Fir Cone Shawl......

Thanks for all the workshop compliments. Unfortunately, now we will have to widen all the doorways to fit Mr P's head through. Ah well.

Now for shawl-y goodness! Here is my finished Fir Cone shawl, for which knitalong I've been the worst hostess ever. Blush.

Project Details:

Fir Cone Triangular Shawl, knitted from 3 x 55g skeins of Sophia 2ply (1200 yards total). I used 3.5mm needles, smaller than recommended, but I wanted more definition between the yarn overs and the knit stitches. Blocked size is 102" across the wingspan, and 34" down the centre. I wanted it huge, and it IS huge.

I adore this shawl, it's so warm and snuggly and comforting. But I must admit, I'm a little tired of shawl knitting now. So I've shuffled off the Peace shawl onto Mama's needles. Mothers are so accomodating like that, aren't they?!

July 31st, 2007 | |

Mr P......

Well, as requested, here are some pictures of the new workshop. I wish I could do it justice, but you'd have to see it to really appreciate it. But before I show you the photos, allow me to tell you what a Renaissance man Mr P is. When dyeing, he explores his creative, artistic side. When building, he uses his caveman, testosterone-y side. What more can you ask for? He's a master recycler, and virtually everything in the workshop is made from reclaimed materials. The whole thing was his baby - all I saw was a tumbledown shack, but he had enough vision to see past that, to what it could be, and the reality is already paying for all that hard work. So, here it is before:

The building looked like one long building from the outside, but inside it was divided into three sections with thick stone walls. These walls were knocked down and removed (2 ton of stone). The front wall was then built up, and the roof was raised, because you couldn't stand up in most of the shed before. The floor was partially dug out and re-concreted. Now it looks like this:

We have leaned more towards function than beauty, but even so, it's beautiful to us, because it's our first custom built dye space. There is still more work to do to complete it, but that's mainly aesthectic work, like tiling (eventually we would like to have the tiles from floor to ceiling, for ease of cleaning).

July 30th, 2007 | |

Preview......

The shop preview is now up, and I'm reduced the price of lots of skeins, so there's bargains to be had. This week sees the last of Lydia (cash/silk/linen) and Allegra (cash/silk/cotton). It also sees the last of Cecilia, but only for a short time, as I've got plenty of that on order.

Oh, and one more thing. I have a 100g skein of Allegra here, which I'm giving away to the first person who asks for it. The main tie came off the skein while we were rinsing, and although there is another tie somewhere in the skein, I can't seem to trace it back. So if you have patience and nimble fingers, you are welcome to it. Look:

Any takers? Gone!

July 28th, 2007 | |

Eye Candy......

Ah, so many things to show you, where to start?!! Well, the shawl will have to wait until next week, as will the workshop photos (I'll get some of Mr P in there on dye day next week), because for now I have So Much Yarn Goodness to show you. Look:

(Eva 2ply in Emperor)

(Eva 2ply in Dryad)

(Sophia 2ply in Popsicle)

(Sophia 2ply in Bark)

(Baby Lucia in Blackcurrant)

(Lydia in Lea)

(Eva 8ply in Irresistable)

(from left to right, Lucia in Merry-go-Round, Drake, & Titan)

(from left to right, Emily in Merry & Coronation)

And one more thing, that I just can't wait to share. One of my lovely, very talented friends has started making the most incredible knitting bags. Really, really special, full of little quirky details, and inspired by our gorgeous coastline here in Pembrokeshire. We're going to be stocking the bags, and I'm busy getting a new section of the website ready, hopefully to launch next week. But in the meantime, here are some sneak peeks of one of my favourites:

More on that next week. But enough chattering, I must go and finish the shop preview. It should be up sometime tomorrow. See you Sunday!

July 27th, 2007 | |

Hooray......

Three cheers for me, if you please.

Hip, hip, hooray! The Fir Cone Shawl is finally finished! And it's simply enormous - 102" along the wingspan, 34" down the centre...... I had a bad few minutes near the end, when it looked like there wouldn't be enough yarn, but I made it with about 10g to spare. It's blocking now, so full details and photos later in the week.

Hip, hip, hooray! I'm ahead of myself for preparations for this week's shop update. Mainly thanks to the new workshop, which speeded up the dyeing process to warp speed, and to the single sunny day of the year (it seems) which got all the yarn dry super quick.

I was planning on posting some photos of the yarn today, but it's much too dark to photograph. It's cold too - I've lit the woodstove! Anyway, photos of the yummy yarn tomorrow.

PS. Thanks for all the coffee advice, both here and on the other blog (yes, I know I need to get an RSS feed set up here, I just don't know how, and my techie friend said he would do it, but he's awfully busy and I don't feel like I can pester, so if any of you are clever enough to do it, and it wouldn't take you too long, and you could do it remotely or talk me through it, well, there would be cashmere treats involved.....). It turns out that we have a coffee factory in our town, just a little one, but they grind their own beans there, and you can go in and buy as much or as little as you want. So I'll toddle along sometime and get their advice on my grind(and maybe some free tasters!).

July 26th, 2007 | |

Snippets......

Finally, finally, FINALLY the workshop is finished. I can't even begin to tell you what a tremendous achievement this is. Originally it was just a shed that had been pig sties, with huge thick stone walls dividing it into compartments. Now, after weeks of backbreaking work by Mr P and his brother, it is a smart long workshop, with tiled walls, custom built work areas, a first class steaming oven, and even a drying area complete with heater.

Finally, I have my kitchen back (now if I can just reclaim the garden, which has been a building site for these past weeks, life will be complete). Mr P worked in it for the first time yesterday, and he loves it so much that I think if I popped a futon in there he would even sleep in it. The post-dye clean-up took minutes instead of hours. The new steam oven worked superbly, which is a huge relief because we've been having some issues with dye not exhausting recently, but no more! Hurrah!

I know I'm a little behind the times here, but we watched March of the Penguins last night. WOW. It was utterly awe inspiring. If you haven't seen it yet, then I highly, highly recommend it. Those little penguins have captured my heart.

The toe up sock is coming on beautifully. This is the first time I have knitted with Emily, and I can see why so many of you love it. I'm knitting it on 2.5mm needles, which is making a firm cushy knit, that should wear well. I'm using Ann Budd's toe up pattern from the last Interweave Knits, and so far, so good! From the comments it would appear that toe up socks are the Marmite of the knitting world - you either love 'em or hate 'em. Marmite, I hate. Toe up socks, well so far I'm feeling the love.

Finally a question to the coffee lovers among you. I've recently started brewing fresh coffee using one of these little guys, and a great cup of coffee it makes. But recently I'm finding that there is a dark bitter sludge at the bottom of my cup, which is spoiling the taste of the coffee. What am I doing wrong? I've tried not pouring out all the coffee from the pot, but that doesn't seem to help.

Any ideas? I need the coffee, people.

July 25th, 2007 | |

Finish Line......

I've had a splurge of finishitis lately. On Saturday I sat up late finishing off the first of the second socks (if you see what I mean) cluttering up my needles. I cast off. I grafted. I congratulated myself. I weighed how much yarn was left over.

41g. Forty. One. Grams. Nearly enough to make a third sock, which would be wonderful if I had a third leg to put it on, but since I don't, made me a little bit mad.

No, actually, a lot mad. Mad enough to take the other second sock off its needles and frog. And then to pull its innocent completed sibling out of the sock drawer and frog that too.

You see, I loathe, detest, hate, despise, short socks. The only thing that would persuade me to wear them is the knowledge that there was not enough yarn to make them any longer. If there's no choice, I can live with it. But when I have enough yarn left to do inches and inches more on each leg, well that ankle grazing length is too infuriating. And the yardage on second sock yarn was even more than on the first, so I probably would have been left with even more yarn over on those. Grrr.

"So, why did you make the sock leg so short, Dee?" I hear you ask. "Why didn't you weigh the remaining yarn left after the first sock?"

"Why did you complete three socks in total before realising how pathetic your yardage estimating skills are?"

All fine worthy questions. I shall continue to ponder them in the dark, gloomy hours of the night for some time to come.

So anyway, Mr P claimed the shorty socks, which is fine because a) he isn't anywhere near as fussy as me, b) his legs are proportionately shorter than mine, so the socks look ok on him, and c) I can now feel justified in starting another pair of socks for me, instead of doing some for him.

And this time I'm doing what I should have done all along - TOE UP. And I have 200g of Emily (I thieved some Downpour from Sunday's update - sorry!), a skein a sock, so that these socks will be long enough and then some. Shutting the stable door after the horse? Well, yes.

Those of you who have yet to attempt toe up socks - give it a try. To begin with you'll feel like you are attempting to French braid the spines of a porcupine, but after a few false starts, you'll get the hang of it. Muttering "I can do this" through clenched teeth helps. As does using metal needles to minimise tension snappage. Believe me, it happens.

But now I'm merrily whipping along, and marveling as the sock grows fully formed from my needles. It makes me feel clever.

Until I remember the recently deceased socks. RIP.

July 24th, 2007 | |

Search and You Will Find......

My latest favourite thing to do, following Karen's lead, is look through the words and phrases that people have searched for, that have led them to our website. Some of the latest include:

"I hate weddings" discussion - whoever you are, I feel your pain.

wholesale egg cartons yorkshire - boy, must they have been disappointed, because yarn would not make much of a substitute for egg cartons.

posh boy broadband - the mind boggles.

Would it be cheating at this point to introduce a few random phrases, just to see if anyone turns up via them? Because you may want to know "how to prune an avocado". Or you may be looking for "kilts for babies". And I know many people need "cartoon toilet tissue".

Now we wait and see. Heh, heh, heh...........

PS. A thousand thank yous to everyone who took the time to comment and email on the price changes. I had expected at least a few grumbles. But yet again, I underestimated how lovely knitters are. (And how much you love yarn!). If I ever get super rich, I will do what I would love to do now - send you all an armful of free cashmere yarn.

July 23rd, 2007 | |

Sunny Side......

I have a little bit of bad news to start today's blog off with......and I'm dreading telling you! Ok, here goes.

Much as I regret doing so, I'm forced to put all our yarn prices up from this week. Since moving, our overheads have gone up significantly. Added to that, we are paying whacking great customs fees on all our yarn imports - £800 last month alone (oh how I wish I was exaggerating for effect with this figure, but alas, it's completely true). As you know, Posh Yarn is our living, we both work fulltime on it and have no other income, so any drop in profit hits us quite badly. So, the prices must go up. Eva will now be £8 per skein, Sophia will be £10, and Emily will be £12.

At this point, I do want to assure you that we have always kept our prices as low as humanly possible. As my supplier pointed out last week, when I was grumbling to him, one of his US customers uses the same yarn we do (I'll name no names, but I'm sure many of you know who it is) and they charge $38 per 55g skein for their cashmere, an equivalent of £18.50, and $33 per 55g skein for their cashmere silk (or £16). That's some profit margin! We keep our profit margin pretty low, because I want as many people as possible to afford our yarns, and I hope you'll agree that our prices, even now they are higher, are still pretty good for luxury yarn.

Sigh. With that out of the way, let's look at the pretty yarn!

(Sophia 6ply in Hop Skip Jump)

(Eva 6ply in Mamma Mia)

(Sophia 8ply in Tequila Sunrise)

(Lucia in Bless)

The preview will be ready later today. And we're back to our normal sale time this week, of 6pm, so see you then!

July 20th, 2007 | |

Stormy Weather......

I hate to bang such a well worn drum, but what an awful lot of rain we've had so far this summer! If you are scorching somewhere else in the world, think of us in sodden Britain. Today the sun is shining (and thankfully it shone long enough yesterday to dry this week's yarn) but later the rain is coming back, to last throughout the weekend.

Small wonder then that many of this week's colourways have a distinctly stormy theme:

(Sophia 2ply in Enchanted Forest)

(Eva 2ply in Plaid)

(Cecilia in Jaunt)

(Lucia in Matey)

(Emily in Downpour)

(Eva 6ply in Camouflage)

(Sophia 8ply in Lilt)

(Silk DK in Brooding)

See some of the sunnier yarns tomorrow!

July 19th, 2007 | |

Ok, NOW we're back......

You always underestimate how long it will take you to get back to normal life after a holiday, don't you? Even just a weekend away shakes you out of your normal routine, and makes it hard to get back to the daily round. But I think we're getting there. Parcels are on their way out today, so keep a lookout for pinkness coming your way, if you were at the sale on Sunday. This week's yarn is dyed and drying (sunshine! Yes, really!), and it's oh so pretty. More on that tomorrow.

I got lots of knitting done this weekend: I'm up to the toe decreases on one sock, I'm about to start the edging on the Fir Cone shawl (and you thought I was neglecting that, didn't you?), and I'm halfway up the sleeve of Mr P's Fair Isle sweater. Speaking of which........

Let's talk about gauge. It's a mystery to me. I'm a loose knitter, so I always end going down a needle size, or two. I'm a bit of a slacker when it comes to gauge swatches - I always do teeny tiny ones, and never bother to measure the row gauge. But for this sweater I did a proper sized swatch, in the Fair Isle pattern, as instructed.

(Yes, I know you've seen it before, but indulge me. Isn't it pretty?!)

The pattern recommended 6.5mm needles, but I had to drop down three times before I got gauge. That was a lot of swatching. So, I ended up on 5mm needles, and my swatch was perfect.

Then I started the sweater. Gauge? What gauge? It was wildly out. "Weird," I thought. "I'll go up a size." Then another. Then another.

Yes, people, I ended up back on 6.5mm needles. I wish I was joking, but alas, I am not. Luckily, I decided to start on the sleeve, so at least I didn't discover this on the actual body of the sweater. Unluckily, or rather unfortunately, I'm too bone idle to pull it back. So one of the sleeves is going to have a rather snug fit. Ah well, they say one arm is bigger than the other, don't they. Or is that feet??

July 18th, 2007 | |

In a Word......

Status: busy

Me: packing

Mr P: dyeing

Drinking: coffee

Eating: toast

Knitting: shawl

Weather: rain

Tomorrow: wordier

You: .....?

July 17th, 2007 | |

We're Back......

Bright eyed, and bushy tailed, and refreshed and relaxed from our lovely weekend away. So relaxed, in fact, that we're stealing an extra day off today as well......

You gotta love working for yourself!

July 16th, 2007 | |

More Favourites......

What else have we got for you this week?

Eva 4ply in Sweet Peas (this is very similar to the colourway I used for Forest Canopy)

Sophia 4ply in Sunrise (the perfect baby knit yarn for posh babies)

Silk DK in Bouquet (ideal for the beloved Clapotis pattern)

Eva 8ply in Grasshopper (this would make a gorgeous wrap - crocheted perhaps?)

Emily in Damson (for Gothic socks)

Lucia in Cornflower (wouldn't this look pretty in a fine cable knit sock?

Sophia 6ply in Nonchalant (3 skeins would make super quick, super soft, super warm socks)

Emily in Mystique (Mr P wants a pair of socks in this)

Now I'm off to finish the shop preview. It will be ready soon!

July 12th, 2007 | |

Early Preview......

We have a slight change of programme this week, Chez Posh. Mr P & I will be away from Thursday to Sunday (unless the cold that is brewing turns into fullblown flu, which it feels like it might, in which case I will just stay in bed and die), so the shop preview will be up sometime tomorrow, giving you longer browsing time. That's the upside. The downside is that I won't have any Internet access while I'm gone, so you won't be able to get hold of me. Also, we won't be back until 7.30pm on Sunday evening, so the sale time will be moved to 8pm. Cutting it fine? Just a tad. But I can do it. I hope the time change won't incommode anyone too much (I'm so sorry, Australian and New Zealand gals!).

So, without any more gabbing, here are some sneak peeks at this week's yarn, starting with our limited edition cashmere/silk/linen lace weight yarn:

I like the way this yarn took the dye, with some of the longer flax fibres retaining their natural shade. You can see it better in this colourway:

Then moving onto Cecilia, our cobweb weight cashmere/silk. Doesn't this look like an oil slick?! I'll try to think of a nicer name than that for it though....

Next some Baby Lucia, our cashmere/merino lace weight. This yarn is going on the permanent stock list - it's so smooshy and soft, and a dream to dye:

And again:

Finally our old favourites, Sophia 2ply:

And Eva 2ply:

(This colour didn't photograph well - it's an irridescent blue/green, like a dragonfly's body):

More previews tomorrow!

July 11th, 2007 | |

Four Things......

4 Jobs I have had in my life:

Window cleaner - don't ask
Vintage clothing seller - I had a revolving wardrobe, it was fabulous
Sporting goods shop assistant - because I've always been soooo into sports.....
Internet researcher - I can find you anything you need on the net, pretty damn fast.

4 films I can watch again and again

Something's Gotta Give - never fails to cheer me up
The Family Man - ditto
It's a Wonderful Life - uh, ditto.....are we sensing a theme here?
Sense & Sensibility

4 places I have lived:

Monmouth
Scottish Borders
Pembroke
That's it!

4 TV series I watch:

Gilmore Girls - over, and over, and over, and over.....
How I Met Your Mother
House M.D.
My Name Is Earl

4 places I have been on holiday:

Poland
Tunisia
Oregon
Madeira

4 things I do every time I go on the Net:

Check my stats - yes, I'm a-stalking you
Read my favourite blogs
Check the weather forecast (Lord, let it be raining)
Reply to my emails

4 things I would NOT eat for anything in the world:

Tripe (or any other kind of organ/brain dish)
Oysters
Parsley sauce
Steak Tartar

4 places I would love to be right now:

On a road trip through North America
In a hammock under some trees
Barter Books
In bed

4 people to tag:

Whoever fancies it!

July 10th, 2007 | |

Treats......

The big black dog has been snarling at me from around the corner for the last few days (if you're confused, Google the words Churchill and black dog). But I've been attempting to keep him at that distance with plenty of treats.

Saturday's post brought an embarrassingly large number of parcels, which included an authentic Harvard t-shirt (which I'm wearing right now, pretending I'm Rory), a beautiful Italian leather bound journal, more yarn for Mr P's Fair Isle sweater (more on that later in the week), and books. Lots of books. Someone walked into my living room yesterday, looked at the bookshelves, and said, "Have you got new books?"

"Yes," said Mr P, with a patient face, but gritted teeth. "New books every day."

How true. I think life would be completely insupportable without books.

One of my favourite authors is Margery Sharp, and I was terribly excited last week because I finally managed to find a copy of her first book, Rhododendron Pie, at a price that wouldn't cause Mr P to bleed from the ears. If you look on Abe.com (aka the money pit) this book sells for several hundred pounds, the reason being that it is incredibly rare, having had such a tiny print run. And I got a really good copy for..........£25. I LOVE eBay. The book is just as witty and delightful as I hoped it would be. I'm trying to savour it slowly.

Also on my book rotation at the moment (you do that too, don't you? have several books on the go at once?) are the collected Journals of Fanny Burney, which are very amusing and clever.

And thanks to the delights of this website, I have been listening to Pickwick Papers while I work. I've always meant to read this book, but never got around to it. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I have an unreasonable bias against male writers. Plus I read Oliver Twist when I was ten, and it branded Dickens as depressing in my mind, so I've avoided it ever since. But Pickwick Papers is hilarious, and I've been chuckling away to myself as I twist, label, and photograph yarn.

Books - the best therapy in the world. Apart from knitting.

July 9th, 2007 | |

Lacy Goodness and More......

So, I hear on the knitterly grapevine that Mystery Stole 3 is shaping up to be a monster, a Knitting Olympics of 2007. More than 4000 participants!! And now a certain someone has joined in the fun, it will probably get even bigger.

Good job we've got plenty of laceweight for you this week, isn't it? Let's see, what do we have........

The return (in limited supply) of the popular Cecilia, our cobweb cashmere/silk, shown in Orchid:

The return (also in limited supply) of a favourite from last year - Allegra, a laceweight cashmere/silk/cotton yarn. Shown here in Sage Bush:

And in Hyacinth:

My personal favourite, Sophia 2ply (it's just so cushy, and I'm loving knitting with it), shown in Enchanted Forest:

And your personal favourite (judging by the speed with which it vanishes), Eva 2ply, shown here in Skinny Dip:

And Cherie:

And finally, for the renegades who love lace knitting, but don't like laceweight yarn, we've got plenty of silk, which knits up into fabulous shawls, such as this Tuscany shawl. Shown here in Clover:

So! Much! Yarn! Preview will be up later today.

Next week we'll be doing Baby Lucia, and introducing a new limited edition cashmere/silk/linen laceweight. A bientot!

July 6th, 2007 | |

Keeping it in the Family......

Did I ever tell you about my granma? She was 98 when she died, a few years ago. In the last few years of her life she went blind, but until that point she was very active.

She was a great knitter - not technically great, but very, very productive. When I was little, she used to knit clothes for me - cardigans, sweaters, and much dreaded vests (for my US readers, I don't mean waistcoats, I mean underwear). She knitted them to last, so they always came down to my knees, and they were made from the scratchiest yarn, which very often changed colour halfway down the vest, where she had run out of yarn and started with another batch.

Thankfully, my mother never made me wear the vests.

Granma was very, very frugal. She did things with her weekly bath water that would make your hair stand on end, and her drawers were full of bits of string, old envelopes, and saggy rubber bands. So she never wasted a scrap of yarn, and her knits were always patchworks of different colours and textures.

Later in life, her favourite knitting project was slippers. She made them for everyone in the family, and for very favoured friends. They were garter stitch boats, with old carpet insoles. The tops had a drawstring, so you put them on like bags, tied the drawstring tight, and hoped for the best. They were warm and cosy, but lethal on polished floors and stairs.

I took up knitting after Granma died, which is a real shame. I like to think that we would have sat and knitted together, and she would have told me about the dashing costumes she had made herself when she was a girl in the 20's. I think she would have been proud of my knitting, and delighted that a new generation was taking up sticks.

But she would have been horrified if she'd known how much I spend on yarn. £18 for enough cashmere to knit a pair of socks? Scandalous.

Never mind, Granma, I always save the little bits that are leftover. Even if I haven't got a clue what to do with them.

(The photos are sneak peeks of this week's sock yarn. Including the return - hurrah! - of Lucia. More peeks tomorrow.)

July 5th, 2007 | |

Under the Influence......

Hands up, how many people here are between 25-35? Hands up, how many of you had a big sister who knitted? Hands up, how many of you thought she was the coolest thing on legs, and wanted to be just like her?

That would be me, me, and me.

I was thinking about this yesterday, while looking at the old Vogue Knitting covers from the 80's. In the 80's, knitting was incredibly cool - you've only got to look at how many designers of the time had knitwear as a large part of their collections to see that.

I remember my sister (my mother too, but of course I didn't consider her to be cool) knitting mohair sweater after mohair sweater, angora cardigans with shoulder pads, popcorny cotton tank tops, intarsia tunics, the lot. And I wanted to be just like her. I had the roll-on lip gloss, the zip ankle jeans, and I learned to knit so I could knit myself a purple mohair tank top, in the hope that some of her glamour would rub off.

I wonder how much of today's knitting renaissance has been influenced by the older sister / cool mom generation? They were influenced by the catwalks, and we were influenced by them. Is it surprising that knitters of my generation should embrace the craft? We grew up knowing it was cool, glamorous even. And now we're putting our own 21st century spin on it.

And in a world where fashion goes in cycles, and designers regularly rip off the designs of previous generations (one of the reasons why I gave up my vintage clothing business was because every High Street store was selling vintage rip-offs, season after season), should we expect to see some of those 80's looks coming back into knitwear design soon? No, you don't think so? Ahem, just look at the poncho craze of a couple of years ago. It's just a small step from the poncho of the 70's to the mohair intarsia hip length sweater of the 80's. You have been warned.

July 4th, 2007 | |

Panacea......

I think I've discovered the secret of health. Go see your doctor.

Yes, it's simple, but very effective. However ill you feel, you can guarantee that by the time you see a doctor your symptoms will have magically subsided. Your temperature will be down, your heart will be beating normally, that mysterious pain in your side will have eased. The doctor will examine you and say that everything seems to be fine, and then scribble something in your notes which you just know includes the word hypochondriac. "If only you'd seen me yesterday," you'll say, apologetically. You'll walk out, avoiding the eye of all the other patients in the waiting room, who look really sick. You'll hum a defiant tune as you walk past the reception desk. And you'll go home, feeling foolish, but quite well.

Unfortunately, the effects of this medicine are short lived. By tea time you will be feeling worse than ever. Never mind, you can always make another appointment. If you dare.

July 3rd, 2007 | |

Falling in Love Again......

Do you know, some people think that knitting is boring. Boring! (They've obviously never experienced a Sunday night yarn sale.)

I think, and I'm sure you will agree, that knitting is an incredibly exciting craft. You might be a new knitter, or you might have been knitting for decades, either way you still have so much to learn, and so many new techniques and styles to explore.

I spent much of the weekend polishing off the new Best of Vogue Knitting book, and was inspired, humbled, and motivated by every article. It made me realise what a boring knitter I am - I select a pattern, pick out yarn, and knit. I very rarely customise, change details, or even really think about what I'm doing. I just blindly follow the instructions. I never try new cast ons or cast offs, I only know one sock technique, and I definitely steer clear of any garment that has a technique I'm unfamiliar with (crochet, steeks, intarsia).

Knitting isn't boring, I'm boring. I've got to start stretching myself, learning new things, and trying them out. I should spend more time experimenting with new techniques, and less time starting new projects.

(Apart from this, this doesn't count:)

(This doesn't count because it is for winter. For my love. For our anniversary. And if I don't get a jump on it soon, I have no hope of finishing it in time.)

So, if you're feeling a little jaded at the moment, your knitting mojo is slipping away, your needles are getting dusty, your stash piling up, I strongly advise you to get hold of this book. It's simply wonderful. Makes you feel like you are standing on the shoulders of giants.

What could be more exciting than that?

July 2nd, 2007 | |