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