3KCBWDAY3 - My Knitting Hero

Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger.

My knitting hero is Anne Hanson - you can find her over at Knitspot. I discovered Anne's designs and blog at the start of 2010, when the class list for Knit Nation was released. I saw that she was running a finishing class, and since that was one of my issues at the time, I decided to enrol. At the same time, I began to follow her blog. If you've never read it, then you should! Anne is a very entertaining and informative blogger, giving her many readers a glimpse into her life as a knitting designer and teacher. As well as that, she throws in a bit of gardening and cooking for good measure, and photos from her travels too! It's a great read!

The class was just brilliant. Anne guided us through the mysteries of blocking and seaming, and was amazingly generous with her knowledge. It is without doubt the best class I have taken, and the finish of my garments has dramatically improved. Since then, I have also become a huge fan of Anne's many designs. Her patterns are so well written, nothing is left to doubt. I rarely find myself looking elsewhere for designs these days. Let me just share one or two of my favourite Knitspot designs.

Les Abeilles is the first of Anne's shawls that I've knit, and I know it won't be my last. This is my most recent knit, using some of my own handspun. It's knit from the bottom edge up, so is getting smaller with each row. The garter stitch part almost knit itself!

The Almost Ovals scarf was my first lace pattern, and I actually test knit this for Anne. She is a very prolific pattern writer and it's not unusual for her to release a pattern almost weekly. This scarf is a light as a feather yet providing warmth on a chilly autumn or spring morning.

Anne has designed many socks too, and being a bit of a sock addict, I've tried a few pairs. I think my favourites are the Roger sock. The design is so simple, but is a perfect fit and looks great with semi solid yarns.

In the last year, Anne has branched out and started a club, with exclusive patterns and yarns. I signed up for the first season of Fall in Full Color 2011 and had 6 months of delicious yarny parcels arriving at my home. This is my favourite of the yarns and patterns, Longshadows. It's a beautiful silky scarf.

Since then, Anne has done a Bare Naked Knitspot club, looking at different natural undyed yarns. The chapters each month are a joy to read, they're so informative. Signups are currently open for the next season of FIFC2012, so if you're interested, take a look here. My aims for the next few months are to knit one of Anne's sweaters, and to try and take her sweater finishing class next time she is over teaching in the UK. I just hope I manage to book a place - you'll probably all want to take it too after reading this post!! haha!

PS
Oh yes, I also have Anne to thank for my bag addiction! Take a look at the photo of her at the top - do you like her flowery knitting bag as much as me? Anne gave me the card for the Etsy shop where she got it from - ThreeBagsFull. It's a very slippery slope, this bag acquisition! Just look!