A New Ball or Two

Since I last blogged a few new colour combinations have hit the shop :). The most recent ones are inspired by Halloween colours and the arrival of winter.  I'm thinking ahead as most of my customers are in the US and I know you are all just itching to cast on for Autumn!

Custom requests are hotting up, but please keep them coming - I love custom orders!  Drop me a convo at Twisted Limone if you want to request a colour (bearing in mind I am going on holiday for a week on 14 September)   :)



Viper



Haunted House

Knock your Socks Off
 

Winter Ghost

Fireworks

At looooong last I think my sock knitting mojo has returned!  I have some lovely self-striping balls I've been selfishly saving for myself.  These balls are not my usual uniform stripes and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they turn out.  I'm just about to cast on for the first sock, so stay tuned for updates.


Random stripeyness:
The top ball is a few rows of lime green, then dark green, then variegated pink (almost watermelon(ish). 
The second ball is wide and thin striping gothy black and purple.

Karen

Sunny Shop Updates

I'm sitting here in the sunshine typing this blog post.  It is truly wonderful having this heat wave here in the UK, for once I feel as if I've had a summer! 

Life has been a bit hectic recently and very up and down over the last few weeks, I've had a funeral, a 21st (not mine!) and I've been busy with both shops.  I'm trying to find time for knitting, crocheting, my art work and I also want to lose myself in a really good book.  There really are just not enough hours in the day - I need to win the lotto and give up work!

Below are the latest new colourways to Twisted Limone and I've added a few more earring designs to Silver Moonflowers today.

Gothic Rainbow





Mountain Moon



A few new designs at Silver Moonflowers.

Have a lovely sunny day.

Karen :)

Silver Moonflowers

What a beautiful day here in sunny England today - it really lifts the spirits.  I'm off work and very much looking forward to stuffing my little face at a family barbeque later!

I've been busy today re-launching Silver Moonflowers.  It has been a long time since I've made any jewellery for the shop.  Recently I've become hooked on bead weaving and I've incorporated this into some of my wire earring designs.  I'm super pleased with these designs - I've made a few for myself and have had nothing but compliments! 

Boho inspired, these earrings look great dressed up or down.  I'm wearing a pair today, very similar to the peach swirls below, and they look perfect with my peach skinny jeans, a white t-shirt and gold gladiator sandals :) 

Keep checking the shop, I'm going to be adding more designs regularly each week :)

Karen

A Flowery Update

Nothing wildly exciting has been happening in my crafty little world recently, which is why my blog hasn't been updated as much recently.  I haven't picked up the needles or crochet hook for months, so sadly my current projects remain dormant.  My main focus continues to be Twisted Limone and the weekly Saturday updates.  Dyeing, winding and packaging takes up much of my time during the week.  There continues to be a little splurge of new colourways.  I tend to be crazy with ideas during the summer months!

SAFARI

SHERBET DIP
Not to be confused with Sweet as Candy - there is a subtle difference,
a peach stripe replaces the white one.

A TOUCH OF LIME

MARDI GRAS

KEY LIME PIE

The inspiration behind my colours comes largely from nature, food or anything in the environment which inspires me - this could be anything from a piece of fabric or a picture in a magazine.  Mostly, though, my ideas come from flowers and when anything catches my eye I snap away for future reference!

One day I will treat myself to a macro lens, but for now I'm reasonably happy with the effect I'm getting from a bog standard lens :)

I'm continuing to work on the re-launch of Silver Moonflowers, my Etsy earring shop.  I'm hoping to have lots of lovely new earring designs in the next month or two.  Next to knitting and crocheting, making jewellery is something I adore and is another outlet for expressing my love of colour!  More about this in a future blog, along with a sneaky peak at some designs.

Karen

Pastels and Petals

At last!  Some lovely sunny weather here in the UK.  My pastel skinny jeans are all lined up and ready to wear and talking of pastels, two new pastel colourways have been introduced to the shop.  A far cry from my usual vibrant colourways, but summer inspired these are really pretty colours and I just couldn't resist dyeing them up :)

Sweet as Candy
5 really pretty pastel shades in yellow, aqua, mint, white and pale pink.



Petals
7 pastel stripes of peach, mandarin, pale pink, pale blue, lime, white and mint.

Stuck for a present?  Wouldn't either Sweet as Candy or Petals be wonderful gifted with my pastel stitch markers? :)

The Petals colourway and the stitch markers are still available in the shop as I'm typing this - they are sooooo pretty :)

Karen

New Colourways

I've been brimming with new ideas for stripy combinations recently, a few have been introduced to the shop over the last few weeks.  This weekend Sweet as Candy and Flower Strewn made an appearance, these have now sold but don't worry more to come soon.  Pictured down below, Floating By is another new one, which will be in the shop on Saturday. 

FLOWER STREWN
7 stripes in deep magenta, pale magenta, yellow, aqua, deep violet, green and red

SWEET AS CANDY
5 stripes in pretty pastel shades of yellow, aqua, mint, white and pale pink. 

FLOATING BY
5 stripes in bright grass green, aqua, acid lime and turquoise
(available on Saturday, 1 June)

 I frequently get asked if I'm still taking custom requests, and yes I am.  I no longer put custom slots up in the shop, but tend to do requests as and when I'm asked and then invoice via PayPal.  Just convo me via Etsy and I'll answer as soon as I can.

Karen

Garden Flowers

The past few days have been mild and sunny and at long last I've been able to get out in the garden with my camera.  I love this time of year, so pretty and colourful........white apple blossom, deep red Berberis in pink bud, frothy white Spirea, bright pink Azalea, golden Acer, a sprinkling of blue Forget-Me-Nots, Pink Oxalis with droplets of morning dew and fluffy dandelion seed heads (yes I still haven't weeded my garden!). 

 

Is Summer finally here?  Maybe, maybe not, but with all these colours around at the moment I'm definitely getting the urge to dig out my watercolour paints.

Karen

Crochet Jar Cosy

A quick in between project for using up scrap yarn.  This little jam jar cosy knits up really quickly and looks very effective!  I've used some of my own self-striping sock yarn, it knits up a little bit more 'funky' than it would knit up as a pair of socks, as the stripes are a bit out of sync and not perfectly ordered, but hey ho I think it looks fab!

 

Yarn: Twisted Limone Self-Striping Tangy sock yarn

Colourway:  Rainbow

Crochet Hook: 2.5 mm

Stitch: Half Treble (UK)

I crocheted a chain the circumference of the jam jar, ever so slightly stretched. Then crocheted back and forth to the desired length. Sewed the piece together and voila!

 

And this is what the yarn looks like knitted up as socks ;)

 

Have a colourful day!

 

Karen





Drawings from the Past

It's been quite some time since I did any really serious artwork.  I used to do pet portraits, and whilst this was incredibly time consuming it was something I loved to do.  When my Etsy yarn shop took off in 2007 my art was temporarily put on hold.  I recently stumbled across some of my pencil drawings I have scanned in a folder on my computer.  All of these have been done in graphite pencil and most of them were commissioned pet portraits.

These few below were done with coloured pencil.  The Christmas designs were for an animal rescue centre I was involved with at the time.

Looking at these old drawings and my obsession with Pinterest has rekindled my passion for art. Because of all my other crafty endeavours, and the success of Twisted Limone, I still don't have a great deal of spare time, but I'm squeezing in some moments each week to maintain an art journal - my 'painted thoughts'.  I recently purchased a Moleskine art pad from Amazon, Ooooh these books wonderful!  You can also make your own journal, which is much cheaper and there are some beautiful handmade ones out there. 

However, I'll blog about my art journal in a separate post at a later date, along with some of the doodles/watercolours I've done so far. I intend to fill up lots of them, I'm bursting with ideas.  Go to Pinterest and search art journaling!  My Pinterest journaling folder full of ideas is here.

Happy drawing!
Karen

Iona

It's taken me two years to complete these socks - far too many distractions with other projects!  It's been well worth the wait, I'm so pleased with the result. 

Wollmeise yarn is such a joy to knit with and produces such wonderful stitch definition.  This cable pattern is one I found in an old stitch book.  I love the stitch so much I decided to create a pattern with it.  The beauty of this cable pattern is that although it is an 16 row pattern repeat, only 3 of the rows are cabling, the rest are knit and purl - so easy to execute and memorise. 

The sock pattern itself is toe up with a simple wrap and turn heel.  Aimed at the intermediate knitter with experience of cabling.  I've called it 'Iona', which is a small island off the western coast of Scotland - a island renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty.

Yarn:  Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash
Colour:  Saffran
Needles:  2.5 mm
Size:  Medium-Large
Pattern:  My own - it will be released as soon as I've written it up.

Enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday weekend UK peops :)

Karen

Red Paisley

Swoon. . . . . I just adore this Cath Kidston fabric.  Sadly, it seems it is not that easy to get hold of.  I managed to get hold of a small piece from Ebay a few weeks ago.  I'm deliberating what to make with it. . . . . I'm picturing a cushion with a red crocheted back and a lacey trim. . . . . . hmmmm.

Look at this gorgeous bag too!  Sadly Cath Kidston and ASOS no longer stock it :(



However, this beautiful piece of fabric is the inspiration for a new yarn colourway, which I dyed up yesterday (5 stripes in pink, red, light blue, white and pale green). This should be in the shop in the next few weeks.  Watch this space

Karen