Did you know scarves have been worn since ancient times? I certainly didn’t. According to Wikipedia, the 9th century BC Statue of Ashurnasirpal 11 is wearing a shawl and, in Ancient Rome, men wore what was known as a Focale to wipe sweat from their faces during hot summers. In the reign of Emperor Cheng, cloth scarves were used as …
It is finished! Skyline Rose is the first cardigan completed using Touch Yarns wool. It is an 8 ply Merino, soft and lovely to work with. The pattern will be available via my Ravelry page in the next couple of weeks.
Earlier this year I wrote a post about lace knitting Diamond and Lace. I had, until that time never attempted a lace-based project as the whole knitting lacey garments scared me. As I said in that post: ‘The silly thing about this aversion to lace knitting is I am, and always have been, drawn to the craft in a big …
The stroke that felled Kate Davies in 2010 provides the central narrative to her memoir, Handywoman (Makadu Press, 2018). ‘I set out to write a book about my experience of brain injury’ she writes in the Introduction. And, she has. Handywoman takes the reader through her happy childhood, her mental health issues and stresses of being an academic, the day …
I often ask myself why do I knit. I live in Queensland, Australia for goodness sake where it is very hot in the summer and warm in the winter. Certainly, there is little need for anything remotely woollen. Yet, I knit. All year round. The answer to my question is, I think, one part simple (‘I have always knitted’) and …
In the last few days I have been re-reading Alice Starmore’s book, Aran Knitting (Dover new edition version, 2010). What prompted this reading was a pattern from Vogue Knitting’s Stitchionary 2 (Sixth&Spring Books, 2006) called Aztec. Looking at my finished swatch I found myself questioning its place within the Aran tradition – which led me to Starmore and her book. …
Craftsmanship: The quality of design and work shown in something made by hand; artistry. I have chosen The English Oxford Living Dictionary meaning of the word craftsmanship or as in my case, craftswomanship, as it resonates with what I am striving to do and be: A professional designer who designs and knits quality knitwear. It is now close to 18 …
The sub-title of Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook (Abrams, 2016) is: A Breakthrough Guide to Knitting with Cables and Designing your Own. While the editor in me cringes at all the capital letters, the knitter and designer in me is excited by the mere thought of having a Norah Gaughan book in my hands, in particular, one that combines the …
In my last post I introduced a new yarn: 100% NZ merino by Touch Yarn from Otago, New Zealand. Since then, my samples of this yarn have been swatched, knitted up numerous times and, using different sized needles, have been stretched, ripped back, knitted up again, washed and blocked. In short, the yarn has been put thoroughly through its paces. …
In all my years as a knitter never have I attempted a ‘lace’ based project. For some reason, knitting lacey garments scared me. I could nail the hardest of cable knitting, create Fair Isle patterns with my eyes closed but show me a lace pattern and I would just freeze. The silly thing about this aversion to lace knitting is …