Welcome to the very last post in July’s Summer Series! Today I’m looking back at the year so far: how I’ve done on the goals I set for myself in January. The word I chose for the year was “simplify” and it’s been pretty influential, though there’s always room for improvement! I also had the opportunity to review a wonderful pattern book by Hannah Fettig, Home and Away. Show Sponsors: Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their lovely lovely Acadia yarn.   Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace.  The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments. You can buy Acadia at our other sponsor's shop, Meadow Yarn:   Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more. Show Links: I mention that I went back to listen to episode 56 of the podcast, “Hello 2015” and I that I’ve finished the Amy Herzog Custom Fit Pullover that I began back then! I discussed the design work I’ve accomplished so far this year: Whispering Island was a break from the plan, just a moment of inspiration I had to seize. Hole and Yarns, and two more samples with Blacker Shetland DK and one with The Fibre co Arcadia Re-releasing Pebble Beach with two new sizes and samples in yarn from The Uncommon Thread Re-releasing Afternoon Tea with a new size and the checklist pattern format, with another two samples in Anzula Squishy   I mention a book that I’ve found really helpful in my quest for simplicity: Essentialism by Greg McKeown it has a lot in common with another book I loved: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo Book Review Home and Away: Knits for Everyday Adventures Hannah Fetig Includes an interview with Pam Allan from Quince and Co. Yarns While every garment in the collection is gorgeous and wearable, my favourite patterns from the book are Calligraphy, a long button-up cardigan. and Lesley, a pullover with a gorgeous neckline I love the book so much that I’m keeping it, but I have an electronic copy to give away! To win, just leave a comment by Thursday the 6th of August, telling me your favourite pattern from the collection, or whether you prefer top down knitting or knitting in pieces and seaming. Announcements: In August and September, the podcast theme will be “A Handmade Wardrobe.” Several people have sparked that idea for me, including: Libby from Truly Myrtle Felicia from Craft Sessions and her inspiring review post of her Me-Made May Karen from Fringe Supply Co. Kate from A Playful Day who talked to Ysolde Teauge about making your own clothes I've mention in previous weeks how much I'm looking forward to September 5th, when I’ll be involved with the Great London Yarn Crawl. I'm sharing a stand with some other (very talented!) designers as part of their pop up marketplace Indie Designer Spotlight. Please come and say hi! Plans for the first Curious Handmade Workshop with Emily Quinton from Makelight Studios and my friend Vicki Hillman, fashion stylist are starting to take shape! It will happen on Friday the 9th of October, so save the date! That wraps up the show notes and the Summer Season! See you next week, and until then, happy knitting!

Welcome to the third post in the Summer Series! Today I’m talking about knit alongs. I find them such a spur to my own creativity, and love hosting them, taking part in them, and just generally following them on Ravelry. I’ve got some suggestions for KALs that you might want to join. Also, to follow on from yesterday's interview, I have a book review of the gorgeous new book from Emily Quinton, Maker Spaces. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their absolutely gorgeous Acadia yarn.   Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace.  The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments. I've knit with Acadia before (most notably for my two-colour Whispering Island Shawl sample) and I really love it. You can purchase Acadia at our other sponsor's shop, Meadow Yarn:   Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more. Show links: Skein Studio Shawl KAL/CAL Dates: June 1st until August 1st Not a lot of time left in this one but you might already have something on the needles that will qualify. The rules are that you can knit any shawl pattern, as long as you are using hand-dyed yarn. I'm actually knitting a Candlelit Shawl right now with some Skein hand-dyed yarn, but I began it before the cast on date! I'll probably still join in the chatter thread. Knitting Pipeline Cavepoint KAL Dates: July 3rd until August 31st You have to cast on and off within the time frame, so I won’t qualify for this one, but I highly recommend it! I cast on in June and I’m flying through this shawl. I love this pattern, am really enjoying the knit. Super relaxing knitting and very addictive. Knit Girllls Stash Dash Dates: 12:01am on May 22nd until 11:59pm August 14th. This is in its 4th year and it’s become quite a huge event on Ravelry! It covers the crafts of knitting, spinning, crochet, tatting and weaving, and it’s all about using up stash and finishing works in progress. It comes in three levels, measured by yardage: you can choose from the 3k 5k or 10k levels 2 Knit Lit Chicks Cardi/Tank/Tee KAL Dates: May 1st until August 1st This is another one finishing up soon but again you might already have a WIP that could be finished within the time frame. Given our recent discussion about summer knitting and all those great tee patterns, this one is very timely! Kettle Yarn Boardwalk Collection KAL Dates: August 2st until September 6th If you read my recent blog post for the Boardwalk Collection Blog Tour, you’ll know that the collection is full of inspiring new patterns, all using Kettle Yarn Co’s new yarn Islington DK. The KAL hasn’t started yet, so you have lots of time to choose your favourite! Yarniacs Colours of Fall KAL Dates: June 21st (Summer Solstice) until September 23rd (Autumnal Equinox) I follow along with this KAL every year, even though I haven’t managed to enter it yet. Loving colour the way I do, it really speaks to me.  The KAL is one that really get the creativity flowing. The rules are very simple: knit a fall look using one or more of the colour from the Pantone Fashion Colour Report for Fall 2015. Incidentally,

It’s already the third week of our Summer Series! Knitters often struggle a bit with projects in the warmer months, when a lap full of wool sounds less cosy and more stifling. Today I talk about summer knitting: lovely cool t-shirts created with light, airy, breathable yarns, and the challenges and joys of moving away from wool to other, more seasonal fibres such as linen and cotton. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their magnificently soft and beautiful Acadia yarn.   Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace.  The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments. My two-colour Whispering Island Shawl sample was knit in Acadia, and it's gotten so many compliments. You can buy Acadia at our other sponsor's shop, Meadow Yarn:   Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more. Show Links The summer knitting patterns I talk about are: Waterlily by Megan Fernandes from Pom Pom Quarterly’s Spring 2014 issue. The original is knit from Kettle Yarn’s Islington, which is what I used for the Sunburst Shawl last year. Linum Tee by Bristol Ivy in Quince and Co’s Sparrow Lina and Colina by Elizabeth Doherty also in Sparrow Elizabeth has a great post on working with linen on her blog. Here’s the original post.   I also discuss some other summer yarns: Aside from Sparrow, Quince and Co also has a worsted weight linen yarn called Kestrel Blacker Yarns Lyoness I’ve seen this used beautifully in the Drift Raglan Increase Shawl by Sonja Bargielowska Wool and The Gang Shiny Happy Cotton a lovely squishy, and super soft bulky weight 100% cotton yarn which is absolutely gorgeous knit up into Palila by Natalie Selles   As I mentioned last week, on September 5th I’ll be taking part in the wonderfully fun Great London Yarn Crawl and have a stand at their pop up marketplace Indie Designer Spotlight. I’m excited to be one of their five featured designers. I’ll be in the company of: Louise Zass-Bangham From Inspiration Knits Renee Callahan of East London Knits Boo Knits and Kate Atherley   Whether it’s summer or winter wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying the show. If you have any favourite summery patterns or yarns, please tell me about them! Leave a comment here or join the discussions on Ravelry in the Curious Handmade Group. Don’t forget to join me on my travels on Instagram. Tag me and let me know where you’re listening from, or if you’re knitting one of my patterns. I love seeing your WIPs! Happy Knitting!

Welcome to the second in my Summer Series. I talk about the magical trip I had to New York and on to Squam back at the beginning of June, indulging my global nomad tendencies. I spent my time there doing a bit of "knitting crosstraining", stretching my creative horizons, and, as always, falling in love with lots of gorgeous yarn, only some of which came home with me. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their magnificently soft and beautiful Acadia yarn.   Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace.  The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments. My two-colour Whispering Island Shawl sample was knit in Acadia, and it's gotten so many compliments. You can buy Acadia at our other sponsor's shop, Meadow Yarn:   Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more. What’s in the WIP I mentioned Paula Emons-Fussle’s new Cave Point Shawl on last week’s show, coming from the Shawls 2015 collection from Quince and Co. I’ve cast it on using that lovely Chickadee Yarn in Audouin and it’s a ridiculously addictive knit. I’m also working on the Coopey Oleum Socks and I’m up to the lace now! Show Links I talk about my road trip to Squam Art Workshops with my friend Stewart. We visited: Brooklyn General, where I splurged on a sale of Madeline Tosh yarn. Mood Fabrics in Manhattan, of Project Runway fame, where I managed to control my urges and didn’t buy anything! and in New Hampshire, we stopped in Harrisville, where they are famous for spinning wool. Notably Brooklyn Tweed (I bought some) but also their own Harrisville Yarn (I bought some of that, too.) Once I got to Squam I took two classes: An embroidery class:”Thread and Memory” with Joetta Maue A writing class: “Writing Your Own Myth” with Elizabeth Duvivier, the founder and director of Squam We also got to hear a talk from Clara Parkes who talked about her journey and her projects, especially her lovely Clara Yarn. The art fair at Squam had so many wonderful vendors, including: My friend Stewart’s Leather Wool Linen, selling beautiful bags Yarn on The House with their brilliantly coloured hand-dyed yarn Hannah Fettig was selling her pattern book Home and Away, which I will review in a future episode. If you didn’t make it to Squam and you’d like to make your own little retreat at home, online classes are a great way to introduce yourself to something new, stirring your creativity. I looked up some Creativebug embroidery classes to recommend. Rebecca Ringquist is a hugely gifted thread artist and teacher who has some really great classes available. Creating an Embroidery Sampler Advanced Sampler Class Kids Embroidered Pillow Class And a heads up about an amazing event coming up. Great London Yarn Crawl on Saturday the 5th of September, which is huge fun, and I’ll have a stand at the pop-up marketplace at the end! That about does it for the show notes this week! I hope you enjoyed this laid-back summer episode. Join me in the Instagram game while I’m away. Just tag me or comment away to get in touch. Happy knitting!  

After an absolutely wonderful whirlwind time during June’s Design and Creativity theme, for July I’m casting my mind forward into the summer holidays. In fact, that’s the theme for this month. I’ll be travelling, so I’m pre-recording some episodes around the theme of holidays for the weeks when I’m in Australia. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their magnificently soft and beautiful Acadia yarn.   Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace.  The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments. My two-colour Whispering Island Shawl sample was knit in Acadia, and it's gotten so many compliments. You can buy Acadia at our other sponsor's shop, Meadow Yarn:   Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more. Show Links The Muse Connection Volume Two was last weekend and it was a really wonderful event. Lots of laughter and learning. A huge thank you to my co-host, Kate from A Playful Day, and to the special guests and sponsors who made it such a success. Rachel Coopey, from Coop Knits who had us giggling about yarn shenanigans Lydia Gluck, co-editor of Pom Pom Quarterly who regaled us with tales from the world of magazines Anzula who provided their covetable yarn for our gift bags  and Signature Needle Arts who gave us a "tasting session" with their remarkable knitting needles. It was really special to watch everyone casting on Afternoon Tea at the end! My visit to Brighton at YAK was so much fun, too. Thanks a million to Kate for hosting my Pebble Beach trunk show, and to everyone who dropped in! Later in the show, I talk a bit about what I pack when I go away, including my “mobile workplace.” Stitch dictionaries are coming along for sure! Here are a few favourites: Up, Down, All-Around Stitch Dictionary: More than 150 stitch patterns to knit top down, bottom up, back and forth, and in the round A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns Super Stitches Knitting: Knitting Essentials Plus a Dictionary of more than 300 Stitch Patterns My old-school love for notebooks means I always pop a few into my bag to help me with my design work. Favourites include grid or graph notebooks, like this one from Moleskine and a larger one from Paperchase, something like this. KAL News I can't believe it, but the Pebble Beach KAL is ending in two days, on July 5th. This has been so incredible to be a part of. Maybe the best KAL of all time. Thank you so much to everyone who has been a part of this, most especially to my friend Paula, for hosting it on the Knitting Pipeline Group, and to Jo, who has moderated it so beautifully. If you've ever knit one of my patterns, it's not too late to upload a photo: it doesn't matter when you started or finished the piece, as long as the photo is in the FO thread by July 5th! You could win a skein of Lace Merino from The Uncommon Thread! What’s in the WIP With all the new and re-released pattern chatter lately, I haven’t talked much about what’s on the way. Summer holidays are a perfect time to catch up with WIPs, and I have quite a few I’d like to bring with me. I mentioned in the podcast that this year I’m ...