April Summary

April was a mixed month for knitting. After the general upheaval of a very last minute change of my entire dissertation plus an exam, my needles were ignored for a lot of the month. However, despite that I finished one sock and am nearly done with another one! As you might notice yet again, they aren't exactly matching!

The original arrival of the wonderful West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply in Tequila Sunrise and Rum Surprise.

The finished Easy Cable Sock by Winwick Mum. I reviewed this pattern before (here) and have really enjoyed the whole knit. Its leads you step by step and is a nice pattern for the newbie sock knitter who wants to try something just a little bit more challenging than a vanilla sock.

After the cabling success, I decided to go back to a quick vanilla sock which was easy to knit on my daily commute. However, ever since I started knitting socks a whole 3 and a half months ago (basically expert level now right?) the right side of each heel looks perfect and the left always looks rubbish! I picked up a stitch in each corner and decreased each side. The only difference is the type of decrease. K2TOG is fine but the SSK seems to be making a run for it. Going to have to figure out how to fix this before I knit any more socks, especially if I want to try patterned socks! 

Any suggestions? Help! 

Away from the big smoke aka last alpine trip of the year

Sometimes its nice to get away from the city and to surround yourself with great scenery, long walks and lovely company. Last weekend I hosted a group of students from my university alpine club of which I am secretary. Our original booking in Somerset fell through, which seems to be a running theme for that particular hiking hut! So instead I invited everyone down to Chichester to see a new part of the country.

I don't think any of them had been to this part of the UK before so it was a delight to show it off. We walked from Chichester to West Wittering on Friday through beautiful fields like the one above and only one small stretch of scarily busy road. The less said the better about that road...

It was slightly more grey on the Sunday but we still headed out to the South Downs Way for a small loop walk of around 8km. The other half of the group did a longer route with a pub stop along the way. Sounded tough....

We saw bluebell woods.

Baby cows (ok calves but baby cows sound cuter).

And more very yellow fields although from further away. I'm guessing its rapeseed? 

Our group looking slightly damp!

Monday was our easy day with a little jaunt around Arundel.

A stop for lunch

And then 20 metres later, a stop for creme tea. Yum! 

This was the last trip of the academic year and my last as secretary of the club. It has been a great year for the club and I am very proud to have been part of it. It was a wonderful weekend and I look forward to many more! 

London Craft Week 3-7 May

I was browsing the internet today when I came across an event in London that I haven't heard of before. I don't know if I've been living under a rock or if this is a new thing but this week London is hosting The London Craft Week. Its a series of events happening from today until Sunday in a diverse range of crafts from leatherwork to ceramics to knitting to upcycling. The events are a mix of demonstrations and workshops. I'm stuck in Essex on placement this week but hopefully will be able to see a few things over the weekend. 

If you're in London, definitely check it out! And let me know what you see in the comments section below! 

www.londoncraftweek.com

Why so serious?

Hola! I hope this post finds you well! I'm only three days into the new term and I am already missing the holidays. I am fully immersed into dissertation mode and ticking off the last few boxes to complete my placement. I had a great holiday with the perfect balance of a week away and a week at home. Just before the Easter weekend, I took a flight with my boyfriend to the beautiful city of Barcelona. It was a steady 25 degrees during the day with a bit of a chill in the evenings. We had a two minute walk from the hotel to the beach and a short metro ride to the main city. Perfect.

We visited Casa Batlló (pronounced buyo by the locals), famously built by Gaudi. I love how in Europe the tourist attractions are still open at 7 in the evening.

The house gave each visitor headphones attached to an iphone which gave a running commentary as you walked around each room and the roof. The headphones just happened to match our clothes, accidental style obviously....

The only slightly annoying part of Barcelona are the waiters who stand outside each restaurant and try to lure you in to eat. If anything, it puts me off wanting to eat there. Apparently both of us showed this sentiment on our face as one waiter yelled after us: WHY SO SERIOUS? It became our catchphrase for the holiday every time we walked past the cafes and restaurants. 

The highlight of my trip however was of course - a yarn shop!! While googling the main tourist attraction, I had to check if there was a yarn shop in the city. And there was! All You Knit Is Love was in one of Barcelona's multitude of tall narrow streets.

I was surprised the name was in English but from what I could understand I think one of the owners is American or English. The interior of the shop was gorgeous.The photos don't quite do it justice as it was difficult to capture the narrow space. 

The shop was really long with a tall ceiling. Yarn hung from every wall with recognisable brands such as malabrigo. In a glass cupboard just by the front door were multiple skeins of yarn hand dyed in Barcelona. As a souvenir yarn, this couldn't be any better - dyed locally and I genuinely liked the colourways on offer. I'm away on my placement but will post the yarn when I head home this weekend :)

TLDR; Barcelona is beautiful and has a great yarn shop

2017 stitch count:
Jan - April: 46,822

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

March is marching on

My first exam of the year is over! There is always a feeling of a weight off my shoulders immediately after each exam and a sudden sense of freedom before the next one. I am sticking to my resolution to keep creating even during revision time and it has certainly helped me maintain an even keel and combat any stress. 

I got my mini Ashford rigid heddle loom out again after a long time gathering dust in the corner. Ages ago I bought a random selection of fine cotton and acrylic from The Handweavers Studio in London as I happened to have a placement nearby. Unsure of sett and epi and other equally strange words, I was incredibly grateful for the lady at the shop who pulled out a few spare heddles and went around the shop with me to find the perfect spools for me. 

I chose a range of blues and a canary yellow and royal purple although it looks blue in this photo. 

For a sample project I pulled out three of the blues to make a log cabin weave.

Can you spot the mistake on the right? I was tempted to fix it but I kind of like it. I have never woven with such find thread before so I'll be interested to see how it changes once it has been washed. 

For those interested, log cabin is a very simple pattern which is created by alternating two colours in the warp and the weft. The apparent change in direction of the lines of colour in the fabric is simply done by reversing the order of the thread colours every so often: BABABABBABABABAABABABA so that you have two threads of the same colour together allowing the order to change. 

Simple but effective! 

Have a great week everyone x

Spring! Sort of...

It's March! When did that happen?

We have had a sudden lull in the cold here in the UK. Or at least near me just north of London. The daffodils have come out in force and the wild garlic is showing its face in the woods across the road. 

I love wild garlic. The smell of it permeates the air in the forest when I go running and every year I tell myself I will cook with it. And every year it doesn't quite happen. Maybe this time I will.