The latest issue of Inside Crochet is out and in it, my first ever pattern for a pair of socks - there they are, on the cover (along with my littlun in those very retro raspberry clamdiggers, how does she keep creeping into the mag I wonder?!).

I had wanted to design some lacy socks for a while, but other stuff (life!) just kept getting in the way. Anyway, here they are, and really easy too - much easier than knitted ones! Hope you like them. You can buy the mag now in all good newsagents, or at pocketmags.

All the lovely images are by the wonderful Britt Spring (apart from the rubbishier ones on the line, which are obviously mine!) do go and check out her new, updated blog which looks rather good.

january essentials: knitted socks!

'Tis definitely the season for hand knitted woollen socks. Recently I came across one of the socks I had knitted for Easy Kids Knits and found that it just about fit me, despite being designed for a ten year old child...I have small feet and the yarn is very stretchy! This, with the added incentive that my feet haven't thawed since December, spurred me on to knit its twin and now I am glad to report that I'm warm and cosy in my lovely socks. The yarn is the splendid and very reasonable Regia Silk sock yarn, which I purchased from Liberty (any excuse for a visit!)

After finishing the second sock, I realised I had enough left over to make the 'negative' pair, so now I am starting on a fuschia pair with sugar pink contrast. Soon I will have a drawer full because, as any sock knitter worth their salt will know, it is an addiction and once you start, you cannot stop! I have already got some Misti Alpaca sock ready in the wings to begin when I have thought of a suitable pattern.


The socks are so cosy, it has led me to want to throw out all my useless old black cotton socks and begin again. The resulting empty drawer has become quite dangerous, as on entering the divine Brora store, I was drawn to these ultra cosy cashmere ribbed socks. Now, I have been promising for months to make myself a pair exactly the same as these, even down to the colour, so I just gave in and bought them instead. They were in the sale, after all...

new/old patterns

Recently I have been trying to tidy up my life. I have far too many things on the go at once to be disorganised, but unfortunately I am. Very. So, I suddenly realised that the exclusive copyright to a few patterns I submitted to some magazines has been finished for a while, meaning I can self publish them.

This is a great practice the magazines are trying to do to help out knit designers, as the compensation in relation to the time put in to this sort of work is generally rather poor. So, I have been busily sorting out layouts for new patterns to sell on Ravelry and have posted two up there today; Violet hat and a Christmas stocking, which you may recall in different guises from earlier posts. The whole process is really rather exciting to me, however, the next step is to get ordered enough to sell them over my own website, too.

(Wow, this pattern seems really incongruous in the middle of a summer heatwave, but I guess if you are well prepared person, now is the time to knit for Christmas...

I'm definitely not that organised!)

a very Wellcome Collection

'Twas a loverly bright spring day yesterday, so I decided to go for a walk and ended up trekking halfway across town, finally finding myself at one of my favourite places, the Wellcome Collection. It is in between exhibits, but I wandered around the permanent displays of Medicine Man and Medicine Now, both of which I would recommend if you are in London town. I really loved the good luck ammulets from the world wars and the backlit coloured glass jars in Medicine Man and this gorgeous piece by Andrea Duncan, 23 pairs, in Medicine Now. It is a play on the pairs of human Chromosomes represented in baby socks. Sweet, interesting, beautiful. I also saw some young ladies knitting in the cafe, so it obviously attracts other like minded folk too!

my new favourite colour....

...is orange! I have such a penchant for this beautiful reddish orange shade at the moment - a perfect name for it is blood orange - that when I spied these lovely snuggly Chloe tights on sale this weekend I had to have them. They have inspired me to knit something in this colour, maybe some socks...if I ever get round to it! watch this space...

it's here!

Onto exciting news #2...the first copy of my new book has arrived!

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....!

can't stop lookin at my feet....

This week I started wearing the first pair of socks I have knitted and I must say I love them! They fit perfectly and are so comfortable. The gorgeous, vibrant Colinette Jitterbug yarn is such a stunning colour that I can't keep my eyes off them. I wanted to make use of the space dyed colours, so knitted them in a slip stitch pattern which holds stiches over a few rows. The flecks of dark colour, I feel, make the spikey nature of the stitch more prominent, which fits in with the tropical theme I had in mind. If you fancy knitting them yourself, the pattern will be in my forthcoming book, Knitters Palette.
Only trouble with them is, now I am addicted. I have since knitted one and a half pairs, both gifts, and have another two pairs planned for myself. When will I get any work done......?!