Woolly Wednesday

So, the blog's been a little quiet of late... well I'm hoping to remedy that with a little roundup post about the Knitting & Stitching Show!

Last month I was fortunate enough to attend the first ever Edinburgh edition of the Knitting & Stitching Show. I've attended the Harrogate show a few times and enjoyed it, so I was intrigued when I saw the announcement that there was to be a Scottish one. Needless to say, this needed to be investigated!

The show was held at the Royal Highland Centre within the Highland Hall and I attended on the Sunday (the last day, but the show started on Thursday of the same week). My friends and I got wind of a free shuttle bus, which we took full advantage of.

One of my favourite parts of the show was the "knitted feast" - a competition for which creative folks submitted all manner of fibre foods. Some very inventive crafting! See below for some highlights...

Woolly Wednesday is back!

Hello! Happy new year to you all.

January seems like a natural time to reasess things and figure out your goals for the coming year. One of my goals this year is to have a *massive* destash, declutter and general life detox.

With that in mind, I have signed up to take part in the Edinburgh Yarn Festival's Big January De-stash! I have a rather humungous stash of yarn, more than I will ever be able to use within this lifetime, so I'm going on a bit of a "yarn diet."

I'm joining other fellow crafty types at the Columcille Centre in Morningside this Saturday (16th January) to sell, swap and socialise. If you live in or near Edinburgh and fancy coming along, it's only £2 entry per person - EYF are asking folks interested in attending to pre-register so they can gauge numbers on the day. The event is being run by Edinburgh Yarn Festival as not for profit, in support of and to raise awareness of its nominated charity, the Teapot Trust who provide art therapy for children who suffer from chronic illness (all proceeds from the day go to the charity).

I'll be there for the afternoon session which runs 1-4pm but there will be yarny goings-on from 10am onwards.

Goodies I plan to sell on Saturday include:
- Rowan pattern books
- Knitting/craft magazines
- Rowan and other hand knitting yarn
- Knitting & crochet tools
- Lace trim and other notions
- Fibre for felting or spinning

I might also have a few hand knitted items for sale on the day too :) Hope to see you there!

Find out more about the Big January De-stash event here.

Happy Knitting Week!

Wishing all my readers a happy Knitting Week! Perfect timing for starting on a cosy autumn project, don't you think?!

Doesn't that little mouse just look so cosy! It certainly made me smile at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival earlier this year :)

I didn't have the chance to share these pictures at the time, but it was a really great day out in March with some fellow fibre enthusiasts. Below are a few of my highlights.

I also have a few woolly links up my sleeve...

As it's also Wool Week, I recommend checking out the Campaign for Wool website - lots of lovely events going on all over the UK this week!

"How wool got cool" - a Guardian article on the weird and wonderful things us crafters get up to these days.

The UK Hand Knitting Association's website has had a bit of a makeover - well worth a look, it has plenty of ideas to help you get started or find out more about the world of knitting.

Day Four: Bags of Fun - 6KCBWDAY4

I've been knitting since about 2001, and by anyone's measure, that's a lot of time to accrue (read: hoard!) quite a collection of crafty bits and pieces. So it's really no surprise that I have rather a lot of yarn, bits of knitting and notions.

In this post from the second Knitting & Crochet Blog Week, I talked in a general way about how my collection was "organised" - this time I've decided to focus on my two favourites which have served me well over the years.

First up is my knitting bag - it's black and white, features polka dots (always a good thing in my book!) and a pretty printed design with dressmaker's dummy silouette illustrations. It kind of "winked" at me in the shop I was working in at the time (I was the Rowan Design Consultant for the Coats Crafts concession in Edinburgh's well-known and historic department store, Jenners) and I knew I had to have it. I love the detailing, measuring tape print along the top and its sturdy wooden handles.

It's perfect for carrying any work-in-progress pieces of knitting around - there's ample space for two or three projects, and it is currently home to my snowflake cardi WIP (in hibernation...!), one of my knitting needle rolls, some twinkly teal yarn and a bag full of 4ply in assorted colours which is a lovely blend of merino wool, microfibre and a touch of cashmere.

The other crafting companion I'm very fond of is this little number:

I constructed it much like a large pencil case, so it's really just a large, lined zippered pouch. First time I'd made something like it so I was pretty pleased and it has served me well ever since as a perfect place for storing my smaller tools and notions.

Here's what's inside it at the moment:

Essentially it's anything I might need while working on a project. I think the only thing missing there really is my measuring tape and/or a ruler of some sort. This oversized purse style bag is sometimes unceremoniously tipped out and the contents can be replaced with a smallish work in progress - ideal as a wee project bag for travel!

[Please note, I'm a bit behind schedule, so the post for Day 3 is coming later!]

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2015 is here!

Welcome to this year's Knitting & Crocket Blog Week!
Year 6, can you believe it?! If you haven't come across the event before, and want to find out more (or even take part!), read this blog post.

Day One (Monday 11th May): If You Were Yarn.

I've been musing over this topic for a few days now and it's quite difficult to choose! If I had to choose a yarn to represent my personality, there would definitely have to be some wool in there though.

 

I love being cosy and it's one of my absolute favourite fibres to work with because of its versatility, the fact it's natural and takes colour incredibly well if you dye it. My boyfriend sometimes jokingly refers to my head as being "full of wool" so it seems fitting that I'd go for a woolly yarn!

I think the texture of it would have to be a good balance of having enough twist that it didn't split easily or look like roving but not so much that the handle of the yarn was compromised. It's go to be nice and soft! ...I'm a big softie at heart ♥

Finally, I reckon if I was a yarn, it'd have to be a colourful one - maybe a nice variegated style with rich jewel tones of deep purple, teal, blue and turquoise blending into each other. Oh and as for weight... probably a useful DK!

Search for #6KCBWDAY1 on twitter or google 6KCBWDAY1 to find more blogs taking part in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2015.

Wondrous Wool

This is a special edition of Woolly Wednesday - it's Wool Week!

(This is a kitty commission I made 

from Merino lambswool a few years ago)

...What's Wool Week, I hear you ask. 2014 is the 5th year of the Campaign for Wool's week dedicated to wool, that most wondrous of natural fibres. This year's edition runs from the 5th - 12th of October and features a whole host of activities and events promoting wool. Want to organise your own? Check out Picknit for some LoveWool resources.

I love the idea of the Wool Ride, a brand new woolly cycle ride held in London on the first day of Wool Week. It appears to have a similar feel to the annual Harris Tweed Ride in Glasgow, albeit perhaps a little more light-hearted and rough (fluff?!) around the edges.

My latest knitting project is a pair of stripy mittens (shown above) in a lovely pure wool yarn. Seemed like the perfect time of year to start something like this, now that the air is crisper, the leaves are turning and it's starting to get dark sooner in the evenings.

One of the reasons I love making things with wool is its versatility. It can be incredibly useful in its many different forms - the elasticity of the fibre lends itself well to clothing which will keep its shape well, but not only that, it has a natural tendency towards repelling water, due to the waxy lanolin of a sheep's coat, even more so if you felt the fabric as the water will simply bead on the surface and roll off.

You can achieve a great stitch definition in a yarn 

with a high wool content such as this one (80% wool)

As many of you will know, wool is a rather wonderful natural fibre, meaning of course that it's biodegradable, unlike many manmade fibres. One which is renewable (thanks to the sheep growing a new fleece every year!), breathable and happens to be pretty great at absorbing a vast rainbow of dyes, as well as coming in a beautiful range of natural hues. Did you know wool can even be used as an insulation material? It's also naturally flame-retardant, believe it or not!

If you're interested in reading further woolly witterings, click here for more #WoollyWednesday posts.

IT'S Woolly Wednesday!

One thing you should know about me... I love a bit of alliteration, so when I was dreaming up ideas for blog posts recently, I thought, how about having a Woolly Wednesday! (Why not?!)

...I very much doubt I'm the first person ever to have come up with that but I do hope you like it anyway :)

Here are some woolly things that have tickled my fancy this week:

Image via Etsy

I love this Lambswool Birdie by Sally Nencini, discovered while having a look at a few things that popped up on my feed whilst using the Etsy app. Not just because I adore birds, and think lambswool is pretty awesome, either! I particularly like the way she has used different patterns and muted colours to create an overall kind of folkloric effect. Plus, who wouldn't want one of these cheery birdies sitting on their mantlepiece?

I quite enjoy using the "your feed" tab as a way of browsing actually, and it's a great way to find new things or stumble across pretty treasuries. Do check out Sally Nencini's Etsy shop, it's packed with lots of fun (woolly) designs including an elephant cushion or one featuring a fleet of red London double-decker buses, not to mention her quirky knitted toys!

Image via Ohhdeer

How about some woolly jumpers? This "Cool Sweaters" greeting card with sheep sporting knitted designs made me smile. It's the work of illustrator Jacques Maes, and I very much like the nostalgic feel of this print of his.

...and finally, here's a little bit of sporting yarnbombery: Commonwealth Games nations knitted flags for Glasgow 2014
 
Fear not, dear reader, more wool-related action coming soon!

In the meantime, you can check out all of my blog posts related to this rather fabulous fibre here.

New Year, New Project

I got a bit of a shock when I realised about a fortnight ago that I hadn't actually done *any* knitting yet this year! (gasp!)

Not like me at all...but I have been enjoying reading "Knit the Season" - the third book in the Friday Night Knitting Club series by Kate Jacobs. Always nice to revisit favourite characters and it's a lovely seasonal tale of their continually intertwining lives. So this has acted as a kind of substitute in a way. I'm so glad someone finally got me it for Christmas (my other half, he rocks), as it's been on my wishlist for a while.

Anyway, it got to the point where enough was enough, I had gotten pretty far into the book and my fingers were itching to do some real-life knitting, instead of just reading about it! I decided to start a brand new project, one I've been thinking about for some time. It's a beautiful lace shawl (or wrap) design which I previously designed and created for a commission using a silvery-white yarn, Rowan's Kidsilk Night in Starlight [Ravelry link].

I am making this year's version based on my notes and pattern from this - it's been adapted from two different lace motifs I liked, a chevron one from a pattern library which forms the border of my design and one which borrows a section of the lacework from the beautiful Anice Shawl in Rowan Magazine 41, which was out around the time I was working as a Design Consultant for Rowan yarns. (Yes, I'm still a Rowan addict!)

I've made some progress on it so far and have named this incarnation the
Goddess of the Night Shawl. A fitting name for its inky plum purple darkness with a shimmering glint of silvery thread.

I don't have a particular recipient in mind, I simply decided to work on this piece for the sheer joy of having a nice cerebral lace project on the go, not to mention something visually stunning developing before my eyes as I continue to work on it.

No instant gratification here, I'm in this for the long haul. I've realised over the years that there is indeed merit in quick, simple projects, which can be easily completed in a short space of time but somethimes you need something a little deeper to get your teeth into. Did I mention it's a bit like therapy? (albeit generally* a lot cheaper!)

* depending on your yarn habit...

Christmas 2013

WildCat Designs last order dates for Christmas 2013

UK orders: Wednesday 18th December

Orders for Western Europe: Friday 13th December

Orders for USA: Wednesday 11th December

Orders for Canada & Eastern Europe: Sunday 8th December

Orders for Japan, Oz, NZ & everywhere else: Monday 2nd December

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I *will* be accepting orders after these dates but

please be aware that items may not arrive in time for Christmas,

after all, it is a very busy time of year!

The order dates also apply to my WildKittens online shop.

Shop online: Bigcartel, Etsy, DaWanda or Folksy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Custom orders: If you are interested in a custom order,

please get in touch by Friday 15th November.
Email enquiries {at} wildcat-designs {dot} co {dot} uk

It's Knitting Week!

Happy Knitting Week,  fellow crafters! 

I never really need an excuse to knit, as you can imagine... but all the same it's nice to celebrate the ancient art of fashioning things conjured by artfully manipulating two sticks and some fibre into something new.

There are *lots* of knitter-friendly things going on this week!

Here are my picks:

• Free knitting patterns on the UK Hand Knitting Association website - here.

• Knitting as a spectator sport? Well believe it or not, it happens in Norway!

• Win a fabulous knitting holiday in Shetland (yes please!)

• Fancy a freebie? How about a nice ball of Bergère De France yarn? (info here)

It also happens to be Wool Week here in the UK as well (how convenient!). 

If you're in London or Edinburgh and fancy learning a new skill or want to boost your knitterly abilities, check out the Knit Nation events (including workshops and drop-in sessions) hosted by John Lewis stores and run in conjunction with the Campaign for Wool folks as part of Wool Week. Did I mention they're free?!

Crafty Roundup September 2013

This is the perfect time to bury oneself in craft projects - cooler weather, cosy evenings at home and maybe a few gifts to make in time for December. I've certainly been getting stuck in to my knitting! I also recently spotted some really cool knitted graffiti in Edinburgh - a rainbow of railing cosies :)

I thought it was high time to do another of these, so without further ado, I present to you my roundup of crafty goings-on for September & October:

Glasgow School of Art Postgraduate Degree Shows
14th-28th September at The Lighthouse, Glasgow

The Big Knit by Innocent Smoothies
The annual mini hat knitathon is looking for donations of hats by the 1st EDIT: 31st of October. See thebigknit.co.uk for more info. I also found a very cute owl hat pattern on the Guardian website!

Shetland Wool Week 2013
Shetland without wool simply wouldn't be Shetland. So in celebration of the wondrous fibre that is wool, they have a whole host of events running 7th-13th October - see www.shetlandwoolweek.com for more details.

 

Some rather lovely Shetland sheep! 

(Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Oooh...and let's not forget National Knitting Week! The annual UK-wide knitfest. This year it's happening from Monday 14th – Sunday 20th October. Running in tandem is UK Wool Week, championed by the Campaign for Wool. You can look forward to more on the blog about both of these soon :)

Phew, I think that just about covers it!

Any upcoming creative events you think I've missed? Leave me a comment!

Casting Off

It's been a while since Knitting & Crochet Blog Week finished - and I didn't manage to do days 6 and 7 at the time because things were a little hectic, but I wanted to complete my posts - so here they are! [double post alert!]

KCBW4 Day 6 - A Tool To Covet

It's pretty hard to pin down my very favourite knitting tool...but I think there's a lot to be said for investing in a beautiful pair of knitting needles which make the art of crafting that little bit more pleasureable. Generally, straight knitting needles which are not too short are my thing, as I favour a style of knitting where you tuck one needle under an arm. I'm particularly fond of my bamboo, birch and rosewood sets of needles. There is something lovely and incredibly special about working with natural fibres on a beautifully carved pair of wooden pointy sticks.

Other tools I find incredibly useful are my (left-handed) scissors which are nice and sharp, some point protectors (stops me from jabbing myself! Or from getting holes in my bag) and a ruler or measuring tape. I also find I like to make little notes to keep track of my progress with a pattern. Not forgetting essentials like pins, sewing needles and some method of steam generation to finish things off nicely.

I enjoy looking out for unusual knitting accoutrements on my travels too - you just never know what little treasures you might find!

KCBW4 Day 7 - Looking Forward

Thinking about what I'd like to achieve over the next year or so, regarding all things knit, I suspect, as with every year, I won't quite manage to knit as much or as often as I would like to...but I do have a few aspirations.

I would like to actually finish off more projects that I start or have already begun, something which others who are "serial starters" can relate to I'm sure! I do tend to put off the final stages of blocking, darning in ends and sewing up. (Guilty!)

I hope to remedy this by revisiting some forlorn UFOs (unfinished objects, to the uninitiated!), some of which have been languishing for rather too long. After all, every knitter loves to reach the proud moment where they can show off their beautiful handiwork to the world (or maybe just the rest of Ravelry).

I'd also like to try out a few more stitch patterns - lace and/or cables - which I've been musing about. The other goal I hereby set is to actually write more knitting patterns. I've written a few to date, mainly baby knits, and would like to expand my library of knits.

Click here to check out the rest of my Knitting & Crochet Blog Week (4) posts... or view those from previous years: Year 3 - 2012 • Year 2 - 2011 • Year 1 - 2010

K is for Knitaholic - 4KCBWDAY5

Day 5 - Something a bit different!

Friday's entry is s little delayed...I'm moving this weekend so things are a wee bit chaotic, to say the least!! For something 'a little different' I decided to do a post with an A-Z of Knitting.



A - Addictive. Knitting is truly addictive once you get into the swing of it!
B - Bamboo, my favourite type of knitting needle, and a very lovely (and sustainable) fibre to work with too.
C - Cast on; where all the fun begins!
D - Decrease...one useful way of shaping a piece of knitting.
E - Environmentally-friendly. There are many reasons this craft can be eco-friendly, including the fact that knitters make pieces designed to be treasured and handed down for future generations. There are also plenty of yarns out there with real "green" credentials, produced via sustainable manufacturing methods, coloured with plant-based dyes and a host of natural fibres.



F - Fair Isle. A beautiful, traditional way of patterning your knits.
G - Groups. It's fun to meet other like-minded enthusiasts at a knitting group, or even share ideas, tips and exeriences with virtual groups on t'internet (hello Ravelry!)
H - Handmade. There really is nothing like a hand-crafted piece of knitting, made with care, love and attention. (Not to mention the odd dose of blood, sweat & tears!)
I - Intarsia. A great way of working coloured areas into your knits.



J - Jumper. Surprisingly, not something I have knitted that many of myself! (I'm more of an accessories kinda girl)
K - Knit. The first method for creating a knitted stitch most of us ever learn.
L - Lace...a variety of openwork techniques can be used to create lace fabrics, which I love.



M - Moss Stitch. A nubbly textured stitch pattern which I find very pleasing to the eye :)
N - Needles. An essential bit of kit for any knitter. I love how there are some really amazing options out there now, like beautiful wooden types and even wonderful colourful ones!
O - Online. A world of wondrous yarn havens, friendly crafters and a vast array of patterns await.
P - Purl. The yin to a knit stitch's yang!
U - Unravel. Always worth making sure this doesn't happen to your knits!
R - Rip back. Sometimes a necessary evil. Try to avoid having to do it with yarns like mohair - it's a complete nightmare, trust me!!

S - Stitch dictionary. I find these so invaluable for inspiration and ideas.
T - Time. Finding time to knit is sooo worth it. Knitting can be very therapeutic too.
U - Universal. I strongly believe that knitting is a skill anyone can learn, with a little determination and perseverance.
V - Vivid. These days you can acquire some fabulously vibrant colours. No need to be a knitting wallflower any more!
W - WOOL! One of my favourite fibres to create with. Also an incredibly versatile fibre.



X - X-factor. Yes, for me the art and craft of knitting really does have the elusive x-factor :)
Y - Yarn. Without it, where would we be?
Z - Zzzzz. I find a spot of knitting before bedtime can really help sometimes. Also, I just discovered that the word zephyr can mean "any of several delicate soft yarns, fabrics, or garments, usually of wool," according to the Collins English Dictionary!