Skeinspotting

And back to work..............

I can't tell you what I am working on at the moment with regard to knitting. All I can say is that it has a Christmas theme and so will be published before December.

My most exciting news is that despite not being fit to travel (won't spoil anyone's dinner by saying why) I have booked my tickets to New Zealand. I will be seeing my niece for the first time since she was 16mths old and my nephew for the very first time. I shall be in NZ for about a month, travelling back on 1st Jan (it's cheaper to fly on an important holiday rather than before or after) and have every intention of continuing with my Erssie Knits projects whilst there. I always carry my design journal so that I can sketch and plan, NZ has to be the best place to get stuff for swatching and I now have a couple of knitters working with me who can handle any immediate UK projects.


Erssie Knits is ticking over just as I would like it to, my projects are for fun and any money earned (not a lot normally) I just use to spend on materials either for charity or for more knitting adventures. Recently, there has been a bit of pocket money that has tempted me into commissioning a hat from www.woollywormhead.com
I have been trying to support my fellow crafters by ordering the odd thing here and there. I have also asked www.pixeldiva.co.uk to knit a shrug for me, I have the yarn honestly but haven't been to my knitting group AngelknitsLondon since June! I have also purchased stitchmarkers from www.annarella.co.uk
and a pair of alpaca socks from Noblin Knits in the past. I think that quite often crafters love to view other people's wares but in the back of their mind they feel that if they had the time they could make the item themselves so end up not buying it. I'm trying to be realistic, I love Ruth Paisley's textiles, I'm never going to be able to spin like her and despite being able to knit and crochet accessories myself, I want to wear something different. I love some of the loose gauge knits Ann did this year, if I made her shrug for myself it woudn't be like that so where's the variety? As for knitting socks, I don't have the drive or dexterity to knit myself something in such a small gauge. Yes, variety is the spice of crafts.

Just seen Anna of Annarella's designs in Heather's new book, and I am envious. The book Not Your Mam's Knitting looks great and I will be ordering a copy. I do hope I can get to Angelknits Tues to see a copy!

I worked on a book which is out about now but sadly I haven't seen a copy. Neither have I been paid for a single penny for the work I did on that. Annoying because I sacrificed a lot of my own projects and donated my own designs to this book. There is always a chance the situation will be resolved but it has left a bad taste in my mouth, and it has put me off publishing. A shame as I had hoped to put together a book of my own and thought that working on someone else's book would give me a feel for what it was like. There is another book I worked on too and I haven't been paid for that either. My projects I am working on at the moment will be publisheed at Christmas but as it is for charity, I won't be paid for that. Looks like I'll have to stick to the ethos of knitting and crocheting for fun only. I hope that I won't be using this blog to whine but thought I'd just mention the publishing problems as a kind of warning to other crafters. Get a contract or written agreement first!