catchup

To elaborate a little on the last post, last year I was very honoured and extremely excited to be asked to judge two separate awards. The first was the UKHKA Knitted Textiles Awards 2013. The Knitted Textiles Awards are always my favourite place to head at the Stitch and Knit show, so as you can imagine I was totally chuffed (and more than a little nervous) to be asked to be a judge. The standards were really high and I wished that everyone could have won something, so it was actually much harder than I imagined. I thought that the graduate winner, Judith Watson, was fabulous. Her mixed media pieces were incredibly original and interesting, concentrating on Aran fabric and traditional rug techniques, as well as some Swiss darning, which was one of my favourite techniques on my own degree.

Another of the winners was Katie Jones, a designer whose work I greatly admire. I love her aesthetic and her commitment to the handwork in the craft she employs. Her K2TOG line is a way in which she gets round the perennial problem we knitted textiles designers share - how to make our highly skilled and time consuming work affordable - while also adhering to a low waste policy. She upcycles old knitwear and produces beautifully unique pieces in her own inimitable style. Luckily for Inside Crochet, we have an exclusive jacket design of Katie's appearing in the 50th issue, pictured above, out at the end of the month. 
It was also a great show generally - especially as I managed to escape relatively unscathed purchase-wise (apart from my usual fabric splurge at The Eternal Maker). I loved the TOFT stand, Kerry has produced a fab menagerie of crocheted toys which are simply adorable (top). The whole range is available here, or you can buy kits to make individual animals from their gorgeous yarns.

Picture of Katie Jones' Couture Jacket from Inside Crochet by Britt Spring