A good post day

Although I am not quite as organised as Claire at claireabellemakes who has made all her bills and boring things electronic so she only gets nice post, I do love a 'good post day' when the postman comes laden with interesting and unexpected surprises. Today was just such a day.

Item number 1: a revised tax code for my husband so we'll get a little rebate and have a tiny bit more money each month.

Item number 2: a mortgage statement, a bit so so but the total is coming down slowly but surely.

Item number 3: a rather large box of yarn - each of these balls is 100g and there are 8 of them. Big project! This is to make something post apocalyptic for an upcoming Co-operative press book. The yarn seems just perfect (I had to pick it without ever having seen it in real life - this always makes me a bit nervous) It looks very rough and ready but is incredibly soft. Its made from a mix of recycled fibres which is quite fitting - in the event of an apocalypse who knows what will happen to the sheep :-)  I'm looking forward to swatching this now.

Item number 4: A contributors copy of the new look Inside Crochet

I've only had a chance for a quick flick through but you can see that they are pushing for a younger, more vibrant and fashion-led magazine.  The layout has been changed so it looks like a fashion magazine at the front with lots of articles and reviews, the patterns are indexed and placed together in the magazine. There are some really nice designs inside, not least my own:

And the preview page for the next issue shows one of my designs (always exciting!) - the rainbow coloured cardigan in the middle of the inset pictures 

(interestingly its been shown on a girl when it was commissioned for women, it definitely fits a woman, I have the shots to prove it! I guess I will have to wait until next month to find out what they have done with it.)

I am just so pleased that these designs have made it to print - after the debacle with ACM I wondered if they ever would. I'm so pleased the new owners of Inside Crochet are pushing forward with an interesting and vibrant magazine.

Knitting Needle Case - How to

So a few posts ago I mentioned that I wanted a needle case to store all my straights, DPNs, circulars and circular interchangeables. An old washbag wasn't really cutting it anymore

If such a thing existed, I couldn't find it. And I also needed a project to celebrate the return of this thing of joy to my home.

So I started to think about how it should be and how I would make it and after much deliberation I hit on a scheme I thought would work and be simple enough for my fairly limited sewing skills.

And last night (I would like to be clear that I was totally free last night and that this activity was in no way a distraction from writing a style sheet) the case of my dreams was made.

And here it is:

If you'd like to make this case you will need:

3 1/2 fat quarters of fabric

iron

scissors

sewing machine

thread

needle

From amongst my fabric stash I found these:

I've owned the printed fat quarter for so long I can't remember who designed it or what I brought it for but it is so pretty it deserves a project that will be seen and used. The red fabric was a large scrap from another project and I have no idea where the green and turquoise came from except I think I may have got them to do something with this fat quarter. All the fabrics are cotton or poly-cotton I think.

One of your fat quarters will form the outside, one of them will form the inside, one will be cut into approximately 2/3 to 1/3 to make two of the pocket sections and the half will make the other pocket.

Start by giving the fabric an iron. (this is the only time I ever iron!)

I then cut and arranged the fabrics how I wanted them:

Using the needles I wanted to store as a guide to how tall the pockets should be:

As I don't have an overlocker or zig zag stitch, I ironed a hem into the pocket fabrics ready to sew up:

Next I hit the sewing machine (I had forgotten what a joy using the treadle is!) I hemmed each of the pocket tops and laid them all face up on the right side of the inside fat quarter.

I then started to sew lines from the top of the pockets to the bottom through all four layers to form the sections for the needles to go into

As I wanted wider pockets on the shorter two pockets I lifted these out of the way every other line

Apart from making sure that some of the segments were wide enough to take my 12mm, 10mm and 8mm needles, I didn't plan to carefully about the different sizes as I know what I store will change over time and I felt that a range of pocket sizes would be most useful.

Once I'd finished sewing the vertical lines to form the segments I placed the right side of the outside fat quarter against the pockets

and sewed all the way around the outside leaving a small gap so it could be turned the right way around. Once you've done this you can trim to about 1/2cm all around the stitching and turn it right-side out. Sew up the whole you turned it out of and you are done. Fill up with all your needles:

The only thing left to do is to find a pretty ribbon to tie the case up. When I've got one I will just sew it at the mid point to the outside of the case and tie it to keep it rolled up.

If I've inspired you to make one of these then please let me know - I'd love to see your finished objects!

Yarn is all I can share

In the past two days things here have gone a little crazy. There has been more than usual jumping and a a bit of shouting and singing because I have said yes to TWO very big and exciting projects that see me largely booked up until this time next year. Its all very exciting and I hope to be able to share what they are soon but first need to wait until ink dries on contracts.

So what can I share with you? Not a lot I'm afraid. Everything at the moment is for magazines or books and obviously they want to give you surprises.

Since the middle of May I have been on a mad deadline-a-thon. I finished with this yarn

which was for quite a big garment for clotheshorse winter magazine. All parcelled up and sent to the states.

Next came this yarn...

for a garment for a magazine that is super exciting but shall remain nameless for now. I loved working with this yarn, Kollage Sockalicious (aside from sometimes wishing 4ply grew quicker) and hope to do more with it in the future. This is also a Winter release. All packed up and sent off.

Now I'm working hard with this yarn...

This is for a garment for a co-operative press book based on the films of Hitchcock. Its a collaborative book with some really great designers involved. My design comes from the film Rear Window. But other than that you'll have to guess. 

The yarn is wonderful. Its Precious DK from the Natural Dye Studio and its silk but its really lightly spun in almost a roving style. Surprisingly I have had no trouble at all with it splitting, its a joy to knit with and looks even more amazing knitted up than on the skein. It is so soft that you just want to rub it against your cheek. Hoping to finish this weekend and get it packed up by Wednesday.

Next up is this....

My first ever project with a lace weight yarn. This is Malabrigo lace and I have it balled up with my new ball winder* ready to go. Its going to be crocheted into a shawlette, the first of the four patterns I am working on that will form an e-book for the Malabrigo Freelance Pattern Project.

*I was incredibly lucky that a fellow Raveler had a spare ball winder she offered to send me for the cost of the postage - its fairly old and with no instructions but very easy to use and it made winding those 470yd skeins a breeze!

I absolutely can't wait to start showing you the projects that I have been busy working on all this time. I have a few coming up in the next couple of months.

These yarns were the ones I was working with back in March...

 ..and I'm really pleased to say I have just signed contracts with the new owners of Inside Crochet magazine for these designs so I will have patterns in Issues 32 and 33 so look out for me then. 

Another March yarn was these lovely vibrant yarns...

which will be appearing in Knit Now issue 12.

More about these three soon.