Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 20

 Another week, another raffle prize! Here's the prizes that are up for grabs this week if you decide to buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes a set of Knit Pro Zing interchangeable needles in a case, with 8 different sized needle tips, a gorgeous set of mini skeins donated by Ellie from Craft House Magic. Ellie names all her yarns after songs and this is her set of Lockdown minis, including colourways 'Don't stand so close to me' and 'Behind the mask'! You can see all the different names on her website. There's a Team Knit tote bag, a set of cute button stitch markers from Betty Arthur Creations, a ball of Stylecraft Head over Heels Boho sock yarn, a fun knit badge and a crafty postcard donated by Lana Bou. Thank you to everyone who donated a prize.

You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2 - less than the price of a cup of coffee! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 16th August, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Let's see how much we can raise this weekend! £4000 is the next milestone to pass. xxx

Hot and bothered!

 Hello from a very hot and sticky Norfolk. Despite the fact that Mr JK and I went to Greece each year for a holiday, I am not a huge fan of the heat in my own back yard. Give me cooler weather any day. I can be found sitting close by a fan, with Flo nearby, not really knowing what to do with herself. Wearing a black fur coat must be tough for her, poor thing. My current medication and sunshine don't make a happy combination, so if I do sit outside, I have to be in the shade, with sun protection and covered up. I've found it better to stay inside during the day and then sit in the garden in the evenings when it's cooler. This heatwave is due to break in the coming days, and the thought of cool raindrops splashing the garden is very appealing. My knitting has been limited to socks as they are small enough to not make you too hot whilst knitting them. I have also kept up to date with my temperature blanket, and had to introduce some new colours into my palette as the temperature went well over 30 degrees for several days. Anyhow, I thought I'd just share a few snippets of what I've been doing over the last week.

*** Yarn buying ***

These beauties are from Lay Family yarn, one of my favourite yarn dyers.

*** Baby knitting ***

I've started knitting a little stripy jumper for Dottie. These were the colours her mum picked out so I cast on a sleeve to check she was happy with them. She loved them and said they looked like a 'posh boarding school uniform'! I can't wait to see Dottie wearing this in the autumn. The yarn is Stylecraft Bellissima and Bambino, which are interchangeable.

*** Casting on a sock ***

This is the second sock in a new design. I'm really happy with how it's looking, and will hopefully be ready to publish it in September. The yarn is from Ducky Darlings and is called 'Ice Lolly'. I could do with one right now!

*** Getting excited about colourwork socks ***

Someone I follow on Instagram has been knitting some absolutely amazing colourwork socks, so I asked her where she got her patterns from. She recommended this book and it is absolutely brilliant. I've wanted to do colourwork for ages now (and I really do mean ages!) and am excited to start my first pair. I just need to make a decision on the pattern.

*** Adding more colours to my temperature blanket ***

Thank goodness Stylecraft Special DK comes in so many colours, that's made it a lot easier to add some extra colours in to show the temperatures over 30 degrees this summer!

What's been keeping you busy this week? Leave a comment and let me know. Also, if you have any tips about how to keep cool, do share them. xxx

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 19

 

The days are certainly rushing past as it certainly doesn't feel like a week since I was here, shouting from the rooftops about the Fibre 4 Fibres raffles starting up again! Here's the prizes that are up for grabs this week if you decide to buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes a beautiful large size drawstring project bag with a stunning nature themed print which has been sewn and donated by SarahJoMakes which comes with a co-ordinating lavender bag, a skein of self-striping 4ply yarn in donated by The Yarn Badger, three miniskeins donated by Blue Fern Yarns, a set of progress keepers donated by Betty Arthur Creations and a fun badge and pencil donated by Lana Bou. Thank you so much to everyone for their generous donations!

I love this week's prize and really wish that I could enter to win it! I can't, but YOU CAN! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2 - less than the price of a cup of coffee! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 9th August, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Let's see how much we can raise this weekend! xxx

Still shielding ...

I know that officially the government's shielding programme has been paused, but I'm having to continue to shield because last Friday, this happened...

I had a phone call from the hospital on Thursday asking me if I could come in the following day for the first in a 12 week cycle of chemotherapy. So of course, it's going to suppress my immune system even more. I'm relieved that the treatment has finally started, as it's been in the pipeline for a while now, but of course COVID has given the doctors different priorities for the last few months. I didn't feel too bad over the weekend, thanks to anti-nausea meds that I was give, along with a load more pills to take to counteract the side effects of the chemo drug!! So roll on 12 weeks! Flo is making sure that I have lots of rest and I'm enjoying knitting and listening to lots of audiobooks.

The week before, I finished knitting the Stillness shawl designed by Curious Handmade. It was a mystery KAL and I joined in with a lovely group of ladies on Instagram. Once blocked, the shawl was massive. It's a semi-circular shawl; not a shape I would usually knit, but as it was a mystery KAL, I didn't know what it was going to be like! I think I will wear it back to front draped around my neck. The yarn is some that I bought from Loop in London when I was there taking a shawl design class with Melanie Berg. It's Lichen and Lace and is gorgeous. Flo was naturally investigating it as a possibility for a new blanket!

I'm also playing around with ideas for a sweater using the Good Striations stitch pattern. It's at an early stage but I'm pleased with how it looks so far. I'm using Stylecraft Batik yarn as I like both the softness of the yarn and its stonewashed colours. I'm not sure that it will ever become a pattern for anyone but me as I've never written and graded a garment pattern for multiple sizes. I'll just have to wait and see once it's done. I'll keep you posted. Stay safe everyone. xxx

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 18

It's so good to be back with these fundraising raffles. I've really missed sorting out the prizes each week and I know that the charity has definitely missed the fundraising. Here's what you could win if you decide to buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in this week's Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes a beautiful poppy print project bag from Three Bags Full and a Miss Babs gradient set of Yummy 2-ply yarn in shades of pink. It's a fingering weight yarn and there's over 700 metres to use up so you could make something pretty spectacular! There's also a ball of Stylecraft Head over Heels Boho sock yarn, a set of HiyaHiya stitch markers, a cute kitty wallet (sewn by me) that you could keep your stitch markers in and a blank greetings card with a woven textile print on it.

There's over £100 of gorgeous yarny goodness here and I really hope that you'll be tempted to buy a raffle ticket or two. You have the chance to win all this for a minimum donation of £2! Less than the price of a cup of coffee. Are you tempted to enter? Here's what you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 2nd August, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my Just Giving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box that shares your details with me so that I can contact you if you're the winner. Your donations have helped me to raise vital funds for Myositis UK which will be used to fund research projects so huge thanks for your support! During lockdown, I've continued to donate £1 from each of my pattern sales and the total is now over £3000! Woohoo! The next milestone is £5000 which is halfway to my target. xxx 

Shoreland - a review

I have the most gorgeous book to share with you today. 'Shoreland - socks suited for scrabbling over rocks, splashing through tide pools, staring at the sea or whatever else tickles your fancy' is a beautiful book of socks designed by Hunter Hammersen. Hunter has used her coastal surroundings as inspiration to create seven stunning sock patterns. 

I have followed Hunter through her blog and other social media for some time, and am fascinated by the intricacy of her designs and the meticulous process she goes through when creating a new design. Her designs frequently feature incredible textures and stitch patterns and unusual constructions.

The patterns are set out in paragraphs, with both written and charted instructions. A variety of yarns can be used for each pattern as the gauge is given for both 4 ply and DK yarn, and there are three or four sizes for each pattern. This does mean that the knitter will have to swatch in order to determine the correct needle size for the yarn that they are choosing.

It's definitely a book for more experienced knitters, with cables, twisted stitches and some other unusual stitch patterns. Beautiful photography and sumptuous yarns almost make it a coffee table book. It's quite an expensive purchase, but if you compare it with the cost of buying the individual patterns on Ravelry, then it's worthwhile, especially if you plan to knit several of the patterns.

There is a useful reference on the inside front cover - a chart with sock size suggestions, and space for you to add the measurements of your nearest and dearest should you choose to knit a pair for someone other than yourself! I think I would find it very difficult to part with any of the socks! At the back of the book there is a code so you can download an electronic version of the book too.

Shoreland is a lovely book for a sock knitter who enjoys a challenge. It would make a lovely gift paired up with a skein of yarn for yourself or a fellow knitter.

Shoreland by Hunter Hammersen is published by Pantsville Press and is available from Search Press.

ISBN: 978-1-7325229-1-6

RRP: £19.99

Squeezebox socks

I'm pleased to be able to tell you that my Squeezebox socks pattern is now available to buy from Ravelry. It appeared in Simply Knitting magazine issue 194 in January this year and so I haven't been able to release the pattern myself for the last six months. It's a lovely, comfortable sock; perfect for lazing around in your pjs on having a chilled out day at home. I used a Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury sock yarn for these, but the pattern would work well with any gradient yarn, or a speckled or tonal too. Rounds of knit and purl stitches create a lovely squishy texture. The pattern is in three sizes, knit top down in the round. It's a simple pattern to memorise so it's great for new sock knitters or those who want some easy TV knitting. You can buy the pattern from my Ravelry page here and I am donating £1 from each pattern sold to Myositis UK. If you are having difficulty accessing Ravelry, then please get in touch with me and I will do my best to help you. I'll leave you with a few more photos of the socks. Looking at them is making me look forward to the cooler autumn days! xxx