In the Making...

This is a bit slow in the writing but last week, we had a Knitmas event at A Good Yarn . Kate and Ruth from Practical Publishing came for the evening to give a talk. There was games, food and fun. Kate Heppell is the editor of Knit Now magazine and her talk was on the process of making a design from inception to publication in the magazine. It was very interesting and they brought lots of lovely samples to show us. We had a prize draw and a couple of competitions – how many stitches can you cast on in a minute and how many rows can you knit blindfolded in two. Lots of hilarity ensued as you can imagine. We’d prepared lots of knitting kits and many of them had a Christmas theme. There’s an advent calendar in the shop for customers this month. The first customer that spends the first £10 of the day gets to open the calendar. I had a peek – the prizes are good. The window display this year is pretty cool. Every...

This is a review I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time but I’m glad that I waited as I’ve really given them a good test drive and recently discovered something new. I bought a the full Chiaogoo Twist set over 2 years ago now. Here are the pictures when I just bought it. You get plenty included in the set – you get the longer length needles from 2.75mm to 10mm (3.00mm, 7mm & 7.5mm are not included), 6 cables (3 different lengths in the large and small), 2 keys, needle gauge, cable connector, stops for large and small and stitch markers. I ended up buying the missing sizes and the case has a second layer of pockets, so you can put spare needles in there. I have also bought duplicates in 3.00mm and 4.5mm, as they seem to be sizes I use a lot. I have never used the stitch markers as they look too bulky for my liking. One of the main differences with the Chiaogoo compared to other interchangeable brands is the different thicknesses of the cables. Up to...

Very good friends of mine have just had a second child. Mr and I are going to be godparents. I’ve been knitting away all year on and off little baby things. The first baby had a big parcel of knitted clothes, so I’ve been trying to match it this time. There isn’t quite as many things as last time but I have been enjoying making them. I didn’t know until quite late on, whether it was a boy or girl, so I do have quite a few girls knits squirreled away. Luckily I know someone who is expecting a girl in the new year, so she’ll get quite a few too. I love the colour combination of them all together. The colour of the peach one in Mr’s opinion isn’t masculine enough but well I thought it was fine, so it’s gone in the parcel. There are two wee envelopes by Ysolda in the parcel. One of them I blogged about here . Yarn: Malabrigo Arroyo Wee Envelope #1 Ravelry project page. The other I made recently. Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino...

I have a new favourite shawl. The pattern is Antipodes by Libby Jonson aka Truly Myrtle . Ravelry project page. Libby has some really lovely patterns – I really like her style and all the patterns all seem very wearable to me. Check them out The pattern was a pleasure to knit from start to finish. It’s worked from point to point, so you just increase until just under half of your yarn has been used then decrease to the point. It’s great for getting the most out of one skein of 4 ply. I used Titus 4 ply in Harvest Gold by Eden Cottage Yarns . Looking at my past blog posts, I bought it at Woolfest all the way back in 2012 . I’d been saving it for just the right project. I’m very happy I used it for this and the colour is just so rich. The skein I used was quite generous at 110g, so I was able to work 29 repeats of the main part of the pattern. I really love this and have been wearing it lots.

I bought (among many other things) a kit from Sue Stratford at Yarndale. She has many gorgeous and sweet kits. I got the Chunky Holly kit. I quickly got started and after only a couple of nights work. I have a fabulous chunky holly. And if you can see her hiding behind the berries, a wee little mouse. All the materials are included in the kit. The little mouse is made from angora, so she is lovely and fluffy. One interesting surprise was because of the sewing down the centre of the stuffed leaf, it’s mouldable. The leaves stay in the position that you put them in. There’s a range of other Christmas based kits too. Including a chunky robin and a Christmas tree tea cosy . If you’re based around Cleethorpes, then you can get your own kit from A Good Yarn or if you are elsewhere in the world, then you can get them directly from Sue Stratford at the Knitting Hut It has quite an interesting construction that makes them look so good with the cent...

I’m very sorry for the radio silence over the summer but my workload was very high and something had to give. Unfortunately for you guys, it was the blog. I’m going to try and get back into the groove of blogging. I want to try and blog weekly like I’ve done for the past few years but have a feeling that it may not happen as often as I like. I’ve done lots of knitting and even a bit of crochet. The camera has been out lots and I’ve been sharing a few bits on Instagram . I’m @hardybarn on there and please follow me, if you’d like to. I meant to do this blog last week but there was a bit of procastinating going on. Some friends and I hired a cottage near Skipton for Yarndale weekend. I must say it was rather fab having a knitting weekend. Yarndale was as good as ever. The sun was shining and I’ve been saving up all year, so I had plenty of pennies to spend. There was too much fun and chatting going on for me to remember to take photos, but here’s my haul. I bought ...

When working ribbing, ever had that loose knit stitch before you change to purl? It’s a common problem. The reason it does it this is because the way a purl stitch is worked, it uses a little bit more yarn than a knit stitch and the excess moves into the last knit stitch and makes it loose. It’s the same reason why rowing out can happen for some – when you’re working stocking stitch and your purl rows look bigger than your knit rows. Rowing out doesn’t always happen, it’s often a combination of yarn fibre, tension and knitting technique. There is a way around this and there are quite a few tutorials out there on how to fix this. I’ll show you how in a minute but the basic idea is that if you combination purl that first purl stitch after your knit stitch, it will tighten things up. A normal purl involves wrapping the yarn anti-clockwise around the needle and a combination is wrapping the yarn clockwise. This uses less yarn though it does mean the stitch sits on the needle backw...