Sock yarn Mash-up

It’s no secret that I love a good self stripe yarn. But while I have been really good at knitting my way through my leftover solid sock yarns (with my massive garter ripple squish blanket for example), I’ve been less successful at dealing with the nearly 500g leftover striped sock yarn - nearly all of it from the West Yorkshire Spinners Birds collection.

Socks for me or my boys take around 60g yarn (although they are now growing rapidly) but that means that I have an awful lot of significant leftovers of around 40g or so. I always felt that the bold stripes needed their own showcase and that they might overwhelm a mitered square blanket or something similarly large, and so I did what I usually do - shove them into a bag and prevaricate.

But this recent lockdown saw me rootling through my stash in search of inspiration and I suddenly had the idea of knitting these yarns as a mash-up. One colour repeat of one ball alternated with a full colour repeat of another.

I gave my boys the task of pairing yarns - and first up was my youngest son who chose the Bullfinch colourway paired with a Christmas yarn from last year. I did my usual toe-up sock with a fish lips kiss heel for speed and they practically flew off the needles. I had almost forgotten how quickly self stripe yarns can zoom along.

I was so pleased at how they knit up - and they were instantly seized by my son - always a sure sign of a winner. I’m now cruising along with a Blue Tit/Goldfinch combination which is going to be nothing if not colourful! Watch this space - possibly with sunglasses for an update.

Things to craft during a lockdown - that aren't knitted hearts

I’m not going to add fuel to the fire here but I think most knitters and crocheters will have seen requests for hearts to donate to Intensive Care Units up and down the country. Apart from the questionable logic of sending items into critical care areas during a pandemic, and the suspiciously similar wording which to me screams ‘scam’ it dawned on me that there are surely some more practical and tangible uses we could put our needles to right now.

Rainbows have become a real symbol of positivity and hope during this crisis and many people are placing them in their windows for children and others to spot on their daily walks. I’ve seen lovely chalked rainbows on pavements, kids drawings on sheets of craft paper and some brilliant knitted and crocheted ones.

Rainbow of Unity by Kerry Jayne Designs

And for the knitters - there is a knit version by the very talented Sincerely Louise - which can be found on her blog

Nurse Mates by Esther Braithwaite

Type ‘bunting’ into Ravelry and you’ll find some great examples

And if you are looking to make things now, to save for future donations how about:

Premature baby hats

Hats for the homeless

Mitts or gloves

NICU baby blankets

At such a difficult time we all want to do things that help our fellow humans and the feeling of helplessness in the face of a constant barrage of awful news is very real. I’m not trying to be trite here but to sincerely suggest some projects that might help with that awful ‘I must do something’ feeling - but yet won’t risk overwhelming services that are already stretched to breaking point.

Please craft responsibly

Safe At Home KAL

As we near our second week of lockdown here in my part of the UK, things are starting to settle a little into our new-for-now routine and my mind is able to think about knitting again.

I thought now might be a good time for a friendly little KAL to give us something to focus on and give us a good excuse to rootle through our stash? (new purchases are of course permitted, where still available)

I have put together a #SafeAtHomeKAL bundle on Ravelry where a few of my patterns are available with a 25% discount (no code needed) and obviously I would love it if you were to pick a pattern from this to knit. Although as we aren't at home to the knitting police, if you wanted to knit something else that's totally fine too.

Also, if finances are not great right now I have set the Fuss Free Festival shawl to be free for the next month - so do please feel free to download that one too

To give us time to get our supplies together I thought a start date of Monday 6th April would probably work - that way we have the weekend to decide on a pattern and some yarn.

If you’d like to join in, please share your progress either in the Everyday Knitter FB group or on social media with the hashtag #SafeAtHome

A Letter from Home

“To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart” Phyllis Theroux

This quote was posted on Instagram by the very talented @giuliawrites recently as part of a project she is running at the moment. As so many of us find ourselves inside with our thoughts and feelings, letter writing is one way that we can express ourselves - in a deeper way than with tweets or phone calls. Giulia is collating a series of letters and inviting others to participate in her project too. So here’s mine.

A Letter from Home

The calendar tells me that today is the 1st April, and the blossom buds outside my window seem to be in full agreement. My brain is struggling to process this though, having effectively lost a month to illness, self isolation and now of course a ‘lockdown’

All of these are such negative terms though and now that I’m feeling better I am trying hard to think of things in a more positive light. I haven’t ‘lost’ a month, but I have spent a month getting over a nasty bug (possibly Coronavirus, possibly not - who knows), helping other family members get over their illness in turn and learning more about patience than I ever thought possible.

I have adapted to a new way of living and working - almost overnight. Making it up as we go and finding solutions that work for our 2 kids and 2 adults working at home. 

Like everyone else, we are all just making it up as we go along. No one has experienced anything like this before. We truly are living in exceptional times and we need to remember that and speak kindly to ourselves - using the same tone that I use to my children when they come to me seeking reassurance.

I’m finding great comfort in focusing on the small everyday things around the house just now. Enjoying those little moments of calm, that cup of coffee sat on the doorstep in a patch of sunlight, listening to the birds who seem to be on nest-building overdrive. There are moments of calm, even joy, in every day. The trick is to spot them when they are happening.

Being confined to the house, being limited in what groceries we can buy and when, being uncertain and fearful of the future - this is a reality for so many people now. But it has been a reality for a long time for those members of society with a chronic illness or who find themselves isolated for whatever reason. The fact that now I find myself facing these issues really highlights my own privilege in a way that is starkly unavoidable.

I have no answers and no magic solutions to this. Just a hope that when this passes, and it will eventually, we emerge with a renewed appreciation for what we have, for our freedoms and hopefully a greater understanding of the struggles of others.

Wishing and Hoping

Wishing and Hoping

I hope you are well.

It's such a simple statement isn't it. One which, up until recently we said almost casually, without thinking. Now of course those few words bring up so many feelings and emotions.

Expressing a sincere hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well as we navigate through these difficult, emotional times.

I usually find solace in my knitting but I have to confess that there have been times during this past week where I couldn't bring myself to pick up the needles at all. 

At other times, it has been a wrench to put it away, so desperately have I needed something to focus my mind on. I decided to carry on with my planned projects and at times when I was feeling calm and in control I picked up this baby blanket and knit on it, trying my hardest to put good karma and good thoughts into the stitches.

In a few short months a good friend will be wrapping her much anticipated, precious baby in this blanket (hopefully) and I wanted it to capture all of my good wishes and hope for this beautiful new life. The world it is welcomed into might be a scary place right now, but this will pass (although it might not feel like it right now). Eventually we will be able to celebrate the baby's birth, have a wild party, hug each other and celebrate life.

For now, we can't do those things. But a warm and comforting blanket might just be the next best thing.

If you are on my mailing list please do check your email for a special discount on this pattern which goes on sale this weekend. Or, if not please use code WISHINGEB for a 25% early bird discount (until March 31st)

It's OK to not be productive

It's OK not to not feel like knitting
It's OK to not feel productive
It's OK to just sit and look out of the window

I don't know about you but I'm feeling overwhelmed by the smallest things right now. Not least the plethora of adverts and messages on social media telling me now is the perfect time to learn a language or do that course.

Turns out that no, it really isn’t

I'm having a hard enough time keeping it together in front of the kids, doing all the usual mum stuff and getting our house ready for who knows how many weeks of two adults and two kids working from home in a small 3 bed semi.

Mercifully my temperature blanket has become my knitting of choice right now. Absolutely no need to think, plan or wind yarn. Just sit down and knit in the allotted colour for the day.

Who knew at the start of the year that my blanket would be something I actively enjoy working on. I thought I'd have reached the tedium stage by now but it turns out that’s exactly what my brain needs.

I'll be ignoring all marketing emails and unsubscribing from anything that tells me "now is the perfect time to..."

Unless of course it is "now is the perfect time to prune your social media and eliminate all unnecessary crap"