Knitting & Stitching Show

We have exhibited at The Knitting & Stitching show at Alexandra Palace in North London for the last 5 years. The exhibition centre is only a few miles drive from us here, so it has always seemed like a logical decision to take a stand, especially as we are a web based company and it is good to meet up with our customers face to face.

Knitwear designer Debbie Abrahams and her husband Steve Stowe always come and stay with us for the week of the show as they take the stand opposite to us - having Deb and Steve with us is another one of the reasons we have always looked forward to the show so much as it gives us all a chance to get some time together.

This year the show organisers decided to make the show a day longer - a decision made to ease crowd congestion within the show and ensure that more people have adequate space and time to visit the stands. From a customer point of view this was a good idea, but for us it meant an extra event day and so we set up the stand a day earlier than usual.

I always enjoy setting up the stand - seeing the space change from the grey exhibition panels to the Janie Crow clear and colourful style is a treat and I love it, although I do always get the colliwobbles a few hours into building the stand when it looks like it is never going to come together!

We had quite a few kits to sell at the show this year, including the the Imogen Blanket kit, the Happy Daze kit (which was the 2014 crochet club project) and the Nordnorge bag kit which is now available for sale on our web site - I will blog about that some time next week.

The thing I like the most about the Knitting & Stitching show is meeting avid knitters and crocheters and putting names to faces. It is always lovely to hear positive feedback from customers and get to have a chat. I was really thrilled to meet these 3 ladies who were all carrying their own versions of my 'Boogie' Bag - a design which featured in Inside Crochet magazine back in the spring.

We had a good show, but it is really exhausting exhibiting at such a long event and of course it is really expensive to hire the stand. We have not re booked our stand for next year as we thought it might be an idea to have a year away from the show and return in 2016. 

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Yarndale

The weekend after The Handmade Fair, Andy and I made the long trip up to Skipton to exhibit at Yarndale. Once again the weather was lovely and driving up through the Autumnal countryside of Yorkshire was a real treat - the scenery up there really is beautiful. I was really excited to have been accepted at the show and was probably like an annoying kid as we got nearer and nearer to Skipton - I'm sure I resisted saying 'Are we there yet?' a thousand times!

We arrived at the auction market early afternoon and located the cattle pen which was to be the home of Janie Crow for the weekend. Standing in front of our designated pen I panicked a little wondering whether we could transform the space in a few hours.

We collected our tables and set about covering the stand with the table cloths and sheeting we had brought along - with hind sight white fabric was possibly not the ideal choice for a building used as a livestock market, but it did brighten the space and we did manage not to drop anything in sheep or cow poo as the space had been really well cleaned before set up.

It didn't take long to get all our stock onto the stand and by early evening we were ready to head back to the local hotel for a nice glass of wine and good sleep after a long day.

Yarndale is a new show and this was only it's second year, so Andy and I had absolutely now idea what to expect in terms of how busy the show would be, or how popular our stand would be. We had fitted as much stock as we possibly could in the car, but really hadn't got a clue whether or not we would sell any of it. We had already decided that we would simply treat the show as a weekend away together so it wouldn't matter if we didn't make any profit - covering our hotel bill and our petrol money would be a bonus.

We needn't have worried as the show was incredibly busy - so busy in fact that we couldn't get off of the stand to take any photos until later on in the afternoon by which time our stand looked a little worse for wear! It was fantastic to meet some of my customers in person - below is a picture taken and sent to me by Miriam and one of me with crochet club member Barbara.

Lots of the exhibitors at Yarndale had some really inspirational crochet on display - it was so great to see so many fabulous examples of good crochet. The entrance hall to the show was decked out with the famous Yarndale bunting and there was a great display of crochet mandalas which feature on the Attic 24 blog.

My friend Jo Smith was there and also had a stand. I love Jo's bright colours and her enthusiasm for crochet is totally infectious. Her stand was so bright and colourful - you can see some more of here creations by following this link to her Etsy shop and the image is via the Amjaylou blog.

Amanda Perkins and The Natural Dye Studio (another one of my favourite crochet designers) had a large stand to show off their beautiful crochet creations. The image below is taken from Amanda's blog posting about the show. The blankets are just so stunning!

We had an amazing weekend and made some great new friends. We are hoping to do the show again in 2015 (so long as we get a stand) and I'm already looking forward to it! The Yarndale team have already announced that the show will take place over the 26th & 27th September so make sure you put the date in your diary!

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Indian Summer

I have neglected my blog terribly over the last couple of months, relying instead on quick facebook and twitter updates, so it is time for me to get a little more organised and get back into the blogging habit, after all I have so much to tell you about!

This Autumn has been incredibly busy and when I look back over the past 7 or 8 weeks I find it hard to believe Im still standing, although there has been a week away in Scotland for half term which gave me a chance to re charge my batteries.

In early September I moved to larger space within The Hertfordshire Craft Collective in Radlett. I have had a small space there for a while, but now I have the whole back wall of one side of the barn and will be in the store a few days a week. It has been fabulous having a base to work from away from home for the last few months, the barns are so nice to work in and I have really enjoyed my new routine.

The image below shows the space cleared and ready for me to put my stock and display items in.

These three images show the space full of stock - I chose to focus on my book 'Homespun Vintage' for the first few weeks and you can see a lot of the projects in these images.

We had an open weekend on the 13th & 14th of September which went really well - I even made a cake or two!

The week after the open weekend at the craft barns it was The Handmade Fair, which took place between the 19th & 21st of September. The fair was held at Hampton Court Palace and I was lucky enough to be invited along by Rowan Yarns to teach the 'beginners' crochet workshops.

The Rowan team had spent 2 days preparing their workshop marquee and their display space. The tents looked wonderful and despite a dramatic thunder storm the night before the fair the weather was incredibly kind to us - the fair had a real summer fete feeling with many participants wandering around in summer dresses and sun hats

The Rowan marquee really did look amazing and many people commented on how nice it looked.

I have to admit I felt really daunted by the size of the workshops I had to teach as they were sold out which meant I had a class of 100 participants each day of the show. Thankfully I had the help of the Rowan team of Design Consultants and everything went well. I gave the participants a beaded flower corsage project to make. 

On Sunday I managed to persuade Stuart Hillard and Martin Storey to come along to the workshop and we even had a surprise visitor!

We had a great weekend and it was made all the better by being with some fabulous friends. Below is a picture of me with Suzie Johnson from The Wool Sanctuary (she taught Kirsty to knit on her TV show a few years ago) and Stuart Hillard from the first series of The Great British Sewing Bee. 

I also got to spend some time with Sarah Hatton and the Design Consultant team - all of whom I can't thank enough for their help and encouragement - especially on the Friday when I nearly lost the plot faced with 100 people wanting to learn to crochet!

I am not sure whether the show will happen again next year, I hope it does as I had a great time and would definitely attend as a show goer given the chance. You can find a youtube clip of the film by following this link.

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Flax Sweater

Materials:

10 skeins Mirasol Askita in Crimson (shade 2113)

Size 6 circular needles

Size 8 circular needles

Instructions:

This Flax sweater by Tin Can Knits is absolutely beautiful and so versatile! She gives the pattern in 17 (!) different sizes, including baby sizes. 

Pattern available here. I didn't change anything about the pattern and followed as instructed for the S size. It's  really easy pattern to follow and I love the garter stitch swatch running down the arms. I made the sleeves shorter because I was limited on my yarn, but I would have loved to make it a long sleeved sweater. 

I will definitely be using this pattern again, I highly recommend it!

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Pattern: Bordered Chevron Blanket

Finished Measurements:
46" x 68"

Materials:
Size 9 (US) circular needle
(BC) 2 skeins Loops & Threads Impeccable in Aran
(CC) 3 skeins Lang Yarns Mille Colori Big in Color No. 0044 (pink and green blend)
(MC) 4 skeins Land Yarns Mille Colori Big in Color No. 0039 (brown and orange blend)

Abbreviations:
K - knit
P - purl
Yo - yarn over
Sl - slip next stitch
Psso - pass the slipped stitch over the stitch just worked
St(s) - stitch(es)

Chevron Pattern:
Row 1: *K1, yo, K12, K2tog, sl 1, K1, psso, K12, yo.* Repeat from * to * until last st, K1.
Row 2: P across.

Instructions:

This blanket will test your intarsia skills. If you've never worked with color changes before, I posted some instructions here but I found these instructions were helpful as well.

You'll have seven different color sections, each bordered by white. Each section has its own ball of yarn. Conveniently, you'll have four sections of MC to match the 4 skeins you'll use and three sections of CC to match the 3 skeins you'll use. There are 8 border sections of BC so you'll want to make 8 relatively small balls of BC yarn. You'll be working from a lot of different skeins and it'll get tangled a lot, but don't get frustrated! The finished product is worth it.

In BC, CO 204 stitches
Row 1-6: Work Chevron Pattern.

Now you change colors, which are ordered across a row as follows:
BC, MC, BC, CC, BC, MC, BC, CC, BC, MC, BC, CC, BC, MC, BC

Row 7: (In BC, K1, yo, K1), *(In MC, K11, K2tog, sl 1, K1, psso, K11), (In BC, K1, yo, K1, yo, K1), (In CC, K11, K2tog, sl 1, K1, psso, K11), (In BC, K1, yo, K1, yo, K1).* Repeat from * to * until last 28 sts, in MC, K11, K2tog, sl 1, K1, psso, K11, in BC, K1, yo, K1.

Row 8: P across

Repeat Rows 7 and 8, 9 more times for a total of 10 repeats (making 20 Rows total).

Rows 9-12: In BC, work Chevron Pattern.

TIP: When changing from working the BC only across to working the different colors across, be sure you are pulling from the same skein in that section below to keep the color changing consistent.

Repeat Rows 7-12, 9 more times (10 times total)

Work Rows 7-8 one more time.

Rows 13-18: In BC, work Chevron Pattern. Bind off.

Find me on Instagram and tag me in your photos! I'd love to see your work. @knitabitcrochetaway

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Pattern: Quatrefoil Reversible Slipper Socks

I wanted to make some reversible slipper socks that were also really warm so I decided to try making these socks using double knitting. It was quite challenging to figure out parts of the sock using double knitting, especially the toe at the very beginning, so I recommend tackling this pattern only if you have sock experience and double knitting experience. This could be a fun pattern to try as your first double knitting project, but it could be a bit frustrating, so beware! There's a great photo tutorial on double knitting available here. I tried my best to explain my process as a helpful guide.

Finished Measurements:
Pattern written for women's size 8 (US) socks, but it's easily adaptable to fit other sizes. If you want to make the foot wider or narrower, then increase or decrease until you get your size and follow the pattern chart to keep the quatrefoil looking the same.

These socks are meant to be slipper socks, so they won't fit snug on your foot like normal socks. They're a bit looser for around-the-house comfort.

Materials:
Size 1 double pointed needles
1 skein Lion Brand Sock-Ease in Marshmallow
1 skein Lion Brand Sock-Ease in Snow Cone

Abbreviations:
K - knit
P - purl
Sl - slip unworked stitch from left needle to right needle
SSK - slip unworked stitch from left needle to right needle knitwise. Slip a second unworked stitch from the left needle to the right needle knitwise. Slip those two unworked stitches separately back to the left needle purlwise. Knit those two stitches together in the back of the stitches (decrease).
K2tog - knit two stitches together (decrease). Be sure to use double knitting decrease method, available here.
P2tog - purl two stitches together (decrease). Be sure to use double knitting decrease method, available here.
K Inc - knit into the front and back of the same stitch (increase).
P Inc - purl into the front and back of the same stitch (increase).
W - white
B - blue

Instructions:
Toe Shaping
Using provisional cast on method, cast on 12 stitches of each color, making 24 stitches total on your needle. This part is really tricky and will probably require a lot of trial and error until you get the hang of it.

To have a white toe on the outside and a blue toe on the inside, start with a blue on the needle, but don't make one blue around the string. Then, continue as normal under the provisional cast on method with the white, then the blue. Continue alternating colors and end with one white on the needle, but don't make one white around the string. This keeps the alternating colors as you pick up the live stitches from the string.

Remove live stitches from scrap yarn and split them across two double pointed needles. Split the stitches on the other needle across two needles, having four needles in total with 6 stitches of each color per needle (12 stitches total per needle). Begin knitting in the round.

Round 1: Needle 1 - K1 W, P1 B, K1 W, P1 B, K Inc W, P Inc B, *K1 W, P1 B,* repeat from * to * until end of needle.
          Needle 2 - *K1 W, P1 B,* repeat from * to * until last 4 sts, K Inc W, P Inc B, K1 W, P1 B, K1 W, P1 B.
          Needle 3 - K1 W, P1 B, K1 W, P1 B, K Inc W, P Inc B, *K1 W, P1 B,* repeat from * to * until end of needle.
          Needle 4 - *K1 W, P1 B,* repeat from * to * until last 4 sts, K Inc W, P Inc B, K1 W, P1 B, K1 W, P1 B.

Rounds 2-5: Repeat Round 1.
Round 6: *K1 W, P1 B,* repeat from * to * until end.
Round 7: Repeat Round 1.
Round 8: Repeat Round 6.
Round 9: Repeat Round 1.
Round 10: Repeat Round 6.
Round 11: Repeat Round 1.
Rounds 12-13: Repeat Round 6.
Round 14: Repeat Round 1.
Rounds 15-16: Repeat Round 6.
Round 17: Repeat Round 1.
Rounds 18-20: Repeat Round 6.
Round 21: Repeat Round 1.
Rounds 22-25: Repeat Round 6. (136 stitches total, 68 sts in each color)

Foot:
Change your yarn so the main color on the outside is blue with white as a contrast color, making the inside with a white main color and blue contrast color. Work the pattern based on the quatrefoil chart below:

Work until you have three quatrefoil rows on the foot, or until the sock is the length from the toe to the bend of your ankle at the top of your foot.

Heel Flap:
Turn so WS is facing and Work Needles 3 and 4 ONLY
Leave Needles 1 and 2 unworked 

Row 26: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B,* repeat from * to * until end. 
Row 27: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat from * to * until end. 
Repeat Rows 26 and 27, 11 more times (12 repeats total, 24 rows total).

Heel Shaping:
There are really great instructions on how to decrease while double knitting here.

Row 28: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 17 more times (18 times total), P2tog (of white using double knitting decrease method), K2tog (of blue using double knitting decrease method), P1 W, K1 B, turn. Leave remaining sts unworked. Continue in this manner.
Row 29: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 2 more times (3 times total), K2tog, P2tog, K1 B, P1 W, turn. 
Row 30: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 3 more times (4 times total), P2tog, K2tog, P1 W, K1 B, turn. 
Row 31: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 4 more times (5 times total), K2tog, P2tog, K1 B, P1 W, turn. 
Row 32: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 5 more times (6 times total), P2tog, K2tog, P1 W, K1 B, turn. 
Row 33: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 6 more times (7 times total), K2tog, P2tog, K1 B, P1 W, turn. 
Row 34: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 7 more times (8 times total), P2tog, K2tog, P1 W, K1 B, turn. 
Row 35: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 8 more times (9 times total), K2tog, P2tog, K1 B, P1 W, turn. 
Row 36: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 9 more times (10 times total), P2tog, K2tog, P1 W, K1 B, turn. 
Row 37: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 10 more times (11 times total), K2tog, P2tog, K1 B, P1 W, turn. 
Row 38: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 11 more times (12 times total), P2tog, K2tog, P1 W, K1 B, turn. 
Row 39: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 12 more times (13 times total), K2tog, P2tog, K1 B, P1 W, turn. 
Row 40: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 13 more times (14 times total), P2tog, K2tog, P1 W, K1 B, turn. 
Row 41: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 14 more times (15 times total), K2tog, P2tog, K1 B, P1 W, turn. 
Row 42: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 15 more times (16 times total), P2tog, K2tog, turn. 
Row 43: Holding yarn to the back, sl1, holding yarn to the front, sl1, *K1 B, P1 W* repeat 15 more times (16 times total), K2tog, P2tog, turn. 
Row 44: Holding yarn to the front, sl1, holding yarn to the back, sl1, *P1 W, K1 B* repeat 15 more times (16 times total), P2tog, K2tog, P1 W, K1 B, turn. 

Begin working in the round again. 

Row 45: work across heel flap, pick up 12 white stitches from the outside (blue) and 12 stitches from the inside (white), alternating in the same manner as you have been, and K the blue sts and P the white sts. Work in the quatrefoil pattern across the next 2 needles. Pick up and work 12 white stitches and 12 blue stitches in the same manner across the other side of the heel flap. On the same needle, split the heel flap sts evenly between the needles with the picked up heel flap sts, working 18 sts on one needle and 18 sts on the other.

Gusset Shaping:

Round 46: Needle 1 - Work in Quatrefoil pattern.

       Needle 2 - Work in Quatrefoil pattern.

       Needle 3 - K1 B, P1 W, SSK (keeping with double knitting decrease method), P2tog, *K1 B, P1 W,* repeat from * to * until end.

       Needle 4 - *K1 B, P1 W,* repeat from * to * until last 6 sts, K2tog (keeping with double knitting decrease method), P2tog, K1 B, P1 W.

Round 47: Needle 1 - Work in Quatrefoil pattern.

       Needle 2 - Work in Quatrefoil pattern.

       Needle 3 - *K1 B, P1 W,* repeat from * to * until end.

       Needle 4 - *K1 B, P1 W,* repeat from * to * until end.

Repeat Round 46 and Round 47 until there are 34 sts per needle.

Ankle:

Continue working the Quatrefoil pattern across all needles until you reach approximately an inch less than your desired length. I worked two quatrefoil rows above the heel.

Ribbing:
Ribbing with double knitting can be tricky because you need to change where you hold the yarn for each stitch differently than you have been doing. Work these same repeating four sts across the round for as many rounds until you reach your desired length, approximately one inch:
With both yarns at the back, K1 W
With W yarn at the front and B yarn at the back, K1 B
With W yarn at the front and B yarn at the back, P1 W
With both yarns at the front, P1 B

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Goldenrod Tank

Materials:
Size 6 circular needle
2 skeins Ice Yarns Cotton Elite in Gold
Sewing needle

Instructions:
Sorry, I don't have a link to this pattern. It's published in the Love of Knitting, Summer 2014 magazine and designed by Marly Bird. I'm not usually one to subscribe to knitting/crocheting magazines, but I got an offer to try out the mag for free. When I think magazine, I think of something that's heavy on the ads and lighter on the content. I didn't want to pay for something that was trying to sell me knitting products most of the time.

I was pleasantly surprised with this magazine, though. It was filled with 25 patterns and has only one or two ads in the front and back. They are all summer oriented and came in a good variety, ranging from tanks and beach cover ups to beachy table settings. I'm still looking through the patterns so I don't think I'll be subscribing anytime soon. I like the summer issue the best, too, because it's much harder to find pretty and lightweight patterns.

If you're looking to subscribe to a magazine with lots of different knitting patterns, this one is a pretty great find!

I stuck to the pattern in the magazine for the most part. The only alteration I made was to pick up double the amount of stitches on the sleeve edging than it called for. When I followed the pattern, the arm holes were uncomfortably tight.

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