Christmas completions...

I knitted the sample ages ago, but today I finally got round to photographing and uploading another pattern inspired by the Galapagos Islands, the Santiago Cowl.

 

I was hoping to get a lovely sunny day to do the photos... but gave up on this.

It's got a similar construction to the Bartolome cowl (appropriately, as Bartolome is just off the coast of the much larger Santiago island), so anyone who buys the Santiago pattern will also get sent Bartolome free. It's £2 of which 50p goes to the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

I also knitted myself a Christmas present from Natural Dye Studio Schehezerade which is a spectacularly soft baby camel and silk blend - Ashley Knowlton's lovely Butterfly Forest Shawl pattern.

Isn't it nice when your patterns work?

My sister-in-law wants some fingerless gloves for driving for Christmas, so I knit her a pair of my Beaujolais fingerless mitts in Artesano Alpaca DK. It was a while since I wrote the pattern so I was delighted to discover it made sense and didn't seem to have any mistakes...

They're quite cute - I sort of want to keep them, which is always the problem I have with knitting presents!

Just been sent the PDF of my wrap pattern that is going in February's Knit Now magazine, which is all very exciting, and have finished a sample for the March issue, which is just waiting for me to get round to writing up the pattern, and doing all the tedious measuring bits.

On the subject of patterns working, so pleased to see the lovely version someone had made on Ravelry of my Black Beacon Scarf. It looks neater than my sample! The knitter in question is in Malaga - it feels sort of miraculous that someone in Spain is knitting a scarf pattern inspired by  my trips to East Anglia.

Went to my friend Andrew's wedding at the weekend (he's a very funny stand up comedian - you can follow him on Twitter at @theAndrewWatts). It involved a rather curious ceremony, being essentially a double-handed Christian/Jewish affair, with the priest and the rabbi acting in tandem. One minute Hebrew chanting - next minute "Bread of Heaven".

Being me, rather than taking photos of the happy couple, I took lots of the priest's rather magnificent vestments:

Wouldn't it make the most gorgeous colourwork sweater? Maybe by someone like Alice Starmore. Not quite sure my colourwork design skills are quite up there yet.

If this all sounds a bit too serious, I can assure you the grapey theme seen on the vestments was more than supported by the generous wine supply thereafter...

Added some weeks later: this very wedding was the subject of an article in the Sunday Times colour supplement on Jan 30th.

A bit late... but here's the Black Beacon scarf

Finally got a version of my Black Beacon scarf that I am happy with! The half hexagon pattern alternates stocking and reverse stocking stitch (so the scarf is fully reversible) and blocking does wonders for it - makes the hexagon patterns sit much flatter. My male model is in Hong Kong at the moment so it's being modelled by the garden bench:

It's available to download free from Ravelry.

A bit late for Wool Week here in the UK but apparently it's Dutch Wool Week at the moment so that's OK...

It's the wonder, the wonder of wool

I was soaking my Old Bones shawl - pattern by the very talented Ashley Knowlton - at the weekend and musing on what amazing stuff wool is. It's made from Gotland Aran yarn by Well Manor Farm, raised & spun & dyed in Britain, and as I took it out of its Euclan, I was struck by how quickly the thoroughly-marinaded shawl shed its moisture, showing off waterproof/quick-drying properties that creators of synthetic material would kill for. Well done the sheep!!

 

And isn't the colour pretty?

All power to the good people at theCampaign for Wool!!!

Thank eff it's Friday...

It's been a right old week at work... so glad it's Friday and got cheered up by some good news yesterday, had another pattern commissioned by Knit Now! Obviously all very much Hush Hush, but I had an enjoyable time looking for shiny orange yarn for it.

I've also just picked up a new car which is also very exciting, and finally finished a sweater I've been meaning to knit for ages the Fyberspates "Challow" - first Fair Isle sweater I've made. The Fyberspates 4 ply yarn feels so luxurious & it is really light but warm. I have a whole ball of the main colour left so will get the treat of knitting with it again!

Good news / Bad news

Bad news... my car appears to be dead. It began to emit strange steam and make peculiar noises as we set out from Clare for lunch at the George in Cavendish, Suffolk on Saturday. We decided to pass the pub and look for a garage. The garage we found was shut, and the car gave up the ghost in their forecourt. So instead of a nice afternoon having lunch, swatching, etc, we spent the afternoon waiting for various men to come along and shake their heads in despair as the sight of my engine. We then sadly waved the car off as it went back to London & we got a taxi back to Clare, where I cheered myself up with a real fire, sparkling wine & Strictly Come Dancing. Did the entire length of the Central line from Epping to Ealing Broadway today, as this seemed to be by far the cheapest option for getting home from Clare without a car.

On the plus side, whilst on the tube I finished some socks for David from yarn I dyed myself in Turmeric and Paprika - Spicy Socks - and I also managed to take some pics in the field opposite the house in Clare of the now-finished Black Beacon hat.

Inspiration from the banks of the Danube

I've just got back from a weekend in Budapest, which is a beautiful, civilized and seemingly safe & clean city, bestriding the Danube with gorgeous fairy-tale spired buildings, interspersed by the odd outrageously ugly 1980s hotel. A little strange, but fully of colourful inspiration for the knitter.

For instance, the Basilika of St. Stephen has a slightly macabre chapel of the saint's thousand year old right hand, decorated by the most splendid Art Nouveau stained glass windows, showing Hungary's most important saints in glittering colour:

Imagine this as a Kaffe Fassett throw...

And of course when I saw the roof of St. Matthias, I cooed, "Look, a Fair Isle church!"

 

I knitted on the plane on the way out, as I am now fairly confident I can get my Brittany birch sock needles through Heathrow security, but banished them to the hold on the way back.

 

If only international airports could get themselves together to have a coherent published policy on needles...

Beacon in progress

Thought this would be a quick knit but got quite a long way through my first go only to realise it was too big (even on my enormous bonce) and that the way I'd done the knit/purl stripes just didn't work. So I'm back on try 2 which seems a more civilized size but I'm still not 100% happy with the clapboard effect. On the plus side I think I have worked out how to do the planned matching scarf.

Have also got to do swatches for the next Knit Now subs call - and finally finish the Fyberspates jumper I am knitting myself as I keep wanting to wear it then realising I haven't finished it yet...

Sample is in the post!

Posted my finished sample off to Knit Now today - took some photos before I send it but I need to keep this wrap under wraps for now. Don't know what the world will make of it, but I think I would want to knit it if I saw it in a magazine and you can't say fairer than that can you?

I think a short simple pattern next - so it'll be the Black Beacon men's beanie with Orford Ness Hebridean wool from Cafe Knit. Better do a tension square I suppose.

Was at Foxy's Craft Market at the Fox pub in Hanwell today, mooching around for a bit while I helped out on our allotment stand (the wonderful Billet's Hart allotments in Hanwell that is), selling some of my preserves & spare veg to the unsuspecting populace. Pleased to say my Louisa Harding knitted dress was admired by the lady on the knitted goods stand!

Was a bit glam look maybe for the allotment stand (I was pulling courgettes in my frock and knee-length boots) but we were going straight out to La Trompette for lunch so needs must...

Suffolk thoughts from London

I've been demon knitting in every spare moment for my Knit Now commission, only pausing to think about ideas for new patterns & submissions for their next subs call (oh, and to turn up at court & do the odd trial). It is looking quite good I have to say. The yarn I'm using is Rico Essentials Soft Merino Aran, which really is very soft and drapey and warm. But I will not be able to wear it myself for months!! I'm still getting over the disaster of managing to lose my hand-dyed Caleta Tortuga on the way to an otherwise brilliant day at the Paralympics.

If you see this shawl in the Hanwell/Brentford area, please let me know.... (weeps quietly).

I'm also feeling a little annoyed, as I sent a sub off to another knitting mag over a month ago which I was intending to self publish if they turned it down but they haven't yet let me know either way, despite reminders. It's quite a topical Olympic theme so I would have liked to get it out this month if it's not going to be commissioned.

Anyway, finally went to the lovely Cafe Knit in Lavenham in Suffolk last month. They stock yarn from the Hebridean sheep flock on the National Trust's property at Orford Ness (a shingle spit of special scientfic interest, with old WW2 buildings, unexploded ordance etc) which I had to buy as that is where, over 9 years ago now, my husband proposed to me. I'm going to design an Orford Ness themed hat & scarf set with it; found myself on their website today & was very excited to see they have some new woad-dyed Lavenham Blue yarn. So I'm thinking a shawl or scarf with a cottage garden and timber framed roof - I've ordered a skein of it in 2 ply to see how I get on.

I've also been looking at lots of classic British glass and studio pottery.

I had a preserve making weekend last weekend - including bread & butter pickles, cider apple butter, raspberry jam with liqueur, blackberry & apple cheese, rhubarb relish, marrow & ginger jam, blackberry & apple jelly with creme de mure, allotment chutney with ale, raspberry, apple & geranium jelly, and a bit of blackberry ribena

There will be a selection on sale at the Billet's Hart allotment stand (along with other allotment produce) on Saturday 29th Sep at the Fox pub craft market in Hanwell.

Caleta Tortuga now available

Finally, my mangrove shawl pattern is done and up on Ravelry, for sale with 50p from each sale going to the Galapagos Conservation Trust. A lovely break in a Landmark Trust property in County Durham (living in an 18th century folly with no TV) gave me the chance to put the finishing touches to it, and take some photos:

It's name Caleta Tortuga, which means Turtle Cove, after the bay on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos (it's actually Caleta Tortuga Negra, but quite clearly it's not black). Actually, the shape of the finished shawl is more like another resident of the bay, the rays.

Commission to Land

I've just been reading the Darkness article in this month's Q (hilarious if you like tales of rockstar excess, and Lowestoft), hence the awful blog post title.

But I am really pleased and excited - I've had my 2nd magazine commission! After all the trauma of the last one , it's great to have another one accepted. This time the magazine in question is Knit Now, a lovely magazine which launched last year and focuses on accessories and smaller projects. I won't give any details of what it will be yet - it's for issue 18, which won't be out until Jan/Feb.

I wasn't convinced that the yarn I knitted the swatch in was the right yarn for the project, so I also have an excuse to head out to some yarn shops to see if I can find the right one. The yarn I did the swatch in was Louisa Harding Grace, which is a fabulous silk/merino blend, but I think the final fabric needs to be a bit less firm - a bit drapier, in other words. Maybe some bamboo, cashmere or alpaca content would achieve this. It also needs to come in a dark terracotta or brick red.

A brief hiatus between Olympics, cricket and paralympics...

Means that the mangrove pattern shawl is finished and blocking; the pattern should be available sometime next week. It's a lot simpler than my original concept (which involved trying to knit mangrove flowers, which proved impossible to reproduce) but I've created a slightly frilled edge using yarnovers which makes it quite pretty despite the simplicity, I think.

Designing + Olympics = no designing...

While the Olympics is providing continual inspiration in every way possible it is just TOO EXCITING to make it possible to concentrate on designing anything...

My Mangrove Forest Shawl and Tobago cross over top have both reached the "complicated bit"... which I'm afraid means they've been sidelined while I automaton-like knit in-the-round stocking stitch on the body of the lovely Challow from wonderful Fyberspates.

Once the closing ceremony's over hopefully both patterns will accelerate towards completion!

Am off to the Dressage tomorrow - so exciting - team GB currently winning both team and individual and looking to build on the fantastic success in the showjumping today. Don't want to risk bringing my knitting - even the baby birch DPNs that don't cause trouble on the plane - partly due to security and partly due to the fact that I'll be finishing the day at Olympia for the Great British Beer festival.  And I was at the Athletics on Saturday morning, which involved far too much screaming & flag-waving even for stocking stitch.

Two days at Lord's next week should be a more productive sport & knitting combo!

A good day to be British...

Wasn't the Olympic opening ceremony fantastic? It even tops my previous favourite-ever Olympic ceremony (Sydney closing - prawns on bikes & every classic Aussie cliche you can imagine). As a knitter it was obviously good to see great British sheep involved.

I've recently joined Pinterest and have set up a Pattern Inspiration board for anything that my brain thinks might one day make a knitting pattern - lots of Olympic related ideas sloshing around. Feeling rather ahead of the new British cycling-obsessed curve after having started my pattern designing career with Pendleton and Cavendish. But what to do with Bradley Wiggins? Surely the man deserves celebrating with a knitting pattern.

Have sold a few patterns for Bartolome, earning the Galapagos Conservation Trust a grand total of £2.50 so far. I'll keep this blog updated with any more money I manage to raise. The second Queen of Cups pattern is advancing quite well & I think I will also put that up for sale rather than free download, and am considering appropriate charities to get a proportion of Queen of Cups proceeds.

Galapagos knits

We went on holiday to the Galapagos earlier this year, and as well as having a wonderful holiday I came back with lots of ideas for knitting patterns based on the animals and natural phenomena we saw.

I was inspired to start writing some of these up when I got the idea to sell the patterns and give a proportion of the sale costs  to the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

One of the most amazing places we saw was the island of Santiago where there is a huge expanse of swirling lava fields - like this:

So, I've been working out how to get something of a similar effect with knitting, perhaps using short row shaping. The first result of this is the Bartolome cowl, which isn't quite the full thing but uses the basic short row shaping technique to make swirly shapes. The next step will be to combine with a more textured knitting design to get a little closer to the lava.

I'm also looking at a mangrove shawl and of course some tortoise themed knits!

The cowl is available for £1 on Ravelry. 50p from each sale goes to the Galapagos Conservation Trust (and 24p to Paypal less charitably). I'm quite excited to have made my massive 4 sales so far, which is £2 for the Galapagos and £1.04 for me...

The Knitter's Curse...

I love a retro comedy song, and here's one about knitting!!!

The Knitter's Curse by The Savoy Ballroom

Well... as the Scissor Sisters would say... Ta-Daa!!

It seems I am finally a published author of a real knitting pattern in a real magazine ON PAPER and in WH Smiths and everything!!!! (I am too old to regard web publishing as real publishing.. with the greatest of respect to all the proper bloggers out there).

My Cecily Mitts are in Yarnwise issue 50. This is the magazine previously known as Knit and before that as Yarn Forward. It's been a bit of a saga as the magazine went into liquidation about 2 weeks after I sent in my pattern - I had some notion that this might be on the cards by then but had agreed the contract, and got terribly excited, before I realised how seriously wrong things were. So my parade has been well and truly rained on in this respect up until now.

However, the mag has now been bought by new publishers, totally unrelated to the old ones, and there's a great new team in place (well, the editor actually used to edit it a while ago, before the last owners got into "serious difficulty".... google rock and purl if you want the whole story...)

These are they. I haven't actually seen the mag yet but there should be proper lovely professional photography instead of my photo of my own moley arm...

You can see my pattern and all the other patterns in the new issue on Ravelry

There will also be a full update very soon on my "Queen of Cups" bra size pattern range... first pattern is now available & I'm in the planning stages for the second.

Fame at last!!!

Very exciting day yesterday - was on Graham Norton's Radio 2 show on the Tune with a Tale slot, discussing various aspects of barristering, and my Tune with a Tale choice, Up the Junction by Squeeze. Didn't get round to knitting...

It's at about 2.13http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01jxsfh

Billets Hart Allotment success

While I'm at it.. spent Saturday at lovely Hanwell Carnival, taking part in the parade with my allotment association & selling stuff on their stand for the rest of the day (including some of my jams & chuteys).

We won first prize in the carnival parade! And got our local MP Steve Pound to wear a carrot on his head...

I was also selling my Barbara welly toppers - you can find the pattern on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/barbara-welly-toppers---warmers

Curvy top update

Well, I've finished the first "bra sized knit" design & it's proving quite popular on Ravelry - 52 queues and counting!
You can find it at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/montserrat

 

I've called it Montserrat - which is due to having gone to Barcelona for the weekend in the middle of designing it. I was going to call it Barcelona but decided there were too many Barcelonas on Ravelry - so picked the name of a curvy lady associated with the city...

What it will probably lead to is a Caribbean theme for these patterns.

Also, have finally heard from the new editors of Yarnwise & it looks like my gloves pattern WILL be printed - hurrah - more soon.

Finally, I think I will be on the Graham Norton radio show this Saturday 23rd - talking about Up the Junction for the Tune with a Tale slot... just hope I won't be boring!

Back in the photography business

Well, not the business, but able to photograph properly again!

I've finished the sample for my first "bra-sized" design, now named "Montserrat" (I'm planning a Caribbean theme for these patterns), and realised that unless I found the charger for my camera battery, which has been missing for several months, I might have a bit of trouble photographing it properly. So, the criminal justice system having decided it could live without my attendance today, I have been, as A-ha said, hunting high and low. Low turned out to be the right answer, as I found it under the bed, right in the middle. Have got absolutely no idea how it got there. So, should be some news on Montserrat very soon as once it's charged I can do the photos and finish the pattern. And I have no excuse now not to do the proper (non-knitting, professional) work I was intending to do today. Somehow, I am still managing to put that off though...

Not been doing too well with this blog, have I???

Recovered from my virus(vestibulitis, it turned out), went to Ecuador, went back to work... And didn't do much more blogging.

But! I am resolved to start again. My excitement at having a pattern accepted by a magazine went as flat as a dead pint on the last day of a beer festival in the height of summer, thanks to the great All Craft Media debacle, which has been amply covered on Ravelry and in numerous crafting blogs. However it seems that Knit magazine as was is rising from the ACM ashes like a glorious phoenix, now to be named Yarnwise, and fingers crossed my mitts pattern will be retained by the new editor and in the first issue. We shall see.

In the meantime, I've now published several free patterns on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/designers/miranda-jollie

Including some lovely grape/wine themed gloves in cosy Artesano Alpaca.

I have too many knitting projects on the go, both other people's designs and my own. Have discovered that I can easily get my bamboo sock needles through security at court, so am often to be found sitting around in my barrister's robes sock knitting.

I am planning a technique for designing garments that are sized in both back sizes and cup sizes. More to come on that...

Cavendish "cycling" gloves

My husband David, aka my male knitting model, has gone off to the Far East without waiting for his gloves...

Hence they are being modelled as "pint-holding" gloves instead.

If you're interested, it's Twickenham Sundancer, kept rather nicely at the Forester in West Ealing.

Sharp eyed readers will also note I had only finished one glove at this stage...

Developments...

So, been a little while since I posted. The bad news is I am still off work. The good news is, I have been designing! There are now two scarf designs, for a man and a woman, in a lace pattern inspired by asparagus. Now I have to be honest. I didn't intend it to be asparagus. I started trying to do a hyacinth. I got something that looked pretty. Maybe a protea? Then I looked from a distance. It was quite clearly asparagus. Like Lord Percy in Blackadder when he invented Green, I was not discouraged. Asparagus is good stuff. So Asparagus Lace Scarf (women) and Sparrow Grass (men) were born. Also, there is a men's cycling gloves pattern - Cavendish - due to go up soon, maybe later today. The design of which has been a useful process, if only because I have found all the mistakes in Pendleton! For which a new pattern has already been added. Potentially even more exciting - I've had a design idea accepted by a knitting magazine. Watch this space... All my designs on Ravelry. Trying work again tomorrow - so will see how I get on.

Pendleton picture (this was while still a work in progress)

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Designing is highly recommended...

Do you know, I'm really enjoying this being a knitwear designer malarkey. It's so exciting to see that people are downloading your pattern! Pendleton now has 23 "faves" on Ravelry and over 50 downloads, though no-one seems to have cast on yet. I spent the weekend trying to design a knitted hyacinth and came up with... asparagus. So it looks like the next project will be my Sparrow Grass scarf, for men & women - watch this space. I'm going to try and find a celebrity chef to model it for me...

I'm a bit fed up, this has just randomly deleted my last 2 posts and I can't find a way to retrieve them... They were hilarious as well, never mind, you'll just have to live without.... Here's the link for my gloves: download now

I phone cover design takes over

This has now overtaken the glove pattern as my first design on Ravelry. It's very basic but a really good first pattern to try Judy's Magic Cast On!

Birthday stash! (part)

By the way, I did manage to get a new needle. And not only finish my scarf but one for my husband too!

RSI and glove designing...

Still sat here on the sofa, been doing so much knitting I now have a very achey arm. So I've been varying the knitting, from straights/DPNs/circs and even (shock horror for me) A SPOT OF CROCHET!!!! Thanks to my parents visit at the weekend and some early birthday presents (well, it would have been rude not to open them when they were around to thank in person). These included a Cath Kidston "crochet box" tin with the equipment to make a granny square cushion. And also a Cath Kidston knitting bag, a Knit Real Shetland book, and a Jamieson & Smith Sheep Heid tam kit. And some chocolate. What high-quality parenting! I've also been varying it with a bit of typing, not just of this blog but also typing up the first part of my first ever original knitting design. This is a pattern for cycling gloves (fingerless mittens I suppose technically), which I've named Pendleton. They've got mock rib backs and moss stitch palms. I've knitted up & typed the left mitt, now deciding how to write the right mitt pattern. Sadly I think I can't chicken out & just write "reverse shaping"... I'll leave it a couple of days before I do the second one, that way I can see how much of my own pattern still makes sense when I try to do no 2. Looks like I might just squeeze both gloves out of one 50gm ball... Ravelry page for Pendleton

Greetings, world....

Well, here I am sitting on the sofa with some weird inner ear thingy that means I can't walk straight. Honest. It's nt the booze. So (day 5 of sitting on sofa) thought it might be he moment to start blogging. More to give myself something to do than because I think anyone might be interested but still, there may be someone out there as bored as me. As you might be able to guess from the title, the theme is knitting. And Hanwell (West London's finest semi-rural suburb). With excursions into preserve making, cooking, rants about people being rude on public transport, animals and various kinds of stuff. Hopefully not too much on my inner ear, as I hope that will be better soon... As far as the knitting goes, not surprisingly I've found myself doing quite a lot in the last few days. I'm meant to be doing a jumper for my husband (David) but the end fell off my needle, so that's on hold until I can walk in a straight line far enough to get to West Ealing and buy a new needle end. So I'm doing a nice quick lacy Louisa Harding scarf for me until that glorious day. I'm working on a design, for cotton cycling gloves, which I'm starting again on as I decided the first version was too big. If it works, I'll publish it on Ravelry. You can find me on Ravelry as hanwellknitter, by the way.