Sabbatical Part 2: The booking, packing and patterns

And so, to the most selfish part of my sabbatical. A whole week dedicated to myself and something I really wanted to do. When I first started thinking about what this might be I had Shetland in mind as I have longed to go to the Shetland Wool Week festival for the last few years. However, the timing of my sabbatical didn't work out with the festival dates and Shetland in November seemed like a pretty wet and windy option. I decided that going on an organised knitting tour would be best for me, mostly so that I didn't have to think too hard about what to do each day, but also so that I could meet other likeminded people. I really am a social person and don't much like spending long periods of time on my own - especially in a foreign country. After a bit of searching the most perfect trip came up: The Icelandic Knitter's Knitting on Ice. I took the plunge and booked it.

Planning for the trip was stressful for me. I'd never been anywhere like Iceland before and couldn't quite get my head around what I was supposed to wear each day to keep the weather out. The advice that 'there is no bad weather, only bad clothing' kept springing to mind. I didn't own any hiking clothing or equipment, but thankfully friends let me borrow key things like a super-warm coat and hiking boots, and then Sports Direct had everything else I needed to buy like a sleeping bag, waterproof trousers, base layers, hiking socks, etc., at a pretty reasonable price. Packing was then another nightmare with so many bulky warm items to fit into one bag. So I ended up borrowing a proper traveller's rucksack from my brother. Lugging that thing through London I felt like I was going on a real adventure.

For the trip I had knitted two jumpers and a hat. The first jumper was the Swirled Pentagon Pullover by Norah Gaughan. I found this in a book I bought for my Mum years ago. She has knit lots of projects from it but I always thought they weren't for me. But this one looked like just the kind of warm and cosy knit I needed in Iceland, especially with its thick roll neck. My first attempt at knitting it was a true disaster. The thing came out HUGE and looked a really strange shape. With a bit of help from my knit gurus I settled on knitting the small size, going down a needle size for the main part of the jumper and down another needle size for the pentagons. Once I had sewn it up I realised that I much preferred it without the roll neck and that I would probably wear it more after the trip, so omitted it. I really like the pentagon neckline construction and the colour of the yarn has received many compliments. If I were to knit it again I would add a lot more waist shaping and try to adapt it to be made in the round for ease of knitting.

The second jumper was a total panic knit. When the Swirled Pentagon Pullover was going so terribly wrong I completely lost my nerve and bought the pattern for Owls by Kate Davis and some New Lanark Chunky yarn to knit it with. My theory here was that if the first jumper wasn't ready in time this thick-and-quick knit would be. And I was right, it only took a few weeks to finish and both the yarn and pattern are absolute superstars. It fits me like a dream, it is warm in that temperature regulating way that wool is and it still looks great after many, many wears. This is unlike the previously mentioned Swirled Pentagon Pullover that was knit in Mondial Bio Lana which, although is much softer than the New Lanark, has pilled terribly and the jumper is looking very worn after only a month or two of wear.

The hat I made was a very last minute knit but has been the item that I have been most complimented on whilst wearing. The pattern is Cable Hat by Dora Stephensen which is a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn is Third Vault Yarns Gytha Worsted in the colour way Bulbasaur. This was a gift from my friend Wendy at Yarnsub who saw the colour and thought of me. I seriously love the deep green shininess of it. To top it off I chose a Rico Faux Fur Pom Pom in a coral colour to really stand out. I also thought that this colour would be nice and visible should I fall down a crevasse on a mountain or glacier.

As you can see from my photos above I had THE BEST TIME. More on that in Part 3.

Sabbatical Part 1: The Magic

I am so fortunate to work for a company that values its employees and this year after five years of service I was able to take a month long sabbatical. This was such a great opportunity that I wanted to do it right. The majority of the people I work with don't have kids and so all of them instantly suggested I go traveling for a month to South America! Japan! Thailand! But I knew that I wouldn't feel right leaving the Mr. and Flo for a full month and so I planned as best I could to make the most of it, incorporating spending time with my family and myself.

As there is so much to tell you about during the whole month of adventures I had, I thought I'd break it down into its different parts so that it doesn't become a monster to read. Here's a very magical part one.

I began my sabbatical during the UK October school half term and decided to do the trip that I had always wanted to do with Flo; Disneyland Paris. I had visited the park once before when the Mr. had taken me for my 18th Birthday. Yes, we have been together that long. And so this was also a slightly romantic walk down memory lane to return, but this time with our excited six year old in tow.

The best part was that we didn't tell Flo that we were going. So in the dead of night we woke her up and told her to get dressed as we were "going on an adventure". I was expecting her to kick up a fuss and demand to know where we were headed, but surprisingly she went along with it without any bother. When we arrived at the Eurotunnel she asked if we were going to France, as we'd driven there earlier this year. We confirmed that we were, she seemed happy with this as the destination and asked no further questions. It wasn't until we got past Paris and began to see the signs for the Park that the Mr. and I decided to let her know what was going on. I pointed out the sign and asked her to read it. I asked her if she'd like to go to Disneyland and she replied yes. When I told her that this was where we were indeed going and that we'd be staying there for a few days she screamed with joy! Check out my Instagram for the video.

Knitting-wise I cast on a new project in the dark on the drive to the Eurotunnel. I was surprised by how well this actually worked out. I was working on a Secret Santa gift so I won't give away the pattern just yet. All you need to know was that it was worked in SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock on 2.5mm needles. I thought this would make good car knitting and I got a large chunk of the project done on the drive to and from Paris. Once in the park I only managed to knit a few rows before bed and a few times in the queues for the character met and greets (man, they were long). But I was glad of having something productive to do rather than just standing there.

Needless to say we had a magical few days in the park and were truly exhausted at the end. The health app on my phone informed me that we did on average 18,000 steps each day. We met princesses, did all the rides, got character autographs, screamed, laughed, cried on occasion with either the overwhelming magic or the overwhelming tiredness and I loved every minute of it.  This was the perfect way to kick off the month; together with my family, doing something of pure childish pleasure and fun. The next instalment as you will see was a lot more personally indulgent!

A New York Min-knit

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to visit New York for my annual company training session. It's a busy few days of formal training with a few evenings of dinners and drinks together with the fun and intelligent people I have the pleasure of working with. On the last day I was lucky enough to have some time before my flight home to head to Brooklyn and track down the Brooklyn General Store. And, oh, how glad I was to have made it there.

The store was massive by UK standards with one side of the shop dedicated to yarn and the other to sewing. It was a peaceful space and despite the time pressure of a flight to think of I felt at ease browsing the packed shelves. However,  as the time pressure was in the back of my mind I didn't follow my usual tactic of considering my purchases carefully, checking Ravelry, looking for patterns to match the yarn or pondering over which skein I want more than another. This time I simply picked up a basket and starting piling up the yarns I really liked the look of. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't clearing the shelves directly into my basket; I was gauging which skein was talking to me, which ones I was really excited about and trying to find things that perhaps I'd never seen or heard of before.

I only had time for one pass down the yarn side of the shop and so once I got to the end I tipped out the basket onto the counter and took a quick stock check. To give you further context Brexit had just happened the night before which had saddened me to my very core. This yarn was very much being used to a plug a large hole in my national pride at that moment. It was my equivalent of eating a huge bar of chocolate after a break up. I emptied out my remaining dollars from my purse and bought the lot. In all honesty I don't feel a bit guilty about it. Seven types of yarn and a project bag acquired I headed back to the UK filled with yarny joy.

East London Yarn Triangle

Have you heard about the East London Yarn Triangle yet? 

Knit in Public day is coming up on Saturday 18th June and to celebrate it Fabrications, Wild and Woolly and Knit With Attitude have teamed up to bring you an East London yarn crawl, which just happens to be triangular. 

The idea is this; you assemble a group, preferably giving it a name like the Knitting Ninjas or Woolly Wanderers. Then show up together at any of the shops, grab a map which details walking and bus routes as well as some key Hackney knitting spots. Then knit as you travel between shops taking knitting in public selfies of you and your team on the way. Upload at least 3 snaps to Instagram with the hashtag #eastlondonyarntriangle and you get 10% off everything in any of the shops! What a perfect way of both spending and celebrating Knit in Public day.

When I was Knit With Attitude the other day they packaged up my purchases in one of their printed tote bags. When I got it home I realised I now had the full set of tote bags for the East London Yarn triangle - weird huh! Perhaps it's a sign that I need to assemble a team and get yarn crawling. Who's with me?

PS: Velma says "Hi".

Red or Blue - who will win?

Today I took a trip to Knit with Attitude in Stoke Newington with the sole purpose of buying some terribly unseasonal aran weight yarn for a new project I am keen to cast on. I'd done my research on suitable yarn options available in the store, I'd figured out my yardage and how many balls I'd need for my project. At this point I was a smug so-and-so.

The shop was lovely as ever; bight and airy with a lovely selection of yarn, books and tools. I grabbed the yarn I really wanted, but all of my planning didn't prepare me for the fact that they did not have the quantity I needed to complete my project. So, less smug, I went to my second choice and was informed that only two of the available colours had the number of balls I required in stock. Thankfully both colours would work fabulously. And so began the deliberating between the red and the blue.
"Blue really suits you" I said
"But red is super festive and you'll be wearing this in winter" was my reply.
"You have blue knits, remember that blue period you had? Go for Red it's different" but this was batted down with "You know you will definitely wear the blue, don't knit something in a colour you won't wear." 
But I was feeling bold and I decided that red was definitely the way to go.

Continuing in my smug vein I wanted to be sure that this yarn was going to work out with my gauge, so I bought one ball sat down in the shop and proceeded to start a gauge swatch. I was suddenly aware of the people working in the shop rummaging through yarn, pulling packs off of the stock room shelves and generally looking for something. As I measured my swatch and decided that yes, this yarn was just right for my project, they informed me that there was a mistake in their system there in fact was not enough of the red. Only the blue had enough balls for my project. So that sneaky blue won! Now I have sixteen balls of blue for my project and one random ball of red. So I guess that will be a baby hat then?

Yarn Shop Day 2016 - Wild and Woolly

Today was Yarn Shop Day, which is a chance to celebrate and support your local bricks and mortar yarn shops. I really believe that this is a truly worthy cause. Who wants to buy all of their yarn online without a chance to squish, sniff and gaze at it lovingly before deciding to take it home?
So, I made my way to Wild and Woolly in Lower Clapton to join in with their Purly Queens Pop up, which was basically a whole host of fabulous designers and dyers show casing their wares.  In attendance was Anna Maltz, Jane Lithgow and East London Knits Renee Callahan who all had samples of their designs to try on, which my Mum took full advantage of, as well as patterns to buy, kits, project pages and more. TravelKnitter and The Wool Kitchen were also both there with their gorgeous yarns for sale.

The shop was packed when we arrived, which isn't hard as it is a small space but it was lovely to see that so many people had turned out to browse, buy and simply sit and knit. As usual the knitting community welcomed everyone in and there was a lovely atmosphere in the shop, in fact people even began spilling out onto the pavement it was so busy.

Mum trying on the Seceles sample

After a while there was a quieter spell and Mum and I were able to sit down with a cuppa and a home made biscuit to review our possible purchases. In the end I came away with a skein of The Wool Kitchen 4ply in the Ground Control colourway.  This was from the David Bowie collection that Hannah had dyed up before Bowie had sadly passed away. Perhaps she had the inside knowledge on that one ;-) I also bought the pattern for Jane Lithgow's Broadlands Mitts which I just loved when I tried them on. Mum bought East London Knit's Klee Collection, the Seceles pattern and the yarn to knit it. Score all round.

It was a really fun afternoon filled with chatter and lots of squishing, sniffing and gazing at beautiful yarn and patterns.  I hope you had the chance to join in and visit your local yarn shop and if not, make sure you keep making those purchases in person rather than always online. Lets keep our yarn shops in business!

Plaristo of Rye

During our trip to Camber a few weeks ago we popped into nearby town Rye to enjoy Ye Olde feel of it all. Every local we spoke to engaged us in a lengthy friendly chat about the history of the place whether we had time to stop or not. And so we quickly learned that because of its close proximity to the Channel it was a prime spot for the French to invade, resulting in Rye being burned to the ground on several occasions. Educational and exciting! But it wasn't just the lovely locals, cobbled streets, castle and cannons I was looking for. As usual I was hoping to find some yarn and as usual I found it.

Plaristo of Rye isn't really a simple yarn shop, it's more of a fibre gallery with fluff in many forms. Weaving, spinning, knitting, crochet and some other non fibre-related arts are all catered for. The colour in the shop was enveloping. Everything was a bit special, a bit jazzy, a bit out there. I loved it. Of course I was mainly interested in the yarn and while Flo inspected the resident felted sheep with bestie Shan and the lovely shop owner, I had a look around.

Mr Sheep and his weaving

Fluff and stuff

A cool table top made of yarn, buttons and lights with glass on top.
Would love to steal this idea.

The lovely thing about the shop was that apart from some of the well known brands there was quite a lot of unlabelled skeins which I spent most of my time there squashing, sniffing and rubbing on my cheek - these are my three main methods of testing the quality of yarn don't-cha-know. The owners took time to tell me that these skeins are all delivered to the shop undyed and they dye them locally, which I thought was delightful and therefore had to buy some.

As I was choosing, this happened:

Flo picked up this skein of cotton and said she wanted me to buy it for her. Now, let's be clear. I'm not usually in the habit of letting her have things that she picks up off of any shelf and requests. It could lead to a very dark place. But this request totally melted me. Seeing her little face, while holding up this quite florescent yarn, asking me to buy it was a proud knitting-mummy moment! 

Flo's florescent request was quickly bought, along with the above multicoloured 4ply Baby Lamb Alpaca. It's going to knit up like a clown threw up on it, but I'm sure that will make it fun to make something with.

Purl Soho, aka Purl About New York

As promised I'm back to report on my trip to snowy New York and more specifically my visit to Purl Soho.

The last time I visited New York, I think in 2006, Purl Soho it was in a smaller premises and I bought some Bly Sky Alpaca's Brushed Suri. I still have that particular yarn in my stash because I could never decide what to do with such fluffiness. I simply wanted to bring something home from an exciting New York yarn store as a souvenir. On this latest visit they are now in a much bigger shop which includes fabric and yarn in the same store, but despite having a lot of yarn squirrelled away at home already I still wanted to bring back a little something from my trip.

When I entered the shop it was a busy hub of activity, which is always a great sign, especially considering it was 3pm on a Thursday. Were all these people skiving off work too? Instantly the sales assistants greeted me with a friendly "hello" and left me to browse.

Yarn packs the walls all the way to the back of the shop where it is replaced with fabrics and haberdashery. On every surface there are examples of knitted garments you can make with the luscious yarns, most of them are made from the free patterns on the shops very own blog, the Purl Bee. It was lovely to be able to squash and feel everything as I wandered around as well as get the inspiration from  the knitted up items.

The customer service was excellent. As I pulled my tiny wheeled suitcase around behind me one of the sales assistants asked if I wanted to put it behind the till so that I could browse more easily. This instantly made my shopping much more enjoyable. Then I asked if someone could show me some yarns that I might not be able to get in the UK and a lovely red head lady took me around the whole shop showing me all the different yarns they carried and telling me a little about each. When I mentioned that I was thinking about knitting a hat they printed out one of their free online hat patterns for me immediately. The service was so good, friendly, knowledgeable and thoughtful. I wish all yarn shops were like that.

Kiefer couldn't resist getting in this photo

Eventually I settled on this skein of deep green Brooklyn Tweed Loft, with an accompanying hat pattern and a Purl Soho zip up, nylon, project bag. I had never seen or heard of the yarn in the UK before but sadly I must have been living under a rock as you can indeed buy this yarn in the UK. The purchase is still special to me though as it will always remind me of my quick stop over in New York and my lovely experience in Purl Soho.

Bye Bye NY. Till next time.

Knit Weekend 2013 aka Shitknits

Last month I went away on a knitting weekend with some of the ladies from my awesome little knitting group. We all needed a weekend dedicated to 'me time', a bit of a get away from it all and above all lots of knitting. And that is what we got.

We stayed in a great little barn in Suffolk and ate, drank, knit and visited a couple of nice fabric and yarn shops to round it all off. We mainly knit though. Did I mention that there was a lot of knitting?

There were certain points where the drink and the knitting converged, which produced some disastrous knitting issues and the catch phrase of the weekend 'Shitknits!' This was exclaimed each time someone messed up their pattern, dropped a stitch or generally did something wrong/ stupid/ drunk with their knitting. There were a lot of Shitknits moments over the weekend.

Although we were all busy stitching we did manage to get out and about too. We went to Fabric Rehab which just so happened to have a sale going on. As you can see there was a bit of a fabric frenzy among us, with Nicola, wearing purple above, who was simply a blur of fabric hunting. This has nothing to do with my poor photography skills I assure you.

Then we went to Twist in Woodbridge, which is a great little yarn shop, with lots of lovely stock, from the regular Rowan and Debbie Bliss to Fiberspates, Noro and Jamieson Smith. 

I didn't really want to leave.

So we stayed and rubbed some more yarn on our faces.

Finally, some fabulous skeins got bought and then wound in the shop by the lovely staff and we left with wallets a little lighter but heads full of inspiration and happiness. That large prosecco at lunch time probably helped too.

Our highlights of the weekend, apart from the shopping, were the gorgeous wood burning stove in the barn, some terrible singing to the Les Miserable DVD, a hell of a lot of cake and getting sore hands from the many hours of knitting we managed to do. The pain was so worth it, look at what we accomplished:

Katie, did a ton of work on her chunky cardigan. It was her baby.

Adela was insanely productive finishing 2 kids hats, a cowl and some teddy bear trousers. Although there were a fair few shouts of 'Shitknits' along the way.

Karen finished her chunky cardigan which was a bit bigger than expected but extremely squishy and comfy. 

Karyna started her fist pair of boot socks and knitted all this over the weekend.

 Aarti started this oh-so-cute rainbow baby blanket.

And Nicola spent a lot of time sewing up this gorgeous cardigan for her daughter. She did some other stuff too but this was her biggest victory.

Finally, I worked on my Fieldwork cardigan and even managed some sewing up. There were a lot of shouts of 'Shit Knits' while I did this as I sewed one piece on completely the wrong way round. Doh!

We had such a good time we started planning the next one before we'd even left the barn. Can't wait for Shitknits 2014.

Ally Pally 2014

It's that time of year again when The Knitting and Stitching show rolls into Ally Pally and empties our pockets, but leaves us with a ton of inspiration and a big smile on my face. 

This year I went on a Sunday for the first time and it was no more or less busy than any other time I've visited the show during the week, so tactics for trying to visit during a quiet time should be thrown out of the window from now on. It was just Mum and I trawling the halls this year but I had such a great time catching up with some of the stall holder and meeting some new ones too. Here are my show highlights.

Rowans ball gown/ knit wear mash ups were beautiful and a really nice way of showing off the knits in a high fashion and sophisticated way. It's a look I'd love to rock to the office, but perhaps I haven't lost enough of my marbles yet. 

Eljo's were a newcomer to the show this year and people seemed to love their coconut buttons with a cute, shiny, enamel finish. The colours really popped and you could have found a shade to suit anything you were knitting. It's a wonder I resisted buying any! Must have been the fatigue setting in late in the day.

Bessie May were also being talked about quite a lot this year. I have to admit that I'd hadn't seen them at the show before, but their stand this year looked great with lots of bright colour choices and items knit up to their cute kooky patterns. I stood talking to the guy at the stand for ages, he nearly offered to get me a cup of tea at one point! Top marks for customer service.  

It was great to catch up with old friends like Dixie from Nichols buttons who hasn't been to the show in a few years. She had a great stand right by the coffee place in the smallest hall. All her wears were delicious as usual. 

The Milla Mia girls were showing off their adult collections at the show for the first time and it was great to hear from them how well received these have been. I have yet to invest in making myself one of the adult designs but I will one day. In the mean time I'm still totally in love with everything they do for little people!

I bumped into Sharon from Taylor Made Yarns who looked like she bought a whole bundle of beautiful things. 

And Purl Alpaca Designs had a gorgeous stand which really showed off their latest collection so well. The ladies were all very busy so I didn't get to chat for long but my collection highlights have got to be their Icon dress, the Esme jumper and Isis Tailcoat. Please go check them out they are lovely!

I went with the mission this year not to buy any yarn as I have so damn much of it sitting at home. The sign above (that I saw at the show) really is my mantra at the moment. But guess what? I failed. It was just one (bag of 10) for a too-good-to-miss price as usual. And it's in my colour of the moment BLUE! My subconscious must be on a real downer at the moment with all this blue. 

I also bought some buttons for a specific project or two and a Sublime pattern book for just £1 which i couldn't pass over. So it was a rather restrained year really. I mean this could have happened:

Still Knitting With Attitude

I visited the ethical and environmentally conscious knitting shop, Knit With Attitude, back in June 2011. Today, two years since my last visit, I went back to see owner Maya's new premises and of course check out her gorgeous yarns.

Arriving at the shop the overwhelming thing to mention is that it is in a much better location than before. The tiny wedge of a shop occupied previously was definitely cute, but difficult to track down and a bit too cosy for comfortable browsing. The new shop is right on Stoke Newington High Street and is perfectly sized with a wide aisle, great for buggies, and lots of light and space to consider your purchases.

The premises is split between Knit With Attitude (on the left) and Of Cabbages and Kings (on the right) which sells quirky and cute products all made in the UK by British based designers and makers. It is the collaboration between these two businesses that has made it possible for them to have this lovely new shop. It's tough for small independents out there right now, so coming together into one space makes so much sense. The products work really well together too; one of my friends came to browse yarn and came away with two gorgeous art prints from Of Cabbages and Kings instead!

Maya's yarn is conveniently sorted into yarn weights, ranging from Super Bulky on the left to Lace weight on the right. It makes narrowing down the yarn for your pattern really easy! You can see my handbag on the floor overflowing with yarn around the Aran and DK section. 

All of the yarns are still environmentally friendly and produced with ethical consciousness, so you're shopping guilt free here. There is a nice selection of books, a wall of needles and notions (including Knit Pro interchangeable tips), lovely kits from Purl Alpacas and some ready to wear hand knit garments too. 

I bought some secret yarn for a baby knit, which is hiding underneath the yarn you can see above. The blue you can see is Mirasol 100% Alpaca which is going to be something for ME! Because I don't have enough yarn. Obviously.

It was a bit of a 'Mum's day off' as two of my friends came with me. We all left the kids with the Mr's and indulged ourselves with yarn, then lunch and a spot of cake at a deli down the road. BLISS!

So if you're looking for a nice yarn shop experience and to sample the delights of trendy local Stoke Newington then why not drop in and say 'Hi' to Maya? But if you're never going to make it down there then the online shop has a sale on at the moment to tempt you instead.