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. 

Reset Weekend

Do you ever get to the end of a week and feel so tired that you just want to hide in your bed all weekend? Its been a tough few weeks and my duvet was calling to me more and more. With an exam looming in two weeks I don't have much time to sit back and relax but I realised that it was important now more than ever to do so rather than cramming even more knowledge into my already overfilled brain! 

I'm calling this weekend a 'reset' weekend as I've stepped back from everything and really looked at how I spend my time. I had started feeling guilty about doing anything non-degree related including exercise and anything creative. Two things which are key to avoiding stress and feeling overwhelmed by studying. I had also stopped planning my weeks which had been a huge help in balancing work and play. 

So,

I am using this time to catch up on sleep, make a better revision plan and block time out for running and crafty things in my calendar. And do a bit of knitting!

I have finally finished the Spindrift Shawl by Helen Stuart. Its a great shawl for beginners to get used to two types of increase, making eyelets and working on circular needles without feeling overwhelmed. 

The weather is very grey here in England so apologies for the poor lighting! 

The lace work and picot bind off gives a more complex look to what is actually a very straightforward pattern.

There are mistakes visible in the photos and I could have ripped back but actually I like how as the pattern progressed you can see an obvious improvement in the knitting standard. So in my head this is called my Improver Shawl. This was knit in West Yorkshire Spinners 4ply in Peacock.

This pattern is available for free when you sign up for Helen Stuart's Curious Handmade newsletter. 

I have also made progress on my rainbow socks using the Easy Cable Socks pattern by Winwick Mum. Its a free pattern available on her website here. 

The instructions are both written with photos and in video form. Its a detailed and easy pattern to follow. 

It also has a slightly different heel using a crossed rib stitch. I found it fiddly at first but you soon get into a steady rhythm with the three stitch repeat and it looks pretty at the end.

Looking forward to finishing the first sock and starting the second one!

What are you working on? 

Have a great week!

Charlotte and Harvey x

First socks for 2017

From ball of yarn:

To swatch (first ever!):

To the first cuff:

I am loving the multi-colour changes as I knit. The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply Cocktails range in Rum Paradise which I bought from The Loveliest Yarn Company. Great name! I'm going to use the Winwick Mum Easy Cables Socks tutorial and pattern (here). These will hopefully be my first socks for the Yarngasm Box of Socks 2017 KAL!

Also I have been doing the Yarn Love Challenge on Instagram which you can find here. 

ITS ARRIVED! This is the companion booklet for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017. For those, like me, who can't make it to the festival this year it helps alleviate the big feeling of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Its called Wool Tribe and is filled with beautiful patterns from a host of familiar designers such as Renée Callahan and Clare Devine. The booklet patterns include two shawls, a cowl (on the cover), a hat and mittens, a pair of socks and a cushion. For £10, this is an absolute bargain! The patterns are above my skill level at the moment which gives me an incentive to keep learning new skills so I can try them out. 

My Moorland CAL blanket has reached a bit of a stand still. The colours are beautiful and I have really enjoyed it so far. I'm really looking forward to continuing it after I've finished a few of the projects sitting around my room.

One of these is the Spindrift Shawl by Helen Stuart of the Curious Handmade podcast. It was my first proper knitting project when I started to knit regularly last October using 4 ply yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners. I got halfway through the pattern and put it down. 

Its surprisingly difficult to photograph a shawl on circular needles! 

The next project in the 'need to finish' list is a scarf originally meant to be a Christmas present. Oops... Definitely a rookie error in planning Christmas presents... Its a simple but effective pattern from Handwoven Christmas edition. I got halfway through the pattern two days after Christmas and put it down. See a pattern emerging? 

So to stop halfway-itis I am going to have a rule of one project started for one project finished. The only exclusion for this is my Cosy Memory blanket! I've given into the trend and started the first square:

Its a little bit wonky as it hasn't been blocked but it was really easy to make. This is a 4ply yarn from Owl About Yarn, it didn't have a name. It was one of the mini skeins I received in my goody bag from the Great London Yarn Crawl. The second one from Owl About Yarn is this one:

It came with a cute owl stitch marker. The best bit is the pops of multicoloured streaks every so often. It would make a great pair of socks. 


January stitch count: 8000
Goal for February: 9000