintained paths and steps connecting the bay to a coastal path extending into adjacent bays. It is also great to see efforts being made to make improve disability access.
A while ago I ‘rescued’ some Jacob fleeces, that proved to be quite a challenge even before I began to card it ready for spinning – you can read about that here. I recently decided what to do with it.
I’ve been going to a couple of spinning groups and through one of these I did a day course on English Long Draw spinning. To the uninitiated this creates a fluffier airier yarn. It’s also perfect for fairly short fibres (around 1.5 inches) with some crimp. We practiced handcarding to make rolags before learning the long draw technique. The carding process opens up the locks of fleece and organises the fibres so they lie parallel across the carder, and are then rolled off the teeth into a sausage shape or rolag. We were provided with samples of wool from 4 different sheep breeds to learn with and I finished spinning and plying them at home (pictured top to bottom,Portland, Shetland, Ryland and Zwartbles).
There’s nothing like a big project to hone your skills so once I realised that the Jacob fleece was perfect for long draw I searched for a suitable pattern. I wanted to separate the black and white fibre and spin it separately to make a black and white patterned sweater, but nothing too complex. I found the Lata sweater on Ravelry – the pattern has a very simple 4 row repeat and resembled a houndstooth check …..
I got carding to make those rolags and soon was able to start spinning….
…and plying to make a 2ply yarn. It’s quite soft to the touch.
The sweater is nearly complete – I am halfway through knitting the second sleeve. The cuffs, round neck and waist are worked in knit2 purl2 rib in the black yarn, which sets off the pattern perfectly. I’m really pleased with how it’s going.
Not bad for some dirty fleece that was destined for the bonfire!
Have you ever rescued something from being thrown away and made it into something nice and new?
Spring is in the air! The birds are singing, the daffodils are in bloom and the first of this year’s lambs are bounding about in the fields. It was a perfect day for K and Daughter, and the dogs, Buddy and Wren, to take a coastal walk and for me to indulge in a bit of scenic knitting.
We initially drove to the fishing village of Craster. I dropped them here and decided to get myself a coffee at the Piper’s Pitch – a small food kiosk in the main car park at the entrance to the village, just next to the Tourist Information Office. They were doing a brisk trade in kipper sandwiches (with the local kippers that Craster is famous for). There’s no waste with these. There’s a sign offering free kipper skins for your dog!.
It was such a nice day I decided to sit at one of the tables – I think this is the first al fresco coffee I’ve had this year.
After a quick look to see if there was anything of interest in Tourist Information I drove to Newton-by-the-Sea and parked in the disabled bay overlooking the see. I may have mentioned before on here that to access this you have to remove a heavy chain hung across the road – not very accessible for blue badge holders. Luckily however someone was walking past and kindly moved the chain for me.
The sea was pretty calm and there were lots of walkers about, Many with dogs. A group of children, sensibly clad in wetsuits and lifejackets were having great fun in the water with their makeshift raft. There was also a kayaker and some sea anglers.
Out to sea I could see the brilliant white and black male eider ducks swimming about. A whinchat was perched on a longer stem of marram grass next to the sand and every so often flitted away to catch an insect.
I got on with my current project: a black and white sweater in my handspun Jacob wool.
It wasn’t long until my human and canine companions reappeared further down the beach. They’d had a lovely long walk. We aren’t expecting much activity from the dogs this evening!
This Christmas did not get off to a good start. After spending Christmas Eve in rather a lot of pain, I checked into our local Emergency Department. Christmas Morning was spent undergoing various tests including an ultrasound scan. It turns out that I have gallstones. They sent me home with painkillers and I’m now waiting for an MRI scan and a surgical consult. We were home by lunchtime and set about opening presents. I thought I’d share my crafty Christmas gifts with you.
I actually got a gift on Christmas Eve. Since an amazing holiday in Iceland some years ago we’ve embraced all things Icelandic (well maybe not the fermented shark meat delicacy). There is a lovely tradition in the country where gifts of books are exchanged on Christmas Eve – you then spend the evening drinking hot chocolate and reading the books. It’s called Jolabokaflod (literally Christmas book flood) and I was given this.
Wilderness Knits by Linka Neumann is full of the most gorgeous Scandinavian-style knitting patterns, with stunning photographs and pattern charts. Where to start!
Back in September I upgraded my Electric Eel Wheel Nano e-spinner to the bigger, more robust EEW 6 and I love it. The new machine does everything that the Nano doesn’t. My Christmas gift from K was a rechargeable battery pack so I can now spin with the EEW 6 anywhere without having to rely on mains electricity.
A few weeks back he also found me the perfect bag to take the new machine out and about – it was designed for fishing gear (K has an obscene amount of fishing tackle) but it’s just the right size and has plenty of compartments for all the extra bits and bobs.
There’s even a zipped mesh pocket on the front that’s just perfect for the new battery and lead!
To feed my spinning addiction I got the 12 Days of Christmas pack from Hilltop Cloud – it contains 12 individually wrapped packs of the softest superfine merino and silk fibre in a rather nice project bag. The larger brown paper package contains a larger braid, the red packs hold smaller amounts of combed top. The colours co-ordinate and are inspired by Welsh folk tales. Details of these and the colours they inspired are on the fascinating blog written by Katie Weston, the proprietor of Hilltop Cloud.
The individual packs are marked with the dates (25-31 and 1-5) . Of course I got that wrong and assumed they were labelled 1-12 so I’ve just realised I’m out of sequence!
I also wrapped up a rather unusual gift for K that is not unrelated. It’s a packet of woad seeds. At the year’s final meeting of my local spinning group, one of the lovely ladies who attends brought a large quantity of the seeds that she’d harvested from her own bumper woad crop. K is the gardener, so I’ll see if he can get the seeds to grow into the plants that I can use to dye my fibres in shades of woad blue!
Medical issues aside, I’ve been very lucky this Christmas!
Stitches by the Sea 