Maine and Mary Jane!

Just had a wonderful weekend in Maine with the colourful and adorable Mary Jane Mucklestone! We were both teaching at an event called Fiber College in Searsport Maine and in fact we also attended each other's classes! Mary Jane's was on Fair Isle and she brought so many wonderful samples with her to inspire us all to be bold with our colour choices. It was a great class and gave me a lot of confidence to plunge deeper into Fair Isle!

(Some of Mary Jane's tams)

(Mary Jane's Boyfriend Socks from the new book Joy of Sox)

This was my first official teaching gig and I felt it went well. I taught a class using my Crofter's Cowl pattern so it was a basic intro to lace, knitting in the round and grafting. Just to create a bit of atmosphere I also showed some images I'd taken in Shetland last year, played a wee bit of music from some Shetland bands and provided a little history of lace knitting.
Anyway it has definitely whet my appetite for more teaching!

Mary Jane was such a joy to hang out with. I brought David and the kids with me too and we all felt so at home in Mary Jane's house and with her cute wee Puerto Rican doggie Lee Lee (probably not the right spelling)! We briefly met her husband too (also very nice) who had recently set up their archery target so David and the kids got in some practice and ended up buying a new bow!

Mary Jane has a great taste in textiles, colour and vintage-antique decor. I was often reminded of my mum when perusing her home, perhaps that's why I felt so relaxed there. My mum would have loved meeting her too.
I'm so excited that Mary Jane will also be teaching at the UK Knit Camp in Scotland next summer and that she also plans on getting up to Shetland with me during that trip. Can't wait!

Blame the Bugs!

I know I’ve been a very lame blogger this summer! It wasn’t intentional! I am still here though and most definitely knitting away!

We don’t have the best of internet connections at our house so that has had an impact on how frequently I make online appearances (and add to that the fact that we have to be outside to go online which means for me being mercilessly attacked by mosquitoes)! We have of course also been enjoying settling back into the house and catching up with friends during the longer summer days.

However now that we’re heading into Fall (my favourite time of the year) and back to a bit more of a routine I do plan on posting more regularly again.
I have several self published items in the works and plenty more in my head (I really do need some little knitting elves to help me out)!
One of the current wip’s is another shawl to be a companion of sorts to Aestlight. This will be worked the opposite way and also contain Shetland lace.
Then there’s the cozy deep red cardigan to keep me warm as the weather turns chillier…..and the Fair Isle smock (a re-working of one of my mum’s designs)…and hopefully more!


As I said I just love New England in the Fall, the colours are so appealing to me and I relish being able to wear handknits again. All the yarn I’ve purchased recently reflects my attraction to this spectrum of reds/yellows/browns.
So what’s on your needles or in your basket for Fall knitting?