A treat to myself this Christmas, to keep my head warm and pretty!

I few months ago I bought this Jitterbug yarn at the iknit weekender. I’ve been wanting some hand warmers so I picked up my 5 needles and made up these as I went along! I hope you like them. Here’s the pattern if you fancy making your own pair, mine are rather small and snug, so you may wish to add a few extra stitches, but I’m sure they will stretch with a bit of wear. This is the first pattern I have written up for others so it may not read well or seem a bit awkward. Don’t feel obliged to follow it note for note just as long as the second hand matches the first!

5x 5.5mm double ended knitting needles
I used Jitterbug yarn but doubled up more like a DK weight.

Cast on 40 stitches, then split between 4 needles and join in the round.
1-6: knit in the round
7-29: rib stitch (knit 2, purl 2)
30: knit 2, purl 2tog
31-43: rib stitch (knit 2, purl 1)
44: knit 2, purl 1, make1
45-54: rib: knit 2, purl 2
55: cast off 10 stitches at start of round to make thumb hole, continue to rib(k2, p2) rest of round
56-64: at start of round now purl 4 above thumb hole opening, then continue to rib knit 2, purl 2
66: knit 1, make 1, knit 1, purl 2tog
67: knit 1, purl 1
68: purl 1, knit 1
69: knit 1, purl 1
70: last row cast off.

Susie is one of my ladies who attends my crochet class at Hornsey Library. She has been involved with putting on an event with a bunch of food bloggers called Blaggers Banquet, and even blagged me into screen printing up a whole bunch of tote bags to give away as their guest’s goodie bags!

After knowing Mr Boyce for over 3 years with a beard, he has decided to go clean shaven. This has been some what of a shock to me and others, so I have made him a woolly replacement in crochet to keep his face warm.

As some of you know I have a crochet group on Saturday mornings, this week we thought we'd meet up at the Knitting and Stitching show. If you are already going it would be great to see you there! Tickets are available on the door for £12.00, so I believe.

Before going into the show we are going to have our usual Saturday morning crochet and knit meet up.
If you want to join us we will be meeting up on:

Saturday 10th October, at 11am. Outside The Phoenix pub, next to the main entrance of the Palm Court of Ally Pally.

This meet up is free to attend and anyone can come! - you don't even have to go into the show!

I will also be going to the show on Friday 9th if anyone wants to meet up! Hope to see you all there!

The beginning of September, means back to school for most. For me it’s my birthday! Last week, I skipped off to the seaside to celebrate!

Tags: Seaside

I am knitting a letter ‘S’ for the Poetry Society. They want lots of knitted letters which will be sewn together to make up a secret poem, to be revealed in October. I wonder what its gonna be?

Tags: The Poetry Society

Over the summer I have a few extra sessions at Coombes Croft Library.
Here’s what we created today...

Yesterday I took my felt Cats on a trip to St Aloysius social club, in Euston for a bit of craftwerk, they made lots of new friends and admirers, and some of them even went off to new homes.

Tags: Craftwerk, Tatty Devine

On Sundays, get yourself down to the Back Yard Market, off Brick Lane, where you will find the Print Monger, the stall for Print Club. You may also occasionally see me down there running the stall with some of my own prints!

Tags: Print Club

I have recently entered the world of Olive Loves Alfie, a lovely boutique on Church Street, in Stoke Newington. It has everything I could wish for, bright vibrant colours, patterns, stunning design and japanese influences and a sense of magic in the clothing, accessories, toys, prints and products. Only thing is, its meant to be for little children, and I keep forgetting that at age 30, I am now supposed to be a grown up, and can’t fit into those cute tiny t-shirts! To my fortune, owner ( and former Red Or Dead shoe designer), Ashlyn Gibson spotted me wearing one of my felt cats in her boutique and thought they would be perfect to sell in her shop! My felt printed cats now hang in the window, waiting for small (and big) children to take them home...

I discovered this amazing little shop today on Blackstock Road, in Finsbury Park. Some of the ladies in my crochet group had mentioned it in passing, but I had no idea just how much stock they have! It was really hard to leave empty handed. I managed to only buy two items, some matching purple cotton to finish off my treble crochet granny square!

Well, I have run out of time on my UFO, so I guess for now it is finished. I had intended to do something totally obscure and weird to transform an ordinary piece of knitting into some sculptural multi-coloured form. But when I received the unfinished cardigan, I couldn’t bare to make it odd, in saying that I think my colour choice has made it end up equally as an oddment! Anyway here’s the story behind it, then what I did...
Great Granny’s Oddment Cardigan. “This back of a cardigan was constructed from great granny’s sock oddments basket. From a mixture of 4ply blues and greens. Have you any oddments lying around?”…

The back instantly looked like it would make a rather lovely top. I found an odd ball of sock yarn and started crocheting around the edge, gave it a few ruffles, then it was transformed from an cast-off cardigan to a hyperbolic halter-neck!

Rachael and Louise at Prick Your Finger are, for the next couple of months, becoming the administration service for a UFO project, which will result in an exhibition at the Jerwood Space. UFO being - Un Finished Object! This is aimed at all those knitting and crochet items that were once started then forgotten, another chance for these to have a lease of life. It sounded like a great project for me to get stuck into, so for the next couple of weeks I have put on hold my crochet and knits to finish off someone else’s UFO, and at the same time handing over a piece I had given up on.

This is a hat I started a while back, then used it as sample to practice my cable stitch on. It then got too tight for my head, and I got fed up of it. I wonder how it will turn out?

An old friend from my art school days, got married at the weekend. It was a lovely barn wedding full of bunting, dancing, casks of ale, and plenty of food for us campers on the farm! Emma and Terry asked on the invite for presents, if any, to be handmade, so I screen printed them a pair of budgies.

This is probably as close as I will get to being at the Royal College of Art! I went along for a day put on by the Crafts Council and ReachOutRCA, for Teachers / Craft Makers working with children,“Revival: Exploring Contemporary Ceramics, Jewellery and Textiles” It was so very inspiring to see the students work, and encouraged me again that this really is my area, and through looking around the studios, their standard of work is attainable for me , and yet at the same time, i don’t necessarily have to do an MA there and spend huge amounts of money to achieve my creativity, then again wouldn’t it be great...

Last night I took my hand screen printed felt cats on their first outing, down to The Albany, in Deptford for A Little Bazaar. I shared a stall with two lovely and creative ladies Parusha & Anita, and together we had a wealth of vintage, design and hand made craft on our table! We had lots of fun dancing about to a great DJ set, ate glitter cupcakes from the next stall, and tested punters on their bartering skills! My cats had a fair amount of interest, so I thought it was time to share them with you! If you would like to buy one, please email me!




Thank you Parusha & Anita and A Little Bazaar for a fun evening. x

Here, is what I came up with after a few days working at the Stitch and Craft Show at Olympia...Yet more hyperbolic crochet forms, working with stripped up plastic bags. This one is made with a bag from Marks & Sparks, and a few Accardo bags on the edge.

Today I had to go to the Southbank Centre for a meeting, and had a sudden idea before leaving my flat this morning, grabbed an old sample of knit that I did about a year ago - finally! I think I have found a use for it!!

After leaving the Royal Festival Hall, I headed over to the Skater Park to find the new home for my square of green knitting...

I was a bit nervy at first and thought someone was gonna come over and tell me off for doing stuff there, but no one did, I wish my whole bag full of yarn to string up there, with those pillars, I could do some installations like my previous work.
Anyway here’s what i got up to...


This piece is far too small for this amazing pillar.


Knitting resting on wall whilst i look for a better location.


I found a railing - perfect!


Tied on with a bit of pink yarn.



Looking out to the Thames.

Tags: Green Graffitti

SNOW!!!

and my zebra crochet cosy is still there


The tree is still warped up in the park - i still don’t know who did this.


And this was our snowslug...

I’ve been a bit naughty and have started a bout of graffitti...

ha ha! watch out for more to come!
If you like this, check out www.yarnbombing.com

I have been making a knitted balaclava - watch this space for further news why! Anyway, I got a bit inspired and went off on a colorful one to make this crocheted piece too! I was thinking that the whole idea for having a balaclava is to blend into the background, and to create a disguise - well I would love to find the place where this blends into...