Lizard Ridge in the Sun

The minute the skies drop their leaden grey and everywhere is bursting with green, I am seized by the urge to declutter and wash everything in reach. This urge never lasts very long, so I move quickly before it fizzles out. These throws live in the busiest room in the house so were the first things to be thrown in the machine. Yes, I know they should be hand washed and carefully blocked. They were the first few times but now I know they will survive a cold wool wash in the machine using ecover's wool product. Careful matching of seams and pegging means they stay in shape and dry very quickly. The finishing touch is a thorough going over with my battery operated debobbler.

Laura Aylar's Lizard Ridge blanket appeared in Knitty fall 2006 and was based on a pattern by Barbara G Walker. I don't know anybody who didn't fall in love with her design, however, most were put off by the cost of buying so much Kureyon. When I visited Japan the following summer, the pound was very strong so I spent just under three pounds a ball. I also managed to track down twenty different colourways.

After the heat and humidity of a Japanese summer I always feel it is autumn when we return to London in August so I started knitting this project right away. I set myself the goal of one block a day and it flew off the needles. Knitting with Noro is wildly exciting as I can't wait to see which colour appears next. I had intended to sew up the blocks as I went along but quickly realised that the vast range of colours meant a more pleasing result would be gained at the end. For several days the blocks lay arrange on the lounge floor. People would drift in, swap a few around until I took the plunge. As I'd steamed each block into shape, the sewing together with mattress stitch was not too painful just time consuming. I loved the result and it really is a blanket;large enough for a single bed.

I knit the second throw because a Noro cardigan had developed a hole. I decided to recycle the yarn and alternated it with black aran wool. Instead of knitting blocks I knit strips which eliminated a lot of the sewing but was not as heavy as trying to knit the whole blanket on a long circular needle. I used the same method for the third throw which was made using all my left over green aran and Noro.

Knit Your Own Dog

As a present for her sister, Gillian knit the border collie from "Best in Show" by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne. It turned out so well she decided it deserved its own sheep and set about designing one. The group were really impressed by the finished product. She is a talented lady.

Unravel Best in Show.

This amazing tea cosy was the winner of the Best in Show competition.It really is a work of art.

Raspberry Frappuccino

Another frothy scarf for a classmate of Akira's. Petra is a girly girl so the scarf had to be pink!

Frills and Frothiness.

Emily brought a wonderfully frothy scarf to the library group and showed us how it was made;knitting with a net like ribbon. Apparently, this yarn had been the big hit at Ally Pally last Autumn.
I decided to make one as part of a birthday present for Akira's classmate, Manuela. This was knit with CanCan by Rico designs which has 60m per 200g ball. This particular scarf is colour 010. It is just under £10.00 a ball but some of my group members have made two scarves from one ball. I preferred a wider and longer scarf. There are other brands around; somebody had managed to buy a much cheaper version at Lidl.A quick knit but I wouldn't recommend it for an absolute beginner.
I guess it's the closest a nine year old girl will get to a owning feather boa.

Unravel 2011

I enjoyed Unravel so much last year, I was a little worried I'd be disappointed this time. That I'd feel that I'd seen it all before but it was a fantastic day and well worth being at Waterloo before 8.00am! I was impressed that the organisers had not just rehashed last year's exhibits but had commissioned new items and organised new displays.


One of the main attractions of this festival is that there is so much to do and see. I begrudge paying for some knitting events as it involves paying a considerable sum just to buy yarn. The free talks are a major attraction for me.

This year I went to two; "Combing and Spinning the Hills" by John Arbon and "Knitting from 1800 to Today" by Joyce Meader. Joyce is hilarious and could be the world's first knitting stand up comedian. I loved the tale of a lady bathing in a knitted swimsuit and a young boy's observation that her lungs had fallen out!

Jen and I went to a workshop on how to make Dorset and bead buttons. Mary Brown, the teacher, was clear and patient so we spend a relaxing 90 minutes learning a new skill. The workshops at Unravel are realistically priced and prove that you don't need a knitting celebrity, just somebody passionate about passing on their skills and knowledge.


My stash has grown beyond amusing, past embarrassing, to the point where I start to feel sick with guilt when I think of how long it will take to knit up. Consequently, I had a strict budget and guidelines of what I needed to buy. Buttons for specific projects I got from Textile Garden and yarns for dyeing came from Fibre Harvest. I looked for purple laceweight for a 60th birthday later in the year, I didn't get anything on the day but will probably buy from Fyberspates. As I'm on a yarn diet,I allow myself to buy patterns so I bought one for a cut lace cardie from Debonnaire. My only splurge was a hank of both green and rose yarn (which at £2.99 each doesn't count) and a hank of Fyberspates Scrumptious Chunky to knit the Tamesis Cowl.

Visit from Amy of "Nest."

Amy came to the last Hendon library knitting group meeting with a sample of yarns and projects. She talked about her interest in knitting and how that had evolved into opening a shop. Although she had brought leaflets about Nest and their knitting groups, she wasn't pushy and happy to talk about anything related to knitting. The afternoon was a big success and we managed to recruit a few new members.

The group was asked to feature in one of the knitting magazines. As there was heavy snow on the ground only a few of us made it, so the photo looks a bit sparse,however, Lauren did a good job of collating our interests and histories. As a thank you we received a sack of yarn and patterns. I took two balls of a lurid fluffy pink yarn with gold thread for a schoolfriend of Akira's who is learning to knit. She was thrilled. I also took two balls of Foxy as Alan Dart's Christmas Gnome is one of the few novelty patterns I like and I need Foxy for the beard.



I went to Nest the next day to meet friends. I never seem to leave the shopempty handed. I bought Drops Delight to knit Pogoda by Stephen West and Drops Alpaca to knit the Chrysanthamum mitts in Knitty.