Handknit Heroes

I have just finished making the first project for Handknit Heroes, and am bound by absolute confidentiality......but couldn't wait to tell everyone how much I enjoyed knitting this/these

blank with blank & blanks
in the wonderful
blank blank blank blank yarns
and it only took me blank hours to do.
I just love this new blank blank blank blank, blank shade
which I knitted on blank blank needles

Will fill in the *blanks* next year when Stephanie lets it all out!

If you would like to win a couple of skeins of the blank blank yarns above, then email me erssiemajor@yahoo.co.uk
the above filling in the blanks with your guesses as to what this/these projects could possibly be and the person with the most blanks which are exactly right will win the yarn from my stash right after the details have been published.
Mortaine Publications Inc will also be giving a free copy to the first entrant with the most number of blanks correct. Keep on guessing! You may have 2 chances per entrant.

This is not open to the tech editor or any other people who worked on it though!

Not open to any of the tech editors though! Closes after publication of first issue of HKH. This competititon is for fun, and is to win yarn from my personal stash and is in no way connected to the publishers of Handknit Heroes who commissioned me as an independent artist to design and make a project for them

Email: erssiemajor@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Win Erssie's Stash Competition

Magazines

The magazine The Inside Loop is out, with its winter issue. My favourite is probably the Hippocampus mittens by Tori Seierstad as I love a bit of colourwork and support anyone who can see it through, for two pairs of mittens as well (yes, she did this 4 times!)
I also liked Kate Blackburn's Pablo socks, they are the exact colour I am looking for, though in a more solid shade for some socks I have in mind. Must look for some of that Wild Fire Fibres myself.

The other designs I liked in The Inside Loop were the Armenius Sweater by Kai Mistry (who has 2 sweaters in this issue....busy lady!) and Carol Ventura's vulture tapestry crochet bag.

Just in case you missed it when it went up, the Winter issue of Knotions magazine is also up. You had better go and look yourself, there are 22 patterns available to download. At quick glance, I really like the Coronet Cuffs because it is a small but practical little design unlike anything I have seen. However, I do feel the designer offered too much choice in another stitch pattern and yarn gauge, it is almost as if she worked both and could not see which design really stood out (I think one of them does, you tell me which one works for you?). If she was showing options, perhaps she should have knitted the same design but in different colourways perhaps one bright solid and one slightly variegated tweedy. Too much choice or a totally different type of stitch pattern or design can cause the whole effect to not latch onto a knitters brain.

I also have to mention of course that The Twist Collective winter issue is out, the production of the online mag is just like a print mag and has a wonderful format for browsing through colourful pages if you have the time, but as I am supposed to be knitting and not browsing, I didn't find it that easy to get straight to the meaty bits. There is another lovely design in there from Ysolde Teague, a green hoodie that i need to go back and view more closely. However, this wonderful coat caught my eye, not just the colour but the texture and style and wonderful photography of course.

Look people? No clutter in the background, outdoors with good light and an empty scene. It is easy really to get your composition right with a bit of effort. I failed a bit last weekend by rushing my Rubinette photos and then finding I had a chimney coming out of my model's head (not literally, just visually) and a green garden hose in the background, or just a garden of bare earth. I should work a bit harder on the location and timing, but we had no choice. The photos we went there to take though, which are confidential are fantastic, it was just the extras that we rushed.





Yes, you can't beat a knitted hooded coat in red ( Sylvi by Mari Muinonen) really for its drama and fairytale qualities. Talking of red, I asked a few people to try out the Rubinette pattern below in other colours, and also people knitting it up who bought the pattern have tried different yarns and it has worked out well in any worsted/aran and any shade really, so that is good.

Here Are a Few More versions of Rubinette made by other knitters I love it in blue. This is Lionbrand Wool knitted by I Love Wool (Ravelry name)
This next black version is by Kate Blackburn
in Cygnet Wool Rich Aran which I have here actually in Cranberry, Black and Denim Blue.
However, I still love the Cashmerino Aran for the sheer luxury of it. And lastly a white one by Joey Edwards in Pendleton Woolworks; Natural color (off white) Next I would love to see a pink, or a purple version or perhaps green or orange.
Anyone wanting to try those shades can get a free pattern from me but in return for giving feedback and taking notes on your version.

New Erssie Knits Pattern

I made this hat for myself, rather than design for a commission. I went shopping last week and saw a huge variety of very loose beanies. They weren't tams and they weren't berets, they were just elongated and as popular at the moment amongst teens and twenties as the Palestinian scarf/wrap (which I still have from many yrs ago)

I thought, oooh I'll make a new hat just for me. Then I did my usual thing of adding and adding detail overcomplicating the design and making it take longer to knit than one of my commercial projects. I dumped all those ideas, and made myself knit something in a very simple stitch pattern so it would only take a couple of hours. I did the decreases on the inside. Rather than do P2tog, I knitted it inside out, and so I could clearly see the decrease lines as I was working. These could be a feature, rows of single spiral knit stitches. However, I turned mine inside out and had more subtle purl decrease lines disappearing into the pattern.

I still love this yarn as well, it is the easiest to wear when you have a bit of an allergy to scratchy wool. I am now going to go off and try a chunkier ribbed beanie like some of the others I saw when shopping.

I called the hat Rubinette after a rosy red variety of apple a bit like a Pippin

"Rubinette is a modern apple variety developed in Switzerland between 1964 and 1982*, and also known and trademarked as Rafzubin. Switzerland is perhaps not the first country that comes to mind when considering the development of new apple varieties, but don't let the lack of track record put you off, Rubinette is an exceptional apple and anyone who appreciates apple flavours should certainly try to get hold of some Rubinette apples - you won't be disappointed."
Extract from the http://www.orangepippin.com/ website

* These are the exact years Erssie developed from infant to adult!

Rubinette
Yarns: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran or other Worsted
Needles: 5mm dpns or circs

This simple hat pattern in a textured checks pattern is available for £1.50

An Old Erssie Knits Crochet Pattern

By the way, it is still not too late to buy a Red Poppy for Remembrance Day crochet pattern. This pattern is no longer available as a single pattern but it can be found in the book Hookorama by Rachael Matthews.

It only takes 15 mins to make, and you can wear it all year or pin it on a favourite homemade bag.