The Knitting History Forum ...

Yesterday I went for the first time to a meeting of the Knitting History Forum. I'm an avid knitter and a keen social historian, so it was always guaranteed to be something that I would find interesting. What I wasn't prepared for was the colourful cast of characters, with strong and very well-informed opinions, who made up the audience. Yes, the speakers were interesting, but the folk scattered around the room were brilliant. They listened attentively, needles clicking as the speakers talked, and then asked incisive questions, and chipped in with additional information from learned papers and books that they'd written on related themes themselves.

Here in London I'm an enthusiastic lecture attendee, but I've never been part of an audience in which every other person brandished knitting needles as they listened. Of course it makes total sense that they should be multitasking in this way. Indeed educational psychologists often suggest that having something to fiddle with whilst you listen helps the information go in, and so many of us (self included) enjoy our favourite television programmes curled up on the sofa working as we watch.

We had lectures about Frisian lace making, the publication of knitting and crochet patterns in northern Europe from 1790 to 1870 and debunking the myths around Shetland lace making. The speakers included a museum curator from the Fries Museum in the Netherlands and a clutch of academics.

Listening in the audience were no lesser authorities on the subject that Professor Sandy Black of the London College of Fashion and author of (amongst other books) the wonderful Knitting: Fashion, History Craft, which is one of my favourite reference books, Dr Jane Malcolm-Davies, author of the Tudor Tailor, Dr Angharad Thomas of Knitting Gloves, who is the Textiles Archivist at the Knitting & Crochet Guild and Joyce Meader of the Historic Knit.

We had been invited to watch two recent documentaries on the history of knitting to which several members of the audience had contributed before attending, so that we could talk about them in the discussion section. I found them both interesting, and recommend them to you if you've got an idle hour to fill over the course of the next few days.

Fabric of Britain - available on BBC iPlayer until Thursday, 24th November.

The Secret History of Knitting - available on YouTube.

All the best for now,

Bonny x 

Thank you to all my lovely Festiwool customers ...

It was a truly splendid little fair with lots of lovely, friendly people - both buying and selling. I'm always impressed by how nice yarn-lovers are. I know it sounds schmaltzy and trite, and that there are always exceptions to every rule, but in my experience - gleaned from days on my feet talking to the passing public at yarn fairs, and weeks of my life given over to knitting retreats - I've come to the firm view that a love of all things woolly is, of itself, a pretty good character reference.

Festiwool 2016 ...

I’m really looking forward to Festiwool this Saturday. If you’re in the Hitchin area please drop by and say Hello! I’ll be on the Costa Brava Knitting stand all day.

It’s a lovely, friendly fair with some fabulous exhibitors – just the thing for stocking up on all your woolly essentials for the cold weeks of November and December … brr … isn’t it cold these days?

Happy Friday, peeps!

We've been battling to make teddy bears - and not teddy mice. It's been a challenge, but we're getting there.

This was the outlook across the dining room table yesterday afternoon as the sunlight filtered in through the half-open shutters.  Emi was writing an essay about three birds in a nest, and battling to get the punctuation right, whilst I persevered with my teddies, battling to get the eyes sufficiently far apart. A nice bottle of red beckoned with the necessary promise to get me through until dinner.

Teddy Mouse ...

We've been practising for the 11+ exams over here at Talk-a-Lot Towers, and I can't exactly say that it's been a bag of laughs ... . 

To keep hold of my sanity I've been playing around with some of my Merino double knitting, trying to make a good-luck mascot for the big day. The idea was to create a teddy bear in this lovely tweedy wool, but do you know what happens when you make your teddy's eyes too close together ... he morphs into a Teddy Mouse!

Anyway the pattern's a work in progress, and were he given a voice to reply he'd probably quote Marilyn Monroe and tell us: Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's always better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

And his name is ... Dave. Not sure why, but it's definitely Dave. 

All the best for now, and happy All Saints' Day!

Bonny x 

Costa Brava Rag Dolls

Here's what we got up to last week in sunny Sant Feliu:

For our October Knitting retreat we made these sweet rag dolls. They're knit in the round, starting with the legs, which are joined with a knitted gusset to create the basis for a body, which is then knit up to the head. They're a great way to use up scraps of 4 ply wool left over from other projects. We used our own-label, Costa Brava Knitting 100% organic cotton yarn. You'll need one 50 g ball of the skin-coloured yarn to knit the body of the doll and scraps for her shoes, dress and hair.

Just read on for the pattern:

October in Sant Feliu ...

This was the view from the quay-side, here in Sant Feliu, yesterday afternoon. We had a day of perfect sunshine and clear blue skies with hardly a breath of wind. I like it better now than in high summer; the October temperatures suit me: never too cold and never too hot.

I'd like to say a big thank you to my lovely guests who came on our October knitting retreat. You were all fantastic.  I'll post a teddy bear pattern soon for those 4 ply left-overs from our project during the week.

And finally I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween! We're all set to carve some pumpkins later on tonight.

All the best for now,

Bonny x 

Choco-nana muffins ...

In our house we very occasionally don't get around to eating all the bananas before they get over-ripe. Given a choice I prefer a slightly green banana. Too much time of the shelf, and they develop a chalky texture and cloying sugariness that I really can't be having.

When this happens I often peel them, put them in a sandwich bag and store them in the freezer for a batch of my Choco-nana muffins. With the sweetness of the over-ripe bananas there's no need to add much sugar, and the addition of some cocoa powder with bake-stable chocolate chips ups the ante to produce a really tasty muffin that can't be too terrible for the waistline ...

Just read on for my recipe:

Knitting tote bag ...

Happy Autumn Equinox, my lovelies!

I've just finished making a batch of these super-quick tote bags for a wonderful group of ladies who've asked me to organise a knitting group get-away in deepest, darkest Devon. The idea is to hand out their knitting kits in custom-made tote bags that they can then carry them around in, and which will also help (super myopic) me to spot all my gorgeous ladies in a crowded bar. Brilliant idea: win/ win for all concerned!

We're staying down by the Exe estuary, so I thought I'd go with a jaunty nautical theme.

Just read on for the pattern and instructions.

Farewell to summer ...

Farewell to a wonderful Costa Brava summer. It was warm, golden and gone too soon.
Thank you to all our lovely guests.
And here's to the autumn ...

All the best for now,

Bonny x