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?

Audrey In Unst

The new Twist Collective is out and I'm in it!

Audrey In Unst is a cropped cardi featuring a bib of Shetland Lace. It is worked seamlessly from the bottom up including seamless set in sleeves which are worked using short rows to shape the cap. I was definitely thinking of an Audrey Hepburn inspired Cardigan when I designed this hence the use of the name.....and the lace originates from the northern most Shetland Isle, Unst.....I don't suppose Audrey Hepburn ever actually made it to Shetland but she would have looked great on a windswept beach in this cardi if she had!

Once again it is such an honour to be in an issue with so many other wonderful designers and great to work with the team at Twist!

Here are a few more poorly taken photos before I sent it off....I deliberately subdued them as bright red is not the best colour on me (the cardi is also a little on the small side for me in this size).....I will be making another in a rusty colour....possibly starting it today!

Spotlight On David

Just returned from Montreal where David took the kids and I to attend our first WorldCon event....mostly we wandered around the city while David rubbed shoulders with the some of bigwigs of the Sci Fi/ Fantasy world.

(The location for the Con was in the Palais De Congrais which had these fabulous coloured windows)

The highlight of the trip was when David took the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer of Science Fiction/Fantasy for his book Acacia. It was a tense and exciting evening while we waited to hear the results read out....and then we screamed and jumped up and down with excitement!
(David giving his acceptance speech on the big screen- and yes he thanked me)!

(The kids taking some of the limelight .......and David wearing a tiara)!

Terrible photo of some of the winners that evening (holding camera above head and randomly snapping)......but I had to get a shot of David beside Neil Gaiman who won a Hugo for Best Novel.....and he let David hold it!

Maya's doodle while waiting nervously for the results......thinking of entering her for best artist category sometime in the future!

Teeny Taster

Crofter's Cowl Class

I don't think I mentioned this yet but I'm going to be teaching a class at Fiber College in Searsport Maine in Septemeber!
I'll be teaching my Crofter's Cowl pattern in a 3 hour class on Sunday the 13th of September. If you know of anyone in that area that may be interested in making a cowl as we head into cooler weather then please let them know!
The class will be appropriate for beginners (with a teensy bit of experience) and up.
Skills that will be taught:
Knitting in the rnd
Simple Lace
Grafting
The Fiber College folks have also put up a wee interview I did for them on their blog.
I'm very much looking forward to it and for the opportunity to meet Mary Jane Mucklestone who is also going to be teaching there!

New Connections

I've spent most of today online getting together a Shetland Trader Group on Ravelry! I decided it was time for a central location for Rav users to ask questions and for me to be able to respond easily! If you're on Ravelry please come and join!

The Shetland Trader Group

Also got sucked into twitter today......username shetlandtrader!