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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Extreme Knitting

Hello all, 

When the word extreme is used, some of you may think of death defying things such as bungee jumping or tomb stoning. Others may think of more unique challenging such as extreme ironing.  Believe it or not this term can be associated with knitting!!!!

There are different types of extreme knitting such as knitting as fast as you can or running the London Marathon whilst crocheting (this has actually happen). I undertook a different challenging.....

I went to the Knitting and Stitching show in London and found a stall that sold extra large knitting needles. The theory was that you could knit up rugs and duvets in one go. To make these items with 'normal' knitting needles, you would have to make a few strips and join them together but with these needles anything was possible! 

The needles are sized 27mm and massive. The first problem I encountered was finding the space to use the needles. I thought my marriage was safe as I had made my socks but there was an issue again as I had to evict the husband off the sofa for a week :-s  Another issue was that I could only knit a few rows at a time due to the weight of the needles and  the work as it progressed. This is due to knitting 12 strands of yarn at the same time to compensate for the size of the needles. 

I decided to make a rug with a moss stitch on the outside. I like a moss stitch border as it stops the edges curling so hopefully there is less of a risk of falling over. I used a stocking stitch in the middle just to make the piece more exciting to look at. The whole project only took two days to complete and I now have an epic size rug. 

One of the ironic things with knitting is that you do not always want your end product to be used for it's intended purpose. I know I made a rug, but I didn't want it in a place where people would stand on it. I found a lovely spot in the bedroom but when I came back, I found that my cat had found her new bed. I am happy for the rug to serve this purpose. 

The rug and cat have a new home and my husband is welcome back to the sofa. I had to make him a few cups of tea to apologise :s

Until next time

Happy crafting

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My Sockcess Story

Hello all,

I am proud to say that I have created my first pair of socks :) This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time but never found the knitspiration required. It is also considered to technically quite challenging. This is an essential project as I am fed up of my husband nagging me for putting my cold feet on him. If I had a lovely cosy pair of socks I felt that this would put an end to this argument once and for all. 

My knitspiration came in the form of a lovely ball of yarn from York. Whilst away in February, I went to a great knitting shop called Ramshamble. I love this shop as it has a great variety of yarns and most of them are natural fibres. My eyes fell upon a beautiful yarn from the Yorkshire Spinners. This was from a range called Signature and it is magical. Not only is it a lovely combination of wool and nylon, it is self patterning. This means that when you knit it the wool colour will change certain points to make the sock stripey. It is so soft and perfect for that lovely pair of socks that I crave. 

With this magical yarn, I finally got to work on my marriage saving socks. In order to create them, you need to use double pointed needles. Although it looks like a medieval torture device, I can assure you that it is not. It is a method of knitting where you need to use four needles as opposed to two. This means you knit a tube shape and reduces the amount of sewing needed at the end :)

When working on a sock, you tend to start at the top, also known as a cuff. This is usually started with a rib stitch for elasticity which is followed by a stocking stick. You will work to the desired length and then need to create a heel flap. This is achieved by working some of the stitches at the back of the sock so that a length for the heel is created. In order to make the part of the sock that is along your foot, you need to pick up stitches from the heel flap so that you are able to knit on the double pointed needles once again. The tube shape is continued until you get the foot length required and then sewn at the end. Looking back at this written instruction, it looks confusing but if you have practised each element in a different pattern, I can assure you it isn't :)

One difficulty I found with a self patterning yarn is that you need to ensure that your second sock is started in the same place in the pattern as the first. If this is not achieved the pattern and colour order on both socks would be different. Some people don't mind this but I do !!!!!!!!! After four attempts, I got this right. I no longer freeze my husband, I now have nice toasty warm feet. 

On Thursday I will be heading to TOFT for their knit night. It runs 4pm-8pm every other Thursday :) I love going here as its a cosy environment full of knitspiration and a lovely gang of knitters attend. I also love it as there is tea and cake a plenty. If you are in the area, I strongly recommend that you go. All skill levels are welcome.Check out www.thetoftalpacashop.co.uk for more and details and the great range of workshops they have.

 Toft also have a great open day on Easter Monday running 10am-4pm, this is soo much fun as you can see the studio, sign up for mini workshops and go on a tour of the farm to see all of the lovely alpaca :). This is well worth a visit if you are free. 

Until next time

Happy crafting

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