African adventures knitted up...

Well I'm so happy that today I have finalised all of those African patterns and published my very first e-book, Waters of Africa.

I've been getting the patterns tested through the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry & can recommend it. They've had lots of good ideas & picked up mistakes! I'm now using the group to test all of my currently available paid-for patterns (& more mistakes are emerging...) so I am thoroughly converted to pattern testing. It's also nice to have my testers being generally very complimentary about the patterns...

Anyway, back to the patterns. The book probably started life as a concept with the Luangwa Valley Water Carrier. Walking is always a big part of any Zambian safari (and this year's was our 5th trip to Zambia & the Luangwa Valley), and I wanted to knit something to carry my water bottle in, that would spread the weight over both shoulders, as I've been suffering a bit from back & shoulder problems.

As you can see, walking in Zambia gets you pretty close to the wildlife:

I went for African bush colours and got the design from one of the few man-made things you regularly come across in the Zambian bush, a basketweave fish trap:

And after some fiddling around with eyelets & I cord, was very happy with the result, which got used in Zambia and has since been to Wimbledon, Lord's etc. It also looks like a squid when empty, always a bonus.

So, that got me thinking. If I could knit one bit of Africa, how about others? I already had a skein of the most spectacular multicoloured Indian silk yarn which I didn't know what to do with. It looked like tropical fish, swimming in the shallows. I also had some lovely beads I'd picked up at Unravel, with no real purpose. And that put me onto the next part of our trip, Lake Malawi and its colourful cichlids. I designed a very plain scarf, with picot beads all around, to represent the fishes:

Lake Malawi is called the Lake of Stars, because at night the fishermen go out in tiny boats, each with a light, and it looks as if the lake is studded with golden stars. (I also associated it with stars, because Pumulani Lodge, where we stay, has an enormous telescope which you can use.) More beads - and more gorgeous yarn. The Lake of Stars stole has a beaded picot cast on and wavy eyelet edging, for the lake, with beads around the edge for the villages. Then in the middle are scattered little boat-shaped eyelet patterns, each with its corresponding bead/star.

 

 

The photo illustrates the ideal blocking process - soak in the crystal clear waters of Lake Malawi, and leave to dry on a rock...

 

Some of my test knitters came up with some particularly inspired combinations of beads and yarn - I am really looking forward to seeing how this pattern develops!

 

The last pattern was inspired by probably the most famous bit of water in the area - the Victoria Falls, on the border between Zambia & Zimbabwe, known far more poetically to the locals as Mosi-oa-Tunya. the Smoke that Thunders. It's so important to Zambia they even named their beer after it:

 

 

 

Knitting a waterfall is quite a common thing for knitters - I've seen lots of waterfall shrugs and the like - but I wanted to create the impression of the changing water down the falls - so the top of the Mosi-oa-Tunya cowl is a pointed edge and the decreases flatten out to the froth of the gorge. Like the Lake of Stars stole, it's knitted in a bluey-green shade of Sparkleduck Galaxy, which is a sparkly sock yarn and was just perfect for these projects (in fact, I'm to be found raving about it in issue 24 of Knit Now magazine, so much did I love it).

 

 

 

 





One of my testers did one in a self-striping yarn which was also pretty effective.

So there we have it. The pricing was a bit tricky - but in the end I decided to price each pattern the same, and with the same amount (50p) going to charity - and the e-book works out as cheaper than 3 patterns, with the same amount (50p per pattern or £2 for the whole book) going to charity. I'd really like to get enough to sponsor a child through Project Luangwa - this is an educational charity which was set up by Robin Pope Safaris, the company whose lodges we stayed at on our last trip.

County Championship

Even a brief glance at my knitting patterns will tell you that Britain is a major source of inspiration for me! Albeit I will be getting rather more exotic at the end of this month when all my African patterns should be being released. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that there are a lot of Suffolk patterns, since I spend a lot of time there and, as the location of both proposal and (first) honeymoon, it has a special place in my heart (second honeymoon was Zambia with, I hasten to add, same husband). Yorkshire also features, understandably since I am Bradford-born and proud of it (aye, lad, God's own county, my mother & a stick of rhubarb, etc etc). This month a rather more left-field (for me) county is providing the inspiration, Somerset, with the publication of my Glastonbury Tor hat in Knit Now.

I had seen Glastonbury Tor some years ago when I went to Somerset for my friend Sarah's wedding. I was bridesmaid, so came down a couple of days earlier than my boyfriend (now husband; see above) and was a very new driver who had managed to purloin a pool car from work. The fear and excitement of the freedom of the road (read: being tailgated by furious lorry drivers on country lanes) stays with me. I spent my spare day visiting two places I really wanted to see - Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral. I am a sucker for a good cathedral, and Wells is one of the best. I was also rather geekily excited about Glastonbury Abbey due to my background as a dark-age history student (i.e. I studied the dark ages, not in the dark ages, although modern students who wonder how we managed without mobile phones or email probably think it was). Glastonbury was the home of St. Dunstan, one of my favourite saints (if you study the dark ages, you spend quite a lot of time on saints; technically Dunstan's prob a bit past dark ages). He's one of those people who you read about in the various sources and feels like a real person, even though over a thousand years has passed.

At the time, I wasn't really knitting, so the pattern potential of these two places didn't strike home; but it was thrust upon me (not literally) watching last year's Olympic opening ceremony. Whether it was the juxtaposition of Danny Boyle's vision of Glastonbury Tor with sheep that did it, I don't know, but immediately I was thinking was what a fantastic hat it would make.

 

I spent some months experimenting; and then I saw the Designer Challenge for issue 24 of Knit Now and there before me was the perfect yarn for the job. Erika Knight's Vintage Wool has the squishy texture of a slightly mossy lawn and, nearly as importantly, it's proudly British.

Beautifully photographed as always in Knit Now:

(c) Practical Publishing

And I haven't forgotten Wells Cathedral...

Post Samples, Post Wimbledon...

I've been actually literally too busy to blog for the last 2 weeks! Partly this has been due to actual work. Partly this has been due to Wimbledon (normally would be able to combine blogging & Wimbledon, but my physio has banned me from using my laptop on my lap - hence no blogging in front of TV). Mostly it's been due to 2 knitting-design-related matters - firstly, getting all my patterns tested for Waters of Africa using the Free Pattern Testers group which is brilliant but takes up a little time, and secondly knitting lots of lovely accessory samples for a lovely yarn company in a lovely yarn. More will follow on that...

It's also now preserving season, hence that was just a break to decant redcurrant jelly. I inherited an extra bit of allotment last year and it looks like there may be a LOT of redcurrant jelly - this is only a portion of the fruit on the bushes:

 

 

All of which means I haven't yet blogged about issue 23 of Knit Now magazine, which features lots of picnic-related patterns (finally we have the weather to picnic) including my Aldeburgh tee. It would be nice to say that this was due to a carefully-thought out concept, but actually I found a swatch I had no recollection of knitting in my swatch bag. I thought, "That's pretty!" and reknitted it to make sure I could work out how I'd done it, and sent it off as an idea. Obviously Kate at Knit Now thought the same, and here we have a gorgeous summery top, bee-you-ti-fully photographed:

 

(c) Practical Publishing 2013

There is also a rather more close up pic in the magazine itself, which makes me a bit nervous, as it means my seaming is on display to the world at large :-(.

Very pleased to be celebrating another charming corner of Suffolk with this pattern's title.



Sore feet & free pattern review

Slightly random blog - firstly the good news that Alex has done her walk, albeit she didn't quite make the end due to her feet looking like this:

Which is excusable. She has already signed up for next year, so Bob's Beanie will continue to be on sale to fund next year's trek...

Rather foolishly, I'm considering joining her. However before I do anything rash I'm seeing the podiatrist on Saturday (I have "foot issues") to see if this is simply crazy or actually suicidal.

I've also been reviewing some of my free pattern offerings. Basically when I started designing I was just doing it for fun and hadn't imagined a point where I would be having patterns published or be worrying about free patterns affecting my "brand". However it's now got to the point where I don't think having interesting but untested patterns out there is a good idea, and I've also been reading some interesting views from other designers about pattern pricing, so what's going to happen is this:

I will get all of my paid patterns (both existing & patterns moving from free to paid) tested. I've been using the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry to test patterns for the new e-book & so far have been pretty pleased with it, albeit I know some users have had problems with the strict group rules - haven't violated any yet! So as soon as the current tests start coming to an end I'll be getting my existing paid patterns tested.

I've already decided to withdraw Monserrat from free download at the end of June & will be considering whether the various problems with this pattern are solvable.

On 30th July (Not 31st as this is my wedding anniversary, so I may have to do something other than faff about on Ravelry!) I'll withdraw Asparagus Lace Scarf, Black Beacon Hat, Black Beacon Scarf, Cavendish, Pendleton and Sparrow Grass as free downloads. These will all be revised if appropriate & tested then re-released as paid patterns.

Bantam's Beanie, Barbara, Beaujolais, Dorothy bag, Pandora and Radcliffe Camera Bag will remain as free downloads.

So, if you would like to knit any of these & are happy to knit from an untested pattern, make sure you download it by the deadline - or alternatively, keep checking Free Pattern Testers on Rav & sign up to test!

African adventures...

I am now having a bit of a readjustment to normal life, London, technology etc, after a wonderful 2 weeks in Zambia & Malawi. I am a self-confessed safari addict & we are now finding ourselves going to more and more obscure destinations in search of somewhere properly remote. We certainly found it this time, at Liuwa Plain National Park, where the 6 guests (including us) at our lodge were the only tourists in the entire National Park. To give you an idea, you fly to Lusaka, Zambia; then take a small plane 2 hours to Kalabo, Zambia; then you drive through the bush for another couple of hours to get to where you're staying.

This is Kalabo airstrip. There are a group of dedicated local kids who turn up to watch their 4 flights a week, about 2 months a year! The park is not accessible by road during much of the wet season and the only realistic way to visit during the dry season is to do what we did and go with Robin Pope safaris who organise a few trips each year, basically building a tented lodge on a site which otherwise isn't used and taking it down again.

Had some fantastic wildlife sightings, including 3 cheetah sisters (cheetah are really rare in Zambia) taking down a wildebeest and fighting the hyenas off; hyenas also seemed rather keen to join us for sundowners:

 



Our guide Kanga assured us this was nothing to worry about & he was right. Fortunately they were just curious and can be almost cute!

I'll probably be blogging a bit more about this trip - we also went to South Luangwa National Park (an old favourite) and spent a few days on Lake Malawi, all in the excellent Robin Pope Safaris lodges - as I used it as an opportunity to take some photos for a teeny new accessory collection I am putting together, called Waters of Africa, with 4 patterns inspired by the lakes & rivers of Zambia & Malawi. I am getting the patterns tested through the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry before publication so it will prob be out sometime in August - there's a cowl, a scarf, a stole & a rather funky water bottle carrier. The latter was road-tested in South Luangwa & proved very useful! I'm also going to use the ebook as a bit of a charity fundraiser - the current plan is to see if I can raise enough to help a child from the Luangwa Valley attend school for a year.

That's for the future - for now, my good friend Alex, who has been mentioned in this blog before, will be doing her amazing 100k walk from London to Brighton on 22-23rd June, raising money for the British Heart Foundation. I'm supporting her by giving profits from sales of 3 of my patterns to the cause up until the end of June - they're Talboys Wrap, Cecily Mitts, and of course the specially-designed Bob's Beanie. The team have also put together a book of heart-healthy family recipes to support their walk - Bob's Bites. Keep your fingers crossed for good walking weather...

Random football, cricket & Eurovision thoughts.

I've been spending the last month or so thinking and designing rather than blogging - I've had an idea for a really exciting project (well, exciting for me) when sufficient inspiration suddenly struck for a 4 pattern e-book, so I've been frantically knitting samples for that while I still have the muse upon me!

I've also reached the point where rights from pattern sales have started to revert to me, and have released 2 patterns previously published in magazines for sale: Talboys Wrap and Cecily Mitts. As Alex is now nearing her100km walk for Team Bob in aid of the British Heart Foundation, 50p from each sale of both these patterns will be going towards her walk.

In the meantime, glad news this weekend was Bradford City's playoff win and promotion to League One. I didn't go to the match as we already had tickets for England v New Zealand at Lord's. "Luckily" Lord's was utterly freezing, so I was able to wear my Bantam's Beanie while desperately trying to get enough signal on my phone to find out the score. The lovely Yorkshire yarn shop Baa Ram Ewe have also just created a "Bantam" colourway for their Titus yarn, inspired by Bradford's rather distinctive strip, so I was able to celebrate with a purchase - should be arriving soon! More immediately, what better way to celebrate than a few glasses of vino and the Eurovision Song Contest. I thought Romania (my description: cross between Peter Andre and Cruella de Vil; described by England cricketer Graeme Swann on Twitter as a "eunuch vampire") and Greece (football referees in skirts pretending to be Madness with their grandad, singing "Alcohol is Free") were cruelly robbed. Although I am fairly sure the Greek entry only got through due to a Father Ted/My Lovely Horse-type decision based on lack of funds to ever host it again.

And, seriously, is there some international bribery scandal brewing as regards Azerbaijan? Votes from the most unlikely places for a deeply peculiar performance.

The dark secrets of pattern inspiration

When you're coming up with ideas for patterns - and pitching them to potential publishers - you like to pretend to yourself that it's all very arty. Nature... architecture... sculpture... literature.

But on this occasion I have to come clean and admit it. The real inspiration for my Whitefriars vase cover pattern, out in issue 20 (the  rather fab '60s issue!) of Knit Now is... daytime TV. Yes, this knitting pattern was inspired fairly and squarely by Flog It!

I haven't just seen Whitefriars vases on Flog It. I have seen them in real life. I even bought one for my mum last year. And I have been going to auctions since I was a kid. But would I ever have paid sufficient attention to think of the pattern if I hadn't seen them regularly being auctioned off by Paul Martin & co...? I have to admit, probably not.

Having 'fessed up about my daytime viewing habit, I will add I'm quite proud of this pattern. They're very quick and simple to knit and really do look very good.

The stitch patterns were inspired by two  '60s Whitefriars designs. The vase at the front is the Dimple pattern and the two at the back Nailhead. The Nailhead pattern is the classic Whitefriars look - textured, tactile glass in striking colours.

You could also use them as tea light holders but be very careful if you are using the recommended yarn as cotton is flammable!

You can find out more about Whitefriars glass at http://www.whitefriars.com/