Anybody who missed it should try their hardest to visit at least one of the two exhibition weeks next year to support all these talented designer makers.
I was delighted to see my old chum Rabbit hitting the big time and making it onto the front cover of glossy new magazine Sew Hip. He really knows how to put himself out there. I am jealous; it will be the runways of New York and Milan next! Joking aside, the magazine is lovely, it is nice to see a new sewing magazine with some contemporary patterns in it. For all you folk who have taken a liking to Mr Rabbit, I am hoping to squish the designing of a bunny pattern into my hectic schedule to feature in a future issue of Sew Hip, so I will let you know when it is in the shops. 
Christmas started very early for me this year, as I was knitting a fairisle stocking in June, ready for this month's issue of Let's Knit. Then again, I don't really need an excuse to get into the holiday spirit, but hopefully this pattern will get everbody else in the mood - I think I will be knitting myself one in extra, extra large so Father Christmas can fit all my lovely pressies in!
Well, this weekend it was that time of year again - stitching and knitting at ally pally, and it was lovely to be living practically on the doorstep this year. However, it did lead to me buying silly amounts of coned yarn and some lovely coloured leather knowing it wasn't far to lug it home....dangerous! I also purchased a wonderful bernina sewing machine from the lovely Malcolm at Sewfine, something I have been after for ages...will post some pictures of the lovely toys I intend to make on it soon. I also want to make some bags from the leather....if I ever get round to it.....anybody else impulse buy this weekend?!!
In exciting news #3, I was shooting the first installments for Easy Kids Knits last week. Archie was a pro, working hard for almost three hours solid, luckily the location had lots of clockwork toys and robots to play with.
It was a lot of work and compromises were made aplenty, but it is finally in print; a real book! my favourite parts are the sections on the design process, as I had initially envisaged the book as more of a knitting companion than a pattern book, ideal for inspiring the knitter, due to its gorgeous images and design tips. it has finally emerged as a hybrid of the two, which is nice. 
For those of you who like the socks in a previous post, this is the book the pattern appears in. As do the scrummy mittens which have been featured on the side of this blog for months now, probably my favourite pattern and picture in the book. Other highlights are the wonderful steeked Norweigan style jumper and an ocean inspired seacell and wool wrap.
Yarn palette is out in October, so check it out in all good book shops....although I am not yet sure how available it will be in the UK - it is published by Readers Digest - hence the American-style cover and spelling. The UK distributors are A&C Black and there is always amazon....!
