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.

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!

wedding knits

Here is a picture of some work in progress. The brief is to make some warm yet pretty cover ups for bridesmaids at a chilly January wedding. Their dresses are strapless, so I have suggested lacy shrugs just to warm the arms and prevent the beautiful ladies from becoming the 'something blue'! The yarn is a silk and wool blend, which will knit with a beautifully understated sheen whilst providing great warmth. The only problem is that there are five bridesmaids in all.....better get knitting....!

The recipe for the shrugs, along with other Monty knitting patterns will be on sale from my website and all good LYS very soon hopefully! Look out for pictures of the finished garments and wedding in the new year.

i love knitstable

I visited Whitstable on a rainy Monday but it was definitely not miserable! I had unfortunately just missed the biennale, which was celebrated with many interesting exhibitions and events, but the hangover was evident, mostly in the many knitted and yarn based objects or 'graffiti' dotted around the streets.

my favourite was this pomflower, which I almost walked straight past.....!

The real reason for visiting was to see the shops on harbour st; frank and seaside sadie. Frank is a great little shop showcasing new and exciting designers with products such as handmade books, jewellery and artworks. Well worth a look at the shop or website.

Seaside Sadie is a small but perfectly formed yarn shop owned by the lovely Claudia, an expert knitter and feltmaker, who I met on my degree course. If you fancy felt-making workshops, handmade felted goods, the beautiful Kentish Aragon Yarns and more, head on over. Sadie is relatively new, so the website isn't up yet, but if you want to contact Claudia, email her; claudia@pokeyhat.plus.com.

(Keep an eye out here for news of my latest design in the aragon yarn......)

Love, love, love Colinette Jitterbug yarn.....