Re-Connecting

Over the past month I have been able to step back and spend a little time addressing things (and people) that have been somewhat neglected. My Grandma always said 'Give a busy person something to do and it always gets done'. Not always the case methinks. Give a busy person something to do and it usually gets added to an already enormous list of things to do!!
I have been having a little 'me' time of late. This has given me a chance to see old friends, chat for ages on the phone, and photograph some of my many projects (i am still ignoring the ironing). Who knew that I had knitted not one, but four Ishbels this year!! I have had a couple of hugely enjoyable and interesting woolly related road trips for inspiration and information. But, best of all, I have had time to sit and browse my huge collection of Knitting Books and Magazines. As the owner of The Knit Studio I stock a large, nay ginormous amount of Knitting, Crochet and Sewing books, this means I have unlimited access to them all. What can be better than to browse through beautiful books for inspiration with a coffee, some cake and a very large cat for company?

Ishbel knitted in DK Cotton

HitchHiker knitted in 4ply

Ishbel knitted in Lace Weight

Trial knitted in DK Cotton

Veyla knitted in Angora

Damson knitted in DK Bamboo Cotton

Just a few of this years projects which finally made to the front of the camera!!

And, not forgetting Mittens

Time to advertise for staff I think, then I can enjoy a little more 'me time'!

Applications on a postcard to...........................................

Moving On - At Last!

Thank you so much for all your kind words and comments about Pebbles. It was lovely to read them and know you were all thinking of us, I really appreciate your thoughts :-)

And, moving on - I shall be doing a number of short posts with photos to get this Blog and myself moving!

VIV - Ysolda Teague

We had a VIV (very important visitor) to The Knit Studio in July. Young, talented Scottish designer and author Ysolda Teague came to visit us for the day. Ysolda was launching her new book Little Red in the City and came to do a Book Signing and Trunk Show. We all had a great time trying on various garments from the book, deciding which design we were going to knit first. It was very difficult to choose as all the garments are fabulous and it made such a difference being able to try them on.

I'll leave you with a few pics.

Ysolda & Tori.

Ysolda and her youngest fan?

Rebecca, Ysolda and Anne (giving orders as usual).

Pebbles 2003 -2011

In order to move on with my Blogging I have to write about something that saddens me. But, I need to get past this, so......
Pebbles, our beautiful family pet and feline best friend died last month after a short, sudden illness. For those of you who know me, you will realise this is a kind of double blow, as for more than 8 years I have used his name as my Internet ID on many knitting websites and forums.
Pebbles and his brother Mittens came into our lives just over 8 years ago and gave us so many magical, hysterical, moving, funny and friendly moments. Mittens has suffered his loss too, as they used to eat, sleep and come in and out together, and I think he still looks and waits for Pebbles most days.
Here are some of our favourite photos of Pebbles for you to share our memories.

Just arrived at 6 weeks old. 2003.

Favourite place to sit - approx 2006.

Braving my Radioactive Thyroid treatment approx 2006.

Dining with Mittens.

Wondering when all the snow will go - 2010.

Playing in the snow with my bro'. 2010

Under my umberella - ella -ella.

A cat, a cushion or a cushion and a cat?

Pebbles 2003 -2011

I hope you have enjoyed these photos, they have made me smile as I uploaded them.



It's Been A While!

I have just realised that it has been nearly a month since I Blogged! I cannot believe that so much time has passed so quickly. It is nearly June, half way through the year, and all those plans and To Do Lists still sit in my notebooks, patiently waiting for ticks.
When it comes to Blogging, I always want to have great photos, a funny story or anecdote, and something interesting for you all to read when you stop by. Sometimes though, when it is time for me to sit down and relax, catch up with friends' Bogs, Ravelry and answer emails etc all I actually want to do is sit and knit, or crochet! And so, another day or two will pass without a Blog post. So, I hit on this really great idea (or so I thought) create a document, use it as a mini Diary update it every now and then and once a week copy and paste it onto the Blog. Brilliant! I started my 'diary' 2 weeks ago, it was going well, filling up nicely - a trip to Sussex for Easter, Workshops and Events at The Knit Studio, cats being silly, flowers appearing in the garden, lots of great photos - fast forward to last Saturday evening.
Home from a brilliant day at The Knit Studio, prep to do for Sewing Workshop on Sunday and Freeform Knitting & Crochet Workshop on Monday and a Gin & Tonic at hand, perfect. Then, the most awful thing happened - I sat down at my laptop, began to work and poof! it all went blank! Cue frantic checking of cables, plugs, doing a quick bit of dust removal and......nothing, nothing at all. My LapTop est Morte! and it has been a nightmare!
I am using Sarahs' at the mo while she is at school, mine is at the PC Hospital where they fear it is a very nasty Virus and I may have lost it all! Email contacts, photos, documents, workshop notes and lots of other things I can't remember now, but will in the future when I need to find 'that' pattern, or 'that' link! It would also appear that it had been lurking around a while, and all my Backups done in 2011 are corrupted too!
So, if you need to email me please use theknitstudio@gmail.com - if you have sent an email to my btopenworld address please resend to the gmail one, and apologies to anyone who might never hear from me again!
In the general scheme of life, it is not really that bad. There are lots of other things that are much worse that could have happened and that are happening, and at the end of the day I will get through this inconvenience (because that's all it is really) and more fool me for not checking the BackUps were ok and not removing more rubbish from my LapTop. A lesson learnt - the hard way.

Anyway - enough of that.
The other day I came out of the house to see this

I think they are having a discussion about whose turn it is to drive!

And, my mug says it all!

Bye for now........

Sunshine & Flowers

We have been enjoying some brilliant weather here in Newcastle upn Tyne. It has been much warmer then 'seasonal norms' and my garden has suddenly sprung into life! Last year my mum advised me to leave the garden for a year and just wait to see what plants and flowers appeared, which is what I did and I kept a photo Diary. The intention being, this year, take some plants out, plant some new ones, get a Greenhouse, create a vegetable Plot etc etc. It kind of looks like, I may be too busy to do much this year. So the Photo Diary begins again. Here are a few of the lovely plants I can see as I type this.

Pretty and colourful aren't they?

But, lurking away in the bottom of the garden in an old sink, I found these.....

Yes, they are strawberries! Or strozzers as dad likes to call them! I am amazed, after all the snow and low temperatures and being neglected they are growing merrily away! Just have to keep the birds away, this year.

Last week was the Secret Spring Chicken Swap at the Tuesday night Knitting Group who meet in the Bridge Pub in Newcastle - It was sooo exciting, lots of beautifully wrapped parcels, lots of chickens and lots of gorgeous yarns. I think we caused a bit of stir during the parcel opening ceremony ( all parcels were opened one at a time so that we could all appreciate the contents ) the amount of oooos and aaaaaahs that we made!

Parcels, before opening.

Charlie, the chicken waiting for his pint.

Still waiting!

I made this little chicken for my swap partner not even thinking that it reveals my identity straight away! There are some of his extended family living at The Knit Studio. Never mind, I organised this swap and it was good fun watching everyone open their packages. My parcel contained a lovely silver badge enscribed I Love Knitting, and a ball of yarn - I love it. I am having difficulty taking a photo but will post as soon as I can - you will want one!

Comment Replies

Hieke You will be interested to know Her Magister, the Queen regularly attends the Saturday Morning Knitting Group and is available for photos!

Shiela Mittens has become very fond of his shoe box, Pebbles does try it out for size, but does not stay in long enough for a photo shoot!

Where Did It Go???

Okay, I have one question and one question only for today - where has the last 2 weeks gone? One minute it was the end of March and now it is the middle of April!!

It might, of course, be the fact that life Chez Makepeace has been extremely busy. Normally, in the evening (usually 9.00pm ish) after all the necessary chores are done, I have 3 choices.

1. Knit/crochet and watch TV
2. Check out Ravelry and all the latest on friends' Blogs
3. Post to my own Blog
No prizes for guessing which numbered choice has been winning lately.

So since my last post we have had Mothers' Day.

My flowers.

I also received a really cool bird feeder, which we have placed closer to the house as I really enjoy bird watching/spotting. I have to admit that when I first saw where it had been placed I thought to myself there is no way any bird is going to use that! However, with the help of Bird Seed with Aniseed generously supplied by my friend (see sidebar for link) we had a result on the first day - brilliant, I love it.
Euan, Sarah and I actually managed to spent the whole day together, managing to fit in shooting a few hoops in the back garden (aka mum trying to show that she has still got some of her old netball skills!) a trip to Tynemouth Market, and a few bargains found. Ikea for lunch and some impulse purchases. Morrisons for essentials and last, but not least Aldi for their 3Bird Roast which is family favourite - have you tried it?

A new pair of shoes provided the perfect place to squash a cat!

Mittens says - You see, I cannot be that big if I can fit into a shoe box!

Oh! I forgot to mention! We had a very special Royal appearance at The Knit Studio Saturday Knitting Group. The Queen! Yes, Her Magister graced us with her presence! Skillfully knitted by Meriel and sporting a very fine pearl necklace and Blue Ensemble. We are all taking bets now to see if Meriel has guessed the right colour of the Mother of the Groom Outfit!

As you can see, I was pretty overcome being so close to Royalty :-)
Photo courtesy of Meriel (Thank you)

New Feature!

Since I started my Blog I have been encouraged, supported and amused by the various comments people from around the world have left on my Blog. I have always felt a little well, uncomfortable that I do not reply to these comments. Having done a little research into this it would appear that apart from posting individual replies in the comments section, and therefore running the risk of them of them going unnoticed, there is not a lot else I can do. I have looked at other peoples' Blogs and taking my lead from them I shall try and reply to questions and comments at the end of a Blog Post. It may take a while, it may not be in order, but I do need to 'mind my manners'!
So, if you have left a comment - Thank you, I appreciate each and every one of them :-)

To Me from Me

Saturday at The Knit Studio was busy, really busy. We had over 20 people again at the morning Knitting Group, which is fantastic - I love Saturday mornings, I get see everyone, listen to the gossip, admire the WIP's and just absorb the friendly, chatty atmosphere.
Fast forward to getting home and looking forward to a Gin & Tonic and there, on the table was a parcel for me! I had ordered some goodies from Hieke's new website http://www.knitsisters.co.uk/ and amazingly it arrived the next day! Brilliant service! Would you like a little look?

 Beautifully wrapped -

The contents

and, they all fitted perfectly into my new project bag!

This Makes Me Smile

I recently posted the link to this book on a forum in Ravelry and people either loved it or hated it. What do you think?

It is just such a typically English thing to do. Did we have a Knitted American Presidential Election? No, I didn't think so. However, I have to admit on closer inspection the characters in the book are quite lovable in their own way, and I do like the corgis. I did have a mad idea to knit it for The Knit Studio but having looked at all the instructions have decided (wiselyI think) not to put myself under so much knitting pressure. I may change my mind of course, it is a Wedding after all! And talking of Royal Wedding Souvenirs - did anyone see the mug that has a photograph of the wrong Prince on it? Hilarious, how many people will realise before they buy it?

I was given another link, still Royal Wedding themed - it made my day! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqiIcFEDvT8

An Invitation to

One of my bestest knitting friends is launching a new website, and it looks fab. Go have a look tomorrow - I am sure you will love it! I already have my eye on a couple of things!

Here is the information -
Blatant copying from Heike's Blog!

Please join me to celebrate the launch of Knitsisters. I am very excited that this dream of mine is finally a reality and I hope you will tell everyone about it. Please give me your honest feedback, as it will help me to improve on an ongoing basis. My main is to provide Beautiful Things for Yarn Lovers everywhere.

Crochet, Cats and Chickens

It has been an interesting weekend - busy, but interesting!
A Learn to Crochet Workshop was scheduled at The Knit Studio for Sunday. As some of you know, for the past couple of years I have travelled the length and breadth of the country tutoring a wide range of knitting, crochet and sewing related subjects. So, because of this, I have a box in which I keep all my workshop samples. This means that for any given subject, I just dip into the box, check the samples, wash them if needed, block them and generally tidy them up. On Friday night I 'dipped' into the box for the crochet samples and ... horror of horrors! No sign of them! Cue a frantic search of other boxes before finally deciding I would have to quickly crochet them all again. Not easy when you consider that Saturday is a busy day at The Knit Studio with the very large and popular Knitting Group. Nevertheless I managed to do the samples I needed by early in the evening, and, by this time I had caught the crochet bug.  If some one asks me knit or crochet? I will always reply knit - but when I do get around to crocheting I remember how much I enjoy it and I wasn't quite ready to put everything away, just yet - after all, I had all my hooks, lots of odd bits of yarn and a few new books (borrowed, of course from The Knit Studio). I really like Amigurumi crochet type creatures because of their funny shapes and 'googly' eyes and because they are quick to make. By the end of Saturday night Charlie the Cat and Chloe the chicken had been born! Photos later on......

The Crochet Workshop went really well - it was a beautiful, sunny day and everyone got the hang of all the basic stitches really quickly! It was a good job I had a few 'extension tasks' up my sleeves. Not only all the basic stitches but circles, flowers and granny squares too -well done everyone!

And so to Monday, which was for me Washday Monday! You know, a warm sunny day perfect for hanging out washing - so perfect I went looking for washing! Three stripped beds later and the kitchen resembled a Chinese Laundry.

One of the many piles on the kitchen floor.

Taking advantage of the brilliant sunshine, Mittens and I spent a little time in the garden where I managed to photograph some of my recent projects.

Charlie gaurding 'his' fat ball feeder!

I nearly wrote gauarding his fat b****s

but then realised how that sounded

and I do have children reading my Blog. Hello Rellies!! :-)



Chloe, the chicken, hiding from Mittens!

Mittens ignoring Chloe.

Perhaps I will just squash it?

And - introducing Charlie the cat ....

 he is kind of cute isn't he?

(Eyes and nose temporary fittings!)

I'll just ignore this creature too!

Some finished knitting projects enjoyed the sunshine too. 

Springtime HitchHiker

Hitch Hiker again, not my usual colours, but a great Springtime Scarf.

New Knitters First Project - designed for last weeks' Learn to Knit Workshop at Create in Ilkley.

Knitted in Nidd yarn from their fantastic Ba T'at yarn range

- which is also available exclusively at The Knit Studio!

and finally - received this from a pal recently - it made me smile :-)