What's New In March

I am a little late with this one. I should have posted about this last month. Truth is I didn't realise how big a deal this was until recently. It's a huge event in the yarn world and this is only it's third year. Three days of classes from famous designers and teachers as well as a market with all your favourite yarns and designers. I am extremely envious of anyone who is going. It's actually very similar to the one I went to in Stirling at the start of my blog. It was called Knit Camp and I did a class in fair isle with Liz Lovick and another class with Jared Flood (one of my favourite designers).  There were a lot of problems in the organisation (where teachers had problems getting into the country) and they didn't do another one. The Edinburgh Yarn Festival has had no such problems and so many more classes that I would have had trouble restricting myself. Next year people! Next year! I have signed myself up to their mailing list so that I won't miss it again. This year, I will be working. If any of you who are going want to share your experiences here please do and I will try not to turn green with envy.

Brioche is a thing and I don't mean the bread. I mean the knitting stitch and I love it. I have loaded several patterns from ravelry and I have a plan to knit some of them. Brioche was initially made popular by designer Nancy Marchant. You can see her beautiful designs on website Brioche Stitch. It involves knitting with two contrasting yarns and you create this beautiful raised pattern. This has since grown and Stephen West of WestKnits has run with it. American born designer has lots of beautiful patterns based on this stitch. I have a few and ordered his most recent collection Bundled in Brioche. It's been fun getting updates when a new pattern has been loaded on to it. The above image is actually from another collection that I also have in my library. This is by Knit Graffiti a designer I came across thanks to Instagram. The good thing about these designs is that they look fantastic with a variegated yarn and a contrasting solid colour.

 Wool and the Gang is a company I came across via Instagram (Instagram has a lot to answer to). It was started by textile designers who were fed up with factory reproductions in fashion. They wanted to help encourage individuality in fashion and this is how it came about. You should go to their About page and read more on it. It makes for an interesting read. It appealed to me because of the images of chunky knits and their pop up stores in London over the Christmas period. I haven't purchased any of their yarn but heard only good things about it. Would be interested though to hear if any of you have knitted with their yarn.

Lastly I leave you with one for those who love crochet and colour. This person isn't selling anything. She doesn't appear to have a blog or facebook page or even and etsy page. Instead she shares beautiful images of her work. I have long been an admirer of her beautiful work and her colour choices. It isn't often that I don't ooh and ahh over her images. She's another person that I found thanks to Instagram.

Apart from that last one you can find all of the above list in one of my pages. Either Craft Blogs, Craft tutorials (brioche) or Craft Shopping. In fact I have created a section for events on the blogs page just for the yarn festival and yarndale.

What's New In February

I love discovering new things in the crafting world. It can be an instagram account filled with gorgeous socks or rainbow crochet or it can be a podcast that I tell myself I need to listen to when I have more time. I think the fact that I love that sort of thing shows in my pinterest posts. However, my interest isn't purely peeked by pinterest. I come across these things through magazines, word of mouth or by pure happenstance. I always think that I need to remember to share that. Sadly, I always forget and so I have started a new monthly post where I don't forget these things and share them with you.

First up is a relatively new blog which I have grown to love. It's called Knit Purl Hook and I first came across it through beautiful crochet images on instagram. The author of the blog doesn't update regularly but when she does there is usually a pattern or a tutorial in there. I love seeing her posts on instagram. I think we have a similar taste in colours. I also plan on having a go at her easy peasy flower squares one day.

I came across this book via Purl Soho (a blog and website I have mentioned before). I have since ordered the book and can't wait to read it. I love a travel writing book. They make me want to go out and explore. They also make me insanely jealous that I can't just drop everything and travel the world. This is a travel book. Better yet it's a travel book by a knitter and yarn spinner. This is going to take a few weeks to arrive but I have a feeling it will be worth the wait. I promise to review it here as soon as I have read it. You can order your own copy here (or better yet go to your local yarn store/ book store as they may already have it).

A short list for this month but I thought I would round it off with something I find incredibly cute. I think most of you will have seen these boxed monthly subscriptions that are doing the rounds. It all started with graze and has went from there. My personal favourite is Birch Box but as this is a craft blog and not a make up blog I won't be talking about that. There is such a thing as Little Box of Crochet. You can subscribe on a month by month basis for a box which will contain a crochet kit. I love this idea. I also like their instagram page which has a lot of fantastic crochet images.

So there we have some of my favourite finds for this month. Hope you liked them as much as I do. I would also love to hear about some of the things you have come across as I am always on the lookout for something new and unusual.

New York! New York!

Starting off with an image that shows a very blank piece of aida isn't the best way to gain attention for a post. There is a reason for it though, I promise. A few years ago I posted this photo on instagram. I was on a break from my blog so it wasn't posted here. The point was that I was starting a new project and this would be the first and last progress photo for fear that a very good friend of mine would see it (as a fellow instagramer she would have and would have known instantly it was for her).

 

That blank aida became this New York scene (a kit from DMC). As soon as I saw this I knew that I had to make it for my friend who is New York obsessed. My one visit to this city was with her and she herself has been many many times.  Well, I started this in 2013. Finished it late in 2014. My poor friend finally received it last week. Thankfully she was unaware that she was waiting on it.

I loved stitching this project. Despite all the many shades of grey (possibly 50). I deliberately left all the colour until the end. I thought it would give me something to look forward to. Maybe if I hadn't taken such huge breaks between it would have been a problem. As it is I actually enjoyed watching this New York scene reveal itself. More importantly my friend seemed to like it.