International Women's Day Centenary - 8 March 2011

Tomorrow is International Women's Day.  I am one of the lucky ones, I have so many things that many other women in this world do not have yet - the Pill, access to a no-fault divorce, the ability to say no to sex and to mean it, to be able to adopt a child as a single parent, to live my life without interference and to be happy.


Daniel Craig of 007 fame stars in a specially commissioned video narrated by Dame Judi Dench tells you about some of the things which are still to happen for women and sadder still some of the things that still happen to women - the stats on murder due to domestic abuse are chilling.



So to all my sisters out there, have a wonderful day and, and stay safe and be happy

World Book Day or Me and My Library

Last night in the UK over a million books were given away as we celebrated World Book Day and Night, and yesterday I did what I do most weekends and went to my local library.  I am one of the really lucky ones to never live more than 10 minutes away from a library.


My first library was a brand new one, built in the 1960s at Kent Elms corner.  I still remember having to queue up after school on the day it opened with my two pink junior library tickets and dashing down to the end of the library to find two shelves down on the left hand side the holy grail for me - a shelf of Enid Blyton books: Secret Seven, St Clare's, Mallory Towers, Noddy, The Faraway Tree, The Naughtiest Girl in the School - there were times when my mother thought she would never get me into the Adult Library with its jade coloured tickets.

 Then I moved to Limehouse and the rather imposing Passmore Edwards Library with it fabulous wooden panels and to my shame I did something really awful there.  I lost a book.  It was a copy of Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mocking Bird, which I left behind in the women's common room in the London Hospital Student Union.  As you can tell, many years later I still feel badly about this.

Then it was on to Cable Street in Stepney, which was a pre-fab building, complete with corrugated iron roof which leaked copiously during rain storms so that  librarians and readers ran about with buckets to capture the drips.  Best of all was the fantastic mural of the 1936 Cable Street riots when the East End stood full square against the tyranny of Oswald Moseley's Blackshirts.

Then back to Leigh-on-sea where my library is the old rectory for St Clement's church.  This library serves the whole community from tiny tot to OAP and everybody in between.  With its knowledgeable band of librarians who will recommend books and find you a new and exciting author. And best of all when you have chosen your books, you can slip out in the Spring sunshine and sit in the Library Gardens and read your book, occasionally glancing up to see the tide coming in on the estuary. Life is sometimes very beautiful.

So, if you have time today, pick up your favourite book, read a couple of chapters, thank your lucky stars that you are able to read and escape to another world.  Then when you go to your local library, remember to say thank you to the librarians for being there because for many in the UK our libraries are facing swingeing cuts.  We need libraries, we need books, we need reading to make us the civilised society we need to be.


So do you have a fave book?  Let me know what it is and why I should read it.

I need your help!

OK, I am currently making a fantastic bag from Nicky Epstein's Knitting Block by Block: 150 Blocks for Sweaters, Scarves, Bags, Toys, Afghans, and More and I found a fantastic bag in there.

I bought some great wool on my trip to Bodkins, Sirdar's lovely DK Crofter.  I love this wool, having made some super bed socks as a Christmas prezzie for my friend Sally.

This is a pic of the bag I am making,  I love the cable texturing and the sleek leather handles.

And this is the front or is it the back?


So here is my dilemma, do I go with a plain dusty rose lining or should I go with a witty floral?  You decide...

Use it or lose it - Bodkins of Thundersley

I wrote earlier in the year about using local shops... but I left a recent discovery off the list.  Tucked away in Thundersley village is a proper wool shop called Bodkins.  Over 50 years old and with everything that you did not know you needed in there and I think it has the potential to be my bank manager's nightmare.


Whilst looking around, we got to chatting about how independent wool shops were disappearing and I was really shocked to learn that if you excluded the shops in Leigh-on-sea and Southend the next nearest shop as the crow flies is in  Erith in Kent but I bet it is not a patch on Bodkins!


Here is the web link: http://www.bodkins71.co.uk/ and below are some pics I took on my trip there

Now you know that this is going to be good because...

You start to dribble when you see what they have in the window, Rico,
 Debbie Bliss, Eco wools, Sirdar, Sublime... let me into the shop... NOW!

The owner, Jo had escaped from behind the till and was sorting out piece of Mini Pompom work for a customer...  it looked as though she was knitting up Rainbow Puffed Rice

Just look and lust!

My official driver for the trip - aka as my lovely sister Annette, and yes, she bought the pattern and wool so far she has only completed the front but it is only 12 hours later

And the great thing about the shop is there is something for everyone's price range and we are not talking the dreaded Chemist's shop wool

I bet you are all wondering whether I bought anything, well here it is but missing two balls cos I have already knitted up a bag from Nicky Epstein's, Knitting Block by Block which I will blog about soon

From designer wools, via mid range to affordable wools, this shop just rocks and the service is brilliant.  I haven't even mentioned the buttons, ribbons, threads, pattern books, there is just so much in one little shop.  Where can you stand and chat, swap sloe gin recipes, debate the erratum slips in books, to say nothing of knitting porn, you know when you just look at books and dribble?  Do you know when I grow up or when I win the lottery, I am going to have a shop like this, I wonder if I should check my ticket now?


PS - There is even free parking, it really doesn't get much better than this, does it?

The Rico Can Can Scarf

Let's be honest, by now scarves are pretty boring, at least that's what I thought until I discovered the amazing Can Can wool from Rico.  Actually wool is a bit of a misnomer, it is really is a tape

I like a fairly thickish scarf so here is what I do when I make my scarves.

First of all open up your tape as below, it will become quite wide.

 To cast on, you literally put your needle through the tape, about two wefts down (remember in fabric weft is the row which goes from left to right).  Be brutal, poke the needle through the tape, bring the need back to the front and about 1.5 - 2" (or if you are a young thing, about 5 cm) further on, poke the needle through again, you now have two stitches.  For a skinny scarf you will need eight stitches for a luxury thick scarf you will need to cast on 12 stitches.


How easy is that for casting on?

 Now start knitting your first row, remember to open up the tape, now as if you are going to knit put your needle through the first stitch, with the open tape catch about two rows down on the weft of the tape on the needle in your right hand and pull it through like a regular knit stitch.  Now I warn you, this will take you back to when you first started knitting and no-one had taught you how to wind the yarn around your needle as you will have literally take the yarn between your thumb and forefinger to ensure that the tape is open.


As you continue to work, the ruffle will develop on both sides, making the scarf rich and luxuriant.

 As you can see, it really is a different scarf, which all my friends have admired, which is probably why I have four more to make!

Copyright vs Copywrong

I have spent an interesting afternoon, reading and thinking about copyright and how it pertains to what I make.

Often I will see a pattern or an idea that will start me off to make a pattern of my own, the pistachio cable scarf is a case in point.  I wanted to make a scarf for a friend, had four balls of wool and then wanted a cable to do, frankly what I came up with was not exactly rocket science and I know that similar cable patterns could be found elsewhere but it was my idea with that wool and those needles.  The other scarf came from a marvellous store of ideas the amazing website www.ravelry.com but the technique that I learned from it has spurred me on to try a variation.

I also found this fantastic book by the amazing Nicky Epstein, a great challenge to my knitting but it too has spurred me onto another project... more of which, very soon.













However, when it comes to copyrighting, what is really sad is when you read about really large firms ripping off the little people, the small designer, so I was really shocked when I read this blog about how Claire's Accessories ripped off the Designer, She Draws:
http://drawglueglittermake.blogspot.com/2011/01/claires-accessories-have-copied-me.html

Her blog is definitely worth a read and I am sure she would appreciate your support,

Cables are back (again!)

I started knitting when I was about five and my earliest memories of my mum knitting was her working on a moss green Aran sweater for my dad... it was the size of a small marquee, made amid much tutting and with the cable needle clutched between pursed lips... it took forever to be finished.  However it was the start of a love affair with  cables for my mum viz the amazing pile of Aran knits we found squirrelled away when she died.

I started my first Aran when I was about 10 and finished it two years later and have not stopped since... below are a couple of scarves which I made as Xmas presents for friends

Pistacchio cable scarf knitted across 24 stitches, simple cable with a moss stitch central pattern

Reversible cable worked on rib stitches

My sister very kindly lets me read her copies of the Knitter magazine and Issue 27 has some fab info on the history of cabling in the UK, especially in the fishing fleets and has some gorgeous up to date patterns.

http://www.theknitter.co.uk/category/magazine/

So get your chunky wool out and start to invent  your own cabling patterns!