You might remember seeing back in 2011, when I set about transforming a low-cost IKEA footstool into a beautiful piece of furniture… This project was to become the prototype for my – knitting a flat hexagon being a tricky thing to perfect! It has been an elaborate project – knitted at a tighter gauge than [...]
One of my favourite things about running It’s a Stitch Up is the sense of being part of a community that it brings. I have always found fellow knitters, stitchers to be generous and patient in helping others with their crafting quandaries. When I recently commented on Eskimimi’s blog asking about knitting from both ends of [...]
My newest pattern – – is finished! This modular blanket is made up of (you’ve guessed it) knitted hexagons. It can either be worked in sock/4ply yarn for a baby blanket, or aran/worsted weight yarn for a ‘grown up’ blanket. Two design charts are included; one for a traditional daisy patchwork design, and a blank [...]
It’s taken a lot of time, commitment and discipline, but I have finally finished knitting my Medetith Sweater. When I took it on in June 2009 I knew it was a long-term project, but didn’t realise it would take quite this long, and be the only project I’ve had to mend moth holes in before it was finished. Also, [...]
The is a little tool I’ve built to help with designing stranded and intarsia knitting patterns. I have long been frustrated with how hard it is to sketch out colour-work ideas. I like to work with a rectangular grid that matches the working tension, ensuring that the knitted pattern is the same shape as the [...]
A couple of weeks ago I went to visit some friends in Cornwall, and spotted a cushion I’d made for them some years ago. As someone who loves to give handmade gifts, it’s odd to think about the number of my creations that are out there, and easy to forget about them. This one was [...]
I have identified the need for a Christmas sweater. You know the kind – something warm and cosy that treads (and likely crosses) the fine line between festive and tasteless, almost certainly through the medium of colour work. It my seem like a strange time to be thinking about it, but these things take planning. I’ve [...]
I just completed probably my best ever spinning. It started life as Fyberspates Sparkle Fibre dyed top, a luxurious blend of merino, silk and glittery stelina, in ‘grey and mauve’. It’s pretty, evenly spun, evenly plied, bouncy and soft, but… I’m not overjoyed with it. First of all, I seem incapable to skinning two skeins [...]
Who’d have thought there was so much life in the humble hot water bottle cover! Not only has the Nordic Ski Sweater Hot Water Bottle Cover quickly become my best selling pattern, but the ones I knit for the shop are snapped up as soon as (and sometimes before) they’re off the needles. This was my first pattern [...]
I was lucky enough to receive a new addition to my knitting library from an office secret Santa; Exploring Colour in Knitting by Sarah Hazell and Emma King. Clearly this was a Santa who knows me very well! I tend to be fairly bold with my colour choices. I don’t often spend time experimenting, I just go [...]
2012 didn’t quite end the way I planned it, I was struck with bad luck in the form of a fracture to my right arm obtained during some festive ice skating. I suffered a more serious fracture to my left arm in 2011 and had only just regained full movement so it was very disheartening. [...]
First there was 100 g of strange-looking fibre; a mix of wool, angora, trilobal and my nemesis, mohair. Obtained in a fibre swap, this ugly duckling languished in the cupboard for some time. One day, for reasons mainly of curiosity, it made its way onto the spinning wheel. It was chain plied and came out [...]
Summer is a great time for thinking about your winter wardrobe, if you can face it. A few weeks ago I picked up a fantastic, long, military style, wool coat in a local charity shop. Three of the buttons were missing but it was otherwise in fantastic condition, and only required some minor de-fuzzing. Today [...]
You could be forgiven for thinking that not much knitting has been happening at Sparkle Towers, but this is not the case. I have a new pattern in development (more about that soon) and a couple of pairs of socks to share with you. A recent a bout of illness left me unable to do [...]
Stitch London’s annual Stitch Crawl takes place this Saturday, 9 June, to celebrate the Jubilee and World Wide Knit in Public Day! Pop along, win marvellous goodies including our Nordic Ski Sweater Hot Water Bottle Cover pattern, and help raise money for MSF. The event takes place from midday to 6pm at Jubilee Gardens, in front [...]
