Is this inappropriate or not?

It's another morning when a cheery Instagram image seems sadly inappropriate. Another morning when with a heavy heart I turn away from social media - unable to bear the grief and suffering of others. 
My sunny yellow nail varnish put on yesterday seems totally out of place and as for my fun pink flamingos... But then, I'm not sure what the alternative is. We can't stop doing what makes us happy, what makes us human. We can't not reach out to people and share our lives because if we do that we really are giving in to terror and letting those sad excuses for human beings shape or world into something we don't want it to be.

So, I'm just going to sit here and knit for a bit, quietly enjoying the process and trying to think about all the things that make our world a better place to be.

Morning Pages - a hug in shawl form

Morning Pages.

Now I appreciate that my timing may be a little off here but please indulge me. This shawl was originally conceived back in February but then had to be set aside for some commission work and it was a few months before it saw the light of day. As soon as it was finished though I knew that I just had to share it with you - because everyone needs a large worsted weight shawl in the middle of a summer heatwave - don't they?

It uses 3 skeins of the glorious Cumbria yarn (a worsted weight) from The Fibre Co and it was inspired by listening to the wonderful Kate of the A Playful Day podcast. She was talking about getting up early in the morning to work and write whilst her tot slept on, and even though my boys are a little older now, this is something I can totally relate to. Even now I often set the alarm for 5am to get my important tasks for the day out of the way before the rest of the house wakes. And our kitchen gets pretty cold in winter.

So, the Morning Pages shawl is a really generous, wrappable shawl which is technically semi-circular but is actually shaped like 3 sides of a square - but Ravelry don't have a classification for a three-quarters square. The garter stitch gives a great squishable texture and the contrast bands of stocking stitch really allow your chosen contrast colour to pop out. This is a great one to play with colour combinations and be a little adventurous.

Free patterns: when you might get more than you bargained for

There is an old adage that “There is no such thing as a free lunch” and never is that more appropriate than when dealing with the multitude of websites which are available these days - all offering Free Patterns. I’m not going to link to them as they have no need of any more free publicity but I’m sure you have all seen them crop up on Google searches at various times.

“No need to waste your money on buying patterns” they proclaim - often in loud shouty letters, offering to dazzle and delight the reader with their range of wonderful free patterns.

Whilst there is nothing wrong in principle with this type of website it’s worth bearing a few things in mind before taking them up on their oh-so-kind offer.

First of all, please bear in mind that many of these patterns are counterfeit - that is to say they are available for download without the permission of the designer. Whilst a pattern may be listed as a free pattern on Ravelry, this does not grant anyone else permission to distribute that pattern - either in printed or in electronic form. Often designers will offer a free pattern as a way of driving more visitors to their website or to their Ravelry designer page in the hope of increasing sales and awareness of their product. Having the pattern available elsewhere detracts from that and reduces the potential for further sales. There is a serious misconception among the knitting industry that just because a pattern is available as a free download it is available for anyone to use and distribute and many of these free pattern sites take full advantage of this lack of awareness.

In addition there have been an increasing number of cases where these ‘free download’ websites have been affected by viruses or other forms of malware. In some cases this may be malicious but often it is just the case that such sites are poorly run and administered and therefore may not be as assiduous in checking all their links as you might like.

 Viruses and malware aren’t just a problem with sites like this either. Patterns downloaded directly from individual’s blogs may also be a problem. This was pointed out recently on my Facebook group - I am knitting a sock yarn blanket the pattern for which was published on a blog several years ago. There is a Ravelry pattern page but to get the pattern you have to go to the blog website rather than downloading via Ravelry. Several people reported that they had problems with their PC after visiting the site and thankfully the Rav team were super speedy in responding.

It serves as a timely reminder though, that as used as we are to the instant gratification of downloadable patterns it is worth checking where your downloads come from. Sources such as Ravelry and Love Knitting are impeccable, I am very pleased to say as all patterns have to be uploaded to their servers before they can be activated.

If in doubt, as with anything, it’s best to double check before hitting that download button.

Fuelled by Prosecco

Holly Berry colour way, West Yorkshire Spinners

This weekend involved rather less sock knitting than I anticipated and rather more drinking Prosecco with friends. I didn't dare try to work on my socks after a couple of glasses of the fizzy stuff - mindful of the first rule of Stash Dash which is to avoid having to tink or rip back at all costs. Still, I'm not complaining at all. Warm sunny days when we can sit outside and enjoy good times with friends are few and far between.

It does mean that I am a little further behind in my plans than I wanted to be but that's fine. I have another pair well on the way to being finished and then I decide which of my bugger projects to work on. I just hope the weather cools down soon though. The thought of sitting with half of DHs woolly grey sweater of Doom in my lap is not an enticing one.

Rum Paradise, West Yorkshire Spinners

Short and sweet

It’s just a short blog post from me today. The bank holiday weekend is upon us here in the UK and the race is on to enjoy the warm sunny weather before the inevitable rain hits us. On the bright side, a rainy bank holiday is the perfect excuse to hole up inside and crack on with the knitting.

As I’m sure you all know by now (obsessed - moi?) Stash Dash has now begun and I can finally get round to liberating some sock needles from a lingering pile of sock WIPs.

The sun is shining and I’m outside with my sock knitting and my coffee. The house is quiet as everyone else has a lie-in so it’s just me and the cats. And the neighbourhood peacock trying his best to wake every living soul - but I’m ignoring him.

This photo was taken yesterday where I was doing much the same thing but obviously much more presentably attired. Trust me - no one needs to see my morning self with crumpled PJs.

In my head I envision a weekend full of a parade of finished socks lining up in front of me. As the house wakes and domestic duties take over I will still cling grimly to that hope and keep my knitting with me at all times to get the odd round in here and there. And if nothing else - I can use an emergency DPN to stab that infernal peacock,

It's all about the knitting - top tips for maximising your knitting time

At the risk of sounding a trifle obsessed my focus today is all about getting ready for Stash Dash - which starts tomorrow! I may have mentioned it once or twice before.

Success in Stash Dash (whatever your goal is) depends upon maximising your knitting time, and at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious you need to spend as much of your free time knitting and avoiding having to tink back or stop to hunt for supplies.

 With this in mind I am putting together a few project bags which have all of my essential supplies needed for socks and shawls - stitch markers, tape measures, waste yarn etc. I don’t know about you but in my house I can easily lose 10 minutes searching for a tapestry needle. And that crucial 10 minutes knitting time can be much better spent putting in an afterthought heel.

I know that not everyone shares my obsession but this year with time tighter than ever I have put together a few top tips to help me reach my 10K goal - I will report back later on how successful they are:

1. Round up all essential supplies and set up a “sock bag” and a “shawl bag” where my current projects can live while they are being worked on.

2. Do a quick inventory of larger projects and check what stage they are at. Do they need trying on or a decision made about length/fit/gauge - now is the time to decide so that you don’t waste valuable knitting time later on in a state of chronic indecision (no prizes for guessing how I know this).

3. Do you need to order more needles? I’m not joking - nothing is worse than getting to the crucial stage of a project and realising that you need a different size or that something is lost or broken.

4. Plan to curb screen time. This is a big one for me but I need to get my screen time under control if I’m going to make the most of my free time. I’ve downloaded an app called QualityTime to help me monitor how much time I spend online on my phone and I fully expect to be slightly shocked. If I manage to cut my screen time by even a quarter - that’s time that can be more gainfully employed.

5. Gather up local takeaway menus and put them on the fridge. I’m not planning to feed the kids pizza every night (although the thought did cross my mind) but a few easy meals and minimal kitchen time will mean that I can spend some of the precious early evening hours (before I’m too tired to function) getting some solid knitting time under my belt.

If you have any tips for squeezing more knitting time into the day I’d love to hear them. Every little helps, as they say.