a special week with a dear friend
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All articles filed in friends
old friends
from the 1990s to the 2020s
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Oxford Bluestockings
contemporary bluestockings sharing their knitting, their learning and their feminism
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sun prints
Here’s a moment of reflection, for these quiet, early days of the new year, with a guest post from my good friend Anne Whitehead. Anne found herself beginning a new experimental creative project in the early spring of 2020, and like many makers, discovered that this project came to tell its own story of a…
Read MoreLayter – a celebration of sheep and wool
In case you haden’t noticed, today is the first of WOVEMBER! I thought I’d begin the month by showing you a garment that, like no other I can think of, truly celebrates the glorious variety of British sheep and wool. It was designed by my good friend and fellow WOVEMBERIST, Felicity Ford, AKA, Felix. This…
Read MoreMel knits again
In case you hadn’t already realised, Mel really is my right-hand woman where this designing lark is concerned. She is an incredible knitter and I am very fortunate that she has the time and inclination to test out my designs. Mel is in many ways a much more exacting craftswoman than I, and her experience…
Read Morespirograph
So, I finished my spirograph — these pictures are of the item in its unblocked state, as I was in a rush to get outside and stick it on my heid. Like Anna’s original version of the design, my spirograph adds extra repeats to be more like a a lidless hat than a headband. It…
Read MoreAt Reform Lane
Bruce and I took a few hours off today, and spent the morning drinking tea and eating scones with our friend Sarah. Sarah has recently moved to Edinburgh from Shetland, and it was the first time I’ve had a chance to see her new studio. I love to see different kinds of spaces dedicated to…
Read MoreSarah’s quilt
Sarah came round for lunch yesterday. I made a pie. We ate the pie. We went for a breezy walk. . . . and Sarah had a suprise . . . . . no, Bruce, it’s not for you . . . . . . a quilt! For me! Sarah began making this lovely thing…
Read Morefishy
I am sure you are about as tired of hearing about my health as I am of experiencing it, but it has not been a great few days round here. I had a seizure on Sunday which left me totally exhausted, and scuppered a long-arranged plan to pop over to Glasgow earlier in the week.…
Read MoreKnitting LOVE
I do hope that all of you reading this blog realise, by now, just how important you have all been to me over the past year. It has been a very strange and challenging time for me, but you have all been there every difficult step of the way. It has helped me enormously to…
Read Moreimminent
I am very excited – Mel has finished test knitting her tortoise and hare sweater! This means that the pattern is now imminent and I couldn’t resist giving you a peek. Her sweater is the 34-36″ size and is knitted in Blacker Designs 4 ply Gotland, which happily knits to the same gauge as their…
Read Moresocks, owls, &c. . .
(recognise that darned heel, Mandy?) Some of you may be interested to know that the above appears in this month’s issue of The Knitter magazine. It is the first piece for publication that I’ve produced since the stroke, and because of this, I feel unusually proud of it. Did you know that such a thing…
Read MoreBlackford Hill
Time for the third of the seven hills. Blackford sits to the South of Edinburgh and though the hill is not at all steep, the terrain is rough in places. On Calton or Castle Hill, one is definitely walking in the city – not so here. I thought I’d try using two walking poles today:…
Read Moretaking it easy
After a rubbish couple of weeks, some very nice things have been happening here recently. I was stupidly thrilled to see my name (in connection with this post) on page 7 of the current issue of The Ambridge Voice. What? You’ve not heard of this esteemed publication? It is, of course, the newsletter of the…
Read Moreheartening
(knitted heart, with darned-up hole, a gift from wonderful Felix) IT IS THE RIGHT KIND OF HOLE!! Hurrah! The transesophageal wotnot procedure was a breeze (though it has left me feeling rather spaceage). Now I just have to wait for an appointment to insert the heart umbrella!
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