Knitography Retreat 2020: Norway

I’ve been mildly aware of the hiatus between blogs lately and I’m sorry to suddenly spook you with this one now!

In any case, I hope everyone is well and staying safe! ❤️

Knitography Retreat, Trondheim Norway – February 2020

The Knitography Retreat was a partially sponsored event as a pilot for a future retreat package. It was organised by Patricia Anne Fortune of Knitography Farm, in partnership with the organisers of the MidtNorsk Kultur & Strikkefestival and Bårdshaug Herregård manor house. The purpose of the retreat was to show visitors the delights of the Trøndelag region of Norway, take part in crafts, outings, connect with local crafters, make friends, share ideas and fellowship.

Patricia is a farmer of a small flock of Grå Trøndersau (Grey Troender) sheep – a rare breed that has less than 100 individual animals in existence, nearly all residing within Norway. She has a passion for preserving endangered breeds and is keen to share her farming practise, to educate and shed light on other similar dedicated rare breed farmers. 

Our Itinerary…

Monday

Our first outing was to visit the Selbu Bygdemuseum in the town of Selbu.

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Tuesday

While in Trondheim, we went on a tour of the city and visited the Nidarosdomen Cathedral, which was beautiful and had amazing architecture. We then visited Trondheim high street, Statue of Olav Tyggvason and Stiftsgarden – residence of the king. Later that evening we visited Selbu Spinneri – a local mill, known for spinning the finest yarn from Norwegian rare breed sheep and other fleeces.

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Wednesday

We had a welcome reception at Husfliden Trondheim where they treated us to a private viewing of the store, with coffee and cakes. The store was filled with a vast selection of Norwegian yarn brands. So much to choose from and only so much space in one’s suitcase! They also kindly gave each of us a gift bag containing hand knitted Selbu mittens! After that, we went on a bus trip to Tyholt Tower which had an amazing view of the city. Around 6pm we left to travel to the village of Orkanger where we stayed in the Bårdshaug Herregård Manor House.

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Thursday

In Orkanger, we spent the morning in our own dedicated ‘Makers Lounge’ – an entire mezzanine floor filled with comfy sofas, with areas to do sewing, spinning, knitting and other crafts. In the afternoon we went for a walk around Vannspielet to the light house.

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Friday

In the morning we went on a farm trip to Holum Gard where GunnElin Folland raises her flock of rare breed Norwegian sheep. It was fascinating to see how a person, who, pretty much single-handedly manages a whole farm and produce yarn, fleeces, wool and other hand crafted products.

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Saturday

We went on a trip to  Fannremsgård, a little comprehensive sheep and dairy cow farm that has been in the same family for many generations. The farm is run by Jon Frederik, who is also an established traditional costume maker. His vast skills range from producing one of Norway’s most awarded butter, to weaving and of course sewing.

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Saturday afternoon, we were treated to an opportunity to do some skiing at the Knyken Ski Center. This centre had ski trails and slopes of varying heights. I was the only person that had NEVER been skiing before (out of those of us who wanted to ski)! I fell over so many times, I gave my ankle a good going over. Thankfully, it wasn’t too serious. But I had the most fun!!

Skiing – My first time ever!

Marianne and I are ready…

Marianne, Marta and Sarah are experienced skiiers

Tine is going to teach me how to ski

I fell… MANY times!!!

The rest of the gang enjoy the sunshine, knitting and cooking sausages on the fire.

I had a fab time!

Later that evening we all had dinner and a knit night at the home of one of the Mid-tNorsk Strikkefestival organizers. Their home and hospitality was so warm and lovely, I just wanted to move in! 🥰

Norwegian homes are just beautiful and cosy!

Sunday

Sunday afternoon we had a tea party with the local knitters and makers. It was an opportunity to meet fellow crafters, share cakes and tea, sing traditional Norwegian songs and show off our work.

Stitch marker of the Baardshaug logo. Made by Patricia.

Knitting and cakes with Norwegian friends.

Our Tea party room, ready to go!

Patricia, addressing the party in Norwegian.

Monday

Sadly, I had to leave in the afternoon, but some of our party stayed on a few more days and took a viking boat trip around Trondheim and then went on to visit the old town of Røros.

Also… check out Marina Skua’s amazing blog – it contains superb photos of our trip: https://marinaskua.com/blogs/marinaskua/knitography-retreat-in-norway-part-1 Links to parts 2 & 3 are on her blog too!

For more information about future Knitography Knitting Retreats, please contact Patricia via her website: https://www.knitographyfarm.com/

Come on, keep up!!

That’s what I’ve been saying to myself for some weeks now. My workload has been incredible lately and I haven’t been this busy since I ran my own business 15 years ago!

To keep myself organised, I was introduced to the joys of Bullet Journals by Felicity Ford of Knitsonik. Who’d have thought that a simple little book with dots and numbered pages would become my whole office! Admittedly, some of my pages do look like I’ve puked up crayons and stickers all over it, but at least it’s organised! ❤️

Barcelona Knits Festival – November 2019

A fab weekend in the sunny surroundings of the beautiful city of Barcelona. Great company, great friends, great food and lots of knitting. This festival was small compared to others, but was packed with ‘new to me’ yarn dyers and crafters. The show-stoppers were Stephen West, with his West Wool yarn, Townhouse Yarns (from Dublin) and Malabrigo Yarns. The Malabrigo stand must have been a rarity, because people were knocking each other over, left, right and centre, just to get at these yarns – it was a fight indeed! There was so much jostling and elbow-digging, punctuated by the occasional, “perdoneme!” (excuse me), or “lo siento!” (sorry) and even, “eso es mio!” (that’s mine!).

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Jimmy Beans Wool Blanket Club

I was commissioned to write a pattern for JBW’s blanket club for 2020. It’s an annual subscription club, paid monthly. When you sign up to this club, you will receive a skein of yarn and part of the pattern each month. After 12 months, you will have knitted up all the sections to make a decent size blanket or throw. For me, this was a great opportunity to have fun with shape, colour and… maths! Ugh, you can keep the maths part, but I did have a lot of fun building this into an interesting 12-part process. The yarn that JBW chose was Alpaca DK by Hedgehog Fibres, which was absolutely perfect for this kind of project. In my pattern, the yarns are held double-stranded, so that it not only offers amazing coziness, but it also knits up quicker on larger size needles. Ideal for the ‘I want a blanket, and I want it NOW’ type of person (you know who you are)!

The pattern is called “Fishing For Koi” – each section of the blanket represents a different species of Carp. The colours and flecks in the chosen yarns work neatly with this concept. This pattern is exclusive to JBW until December 2020.

Waltham Abbey Wool Show – Essex, UK. January 2020

The first wool show event for the calendar year and it’s based at a nice venue, the Marriott Hotel, Waltham Abbey. Perfect for the time of year – no standing around getting cold in a draughty marquee, or out in the rain, brrr!! The show has 3 exhibiting rooms, along with hallways for further exhibits and side-rooms for classes and lounging. It has a large restaurant area for dining and relaxing. Being my second-ever show, it was lovely to see old friends on the circuit as well as making new ones. I’m getting better at this now… this time I remembered to bring an extension lead, some gaffer tape and my steam iron (travelling with Handknits that end up creased to buggery is awful!). The WAWS organizers were very attentive, helpful and full of beans! My little plot was a nice size for my table, banner, clothes rail and of course, Mildred (my mannequin).

And did you know, I make funky and practical see-through project bags? No more guessing games of ‘What’s in this bag?’ or “Where’s my project?” If you missed them at the show, send me a message and I’ll post them up on my website.

Designer of the Month – February 2020.

I am super-excited to tell you that I’ve been chosen as ‘Designer of the Month’ for February at Stephen & Penelope, yarn store in Amsterdam! Yay! Check out my little feature on their website, here: http://www.stephenandpenelope.com. While you’re there, see their fantastic collection of hand dyed yarns, books, notions and project bags. If you’re lucky enough to be passing through Amsterdam, go and visit their amazing bricks and mortar store. You’ll get the chance to see a few of my knitted samples on display. The store itself is jam-packed with all the goodies, so you can get to see and feel the real things. I went to the shop once, my family were wise enough to leave me there while they went off to visit a museum. 3 hours later… (ahem)! 😉

Further light reading…!

I recently had an interview with Luke, from The Wool Enthusiast. Check it out and learn more about what makes me tick and what ticks me off! 😅 https://www.woolenthusiast.com/wool-enthusiasts/2020/2/4/wool-enthusiast-in-the-community-jimenez-josheph

Isogashi, isogashiiiii….!! 🌍

Isogashi (Japanese) = busy.

New Releases

Pattern: Capel Cross

“Finally!” I hear you say! Yeah, I’m inclined to agree. It was a journey, I must say. Being such a perfectionist where my patterns are concerned means that I’m never knowingly putting out rubbish! I’m slow at this and I know it, but I’d rather be slow and be sure that I’ve produced the best work that I can. I really enjoyed knitting this – so much so that I made three! I’m looking to knit a fourth soon! ❤️

Click here Capel Cross pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/capel-cross

Capel Cross Cardigan in Blue and Pink

Pattern: Yzzy Mitts & Cowl

A collaboration with Ysolda, launching their new yarn base called Moss DK: BFL/Masham – a gorgeously soft and lofty yarn that has the power to retain heat and the light/airiness in weight to not overwhelm you. Perfect for fingerless mitts, cowls, scarves, shawls and definitely jumpers.

Check out Ysolda’s website for the Yzzy Mitts and Cowl Kit pack – ideal gift for any occasion: https://ysolda.com/collections/kits/products/yzzy-cowl-and-mitts-kit

Also…

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JimiKnits Special Offer:  BOGHOff! (aka. Buy One Get Half Off)

BUY YZZY MITTS PATTERN AND GET YZZY COWL HALF PRICE! Just add both patterns to your shopping cart in Ravelry.
Offer ends 31 Dec 2019.

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Yzzy Mitts & Cowl. © Photo by Ysolda.

Cosy Knits Book Launch – Dublin, Ireland. October 2019

I had the opportunity to take part in a book launch for Carol Feller’s latest pattern book: “Cosy Knits” at This Is Knit in Dublin. It was exciting to finally meet a designer whom I’ve admired since I took one of her workshops back in 2011. It was that year that I decided to embark on pattern writing and she guided us through all the maths (and it was a LOT of maths!). As you know, my shawl pattern, ‘Terrain‘ is in Carol’s book, so it seemed fitting that I should turn up to support her. The purpose of the event was to talk to a small audience about the pattern and how it’s constructed and to explain my design ‘process’ (personally I call it ‘madness’, but let’s keep it PC, huh?) and also talk about the creative thinking behind it. I’m not gonna lie, I was bricking it – I’m not used to speaking in public, or to any crowd beyond 5 people! I was definitely out of my comfort zone. I think I got away with it…! It was times like that that I wished I could sing and tap dance!

It was an absolutely fab day! I met some wonderful people, drank my first pint of Guinness (oooh!), ate loads and laughed and cracked jokes until it was time for bed. If you’re in Dublin, check out This Is Knit! It’s an amazing yarn store, filled with a large range of yarns and you’ll always be welcomed with a warm, Irish “Hallo, there!”.

Cosy Knits by Carol Feller

Book launch event. First session of audience members

Book contributers: Eimear Earley, Jimenez Joseph, Carol Feller & Nadia Seaver

Photo opp with signed copies of the book. Left: Lisa from This Is Knit.

Carol getting ready to greet the public.

Me, explaining my shawl design!

Terrain Shawl – wide pose. Photo: ©Joseph Feller

This is Knit – interior

This is Knit – interior

This is Knit – interior

Dinner with: Ash, Nadia, Lisa and Carol.

Guinness…..oooo!

Coming up next…!

Come see me at Waltham Abbey Wool Show!

Put it in your diaries: Sunday 19th January 2020 – The Waltham Abbey Wool Show, Waltham Abbey, Essex, UK. I’ll be holding a stand and showcasing my work. There’ll be patterns, knitted samples, books and other goodies! Stocks will be limited, so come early! 😘

Buy your tickets for the show: https://www.walthamabbeywoolshow.co.uk/

See you soon! x

The Luck of The Irish… and the Norwegians

It’s far from St. Patrick’s Day, but there is a bit of an Irish theme running through this blog today (okay, and a bit of Norwegian)!

New Pattern Launch – Terrain Shawl

The lovely Carol Feller from Cork, Ireland had invited me to design a pattern for her upcoming book called “Cosy Knits“.

As you can imagine, I was ecstatic! To be contacted by a designer of whom I have admired for a long time and have knitted one or two of her patterns, taken one of her workshops and have learned techniques from her video tutorials on Bluprint, it was a dream come true!

Before I designed this shawl, I had been playing with knitting textures and forms in little swatches in the hopes that I could apply them to a future design. At the time, I’d gotten stuck and couldn’t work out a way to put some of these textures to better use. When Carol contacted me, my brain suddenly found its groove and set to work! Then… tadaa!

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Terrain Shawl can be found on page 56 in the Cosy Knits Book. It is a modular knitted shawl, whereby the centre section is knitted first, then the left and right flanks are worked by picking up and knitting off the sides. Lastly, the knitted-on corrugated trim is what gives this unusual shawl its femininity, balance and added swish!

The yarn used was Nua Worsted in Drift Glass (light green) and Sea Veggies (dark green). I enjoyed every minute making the shawl with this yarn! It has that rustic appearance and physical hold, without the prickly feel or the mega-fluff! Gorgeous stuff!

Cosy Knits Book Launch – Dublin

Come and meet me, Carol and other contributors to the book on Saturday 12th October 2019, at This Is Knit yarn shop in Powerscourt Townhouse, William Street South, Dublin.

Oslo Strikkefestival – September 2019

It was my 2nd visit to this festival and to Norway, and of course it didn’t disappoint. The festival was a 3-day extravaganza including pre-show parties/talks, the show itself and then after-show events! Totally packed with things to see and do!

The marketplace was bigger this year and much of it was outside. Sadly it was cold and rainy on occasions, but luckily, not too heavy. This did not seem to deter yarn shoppers who were eager to shop. Vendors like: Garn Surr, Nina Petrina, Stephen & Penelope, Rauma and even our British-based yarn company Garthenor appeared to be doing a roaring trade!

This time, I had the opportunity to shadow the great Stephen West on one of his incredibly popular workshops: Color Play The Westknits Way. Here, I got to observe and learn about taking a workshop and how to make it engaging as well as entertaining to the participants. In addition to that, I got to join in and go out of my comfort zone and explore colour-mashing, something my mother was always known for in her crochet work and I tried to forget! It was a really good workshop, Stephen makes it fun. I hope to achieve that one day!

Here are some pics:

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Hello Luvvies!

How are you all? I hope fine. The weather has been pretty mixed here in the UK – first it was insufferable heat, then came the humidity which left many of us looking like alpacas, after that we had relentless rain and now… it’s surprisingly mild out there this week!

Weather has an effect on ‘*weather*’ or not I should take photos outside [groan]! 😅 I end up opting for inside most of the time.

Capel Cross Cardi – update

Having been hit with a run of bad luck with this project: a combination of poor yarn choice for the wear-ability factor, plus the fragility of certain yarns. This then was followed by a further two re-knits. The final knitting attempt was the winner! Because if it wasn’t, I was quite prepared to perform a ceremonial burn!!! Then came the grading exercise…ugh! Anyway, call-outs for testing has begun and we can crack on with that around the middle of September.

Despite my headaches, it was actually a really EASY knit! It flowed beautifully and I didn’t mind knitting 3 of these – in fact, I’m looking forward to knitting a 4th. I found a lovely Sport Weight yarn called Currel | Sport by Meadowyarn. It has the perfect characteristics for this type of project.

JimiKnits Volume One Book

My first pattern book is now available on my website: www.jimiknits.com. It contains 12 patterns that are already available on Ravelry, but contained in a nice and shiny new book!

What I’m currently reading

I often like to swot up on knitting techniques because it always seems to me that I don’t know everything about knitting – and really, I WANT to know everything! The lovely Jen from Arnall Culliford Knitwear gave me some books from her Something New To Learn About series: Cables and Lace and A Year Of Techniques. I must say, after reading these, I reckon that I will no longer be making a feature out of the mistakes in my knitting! Check out her latest book called Boost Your Knitting. Imagine, a whole year of projects that covers an enormous array of knitting techniques that you were too scared to do – but here, you’re taken through each step carefully with photos and later on, with video tutorials. I’ll certainly be following this carefully.

OPP – Other People’s Patterns

Riley Stripe by Jeanette Sloan.
It happens very rarely, but I do knit other designer’s patterns. No point in re-inventing the wheel when it’s right there, huh? I’ve got yarn that I hand dyed many years ago wound into cakes, raring to go for a Riley Stripe. I love the texture and patterning – it’s a 2-colour project, but I might see if I can turn it into a 3-colour, so that I can make use of all the yarns I have here.

© Skeindeer Knits

Solvik Shirt by Skeindeer Knits.
I’m also keen to knit this – it calls for a worsted weight yarn, so I’m tempted to use a strand of linen and a strand of mohair for it. I’m hoping the detail won’t get lost in all that fluff! I love that top though!

The Wool Monty – Sheffield June 2019

The lovely ladies: Rosie, Mand and Debbie invited me to attend The Wool Monty Show, Sheffield’s first yarn and fibre crafts event. As you can imagine, I was delighted and said, YES, YES YES!!

There were ‘firsts’ for everything here: my First event stand; launching my First book and taking part in Sheffield’s First yarn show. I was super-excited, but at the same time bricking it, because I had never seen a show where the vendor was only selling patterns and not with yarn! The debate here was will I have enough patterns to sell? If I didn’t, I wasn’t sure that my tap dancing and singing was going to cut it, somehow! 😝

About the Event

The organisers were absolutely lovely – they were incredibly helpful and kind. The whole event was organised really well – the layout was carefully thought out, the vendors were well selected, offering amazing variety, as well as something different from other fibre fests.

The show was held at the FlyDSA Sheffield Arena – it’s huge! It’s a perfect venue for this type of event because it offered ample free parking for ticket holders and it was close to other amenities (shops, supermarkets and an IKEA!). It was also perfect for people with mobility issues, offering easy access in and out of the building, as well as lots of space to manoeuvre around the stands.

I particularly loved the little sofas they had dotted around the floor space, great for when you want to take a break, sit down and knit! Just what is needed in an event like this.

Being it’s first ever show, the turn-out was probably as expected. But saying that, people came to spend money, and they did! This bodes well for next year’s event if the organisers decide to do one. I hope they do!

See the gallery below:

I was too busy with my stand to take many photos, but I did take some during the set up hours.

Day 1: My stand – set up almost complete

View from the left…

Other stands – this venue is huge!

Other stands

Other stands

My sample rail with shawls and jumpers

My table with samples, books and patterns

Close up of table with books and patterns

Me, taking a well-earned tea break

My finished stand.

Hubby, doing his knitting!

This lovely lady is wearing my Tower Of Strength skirt design.

Day 2: rearranging my stand a bit

A little change in the stand.

Using his natural eye-candy charms, lol!

Hubby… the knitting hero!

Wool Monty Merch

Love this swag!

The mug was pretty useful too!

Met the lovely Kunbi too!

My haul… well, girl’s gotta shop too, huh?

Conclusion

I would highly recommend this event to anyone who is interested in yarn and fibre crafts. It offers a diverse spectrum of people, craft skills and geography – not the same old names of the more established events. There are some hidden gems here and you’d be pleasantly surprised. The Wool Monty is offering something new and something fresh. Plus, the people of Sheffield are warm and chatty – what’s not to love? 😊

I’m looking forward to the Wool Monty Show next time! ❤️

 

Woah! What Just Happened there?!

Stuff happened….! 😮

Sorry for the hiatus, but lately there’s been a wildfire of activity in the JimiKnits camp. There is SO much to share with you, sadly some of it is secret, but I’m itching to tell you all about it. Let me see what I can divulge…

Carol Feller collaboration

OK, keep it under your hat, but I’m doing a collaboration with Carol Feller for the launch of her new book that’s coming out later this year (maybe Autumn perhaps?). I’ve been a great admirer of her work for a long time and she asked me to design something using her new yarn collection called Nua Worsted. I must say, this yarn is a dream to knit with, it looks and feels gorgeous and can take a pretty good beating when you block it! I can’t yet show you what I’ve designed with it, but hopefully I can get away with this little teaser…

The Wool Monty – 15 & 16 June, Sheffield UK

The organizers at The Wool Monty yarn event have kindly invited me to hold a small stand in the ‘Meet The Designer’ area. It’s a place where a few of us can showcase our designs. I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’ve been busy sorting out knitted samples to bring with me and working on revamping some of my patterns to be printed. I’m not sure what the general footfall will be like, so I have no idea how many patterns I ought to print. Any thoughts? What should I do if I sell out of copies? I’m not sure that my singing and tap dancing is going to cut it somehow! 😳

If you’re coming to this event, you’ll get the opportunity to see my first printed pattern booklet. Did you know that I’ve got 54 patterns on Ravelry.com? Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d have that many. It was a hard task trying to choose just 12 for this book. I called it Volume One… purely because I couldn’t think of a clever or witty name for my first book! Anyway, this is the artwork for the front cover:

Yarningham – 13 & 14 July, Birmingham UK

The lovely ladies at Yarningham have asked me to design a pattern that will be featured in the event brochure. I can’t wait for you to see it, but hopefully you’ll get teasers and reveals nearer the time. I’ll be attending the event on the Saturday – a good opportunity to blow my birthday money on yarn and crafts! 😜

Check out their Instagram feed:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx2l6eLBhBD/?igshid=j90qcyoe0xad

MDK March Mayhem Event

Thank you all so much for taking the time to vote for my pattern (see the web page here: https://www.masondixonknitting.com/mdk-march-mayhem-2019-the-bracket/ ! What a blast, eh? I’m enormously grateful to have one of my patterns selected. Pixham made it to Round 2, which to me is awesome! And congratulations to Carol Feller for winning it with her Tabouli cardigan, it is a lovely design.

JimiKnits out in the wild..

So… there I was, minding my own business when…

1) ..up pops a little notice on Instagram. Basically, it was a little excerpt in a recent edition of Simply Knitting magazine (Issue 184) featuring my Chrysler Fingerless Mitts pattern. Big thanks to Ellinesscrafts for flagging this up for me because I would never have known! See below:

By the way, check out Ellinesscrafts’ YouTube channel and follow her knitting & crocheting journey. It’s nice seeing how other people develop their craft skills.

2) ..a sudden hive of activity surrounding this pattern: Widden. It was all due to the hilarious Grocery Girls! Check out their YouTube episode, Widden is the subject of their discussion at 40:00 minutes in:

3) ..a small article about me in their #diversknitty page of the Edinburgh Yarn Festival program, back in March:

And all of this is thanks to Jeannette Sloan, for highlighting the discussion about race, equality and inclusion in the crafting community. If it wasn’t for her, I would still be here, minding my own business and very little else would have changed. If you haven’t read her article, read it here: http://www.jeanettesloandesign.com/black-people-do-knit.html

Just off the needles…

I’ve almost finished writing the pattern to my Capel Cross cardi. I knitted another sample and changed a few (minor) things about the design. I didn’t think that the first sample met with my complete satisfaction, although the yarn was perfect for it, it was just certain elements on it that was concerning me. I’m much happier with this version (see below), but I would definitely recommend the yarn I used for the original sample. The pattern will be available for testing soon.

Phew! Off to have a cup of tea…! 😅
See you soon!

Jx

 

Diversity and inclusion at EYF 2019

Worth sharing…

This time next week I’ll be travelling up to Scotland for my first Edinburgh Yarn Festival.

Initially I hadn’t planned on visiting the show but a couple of opportunities arose which made it a good excuse to combine these meetings with seeing some of our non knitting friends. (As for who I’m meeting, can’t say, sorry!) Plus going to EYF meant I could basically drool my way around the Corn Exchange at a fibre event which started after Sam and I relocated to the south coast. What I hadn’t envisaged was being asked to be part of a panel discussion on  Diversity and Inclusion taking place on Sunday the final day.

Those of you already aware of the current conversations about racism and the lack of diversity in the knitting community will know that this was arranged to replace the scheduled speaker, Kate Davies who unfortunately had to withdraw due…

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I Tried to Make a Skirt!

You know me, I love to weave on my 18″ rigid heddle loom. Sometimes I just warp up the loom with some leftover yarns, or lone skeins that were remnants from past projects. I try to avoid waste wherever I can.

For this project, I used odd skeins of bright coloured DK weight yarns from Unbelieva-wool and Skein Queen. I ran off a length of fabric until I ran out of yarn. There was enough there to make a skirt… so I did, sort of!

The fabric width was only 14”, so to make the skirt slightly longer, I used the remaining length, divided it into 4 equal widths and sewed them together lengthwise. That would give me a waistband as well as some length.

In an attempt to make the skirt look a bit more professional, I lined it using some polyester fabric from an old kimono-style dressing gown. It is a slippery sucker to work with on a sewing machine, but luckily I didn’t have to hem it!

Feeling ambitious and also inspired after watching The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC TV, I thought it would be a great idea to put in darts. This would give the skirt some shape and look less boxy. The fabric is quite thick, so I’m not sure it was such a good idea, but anyway I left it in. I also tried to insert a zip, but the fabric kept growing sideways and the more I ‘handled’ the fabric, the wider it seemed to get. So I ripped out the zip and inserted a crudely applied waistband elastic instead.

 

I wouldn’t call myself an experienced sewist because the stitching on this is laughable, but having said that, the skirt actually fits well and is very wearable!

I normally put my clothes through hell, so we’ll see how long this skirt lasts before I yank it on barbed wire, or Velcro, or something ridiculous like that!  😂

The Luxury of Hindsight…

If I were to make this again, I would:

• use a wool yarn with nylon content for extra strength (not essential, but nice to have).
• make the fabric wider, if possible (the full 18” width).
• use a lining fabric with less static electricity!
• make a waistband casement instead of sewing the elastic on directly onto the fabric.
• not bother with putting in darts! I mean, who cares?!

😊

Silly Names for Patterns!

OK, OK, yes… I know… I’m guilty of this too! But I’m only doing it for uniqueness sake, which helps to make it easy to find my patterns in the Ravelry database! Most other patterns have ‘normal’ names that either describe their shape, pattern or style etc.. There’s also been a trend in unpronounceable pattern names (ugh!). But really, I don’t go out of my way to make my patterns sound idiotic, because in fact there is an actual reason behind their names…!

Tanjobi = Japanese for ‘birthday’.

I do actually speak Japanese – not super-fluent, but enough to get around the country, ask for directions, order a beer and find a toilet – you know, essential stuff! The reason for calling this pattern Tanjobi, was that I designed it on my birthday. Simple as that! I could have given it a name that best describes the design… yada yada… but really, it would have gotten lost in the database under names such as “Emily” or “Cable Sweater”.

Under Duress

Actually, I was going to call this top ”Ready, Steady, Knit!” (named after a popular British TV cooking challenge show called ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ – see it on YouTube: http://youtu.be/cW4GfQ6L2Oc)* on account that I had a limited amount of yarn in these colours and that I wanted to wear the resulting item for an event coming soon. So, the pressure was on for me to get it done by Christmas and I wasn’t sure if I had enough yarn to even make it. Under Duress felt like a more appropriate name somehow!

*I still think Ready, Steady, Knit! should be a thing – in this case, a knitter is given an amount of yarn (any colours or bases) and their goal is to create something using as much of it as they can! Sounds like a fun challenge to me!

Céri Beret

This is the story of how it went… I was at my local yarn store when I spotted this gorgeous grey/black pompom. Next to that was a large ball of yellow chunky yarn called Roma by Debbie Bliss. The conversation between myself and the sales assistant went like this:

SA: Ooh, nice choice! What are you thinking of making with this?
Me: A hat, most likely.
SA: Sadly, we don’t store any patterns here for that yarn…
Me: Oh, don’t worry about me, I’ll think of something.
SA: What? You’re going to make something up?
(now, she’s looking at me like I’ve grown two heads!)
Me: Er, yeah… I usually do.
SA: Blimey!
(shaking her head in disbelief)
SA: I can’t imagine working without a pattern. You will show me what you make with it, won’t you?
Me: Yes sure, no problem!

The next day, I showed her my finished hat. She was so amazed by it that she asked me to knit one for her too! And I did. Then I wrote the pattern for it and named it after her! Her name is Kerry, but for database reasons, I changed the spelling to Céri! 😊