Various Bits

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been very busy - I have lots to tell you about!

First things first - it's FINALLY snowing! I'm so excited! My mam has been ringing me from Newcastle every day this week to tell me that they have 11 inches of snow(!!) whereas it's been clear here. I decided to go out for a walk this morning to enjoy it, and I took these photos in Mile End Park;

I really did like how at 9.20 this morning there were already 3 snowmen dotted about the park!

Yet it still surprised me that there was a completely clear, untrodden path at this time.

I took some pictures to celebrate the changing season a few weeks ago as part of my research for my collection, and I couldn't help but notice the difference between those lovely warm autumn colours, and this crisp and cold leaf litter;

What's surprised me in all of this research is how green everything still is!

Except of course this little bush, that just looked so incredibly sad.

You're bound to have noticed that all of this excitement is over what many would describe as a rather feeble amount of snow. I seem to have snow repelling qualities, the whole time I was in Edinburgh (3 years) we had 2 decent days of snow - look at it now! The last year I was in Edinburgh was 2 years ago, when London was brought to a total standstill by it. Maybe this is some higher power telling me I am destined to die by snow, and it's probably best I avoid it!

In other, less snow related news (but equally exciting), last night was the Christmas party of my knitting group. This was a truly wonderful affair filled with good food (50% off no less), good gossip, and the receipt of my first ever swap gift! My knitting group has a long and exciting history before my arrival, and every year hosts a Secret Santa amongst it's many varied members. My gift has not yet arrived at it's recipient, so I won't say where it went (far!),  but I was fortunate to receive from a friend of mine, Trisha! She was incredibly generous and I was so excited to open all of my wonderful gifts at the party!

Yes - Wollmeise!

The cheeky thing had feined that she was helping me when I was trying to narrow down my choices the other week, but was in fact sneaking for information! It couldn't be better! This is in addition to sheepy post-its, a sheepy magnetic jigsaw (now on my fridge), a very useful bookmark (that may be used for chart reading too), needles, mini Daim bars (I love Daim bars SO much!) and a little sheepy to act as my new mascot on my desk at work! The pattern should be popping into my Ravelry inbox later today, so another surprise awaits!

Finally, some completed knitting related news!

Thursday saw the MODO pre-show party! MODO is a Univesity College London society of students (sciences, humanities, etc) who have an interest in fashion and textiles and every year we put on a huge fashion show to great acclaim. This year I'm rather heavily involved (check out the MODODiva blog for more info), and I'm planning to create an 8 piece collection inspired by the autumn season.

As a knitter, I had to start making all of this back in June, and so far have completed 2 of my 8 looks. As a pre-show party isn't really a pre-show without some sneak peaks, I was able to show one of these outfits off, modeled by the ever lovely Helen.

Are you ready?

This is the Leggings with Mesh Sides from Judith McGowan Michael's Knitting Lingerie Style (I love this book) without the mesh sides and with stripes (and a few other minor alterations), and a sweater of my own design, knitted in the round from the bottom up.

Aren't they fun! The mattress stitch has distorted the stripes by half a stitch, so if I were to make these again I'd probably use a back stitch instead, but it's the inside leg so it's not too noticeable.

Sorry for the blurriness in this photo (the lighting in the venue was rubbish), but I really think this image conveys what we try to do at MODO, and shows off the silhouette I was aiming for to it's fullest. In this collection I'm trying to use the thigh as a focal point, and I think the striped leggings really show that off.

The jumper will be written up, test knit and then the pattern will be coming out to you. It has 3/4 length  sleeves with negative ease, and a looser body shape, which flares out in the back to create a series of mini pleats around the yoke decreases. The yoke is worked using Sirdar Crofter, to provide a fair-isle effect with none of the necessary technical concerns, and with the additional use of Artesano Superwash Merino DK this jumper is easy to care for and easy to wear.  It requires an 80cm 4mm circular needle to complete.


Thanks for reading this rather epic post!

Speak soon!

Beginner's Knitting Pack with 2 New Patterns!

Hello all,

As you may or may not know, in my other life as a humble PhD student I also help out a lot with the University's Fashion Society. One of the events that I hosted this year was a Beginner's Knitting Class. I spent a long time putting together an instruction pack, and a couple of very simple patterns for my students to try when they got home. Today I bring the pack (and patterns) to you!

The pack can be found here - MODO Beginners Knitting Pack

It contains two patterns,

Super Easy Fingerless Mittens;

And Super Easy Airy Beret (which is really more of a beanie, but as many beginner knitters struggle with a loose tension in many cases it may well look like a beret);

Modeled by me in the stunning Victoria Park, in Hackney, London, photos by the ever handsome boyfriend.

The yarn used for both patterns was some acrylic I picked up at Whitechapel Market for £1.80. Regular readers of this blog will no doubt already be aware of my yarn-snobbery, but I must say I was very pleased with this stuff (unfortunately it came without a label, so I can't really recommend anything in particular). The colour in particular is fantastic, just the sort of thing I want to be knitting in this glorious autumn weather.

Patterns can be downloaded from Ravelry too, here (Fingerless Mittens) and here (Airy Hat), and the pack will be linked to permanently from the side bar of this blog too, for any future followers.

I warned you there were things coming this week!

Bothered Owl Christmas Party

Always one to enjoy a local London knitting event, I have recently bought a ticket to attend the first Bothered Owl Christmas Party. This new event will be a mulled wine and mince pie filled affair with lots of yarn related fun. I'm particularly excited as my friend Pippa of Sweet Clement Yarns is making one of her very first forays into yarn sales, and I'm very excited to see Tilly Flop Designs (who made the button below) in person. The event is on the 6th of December from 6.30pm, click on the Christmas Tree for more info!




ps. Sorry for the short post, there are a couple of beginner patterns coming up this week, and a new sock (just one mind)!

Wollmeise at Loop

As I am aware that some non-knitters read this blog, I feel I should probably explain in advance some of the craziness that is about to commence. Wollmeise is a German yarn brand widely believed to have the best colours in the world. Until Saturday, it had only been previously available out of one shop deep in Bavaria, and in online updates well known for their ability to crash servers. I was fortunate to be able to get hold of a few skeins at Knit Nation this year (see here for the related post) and was completely hooked.

Following the announcement on Ravelry that Loop would become their first stockist, near hysteria resulted, and we were expecting the masses to descend on Islington on Saturday. It turns out that this anticipation may have worked in our favour, as even though myself and my friend Lucy were there before 10 o'clock (for the 11 o'clock opening, and Lucy still managed to beat me by half an hour!), the day passed in a very civilized manner. While we waited for the shop to open we were treated with biscuits and given permission to use the loo - perhaps a sign they appreciated how excited we were! At 10 to 11 there were about 20 people milling around and the doors were opened.

The queue (not including me - I took the photo!)

Lace weight was kept on the ground floor, and sock weight upstairs. I didn't need any lace (although I was tempted) but had a list of sock colours in my head to buy. We fought past each other up the stairs and were greeted with mountains of yarn.

Call me weird (you won't be the first) but I just go giddy over those browns.

Some of us got very excited - Trish is underneath all of this yarn!

The budget was blown rather spectacularly, and I went home with these beauties.

Golden Pear, Spice Schwammerl, Schwammerl, Olio vergine and Daisy, for those Wollmeiseaholics out there. I've already treated myself to winding the Daisy (what? I have to show something off at knit night tonight!), and have very grand plans for the rest!

Sneak peek

Ok, so it's been a couple of weeks without a post, and I apologize, but I must say there hasn't exactly been much to report! I've been pretty tied up with MODO stuff (see here for details), the Fashion Society at UCL that I help run, and have been making a lot of things I want to keep a little bit secret.

The reason for this secrecy is that on the 4th and 5th of March next year I will be presenting a mini-collection on the catwalk as part of the MODO Fashion Show. I am currently planning 8 looks (that's fashion speak for "outfits"), and as such a large amount of my available knitting hours are inevitably dedicated to producing the garments I want to show. This is a massive opportunity, not only for the fun involved, or for getting my name spread around London universities, but for me to get some professionally shot photographs of my designs.

But, because I'm not completely heartless, I'm going to provide a sneak peak on this blog into some of the things I'm doing.


Yes, I am experimenting with reverse stockinette.

And ordinary stockinette. In black....

Brown....

And creamy-green. You may remember this as the yarn I dyed back in September, now knitted up to produce a speckled effect. 

I'm pleased as punch with how that's turned out!

There's also some colour changes.....

And some texture changes.

That's all for now, and will be most of the plainer textures included in the collection. Understandably, it's much quicker to knit up these plainer pieces, so hopefully a few more bits will be finished soon. If you're very good, I may provide a quick glimpse at some lacework next week.

Savile Row

Sorry for the hugely out of date nature of this post, a combination of misplacing my camera cable and Andrew hogging the laptop have meant that I've been kept away from blogging!

Last Monday, to celebrate the start of British Wool Week, Savile Row, home of some of the world's greatest tailoring houses, hosted an open day. The street was literally turfed over and two very lovely flocks of sheep were brought in from Devon. It was certainly a surreal place to be;

There was a small flock of about 30 Exmoor Horn (above) and a similar number of Bowmonts. They were very lovely, and very calm, but were clearly not used to people, they would run from outstretched arms reaching for a stroke.

I was fortunate enough to be able to eavesdrop on one of the farmer's chatting to some of the press about the flocks, and he showed me that the Bowmont, although appearing grey, was in fact white underneath;

The most surprising thing about this was how relaxed the sheep seemed about all of this. She lay there, quite calmly, with only a firm hand against her head for about 5 minutes, although once released she ran off to join the flock at a sprint!

The highlight of the day, however, was a total surprise. I'd wandered into Huntsman for the sole reason that they had a video playing on the wall showing the origins of their wool. Upon arrival, I was however offered a free behind the scenes tour starting in 5 minutes! And free champagne! (The best part of this was, of course, being Huntsman, it was probably the most expensive champagne I am ever likely to drink!)

I probably don't need to say that the tour was amazing, but it was. The group was split into two, I was shown around by Peter Smith, the general manager, and the other half of us were shown around by David Wood, a senior pattern cutter.

The tour started on the shop floor. We were shown some of the textile sampler packs, customers have a choice of over 7000 different cloths for the manufacture of their suits. I say cloths, because in the tailoring trade they don't use "fabric", but "cloth". We were shown some of the tweeds that were specially designed by Huntsman, and thus unique to their brand. A new tweed collection is brought out every 2 years, so even this distinguished company, dating from 1849, can move with the times. Recently they have combined some of their old tweeds into this sampler jacket, originally designed for a window display, but of which they have sold four.

The next place we visited was the fantastic "Hanging Room", where all of the patterns are stored. Huntsman store all of the patterns for each of their customers until that customer passes away.

It's difficult to see here, but each of the thousands of hooks corresponds to one customer, some of which may have over a dozen garments made for them, each requiring up to a dozen pattern pieces.

Staff at the company travel regularly, 4 times a year to New York for example, and wherever they go they are visited by foreign customers for fittings. It takes up to 4 fittings to get a suit right, which is certainly worth it when the cheapest bespoke suits cost from £4300! Interestingly, many of the tailoring houses on Savile Row travel together, each booking a room in the same hotel in order for their clients to visit all of their tailors at once. A customer may choose to visit several tailors as each tailoring house has it's own distinctive take on the suit. Huntsman, for example, traditionally make single button suits, that are a bit longer than average, with a very distinctive high armhole. There is a degree of brand loyalty however, and this is due in part to the esteem in which the brand is held, and it's connection to certain well known individuals.

The order book in the shop is held open and protected all times at a page detailing an enormous order placed by King Edward VIII, then Prince Edward, for all manner of items, including shooting breeches, dress coats, dinner jackets, and almost anything else you can imagine. The store possesses one fitting room, a huge place, in which the suit patterns of Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier hang. On the wall is a photograph of the 1966 World Cup winning England football squad, all kitted out in Huntsman suits. My favorite thing about the fitting room was however, this little touch;

The ornate glass bowls holding tailor's chalk and pins.

The company have an unusual attitude to staff, apparently common amongst tailoring houses, in that staff retention is an important aspect of the business model. Their longest serving member of staff has been working for Huntsman for 56 years. When I asked about their opinion to taking on a traditionally trained pattern cutter (always looking for employment opportunities for Andrew!) they were reticent, saying they like to "train people to cut Huntsman patterns", the implication being that in providing a narrow course of training, their former apprentices are unlikely to be future competitors.

The manufacturing process is highly specialized. I was aware that they trained trouser-makers as a separate discipline, but was unaware of how far this specialization runs. There is a woman who only sews buttonholes, and a man whose sole role is to press the suits, a process that can take up to 3 hours! This being said, they do have a number of young staff, in their early 20s or so, and nowadays have a womenswear cutter also, and I genuinely believe the company is keen to keep pace with changes in the modern world.

As far as the fibres are concerned, all of their wool for suitings is Australian merino, bought at high prices at auction due to its incredibly fine nature (1pp, not sure of the micron count). The raw fleece is shipped to the UK where it is scoured, spun, dyed and woven in Yorkshire. The tweed is spun from lambswool in Isla, Scotland.

I was very grateful to Peter Smith for such a wonderful tour, and such a special surprise treat to my day. I do hope that this somewhat makes up for the large delay in posting this, I promise more soon!

In other news, check out MODOdiva, the blog for MODO, UCL's fashion society of which I am Head of Design this year. Over the next few weeks I will be posting regular updates there on the ins and outs of my adventures with MODO. Also, now that I have begun my PhD proper, I will be posting random notes and musings on my progress at MichaelaDoesScience.

Speak soon!

Knitting and Stitching Show!

As promised, my highlights from the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. I went on Saturday, arrived at about 11.30 and spent the day heaving amongst the crowds. Fortunately (and I genuinely do prefer shopping this way), I was alone. Crowds are always easier to handle when you're not constantly worrying about the wearabouts of other people, and you can choose much more easily which stores are worth waiting to see and which can be slowly shuffled past.

This was my first year at Ally Pally and I'd never been before. The palace itself is gorgeous and was a lovely addition to my day;

I spent about 2 hours browsing the Great Hall, where the majority of the shopping was. I didn't buy very much at all, just 3 beautiful skeins of undyed angora blend laceweight from Artisan Yarns and some urea crystals for a dyeing experiment I have in mind.

I had fun all the same, had some lovely chats with vendors, in particular at Jamieson's Yarns where the lady very kindly helped me pick out the perfect colours for a MODO project I have in mind - despite them not having nearly enough stock for me to buy there and then.

I particularly enjoyed the knitwear graduate showcase, if for no other reason that it was only here (and embroidery) where photography was permitted! Highlights include this wonderful cardigan from Jacob Oram of Colchester Uni;

The picture doesn't really do the scale justice, a grizzly bear could have worn it! Normally these "giant knits" leave me a bit cold. They often seem lazy and are frequently stylistically and technically dull. But I rather like this, the purl rows to add a fold up to the armpit are a nice touch, and the collar is awesome. I also like that he's used actual yarn, not unspun roving, which makes it look genuinely like a blown up dolls cardigan.

There was also this great piece of texture from Motohiro Tanji (Nottingham Trent);

Inspired by "gothic-techno", but not looking like it came out of Cyberdog. I quite like it. It was at this point I bumped into Louisa and Emma from Loumms, who liked it even more than me! They make awesome bags and have a great series of patterns (as well as being super friendly people). I first met them at a knit night meeting and was very happy to see them again!

I also saw these two dresses from Amber Hards (UWE Bristol) inspired by jellyfish;

And this awesome knitted plane from Claire Platt (Bath Spa):


After I was done shopping and admireing I attended a truely excellent 1 hour introduction to tapestry weaving class run by Philip Sanderson of the West Dean College. For my mere £8 ticket price I was treated to excellent teaching, wonderful handout material, a free fork, all the yarn I needed, and a loom to take away! I've done a little playing since the class;


I'm quite pleased with myself I must say! I can definitely see tapestry weaving being a really fun way of making accessories using up all the scraps of yarn I've got kicking about. I'm so loathe to throw anything away, it's great to have a use to put things to!

New Spindle!

Some pics from the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace to come tomorrow, today I am very excited by my wonderful new spindle!

I've been after a nice quality top-whorl spindle for a while. My wheel is fantastic, but sometimes I want to spin on the move! I first learnt to spin on a bottom whorl spindle that cost £3.50 and was little more than a piece of dowling and a wooden wheel. Unfortunately, the whorl has become loose, and even superglue isn't doing it anymore. A new spindle was required, and after playing with a top-whorl I decided that, for me, I was happy either way up!

I noticed these beautiful spindles from Wildcraft a long time ago now, but was waiting for my birthday to buy it as a treat for myself. The shaft is made from a nice quality cherry wood, but it's the whorl where the beauty really is.

But first, I just wanted to stress the absolutely gorgeous packaging it arrived in, a mere 2 days after I placed the order. It's this sort of lovely attention to detail that means I will definitely order from them again.

First, it appeared in this lovely tube;
Then some pretty crepe paper (which I crumpled prior to photographing);
Then some bubble wrap;

Then some gorgeous Cheviot roving;
Then my spindle;

Isn't it pretty! The flowers are real Cranesbiu flowers encased in resin. The spindle weighs 30g, and spins pretty true, although the more yarn I'm putting on it the straighter it spins. I've spun a little of the cheviot, which is very lovely, and I'm very very happy with my new toy!