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....!

london fashion week

I haven't posted in a while as I have had such a busy time doing some very exciting things that have left me exhausted, but even so I am going to try to fill you in on some of these things over the next few days. So first things first: a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the Basso and Brooke Spring/Summer 09 show at London Fashion Week.

This year, the show was in the wonderful Science Museum, and the collection was fabulous dahhling! The fluid fabric of the dresses draped and moved beautifully, printed with a stunning explosion of colourful designs based on modern Japan. I just cannot tell you how much I loved each and every one, and would love to have them all in my wardrobe, although I think I would have to save up for quite a while just to own one!
I managed to see another of their shows a few years ago, but this is far and away my favourite of their collections so far. Even the accessories were astounding, with fabulously humourous huge scale kirby grips and hair pins sticking out of the models' squared off hair dos and towering platform heels adorned with flowers. I loved the belts; wide, printed and folded bow shapes....perhaps I could afford one of those....sigh.....one day....!

let's knit....

I had a nice surprise when I ventured into my local newsagents today, as a design of my very own was on the front cover of the latest issue of Let's Knit magazine. Here is a sneaky peek of the project if you don't have a copy....

...more patterns to come in the next few issues, so keep an eye out for the party pink shrug and a christmas stocking.....

iknit fair

Along with about a million other knitters (or so it seemed!) I was down at the Royal Horticultural halls for the iknit fair this weekend, which was really good fun, if very tiring, as I was there to work at the loop stall.
Now would be a great opportunity to post pictures of the fantastic hall's windows, the HUGE angora rabbit which looked more like a fur ball at the Silkwood Yarns stall next to us and the colourful fair with beautiful yarns, fashion shows, books and people knitting everywhere. However, you guessed it, I forgot my camera - thats what happens when you get up at 6.30am on a saturday to rush down there. So, I cant explain the loveliness of it all unless you were one of the squillions that turned up.
To try to make up for it, here are some of the pretty things I managed to buy in the few quiet times; sweet pastel antique needles fom loop and vintage pattern greetings cards from knitonthenet.

And some really rubbish snaps from my mobile phone, so at least you can try to imagine the size of the giant rabbit! It produces the most wonderful angora yarns, I heartily recommend the Silkwood site....

....here is the very colourful and pretty (I'm biased of course!) loop stand.

I heartily recommend next year's fair to anyone that could not make it on Saturday, but be prepared to be tempted - you may have to clear out your stash to make room for all the new yarns you will aquire!

making the music video

It was fantastic recently to be at the filming of a music video for which I handmade the two lead roles! The video is for a Paul Steel ep and I have been working in conjunction with the animation company Model Robot. The song is called 'April' and is a boy meets girl story with a twist, so I made the puppet versions of April and Paul in a rag doll style, and I love them! The video so far is really fun with a huge dash of Model Robot's humour. There are ten animators working on different short films through Passion Pictures for this project, so it should produce some exciting and eclectic animation - keep an eye out for it in October!

new book

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, what a perfect day to begin work on my new book! Although today, I use the word 'work' loosely as drawing, picking yarn shades and swatching in the bright sunshine of a rare British summer day feels much more fun than work should be. It is days like this that I realise how lucky I am to be doing something I love and that satisfies my creative side as my career....however, check back in about 3 months time, after I have been knitting like a maniac for weeks on end, when I have back ache and RSI-induced tennis elbow and it is blowing a gale outside - I may tell a different story!

look out for Easy Kids Knits - the follow up to Easy Baby Knits in the middle of next year, I will keep you up to date with its progress.

(p.s. I am mighty proud of my sunflowers - it's nice to get a chance to sit out and enjoy them!)

knitting workshops in france

Recently I had the exciting task of booking some dates for a workshop with Les Soeurs Anglaises in the South of France. What a fantastic setting for some relaxing knitting! Check out the dates in my class list and dont forget to look at the website to get the details not only for my class, but also to check out the other talented artists and designers that run courses at the maison de maître.