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!!!

make do and mend

You would think that as a textiles designer, I would be on top of all those annoying little holes which appear in my favourite knits. However, I had let my gloves and mittens get into a terrible state, the holes were so massive the gloves had stopped keeping my fingers warm! So, with all this talk of economic meltdown, I made a resolution to become more thrifty and dug out my darning wool. I thought it would make more sense to make a feature of the mend than try to hide it, so this was the result, and I love it! I have definitely got the bug, and am worried I may start attacking my jumpers just so i have something to sew up....

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....!