stripes galore!

I do so love a stripe!

Now that the warmer weather is finally here, it can be hard to find projects which still make you feel like spring, so how about some classic Breton inspired stripes for a fabulous naval look? My new book, Knitting Vintage has a lovely wide stripe sweater in, taking inspiration from just that look, and I love it, even if I do say so myself! I have been wearing it already!

You can also find my nautical striped sweater pattern on Ravelry.

If those are a little warm for you in this mini heatwave we are experiencing in the South East, why not try some very summery lacy stripes. This cute cotton sweater was in Let's Knit magazine last year, but if you can't find your copy, I shall be publishing it on Ravelry soon.

spring/summer collection

It's up! you can find the new collection as an ebook on Ravelry. Sorry it took so long. Now onwards and upwards with the Autumn/Winter 09/10 collection...such is the non-stop life of a knitter and all that.

better late than never

At long last, I have managed to write up the cropped aran sweater pattern I showcased on here months ago. It is the last of the Spring/Summer collection of patterns to be published, so in the next few days I will make sure I get the whole lot onto Ravelry to buy as a set. In the meantime, if you just want the cropped sweater, get yourself onto the wonderful Ravelry to purchase it.

pick of the crop

As summer slides slowly out of view, I am almost ready to publish the final pattern from the booklet of five designs from my summer collection. It is just going through final pattern checks and charting and hopefully will be up on Ravelry in the next week or so. The sweater takes inspiration from the cropped shapes which were around in the spring/summer collections, but will also wear well into the winter with the layering theme from the current collections. It is also very simple to lengthen if the cropped style is not for you.

With the trees turning colour and having already swept up the first batch of leaves from he garden, I am working on the collection for winter, with woolly warmers being the main focus of the English Heritage theme. Look out for the first projects from that sometime in October.

recycling

Way back when I first graduated from my MA in textiles and was looking for employment, I whiled away my days cutting up and embroidering old jumpers or making them into toys. This week I have found myself pining for that theraputic activity and with a good three boxes of old woollen jumpers which I just cannot resist accumulating, I thought it was about time I did something with them. Here are some of the fruits of my labour;

I have gotten a little bit obsessed with bows in these, but hey, who doesn't love a bow?! The pink jumper is cashmere, bought in a little shop in San Francisco, from which I could've filled whole suitcases with buttery soft second hand cashmere goodies.

Well, the current climate is calling for sustainability and recycling, and these jumpers fit the brief, which is just as well, as now I have way too many bow-laden woollies to wear myself!

I shall pop them on my website when it has undergone its revamp later this month, and in the meantime will be hauling a pile of them to the We Make London fair this weekend.

spring/summer 2009

Finally I have managed to get the bulk of the project I have been working on for ages finished and on the website. I decided at the beginning of this year that a collection of my own monty patterns would be a perfect vehicle to present a more fashion forward, trend led collection of garments. Being an independent designer, working to my own deadlines, instead of that of a publisher, I can create high trend designs more quickly than when I write books. It is fair to say that even though we have vast amounts of beautiful, classic and contemporary knitting patterns around, there are fewer publications which cater for each traditional season of the fashion world. However, I have tried to keep the patterns wearable and classic, as nobody wants to spend time knitting a garment which is unwearable by the next season.

The patterns and inspiraton can be seen in full on my website, where they will be available to buy shortly. In the meantime, you can buy them from my montyknits shop on Ravelry.

If you don't knit, but want to own a one-off, bespoke garment, contact me and I shall be happy to hand make you the garment of your choice to your measurements.

I am hoping to have my timetable sorted sufficiently to have a new set of patterns based around the Autumn/Winter 2009/10 catwalks out by the beginning of October, so watch this space for an exciting capsule collection based around a British Countryside theme!

bagging a bargain

This week I found a fab Irish handknitted Aran sweater for two pounds in a north London charity shop. I periodically do a trawl through all my local shops looking for pure wool sweaters to cut up, felt, embroider and make into toys. Although I am on a crusade to buy handmade and support crafts people, I also love to find a bargain in a second hand shop, as it is participating in recycling and giving to charity at the same time.

This jumper is my best buy since a fab red cashmere number I picked up for five pounds a few years ago. It is a child size, meaning unfortunately I can't wear it, so it won't be too heartbreaking to cut it up and hand sew it lovingly into something just as fabulous. I now just have to decide what to make out of the lovely cabled fabric; initial thoughts are a wooly sheep or a cosy cushion. Will post a picture here when I get round to using it.

the sun has got his hat on!

This weekend I visited a good friend on her birthday, it was great; I managed to soak up some rays in Brighton while taking some snaps for the exciting new project I keep mentioning. Talk about multitasking! I had fish and chips on the beach, a lovely stroll along the sea front and a browse in the shops. 'Twas pretty much a perfect day, and the sun shined gloriously throughout. Here is another sneaky peak at what I have been working on recently to whet your appetite. The whole collection will be up on my website next week....I hope!

superman knitted jumper

Vintage patterns are a favourite source of inspiration and projects for me and in my search, I recently found this fab wonder woman jumper on practical polly's blog. I was inspired to put up some pictures of my own past efforts to inject a little comic book heroism into my knitting. This pattern, adapted from a vintage leaflet, as with polly's, took forever to knit, as I knitted it a few rows at a time during other design projects.

The jumper also needed a dismantling and a reknit after it was finished as I underestimated the size of superman's 'muscles'. but after almost a year, it was finally finished in time for superman to brave the massive new york blizzard of 2006...phew....so many lives were saved due to superman not freezing in the snow thanks to the ultra warm blue sky alpaca it was knitted in!