Joeli Creates a Retreat 2017: Lace Knitting with Karie Westermann

At the end of February I went on my first yarn retreat. While I was there I took two classes, one with Karie Westermann and another with Julia Billings.

Karie's class was called Lace Knitting, the first thing Karie did was to introduce herself and we went round the group (there were about 10 people) saying what we each expected to get out of the class. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to learn (when I signed up all I knew was that I wanted to take a class with Karie!) as I can already knit basic lace, and read lace charts, I just haven't wanted to knit large amounts of lace before.

Karie started the class off with some basics, encouraging us to try different decreases (k2tog, ssk, etc. next to yarnovers) to see the effect on the hole while she introduced the class and chatted about lace knitting not being about the holes, but being about the decreases. Karie also talked about how in a lace chart each box represents not a stitch but an action, and about how the decreases must be balanced with the corrected number of increases created through the yarnovers.

Having chatted about classes, Karie let us design or own basic lace chart, balancing the increases and the decreases, then we each knitted what we had drawn. I knitted mine and it came out exactly as I expected: rather geometric. Someone else in the class then said that they had tried moving their decreases and the holes had moved. I thought I'd try the same and moved all my decreases to the centre of the pattern, leading to stacked decreases and the pattern totally changed! This was a total revelation to me. My new design uses the same yarnovers, but the final knitted piece is completely different!

I was completely exhausted from mental effort by the end of the (three hour long) class, but I learnt a huge amount about the structure of lace knitting, and am a little in love with the tree-like images in the second half of my swatch. Maybe I will give lace knitting another go.

Joeli Creates a Retreat 2017

Last weekend I went on an exciting adventure to my first ever knitting retreat!

I had heard about Joeli's knitting retreat last year (run by Joeli Creates), just after last year's had finished and thought how lovely a weekend of knitting and meeting fellow knitters would be, and when Joeli released tickets some time last Spring for the 2017 retreat I jumped at the chance.

And so it was that last Thursday I found myself sat on a cold railway station waiting for a train to Manchester. Normally that wouldn't be much of an ordeal - I had knitting and hot chocolate, and was very happy - but Thursday was the day Storm Doris hit the UK, and travel became notably more difficult. While I was at the station waiting for my train it went from being on time, to being delayed, to eventually arriving 50 minutes late (I was one of the lucky ones; all trains to and from London had been cancelled, and many other people on the retreat had much longer journeys than expected). I did note the irony that while I was glad to have my knitting while I was waiting for the train, the only reason I was having to wait was knitting... Once I was safely on the train I travelled uneventfully to Manchester, and made excellent progress on the yoke of a cardigan!

A knit night had been planned for the Thursday evening, but the event became rather low key as so many people's journeys had been disrupted. Those of us who had made it to Manchester in plenty of time did still meet up for the evening and had a lovely time chatting and admiring each other's knitwear (total fail on my part there - I managed to leave every single piece of knitwear I own at home. Every. Single. Piece. Including socks. Well done Vikki. This is the conclusive evidence, should it be needed, that I am a process knitter) while enjoying some more knitting time (turns out a Dotted Rays wasn't the best choice for social knitting. There is quite a lot of counting involved).

One huge advantage of being away without children for the weekend is getting a good night's sleep. I fell asleep instantly on Thursday evening and didn't wake until 8 on Friday morning. I then ambled to a coffee shop for some breakfast (knitting in hand) before heading over to the retreat venue for the first full day. The venue, Ziferblat, is a little unusual: rather than being a conventional coffee shop, hotel or coference venue, you pay for the time you spend there and drinks and snacks are provided freely. The largest room at Ziferblat felt rather like an oversized living room (or a University common room (it was reminiscent of my University common room anyway!)), with lots of dining tables and chairs, as well as comfy sofas. There was also a long table covered with cakes, biscuits, bread and croissants, with toasters, and a kitchen area in the corner. Nicely informal. The venue also had other rooms where the talks and classes were held.

Friday started with an introduction from Joeli, then the handing out of goodie bags. Who doesn't love a goodie bag?! And these were excellent, with stitch markers, a notions pouch, a project bag, a notebook and pen, a few badges, and lots of business cards, pattern sheets and special offers. So much fun, and a lot of "oohs" and "aahs" as people rummaged through them to find out what was inside. Nathan Taylor (Sockmatician) then gave a talk on how he started knitting and designing, and the psychology of knitters. Nathan is a very animated speaker and everything he said was very interesting. Everyone in the audience knitted their way through the talk, which was lovely (I wish I could get away with that at scientific conferences; unfortunately I would feel too self-conscious).

After a quick break for lunch I did the first of the two classes I had signed up for: Lace Knitting with Karie Westermann. The class absolutely deserves its own post, so it will get one; here I shall say that while I didn't know what I was expecting to learn, I learnt alot!

There was a small gap in the schedule between the end of the classes and the start of the evening event, so I went for a walk with a few of the other people on the retreat for some fresh air and to visit a couple of craft shops: Abakhan and Fred Aldous. Abakhan sells a huge variety of fabric and craft materials, with lots of end of lines and offcuts being sold by weight, something I'd not come across before. Fred Aldous was amazing, selling stationery in all colours, papercraft materials, a bit of yarn, buttons, pretty much anything you can think of!

In the evening everyone came together again for the evening event: more chatting and knitting; door prizes and the special skein swap. 'Door prizes' turned out to be a raffle that included everyone's names in a hat (an actual hat) and a large table of prizes, including yarn, needles, kits and accessories; if your name was pulled from that hat you got to go and choose a prize. There was some yarn from Phileas Yarns that I was lusting over, in shades of deep turquoise and blue, absolutely beautiful, and while I wasn't lucky enough to win that, I did win some Hiya Hiya interchangeable sock needles that I am looking forward to trying out. Before the retreat, Joeli emailed everyone telling us each to bring a skein of yarn of at least £15 in value for the special skein swap. I immediately knew that I would be donating a ball of self-striping sock yarn in pastel pink and yellow with a mini skein for the heels and toes, that while being lovely was far too pastel for me. All the skeins were put in a bag and we stood in a circle. Joeli offered the bag to the first person in the circle to take a skein from the bag without looking. The skein was then shown to the whole group before the second person was allowed to either take a skein from the bag or to steal the first skein. If a skein was stolen, the person it was stolen from got to pick again, and so on until all the skeins had gone. The only other rule was that a skein could only be stolen twice. When it came to my turn I decided to steal as there were already two beautiful purple skeins in the circle. I went for a skein of Colinette Yarns Jitterbug, which is a full 150g, so should make a good shawl or scarf, which is in shades of purple, pink and a little bit of dark green; I love it. The rest of the evening was spent chatting and knitting (again), and I had a great time getting to know people, and there are defintely people I plan to stay in touch with (espceially Jennie from Owl About Yarn, who is lovely, and our favoutite colurs have a huge overlap!). By the time 9pm came round I was absolutely shattered and was very glad my hotel was under 10 minutes from Ziferblat; again I fell asleep as soon as I lay down.

By Saturday morning I was flagging; it turns out that socialising, networking and concentrating is exhausting! Fortunately the schedule for Saturday was less intensive than Friday's, with a class in the morning, a break for lunch, then a marketplace in the afternoon. The class was on Portuguese Knitting (not something I'd even considered before the list of classes was released) and was taught by Julia Billings, and again I'll save that for another post. The marketplace in the afternoon was lovely: just a few select vendors, with enough variety that I could find the perfect souvenir yarn, but not so much that I was overwhelmed. I went away with two skeins of yarn: one from Owl About Yarn in shades of purple and black and one from Phileas Yarns - the beautiful turquoise and blue from the door prizes - it's called Fjord and is absolutely amazing.

As the afternoon wore on, people started to drift away, and eventually I decided that I should go home too. I walked to Manchester Picadilly in the rain, stopping by at a branch of Oxfam and picking up two of the Lemony Snicket books, and dozed all the way home. The weekend was wonderful and I would love to do it all over again (unfortunaley Joeli has said that she won't be running the retreat agin next year). It left me with a spring in my step and a smile on my face; if you've ever considered going on a knitting retreat (or even just taking a class) I would absolutely recommend it.

March, already!

The year has gone far too quickly, I've blinked and suddenly it's March. March has lots of exciting things in store, starting with the weather and the emergence of Spring: even in the past couple of days I have noticed more sunshine and lots of colour arriving with the early Spring flowers and the newly replanted flowers at the bus stop near my house. I also have several new patterns coming out this month, so look out for those, and I'm planing on hosting a KAL in my Ravelry group later in the month too. And I'm going to Edinburgh Yarn Festival next weekend, so lots to look forward to!

Today is Wednesday, so I thought I'd link up with Ginny for Yarn Along and show you what I am reading and what's on my needles. I have finally acquired the first few Lemony Snicket books. As there are thirteen in the series I decided that I would resurrect my Kindle (which I bought before my son was born, used a lot when he was small, and then stopped using as I wasn't reading fast enough to get through all the books I was given for birthdays and Christmas every year) rather than add more books to our over-full bookshelves. I did briefly consider buying the lot in one go, but it would have cost rather a lot of money, so I bought the first one, and am planning on buying the later ones as I want to start reading them, or picking them up in charity shops as I find them (I found books three and four this weekend). I'm two-thirds of the way through the first book and am enjoying its dry sarcastic dark humour immensely. The project that I am currently spending most of my time on is a pair of pink socks (in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply). The pattern is my own, and I'm really hoping to get it out by the end of the month. The pink isn't a colour I would usually use, but I bought the yarn in the depths of winter as it made me smile; the yarn still does and I am really enjoying knitting with it.

I also cast on a new pair of socks today. This morning I was listening to the latest edition of the Sockmatician podcast, in which he announced a sockalong (#SockmaticianSockalong) that is running for the whole of March. I know I said I wasn't going to join in any KALs this year, but I am certain I can get a pair of vanilla socks knitted by the end of the month! The yarn is an Arne and Carlos design for Regia and has been in my stash since last summer (I'd forgotten about it, and was delighted to find it in my stash this morning). Am I being overambitious to think that I might be able to finish these socks in time to wear them for Edinburgh Yarn Festival next weekend? Probably, but I shall try.

What are you looking forward to this month?

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A serial follower of series

Last week I mentioned how much I was enjoying the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events. While I was in town at the weekend hunting in charity shops and the library for the first book (no luck; I'm going to have to buy it from a regular bookshop) I realised series are a bit of a theme in my life.

As a toddler I always asked for Postman Pat books for bedtime stories (and at any other time during the day), so much so that mum says she still has the words locked away in her memory and could probably tell them again without the book. My Little Pony was also a favourite of mine - the ponies are all still at my parents house waiting for the day my children want to play with them.

At primary school I read every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on, and would buy collections that featured a story I hadn't read, even if I had read the other two in the book (and was disappointed a few years ago when I discovered that 'Carolyn Keene' was actually a collective of ghostwriters, rather than one individual; had I realised how long the series had been going - since 1930 - that might have been obvious). This phase was rapidly followed by The Babysitters Club; I read them all as fast as they came out, and in my head the characters really were my friends and their adventures were mine. I did eventually grow out of them, but only finally got rid of the physical copies last summer when I spent a week at my parents (and even then I did keep a few). The Chronicles of Narnia definitely featured in there too, as did Harry Potter, even though I was already in my late teens when I read the first one.

In my teenage years my series of choice was the television show Dawson's Creek, and has since included House and How I Met Your Mother (I almost started re-watching that a couple of weeks ago, but realised before I hit start on the first episode that I would want to watch the whole nine series, and took a step back), and currently it's A Series of Unfortunate Events. You might by now have noticed a theme: the series I love are easy reading and easy viewing. Other people's lives that I can immerse myself in; I think there must be a critical mass of characters; not just one, but not too many. I have watched all of Game of Thrones, but not engaged in the story to the same extent as my favourites: there are too many characters and then I struggle to relate to any of them.

I'm really hoping that when I get my hands on the first of the Series of Unfortunate Events books that it is the start of another series that I can't stop reading. Escapism is definitely something I enjoy.

What are you favourite series? Are there any you would recommend?

The socks of doom...

...are no longer doomed!

I've mentioned my 'socks of doom' several times on the blog. These socks were so unassuming when I started them, but have suffered many set-backs along the way: I had tension problems; they stubbornly refused to grow; they destroyed a pair of needles; they're not quite identical. But they are now done! And by some miracle they didn't leak dye when I washed them.

The socks are destined for Nikki, a podcaster (go check it out, it's lovely) who I met in real life last year, for her birthday. I'm now just hoping that Royal Mail manage to deliver them successfully...

The socks were knitted in Sirdar Heart and Sole, in the colourway Hip Hop, which is discontinued. Other colourways are available here.

When Nikki saw the yarn she said it looks like a My Little Pony. It really does!

*This post features affiliate links. For more details, see the Disclaimers and policies page.*

I feel a new shawl coming on...

A couple of weeks ago my friend Fay showed me beautiful shawl she had knitted, a Dotted Rays by Stephen West. It was beautiful, and a really nice shape, so I immediately decided that I needed to make one for myself. Fay has just started dyeing her own yarns under the name Bea and Rose (you can find her on Etsy, Facebook and Instagram) and she has some lovely colourways. A couple of weeks ago she had a little sale, so I picked up a really pretty skein in shades of purple and grey with the intention of making the Dotted Rays.

Obviously I had plenty of things already on the needles, so was never going to cast on immediately. Last week I looked on Ravelry at the projects associated with the pattern and saw this one*; it is perfect. I added it to my favourites for future reference, thinking that it was a project for one day, as I don't have anything in my stash that would work.

But then on Saturday I had a thought. I do have something in my stash that would work; it would in fact be perfect: at Yarndale a couple of years ago I picked up a 5 x 50g purple gradient set from WooSheeps that I've never found a use for. This is that yarn's moment. Suddenly the Dotted Rays shawl has been accelerated up my to do list and the yarn is wound and ready to go. I cannot wait to have it finished. It's making me so happy that I've decided that it's going to be one of my #BestYearEverKAL projects (no, I haven't decided which one I'm swapping out, but as the Antler jumper is currently on the naughty step, it might be that one).

*Ravelry link; you must be signed in to Ravelry for this link to work. Joining Ravelry is free and an excellent resource for all things yarn-related.

A week in the life: 19th February 2017

This week has been... nice. Not the most descriptive word, but definitely the right one. Nothing earth-shattering has happened, the children have been playing nicely together and the sun has shone. I even managed to get away with washing my winter coat and not freezing for the couple of days that it needed to dry.

I've been working hard on my sock yarn blanket, which hasn't seen much (possibly any) action since Christmas. I realised the reason I'd been stalling on it was that I had added a bright orange square during the last session, and was about to add a neon yellow one. Neither are my favourite colours, and I think I was a little upset by the change in colour balance of the section I was working on. So I got out my advent bags and played around with the order I was going to add the next few balls in. Somehow I managed to find an arrangement that made me happy, but that still allowed me to add the colours in the order they'd be drawn in (and no, I can't remember which colours were for which day; there are too many and I've shuffled them too much!). I'm hoping to get to the end of the Day 16 bag by the end of the weekend and will have a nicely squared-off section to work on next time I pick it up.

While working on some new designs I've been playing around with short rows and have picked up two handy new skills in the process: German short rows and knitting backwards. I have used the wrap and turn method for short rows previously and it works, but requires some concentration to ensure you don't miss the wraps when you're working back, otherwise you end up with holes. German short rows are a game-changer as far as I'm concerned. I find them much less hassle to work, and they're obvious when you're working back. I can't show you what I've been working on, but am certain German short rows will feature in a new design in the not-too-distant future. Knitting backwards is something I have been meaning to try for a while: when I'm working my sock yarn blanket I get annoyed turning the work every few stitches towards the end of the square. I had tried it a few times, but ended up with stocking stitch instead, which wasn't the plan. And suddenly (whilst driving to one of my kid's swimming lessons) it clicked - to get a knit row when working from the front, the action is more purl than knit. And it works! No more turning the work when I'm only working on a few stitches, hooray!

This coming week is half term, so we have lots of exciting things planned (my five year old wrote a list). I have also booked my train tickets to go to Edinburgh for a day in March to visit Edinburgh Yarn Festival. I had hoped that I would be able to go, but could only guarantee that this week. Unfortunately advance purchase tickets have sold out, so I'm going to have to gamble on getting a ticket on the door. Wish me luck - the event is looking like it could be rather busy if my Instagram feed is anything to go by!

I hope you've all had lovely weeks. What have you been up to?