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).

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!

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!

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 :-)

Cold Hands - Warm Gloves

I don't know about anyone else, I can bear the cold weather if my hands and feet are warm. It has been extremely cold here in Newcastle this week, and with my penchant for losing gloves my hands have been freezing (cue one miserable person!)
So, when I received some fab new yarn in a recent stock delivery at The Knit Studio I knew exactly what to knit!
Now, this yarn is relatively new to the market - 6 projects on Ravelry and is actually sock yarn, but when you look at the ball you would expect it to knit up in stripes. And it does, but not in stripes as I know them! Have a look and you will see what I mean -

Sorry, small pic! Get your magnifiers out!

Interesting aren't they?

Knitted on 2.5mm dpn's - 54 sts - knit every row - thumb opening created the same way as Fetching and knit to fit! Easy! and more importantly warm!

Yarn is Katia Olé Socks Senses - 100g balls - 75% wool 25% acrylic.

When I showed them to Sarah we realised she shares the same 'matching gene' as her Grandma as she said she could not wear them as they did not match! My mum, you see, will wind off the yarn before she begins her second sock in order to match the strips exactly, this trait has skipped a generation and Sarah suffers from it too! This does of course mean I get to keep the gloves!! Hooray!

Normal Service Resumes!

Hello!
I bet you were all wondering where I had gone! Well the answer is nowhere really. Except I have been really busy, and life has still got this habit of throwing a few things your way that you had not planned on having to deal with (just yet)!
So today I shall upload a few photos and hopefully from now on I will have the time and inclination to begin Blogging again on a regular basis!

Citron x 2

One knitted by me and one by mum - we both liked the same colour and look how different they appear!

The cats who fight and have a little 'spat' each day,

managed to overcome their differences to hide away here while I was houseworking downstairs!

Mittens to the left, Pebbles to the right.

There has been a spot of Guerilla Knitting at The Knit Studio in readiness for Makers Faire in 2 weeks time!

Look at the fabulous bright colours!

New project, crocheted with new yarn.

It's very bright and not a colour I would normally wear, but it is really cheerful and I love it!

I 'found' these boots (bought over a year ago, and misplaced in the house move etc, and after wearing them around the house to soften the leather)

 I have worn them nearly every day since. Maybe my color preferences are changing??

The day my mum, finally realised that she IS the smallest person in our family!

But, much loved, all the same!

A Glimpse of My Week

Well, what a busy week we are having. It is so good to have mum and dad here and to spend some time with them. It has been a bit hectic here, and I sometimes think life in Newcastle may be a bit too busy for them!
However, here are a few photos of what has been happening in the last week.

Saturday Morning Knitting Group @ The Knit Studio 22nd January.

Mum's Christmas Present Scarf

Coffee and Cake at Debenhams

Cute card received from a dear friend

New yarn arrives at The Knit Studio

100% Silk                                                       100% Linen

'Magic' Range of superwash 4ply 

And, there has actually been some knitting going on!

I have been knitting this all week in the evenings, and I love it!

I also 'christened' my Christmas present mug! How cool is this?

There seems to be a bit of colour co-ordination going on, doesn't there? It is quite unintentional!

And finally, a word about our belated christmas Dinner. Even the cats are beginning to wonder - Mittens is offering himself up to be the table centre piece! Look how worried Pebbles looks - it's a kind of 'Ooo you are going to get into such trouble!' look, isn't it?

The poor turkey has been squashed in the freezer since December, and today finally he will be revealed! You know what it's like in a busy household - you think you have a day sorted when everyone is free - then, something unexpected but important crops up. Today was to be our Christmas day - but is now postponed til tomorrow evening. As I type, Sarah is heading towards Stockport, in Cheshire to play in a Basketball match and will not get home until 9.00pm this evening. (Good luck Sarah).

This does mean that now, mum and I are free to partake in a little retail therapy - Royal Quays beckons..... Enjoy the rest of your weekend - and thanks for all your lovely comments!