The Knitting Collection

OK, I am a little late, but I think that this new knitting bookazine would make a fabulous belated Christmas present. I am biased as I edited it - yes, I have had a clandestine affair with knitting again after so long with my current first mistress, crochet. The Knitting Collection has so many gorgeous patterns (47!) by fabulous designers. See what you think of this taster.

 This hairband pattern is one of mine, on my stunning cousin Jess, isn't she beautiful? The pattern is so simple and easily customised.

 The collection contains home products as well as fashion, and kidswear too. These stylish and very simple cup cosies are by Sarah Coad - her first published knitting pattern. She is usually more partial to crochet!

 And every collection needs an adorable teddy - this one is called Terence! He is so characterful, designed by the lovely Nicky Sutton. 

Baby Shower

Today I finally handed over the beautiful blanket I sewed up for my little friend Emmi. She is the beautiful daughter of one of my best friends and late last year her friends and family knitted a bunch of squares at her baby shower to go into a blanket that I hope she will have always. I think this is the best blanket I have ever pieced together, what a gorgeous bunch of colours and textures and haphazard shapes. Sorry Gemma and Emmi that it took so long, but the weather today was almost autumnal, so perhaps it is good timing... 

Knitting For Children

I have been popping up all 35 patterns from my new book, Knitting For Children, onto Ravelry, quite a task! It has reminded me of my favourite projects and what fun the book was to write and shoot.

My personal favourite project from the book is probably these cute Mouse Mittens. All the kids I have shown them to adore them and can't stop playing with them, like puppets, while they are keeping their fingers nice and toasty! Usually the mice talk to one another, sometimes they kiss, occasionally they fight, but whatever they are doing, it keeps the child busy for hours - so take heed parents, it could be a great project to knit for them, even if they do not want to learn themselves!!!

vintage at goodwood

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Vintage at Goodwood festival to teach a few workshops and soak up the atmosphere, which was slightly damp at times, unfortunately for my sandals!

But when the sun shone, the Sussex countryside was glorious and the vintage style surroundings were great fun.

Here are some pics, if you didn't get the chance to go this year, book up for next, it was lovely! Although make sure you dress up - I made the mistake of thinking it was a typical festival and (shock! horror!) forgot my heels!!

west dean in summer

The only season I hadn't been to teach at West Dean was high summer, which has now been rectified as I have just spent two days there teaching some beginners classes. The ladies in the class were lovely, even if the weather turned against me and I didn't get a long, lazy, summers evening stroll through the sheep fields.

The gardens were in full bloom however and looking just beautiful, even in the drizzle and the view from my fabulous room in the quaint vicarage was gorgeous.

I am teaching a new class at West Dean next time, looking at adapting vintage knitting patterns to fit the modern sizes and tastes. Come along and peruse my extensive collection of vintage patterns or bring along your own pattern to decipher.

easy kids knits projects

Before I pop these pictures into my pattern book photo gallery, I wanted to share the beautiful interpretations of the patterns from my books by the wonderful Gabrielle. She is becoming prolific at knitting from both Easy Kids Knits and Easy Baby Knits for her adorable red headed grandchildren and I love how she gives each new project its own individual twist. She loves to choose the prettiest shades of gorgeous yarn from Loop yarn shop and then lets the colours dictate the end results.

Here are two very sixties style interpretations of the smock top from Kids, which is so very pretty.

I am sure Gabrielle won't mind me mentioning that the flowers were an addition to try to hide what she considered as untidy finishing round the neck, but I love the detail and the reason for it! My one big tip for knitters is to enjoy the pattern and knitting and not be too perfectionist with it - after all you could always go and buy a machine made sweater if you want perfection, and knitting is supposed to be relaxing.

Here, the mistake has become a beautiful feature of the top and I love how she has used the differing placements in each smock.

She has also made the ballet style wrap top and bonnet from Baby into a cute little set for the newest addition to the family, and there are those sweet little flowers again - not to hide anything this time, just to add a bit of colour. Gorgeous.

Keep up the good work Gabrielle!

I love to see your finished projects, so please do feel free to send me them, or to point me in the direction of them on Ravelry.

spinning a yarn!

When I was asked to become a regular columnist in the UK magazine Yarn Forward I was unbelievably excited! While it may not bring in enough of an income to buy myself a wardrobe full of expensive shoes, like a certain infamous fictional columnist, it will keep the old stash ticking along nicely and it gives me even more of an excuse to witter on about knitting! (like I needed one)
Next month I shall be talking about the stresses of moving for a knitter with as much stash as myself - don't miss it!!

my top five knitting tips

People often ask me what little tips and tricks I can give them to help with their knitting, especially when they are beginners. I have compiled my Top Five with regards to practicality - how to try to prevent strained wrists, tennis elbow and cramp, finishing - different techniques for a professional finish, and enjoyment - how to make knitting as relaxing as possible. So here goes...

1. Try to have at least two projects using differing weights of yarn on the go at the same time. I find it eases any RSI related aches and pains – a knitting project and a crochet project is especially good at varying the repetitive motions. Also, don't knit for long periods at a time - especially as a beginner; build up your tolerance to the repetitive motions.

2. Always buy more yarn than you think you need – most good yarn shops will allow you to change that extra ball if you find you don't need it later.

3. Learn a few different cast ons – they all have specific jobs, like durability or stretchiness – which will suit different projects.

4. When learning to knit, get into the habit of counting your stitches at the end of each row so you can catch mistakes when they have just happened – it is easier to rectify straight away, and you usually don’t have to frog, you can correct most mistakes on the next row.

5. ...and most importantly – Practice makes perfect! Anybody can knit, it just takes practice and patience at first - you will soon be doing it without thinking, in front of the telly and really quickly. Push on through all your first 'beginner' mistakes and don't get too precious at first - remember the mantra 'knitting is relaxing!', don't tense your shoulders, try not to think about what you are doing too much and most importantly, don't forget to breathe!

Next, I shall try to compile my top five for more experienced knitters (although all these 'beginner's' tips can apply to you too). If you crocheters out there think I have forgotten you, maybe I will get round to my crochet 'top five' too!

Point de Croix

Here are the pictures as promised from the amazing cross stitch exhibition at l'Aiguille en fete in Paris at the weekend.
The first section of the exhibition displayed some sweet and incredibly complex samplers in the Souvenirs de jeunesse or 'Memories of Youth'. These demonstrated how, in the exhibition's explaination, young school girls of past years learned the skills of women by practicing their cross stitch, sewing, knitting and repairing skills on small samplers. There are some great examples on the website, so check it out.

Amongst these were also more complicated and beautifully detailed samplers from the colleciton of Joke Visser, some from the 17th century. My personal favorites were this stunning olive green piece and the one below it with a very cute yet, strangely, at the same time stately stag.

Another section was from more modern cross stitchers, called Treasures of Cross Stitch. Amongst other pieces, I liked this one based on the metro. Each part represents a station on the Paris underground system.


The most intersting exhibits to me were definitely the hundreds of vintage sewing, embroidering and cross stitch artefacts. I liked everything about this section; the way the objects were all arranged higgledy-piggledy; the colours; the retro pictures and graphics printed on the packaging; the small and intricate cross stitch embellishments on scissor cases and needle wallets.

I am a sucker for a hook and eye, especially when its packaging is as sublimely pretty as these:

What I would give for some of these storage solutions, especially this wooden and glass box, labelled appropriately of course!

This arrangement of items is really appealing to me, it has it all - some religious iconography, wooden spools (with or without yarn - I don't care!), tin boxes and pretty, shiny threads. Sigh.

Overall, though, I think these star shaped darning thread cards are simply divine and my absolute favourite display. They are almost like little gleaming war medals or falling snowlakes. My cards of darning yarns are almost always square, I would be so, so happy if I were to find a little six-pronged wrap of yarn like this, let alone a collection as fab as this one. As it is, I had to settle for this intriguing exhibition. However, it left a fabulous impression and was a great inspiration.

Independent shopping - Islington

As I have mentioned here before, I am becoming more and more frustrated by the homogenised nature of the British high street. British consumer choices and trends has been a special interest of mine ever since my MA thesis; a comparitive study of teenage girls' consumption choices in the 1970s and the noughties. Praised throughout the world for the mass availability of high trend, low priced fashion, I nevertheless find our standardised town centres and shopping malls increasingly repetitive and boring. The long term sustainability concerns of such consumerism is another factor in my turning away from most of our well known stores.
With all that in mind and before I get too preachy, self righteous and hypocritcal (I still can't resist a cheap copy from Topshop, so long as I know I will wear said bargain loads!), I am going on a bit of a treasure hunt around London to see if I can root out some truly unique and interesting independent boutiques and I thought I would share my findings here.

As it is a bit chilly at the mo, for my first trip, I did not wander far but stuck with what I know - the Angel, Islington. Seeing as there are so many great independant stores here, I am going to blog in two parts and will hopefully keep you waiting with bated breath for the next installment!! Part one covers make do and mend, with vintage and craft stores.

It seemed logical to begin in Islington, seeing as I spend a lot of time in one of the best independent stores in London, Loop, which is situated in the fabulous Cross Street. Walking down this little road makes me feel I am as close as I can get to what London used to be like in the past, with its cobbled alleyways, terraced houses and colourful shop fronts. I don't need to tell you much about Loop as I mention it here so often, but if you are a craft addict, its rainbow of tactile yarns are a temptation too strong to ignore. Buying yarn to knit my own bespoke garments also ticks all the boxes in my desire for unique and interesting fashion. There is even the handy sewing shop Sew Fantastic round the corner, and The Make Lounge up the road on Barnsbury Street, making Islington a handy crafty hub.

While we are here, Cross street also has Wild Swans, which is one of a small chain of boutiques offering desirably subtle and sophisticated Scanadinavian brands, the sensuously pretty lingerie store Tallulah and a smattering of other interior shops and galleries.

Since Loop opened almost five years ago, the street has seen quite a few small businesses come and go, a sad sign of how hard it is to stay afloat in the tough and expensive capital.

Another sad tale is of the vintage and antique stalls and shops in and around Camden Passage, which used to be much more extensive. Now there are fewer, while in their place are a few more well known stores from the high street. However, many are still going strong, and the market on a Saturday and Wednesday morning are worth a trip. Here, Annie's is my favourite shop, a treasure trove of vintage clothes and textiles. On my latest visit, I could not resist some beautiful hand worked Victorian lace trim. Just over the road, Cloud Cuckoo Land comes a close second, with more affordable yet just as high quality vintage pieces.

While on the subject of second hand stores, the Essex Road is home to the one store I can never walk past and one I rarely leave without a purchase: Past Caring. It sells anything from the tiniest buttons to huge sideboards and just about everything in between. On this weekend's visit I coveted a retro 60s olive glass pulldown light, a Star Trek annual from 1975, some brightly coloured assorted glass objects and the fabulously kitsch horse and sultry lady paintings. Ah, such bliss. If only I had the space for yet more clutter...

A store which encompasses a little of all the shops I love to frequent is My Sugarland, which stocks a little bit of vintage, a little bit of contemporary fashion and a little bit of hand made, all packaged in a stylish, yet effortless way. They also host yoga and craft classes and exciting events such as wedding and styling evenings.

Phew! As you can see, there is a lot of shopping to be done around here, which is possibly why I was out all day on Saturday! Next up, the quirky contemporary fashion stores, some less ubiquitous high street shops and my tips for where to grab tea, lunch or something a little stronger!

pennies per hour of pleasure

beginners knitting class

This December I will be teaching a very basic beginner knitting class in Highgate at the divine tea shop High Tea.

Saturday 5th December from 10am-12pm, you will be getting all the materials to start and make a simple cowl which can be styled in lots of different ways. You will also get tea and home made cake thrown in. Can't wait!

£30. Contact High Tea for booking.

big bunny

I am slap bang in the midst of teaching a beginners knitting class at City Lit at the mo. One of the nicest things about teaching there is being so close to Covent Garden market and walking around it to relax at lunchtime.

Last week, there was a massive Jeff Koons inflatable bunny hoisted in the rafters to promote the Tate Modern's Pop Life exhibition. I saw Koons' show at the Serpentine in the summer and loved that too, so I shall have to scoot off to the tate to see more of his and other great modern artists' work.

Will post some pics from the City Lit class soon.

knitting classes

Below are some of my upcoming beginners knitting classes and craft workshops in London, the South East and the rest of the world!


Hand knitting for improvers April/May 2010
City Lit College

Textiles Jewellery - Innovative Knit and Yarn techniques, 30th April - 2nd May 2010
West Dean College, Sussex

Knitting classes in the South of France! Next class will be in May 2010 and will be designing your own knitting. Contact Les Soeurs Anglaises for details

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to arrange your own bespoke knitting, crochet or craft classes in London.

If you want to book classes for groups, please check out my alter ego, Make.Do.Mend

beginners ahoy!

I had the pleasure of introducing some enthusiastic students how to knit and crochet this week at West Dean College in Sussex. It was gloriously sunny autumnal weather and the weekend was lots of fun; filled with great food, great weather, crafting, relaxing and laughter. Just as it should be at West Dean!

This is some of the knitters' great first attempts. They all did fantastically well and there are already plans for more one day tasters of knitting and crochet for improvers!