Happy Birthday To Me.................

Yes, it is my birthday, or was last week and above is one of my pressies, the Vogue Knitting book which contains the best of articles and features that have appeared in the magazines over the last 25yrs. So it contains gems by Meg Swanson, Elizabeth Zimmerman, Nicky Epstein and others. I love it. I do like the fact it contains some tables of standard sizes with measurements on that you don't normally find in dressmaking tables and are just perfect for sweater knitting.

It doesn't contain many glossy pics of designs, or any patterns as such, which actually is a welcome change. Just good old fashioned advice and tips and tricks.

I had hoped to make it to the V & A fashion couture exhibition for some vintage inspiration and a birthday treat, however, I just was not well. I had a few days in bed, and kept being sick and inhaling it...horrid! Probably reflux and need to go back on the drugs that make my food travel in the right direction.

I also got some much needed dpns for my birthday.




And I went to see the film Atonement. I greatly enjoyed the treatment of this novel by Ian McEwan. I had enjoyed the novel but it can leave you with a feeling of emptiness, there is such intensity at the beginning of the story and detail, and it all seems to be leading somewhere....and then? See it for yourself.

I have always enjoyed the writing of Ian McEwan, I remember back in the 1980's when I read his short stories his writing was generally thought shocking in the circles I was moving in. If you haven't read any of his books, try Enduring Love, which is a brilliant analysis of relationships with an absolutely thrilling opening involving a hot air balloon.

And Clara is born

Clara Kathleen Thorp was born last week, and I had already knitted the Ice Baby Beanie (pattern available with Hip Knits silk).




I also knitted this babyset, I know I rarely knit in pastels preferring to knit in brights or black for little babies whose parents just prefer more alternative clothes. However, Clara is such a traditional name and her parents love classical styles so I used Debbie Bliss baby Cashmerino in pink and Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino in off white, but knitted on 4mm dpns and 3.5mm dpns giving a very stretchy knit.

The colours are very antique and far better than the Barbie type of pink.
It is a very straightforward pattern, however, if any beginner knitters contact me and want the pattern, I am prepared to write one up for hat and socks and put it up as a free download.

I also made this which is a very very easy ribbed beanie in DB Cotton Angora. Once again, I would write up the pattern and donate if anyone was interested. I tend to think though, that most people can manage to knit a beanie without a pattern.

My Holiday Pics

I have finally got around to copying the photos from holiday. Here they are. I feel homesick for Cornwall already. Needless to say quality time with the pooches and relaxing knitting time were the best ever. Will I ever be able to move back home to my beloved West Country?

Above is the cottage we stayed in and our 2 relaxed hounds. See more of their holiday antics here

Also, we visited Bodmin jail,
and there was a rather ropy historical
installation of two women
in the stocks, one of who
knitted the hoursaway
(a true story)

We didn't get onto the beach much, with one of the hounds having an ulcer in his paw the sand was not such a good idea. There was a lot of lounging around on the bed reading. I read The Other Boleyn Girl Phillipa Gregory, and I am ashamed to say, I had avoided this book expecting a trashy historical romance and yet I was absolutely riveted and in awe of the detail, I didn't care how innacurate it might have been, I just got swept away with the story. I then went on to read The Sixth Wife Suzannah Dunn and enjoyed that too. Staying in an old blacksmith's cottage in the private valley made me come over all historical. My mother read a historical novel by someone called Victoria Holt, and I wondered if Phillipa Gregory was the same person with another nom de plume.


As I get older, and have fewer friends I can discuss books wth, I am finding myself less cynical about reading a good story without the need to learn something or save concepts for discussion. Oh dear! what next? Mills and Boon? What are your guilty pleasures (books I mean)?

There is a lot of socking going on...

I can't really show the whole thing or offer any kind of description or explanation, but here is a little bit of a tease, some bits and pieces of socky stuff going on. I am not idle, far from it!


I have spent such a long time on this project, mainly because of the self striping yarn which I wanted to work in a particular way and would only do so on a very specific no of stitches and needle sizes.

However, I am now on the sock proper and the swatches have paid off.

Short Row Heel, Short Row Heaven...At Last!

After knitting many mini heels, I have finally perfected my short row heel technique so that there are no spaces, no holes and no unsightly bits of twisted wrap on the right side of the work. So this my preferred method although no pics yet, the above is someone else's short row heel, not mine.

1. Knit to last stitch, yfwd, slip 1 p- wise, yb, slip stitch back on to LH needle and turn.

2. Instead of purling across, pull tight and slip 1 p-wise then purl to last stitch

3. yb, slip 1 p-wise yfwd, slip stitch back onto LH needle and turn,

4. Instead of knitting across, slip 1st st p-wise, then knit to last st unwrapped.

Continue like this until desired number of sts wrapped, i.e. unwrapped sts in centre are the correct width for the back of heel.

Then to lengthen rows again

1. Knit to first wrapped stitch. Use RH needle point, pick up wrap with tip on wrong side, and twist at back of work then K wrap and stitch together, turn

2. Sl 1 p-wise, purl across to first wrapped stitch and this time use tip of RH needle down to pick up wrap on front, still the wrong side of the work and twist and purl wrap and stitch together, turn

3. Sl 1 pwise then knit to next wrapped stitch....etc

Continue until all wrapped stitches are knitted again, but on the last knit row, pick up wrap and knit across to join back into round, then pick up the purl wrap as you come around again, this avoids any nasty little holes but you can put a couple of extra stitches to avoid a little hole or gap, then decrease these stitches away on next rounds if you wish.

Being consistent in how you pick up your wraps, and twisting them tightly makes sure no unsightly blobs occur and make sure you do this on the wrong side of the work, you will find a little line shows on the right side but no gaps. The gaps which I don't like on a non lacy sock, are avoided if each row knitting or purling back, the first stitch is pulled tight and slipped thus minimising the 'step that occurs between worked and unworked stitches.

Right, I am off to knit a full size heel (instead of my little dolly mini samples)............

Holiday Socks, Knitting in Stocks

And a Museum that Rocks!

I had a fantastic two week holiday in Cornwall in a relaxing Blacksmith's Cottage in a private valley, I could have lived there forever and forever. I wasn't idle though, I managed to knit some socks for my Sister in Law in a Lorna's Laces Sheperd Sock shade Devon. I used a variation on a mock cable rib and a standard Dutch type heel with a flap. I also knitted a pair of socks for myself in Lorna's Laces sportsweight shade Flames, and although you can't really see it here, it is knitted in a wide rib.



I don't often put up WIP as I prefer to show the finished blocked item, but here is an enormous sock for my partner. This is a standard ribbed sock in Artesano Hummingbird DK in shade Pheasant and is designed to be a close fitting high legged boot sock to be worn inside waterproof biker's boots. I did finish the first sock, but put this aside to work on some Tofutsie socks which has caused me some grief over the strange pooling that has occured. I am so happy knitting socks, I can understand why people keep going and specialise in these accessories.

As well as getting invloved in my own knitting, I also met a knitstrologist who writes the horoscopes for Knit 1 (Vogue) under the name of Pearl Wise (get it?) and I saw some cute little bags knitted by a local textiles artist.

I absolutely loved the knitted poppets I saw in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle and read about the significance of knitting in casting spells. I am determined to knit some of my own poppets and supply a pattern to the Anticraft. We need a basic quick knit doll we can adapt for various uses. These uses being for binding and protection and not for malicious uses.

We also visited Bodmin Jail and were most amused to find an installation of a woman knitting in the stocks. she was sentenced to sit in the double stocks for a period of days, but passed the time pleasantly by knitting whilst her neighbour who had a bad leg screamed and cried the whole time. I will post some pics of the stocks when my holiday mate has finally got around to giving me the JPEGS (I stupidly forgot to take my own camera).


All in all I had a very relaxing and knitty kind of holiday. You would love the cottages hidden in a private valley with the sounds of Buzzards, Falcons and owls and the gentle watery sounds of a little stream whilst sitting in a private garden knitting like mad. I felt so happy there, I shed a tear or two when I came back to London and discovered chore after chore that needed doing, as well as the stress of my pro projects that need to get done.

Holidays!

Lily, Dizzy and Stevie and I are away. We will be staying here, near the sea. Plenty of knitting of socks and gloves will be going on, but NO blogging or emailing so see you all in 2nd week of September. If you read this first, then try not to email me until then, I am dreading the opening of the mail when I get back.

Vogue Knitting Fall/Anniversary Issue

I have just received the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting. It has loads of cover designs inside the one above, all knits are in greys and silver yarns to celebrate this magazine's 25th year. I was really excited as I flicked through. I do love this magazine and I know that when I am looking at it, I am not browsing for something to wear or something practical to knit, I am looking for innovation and inspiration and simple touches that make me green with envy I didn't do it first. And I am rarely disappointed. Even if something is not practical or a garment I would wear, I can admire the photography and think about what I would have done with a particular story.


This magazine does have class, even if it is criticised as being far too couture and not enough practical designs for real shapes. That is the idea though, that there should be a standard of knitting that rivals catwalk shows we see in other areas of the Fashion Industry and that these sorts of presentations should be wild and exaggerated and that the techniques or effects can be filtered down or watered down and act as inspiration for our own designs at street level.

We should celebrate as well, that somehow, a team of people who have worked their socks off have achieved looks that are far from lumpiness people associate with knitting. Quite often my non knitting acquaintances remark that they wouldn't want something hand knitted, that they don't like 'knitting', but are then totally surprised to find that they do indeed own knitting but wouldn't have defined it in that way.

I picked out some of my fave designs that have FREE patterns on the VK website and here they are. A 60's style shift dress, I love the simple A-line and the layout of Fair Isle lozenges. This sort of clothing is the sort I would have worn in the 80's being a follower of retro fashion of the 50's and 60's.

I also like this sweater dress. I can see this being worn over jeans, this is such a simple but striking design. Nothing too fussy or overcomplicated and proving that Vogue can be easy and does provide patterns for the beginner to intermediate knitters.

Who would have thought grey could be silver and yarns of this shade could be so interesting?

And lastly, a Debbie Bliss classic, I love the use of cables that decrease to make the flare on the lower bottom of the jacket, and the sideways cable seprating the yoke from the skirt of the jacket.

Vogue also welcome designs from new or young designers as well as the usual well known Debbie Bliss and Kaffe Fasset types. Vogue have a number of publications all looking for striking designs of all levels of intricacy. Their magazine Knit 1 is for urban and high street type fashion designs and their Magazine Knit Simple was laucnhed especially to encourage 'scarf knitters' to go onto the next stage. I have a hat, the most simple hat you could knit really with a bit of texture work, coming out in the Holiday issue of this magazine.

I can also say, that my dealings with the Vogue team, and the respect I was shown (along with the speed of the payment and contracts) was the best I have received from any magazine but now accepting anything less than that is difficult. I am having a hard time coping with magazine/book publishers who drag their feet about payment, don't provide proper contracts, don't provide copies of the publication, don't provide yarns in time and generally treat you as if you are the least important thing in their very busy lives (despite being manically busy yourself) and trying to remain calm. I design for fun, and perhaps when it ceases to be fun or I can see a long stretch of negotiating, emails and paperwork just to get what is standard, I am now avoiding getting involved in the first place and feel more comfortable turning the work down.

Not everyone is like that though, and people who have dealt with me and are reading this, the very fact your are taking time to read my blog probably indicates that you don't fall into one of these categories of bad publishers, so don't worry.

The Anticraft

Lughnasadh

How rude of me. How remiss not to have mentioned the latest issue of the Anticraft. What am I getting like! My only excuse is that burying my head in my own massive list of designs to be completed, I am missing what is out there and not realising how fast it all moves by, hence the tendency for things to come and go without comment. Apologies. I suppose one of the reasons I am getting behind on crafty news on this blog, is that I know that I haven't gone around giving many people this address hoping to use it as more of a personal diary to look back on in years to come. So, basically, I am assuming nobody reads the blog, and I don't invite comments if they do, so sometimes I drag my feet when making a note of what I have seen and surfed.

Well, I just love the Painted Lady cropped sweater with built in mitts. Beautiful. And I also love all the other designs on the Blue Alavarez Designs website, you can find the knitting patterns here.

I especially like this this orange sweater and this shrug. I do wish I had a figure to show it off though. Sadly, I rarely knit for myself as the lines and tailoring I would prefer to wear just don't look good on me and I look so lumpy. Maybe that is because I am with all that scar tissue and thrombophlebitis I have more dips, craters and mountains than the Moon.
















I feel a collection of patterns in plus sizes coming on! Yeah I know, bigger sizes means more yarn and extra time and obviously more expense. I must make it my goal though to make knits that truly glamourise the fuller figure. Did anyone see Cape Wrath recently? The character Jezebel was so beautiful and glamourous, I would aspire to have her style, just look at her, she would look fantastic in some 50's inspired knitwear wouldn't she?

Short Row Heel
Short Row Hell!

It has been years since I used short rows for shaping. Years since I knitted an adult sock, with neat little wrapped stitches that did not show up at all. I know that my short row heels never looked like anyone elses and I switched off when people talked of holes or visible wraps as it was a problem I had never experienced. All the short row heels dotted around this page, as neat as they are, don't look anything like the ones I used to get. I thought I had that technique under my belt, part of my tool kit to use at a point when I felt a short row heel was just the thing I needed. As I am designing quite a few pairs of socks for patterns at the moment, I needed to make variations on the types of heel and construction. The short row heel is the best feature of a toe up sock certainly, because it is mirrored which ever way you approach it whereas the flappy heel needs to be thought out in reverse.

My favourite type of heel to wear personally is the slip stitch or double knitted flap heel shown here on the right. It doesn't look great when you want to photograph a sock and it is the heel least like a commercial sock. However, unlike a commercial sock, hand knitted socks easily rub in to holes at the heel and a short row heel may look cool but it is the worst type of heel for becoming a bit baggy or wearing into a hole. Many knitters don't know that. The reason being that many knitters make socks as gifts and don't actually get round to making socks for themselves. Their recipients rarely complain about the socks falling apart after a few wears, that would be rude. Some knitters like their socks to look good as socks off the feet and photographed flat of course and don't realise that beauty sacrifices practicality. If they did, they would know a heel needs reinforcement either by knitting in a rib or holding together with a nylon thread or introducing another strand of yarn.


Anyway, last night I thought I would just knit a heel on its own, practice the old wrapping technique and see what shaping looks best over a certain number of stitches. Wrapping went well, shortening the rows OK. Then came the time to lengthen my rows and despite picking up the wraps and carefully placing them on the needle, I could not avoid getting a lacy hole! I looked back at a child's sock I did years ago for myself, couldn't find anything there that resembled the mess I had created. I started again, and despite now twisting the wrap the other way, got the same clumsy looking result ...mmmmmmm...... I seem to have forgotten how to perfect this technique. I have done short rows recently but somehow managed to avoid wrapping and didn't get a hole or any kind of mark at all. How did I do it?


Now, the sensible thing to do is to research, look at other patterns and practice the techniques described there to see if I have forgotten something very basic. However, I don't want to do this because I want the design to be mine and once I start looking at other people's instructions, I lose the originality of my own instructions because I will be influenced by their words and may repeat them in my own patterns inadvertently. I want to be able to publish a sock pattern and for me to be able to say, I did not use any other patterns as inspiration, I worked it out on my own, and this is the best result.


So, it is back to the needles and yarn, and see if I can invent my own way of getting rid of unsightly blips where the short rows end and start again.

Next I am going to talk about my personal bugbear, the argument over whether professional knitting should be laundered or not before returning to a client. Honestly, if I sent my knitting to people without washing it I would worry about hygiene and smells but more than that, I would worry that the first impression of my knitting would be that it is uneven and crumpled looking. Some yarns, especially sock yarns, only come into their own after the first wash. Some manufacturers do put a light dressing on their sock yarns to keep them stiff and non splitting whilst working with them and are transformed into soft and fluffy fabrics when washed after knitting.

I will demonstrate with some before and after shots of a simple baby sock. You should be able to see the difference. Even garments knitted in the round are helped with a bit of laundering and then blocking to the right dimensions. Watch this space for more on that.

Ghostkulls
Here is a version of the hat knitted by Alex Kiernan in blues for her nephew (sorry her blog link is unavailable/private)

This is one of my patterns which has been knocking around for a good few years now but remains officially unpublished. It was originally a baby hat, but has also been made into an adult version called Girlie Ghostskulls knitted in pinks and a mini version for the Bratz dolls below.

The main reason for it being unpublished is that publishers view this as a non edgy design, too easy to knit to make it a seller of a pattern, and the pirate theme being too common amongst knitters to warrant another pattern being published. Now what is surprising, is that of all my knitting designs, this is the pattern most requested by knitters and I have to constantly send out emails to disappoint them by saying the pattern is not yet available. I have even had a request from an etsy member saying that she has had a number of requests for knitting up this design from buyers and could I give her permission to knit it and come to some arrangement about licensing.

Despite the requests for it to be supplied or knitted up, it remains ubpublished, and I can't help feeling I should hang on to it for something really special in the future.However, I have supplied the odd pattern to a few knitting buddies as a private arrangement so that they can knit it up for relatives or for non profit uses.

Skeinspotted! - Fake Knitting

Last night, I was watching My Name Is Earl on the TV. There was a scene with a woman knitting in bed, now I have never seen such hopeless fake knitting in my life! My partner who is a musician cringes with embarrassment when he sees a fake violin player or other fake musical instrument playing in films/TV. I feel exactly the same when the knitting is just not real and even more so when it is supposed to be a cliche granny thing.

I know it shouldn't matter, but this reinforcing of stereotype has led to some family and friends thinking that knitting is not a proper job and that somehow my qualifications and skills are wasted. However, many do respect my work and that really counts too.

Here is an amusing pic of another fake knitter! We all fell for that gag didn't we?

Pure Relief!

I have just finished the first stage of my 'special' project (details still confidential) but many thanks to Kerrie (Hip Knits ), Jeni (Fyberspates), Abi (Noblin Knits), Sue (Wye Sue Knits) and Ruth (Woolly Wormhead) all of whom helped either by knitting, supplying yarns or providing contacts. I wish I could put up some piccies, but I can't. I have also been making diagrams and writing patterns. and I can't tell you what that is for either for another eighteen months at least!

There is a photo shoot on Sunday of these 4 projects which amounts to about 13 garments (not including some of the ones that were so bad they got ditched). I did work out, that every project that I didn't knit had to be re knitted, in one case we were on the 4th round of knitters! I was appalled that I couldn't find professional knitters that just followed simple instructions on paper and was most grateful to Abi and Sue who did some splendid knitting and finishing and picked up projects that had bad histories and turned them into something wonderful.

Breaking Some of the Rules

Abi did give me a mild ticking off, as in "who knitted this? They have joined a new ball in a middle of a row!". Horror of horrors, it was me that knitted that and yes I did join in the middle of the row. It really pained me to break the rules, especially where I have been telling other knitters they must not do this but on this sweater joining at edges that were on display looked terrible and was insecure. Where a seam is on the outside of clothing as a feature and is decorative, I found that joining right at the edge meant there was a knot or gap that couldn't be relied on to join neatly and invisibly. So I joined in the middle of rows. For the record, I join a few stitches in from the edge of scarves as you can hide the join more easily there than on an edge of a scarf that is on show. Joining and keeping a slip stitch selvedge does not work at all either.

On the subject of joining in the middle of rows I have found this. If it is a stocking stitch section, and a knot is used, that knot will surely pop through at some point. If it is on reverse stocking stitch, and threading diagonally under purl bumps is carried out, and the yarn secured on the other side then this does not normally pop through or ruin the look. Obviously, if we knit in the round then we do have to join in the middle of a round, with no seam to hide our ends in! This is how I first learned how to make something totally invisible and I have found that knitters who have been knitting a long time, don't really know how to do this effectively.

Rules Broken that don't enhance the knit

Now what I did find when I had got through several knitters at the earlier stages, is that where I had ticked off people for joining in the middle of a row with a knot with frayed short ends, most knitters who find a knot in their ball (a join that the manufacturers make where yarn breaks on a machine) will then go ahead and knit this knot into a middle of a row or wherever it happens to occur.

Most of these knitters know to join a new ball at the edge of their work, but for some reason, they think this only counts as a 'new' ball if you are at the end of your 50g or 100g. Why people don't just cut that knot, leave long ends and join as a new ball I really don't know.

The other thing I found that people preached but did not practise was invisible weaving; knitters seem to just cut a short end end then wrap it over and over in a straight line across the row, which pulls out as soon as you wear something as knits like to move sideways. I suggest, putting your needle under a purl bump and then the next diagonal purl bump and so on, then perhaps back on itself once and this is totally invisible as in you could turn something knitted in the round inside out and it looks good on both sides. It gives your work more of a pro handcrafted look rather than a granny knitted it for the church fete look! And do stick to the rule of leaving a 6 inch end (most people do) and be patient enough to weave in about 4 inches of this (most people don't).

Sometimes a certain degree of logic is missing in knitters when it comes to finishing techniques. I have also found that people who do a lot of reading about knitting on blogs, will quote what they have read on blogs, which may or may not be correct, but then show a lack of experience when it comes to applying the rules they have learned.

I have had people who learned what Kitchener stitch was by description but in practice thought it was how you joined shoulders after stitches were cast off as in seaming; imagine their surprise when I stated Kitchener is invisible and seamless.

Some people think that mattress stitch must have a ridge, but will still call that invisible. Ah, you have that too? Well, so did I until many years back I discovered that most people were actually weaving stitch to stitch half a stitch in, as the knitting curls back on itself at the edge. Nothing wrong with that if the edge is a bit uneven, then it pays to join so only the best stitches show but if you have something like a rolled brim, cuffs or welts, then a little ridge is just going to spoil the effect. If you go to the back of the work, you find that there is half a stitch on the edge hiding from you and it is possible to join edge to edge and for it to be flat if you want it to. Equally, if you don;t mind a ridge (e.g.a cushion) you can join a couple of stitches in if you have room, and this avoids the need to do a back stitch seam and is so much easier. See the DomiKnitrix site for a good visual instruction on this technique.

What we say and what we do

I do think that a lot of knitters know the correct practice for their work, but will quote this in conversation but do a completely different thing. For example blocking, many people can't be bothered with that and will just sew up without doing it but they aren;t going to admit that at the local knitting club as it might cause an uproar. Well, if they can do that and get a good result, good luck to them.

I did find though, that some knitters thought that blocking meant fully pinning out, steaming and laundering and I have had trouble with knitters working for me not really being clear about what to do once they get to the joining stage. Just for the record, I take blocking to mean pinning your pieces out to the correct dimensions (I use large headed pins, clips and a towel for padding) i.e. as blocks. I like to steam, or just dampen my pieces then I like to pin to correct dimensions and as flat as I can and leave to dry off. Then in a morning, when I am relaxed about the fact I have many hours of good daylight, I tackle the joining and am mighty thankful that my blocking helped to get my pieces in the correct shape with good edges to join. Actually, I totally cheated on my last sweater, and paid Abi to join it for me!

When I join, I like to use these split ring stitch markers to loop through both layers and hold in place rather than pins whose heads seem to slip through however large they are.

After I have joined my pieces and completed all the finishing, I like to give a brief dip in lukewarm water as a handwash and I use a gentle shampoo, sometimes a conditioner. My work gets tranformed by this process and I think it is nice to know that something has been washed did not fall to pieces and all the ends remained hidden. Well, actually, the ends can sometimes pop through after the first wash but you can just pop them through to the back and hide them again. What if a client found those ends? They might keep chopping them off or damage the sweater as well as it being embarassing. Washing it not only gets rid of horrible smells of every place you dragged your knitting too it gives it a pro finish and it ensures that it can withstand washing as well as giving a guide on dye run.

After rinsing, I do roll in a towel, several times and then I do reshape whilst flat. I amuse myself sometimes by washing a sock just knitted and then compare it with the next sock in the pair just knitted and not washed and the improvement is so great I would never be tempted to hand a knit to a person without laundering. One sock looks like a 'real' sock and usually the other sock looks like a boxy bit of crumpled knitting straight off the needles and the heel/instep can look twisted and not lie flat.

Will be knitting some more socks this month so will pop back and show you a fully finished sock and a sock straight off the needles.

Now you know why I rarely put up pics of my WIPs on the blog, patience makes me want to wait until it is finished and has more of a WOW factor.

Lily Pinched my Alpaca Hummingbird!

No sooner had I been singing the praises of the greyhounds and their distinct lack of interest in my yarns when I discovered a pile of tangled mess and a half finished sock on the living room floor. Nooooooo!

I only went to the toilet for a few seconds, and Lily even poked her head round the door whilst I was there before Dizzy barged her out of the way and she ran off and secretly and pulled out the very centre of my neatly wounded ball and obviously kept on doing it and doing it until my ball was inside out. What an unholy mess I found about 20 seconds later!

I had to get that ball rewound and so the socks which should have been finished today are not and a lot of my knitting is behind as a result.

I thought I had constantly watched these two for weeks now, locking away bins, moving my yarns upstairs, putting lamp shade collars on their heads to stop them chewing their stitches. I am exhausted with my own vigilance, like a mother wit two toddlers and when my partner comes home after being away and I am going to be dong the old "It's your turn to watch them now, I've been doing it constantly..." routine just like a real Mum.

Lily is a Tea Leaf (rhyming slang for thief if you didn't know), the little Minx!

No knitting................


....has appeared here for quite some time. None of mine anyway. However, I have been busy busy busy on the knitting but alas all is confidential until published. I have even been doing some big knitting as in sweaters! No photos of it are allowed up here though. I can confirm that I finished a small item for a Vogue publication Knit Simple and so that will be my first pattern to appear in a US print magazine. i have also received my payments from the Anticraft, which means my three designs are definitely included in their book.

I am fast approaching a deadline on a big project of my own, the first stage anyway, but that won't be released for public viewing until Autumn 2008!

So knitty people, I have not abandoned the craft in favour of dogs, I am still knitting with the greyhounds at my feet. Luckily, they haven't developed a taste for wool although Lily keeps putting her whole head in one of my bags, she does love to hide and block out the light. Anyone who loves sight hounds, especially greyhounds do visit my other blog and if you can foster or give a home to any of them my pup's 'brother' is up for adoption as well as many other loving hounds. I give you random pics of my swatches and sketches that are not being used at the moment.

I am excited that Abi is back in the country, and she too is going to help me out on some knitting. We had a bit of a disaster, poor Kerrie from Hip Knits custom dyed some yarn and knitted a beautiful garment for my project only to post it and for it to go missing in the post! So Abi has kindly offered to knit a replacement. I also have had to have four of my other projects re knitted due to a problem with the dimensions. I just haven't had much luck, it hasn't run smoothly but I do have lots of donated yummy yarns for more projects. The whole collection will be revealed in 2008. The good thing is, once someone gives me a 'story' I can come up with endless ideas to attach to it and I didn't know I was quite this resourceful.

I also didn't realise that I could draw a little bit. Having been chucked out of art classes at the age of about 13 for being a bit rubbish at art, it never stopped me from wanting to draw and sketch. I had private lessons with a young arty genius Royal Academy watercolour painter who was a farmer's son in my village, and he thought I had a little bit of talent and I did do a couple of OK oil paintings. However, I never really had that conceptual quality until I met a talented teacher Eric Peaker who used to teach at Fortismere School where I worked with deaf children. He inspired me to think conceptually and even said he would mentor me if I decided to go for GCSEs in Art as an adult to make up for my lack of support whilst a child. Sadly he died in a car crash during the school holidays, rushing back from Devon to be with his A-level students and support them in his own time. Anyway, I am using my drawing skills to help me knit. My type of naive diagram making skills are invaluable to sketch an idea.

In the meantime, I will have to write about other people's knitting instead!

Gorgeous Greyhounds........

Is the name of my new blog. In an attempt to avoid boring you all senseless with my dog enthusiasm I am going to write a blog about two lovely dogs we are adopting this week.

Lily is a nervous bitch who is about 20 mths old and has come from the racing industry but has been treated badly in Ireland. As a result, she is very wary of men and a bit snappy and is extremely hand shy at best. I am slowly winning her over after meeting her twice and Steve has been allowed to touch her but he has to be very careful with her. She is a blue and white greyhound like the third dog from the left in the above photo (that isn't her though).

Desmond aka Dessie, we are calling him Dizzy (as he is a rascal) is a bouncy and excitable boy who is a blue brindle, like the first dog on the left hand side of the above picture except that he has lighter colouring with gold coloured eyes. On first meeting people he likes to have a headbutt followed by an attempt to lick you to death! His confidence will do wonders for Lily although we are going to train the jumping up and head butting out of him as we have friends and relatives with young children who might not appreciate it. Pics of the actual dogs to follow.

My other blog Gorgeous Greyhounds will be listing homeless dogs who are finding it difficult to get a home due to the competition being so fierce (9000 racers retire each year, all competing for homes). Also, I will be chronicling the dogs behaviour and training, mainly so I can look back and see the progress however slow but also I hope their story will give inspiration to others thinking of helping these beautiful creatures and offering to give them a happy and healthy retirement.

I can't tell you how excited I am! I am hoping that my Special Projects can be knitted whilst watching the dogs snooze. They should be sofa hounds until they get outdoors although I will be trotting to the garden on the hour every hour to make sure they do their business. I have just had locks put on 3 doors in the house, as it is time to gather my yarns swatches and other bits of knitting strewn around the house and keep them all in one place. Lily is a slipper thief, she will have those balls of yarn if I am not careful!

Woolly Wormhead's New Book

Here are some tantalising glimpses of some new hats that Ruth Paisley has been working on. Did I say that she is currently writing a book? Well, she is, and the projects are looking good. My preview is that although these projects are all distinctively Wormhead's style, they have a wide enough range of colour and technique for you not to think each one is just another hat. There is something for everybody here. There will be an emphasis on something a little different as well that you won't be expecting and I am not going to say what that is in case someone is searching for a story and want's to use it. Wait and see, you won't be disappointed!

I'm not allowed to talk about my own 'special project', confidentiality agreements and all that, but Ruth is allowed to talk about her 'special project' as she is self publishing hers with a production team she has selected herself. At least it means I finally get to stick a bit of knitting on the blog.

I would rather be self publishing in some ways, some advantages of which are:

• Setting your own deadlines, generally handling your timetable without a mad rush
  
• Choosing your own yarns, designs, shades and sizes
  
• Knowing which designs are going to be used well in advance
• Being a party to every agreement and attending every meeting where important decisions are made about your book
• Having total control over the content, and knowing the story is yours to write
  
• Choosing the design layout including the cover
• Not having to pander to other markets outside the UK
• Choosing the models, handling the photography, choosing pics
• Feeling totally proud that the publication represents you
  

But some of the advantages of having a publishing deal are

• Knowing that when the knit, pattern, copy and sketch are done your part is finished
• Getting honest feedback
  
• Someone giving right amount of encouragement to get things done and setting the deadlines
  
• Dealing with someone who really knows the business
• Getting yarn donations from the more difficult yarn companies
  
• Receiving advice on the commercial value of each project
• Having an outline of a book and a good story supplied where necessary
  
• Production handled up to the highest quality
• Having a photographer, an editor, production designer and a support team with years of experience and getting good PR and a good launch
• Having a commercial pattern checker, sometimes a grader (for those pesky size variations)
  
• Protection of copyright and support regarding legal claims
• Distribution deals throughout other territories, especially the US market
• Handling your distribution and collecting royalties
  
• Having a well known publisher on a CV to secure further deals
  

I am happy at the moment that my work is done by the end of the actual project, any more than that and I would frazzle. I can just hand mine over and get them photographed and published and at the moment that suits me.

However, for all those lists of ideas for pattern collections or other books that I don't have a publisher for, that might be very specialised, that don't appeal to a wider audience, and for which I absolutely must have creative control, then perhaps self publishing is the way to go. One drawback of doing that of course, is that you are never going to know if your work is truly rubbish as it might not sell just because you know nothing of commerce. Asking people face to face whether they like your work does not always get a totally honest answer whereas a publisher, will not print something they think is not right and might have more of a commercial interest in your work.

It is all just speculation and opinions though. Once the book is published, the only way to measure its commercial success is the sales against the distribution. Having said that, most of us want to have a publication we are truly proud of and only a few of us really want to judge our work by it's commercial success alone .