New Pattern ~ Portreath

**EDIT** Originally published in The Knitter 71, now available as a digital download

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Reversible socks – the left sock is the ‘wrong side’, the right sock is the ‘right side’

I’m so excited about this pattern. Reversible socks! This came about sort of accidently, I created the stitch pattern, tweaked it in Illustrator and then was swatching to see what it would look like. Happy with the results, I cast on and began sock one. When I reached the heel, I realised I preferred the sock inside out, and decided the sole would need to be knitted in such a way the sock could be worn either way around.

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Moss stitch was out – I personally love it, but I know a lot of people loath it, and the prospect of knitting the sole using 4ply yarn alternating knits and purls might put some people off. So I swatched some garter stitch. Man, this yarn looks good in garter stitch! I love the subtle colour changes that are apparent throughout the pattern, but there is something about this simple stitch. Plus, a garter sole gives you a little foot massage and adds a certain squish that you wouldn’t get with stocking stitch.

reversible socks knitting pattern The Knitter 71

The yarn I used is Violet Green Solemate, 100% merino, 400m/100g. It’s lush, try it!

reversible socks knitting pattern The Knitter 71

Also in this issue is this gorgeous shawl by Anniken Allis, modelled by yours truly! I had to pop this in as it’s not every day I get made up like a superstar, but also the shawl is beautiful and is getting a lot of love on Ravelry already. Knitted in a fab orange shade of Cashmered’s 3ply Cashmere, I found it really hard to give this back!

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Photos by Jesse Wild

Easter ramblings

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter! My weekend started out well, we went to collect a sofa from the lovely Kate at work, which prompted several shiftings around our living room to see what worked best. We’ve been living with a futon as a settee for the last 2.5 years (see photo in last post) and it has been gradually depressing me.  This seems to use less space in the living room and it actually feels like a grown-ups room now, as opposed to something more studenty.

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Shifting turned to decluttering and soon I was sorting through all my knitting books and giving them their own shelves.  Although it seems the odd few other tall books may have snuck in there too!

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Just as everything was starting to look nice, we hit a few problems. A persistent leak dripping from the bath into the kitchen, which has been going for years un-noticed, is now quite apparent. And wet.  Then an avalanche of paper-work, books, musical instruments, a stereo and a printer in Chris’s studio, as the shelves containing them decided enough was enough.  Oops.  This led to taking a car-boot full of stuff to the charity shop and a couple of long days tidying and reorganising EVERYTHING.

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Isn’t it funny though how sometimes it takes something that seems like a nightmare at the time to make you sort yourself out? It was so refreshing to throw things out, relabel stuff we wanted to keep in boxes, and make everything so much more minimal.

Freeing up plenty of space to do some crafting 🙂

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Operation Sewing Box

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I’ve decided it’s time I gave my sewing box some love. Shamefully, it’s been sat like this in my living room for sometime now as I continue to put more stuff in it and never really throw anything away. Today I decided enough was enough and I was going to fix it up and start using it properly.

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The box cost me £5 in the PDSA shop in Exeter about 10 years ago. I’ve always loved the idea of having a proper sewing box, but my creative side conflicts with my tidy side so I go through phases of making stuff for weeks before I turn around and notice everything is a mess.

20140415-225604.jpgSometimes you need to make a mess before things get tidy!

Now things are looking much happier:

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and I discovered a few old things with uses..

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I’m not sure how long it will stay this way, but this is certainly an improvement! Now to tackle my needle box..

An exciting crochet find!

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I found this lovely crochet blanket last week in a vintage shop in Shoreham-by-Sea for a mere £12! It needs some love in a few places and will eventually be replaced by this blanket I’m crocheting in Erika Knight Vintage Wool, when this will become my camping blanket. I’ve always fancied a crochet throw like this to snuggle down with when staying outdoors, but don’t think I’d ever have the heart to do it with something I’d put so many hours into crocheting myself in case it got spoilt.

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Whoever made this obviously had an eye for colour and spent some time on this, so I’m sure they’d be pleased it’s gone to a good home.

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Squeee!

I’ve reached the end of a knitting deadline, so I decided to treat myself to some pretty fabric and get sewing!

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I’ve decided to recreate this floral skirt, which cost me 50p in a charity shop. It’s made with 3 pieces of fabric, which wrap around and fasten with buttons at the front, and has a couple of hip darts in the back.
This should be fairly easy to get the pattern from, then its just a matter of sewing up the seams and fitting the waist band!

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Excuse crappy photo. Phone blogging has it’s benefits but shiny sharp photos isn’t one of them!

My Hat Design Workshop and Gwythian pattern now on iTunes

My Hat Knitting Design Workshop from Issue 63 is now available through The Knitter app on Apple Newsstand, for iPhone and iPad. Not only does this include the knitting pattern for Gwythian, my latest hat design, there is also a 4 page spread on how to design your own hat pattern, and an interview with yours truly!

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Quite the bargain, I should say 🙂

Happy Birthday Mum!

It was Mum’s birthday this week and I recently succeeded in getting her back into knitting (I think sending her my first published pattern in the Knitter may have played a part – there was also a tempting sweater pattern in the same issue!)

As it were her who taught me to knit in the first place, aged about 5, I thought an apt present might be to sew a knitting needle roll in which to keep that fast growing collection of Knit Pro interchangable needles.

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I found this sweet sewing tutorial over at Today We Made and adapted it to include an extra pocket for cables, stitch holders and the little purse I made to hold knitting notions.

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This was also my first attempt at making a hand sewn button loop (I saw they were a challenge on the Great British Sewing Bee and thought I’d have a go.) It was hard! But I’m quite pleased with this for a first attempt.

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Now I just need to sew a second one for myself!

FO Friday – Aleph Cardigan

I have been meaning to post this picture for ages, after blocking my finished Aleph cardigan back in November! I had some problems knitting the sleeves, but fixed them (after some frogging and re-knitting) and this cardigan became a firm winter favourite.

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Photo by Philip Sowels, Future Publishing

The knitting pattern is by Hannah-Cuviello,, which I have modified slightly, and this photo was taken for the ‘On my Needles’ section of Issue 70 of the Knitter, where I talk about what I’ve finished, the projects I’m working on, and what I’m making next!  We feature this column every month, and take turns in the office to show our projects and what we are up to.  It’s a nice way to give some love to designers I think, and is featured on the ‘Patterns we love’ page.

For those of you that are interested, my WIP is Saxifrage, by Rachel Coopey, which I haven’t actually picked up since I was in Sri Lanka! I’ve been working on several commissions recently and am looking forward to having some ‘me’ knit time in a few weeks 🙂

cast on sock on whitePhoto by Philip Sowels, Future Publishing

And one of those things I will be knitting for myself will be the Bella shawl by Annie Baker. I want this so much and have just the yarn for it!

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Photo by Annie Baker