Goodbye talented friend

July 15, 2014 Sarah Alderson

Yesterday I had the very sad task of saying goodbye to one of my friends. Chris, my photographer and friend died from lung cancer at a far too young age. Chris was kind, generous and extremely talented. He will be missed by many, as evidence by the number of people who attended his funeral yesterday. His funeral was filled with love and happy memories as well as sadness at saying goodbye. I first met Chris through his wife Sharon. When I moved to the local area, the knitting group that meets in the local pub was one of my first ventures into the village. Sharon and the other knitters/crocheters made me feel very welcome and it is such a friendly group. It was Chris who suggested that Sharon set up a local knitting group and I am so grateful that he did.

When I started designing, I knew I had to ask Chris to be my photographer. Chris ran his photography business from the village and I loved walking past his studio window. It always contained beautiful photographs that not only looked stunning, but captured peoples personalities too. He had an amazing way of getting people to relax in front of the camera, something many people (including me!) struggle to do.

Chris did a photoshoot for me in 2012. It was meant to be spring, however that did not stop the snow from falling! I managed to capture this shot of him in action photographing Suzi modelling my Bela Cowl pattern. What really amazed me on the day was Chris's eye for a good backdrop for each photo. My favourite photo from the shoot is this one for my Kali pattern. I have walked past this rusty green fence but I never would have considered it for a background to a knitting photo. Yet, it sets off the colours and patterns in Kali perfectly and received a lot of positive attention.

This photo of Crowberry is also one of my favourites. Crowberry is my best selling pattern and I'm sure this beautiful photo is one of the reasons. Chris even managed to fit a final photo shoot for a new sample of Kali that also featured on Knitty.com whilst undergoing chemotherapy. Sharon, his wife, kindly knitted and modeled the sample for me and Chris took some fantastic photos whilst unwell and for which I am extremely grateful. You wouldn't believe this was taken over Christmas, they both did a fantastic job making the photo look summery. I have lots of fantastic photos to show from Chris as several of the patterns photographed I have not released yet but plan to do so over the next year, including this slouchy hat design that has not got a name yet. I look forward to sharing them with you soon. I am pleased that despite Chris no longer being around, his talent and photos remain and will still be showcased for years to come. Thank you Chris for the wonderful photos but also for being a wonderful friend. I will miss the raised eyebrows at the amount of new yarn purchased on field trips with Sharon and the gentle teasing on how small my needles are and what I plan to make (or get Sharon to make) with them.

Rest in peace xxx

Chris and Sharon

Double Knitting Workshop

May 16, 2014 Sarah Alderson

Last night I taught a double knitting workshop for the local Knitting and Crochet guild meeting. Thank you to everyone who came, it must have been one of our most attended events! All the ladies were lovely and looked like they were having fun. For the workshop I wrote a simple charted pattern for a coaster. I was very pleased at how well it came out and just how cute it looked. The samples are knit in one of my favourite yarns - Eden Cottage Yarns Bowland DK, in colours Silver Birch and Oak.

The concentration was high all evening as you can see from these photos!

By the end of the workshop everyone looked very proficient with double knitting. We managed to get one photo of the coasters in progress at the end of the workshop.

As you can see they are looking good! Not bad for 2 hours work.

Just before going to bed that night one of the attendees tweeted her photo of her finished photo. It always makes me really happy to see how people progress during a workshop and I love seeing the finished projects.

Thank you once again for a lovely evening and to Fiona & Marie for the photos :)

Kali on Knitty.com

March 21, 2014 Sarah Alderson

This month has been very exciting as I have had a pattern published on Knitty.com. Kali is a sleeveless top that is great for spring, summer and autumn.

The inspiration for Kali came from wanting to knit something that was bright and colourful that used a simple slip stitch to create a pattern that looks more complicated than it really is. The pattern reminds me of visiting sweet shops with rows of jars that were filled with brightly coloured sweets that I visited when staying with my grandparents or on holiday. I have always had a sweet tooth and the sherbet filled flying saucers were one of my favourites, along with the pink shrimp or yellow bananas, milk bottles or gummy bears.

The pattern is knitted flat in two pieces. It starts with a corrugated garter stitch rib pattern. The main body of the garment is a slip stitch pattern that is easy to do and the knitting just flies by.

The armholes and neck are finished off by the same corrugated garter stitch rib. There is a cute contrasting stripe in both the ribbing and at the bottom of the vest that adds just a splash more colour.

Kali can be worn as a layering vest over t-shirts, long sleeved tops or shirts in spring or autumn, or on its own as a sleeveless top in summer. The pink and grey sample is knitted in Debbie Bliss 4-ply Rialto which is 100% wool and the yellow and red sample is knitted in Rowan Cotton Glace for a more summery top.

Kali is in the 2014 spring and summer issue of Knitty.com which means the pattern is available for free! Knitty is an online magazine that has great articles as well as interesting patterns. I often use it for their really easy to follow tutorials and I plan to try some of their spinning techniques soon.

I hope you enjoy knitting this cute top!

First Ravellenics Project

February 15, 2014 Sarah Alderson

Last friday saw the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I'm a big fan of the winter olympics and always get caught up in the excitement of the events and wish I could be there cheering on Team GB. This years olympics has many serious human rights issues that deserve just as much attention as the event itself and I have joined in with Ravellenics (a Ravelry event that takes place at the same time as the olympics) in support of those who are affected by these issues. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community in Russia are currently subject to terrifying levels of persecution, discrimination and abuse. It needs to stop. Now.

My first Ravellenics project is Slalom Slipstream socks. This pattern has intrigued me for a while and been sitting in my queue, just waiting for a time where I can knit for myself.

The pattern is Slipstream by Stephanie McIntosh. It features slip stitch cables and mock cables that wind around the ankle and foot in a very pleasing way.

I cast these on at the start of the opening ceremony and I finished them on friday evening - so just over a week which is probably a record for me. I rarely get so much tv time to just sit and knit and I have enjoyed being able to concentrate on just one project for me.

I'm so pleased with how they have turned out. I had a couple of issues with the charts (partly because I was not observant enough to notice that the charts are listed in the opposite order to the pattern instructions) and because there are a few mistakes, but overall these are great socks and look fabulous.

The yarn is Bouncy Extra by Laal Bear in colourway Virginia Stocks. I chose it for its rainbow colours (as support for LGBT issues) and because this pattern just lends itself to multicoloured yarn. The slip stitch cables show off the colours really well. It has been in my stash for a while and I'm pleased I found such a good project for it.

My ravelry project page can be found here: Slalom Slipstream.

My next project, cast on already is going to be a super chunky sweater so hopefully I can get it done, I have just over a week to complete it. It's a good excuse to stay in out of the terrible weather we are having at the moment, watch the olympics and knit!

Fair isle guild meeting

January 20, 2014 Sarah Alderson

Last Thursday it was the monthly Knitting & Crochet guild meeting at Brew cafe and this time the theme was fair isle knits. We are lucky to be able to see some of the wonderful guild collection at our meetings. We started with an interesting talk on the history of fair isle from Barbara. Then the guild collection came out and was gently handled with white cotton gloves.

I love the colours and shape of this 1940's short sleeve sweater:

This one caught my eye as there are much fewer colours than many fair isles have, but it is still very pretty:

The big hits of the evening were these little baby jumpers. They have obviously been made for their intended recipients with lots of loving care. The detailing is amazing and the patterns so intricate.

Then we had a lovely show & tell with members bringing along their own knits and designs. It's great to see all the colour combinations, variation in styles and ideas.

I'm now wanting to design & knit my own fair isle jumper!

Woodville Tam & Mitts

September 25, 2013 Sarah Alderson

Woodville is my latest design and features a matching tam and fingerless mittens set. It has a simple repeating geometric pattern that is easy to follow, quick to make and fun to knit.

I chose beautiful woodland shades for this set with the cuffs matching the main colour of the pattern. The yarn is Eden Cottage Bowland DK in Silver Birch (light green) and Dark Oak (brown). This yarn is one of my favourites and I always want to buy every colour they have when I see them at wool festivals. The colours are hand dyed and have a semi-solid appearance. The yarn is soft, has a slight sheen and works really well for this pattern. The best news is that it only takes 1 skein of each colour to make both the hat and mitts!

Both patterns are fully charted and the simple stranded pattern is suitable for beginners who are wanting to give stranded knitting their first try. I love the way the hat pattern looks on the top, the pattern merges to form a star or a snowflake. The mitts have a ribbed cuff around the fingers, wrist and thumb and the hat has a ribbed edge too. The stranded pattern makes this set warm to wear and perfect for autumn and winter.

My inspiration for this pattern comes from Elizabeth Woodville who was the wife of King Edward IV of England. She lived from 1437 to 1492 and reports say she was very beautiful and captured the young king's heart with an enchantment and used sorcery to help her cause in the War of the Roses. I have recently been watching the White Queen series on the BBC which is a drama based upon Philippa Gregory's The Cousins' War series of books. The 5 books that make up this series follow 5 different women during the War of the Roses and tells their stories. All the women are powerful in their own way and influence the events that take place around them despite having very few rights themselves. As a child I was fascinated by the story of the princes who disappeared from the tower after visiting the Tower of London and it was fun to read about the events and intrigue of the time. I'm very hopeful that King Richard III's body comes back to Yorkshire where he belongs. There is a fantastic little museum in York on Richard which is well worth a visit.

Woodville Tam and Mitts set is released today and is available to buy here as individual items, or both together as an ebook.

Crowberry

September 20, 2013 Sarah Alderson

Crowberry is a simple but pretty cardigan pattern that I published in July and never got round to making a blog post about - sorry if you have been waiting for more information!

This cardigan is ideal for spring/summer or warm autumn days where an extra layer is needed. It is knitted in DK weight yarn at a loose gauge to provide a soft, drapey fabric that provides warmth but not too much weight.

Knitted from the top down as one piece in reverse stocking stitch (which when knitted flat is just as easy as normal stocking stitch) it has 3 cute buttons to keep the top closed and then flares flatteringly over the waist and hips. The waist shaping gives those of us without any waist a flattering figure. It is the little details of this cardigan that I love so much such as the pretty eyelet holes that form the shaping of the yoke and the i-cord bind off that finishes the edges perfectly.

I don't know about you but the thing that puts me off reverse stocking stitch in the round is the row after row of purling.... This cardigan has none of that as the body is knitted flat and then the sleeves are knitted in the round on the wrong side(!) which means that you knit the sleeves rather than many rounds of purling.

The berry pattern and cardigan name was inspired by walking in the Pennine hills where I live. Crowberries (Empetrum nigrum) are lovely bright yellow-green glossy-leaved shrubs that can be found on English moorland. Every autumn they produce crops of dark purple berries that are edible and can be made into pies or jam.

The crowberry pattern has both charts and written instructions for the berry detail and a schematic to help with sizing and blocking. This cardigan needs a good block, particularly of the edges. Full instructions are given on how to make the berries and for the i-cord bind off so don't worry if you have not tried these before. They are easier than they look.

I knitted this cardigan in the very soft and pretty Woolyknit Bluefaced Leicester DK yarn. It gives the cardigan a lovely drape and shows off the berry pattern very well. It is such a soft yarn and the natural shades are perfect for knits with textured details. The sample has been hanging up in the Woolyknit yarn shop since July if you would like to see it in person. You can see all the lovely natural colours in their BFL range in this photo:

The pattern has been on sale on my website and on Ravelry since July, thank you to those who have purchased it. I hope you enjoy knitting it as much as I did! I will be uploading it to Craftsy and Patternfish today as well.

Bela Cowl

March 25, 2013 Sarah Alderson

I am happy to announce the release of my next pattern, the Bela Cowl. I love this pattern, it is so quick to knit and the changing pattern means there is never any time to get bored.

It is knitted from one ball of yarn which makes it a great stash buster. Shown here in Jamieson's Shetland Heather in the pretty colourways Pippin and Purple Heather, it adds a splash of colour to any outfit.

Featuring panels of moss stitch, lace and a simple cable pattern interspersed with stocking stitch, it is suitable for beginners to try these techniques for the first time. Instructions are written and charted to make following these easy.

I use this pattern on my learn to knit continental workshops as it allows people to try all the different type of stitches in one pattern.

Finished off with cute buttons, it wraps neatly around the neck, keeping you snug and warm.

The name Bela is from Bela Lugosi who was a Hungarian actor and is best known for playing Dracula in the 1931 film. What better way to protect yourself from Dracula's fangs than a woolly cowl around your neck? He will be spitting out wool fluff for weeks!

The pattern is available here and will also be available to download on other sites soon.

This is the first pattern to be released following my first photoshoot. The model is Suziwho braved very cold weather and the photographer is Chris, both of whom I think did a fantastic job - despite the snow and wind!

Farm & Festival Welly Toppers

January 25, 2013 Sarah Alderson

These cute welly toppers were originally featured in Knit Now issue 10. They have proved to be a popular pattern and are quick and easy to knit.

Knitted in the round from the bottom up, they feature a stranded pattern of ducks (for farmers) and flowers (for hippies at festivals) and a striped ribbed cuff that holds them in place on the welly boot.

For this pattern I used Woolyknit British Naturals DK yarn which comes in lovely shades of sheep! I love the way the colours compliment each other and it was lovely yarn to knit with. It is very reasonably priced at £2.50 for 50g. These welly toppers would also look great in bright colours - check out the Ravelry projects to see some already knit!

They are great fun to wear in the summer at festivals and this recent snowy weather has made me get out my welly boots again and they are fantastic at keeping my legs warm!

Learn to knit a zombie workshop

November 14, 2012 Sarah Alderson

Yesterday I ran a learn to knit workshop using my Zombie Charlie pattern. This workshop was funded by Leeds Inspired and was part of the Thought Bubble Festival events.

We had a mixture of guys and girls turn up and it all went very well. The concentration level were high!