Winter warmer

As the seasons change and the evenings draw it seems like the perfect time for any type of crafting so when Mollie Makes dropped through my letterbox this morning the timing was perfect. Its been so hard not to forget about work and start a new project. 

There is a lovely article on red velvet which also points you to the a beautiful mess blog and I think these might be the perfect thing to make to accompany your evenings crafting.

After a tiring but lovely weekend at the Rowan mill workshopping I thought I would take the chance to show you a couple of things I am really liking at the moment.

This video for the new Westfield Stratford City shopping centre is really well put together and definitely worth a couple of watches.

There are also a few new patterns added to the Rowan free pattern database. The first two are from my recent Rowan Studio 24 publication and the beautiful slippers are definitely on my Christmas shopping list.

Hurricane shawl

I suspect like most knitters when I travel I often take two projects 'just in case'. On my recent trip to New York this proved a most sensible idea. I had socks as one of the projects but when my needles broke on the flight over the second project was much appreciated! At Knitnation I had bought a skein of the delicious the natural dye studio angel yarn. So whilst away I  decided to make the edith shawl from my latest book. I amended the pattern slightly so there were more rows of eyelets worked in the short row shaping section and add a couple more eyelets to the lace edging. By the end of the hurricane the shawl was almost completed. I thought I would show you a couple of images of the book version and the hurricane version. 

The yarn was lovely to work with and once I have finished the thousands of pairs of socks I seem to have to make before Christmas its a yarn I will definitely be coming to.

Vintage Inspired Projects book part 1

I just thought I would show you the first few designs from my new book. I will be adding more of the designs tomorrow but thought I would give you a brief taste of the book. They are all quite feminine pieces with 7 garments and 2 accessories in the book. It is available through my website and will also be in John Lewis and your local knitting store (hopefully) soon.

Knitting and stitching show.

I am just getting ready to head down to London for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexander Palace. I will be on the Rowan stand all weekend. I will also have my new book hot off the press!

New book sneak peek

Just got the proofs of my next book back from the printer so I think I would share a sneaky peek with you. I hope you like it - I have been working so intensely on it it is hard to know quite how I feel!

Creative Cardiff

Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend the day workshopping with the lovely ladies of Cardiff. The train journey that started at 5.30am and was full of stag and hen dos as well as people off to the rugby who all started drinking at about 7.00 was slightly less enjoyable but the day definitely improved!

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures of the stunning in store displays that the John Lewis team deserve a medal, if these weren't going to persuade people how desirable handknits could be I don't know what would.