Cuckoo Festival

It’s that time of year again where Marsden village celebrates the slightly daft villagers who

A Canal walk to a yarn shop

What can be better than walking in beautiful surroundings to a good yarn shop that has a fantastic c

Bela Cowl

I am happy to announce the release of my next pattern, the Bela Cowl. I love this pattern, it is so

 

Cuckoo Festival

April 29, 2013 in Wessenden Valley

It’s that time of year again where Marsden village celebrates the slightly daft villagers who once tried to build a wall around a cuckoo to keep it here so spring & summer would stay but forgot to put a roof on – it was nobbut one course too low! Not surprisingly, the slightly more intelligent cuckoo flew away.
This year the rain mostly held off (except for a freaky hailstorm in the morning) so maybe spring is nearly here.

The Rhubarb Molly dance group were in bright colours to bring out the sunshine:


The local Morris side – the Thieving Magpies were having fun:


And the Frumptarn Guggenband (or the groovy Dalmatian trumpet players as I like to call them) were as entertaining as usual:


There was the annual cuckoo parade with the giant cuckoo:


The local schools made cuckoos and showed off their work on cuckoos from around the world:


More pictures from the parade:


The local firemen also joined in. We are losing our local fire station and it was a nice way for everyone to cheer them goodbye.


There was also a thrilling finale to the duck race….


Spot the ducks if you can!
Thanks to Sharon & the cuckoo festival team for all their hard work.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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A Canal walk to a yarn shop

April 14, 2013 in Walking, Yarn Shop

What can be better than walking in beautiful surroundings to a good yarn shop that has a fantastic cafe? This was my day last saturday.

The walk is a very easy one as it follows the Huddersfield Narrow Canal so the walking is mostly on the flat on good paths.

I started at Uppermill, a small town that has lots of interesting shops and the Saddleworth museum to look round and walked along the canal to Diggle.

The weather was kind (it didn’t rain) and the views of the surrounding hills were pretty.

There is also an art trail along the canal with interesting sculptures to explore:

There is also a fun game to play near Diggle that tells the history of the tunnelling of the Standedge canal tunnel – at the time it was built it was the longest & deepest tunnel in the world! There is a dice to ‘roll’:

Then you move along the path however many steps you rolled:

Following instructions on the stones you land on (not all of which are nice!):

The first one to the end wins!

It is about 1 and a half miles to Diggle and the yarn shop & cafe is just past the village centre. It is open tuesdays to saturdays.

Woolyknits sells their own brand of yarn which is spun locally, as well as fibre and knitting/crochet supplies. The yarn is good value and 100% wool, it is nice to work with and looks great knitted up.

They have just opened a cafe and I love this! The food looks excellent. I had the soup which was gorgeous, followed by a warm chocolate brownie with clotted cream – it was amazing!

The really exciting thing for me though was dropping off my sample for my lastest design for Woolyknit and it can now be seen hung up in the shop! I will be releasing this pattern in the next week for download and it will be available from Woolyknit as a printed version – look out for more information soon. It has had some great comments in the shop and it is my favourite design to date.

Map of the route:

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Bela Cowl

March 25, 2013 in Bela Cowl, patterns

I am happy to announce the release of my next pattern, the Bela Cowl. I love this pattern, it is so quick to knit and the changing pattern means there is never any time to get bored.

It is knitted from one ball of yarn which makes it a great stash buster. Shown here in Jamieson’s Shetland Heather in the pretty colourways Pippin and Purple Heather, it adds a splash of colour to any outfit.

Featuring panels of moss stitch, lace and a simple cable pattern interspersed with stocking stitch, it is suitable for beginners to try these techniques for the first time. Instructions are written and charted to make following these easy.

I use this pattern on my learn to knit continental workshops as it allows people to try all the different type of stitches in one pattern.

Finished off with cute buttons, it wraps neatly around the neck, keeping you snug and warm.

The name Bela is from Bela Lugosi who was a Hungarian actor and is best known for playing Dracula in the 1931 film. What better way to protect yourself from Dracula’s fangs than a woolly cowl around your neck? He will be spitting out wool fluff for weeks!

The pattern is available here and will also be available to download on other sites soon.

This is the first pattern to be released following my first photoshoot. The model is Suzi Tibbetts who braved very cold weather and the photographer is Chris Turner from enjoy photography, both of whom I think did a fantastic job – despite the snow and wind!

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Lyme House & Pemberley

March 22, 2013 in Designers, Walking

Earlier this month I had a lovely day trip to Lyme Park – a National Trust property on the edge of the Peak District.

It is a fantastic Edwardian era house set in very pretty gardens. I had a lovely dinner in the restaurant – the food was fantastic – followed by a tour of the house and then a very quick walk around the gardens – it was a very cold day!

There were signs of spring coming in the gardens (although with the recent snow I am now convinced I have must have missed summer and arrived back at winter already!), and I think in a few months time the rose gardens will be beautiful with flowers.

The Orangerie looked a lovely place to sit and I am trying to work out how I can fit one into my tiny back garden. I would love to have something like this for a conservatory – actually I would love to have this for a house!

The exciting part for me was seeing the house that was Pemberley in the BBC adaption of Pride & Prejudice – my favourite adaption and one of my favourite books. It is the 200 year anniversary since it was first published – and I think the themes of the story are as relevant now as they were back then. The humour and wit throughout the story keep me entertained, and Mr Darcy will forever be Colin Firth climbing out of the lake with his wet shirt :)

I love this view of Pemberley – it feels straight out of the BBC series and I could almost pretend I was Lizzy Bennet walking around the park in awe of the surroundings and then bumping into a dashing Mr Darcy……..

Pemberley is also one of my favourite patterns by the wonderful designer Ann Kingstone. I love the travelling colour work involved in knitting this sweater, the pattern captures the elegance of the house and it looks fantastic to knit. It is in my queue things I would love to knit and one day I hope to have time to make it. The pattern is available to buy on Ravelry. I recommend looking at Ann’s other patterns too, her new book Born & Bred features lovely patterns knit in Yorkshire yarn with information about the sheep too.

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Birthday Girl!

March 4, 2013 in Ravelry

Today is my birthday and I would like to share the fun with everyone. From today until Saturday 9th March 23.59 GMT, you can get 36% off all my patterns by using the code BirthdayGirl at checkout on this website and Ravelry.

No prizes for guessing how old I am!!

 

 

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Wild About Wool Exhibition

February 4, 2013 in Textile heritage

Wild about Wool celebrates the textile history of the Colne Valley and is currently on display at the lovely Tolson Museum.

It features the memories of those who worked in the textile mills and their crafts. Many local people are featured and their stories are told both in written and spoken form. It shows off the wonderful domestic and industrial heritage of the area and includes work from the mills that are still operating and local crafts people.

I love reading the accounts of the people who worked in the mills and what life was like working in the noisy weaving rooms. Wool is so important to the area’s past and is still very important in its future with many people still working with wool in the area!

The exhibition even has a 2002 World Cup England football team jacket that was spun locally. The knitted Huddersfield is fantastic too – so much work must have gone into the making of this!

Tolson museum is worth a visit if you are in the area. It is a small local history museum and free to enter (but donations always gratefully received!). It has the history of Huddersfield and the surrounding area from the stone age to recent times and many fascinating exhibits on this important area in the industrial revolution. There are weaving looms, spinning wheels and lots of textile history to see, as well as local transport and social history.

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Farm & Festival Welly Toppers

January 25, 2013 in Farm & Festival Welly Toppers

 

These cute welly toppers were originally featured in Knit Now issue 10. They have proved to be a popular pattern and are quick and easy to knit.

Knitted in the round from the bottom up, they feature a stranded pattern of ducks (for farmers) and flowers (for hippies at festivals) and a striped ribbed cuff that holds them in place on the welly boot.

For this pattern I used Woolyknit British Naturals DK yarn which comes in lovely shades of sheep! I love the way the colours compliment each other and it was lovely yarn to knit with. It is very reasonably priced at £2.50 for 50g. These welly toppers would also look great in bright colours – check out the Ravelry projects to see some already knit!

They are great fun to wear in the summer at festivals and this recent snowy weather has made me get out my welly boots again and they are fantastic at keeping my legs warm!

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Super chunky winter knits

January 21, 2013 in Projects, Ravelry, Walking

 

 

Winter has finally arrived and it is time to crack out those thick woollen sweaters and knit something warm!

I’ve decided I don’t really have enough hats and scarves (ok, not true, but a knitter could always do with more) and so I wanted to knit myself something to wear in the snow.

 

This yarn (Rowan biggy print) has been in my stash for *cough* well, let’s not put a date on it but just say it has been a while! It is one of the first yarns I purchased after starting knitting and I picked it up in a sale in Hobbycraft for £1.99 a ball – not a bad saving for something that is normally £8 a ball full price. It stayed in my stash as I just did not know what to make with it.

When I started knitting again I had this idea that chunky (& super-chunky) yarn would be the easiest thing to knit with. The stitches are large and obvious and it knits up very quickly so I have a finished object in no time, despite being very slow at making stitches.

Now, I think this thickness of yarn is much harder than something aran weight for learning on. The needles are enormous – they look like stakes, and are very uncomfortable to hold in your hands. I cannot knit properly as they needles are too large to move around as normal.

I persevered through these knits though and quickly made myself a hat and a very long scarf in a couple of hours. This yarn does knit up quickly! I have to confess that whilst I did not enjoy the knitting (except for the speed part) I do love the finished items. They are extremely warm & snug!

They were put to good use as soon as I cast off as I went for a walk in the snow along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal which was beautiful in the winter landscape. The sheep were looking snug in their woolly coats too:

Everywhere looks pretty in fresh snow!

We have been treated to a lot more overnight too and I had a ‘snow day’ from work so I have been knitting away in my warm house wearing lots of handknits and watching films.

I do like this weather!

Patterns:

hat – Flip by Kim Hargreaves

scarf – Refresher by Kim Hargreaves

Both are available in the book Big Easy by Rowan. This was the first book of patterns that I purchased and I have made 6 things from it now. Everything is knitted in chunky (Rowan big wool) and super-chunky (Rowan biggy print) yarn and the patterns are simple to follow.

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Learn to Crochet Cthulhu workshop

November 15, 2012 in workshops

After all the excitement of learning to knit, I ran a learn to crochet workshop using my Cthulhu Amigurumi pattern and kits. This workshop was also sponsored by Leeds Inspired and Thought Bubble Festival.

Working hard!

The turn out was just as good and some people had even attended both classes. There were far more complete beginners here but everyone did very well – all managed the basic stitches before the end of the night. This was despite me losing my voice and having to whisper all instructions!

Half a Cthulhu!

We even had the beginnings of a Cthulhu! He looks ‘armless enough to me (groan).

Thank you to everyone who came, I hope you all had fun and I look forward to seeing you at Thought Bubble!

 

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Learn to knit a zombie workshop

November 14, 2012 in workshops

Yesterday I ran a learn to knit workshop using my Zombie Charlie pattern. This workshop was funded by Leeds Inspired and was part of the Thought Bubble Festival events.

Worshop set up and ready to go!

We had a mixture of guys and girls turn up and it all went very well. The concentration level were high!

Concentrating hard

Everyone made very good progress though. We had some complete beginners and some who had knit before.

Working hard

And at the end there were even some zombies!!

Zombie!!

Another zombie!!

Well done to everyone who came – you all did fantastically well. Please send me photos of any more completed zombies, I would love to see them ;)

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