New Year, New Start

Hello all,

A bit delayed but Happy New Year to you all. Christmas was wonderful as the family came over and their knitted gifts were much appreciated. 

I had been quite busy before Christmas to make up the 7 gifts for my family.I made my brother and brother in law gloves and I also made my sister a fantastic pair of gloves. I found the pattern for free on Ravelry. The pattern was made by Crystal Baer and they are titled Alice's Queen of Hearts Gloves. They were based on a deck of cards and one was mainly red and the other was black. They were fun to make and I felt the pattern worked extremely well. I would recommend this design. 

My sister and sister in law were knitted chunky slipper socks using a Toft pattern. The yarn used was Rico Creative Bonbon Super Chunky Multi yarn which was gorgeous and colourful which went down well. I brought it from Guthrie and Ghani and I would recommend the yarn for any chunky project. My nephew also loved his T-Rex which was made from a Toft pattern. He chased the family around the house and roared in our faces many times......... 

As you may recall, I hunted down all of the Shaun the Sheep sculptures around London and Bristol. As my father joined me on my adventure, I thought he deserved a permanent reminder of the fun we had so I knitted him a Shaun the Sheep to treasure....I'm not quite sure he saw it that way.......

I have had a request to knit a Pig with a Wig!!!!! I had previously made this item for my cousin and I have been requested to knit up 2 more. I enjoyed making it previously and it the pattern is from a knitting designer I love called Anna Hrachovec. She has released a number of knitted book under the Mochimochi series. The designs are quirky and sweet and I have admired them for years. So to have the opportunity to make an item from her pattern is amazing. check out her website for more on Anna and her patterns. I will post them when I have finished working on the items.

Right I am off to continue to making up these little piggies,,,,eeekkkkk

Until next time

Happy crafting. 

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Fibre East and Owl hunting

Hello all, 

I have just managed to sit down and write this blog as I have been busy out and about. I love Art Sculpture trails and Birmingham has set one up called the Big Hoot. 89 Large and 122 smaller owls have been released in Birmingham and I intend to find all of these owls. By doing this I am raising money for Birmingham's Children's Hospital. This is a great cause and if you are able to spread the word of my work or even donate I would appreciate it https://www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Reed2015/

I had a wonderful day yesterday with my knitting companion Becky. We went over to Fibre East for the first time. It was lovely and there was a lot of sumptuous yarn to enjoy. Thread of Life was there and I was able to pick up another double ended Tunisian Crochet hook. There was also a lovely book stall selling older craft books. I managed to find one with Tricot crochet....which appears to be Tunisian crochet. A stall sold Drop's yarn and I could not resist buying some. Overall a great day with some good finds.

In true knitter's fashion Becky and I found a pub nearby called the Woolpack. Yes I found the irony hilarious. Here we had a lovely lunch and admired all of our purchases. 

On Thursday I am going to Guthrie and Ghani's knit night. It runs 6.30pm - 7.30pm and the company is great there. If you are free, it's worth going along to. 

I am working on a West Yorkshire Spinner's sock in Mallard and I have started a Christmas stocking for my nephew.......I need to finish at least one project as I can't have 2 on the go :S.......perhaps I will get to work on this now..........

Until next time 

Happy Crafting 

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Tunisian Cushion

Hello all,

I'm back from my break and now I'm knitting up a storm :)

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the latest issue of Inside crochet had been released and had arrived at my front door. Inside it contained my latest Tunisian Crochet Pattern  'Geo Cushion'. This project started months ago.

I was travelling to Reading to visit my sister and look one of my usual detours to Yarnfest. This is a lovely shop in an area called Hermitage and stocks a lot of gorgeous yarn. Another reason that a visit is necessary is for the opportunity to meet Ozzy the dog. Ozzy guided me to the yarn I just had to have. This was quite early in the year but summer was on my mind and I found that West Yorkshire Spinners had a gorgeous selection of colours. The way the shelf was stacked had the green and pink together and I loved the combination. It made me think of a watermelon and I knew I had to buy this yarn for something.................I was not heavily influenced by Ozzy's puppy eyes!!!!!!!!


Once back home I began to plot my pattern. I wanted something that would challenge me and develop a new skill. This is when I went to You Tube for Knitspiration. I came across an American crocheter (cannot think who it was) who had made a Super Mario blanket using colour work in Tunisian crochet. Using the different colours seemed to be similar to how a knitter does Intarsia Knitting. The video did guide me to twist the yarn at each colour change to ensure there are no holes. 


With this in mind I decided to look back at an old patchwork book I had for a design idea. The one I selected was a star design. To sew this up it would involve 12 square which was a triangle that was half one colour and half another. If you look carefully at the patter you may see how these square would be put together. I actually did a tension square (I know !!!) to work out the sizing of my work. I had a spare cushion that was in desperate need of dressing and from there the pattern was created.

I emailed my idea to Claire from Inside Crochet and the design and it was a Tunisian cushion which happened to match the theme for an issue of the magazine. I really enjoyed this project and hope to use this technique again for a later design. 

I went to Guthrie and Ghani's Knit Night on Thursday and really enjoyed it. I love the atmosphere of the shop and how relaxed knit night is there. It was a nice place to focus on my latest design involving Tunisian Crochet in the round. Lauren stocks Rico and now Milla Mia yarn in a vast range of colours. There are also a number of different weight yarn available too. I have found much knitpiration here previously as this is where I brought the yarn from Benjamin's Bunting and Nice and Cosy. The next Knit night is on 30th July and well worth a visit :)

Right.........back to work 

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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