Blacker Yarns KAL

I Heart Stripes

Today marks the start of the Blacker Yarns KAL - an event which celebrates the wonders of the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. Running from now until EYF itself, participants can knit anything they like as long as they use Blacker Yarns. 

All the details can be found on the Blacker Yarns Ravelry group - a fabulously chatty thread with lots of ideas for patterns and yarns.

I have been lucky enough to design 3 shawls with Blacker Yarns including I Heart Stripes- above - which was knit out of the first batch of Cornish Tin. To celebrate the KAL I am offering a 50% discount off any or all of these 3 shawls to KAL participants- just pop over to the Blacker Yarns group for all the details and see what everyone else is up to.

In my head

Rusty Ferret Doll 4ply sock yarn

In my head this is already the most fabulous pair of socks. I can envision exactly how they will look, the type of heel and the smooth stocking stitch on the sole and toe will look amazing in this slightly semi solid yarn.

All I have to do is actually knit them and write the pattern. Sounds simple but so many times what is in my head doesn't translate to the finished item. Either the stitch count won't work out as I need it to or the yarn and pattern fight with each other. Or sometimes, for no good reason it just looks wrong.

Such are the perils of designing but also of knitting in general. All too often we start off a fresh project with such excitement, already picturing ourselves wearing the most fabulous finished garment. About a third of the way into the project though things can be very different. We worry about gauge and the texture of the fabric, maybe we aren't happy with some element of the construction or we start to question whether we really need a lime green bulky yarn cardigan in our lives. In short, there is often a mismatch between our excitement at the start of a project and the reality of said project once it starts to take shape.

But as knitters we have control over what we produce. We can stop and assess - or flinging it into a corner is also a good option. There is nothing wrong with ripping back and starting again - and as a designer that's something I've had to get used to.

A stiff gin helps with the frogging process though 

Toe-up Tuesday

Sometimes you come across a hashtag idea and can't believe that it isn't more of a thing. So it was with #toeuptuesday. I thought of it whilst I was shopping for groceries (oh, the glamour of my life) and I couldn't wait to come home, get online and see who was using it.

I was a tad surprised to find that very few people were using it apart from a few random dancers/gymnasts. It seemed to be as though if ever a day of the week was made for a hashtag then this was it. I am a little bit biased however, as toe-up is by far my favourite way to knit a sock.

I would love to spread the word for this fabulous hashtag and get some serious love for #toeuptuesday going. Wouldn't it be fun to check in on Instagram and see a parade of fun, colourful sock toes staring back at you.

So why not share a picture of your toe-up socks in progress, or maybe a photo of your favourite finished pair. Let's spread the word and give #toeuptuesday the fame it deserves.

The language of knitters

A friend shared this graphic in a Facebook group I belong to it and I was at once struck by two things. First, how familiar I was with this knitters language  (except TOAD - that was a new one on me) and second, how baffling these words would seem to a non knitter. 

It got me thinking a little about why we use these words and the meaning they serve.

The main reason I guess is that a shared language gives us shared meaning and a sense of inclusion and community. When we use the same words we automatically tell another knitter "Yes, I am one of you too". It helps to foster a sense of friendship and camaraderie, especially in online communities where we can't rely on face to face methods of non verbal communication.

Use of specific language also helps to distinguish us from non knitters and to reinforce our sense of exclusivity and community. Any community or group, be they scientists, engineers or lawyers have their own specific acronyms and language that marks them out as different and separate from 'everyone else' and the language of knitters is no exception.

It must be a little daunting though as a new knitter to come across these terms. When you are struggling to grasp the concepts of gauge and blocking, to read about WIPs and SABLE must leave you with your mind reeling. Or if you have been knitting for years but are new to the online communities then again, it must seem like a whole new world.

I don't really know where I am going with this and certainly I don't think the use of such language is in any way wrong. I guess it just made me think about our use of language and to be more aware when communicating online with new knitters. And just to be mindful that not everyone shares the same language (yet) as I do.

Ido love to know what you think of this. Do you love the sense of fun and community that using such terms fosters or do they annoy you and you'd rather call a spade a spade? 

NNow if you'll excuse me I need to go and rescue my vanilla WIP from the frog pond.

Delving into the stash

It has been a pleasure to explore my stored sock yarn this week following on from a conversation started by Jo Milmine of the Shinybees podcast. If you haven't heard her podcast do check it out for fab knitting rants, comedy banter and great enabling.

In recent weeks she has been talking about her project for 2017 of Active Stash Exploration. All about the stories our Yarm could tell if only it could speak. Stories of adventure, exploration and creativity.

Inspired by this I delved deep into my sock yarn drawer and found this fabulous skein - bought when I had just embarked on my love affair with self striping yarn. Sadly the dyer, Eaden  Yarns is no longer dyeing but this great skein - appropriately named Retro - is now out of my drawer and on my needles.

If you would like to check out the #activestashexploration project just use the hashtag on social media and enjoy some fabu loud yarn tales.

Weekend Knitting

Is it just me or do you like to have a special project set aside for some quality 'weekend knitting' time? For me, weekend knitting means 'no work knitting' unless I have a deadline looming and I like to pick something from my WIP basket to work on during those long uninterrupted Sunday mornings in bed (OK, I must confess that I have drifled off into fantasy land at this point).

Fantasy weekends aside though, I do find it really helpful to have 1 fun project on the needles that I know I can focus on and make some serious progress on, whenever we are doing family stuff or if we are out and about.

This weekend I will be mostly knitting on my current obsession. It isn't a Find Your Fade - although I love some of the versions I'm seeing. But it is my interpretation of playing with some of the speckled yarns from my stash.

It's quite addictive knitting so far so I'm hoping that this weekend will see some serious speckled growth.