Hyacinth Cowl

Hello all,

Just to let you know that another holiday project has been completed :) and my holiday socks have been blocked perfectly. 

I attended a workshop at Toft Alpaca and it was brilliant. I was intrigued to master the hyacinth stitch as they had a pattern for a beautiful cowl. The workshop was ran by the lovely Caroline who is a great teacher. The workshop was relaxed and delicious cake was provided. The pattern suggests to use fine yarn but I wanted to treat myself and I splashed out on extra fine yarn so the cowl would be really soft. i would recommend anyone to attend a workshop held by Toft. Not only are you surrounded by beautiful alpacas but you are also provided a high quality session with teachers who know what they are talking about. 

 The stitch comprises of 6 rows that are repeated. The pattern contained a p5tog which I had never came across. This proved difficult until I learn the trick of slipping 4 stitches purlwise, purl the last stitch and then pass the 4 slipped stitches over. This made the project build up much quicker. 

The pattern also contains a row where you wrap the yarn three times before you knit. This is where I went wrong many times and had to begin my project once again. I learnt the magic of a 'life line' which is when you thread a piece of yarn through the stitches of a row where you can pull the work back to if needed. This gave me the confidence to persist and finish my lovely soft cowl. 

This is now another piece to take on holiday and I think I have now hit the limit of what I can make before I go. I have decided whilst on holiday to take a break from designing and to make a couple of animals from the new Edward's Menagerie book. I am a big fan of these designs and I already have the yarn sitting in my stash. 

I am plotting out where the yarn shops are whilst I am away on holiday. I will be in the Hastings and Rye area so if you have any recommendations please do let me know :)

Until next time

Happy Crafting

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Holiday socks

Hello all,

I love summer holidays! Enjoying the sun and wearing all your favourite summer accessories. However, when I go away with my family it is never in the summer. Cost is always a factor and so our holidays tend to be towards the end of September. Not only do we go when it's colder...but we also like to stay in a freezing cold caravan. However, there is a positive spin to it all....it makes the time leading up to the break brilliant for a knitter. 

Most people going on holiday will shop for new clothes or accessories. I on the other hand find lovely things that I would like to make. I have a long list of things and I hope my poor hands can endure then endless projects I want to knit. 

I am happy to announce that my freezing feet will not suffer in the caravan as I have knitted a new pair of socks. The gorgeous yarn was from West Yorkshire Spinners and it is the in the Country Bird range. My particular socks are 'pheasant' as apparently the colours seen are similar to this bird. The magical yarn stripes itself creating a great false fair isle effect. I used a basic pattern provided from Rachel Coopey at a brilliant sock workshop I attended at Guthrie and Ghani. I have booked myself onto their knitting in colours in the round workshop which I am really excitted about by the way. 

It was not all plain sailing. I completed the first sock and noticed I was 2 stitches short. After I had grafted the end........disaster struck!!!!! I could see the 2 dropped stitches quite early on in the piece. This brought much sadness as I had to frog (unpick) my work back to this point to repair. Most knitters have second sock syndrome. In this case...........I had third sock syndrome.

I worked on these socks at the Toft knit night and at another knitting group I attend called Sip and Stitch. This is on a Saturday 11am-1pm at Stitch Solihull. This is a gorgeous shop which is even open on a Sunday!!!!!!. It stocks high quality yarn and knitting supplies. Check out their website for more details and look at the workshops too. I am hoping to go to a more advance Tunisian crochet workshop soon. Eventually I had made my beautiful socks. I now need to meet with my sister to find a new set of pyjamas that will match them. 

As it will only be slightly colder it's too soon to wear my Super Moss stitch cowl...................maybe I need to make another cowl before my holiday. Now I did attend that hyacinth cowl workshop at Toft and I do have the luxurious extra fine yarn to make it up with. Check out the end result next time. 

Until then

Happy crafting

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Nice and Cosy Tea Set

Hello all,

Sorry for the delay between posts but I have had a lot going on in my day job. I have also had a couple more commissions accepted so look out for them soon :)

The weather is beginning to get colder so it will soon be time to pull out the Super Moss Stitch Cowl (which by the way the pattern is available for free on http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-reed). However, until that point, I will have to make do with many a cup of tea to keep me warm. This is where the inspiration for my latest pattern came from. The pattern Nice and Cosy is available now in the latest Inside Crochet Magazine. 

I attended a knit night at the wonderful Toft Alpaca shop and got some much needed 'Knitspiraton'. There was a lady who was making a piece which contained a crochet stitch called a basket weave. This is a gorgeous textured stitch which involves working in front and behind a treble stitch. I loved it so much I kept it in mind until I found a suitable project.

I love the colours of autumn and felt that the sumptuous mustard colour was something that I wanted to work with. I popped along to the wonderful Guthrie and Ghani and found a lovely brand of yarn from Navia. It is 100% wool and is brilliant at holding textured stitches and it is from here the idea of the 'Nice and Cosy' set was born.

Keeping on this theme of being snugly and warm, I have began my second pair of knitted socks ready for my caravan holiday. It is only now at this point I have realised that the weather may be pretty cold by then, so I lovely warm pair of socks are much needed. However, I am hoping to attack many yarn shops in the local area for more ideas of future designs. 

I also had the opportunity to attend a great workshop at Toft to learn the hyacinth stitch. The pattern involves a repeat of 6 rows over 180 stitches so I do not have a lot to show at the minute but keep tuned for an update soon.

 It is a little sad to think that Summer is over in the knitters' world as we now begin to plot and make Christmas presents. Well.....if the shops can sell mince pies now, I feel it is more than acceptable to pull out my festive needles to make my pressies (oh yes I do own a pair)

Well until next time

Happy crafting :)

Sarah Reed

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Benjamin's Bunting

Hello all,

I hope you are all well. I have been knitting and crocheting like mad lately. I am proud to announce that Inside Crochet have once again published one of my patterns.

This piece is called Benjamin's bunting. The idea came about as my sister was pregnant with my nephew and said that she hoped her child would love dinosaurs. I am unsure if she wanted her child to turn out like Ross from friends but I thought it would be an interesting hobby for him to pursue. I didn't know what to make her for so I offered to make a baby blanket. She found a knitted design that she liked and I decided that I would like to create one that was crocheted. I found it quicker to create patches and I had to create the dinosaurs to add to the piece. Once I had completed the blanket my sister was thrilled.

I then thought that since I had the crochet dinosaurs, I would be able to adapt the design to make a bunting. The original idea for the bunting was that it was blue, yellow and red. I contacted Claire from Inside Crochet who loved the creation and suggested to use greens instead. I felt that this was a great idea as it was more soothing. 

To get the yarn required I visited the lovely Guthrie and Ghani in Birmingham where there was all the colours I needed in the Rico yarn. This shop is great for inspiration and I would recommend anyone to visit and also do any workshops there. 

One issue I had with the design was that the dinosaurs tended to curl. I contacted Claire for advice and she suggested doing a slip stitch to reduce this. This was the best advice that I had and found this to solve the issue. 

I completed the design and it was around this time that my nephew was born and his name is Benjamin. The ironic thing was the day I sent off the project to the magazine was the day that Benjamin arrived safely into the world. I wanted to dedicate this project to him so hence the name. The biggest challenge was keeping the project a secret from my sister as I wanted it to be a surprise. Now the magazine is released, and available in all good shops, I was able to show her and she was honored. The photo for this blog has been kindly provided by Inside Crochet

To this day, this is my favorite published piece and I hope it can bring much joy to others. 

Until next time

Happy crafting. 

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The Creation of Lamb Chop and Designing a Lace Shawl workshop

Hello all,

My dad has recently got into antiques which means some of my weekends are spend going around the fairs. I did not realise until this point that this is actually a good place to go and find retro knitting and crochet patterns. I found items such as the lovely knitwear to make an Action Man and super vintage cardigans. However, on one occasion, I found one epic find....... this was none other than the one and only Lamb Chop puppet.

I always remembered Lamb Chop being on the TV and I was a huge fan.....much to my dad's amazement. He assumed I had no idea who this was. This was the purchase of the day and I went to work on this project immediately. In order to begin, I thought I would look at photos of the original puppet online. I didn't really think this through and just typed 'Lamb Chop' into a search engine. Of course over 100 images of a Sunday dinner came up instead. This is not how I 
wanted my end product to look like. 

The pattern was interesting to make as it involved a technique in knitting that I had not come across before.You needed to create loops to give the woolly fleece effect. This involved winding the yarn around the needle 3 times and then knitting. This did make the piece fiddly to make. The pattern also required felt to be used to form the ears and hands. Felt and I do not get on well. I have a tendency to keep hacking at it until there is nothing left. I decided it would be better to create a knitted version of these parts instead. 

After many hours and my husband modelling the puppet on his hands many times, I finally had my very own Lamb Chop. I think it's turned out well and it will be well loved. 

I also attended a great workshop on designing your own knitted lace shawl. This took place at a sweet shop in Sutton Coldfield called 'Sitting Knitting'. This is a shop in the Four Oaks area which has an excellent range of yarn. There was lovely items such as natural fibre yarns, Knit Pro needles and more. Rachel (the shop owner) was really friendly and easy to chat to. The workshop was ran Anniken Allis. She has been featured in numerous magazine with her gorgeous lace designs and also is currently working on a book. she was extremely knowledgeable and I feel happier to try to do lace knitting. I have something sketched out and if this works I will post it up at a later point. This was a great workshop and a lovely shop and I would recommend them both. 

At this moment in time I am working on a lace scarf and I have other ideas in my head which when I have time, I will create :)

Until next time

Happy crafting

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Benjamin's Bunny

Hello all,

I am an Auntie :). The lovely Benjamin arrived into the world in April and he is gorgeous. Babies are brilliant  to knit for as the projects are small, quick to make and often adorable. I asked my sister if there was anything in particular that she wanted for Ben. Instead of the usual booties or hat, she asked for a bunny. Not just any old bunny but one similar to what we had as children. 

One of the first knitted items that my sister and I had as a children were a rabbits. One of our rabbits had red dungarees and the other had peach ones. The rabbits did not quite look right but we loved them very much. I can remember they were mainly made in garter stitch and the dungarees were formed in stocking stitch. 

This would normally not be a problem to make.....if you had the original pattern....or the original toy to refer. However, I had neither of these :s meaning I had to rely on my memory. To reduce the amount of sewing needed I knitted the toy on double pointed needles but to achieve the effect of a garter stitch, I had to use a purl stitch.

My poor husband had to endure confusing questions such as 'can you tell it's a rabbit but it doesn't quite look like one?' He decide to help by bringing me a lot of tea and reading quietly in the corner. 

I thought to make this item more specialized and gave the rabbit blue dungarees. I finally completed the project after a week and hand delivered the item to beautiful baby Ben. He seems happy with the end  product (well as happy as a 1 month old could be). 

More news is that I have finally opened a pattern shop on Ravelry. I haven't managed to post all of my designs yet but there is a good sample which can be seen on this link (http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-coad).

Summer is on the way so I will soon be writing about some of my summer patterns :) 

Until next time

Happy Crafting

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Festival of Arts and fibre fest

Hello all,

I am now officially an award winning knitter and crocheter :). In my town there is a local competition called the Nuneaton Festival of Arts. Within this you can enter a number of different arts and craft ranging from poetry to quilts. I thought this year would be the time to give it a go.

My first decision was what I should enter. I was quite proud of my sockcessful knit so I wanted this to be entered. This did cause a couple of issues for the husband as it did once again mean that I had freezing cold feet. I also wanted other knitters to see a sample of extreme knitting so I had to whip my rug out from under the cat. She was also displease as she was cold. However, there was a lovely compromise as she now sits on my husband's lap. This means that the husband's lap is now too hot and I can help cool him down with my freezing feet :)

As there was also a crochet category that I wanted to submit some items here. My hook case was one of the first things I designed and I wanted it to be seen. I also loved my little hedgehog and he was my final submission. This did not cause any problems in the marriage you'll be happy to know.

Results were released within a few days but it seemed like a life time. When they were out I was over the moon as I found I was 3rd in the knitting category, 2nd in crochet and I got a certificate of achievement. I was honored to have been selected. 

I also attended Fibre Fest which was put on by the Fibreworks. This was a great day would as there was a range of crafts available from patchwork to lovely woolly gifts. The Fibreworks is a sweet shop that stocks an excellent range of yarn in gorgeous colours and fibres. There is a branch in Chipping Norton and Oxford. 

I learnt about Knit for Peace which is a brilliant charity. The idea is that it encourages people to knit and the items produced is sent off to different great knitting causes. Some knitted tops have been hand sent to India with this cause. This charity is something that I would like to get involved with. Please check out their website and help them out where you can (http://www.knitforpeace.org.uk/) 

There was an inspiring talk and workshop ran by the lovely Erika Knight. I feel so much more confident with using colour work within my designs. I loved the theory used and thought it was one of the best workshops I have attended. Check out Erika's work on http://www.erikaknight.co.uk/

 It was an extremely enjoyable festival and if you get to the chance to go next year, I would strongly recommend it.   

Until next time

Happy crafting

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