Posts Tagged pattern writing
IKnit, mitten kits and sock blockers
I had a fantastic time at Iknit with the SQueen, Kiknits and the rest of the Outcasts.
lift waiting
We had a really early start in a car laden down with yarn, I was also carrying the 90 letters that the Outcasts had been putting together for the Poetry Society, plus samples (knit ones) and a big bag of bananas – I think I thought the bananas were a good idea and it took the entire two days to eat them, mind you if it’d been a bag of chocolate that may have disappeared quicker.
After we’d recovered form the shock and laughter at driving through rush hour with a yarn filled car en route to who knew exactly where, we did manage to get there, disembark, create the stand and manage to look like we knew what we were doing ~ we’d all managed to remember our Fluevogs, both fake and real. There are lovely pictures of the stand over here.
outcasts
The Outcasts were working on two projects at the same time, smoothie hat making for innocent and the poem for the Poetry Society – they are knitty genius’.
We also had celebrity visitors.
Firstly the lovely Suzie, of the Wool Sanctuary – she was the knitting expert roped in to help Kirstie Allsopp in her Homemade Home Series. She was so very lovely and wish that she lived nearer and be an outcast too or maybe the Outcasts will be visiting Suzie???
I couldn’t resist but take a picture of her doing a fake interview with my knitted microphone, in fact Kirstie Allsopp herself retweeted my very tweet and picture. Good times!
Outcast Interview
We also had the lovely Ysolda and Sarah visiting us over the two days, I took the photo below on Day 1 as their clothes were unbeknowingly coordinated, on the second day they were both wearing reds but the SQ rolled her eyes and said I seemed to be stalker-ish so I relented from another pic!
ysolda and sarah
Now we are back in the real world, I have a large bag of yarn purchased at IKnit, plenty of ideas, a pattern to final check (Johnny Rotten Mittens no less) and get myself over to the SQ HQ for some photos on Friday. It’s also wildfennel, one of the outcasts birthday today so we’re looking forward to a cakey knit night and this Sunday is Let Me Ease Your Day with the wonderful Cor Blimey Crocheter Rockpoolcandy.
More cake will be eaten, things will be made, pictures will be taken.
mad mabel medium sock blocker
And at last the mad mabel sock blockers are here! Here’s the nitty-gritty about them:
Mad Mabel sock blockers are made from 4mm laser cut acrylic from Mad Mabel’s own design.
Mad Mabel is a collaboration between my husband(Simon) and me. The blockers are also available on my husband’s shop http://madmabel.etsy.com.
Each blocker has a handy knitting needle gauge in mm, and the largest hole at the top is perfect for hanging your blockers up. The gauge ranges in size from 2mm to 15mm.
These blockers will never warp or splinter on to your lovely handmade socks. They are in stock and will be dispatched within 48 hours of full payment being cleared. The price is for a pair of matching sock blockers, both with the gauge included. Each pair is £17.50 plus p+p.
The medium size works with UK shoe size 5-8, US 7-9(Men’s 5.5 to 7.5), Europe 37 to 41 (approx 9 inches across foot)
You can buy by clicking here to be taken directly to paypal or visit the mad mabel shop on Etsy. Skein Queen is having an update this Thursday and hopefully soon she’ll be stocking the sock blockers too along with the anarchy kits we’re working on.
See you soon
1 comment September 16, 2009
Noah, Joseph, Oliver and Alfredo
This has been a week of events and treats and delights – I thought spending my birthday at my favourite place was going to be the highlight of the month but the past week has been full of inspiring delights.
I continued working at my favourite place, creating sculptures with the children. I have over 120 photos top view and edit but some will be posted up on the jelly website as soon as possible but I am still reeling from the finale.
giraffe sketches
I can’t help but show you a sneak preview of the giraffe sketches but that is nothing until you see the sculptures. We worked every day until Wednesday evening finishing the pieces, working on the movements of the animals and talking about what would happen on the Thursday. A couple of writers were at school too working with the children around language and sounds and this was going to be used for the finale on the Friday. The children had no idea what was going to happen on the Thursday but they had made masks/hats relevant to their animals, were coming to school dressed in those colours and had created animal movements. On the Thursday am, the junior school came to the field in costume with umbrellas as requested and saw a telegraph pole with a sail (installed by the staff) and bunting that demarked the ark. The class groups were already split in half, one part audience and one part actors and the actors took their positions (they swapped for the second half so everyone got the chance to be both). The sound system was relaying the sound of a storm at sea and the sky began to behave appropriately. The children had no idea what was going to happen next but an actor as *Noah* appeared, telling the story and all were entranced. He called the animals from their places, a group at a time and they joined him on the ark.
first group on the ark
He called for them to form the roof together and they opened their umbrellas and then the water was turned on – it was a garden spray, fixed to the top of the sail that showered them all. This is all a culmination form a water project they have been doing which using recycled water they ave created rills and streams and waterfalls and holing points and gulleys throughout the school grounds. The whole event was completely entrancing and magical and moving and made me think how these kinds of experiences impacts on our ability to work in a creative, co-operative and open way. When we started this project I had no idea what would be created or how they would look but each piece had every little person’s fingerprint on it.
infant school ark moment
All the sculptures created by the children are in situ around the school and the sculpture trail was formally opened on Thursday – it was fantastic to walk round stumbling across groups, drawing the works, chatting and finding out things. The project finale on Friday was a radio show created around poems by all the children with the writers – what a week!
As if this was not enough of magical moments, the schools departing children were performing Joseph, 4 shows over 4 days so long long days. I know I am biased being the mother of one of the narrators and The Pharoah plus adoring the other narrator and Joseph but it was brilliant show. It was so sad to think they would be leaving this school and to see how far they had come and the fact that my son is still ad libbing all the way (much to the audiences delight). What a way for them to go – it felt so exhausting, laughter and emotions running high.
The 2 narrators, Joseph and Pharoah
It’s hard to get your feet back on the ground after all that and there wasn’t much room for knitting with the odd bit of costume making/ adapting to be done as mine were also in *the Workhouse* a reworking of Oliver the Musical, this weekend – with my son as the principal part and my daughter having a pretty big part too. But all those line learning and singing times are over now for the moment and we are slowly getting back to normal which is a good job as OH has just returned form being away on tour with auditions of X Factor so he’s probably had enough singing for a while.
Any my fourth man, Alfredo, my handwarmer pattern, has been written up – just having it checked now and then I will post about it here with some kind of opportunity to get a freebie – I just love it anytime you write things, hearing your thoughts so feel free to write something here! I will try to be inspired and think of a good topic unless you have any better ideas?
To top it all??? I feel like the cat that has got the cream : )
The wonderful ukhandmade.co.uk had written up a piece about me here
3 comments July 14, 2009
lovely suprises in the post
Not everything was a surprise completely, I was expecting the Ysolda yarn from Old Maiden Aunt but the colour was even more satisfying in the flesh. On the screen it had looked more grey but in real life it is a blue/green/grey so that was surprise no 1. Surprise 2&3 came in a package together, the spotty plate and a book of poetry by Adrian Mitchell. The package was a present from a very old friend of mine, Ian Taylor, a sculptor who knew Adrian Mitchell and the sculptor himself knows my obsession with knitting so he sent me a knitting poem and I liked that very much.
A favourite part is the bit referring to children’s mittens on rope
“so that the mitten cannot be lost
except by a mixed infant contortionist
with a stanley knife”
(excerpt from Poetry and Knitting by Adrian Mitchell)
It was an unbirthday present for me and it made me smile.
swatching and gauging
I’ve been up for a very long time today so shouldn’t be sat here at this computer typing, but it takes a while to unwind after an eventful day at work, meeting with the trustees, visiting the new studios, writing up a new knitting class all of which was lovely work but still not good after a limited previous night of sleep. I am writing up the pattern now for the snook daisy gloves and have gauged up three sizes, and one on the needles. Testing happening too and maybe the pattern will be up before my birthday.
8 comments June 15, 2009
making new things and trying to get an 8 day week
inside the snooks
Ever since I saw the yarn club that Skeinqueen made based on the TV series Pushing Daisies I have coveted the colours. I have already made socks for my Darling Aunt from the Darling Aunt yarn. Kiknits and I had been round SQ headquarters helping prep for the Socktopus show when I spotted a new version of Olive Snooks in Squash and that was that. I have been itching to knit something with it, in my head I could see what it was and the picture above is the inside of the snooks.
The fairisle pattern is almost a circle that shifts along on each repeat. The pattern is knit in naked yarn and the thumb has a different pattern. I am now on my third variation of these, then the pattern will be tested and released. In my head I was thinking of circles and strange quirks and sunny days.
Speaking of sunny days, I have been on a few walks with OH and May (our dog).
cow, man and dog
The picture was taken on my phone so apologies for low quality but it made me laugh, it’s in the Town Centre of where I live and made me run an impromptu Twitter competition *to spot the place* – the winner of a lollipop was the amazing knitwit.
My OH is a carpenter (I know, I am very lucky) – on my about page you can scroll down and see the yarn store he made me. Now he is also at work on projects such as sock blockers, glove blockers, portable yarn storage, yarn displays and much more – I’ll keep you posted!
Right, I better get off here and write up that pattern properly…
6 comments June 13, 2009
