The beauty of flowers.

I adhore my garden it brings me so much pleasure.  It is not a hugh plot of land and is surrounded from every window looking out at other people's houses, but this does not stop me loving my space.

Today even though we have now reached October I found myself gardening in my t-shirt!

So whilst I was doing some tidying I took some cuttings of a few gorgeous, colourful plants. In our house we just love to propogate and adhore self seeded plants that come back year on year and are always a surprise what will appear.  We also love to provide areas for nature collecting and storring driftwood for so many insects and bugs. 

We cut down a tree a while ago that was just growing in the wrong place and today I discovered this beautiful mushroom growing on it.

Do you have a lovely "green space", what do you enjoy about your garden?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

The humble sock.

I started knitting socks back in 2009, I can not believe it was so long ago, but thanks to the joy of Ravelry project database I am able to recollect this information.

During my sock journey I have made "gift socks for family and friends", socks for myself and socks for charity knitting.

However I do love designing and have decided that this is the area I am going to focus my attention.

I have built up quite a collection not only of glorious yarns, but also am building on my reference book library and currently have four great books that relate to sock knitting and designing.

My first book I bought was Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson.  The book has some great features including the basic construction of socks along with a really good selection of designs.

For me Toe up sock knitting is definitely my preferred method of sock construction.  I personally just like the fact that I can knit until I run out of yarn if that is the route I want to take.

Next in my library is Super Socks by Christine Perry.  I purchased this copy from Christine on my visit to Yarndale two years ago.  The book is so comprehensive with brilliantly photographed images to help you step by step in your quest to make socks.

The next book purchased this year on the recommendation of Woollenwords who is a great tech editor and guide when I am looking for help is Sock Innovation by Cookie A.  This book was originally published in 2009. The 144 pages are just crammed full of incredible detail about design ideas taking up the first half of the book, followed by 15 original designed Cookie A which encompase lace, cable and textures.  So I am really looking forward to reading this in great detail.

My final book (so far!) was purchased on a visit to Salt Mills when visiting Saltaire (blog to follow).  Within Salt Mills they have a great bookshop which covers a whole floor of the building and has such a variety of literature to read.  Whilst browsing the shelves I came across the perfect book Sock Knitting by Ann Budd.  Again a fascinating introduction into sock knitting along with designing and the book is also divided into both Toe up and Top down construction.

For me knitting is in my blood, I have been knitting since I was a teenager.  But to me knitting is about more that just the finished item, I like to have projects that are just "mindless knits", but equally I need to challenge myself and I love to design.  So for the next year at least I am going to be embarking on a new challenge of developing and learning new techniques, pattern writing and designing and working with independent indie yarn dyers to produce a selection of my own sock designs.

So watch this space....

Trip to Skipton woods.

Along with knitting my other passion is photography, all of which is taken using my Samsung S7 Edge phone.

During my trip to Yarndale this September I took a walk in the woods that surround the edge of the town.

It was a beautiful warm day just perfect for walking and being able to sit and enjoy the beauty of nature. 

Walking in the woods can be such a rewarding thing to do, being able to look up and see the sun shining through the trees, with the light dancing and creating amazing dabbled shade.

It was a perfect day for total crisp and clear reflections on the ponds which looked like an artists painting, you could not see where one image ended and the next began.

The sound of water which was provided by the mini waterfall was quite astonishing in terms of the volume as it echoed around the woods.  But you could just move a short distance and sit and listen to the quiet eb and flow of the stream which alongside the rustling of the leaves in the trees which I find such an incredibly relaxing sound.

 I hope you enjoy my images.

Yarndale 2017

Yarndale has now become an annual  and was recently voted 1st place in Best Knitting Event 2017 in the British Knitting & Crochet Awards.

For me personally the event is a culimation of being able to visit the idillyic market town of Skipton which is situated in the parish of Craven in North Yorkshire.  It is not only home to the amazing show that takes place every year for 1000's of fellow yarn lovers to visit and take part in, but has other attractions such as the canal where you can take narrow boat trips.  Skipton also has a great variety of restaurants including Bizzie Lizzies and The Pie and Mash shop which had amazing reviews on Trip Advisor.

Every year the Thirsk Yarn Bombers come up with the most incredible display to decorate the bollards outside the Auction Mart venue, which is always such a great sight and so incredibly imaginative.

Another "tradition" is the Winwick Mum Sock line.  This is run by Christine who is an incredibly talented and kind lady who I am so glad to know. Christine's aim is to get as many people as possible to join the sock revolution with the joy of hand knitted socks.  The aim of the sockline is to knit socks and they are distributed to different charities.  The project grows year on year as more poeple want to join in provide socks for Christine and for them to be displayed in the Knit and Knatter lounge at the show.  Once the show is over Christine spends many hours listing individually the socks and who they have been made by and which charity will receive them on a Pinterest board.  I was really happy to be able to take four pairs this year, two knitting by myself and two pairs made by my mother in law Olly.

My final comment has to be kept for Attic 24.  Lucy is the most humble, gentle person I know.  Her passion is for her craft of crotchet, but equally her love of Skipton and the surrounding area has been shared for a years on the most beautifully written blog.  Lucy's style of writing and the way she engages her audience is an inspiration.  It was five years ago that Lucy along with a small team of four other people came up with the idea of starting Yarndale and myself and so so many other hundreds of people are so glad they did, as it has given me a chance to meet the most incredible people.

Brambly Hedge Shawl Design

For my next design I have taken inspiration from a truly gorgeous set of illustrations called Brambly Hedge.  I specifically chosen the Autumn book as my inspiration.

 

 

The yarn I am using for this design is by Fyberspates and it is called Vivacious DK my colourway is Tweed Imps.

 

 

The design itself is a memorable and effective textured pattern that produces the warmest accessory.

 

It can be worn as a shawl to keep both shoulders and back warm.

 

Or worn as a bandana to keep your neck lovely and warm.

With the use of the eyelet stitching a shawl pin can be used as a lovely embellishment to secure the shawl in place.  This particular shawl pin is from Textile Garden.

 

The pattern can be purchased directly from my pattern store on Ravelry.

 

Please do enjoy and I look forward to seeing many Brambly Hedge Shawls.

 

 

Brioche scarf

Hot of the heels of the Ripple blanket. I made for my son I grapped the opportunity to make him a scarf when he asked for it.

So just before the festive period of Christmas we headed to our local yarn shop where he picked a lovely 100% wool and UK based yarn by Sublime yarns.  

The pattern was from Mollie Makes Issue 59 by Anne Well

Once you got into the rhythm of the Brioche stitch it was such a lovely stitch.

Here's to a new year and more productivity and knitting.

Mountain view inspired Ripple blanket.

Last year I made my first ever Ripple Blanket. I love it so much not just the colours but how warm and cuddly it is.

So when I finished mine my son asked me to make him one.

He found an inspirational picture based a mountain and lake in Canada.

So based on this he picked the colours he would like.

I even got a gorgeous wicker basket to store it in while working on it.

So it took me half the time and was completed just before Christmas I completed it.

I am so pleased how it turned out, he said he will treasure it.