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Monet Minis, Water Lily Mittens

We started letterbox mini skein sets last year with a series based on William Morris designs and as Louise has a penchant for alliteration these became Morris Minors after the much loved British car.  Naturally the latest series inspired by …
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A pair of jean clad women's legs wearing striped blue socks on a blue woven blanket

Lineage Socks

We are often asked at shows what to make with our sock sets and Lineage was designed with these in mind.  Unisex socks for nearly all the family with contrasting stripes and toes.  It is also an excellent pattern to …
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Five different coloured mini skeins and a pair of ribbed wrist warmers on a wooden stool decorated with strawberry fruits, leaves and flowers. Behind is the card that inspired them

Reversible Wrist Warmers

Wrist warmers could not be any simpler than these two tubes of ribbing but the fact that they have two thumb holes so can be turned upside down to show a different colour or even folded over to be worn …
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Yellow loose top hung from blue rail. Roses, flowered playing cards and horse shoes on top of rail

Crochet Cast On

This is the first of two posts on the Aeolian top pattern highlighting techniques you may not have used before.  Our Aeolian top is ideal when summer days are not as warm as they should be, it's also easy to …
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A yellow top hanging on a vintage blue coat rail. Roses are placed on top of the rail with two playing cards.

Modified Three Needle Bind Off

Aeolian Top This is the second of two tutorials for the Aeolian top. To mirror the chain edge created by the Crochet Cast-On we used a Modified 3-Needle Bind-Off at the side seams. This eliminates the purl bumps and gives …
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Two shawls on a dark wood background

Cornish Thrift Top and Shawl

If you're considering a bit of summer knitting we have the Cornish thrift top with matching shawl for when the summer doesn't live up to expectations. The simple vest style top is worked in pieces from the bottom up in …
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A rich chocolate cake on a white cake stand

Delicous Death

Our club boxes often come with a recipe and my favourite was from last January's Poison box, Delicious Death a frugal chocolate cake inspired by Agatha Christie's A Murder is announced. It was published in 1950 when Britain was still …
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A winter heartland scene with low sunlight through frosted grass

Winter Club Box

I'm trying to avoid going out to the shed to wash wool as it's so very icy outside and so very warm inside I thought I do a show and tell for our winter club box. The theme was a …
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A gnome and fairy sitting on a windowsill

Gnomes and Fairies

During lock down to make Nicola laugh I sent her a gnome in the post. Who doesn't raise a titter at a surprise gnome? In return she sent me a fairy, more Mavis Cruet than Cinderella. Here is the pattern …
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A pair of hand knit socks laying on an old leather suitcase with a throw and old book

Pip Pip Socks

We have a new sock pattern, Pip Pip, a top down sock with an easy purl, slip stitch pattern which is separated by increasing rounds of stocking stitch. The pattern is carried on down the heel flap and once more …
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A view of dark purple poppies and their seed heads

Club boxes

We are often asked if we do subscription boxes or advent calendars and the answer has always been a firm no and then, if you're really unlucky, a long explanation of why not, but we've changed our minds. We've decided …
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Christmas gingerbread in clear gift bags on a wood surface with Christmas decorations

Gild the Gingerbread

It's been a frustrating few days the weather has been grim, grey and gloomy and my current knitting project isn't working out.  Knitted Christmas present production has slowed up. An afternoon of baking seemed a quicker way of making a …
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Summer Dyeing

I'm trying out a new sock base, a GOTS certified, superwash organic merino. As I only had a few skeins I thought I'd try a few different dyes, all the skeins were pre-treated with 7% alum and I picked a …
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A pastry based tray bake filled with currants and cherries on a plate set on a red and white linen cloth

A Slice of Paradise

Here's another of our wool show cake tin standbys, this one definitely has a retro feel. I'm not entirely sure where this recipe came from it may have been from a copy of Woman's Realm or Woman's Weekly, well thumbed …
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Decorated wooden rabbit shaped sock blockers hanging on a picket fence

Decorated Sock Blockers

What to do in lockdown when the garden has been weeded to within an inch of its life and you've done as much housework as you consider necessary?  Well over the last year we've accumulated a small pile of bunny …
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A row of bunny blockers clothed in many different socks all hanging up on a garden fence

#virtualwonderwool

This weekend should be Wonderwool Wales and instead of heading for Builth Wells were both staying at home, not flattening the curve but jumping up and down on the pesky thing. We're, however, joining in with #virtualwonderwool and have free …
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Wooden sock and mitten blockers, ruler, pins, balloons, knitting and crochet on a blue cloth

Blocking Your Knits and Crochet Too

You've spent weeks on a project, stayed up late to finish the last few rows and are excited to wear your heroic knitted or crocheted efforts.  All the faff of blocking just seems one step too far, but it's amazing …
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A table in front of a leaded bay window. An open pattern book is surrounded by balls of Shetland wool and knitted colour work samples. There is a tray with a mug of tea and a teapot.

Fair Isle

I have three different types of knitting: a small portable project for travelling; knitting for work, we always need samples and there’s usually a time limit so these are the ones I work on most and finally something I’m making …
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A cream plate with large slices of fruitcake on a folded linen cloth and against a wooden background

Saucepan Cake

At shows we can  often be found munching on a piece of cake and we never knowingly travel with out a least one cake in the tin.  The perfect show cake is a substantial and sturdy thing, without icing or …

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Four skeins of yarn dyed with Dock

Dyeing with Dock

Woollenmatters suggested a hashtag on Instagram to celebrate the humble dock as a dye plant.  She had a lovely photo of four skeins ranging in colour from a rich yellow, through rust and tan and finally a dark brown. It …

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Dyed yarn

Pink

There has been a bit of a pink theme this month.  Having eaten my way through a lot of avocados lately I saved the stones and skins for dyeing.

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Eucalyptus

Natural dyeing with Eucalyptus bark

Before I played with wool I grew plants for a living, there were a lot of hardy exotics in my life and I still occasionally spend the odd morning at the nursery talking about plant production and happened to notice …

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A pair of Lewes mittens on a rusty metal background

Lewes

The plan was to publish this pattern at the beginning of December; a perfect last minute gift that used scraps of yarn – then the website went wrong.  Really, really wrong.

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Howling

Howling: a fictional Sussex village in Stella Gibbons’ classic novel, Cold Comfort Farm.  A place where gumboots are essential and the wind comes in “snarling cries”.  Also the name for this easy to memorise, mock rib cowl that’ll keep the …

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The Miss Lavish work bag

Miss Lavish is my workbag.  Now I don’t usually name my possessions.  The cat spent several months without a name and even now I’m not sure he’s a Perkins but it’s sort of stuck. My workbag, however, was named instantly, …

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A woman standing under a tree wearing a linen knitted jumper

Utility: Worn and Wearable

Sadly my life is not dressy and glamorous.  T-shirts and jeans are my normal workwear, I only have to put on a skirt for comments to be made on my appearance – not always a good thing!  Occasionally I’ll buy …

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Utility Cowl

  I’ve been obsessing about vintage linens.  Not historic textiles but the sort of linen your Granny had in the kitchen drawer.  The sort that might have a few darns but still has plenty of wear and didn’t smear the glasses.  Miss …

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Sewing Rompers

From our first show at Woolfest last year we realised there was a small problem with our kits.   So many people said that they wanted to buy one but they had baby boys.  Not wanting to scar child for …

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selborne sock

Selborne

Selborne is a small village in Hampshire close to where our grandparents lived when we were children.  Famous to most for the home of Gilbert White, the naturalist and for us the zig-zag path and violets.

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Ainsworth & Prin Blockers

One  of the things about attending lots of lovely wool shows is that Nicola and I spend a lot of time in a car.  As I can’t get my head around an automatic gear box she gets to do all …

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