EZ Evangelising.

This week I finished knitting the adorable Annabel Cardigan as a sample for the shop. Not only was I lucky enough to get a sneak peek of this wonderful yarn before it arrives over here in the UK in this month, but I managed to squeeze a new technique into the mix as well.

It was a very simple cardigan to knit in and of itself, being a top-down raglan in plain garter stitch, but that construction presented a problem to me which I have continually encountered and wanted to resolve. I've never been really happy with previous techniques I've used to weave or darn in ends in garter stitch. I'm not usually too much of a stickler about these things, especially when it only shows on the wrong side, but as I wasn't just knitting this for myself, I wanted a nice finish. So I went to a couple of knitting "bibles" but there wasn't anything specific to garter stitch, and the information just generally wasn't particularly helpful. Luckily we've been getting a lot of traditional books in stock at the shop, including Schoolhouse Press books, and so I turned to a copy of knitting guru Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop for guidance.

She's a genius clearly. She waxes lyrical about the joys of weaving in ends, and then she gives the best advice I've ever had on the subject:

Basically, tie your two ends in and overhand knot.

Then separate the plies of each strand.

I had 3 plies in one strand of Quince & Co Osprey.

Thread a sharp darning needle with one ply and then skim the the surface of the stitches (make sure to go through both the bumps from the garter stitch AND the flat "knit" rows between the bumps).

Pull the fabric a bit to even things out, snip the end of the strand close to the fabric, and marvel at your amazing invisibly woven-in ends.

I imagine this works just as well with stockinette and just about any other stitch pattern. Rest assured I will be using this method almost exclusively in the future.

I showed this to at least 5 people in the hour after I tried it and all were suitably impressed. And you will be too. Go on now, try it!

Spring Awakening.

This is why I love spring.

Note the ever-lovely frank ochre Ishbel in the background. Perfect for spring days.

More spring knitting to come soon!

Flowers from Columbia Road Flower Market.

Meet Derek.

Ok, so he's not scary, well, at all (don't tell him that!)...

Derek, the Mechanobot

Happy Halloween!

New pattern!

Hello there! It's been a while (again, I know!) but great news - I have finally written up the pattern for the Naomi Scarf after lots of very flattering requests for it on Ravlery. Since I added it to the Ravelry database last night, it's already in 18 queues - how lovely! I am really looking forward to seeing all the different versions everyone makes in different colours, yarns, etc. You can also find the pattern in my Etsy shop - whichever you prefer.

Here are the links:

Naomi Scarf on Ravelry

Naomi Scarf on Etsy

Hope you like it!

Passing it on.

My husband's goddaughter and niece's birthday is the day after mine. So naturally I feel the urge to slightly nudge her in the crafty direction every year. I remember when I was a kid I loved crafty presents. Rug hooking, paint-by-numbers, sewing stuff - I just couldn't get enough. One of the best birthdays I had was my fifth, when I was given a huge trunk full of dress up clothes and then for my party, all my friends brought their dress ups and we went to town getting creative and sharing things.

So this year for the little one's seventh, I decided to put together a box of goodies and a book to get her going on her crafty way. The book I chose is a really sweet little book called The Girls' Best Book of Knitting, Sewing and Embroidery by Virginie Desmoulins. It has a little history, a few projects and even a paper doll that pops out of the cover of the book that you can dress up.

I got a lovely tin box from Paperchase and filled it with some felt, yarn, fabric, a notebook, a pie pincushion, stickers, beads and ribbon and then when I wrapped it up I strung a few vintage buttons on some yarn and wrapped a few lengths of the yarn around the present instead of using regular ribbon. I love the Paperchase kitty wrapping paper and card and I thought they looked so cute I had to share them here. Here's hoping the crafting bug will catch her in Australia!

Happy thoughts!

I'm pretty lucky to have an awesome job. After all, I do work in a knitting shop. And so it brought tears to my eyes last weekend when we opened the doors of our new, bigger, prettier (I know, to those of you who knew the old Loop, it doesn't seem possible) shop that there were 130+ knitters (and a couple of brave significant others) queued up waiting for the big unveiling. Incredible!

Here's just a few of the lovely things people have had to say about our shop:

http://fridica.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/loop/

http://gingerclare.blogspot.com/2010/06/old-loop-new-loop.html

http://mrsgknits.blogspot.com/2010/06/right-of-passage-for-loop.html

Not too bad as workplaces go, eh!?

Beginnings and Ends.

Cheerful shades of Malabrigo Worsted.

My friend Rosemary and I started this blanket together a couple of weeks ago for a friend who became seriously ill while working Zambia. She was camping, and a terrible accident occurred that resulted in her being covered in burns. She was sent to South Africa, where she was joined by her mother, sister and uncle.

Rosemary and I, who have known this friend since we were children, were so upset by this news, and wanted to do something, anything, to help. There wasn't much that we could do from so far away, Rose being in Virginia, and me being in London, but Rose had the perfect idea that we could knit her something. Of course! If anything, the knitting we would do would be a comfort to us, who felt so helpless at this worrying time.

The pattern starting to grow.

We exchanged countless emails, deciding on the pattern, the yarn, the logistics. We started the blanket and as updates came in on our friend's progress, the blanket grew. We so looked forward to the day when we could send it off to her, hoping it would cheer her hospital room and keep her warm and comforted in the South African winter.

Yesterday, we got the devastating news that our dear childhood friend didn't make it. She lasted 58 days from the day of her accident - it never occurred to us she wouldn't continue to progress. Rose emailed to tell me the news - and also, what would we do with the blanket??

I looked at the pile of knitting last night. I'd completed about half of my portion. Looking at it, once full of so much hope and so much potential... I wondered if I would be able face knitting the rest.

We've decided to keep knitting. Now her family could use some comfort and some tangible affirmation that she touched lives. And actually, once I forced myself to pick up the knitting again, working each stitch comforted me too. Although knitting this blanket is a constant reminder of what we've lost, something about the soft yarn in my hands, the cheerful colours that remind us of our friend and the rhythm of each stitch are soothing. I don't know what I would've done without it.