crochet cables

Here's another from Inside Crochet 15! This time, cabled. This issue has a bit of a cable theme, and I had lots of fun working these out - the J C Rennie yarn was also a dream to create crochet cables out of. It is a bit fiddly, but well worth it I think!

hairpin dress

Wow, February is a short month - it is nearly time for the next issue, 16, of Inside Crochet to come out, and I haven't told you of a new pattern in the current issue of 15. This issue has a slightly retro air so my starting point was a link to this stunning dress placed onto the Inside Crochet group on Ravelry after my last hairpin piece in the magazine.

west dean vintage knitting

Huge apologies for my lack of posting in February, but I have been unbelievably busy. Now a few of the pressures are off, I shall catch you up with everything I have been doing.

First, I spent a relaxing weekend in West Dean teaching a new class - adapting vintage knitting patterns - which is the perfect place to begin to learn how to design your own knitting patterns.

Had another great view from my room this time....

Pitti FIlati

Day two in Florence and it's time for a trip to the fabulous yarn fair itself, Pitti Filati.

I headed straight for the Senso trend forecasting area to collect my shade card for Spring/Summer 2012 and see what those in the know are predicting we will be wearing and knitting in 2012.

The layout was slightly different to previous years I have attended, with the experimental and textural samples draped around tiny dummies to also provide an indication of the shapes for the coming seasons.

I noted a muted, organic colour palette, highly textured and layered, sculptural knits constructed with unusual yarns such as nylon monofilament, stiff raffia and draping, shiny tapes. The funnel neck also seems to be making a comeback - which we have already started to see in the present season.

There was so much to see, we were overwhelmed, so we are going back tomorrow to finish off the rounds of the yarn companies. However, we did round off the day with a trip to the unmissable second hand fair, Vintage Selection. The Italians have not yet grasped the vintage trend as wholeheartedly as us Brits, meaning the selection is simply stunning - they still have plenty of authentic items left from pre-1970, having not yet had every store plundered for goodies. Unfortunately, the growth in popularity of the show meant that the prices had increased too. I left with only some fabulous buttons to show for my trip. I had hoped to find a friend for the bargain basement price, amazing Italian leather, statement 60s suede wedges I picked up on my last trip. Twas not to be...perhaps next year!

italy...

Well, here I am in Italy, in beautiful and exciting Florence to be precise, for the bi-annual yarn extravaganza that is the Pitti Filati trade fair, a yarn and trend fair for the knitting industry. We flew over the alps very early this morning on a beautiful sunny and misty day.

So far we have visited the absolutely stunning Duomo cathedral, which I never tire of seeing, and in fact made a beeline for today.

I topped off the day with the most delicious fruits of the forest gelato....

Well, you can't not have ice cream in Italy! When in Rome (or florence) and all that...

knitting for children

I've finally received the first copy of my new book, Knitting for Children, and I am so excited - I love it! We tried to keep it colourful and fun, with simple and yet interesting projects that little ones will love to make. It's out in March, so if you have children who want to learn, or if you are young at heart or want to knit projects kids will love, go check it out and let me know what you think

Fern Cowl

Issue 14 of Inside Crochet is out now and has a pattern of my own in - the Fern Cowl. I ripped out this cowl so many times trying to get the pattern just right, but now I love it, and hope it is still cold enough to wear it myself when I get it back.

In other exciting IC news, the website should be up any day - yay!