Unravelling

Unravel? Well, that was just lovely. From the moment I got on to the Farnham train, I knew that I was going to have a good day. Surrounded by the gentle chatter of knitters discussing patterns, needles, tension and general swatch-talk, I wound my way through the countryside trying to imagine what Unravel would have in store for me. Arriving at The Maltings, I saw knitted arrows adorning the lampposts, the trees had been yarn bombed and there was an enormous knitted welcome to Unravel sign. My hopes were up and I was not disappointed. My friend Susie had told me that it would be big, but my imaginings hadn't even come close and as I strolled through room, after room, after room I could only wish I'd had a bigger budget!

I started the day with £30.00 to spend - which any of you knitters out there will know, does not go far in the world of hand-dyed, hand-spun cashmere, alpaca and silk but I was determined to make the most of it. My first (modest) purchase was a gorgeous printed card emblazoned with the motto, "Sew, sew, knit, knit, sew" and hot on the heels of the card, I fell completely in love with the button stall. (Which Susie had warned me would happen!) 

Six brilliant buttons and two metres of allium-embroidered ribbon later, I was ready to invest in some sticks and string. I did try to be methodical - I circled the main hall and explored the other rooms. Touching the wool and assessing skein lengths, comparing prices and thinking what I might be able to make. I took some time away from the show to think about what I really wanted and then I went to town. I managed to spend all but 40p and I would've spent an awful lot more if there had been enough network coverage to get the Paypal app to work!

Ultimately I came away with enough to get four more projects off the ground - none of which were on my original New Year list, but never mind! I'm really looking forward to getting started, although I suppose I really ought to finish some of my existing projects first...

On the needles just now, I have three major projects, a February scarf, an Olive jumper and a Caramel colour-block cardigan. They're all pretty big and to be honest with you I'm a bit daunted by how much work each of them will need to get finished, but a day at Unravel has definitely inspired me and renewed my enthusiasm to get some knitting done.

Currently reading: the really rather good Every Day by David Levithan. It's quite a peculiar premise, but so well written that I can hardly bear to put it down. A special mention to Heartburn by Nora Ephron, which I read last week. It is brilliant. Honest, thoughtful, poignant and witty, this is one woman's story of the end of a marriage. From the moment you open the book, you know what's going to happen - you know that it's not going to end well - but the end is still an absolute shocker. Even if I read it again, I would still be unprepared for how desperately sad the last few pages are. I've passed my copy onto a friend who read it, loved it, cried at the ending and has passed it on again. If you get the chance - read this book. I urge you.

A Few of My Favourite Things

I'm a huge fan of mittens and I love the snuggliness of my fake sheepskin favourites. I have to say that there is nothing quite like  pair of warm woollen mittens on a cold wintry day, especially if you've made them yourself. And the mittens that I've just made are possibly the snuggliest pair of mittens I've ever worn. They're like having a hand-hug and I am not kidding. I've been wearing them with pride since finishing them this weekend and have forced quite a few of my work-friends to try them on so that they can share the experience.

What makes these mittens so particularly great is the thrums. "But what on earth are thrums?" I hear you ask. Well, they're a phenomenal Norwegian invention whereby you wraps strands of wool roving around the wool you're knitting with to create a fluffy interior to whatever you are making. The thrums trap air which heats up, giving you the toastiest mittens, or socks, or hat, in the world - ever.

I've also ticked another crafty thing off my New Year list and made an embroidered handwriting card for D for St Valentine's Day. It took a lot longer that I was expecting, and the first word is a little bit ropey, but overall I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Luckily, I won't be needing my lovely new mittens for very much longer as I have the feeling that spring is finally on its way. This weekend has seen the first real sunshine of the year and I've made the most of it by spending a little bit of time out in the garden. I've cleared the veggie beds, cut back the rose and the clematis, pulled a few weeds and generally tidied the place up a bit.

I've bought some seeds, sown some broad beans and started three varieties of potato to chit on the kitchen windowsill. D and I have made a list of all the fruit and veg we fancy eating this year and I'm really looking forward to growing our own. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I do love it!


Away from the garden, I've been doing quite a lot of running - trying to get in shape for the Bath Half in two weeks' time. I'm feeling okay about it, but reckon that another couple of months' training would not go amiss. I've also seen my adorable godson and had a lovely day out in Bath. I've been taking heaps of pictures on my Instagram feed, so thought I'd post some of the highlights here on my blog. I'm excited that Instagram is now available from my browser - if you're not already already on it - head over to instagram.com and check it out. I'm off to Unravel next weekend, which I'm incredibly excited about. Come back next week and I should have posted about my day...

Currently reading: The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig (a re-telling of the Cinderella story and a great gift from Lesley in my book club's Secret Santa) and Grey Gardens by Sara Maysles, Rebekah Maysles, Dan Murphy and Albert Maysles (an eclectic representation of two remarkable and eccentric ladies).

Ae Fond Kiss

This week has been a real celebration of all things Scottish. We started the weekend with a delicious Burns' Night Supper at our lovely local, The Pheasant, where Alex laid on a veggie haggis especially. (What a superstar!) It was absolutely delicious and such a treat. I've never really developed a taste for whisky, which is a shame as there were two on offer for tasting, but D was very happy to help me out with mine, even if he did regret it a little the next morning!

Sunday morning saw us hit the road on an epic journey up to Glasgow to spend a week with D's family. It turns out that you can get an awful lot of knitting done in seven and a half hours and after a bit of a knitting marathon, my colour block cardigan is now considerably longer. I sort of wished that I'd had one smaller project on the go so that I could've had a finished object by the time we got up the road, but it was good to make some progress on a couple of bigger things, and I really got stuck into Olive on the way back down. 

The week started with a gig at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with celebration of the life and work of Michael Marra, one of Scotland's finest songwriters, with two of D's favourite singers putting in an appearance. I must confess that I wasn't familiar with the work of Michael Marra before the music started, but there were some brilliant songs and amazing musicians. Pat Kane and Eddie Reader were everything that D had hoped for and I had a thoroughly Scottish evening!

We continued our time off with more celtic delights, including such greats as tattie scones and the legendary macaroni pie. We took a road trip up to Oban along the beautiful lochside of Loch Lomond, visited friends in Dunshalt and took a glass or two with D's family. On a trip to the West End area of Glasgow, I visited a very lovely knitting shop called The Yarn Cake and invested in some delightful Drops yarn to make some suitably snuggly mittens (with thrums) and a pair of legwarmers too. We stopped off at a great restaurant called The Hillhead Bookclub on our way back into town for a really tasty lunch before a spot of culture at The Lighthouse and a mooch around the shops. It was hard to leave, but so nice to be back home, and we brought back a substantial amount of Scotland home with us in the shape of five kilos of Marshalls macaroni. (Well, macca is the national dish, you know!)

Currently reading a selection of non-fiction which I picked up on my travels north of the border and which I hope will inspire me to get my act together in opening a new Folksy shop. (I just have to decide what I'd like to make and how I want to sell it - minor points.) I'm also unable to put down Gold by Chris Cleave which, if his other books are anything to go by, is going to be a bit of a tear-jerker. Lastly, I leafed through a copy of the Polpo cookbook while staying with friends and there are definitely some recipes that I'm keen to try out. Think I might have to invest in my own copy next payday.

Inspiration

Magazines! I love magazines! As a source of inspiration and food for thought they can't be bettered. I think what I like most about them is that you can just dip in and dip out, take what you like and leave the things that leave you cold. And I like nothing more on a lazy Saturday morning (after breakfast in bed of course) than flicking through the pages of a good magazine. Among my favourites are Mollie Makes, Selvedge and The Simple Things and I love it when I get home from work to find the latest issue waiting for me on the doorstep. You can read them in the bath, you can read them on the train, and the short, snappy, well-written articles with beautiful art and illustrations are just about perfect for when I have a short attention span and can't concentrate on my book!

I love print editions most of all, but I have recently developed a liking for e-zines. The iPad is the perfect format for reading magazines that you can't buy in the UK in print and I absolutely adore the recent emergence of magazines written specifically to be read online. They're clear, interactive and absolutely brilliant - links to where to buy the kit for a special project, video tours of artists' studios and demonstrations of tricky techniques can't be bettered than in a digital format. And I love getting a new wallpaper every week from the particularly gorgeous Gathered. Remind me again - what did we do before the internet?!

Particular favourites are Gathered, Make:Craft, Frankie, Heart Home and I feel like I should give an extra special mention to Pinterest. I'm not entirely sure that Pinterest should really count as it's an app rather than a publication, but I absolutely adore it. It's my second favourite app (after Instagram, of course) and I am pretty much addicted. I can't help checking in two, three, four times a day ... and sometimes I even have to stop myself from browsing late into the night, when I know I should really be getting my beauty sleep! It's just so inspiring and I love sharing things that I've seen on other people's boards. I've cast on a lovely colour-block cardigan that I saw on Pinterest and last week, I made a tortilla pizza that my friend Emily had posted - delicious!

On the needles, I started - and, get me, finished - a lovely little jumper for Toby to go with his baby jeans. I've really enjoyed working on something quick and easy and it's put me in great stead for getting another project crossed off my New Year list. However, this does now mean that I've got to get stuck into some of my bigger more complicated projects. Hmm, good thing I've got a couple of long car journeys ahead of me over the coming week...

Currently reading: I am currently not reading Doctor Zhivago as I have finally managed to finish it. I also re-read a childhood favourite, The Owl Service by Alan Garner and devoured two pretty amazing YA novel from the United States, Wonder by R.J. Palacio and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Both equally brilliant in their own ways but please make sure you have a box of tissues to hand when you read either of them. 

Thanks for the Memories

I was incredibly lucky to be given an amazing new Mac for Christmas, and I am very, very happy with it. Unfortunately as I transferred the contents of my old, very much on its last legs, Mac onto the new beautiful shiny one, I transferred a bit of a glitch that had been in my existing photo library. I'd known  that there had been a problem for a while, but didn't quite understand what it was - much less be able to fix it. so, not wanting there to be anything at all wrong with my lovely new toy, I duly took it along to the local Genius bar, where a very kind and patient genius put my photos (and me) on the road to recovery.

He basically created a brand new library then took every recoverable photo that I had ever stored on the old mac (and the one before that, and the one before that, and the one before that) and put them in a folder on the new one. I would then have to sort through over 6,000 photos and put them all in new folders so that I could find particular happenings whenever I want to. Now, I thought that this was going to be a tedious and time-consuming job and I decided that I was going to try and do a couple of months' worth of photos every night until I'd got it done. But no. It turned out to be a real joy! It was such a pleasure looking at my old pictures and reminiscing.

As I've been going along I've been reliving so many happy memories: wonderful holidays, happy family times, fun with friends, weddings, new babies, beauty that I've seen everywhere and lots and lots and lots of craft! What a treat!

On the needles this week, I've finished just about the sweetest project I've ever put together. Blu from Knitty Winter 2005 is an adorable pair of baby jeans made out of Rowan Denim. You can embroider them with fake fly, pocket stitching and even add on a patch for an extra degree of cuteness! 

I've made them for my new godson, Toby and I can't wait to give them to his mum and dad. I've been showing them off to just about everyone I know and they've all been completely charmed by them! Thanks, Cristina Bernardi Shiffman and Kay Gardiner for such a brilliant pattern.

To go with them, I'm going to make a stripy navy and cream jumper - he's going to look every bit the dapper young man! It is the perfect weather for staying in and knitting. As I write this, I am warming up from some hilarious sledging on my trusty Very Hungry Caterpillar tea-tray, while admiring the four inches of snow that are currently hiding the ever-so-slightly unloved state of my back garden! And I've just made some yummy, buttery flapjacks - think I'll put the kettle on and have a cup of tea.

Currently reading: Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger and nearing the end of (the very long and complicated, but fabulous, and wintry) Doctor Zhivago. 

Happy New Year, Happy New Blog

Well, hey there. Welcome to my new blog. Let me tell you a little bit about myself: I'm a book-loving knitter who likes taking pretty pictures and having happy thoughts. I'm never more content than when I've got my nose in a good book or have busy fingers making something lovely, whether it be knitting, sewing, creating in the kitchen or out in the garden.

I'm going to be writing this blog to chronicle the things that I make over the course of the coming year and a few other things that I get up to for good measure. I hope that you'll like what you read - do get in touch and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.

Here's a list of things that I'd like to make (or finish) in 2013:

1. Grey Olive Jumper
2. Jumper and Jeans for Toby
3. Heirloom Quilt
4. Words Embroidery
5. ABC Sampler
6. Baby shoes for Ines
7. Grey and Pink Cardigan 
8. Aran Cabled Scarf
9. Home Quilt
10. Stripy Socks
11. Scandinavian Mittens
12. Thing that I thought of but can't now remember!

It's not an exhaustive list and I'm quite sure that I'll get distracted along the way, but if I can cross off an average of one project every month this year, I'll be absolutely delighted. (If a little bit surprised!)

I've gotten off to a pretty good start and this week, I finished a very cute peach pair of baby shoes for Ines Sylvia, wrapped them up and sent them on their way. I've also picked up a few projects which have rather fallen by the wayside and I've knitted every day of the new year so far.  

I've also been reading a fair bit and am enjoying Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore on my journeys to work and a chapter or two of Doctor Zhivago before I go to sleep each night. Not much else to report, other than nine and a half miles run, and the first picnic of the year (yes, really, in January) with my mum, dad and sister in front of the London Eye. May it be the first of many in 2013!

Here's my currently reading list: