After work this evening I went along to my knitting group, which tonight was holding its gathering in the cafe / bar area at the Royal Festival Hall, in London's Southbank Centre. There's something about knitting with others every so often that I quite enjoy. Having people to talk to about your, and their, latest projects is always nice. It's also a good opportunity to share some knitting gossip about where's got sales on, and which good courses people have done recently. Having people to help people like me who are relatively new to the hobby is of course always useful! Whilst I enjoy the ... read more
Regular or Irregular?
When I first learnt to knit (not all that long ago) one of the things that I found I enjoyed most about it was the regularity of the stitches. When doing practice squares (and trust me I did a LOT of practice squares) I enjoyed letting my mind wander somewhat and then being able to run my fingers along my finished work and feel the regular pattern that I'd created. I decided a few months ago to try to push the limits of my knitting ability. Apart from the socks I also started on a small lacy cardigan from a Rowan pattern that I obtained from Rowan International. I'm currently working on the ... read more
Somewhere to keep my knitting needles
Since learning to knit about a year ago I have been after something to keep my growing collection of needles in. I had a look in a few shops, but didn't quite find anything that fitted the bill either through style or the material used to make it. One of the books that I used when I was learning to knit was Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n Bitch and in the patterns section in the back of the book I found a fantastic sounding pattern for a "roll-your-own needle case" by Echo Devore. I used some material that I'd had in my stash for a while (originally from the John Lewis bargain bin) and I'm really ... read more
Socks…
Just over a year ago, with some help from work friend L, I learnt how to knit. It's been quite a long process which has tested my patience many times. After a year I was starting to get a bit bored with scarfs and woolly hats (or which I now have a drawer full in time for next winter) so was looking for a new project. After reading yarnstorm over the last year I think I have caught Jane's contagious passion for socks and hence a pair seemed the most obvious thing to start on. I managed to find a "Regia Sock Knit Kit" in my local John Lewis and thought that with the enclosed "simple ... read more