Back in October, I took the loooong train ride from Lowestoft to Devon to film an episode of Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas 2021.
Category: Patterns
Two Chaotic Weeks
Well, hello my long-neglected blog. Perhaps it’s time we got reacquainted.
Tomorrow marks two weeks since my quiet little world went a bit bonkers. Two weeks ago tomorrow, I woke up to my phone blowing up, to hundreds of new Instagram followers appearing by the minute, out of the blue. Through my 6am -bleary eyes, it was baffling. And the timing was just impossible. Knee-deep in half-packed boxes, as I prepared to move with my husband and five sons 300 miles south to Lowestoft, from the sleepy ex-mining village that had been my home for 9 years, I fielded a call from a gentleman reporter at The Times.
“Tom” I nearly said, “stop doing a silly voice,” so convinced was I that it must be my brother winding me up.
“Did you know?” Mr Malvern asked me. “How has it affected you?”
Erm, I’ve had moments to process this! Plus, not to put too fine a point on it, my head was a little thick with the late night last hurrah I had just spent with the ladies I call friends, before I was due to leave them all behind.
I had by this stage, of course, twigged though. That Tom Daley, that diving legend, had been photographed, a picture globally distributed the night before, knitting my pattern at the Olympics.
And he had tagged me.
The debate was hot: what was he knitting? Some confidently professed it a hat.
But no. It was my little Juno’s jumper.
I had had a couple of brief exchanges with Mr Daley, who had told me he had used my pattern to knit a few dog jumpers for friends already, and thanking me for “such a great pattern”. As if that wasn’t amazing enough!
It’s always been my most popular pattern. And I don’t think it’s hard to see why. The photograph of my feisty little princess looking like butter wouldn’t melt is kind of irresistible, especially in such a rich and beautiful coloured jumper. (Those in the know are fully aware she’s waiting for the treat just off camera…) And it’s a speedy knit, without being complicated.
But I certainly didn’t expect it to become news.
Sure enough, the next morning an article appeared in The Times online. “Alice Neal, 50” Come on, Mr Malvern! I’ve only just turned 50. Give me a chance to process that, too! But sure, perhaps that’s not the bit to be focusing on. And besides, it gave my friends something to rib me about.
That same day, I had an email from the Sun, a message from someone at the Daily Mail (the less said about that particular experience the better. Let’s just say: lesson learned) and an email from the Mirror. I’ve never had a faster, more precipitous lesson in the crazy world of ‘strike while the iron’s hot’ journalism. And all the while, those boxes weren’t packing themselves.
I managed to squeeze a pattern for an Olympic-themed scarf between packing up the sitting room and the last of the kitchen (“I literally have nothing to sit on”) and it appeared in the Mirror that Sunday.
I am more grateful than you can know for the outpouring of enthusiasm for my designs, the pattern sales, and the little messages of encouragement from fellow knitters around the world.
Now that the dust is settling the other side of the move, now that I’m only ankle-deep in boxes, and they’re being tipped out rather than filled up, now that I can walk regularly along the seafront, breathing it all in as deeply as my lungs allow, I am looking forward to an autumn of new patterns, old favourites, and getting to know a little bit more about all the people who have come to share in my good fortune.
With love, gratitude, and bundles of yarn,
Alice x
Warm toes, warm heart. Pair 4 of 26 pairs for 2021
So, socks number 7 and 8 of my 52 socks for 2021 are now finished.
They’re knitted in the same brand of socks as that last gorgeous stripy slouchy pair (Novita 7 Veljesta) but this time, the heels and toes are worked with 7 Veljesta Pohjola, which also contains 30% Finnish wool and is DIVINE.
This pair (hence the title) will be part of my beloved husband’s Valentines present, helping keep his tootsies toasty in this crazily snowy winter we find ourselves surviving.
The pattern is the same as the slouchy ones, without the decrease before the heel, and with a rather experimental boomerang heel that doesn’t go all the way around the sock in the middle.
I think they came out rather well! Roll on 14th ❤️
Socks 5 and 6 of the 52 socks of 2021
I’m quite excited about these, for a number of reasons.
Let me list them for you:
- They are super cosy and snuggly.
- They are bright and cheerful.
- They are, technically, worsted weight and therefore not quite as bulky as my other boot socks
- THEY ARE MACHINE WASHABLE
- They knit up really speedily.
They’re knitted in Novita 7 Veljesta Raita (self-striping) and Lappi (solid colour) on 4mm needles and one ball of self-striping, knitted as I did, does EXACTLY one pair. You’ll only use around 35g (around 70m) of the ball of solid colour.
Let me show you how much of a yarn chicken winner I was with these ones:
I’ve written up the pattern and it is available for a nominal fee of £1 for a while over here.
The Novita Raita self-striping yarn you can find here, and the Lappi solid colour is here.
Do share your pictures with me if you have a crack at them!
Happy knitting <3
Noro Shinryoku Jumper: how I made it.
How to knit my Noro sweater.
Noro Striped Hat and Scarf
Having so much left, I knitted a hat to match which, with hindsight, I would probably have knitted a little longer for a squidge more slouch, but it fits perfectly and is super SUPER warm.
So, without further ado, this is how to knit it:
In pictures, in progress… (updated with pattern links)
Last year, I designed a sweater I called the Vintage Chic sweater, in Paintbox yarns super chunky.
This year, I’ve reworked it for their 100% wool worsted range.
And I’m loving how it’s coming out.
Pattern to follow ❤️
Update:
I finished the adult version and then made a couple of little ones. The pattern is available in many sizes, from baby to adult. Here are some more pictures and links to the corresponding patterns.
You can find the adult version of the pattern, pictured below, here,
the child’s version, pictured below, here,
and the ‘Mummy and Me’ version, which includes both patterns as pictured below, here.
Happy knitting! x
Dots and Stripes. Dotty Stripes.
No. This post is not about socks.
Although, I have to confess, I could gaze upon the beauty of the beauteous boot socks in perpetuity. I enjoy looking at them almost as much as I enjoy wearing them. And this very frosty northern morning, they are peeping above the tops of my boots and keeping my toes toasty. Over tights, no less. Yes. That’s how I roll.
Oh, and I enjoy wearing them almost as much as I enjoy knitting them.
But I digress.
There is of course a limit as to the number of boot socks you can possess (although as previous posts have explained – teenaged boys + washing machine + wool socks = unmitigated disaster) and I still have quite a lot of scraps of the various yarns I used for creating them.
Added to which, my wardrobe of preloved goodness has expanded this winter, and my colours are all rather autumnal.
I needed a hat to match.
So I made one.
After which, beloved son number 2 requested one (he has a very chilly wait at the bus stop on his way to college in the mornings).
And I really love the colours he chose (and banana cake. And coffee).
After which, I made another one just because I could.
(I also made the lebkuchen because they’re my favourite and the blooming shops have stopped selling them now that Christmas is over. If you love them too, go and check out this recipe. It’s really simple and they’re bloody delicious).
If you have 100g or so of aran weight wool in a few colours and fancy a spotted, dotted, striped hat of your own, you can find the pattern here. And if you do make it, give me a tag? I do love to see it!
Happy Hump Day <3
Tumbling Vines Sock Pattern
Good morning!
Monday.
Awfully windy out there, up here in the North-East. Today is a day for ALL the knits. And there’s very little that brings me more gentle pleasure than knowing that the majority of what I’m wearing was fashioned with my own fingers.
Today, it’ll be boot socks, sweater, hat, mittens, cowl… The works.
And I’ve found myself thinking… it might be time to knit a skirt? Does that work? Any experiences you’ve had with successes or failures would be greatly appreciated. Will you spur me on to try it? Or will you tell me I’m a madwoman for even thinking of it? I can’t decide if it’d be a neat thing to have, or end up looking like a baggy nappy (or diaper for our friends across the Pond)…
Anyway, enough ramblings and to the point of being here today (I haven’t had my coffee yet, and last night was not the greatest in terms of unbroken sleep, so forgive me if I seem to meander into side-roads with little regard for having lost my way). If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll know I’ve recently come up with a new sock pattern, which I have now created both in Drops Nord yarn, and in Fondant Fibre glittery sock yarn. I’m littering this post with pictures so you can see how they came out, and if you fancy giving them a go yourself, you can find the pattern over here. Or from Yarn Canada here.
So feast yer eyes on the lacy creations.
Now.
Kids at school.
Coffee and time to finish writing up my Stashbusting Hats (which most definitely need a new name).
Have a glorious week. Once you’ve got over the fact that Monday has rolled around way too fast.
<3
New beginnings…
As we hurtle towards the end of the year with ever-increasing, head-spinning, brain-curdling speed, and prepare to enter not just a new year but a new decade, I had a little epiphany.
Ok, epiphany may be over-egging the pudding. But the germ of an idea which I just couldn’t budge.
It’s time for me to shake things up a little, to rejig, to shift the focus of what I do, how I spend my time and how I go about things in life in general, but with no small regard to the woolly arts.
I have a Patreon account, which a few people have been kind enough to contribute to, in exchange for free access to patterns. I am giving it a bit of a rejig, so that the minimum contribution is the lowest tier of $5 a month and instead of publishing patterns, I shall put all the details up here, on my blog, of what I am making, how I have made it, the materials I have used, and the lessons I have learned along the way (all my existing patterns will, of course, still be for sale here). Naturally, I hope it goes without saying that nobody is obliged to contribute, but those who do will also receive for free all the existing patterns uploaded there, and occasional exclusive information / patterns / offers 🙂
To start us off, here is a little tea cozy I whipped up in about half an hour the other night. My husband is quite particular about his cuppa, and has a small white porcelain teapot which, until now, has been kept warm with one of the myriad knitted hats my now teenaged sons wouldn’t be caught dead in (Sigh… such is the lot of a knitting mum’s life). So he requested a tea cosy a while ago and a quiet night at the kitchen table afforded me the perfect opportunity to honour said request.
Yarn: Paintbox wool mix super chunky.
Method (for a small teapot):
9mm circulars, magic loop method.
Cast on 32 stitches.
Knit 3 rounds of K1P1 rib, then knit around twice.
On one side of 16 stitches, knit back and forth in stocking stitch for 4 rows. Cut yarn and attach to other side and repeat 4 rows of stocking stitch on that side, then continue knitting around so you are back to knitting in the round.
Knit around 5 times.
Then decrease round 1) *knit 6, k2tog* around
2) *knit 5, k2tog* around
3) *knit 4, k2tog* around
4) *knit 3, k2tog* around
5) *knit 2, k2tog* around
6) *knit1, k2tog* around
7) *k2tog* around
Bind off and sew in ends.
Obviously, if your teapot is larger than our rather delicate, squat little thing, add a few more rounds, or a few more cast on stitches, to fit.
Happy teatime!
Next: I shall be sharing how I made this gorgeous little jumper and the hat that I am currently finishing to match it.
Notes:
- You can also, should you so wish, receive alerts to new posts / projects underway etc by following me on Instagram or my Facebook page.
- Occasionally a link will be an affiliate link, meaning that if you follow it and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. But please rest assured that I would not recommend or link anything I wasn’t completely delighted with myself 🙂