I am off on my hols, well not a complete hol as I will be knitting, but no more sitting in front of the 'puter. I have been scurrying around putting together a few patterns to be published next month, and the deadline is 1 sep, I go away 29 August, so I have been stuck to the seat for HOURS mainly making my photos work, and the patterns needed grading and writing up....feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants but I am determined to get these done before I go away so I can be totally FREE on hols to start designing the next batch of stuff.

Here are a couple of pics, but without the knitwear as that is secret.

Firstly, I have the lovely Jenni walking like an Egyptian outside a tomb while she waited for us to decide what we were doing, and then we have Jenni looking coy on demand. The other photos are a lot more serious, honestly!

Good ol' Jen, she had to do some amazing clothes changes in the car and hobble around on her twisted ankle around an overgrown graveyard whilst getting attacked by brambles.

Hope it is worth it when the patterns come out! After all the styling and make up etc, sadly it is only certain bits of her body that get used for accessory knitwear but we had to take pics of all of her anyway.

Merry Xmas, Happy New Year and Farewell NZ, Hello UK

My first post of 2007!

We had a fantastic time in NZ. Just to prove I didn't neglect my knitting habits here is a pic of the magazines and books I bought in NZ and this doesn't include the ones I got for Xmas either. The book on top has designs by my knitting buddy Anna and it was a strange feeling seeing a photo of a person you know in a book on sale half way round the World.

I got some wonderful books for Christmas and my two favourites are these books which will be useful for helping my design sketches become less childish and my knitting motifs inspired from original styles but totally original as far as knitting charts go.



Here are some sheepskin slippers I bought whilst on my travels, see how they are held together with crochet? I might design some slippers of my own, a mixture of felting and crochet but for the time being I will be wearing these.

Just behind the slippers there is the view from our balcony at the Kimi Ora Resort and you can see part of the Abel Tasman National Park and the beach of Kaiteriteri. One of the ladies who works in reception at this resort is mad about knitting and so is her daughter. They love the idea of knitting clubs and have bought the Debbie Stoller Stitch n Bitch books. They tell me that the knitting trend is only just taking off in NZ How I would love to be over there and start up knitting clubs and workshops.

I did buy some NZ wool but as I mentioned before, for a land full of sheep the yarn on sale was very disappointing. However, for anyone wanting to start a business there, there are probably a lot of opportunities to be the 'first' in anything that has already been done in the UK or USA.

The 'weights' i.e. thickness of yarn in NZ varies a bit from the UK standard. They have 8 ply equivalent to our DK but their 10 ply is slightly thinner than our Aran or Worsted weight here. The yarn shops I went to did not have any of the Rowan, Debbie Bliss Jaeger etc that we are so used to seeing in our smaller yarn shops. In fact, in London we are quite spoiled for yarn despite the fact we all moan about difficulties of getting hold of stuff. The type of young and vibrant knitting community we have here is what I was very homesick for. The yarn shops in NZ were mostly frequented by 'homemakers' types who would have probably strung up garlic and a crucifix around their doorways if I had told them I was designing stuff for The Anticraft!

Talking of the Anticraft, it is no secret that they have a publishing deal and exciting that they will have a book coming out later this year.They have chosen 3 of my designs to be included in the book. These are totally original designs I have only sketched so far. Now I am home, I will be working on these for the rest of this month as the deadline for completion is end of January

New Zealand Adventures

I promise I have been doing some serious knitting. First of all I managed to sneak my circulars on to the plane but felt so naughty that every time a steward went by was flustered into making silly mistakes! After two attempts I made a standard K3 P2 ribbed hat for the little nephew which I won't show here. Here is me in our private spa bath in Kaikoura (NZ on the South Island), renamed The Spa of Doooooom! We seemed to pick up some unmentionable bugs in this lovely luxury hotel spa which has meant a lot of sleepless nights in separate beds. how romantic!

We spent our first week here in Wellie with my brother and his wife and kiddies. However, we headed off to the South Island mainly to experience the above creatures which Stevie snapped this morning on our amazing Dolphin Encounter trip in Kaikoura. With full wetsuit and hood and mask and snorkel we got into the sea on a beautifully calm day (freezing water though) and swam with a pod of about 500 dolphins. I cannot explain how wonderful this made me feel. They were not tamed in any way, totally wild and yet seemed to enjoy teasing and inviting us to play. You circle, they circle, you chase then turn and they chase you, occasionally bumping and brushing against you so gently at such a speed. Then they entertain you with the acrobatics you can see above. On a previous trip we saw the above Sperm whale and this morning as well as dolphins we came across seals lazing around on the rocks. There are strict rules here about observing marine mammals and not interfering etc so we were so lucky to be allowed into their world. I want to do it all over again! However, was a bit embarrassed about being rolled onto the boat afterwards like a big fat seal as I can't use my arms to grip to climb onto the boat.

Sorry for those of you wanting to read a knitting blog and finding cutesy animal travelling stories! Back to knitting, I have found it difficult to get normal decent stuff over here despite it being a sheepy place. I did manage to buy some cheap Merino, slightly felted and soft and cream but great for dyeing.

One other little bit of news, the Anticraft have a book coming out whoopee. I've had a few projects accepted for the book, double whoopee. however, can't really get the yarn I need to work on that here so no option but to wait until I return to London after my Big Adventure on The Land of The Long White Cloud.

New Zealand....See You Soon

Well it's not long now until I'm off to New Zealand, mainly to meet the pair on the right. Otis (nephew) and Aimee (niece and God daughter). However, I shall also be enjoying some really good scenery,travel and of course my beloved knitting. I have been trying to find New Zealand websites and blogs that will tell me what is going on down under.
It certainly doesn't seem as much of a public or networked community as we have here. However, I could be wrong. What if crafters there are luddites who are enjoying the simplicity of sticks and yarn without resorting to technology to advance themselves? What if I have got it totally wrong and find myself so absorbed with my blog, shop website that I eventually suck dry any creative enjoyment? Maybe we should abandon our keyboards, go outdoors and knit,knit,knit with nature all around?

Magic Loop v Just Knitting With 2 Circulars

However, if it weren't for my community at Angel Knits in London, how else would I have found out last night that what I thought was a 'magic loop' was in fact knitting with 2 circulars. Enjoyed last night immensely, even though our club was secondary to the Vintage Clothing sale and DJ/Breakfast at Tiffany's Club going on at The New Rose

"You're just knitting with 2 circulars!" they cried out in triumphant unison (they = Nikki and Ann). Here is what they explained to me regarding the two methods I had mixed up (thinking one was knitting with one circular and the other was the magic loop).

Magic Loop This is when you find a circular needle just doesn't shrink down with the circumference of your knitting in the round, your work is beginning to look a bit stretched. You pull a loop out to one side, keep that loop there and knit up to that point, then you need to pull the loop out from another place to make the next stitches slide right up against the ones just knitted so you can carry on. Your circular is too long and basically you are just taking up the slack at different places to compensate. Easy eh? Well, I tried this method when I had rubbishy circulars from years ago and if the 'wire' is brittle nylon, those stitches just want to pull apart and stretch in the wrong places and the loop isn't flexible enough.

Knitting with two circulars: I love dpns, even over straight needles and I own a huge collection with double sets in bamboo and birch. Aha, these are no good for discreet plane knitting though so I attempted to put into practice the idea of using two circulars which I thought (wrongly) involved one looping across the other with contact points but somehow used one to knit off the other. Ann sorted me out. Dvided stitches so half are on one ciruclar and half on the other. Knit half stitches on one circular with the opposite point of that circular until running out of stitches on that circular. Next knit ther half of the stitches on the other circular by bringing the opposite point of the same circular and knitting around. Then swap back to the first, repeat all of this knitting each sset of half the stitches but always usin the point of the same ciruclar so the stitches stay on the same circular throughout. Easy! Must do some photos you can download of this technique, when I get back from NZ of course.

I am not one to learn techniques for the sake of it. who would have guessed that I would need to abandon the dpns. so thank goodness for knitting communities you can see in the flesh!

Must also mention here that Ann has started spinning, Nikki has started dyeing and I am honestly impressed with their work. Ann has found she likes to spin quite fine gauge yarns which is wonderful to hear because the world has enough thick and thin candy coloured yarn around. Nikki's colours from some acid dyes are not at all 'candy' like. However they are parrot like, I've just bought some yarn which retains a wonderful sheen whilst being dip dyed to a variety of tropical hues which I loved when I saw. Look out for an adult earflap hat or beret, which I will try to make in New Zealand if I can. I will mkae the pattern available to Nikki for her Fluffenstuff clients.


You can see more of what is available at Fluffenstuff

New Zealand

OK, first I hear that there is no way I can knit on circulars,dpns or even crochet with a wooden hook on Air New Zealand. Now I hear that bringing in any 'unprocessed wool or animal hair' including yarns is as bad as smuggling heroin! How far can I stretch the fact that my Cashmere Silk Merino has been processed, i.e. treated and spun in a factory. Surely it doesn't count as animal fur/fleeces etc straight from the animal and therefore carrying disease? Why if I knitted that yarn into a hat would it be any different from yarn? Are they going to stop me from bringing in my already knitted woollens? Gosh, I have been posting hand knitted items to my nephew and niece for years,at any time I could have been arrested as a smuggler then!


Evil sheep with their jockeys making a charge for customs men in Auckland last year. All were caught, fined and extradited to Devon, UK where they continue to race to raise money for other sheep not so lucky and detained in Auckland Penitentiary

Coldharbour Mills Yarns

Coldharbour Mills is a working wool museum and I visited it on my way back from Devon. Sadly, I arrived at an awkward time to do the tour but bought some good wool yarns in the Mill Shop where I learned that the mill is shortly to close their doors to the public. I was disappointed and was pleased to hear though that they will continue to spin yarns in a good basic range of shades. It isn’t the softest Merino in the world but it is a good basic hardwearing yarn available in a variety of weights. The shiniest of these is the Aran weight Tartan Green, a colour that is reminiscent of pine trees i.e. a deep shade of green with a hint of blue to it. Luckily for me the mills conduct a mail order business and with a single request, they gave me yarns Free of Charge to work with on a design I am doing for this Samhain issue of the Anticraft

I panicked slightly today when I found that this issue is already up on line but the Anticraft have assured me it is an early publish and that they will include my design for a…………(wait and see) later this month. All I can say at the moment is that it is going to be demonic and detailed and possibly felted as I think the 100% Pure New Wool from Coldharbour will be ideal for that purpose.

My Very Special Birthday Gift

It was my birthday recently. I am now at an age when I want to freeze the number, no more birthdays please! However, my other half went out of his way to buy some extra special gifts, one of them being a beautiful wooden swift from the Hand Weavers’ Studio in Walthamstow. Here is a picture of me enjoying that spinning action. I just know that it is something that is going to grow old beautifully (unlike me) as the wood on the spindle becomes smoother with use. Also thanks to Claire Montgomerie ‘Monty’ a textiles artist and knitwear designer who has been there for a lot of my knitting/crochet queries and has always replied so quickly and honestly.

My partner Stevie who had no idea what a swift was, popped into Loop and spoke to Claire who sent him in the right direction for a very thoughtful gift. Here is a pic of me using it, I know it is blurred it is an action shot innit?

Holidays......

I had a wonderful holiday in Croyde. We stayed in a chalet with a stile at the end of the road and a path through the dunes to a wild beach. We were also near another surfer's paradise; a 3 mile beach with about 20 quaint beach huts. We rented a beach hut for the day and I took my knitting of course, some good books and lounged around in old fashioned deckchairs with cappucinos whilst my friend Steve went surfing. I will post some photos soon but as for contacts......well I am hoping that this part of Devon will stay unspoilt. As some of you may know, my surname is Cloutman and we were staying a few roads down from a Cloutman's lane which I found very exciting as my actual ancestors came from this area and owned a large farm which it is rumoured had it's boundary along Cloutman's Lane. Needless to say, what with cream teas and eating out I put on a stone in a week!