Inspiration

Longer ago than I can remember – a few years at least – I decided to try not to buy anything new for a year. No new shoes or clothes. The only exception was undies (for obvious reasons). And it became second nature. It stuck. Even better, it has become very much the go-to position in our household, and I am very grateful for that. Clothes are generally bought in local charity shops, on online auction sites, and wherever we can find them. Or they are made. Sewn (my husband’s forte) or knitted (mine).

There were a couple of reasons for making the switch; the first being a burgeoning sense of horror at the waste in our society. I’m generally and genuinely shocked by the throw-away mindset actively encouraged by consumerism. And the second, hand-in-hand with the first, was a growing disillusionment with the poor quality of what was on offer in the shops, not to my mind reflected in the ridiculous cost. Expensive crap, not to put too fine a point on it, and mostly plastic-based (which we all know is the bane of our environment, right?)

This isn’t remotely an attempt at evangelism, just an explanation for my own journey into the preloved, upcycled and handmade. Though if it happens to inspire similar in anyone else, I shall consider myself doubly blessed.

Long before this particular turning point came knitting. And as I learnt to knit, I realised that I had very particular ideas about what I wanted to wear / create. I began with modifying patterns that were almost what I wanted, and ended as you see me now: designing my own. My designs are seldom terribly complicated – I like things to be quick and easy to make, and to design pieces that relatively inexperienced knitters feel moved to have a crack at. And they don’t always make it to published pattern stage. I have a life full of demands on my time and I have to be quite focused and decisive about what I will or will not follow up on.

The result of this is that along with a gazillion WIPs, I have a LOT of one-off pieces. Some I will keep, but I simply cannot justify keeping them all. So there will be, in due course, occasional items of clothing and accessories appearing in my shop here. I will put out a warning that they’re coming on my social media before going live, to give anyone who would like to snap something up a chance to get there in time for a browse.

And here is a picture for today’s inspiration. The preloved Boden skirt I bought on eBay, and I am about to start one of my striped cardigans to match it – aren’t the colours perfect?! The striped cardigan, incidentally, is a pattern that WILL be coming, in time for Spring.

If you can’t find it, make it. And if you can’t make it, pay a knitter what they’re worth, (or understand how much you’re loved if someone knits it for you for free…) πŸ˜‰

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(All arranged on a coffee table covered with a decade of Teddy’s scribbling off the edge of the paper, and a mug of turmeric and cumin tea in one of my most prized possessions – a beautiful coppery mug covered with mountains and trees, made by Dwyryd Ceramics, in case you were wondering.)

Have a glorious week, and happy knitting.

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

Socks. Pair 2 of the 26 pairs of 2021

These ones are knitted with a sock yarn that popped up in my social media feed…

The Owl and the Pussycat

I tried.

I really did.

And it really did start off as a hat for ‘Imself:

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And, I am very happy to report, he tells me it is “the hat he always wanted”. So, TICK that one off the list!

But it has, of course, evolved into something a little more delicate, something a bit more feminine, something a bit less…. big and we now have The Owl and the Pussycat mark II

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Or, if you’d like to see it on:

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And yes, it is actually now, as we speak, beginning its fourth incarnation with the pattern in relief:

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(I’ll post a pic of the completed relief hat when it’s finished πŸ™‚ )

I used 4mm needles for the rib, 5mm for the body of the hat and two varieties of aran-weight wool: solid colour and graduating.

If you fancy a go yourself, you can find the pattern here. After all, it’s still chilly enough to warrant something woolly on your bonce, n’est-ce pas?

Happy knitting!

 

His & Hers Stripes

Well… it seemed only fair.

I still haven’t finished his crochet blanket.

I still haven’t finished his Christmas jumper.

So isn’t it time I started and finished something for him?!

After the gazillionth pair of Beauteous Boot Socks:

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and using the same yarns (Drops Nepal in White and Drops Big Delight in Marina), my beloved partner-in-crime at last has his own pair: the Beauteous Gents’ Socks

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If you are interested in the patterns, you can click on the links above the pictures, OR, you can find them both together here: the His and Hers Beauteous Socks.

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Happy Knitting and may your toes be ever toasty, and your heels ever cushioned.

<3

A passionate affair

Once again, please forgive the knees πŸ˜‰

But look…

I mean, LOOK.

Stripes, pure wool, bursting with colour…

What’s not to love?

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And once again, they are just perfect with my old faves, the Duckfeet.

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And just in case you were worried…. there are more on the needles. I am too in love to stop just yet.

Drops Big Delight provides those beautiful undulating colours, and Drops Nepal provides the striped relief.


Bliss

And the next ones….? Expect greens…. pinks…. browns…. *wistful sigh*

If you fancy a pop at knitting them, the pattern is here πŸ’œ

Getting all your cats in a row

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I’ve used Millamia naturally soft merino quite a bit of late, so it seemed the natural choice when I wanted to design a jumper for my youngest, little Teddy. He’s quite a sweaty little beast so I didn’t want anything too chunky, after all.

I have begun to love developing charts for intarsia and fairisle. I consider myself a relative novice, but a very enthusiastic one, and I was especially pleased with the rows of stripy cats.

With raglan sleeves and a rolling edge neck, the ‘Kitty Cat’ pattern is now available over on loveknitting.com AND if you’re quick, the Kitten Mitten pattern is free for the rest of this month.

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Yarndale 2016 – lucky me!!

Yesterday, one of my dreams came true.

And, my life the way it is, it really was a stretch that I might actually make it. But the stars aligned πŸ˜‰ and the world rolled out the red carpet. I mean, hey! Look at my journey:

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To top it all off, I met up with the loveliest friend – a friend for a couple of years now, but geographical distance has made meeting up in person an impossibility until yesterday. Perfection.

Now, keeping that in mind – you know, the meeting-friend-for-first-time-in-real-life – AND bearing in mind the fact that I was quite seriously and completely surrounded by scrumptious squishy wool of pretty much every conceivable blend, variety, hue and weight, you’ll understand that I didn’t get too many pictures. When I wasn’t fondling skeins and oohing at colourways, I was catching up on real, proper conversation with the lovely.

I did manage to get a shot of CoopKnits’ beautiful Socks Yeah! range and managed to meet Rachel in person for the first time.

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I was recently asked to review this very yarn, and her book of sock patterns, which you can find here and which looked like this:

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And I WISH I had jotted down who it was displaying this beautiful miniature clothes line, including mermaid’s tail (if any of you recognise it, please do let me know in the comments) :

And boy, but it flew. A day was not enough. Since returning, I have discovered that there were at least a couple of stalls there that I would have loved to have visited but somehow managed not to see at all (though I did manage to catch up with old friends The Knitting Gift Shop and their new and silkily beautiful yarn range). Mind you, it was heaving. Predominantly ladies, a small number of whom trailed husbands (I’m thinking – possibly stereotyping and horrendously sexist –Β  probably in the guise of packhorse: you can not go to such a place and return empty-handed), many of whom sported the most beautifully assembled handmade garments of the ‘Ooh-do-you-mind-if-I-just-touch-it’ variety. Where else can you go where someone knows the precise yarn from which you knitted your tunic?

Fairly early on I visited the Midwinter Yarns stall. Well, it would be more accurate to say I was pretty much engrossed in conversation when a basket (I love baskets. Don’t you love baskets? I would HOARD baskets if I had the space) of pure loveliness caught my eye. Pure in every sense. Pure wool. From Greenland. In… *gasp*… greys. Man, I love greys.

“Too rich for my blood. I mean, there isn’t even a price on it. It must be beyond my purse” I sighed, already defeated.
“Do you think?” my lovely companion challenged. “It’s in a basket after all, is there not a price?”
Lo and behold, there was! And these fabulous, gorgeous, hulking great 100g hanks of scratchy grey wool (the very BEST kind) were only a fiver apiece.

Six skeins and a plastic bag later, I had my fix for the rest of the day, every so often caught in the act of burying my face in the bag and inhaling the fabulous, authentic sheepy smell, only to be met with a conspiratorial wink, or a knowing look, from people who knew what it was about. Oh, the joy of being amongst your own kind πŸ˜‰

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Needless to say, in spite of the million and one WIPs I already need to finish, I had to cast on, just, you know, to see? You know? I know you know.

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It’s beyond beautiful.

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Oh, and it was definitely a day for making friends:

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Now, where did I put my knitting?

 

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