String Revolution

It’s been more than usually mad around here these past few days, and I’ve been stalling on writing this post because I haven’t had a chance to take an up-to-date photo of the purple thing. But this evening the very lovely Niall helped me out, with his tripod and everything.
It fits! At least, the waist [...]

The purple thing is breaking my heart. Or stabbing me in the back, as the title of this post suggests. Is it knitting karma, I wonder, after my smooth ride with Down in the Woods?
I took the above photo on Friday, preparatory to making a bubbly progress post to delight and entertain you. See it [...]

I’m on a serious design jag at the moment – finishing Down in the Woods and starting the purple thing in the past week. I’ve been knitting my own designs for (good lord) twenty years now, and I was asking myself this evening, have I learned anything useful? One or two things. Here – have [...]

I cast on the purple thing last night. It’s flying along now – I’ve done almost 10cm. But I wanted to show you it in its newly cast-on state, because I love that. Just a few rows done, the pattern barely discernible – it’s such a hopeful little ribbon of knitting.
(See what I posed it [...]

I rarely manage to complete a project in its proper season, and this is no exception: here’s the Oyster’s new winter jumper, which I’ve finished up in some of the hottest weather Ireland has seen in years.
It’s a cuddly collared raglan in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed. This is a fabulously soft yarn, despite its [...]

I bought this intense royal purple Louet Riverstone wool (colourway “Phantom”) from Di Gilpin at last year’s Knitting and Stitching Show, intending to make it into a scarf for my mother. After much deliberation I chose a pattern – Knitty’s Elbac, version 1 – and set to work.
Have you tried Elbac? It’s breathtakingly clever, and [...]

[Years ago, I started a different craft blog. I made a grand total of four posts. This is one of them.]

There’s a story behind this hat. A long story.
In 2006, I bought some beautiful alpaca in an orange/yellow colourway at the Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS. I wanted to make a scarf for [...]