Tuesday 29 May 2012

Another lovely colour combination - dried hydrangeas in 1930s green frosted glass vases (in front of van Gogh 'Vase of Roses' poster)
Just an excuse to put a link to The Making Spot blog from 18th May, where there is an interview with me about the ideas behind A Handknit Romance!

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Just a quick reminder that I will be at Tricolette, a beautiful yarn shop that also sells needlecraft and patchwork supplies, at 93, Boundary Rd, London, NW8. This Saturday 19th May from 2-5pm I will be signing copies of my book, answering questions and giving demonstrations of some of the techniques used in the book. Would love to see you there!

A couple of photos meanwhile - a view on Hayling Island, Hampshire at sunset. I'd never been before this weekend - and really liked it.

Another of Nature's stunning colour combinations.

Monday 7 May 2012

Firstly, thanks to everyone who came to the event at Nest last Saturday as part of Crouch End Festival. Despite the miserable weather, I enjoyed giving a talk to some very nice ladies about the compiling of A Handknit Romance; what influenced the designs, how I put it together, etc.Unfortunately no-one remembered to take any photos!I also met a couple of lovely designers too - Helen Bridgewood selling pretty fabric bags and knitted jewellery - and another lovely lady making woven scarves, whose name I'm afraid I've forgotten!Sorry.

One theme that I will keep going back to on these pages is colour. Certain colours really inspire me, but more often it's combinations of colours. This can often happen by accident; for example if I'm knitting swatches in preparation for designing garments, I might have a jumbled pile of yarns next to me. I might even try to put some of the colours together, but can't seem to get a combination I like. Then I'll leave the room, come back in, look at the pile of yarns and see a fantastic combination of  2 or 3 colours which just happen to be next to each other!
When I was getting my book together - for which  the colour scheme was to be dusky, faded pinks and lilacs, 'vintage-looking' shades - I collected a few pieces of clothing to be worn by the model in the photoshoot. I pulled these out of a drawer recently to take some photos and was again struck by how nice the colours - and different textures - looked together. In this photo above are some of those pieces. There is a printed silk top from H&M - never worn, but the colours of the fabric are very subtle and really lovely (and expensive-looking) And the top was in the sale!!
Also,just seen in the bottom right of the photo- an old cotton slip (can't even remember where I bought it, but I thinks it's a 1950s slip) which I've been wearing as a night dress. It was white, but I washed it with something from which the colour ran and now the slip is a beautiful pale dusky lilac/mauve. Also in the photo- a pair of unworn 1930s silk satin knickers in that peachy shade that was so often used for underwear, bought especially for the photoshoot and worn by the model in the book with the Lace-edged Camisole, Stockings and Shrug. Finally a beret knitted ages ago in a long-discontinued Jaeger knitting yarn whose name escapes me, but it's beautifully soft and luxurious (it may have been partly cashmere) in a wonderful pale mushroom shade. I'm not sure that my photo does the colours justice.
The reason for taking the photo was to show off the Soliloquy Sock Lace yarn from Tall Yarns which is in a beautiful Pale Madder shade. I'm going to be designing a cardigan in this, which will match the Lace-edged Camisole from A Handknit Romance, which I have re-knitted in Soliloquy (this will be on the Support page when I finish it in the next few days). More on the cardi when it comes together - the pattern will be available to download when it's done.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

A nice blog post about my book today on The Making Spot !

Meanwhile, walking in north London I spotted this on the front of a house and it made me smile - very appropriate for the World Shakespeare Festival . Later, I did wonder whether it was meant to be amusing - perhaps it was just an instruction for a lazy postman?!