Erika Knight........

There are not many people that can do eccentricity like Erika Knight does.........and boy does it suite her! She was a guest speaker today at The Creative Sanctuary and I had the huge pleasure of being there and listen to her amazing story.

I was always a huge fan of Erika's work - the organic, simple lines of her designs always very enticing. Her new yarn collection is just yummy!, especially the lovely little blue wool in gorgeous chalky colours that just begs to be knitted, or the Maxi Wool in fab colours, Artisan stands out the most as its just such an interesting colour that will go with anything!! I love the story behind Marni colour in Maxi Wool collection - named after the film Marnie in which Tippi was petrified of red colour. Beautiful natural yarn with stunning pattern collection, that anyone can make.

It was marvelous to listen to her talk about her amazing carrier spanning so many years. The work she did for the most famous fashion houses from Vivian Westwood to Paul Smith., and the moment she new she made it when Boy George (still in his hey day) arrested in drug bust being escorted in hand cuffs but wearing a jumper designed by her!! Very empowering to hear how she fought for her individuality when trying to publish books, all publishers rejecting her as they wanted colours not natural, organic look  but she stuck to her guns and succeeded immensely! 

Erika Knight is fabulously eccentric, you get completely immersed in her, you hang on every word....just can't tear yourself away! Who can produce a scrunch up piece of tissue paper containing twig, bark, stone and some linen string and tell you they are the most amazing things.....and you know what?, they are the most amazing things! the smoothness of the stone, the way it feels against your skin, the stunning colour you just want to recreate it in knitting. Inspiration is everywhere!

I loved how she described  knitting and crocheting as creating stuff.....and that exactly what it is .....stuff, beautiful, personal and ours, we take a ball of yarn and create stuff! sometimes we don't finish our stuff and it becomes UFO-unfinished object and sometimes we make lots of  little stuff  and 'smooch' it together and create one big stuff.

But what she spoke the most about is British yarn and the importance of buying British and supporting sheep breeders and yarn spinners. She quoted Churchill's famous words 'we are a nation of little shopkeepers' for a while we have forgotten our quaint  little shops, our ability to hand make the most amazing creations, we have forgotten our roots! But we are back! We are returning to knitting, sewing and crocheting, we seek quality which disposable fashion shops do not offer, we want heirlooms, we want to be proud to say 'I made that' about what we wear! in Erika's words we are 'upgrading, upscaling, uplifting craft'.

The little shops are returning and my beautiful friend Angela is doing just that. She had risked everything for a lovely, old dream which has turned into the most amazing reality. The Creative Sanctuary is everything and more!

Gorgeous display at The Creative Sanctuary of Erika Knight's yarns and patterns

The lush Marni colour in Maxi Wool

 The importance of buying British

The absolutely yummy Blue Wool

A basket of inspiration

Stunning Artisan colour Maxi Wool made by 'smooching' together little bits of stuff

Some more lovely yarn

The Lady herself

My beautiful friend Angela who makes it all happen

When I grow up I want to be Erika Knight :)

Rowan Fine Art......

It has been long anticipated and finally I had a chance to knit with brand new Rowan yarn. Although I do not knit sock nor am I a fan of stripy yarns, I much rather knit with one colour yarns and add effect with interesting patterns, however I'm slowly falling in love with Fine Art! Its beautifully hand dyed and the effect of the stripes as you knit are lovely and gentle. The content -marino wool, kid mohair, polyamide and silk- ensures that the yarn is luxuriously soft, durable with a subtle sheen, it basically glides of the needles.

Best of all it comes in hanks, which I love winding into a ball, it evokes fond memories of childhood when I used to help my grandma wind yarn.

Overall it's a beautiful and fun yarn and although I'm still not going to knit socks a lovely shawl would be just perfect........already started sketching.

Ive started knitting a little lacy swatch of a scarf designed by Lisa Richardson, the picture quality is not great so unfortunately you can't see clearly the effect of the stripes but trust me its quite yummy.

Bath Mat...........

 My bathroom requires some serious dose of colour, but we both don't really have time for painting and decorating at the moment, so instead I decided to add colour with accessories. One of them is this lovely bath mat that I just finished. It was the most economical item I have ever made!!

I have used just standard household cotton string, which you can buy in any DIY shops, medium weight which is around aran weight (around 500 meters), a 5mm (US H/8) crochet hook and fabric dye, if you want to change colour.
The pattern is just standard Afghan Square, which goes as follows:

Abbreviations
Ch - chain
Ch-sp - chain space
Dc (US sc) - double crochet (US single crochet)
Tr (US dc) - treble (US double crochet)
Ss - slip stitch

Foundation ring: with 5mm (US H/8) crochet hook make 8ch and join with ss to form a ring.
Round 1: 3ch ( counts as first tr), 1tr in ring, (7ch, ss in top of last tr, 5tr in ring) 3 times, 7ch, ss in top of last tr, 3tr in ring, ss in 3rd of first 3ch.
Round 2: Ss into first 7-ch space, 4 ch, 2tr into 7-ch space (3ch, 3tr) 3 times into same 7-ch space, * miss next 2 tr, ss into next tr, miss next 2 tr, [(3tr, 3ch) 3 times, 3tr] all in next 7-ch space; rep from * until all 7-ch sp have been worked, miss next 2 tr, ss into next tr, miss next 2 tr, ss in 4th of first 4ch.
Round 3: ss to first 2 tr and 3-ch space, *4ch, (1dc, 3ch, 1dc) all in the next 3-ch space, 4ch, 1 dc in next 3-ch space, 5ch, 1 dc in next 3-ch space; rep from * until all spaces have been worked, ending the last repeat with 5 ch, ss to first of 4ch.
Round 4: 3ch, *4tr in next 4-ch space, 1tr in next dc , (2tr, 2ch, 2tr) all in next 3-ch space, 1tr in next dc, 4tr in next 4-ch space, 1tr in next dc, 1ch, 1dc in next 5-ch space, 1ch, 1tr in next dc; rep from * ss in 3rd of first 3ch.
Fasten off.

 Each square measures approximately 16x16 cm, the finished mat measures around 85x50cm.
I have made 15 squares and joined with double crochet and worked one round of double crochet around the border.

The colour of the string is lovely and natural but my bathroom has far too much light colours so decided to dye the bath mat with nice chocolate brown, as you can see Ollie approves of the mat as well.

I've attached a lining, scrap of linen fabric I had lying around, no particular reason i just wanted slightly lighter colour showing through the spaces.

Huzzar!! Finished :) I absolutely love it!!

 
Enjoy

Anna x

Coffee and Train...........

Well I'm finally fully moved and unpacked yeey!! Ollie the cat absolutely loves the new place now as at first he hid under the sofa for four hours.
I adore the new place, but traveling to London can be a b*%$*! Still plenty time for knitting when you are on the train, it always amazes me how intrigued everybody gets when you are doing something out of the ordinary. I get asked constant questions, one lady even asked me if I could show her a stitch she could never do! Well it just proves one thing.....we knitters are a sociable bunch :)

Here's my lovely cropped cardigan that I knitted mostly on the train and a bit in cafe Nero and it's called 'Coffee and Train' for obvious reasons lol
The actual design is called Monstone and it's from Scarlet by Kim Hargreaves. Knitted in Rowan Fine Lace and Kidsilk Haze. Loved knitting  it and love even more the way it fits, will be definitely making few more in different colours.

Finishing the neck with lovely coffee

Ta Dah! the finished cardigan

Easter and woolen eggs..........

• Well Spring seems to have abandoned us (obviously it's upset about something) but no reason not to enjoy Easter.......especially eating dangerously large amounts of Easter eggs :) 
  But if you can't eat chocolate, here are some lovey woolen eggs which you can knit ..........so to celebrate Easter and the beginning of spring (when it eventually decides to turn up) here's a pattern for yummy Easter Eggs.
  

  

  
  
  
  Yummy Easter Eggs
  
  Materials
  1 x Rowan Wool Cotton 4ply
  3mm needles
  Toy stuffing
  Ribbon

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  *M1- by knitting into front and back of stitch
  
  With 3mm needles cast on 4sts.
  Row 1: K1, M1, K1, M1 - 6sts
  Row 2: and every alt row: P to end
  Row 3: Inc in every st – 12sts
  Row 5: *K1, M1 rep from * to end
  Row 7: *K2, M1 rep from * to end
  Row 9: *K3, M1 rep from * to end
  Continue in st st for 15 rows ending with RS facing for next row.
  Row 16: *K3, K2tog rep from * to end
  Row 18: *K2, K2tog rep from * to end
  Row 20: *K1, K2tog rep from * to end
  Row 22: *K2tog rep from * to end – 6st left
  Cut the yarn, leaving enough yarn to join the egg. Thread the yarn through 6 st and stitch sides together, stuffing the egg before the opening gets too small.
  
                                                                  Happy Easter!!

In love with Wool House........

I had the immense pleasure to teach for Rowan at Wool House exhibition in Somerset House, Donna and I were running little drop in sessions..........basically questions and answers. And ow lucky am I to work in the most beautiful surroundings and to meet so many amazing people. A big thank you goes to the wonderful Paige from Gleeful Hands for a lovely chat and even lovelier hug.
I'm absolutely in love with every display in there!!  The exhibition is open until Sunday 24th so if any of you have a chance it's a must see! xx

Painful yet beautiful love story….

 We all have some kind of love story; whether it was our first love, the one that broke our heart or the one that we are with and can’t imagine our life without. Whether it’s painful, short, long or beautiful we all have some kind of story to tell. 

With Valentine’s day approaching is hard not to think about love….well everything is screaming at you LOVE! It sometimes feels like we are being  force-fed LOVE, but it is easy to see why……..love is amazing!!

I want to tell you the most amazing love story I know.  The story of my Great- Grandparents……..

My great-grandma Janina was the only child of wealthy aristocrat, who owned a beautiful manor house and large land on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. Her Mother died when she was just a little girl. On her death bed she asked her sister to look after Janina. Few months later her father married his late wife’s sister.

My great-grandpa Dominic was a very charismatic and handsome stable boy at the manor house. From poor background,  large and loving family.

I know what you must think….typical story of rich and poor. Well in a way you are right, but please read on……..As is was customary in those days; Janina’s husband was already chosen for her, a man she did not care for and strongly refused to be betrothed to him.  She was far too taken with Dominic to care for any other man.

She used to make any excuse to go to the stables to see and talk to Dominic; he brought wild flowers for her from the nearby fields. They were spending more and more time together a fact that did not go unnoticed by my great-great-grandfather.  One day he caught them kissing and it all came to an end. Dominic was thrown out and Janina forbidden to ever see him again, but wild horses cannot keep two lovers away, and they met up in secret, sneaking kisses and love poems.

As the months went by their love grew stronger and just seeing each other now and then was not enough. Janina new that if her father ever find out about their secret meet ups it would be the end of her, so they decided to run away.  She left a letter to her father pleading to understand and accept with address of Dominic’s family where she would be staying and with a heavy heart and little suitcase she left her home never to return.

Janina waited with hope for her father to change his mind, wrote letters to him pleading tirelessly, but the only letter she ever received from him was to state she was no longer his daughter, forbidden to ever enter his home and had no claim to his fortune. Still she kept writing and hoping.

In time they married, had a daughter Balbina, three years later another Jozefa (my grandma) and four more children followed. They were very happy together, Dominic kept bringing wild flowers, they were totally devoted to each other. Money was very tight, Janina home schooled their and neighbours children to earn money, while Dominic work anywhere he could.

Janina gave birth to one more child, little girl who died a year later. My grandma and her sisters always described their sister as ‘The Little  Angel of Death’ as she was alabaster white, jet black hair, black eyes and never cried. Maybe a tragic omen of the bad times to come, as morbid as it sounds,  you do have to take into account how superstitious people were in those days.

Their happy home was shattered with the start of Second World War, which had a devastating effect on Warsaw. Janina tried one more time to plead to her father, but still got the same answer. Eventually her father’s house and land was taken over by German soldiers, where they were staying and destroying everything in sight. 

Janina, Dominic and their 6 children were living in one bedroom apartment, Dominic trying to fight against the Germans with the underground army. He was captured twice and tortured horrendously.  First as a warning, or  so my grandmother believed, her little brother Bolek ran after the car shouting ‘please give back my dad’. When Dominic was released he was unrecognisable, beaten black and blue with broken legs, arms and ribs. The second time he was captured  because someone snitch him up for hiding guns for the Polish resistance,  so badly beaten he had no skin on his back, his wounds so deep you could see the bone. He couldn’t move for months, but he recovered and his fighting spirit never faded. While Dominic was recovering Janina received news of her father’s and stepmother’s death, both executed by  Nazis.

With situation in Warsaw critical they decided to pack up what was left of their belongings and relocate somewhere safer, they headed north. Just as the war ended they settled in a little village Zagorze, belonging to the island Wolin and there they started rebuilding their lives and war destroyed Poland. 

5 years later during a bitter winter, Dominic was coming back from work along the Szczecinski Lagoon part of the river Dziwna, when he saw a man drowning, he jumped in to save the man and although he managed to save him, he got trapped under  ice and drowned, he was only  49.

My great –grandfather survived the death of his child, the war, two captures by the Nazis, fighting with the underground army, and wrath of an angry father. He was an amazing father and loving husband, always helping anyone who was in need and that is just the way he died, helping someone.  He was the man whose spirit could never be broken.  My great-grandfather is my hero. 

My great-grandmother remained devoted to him, never remarried, never even kissed another man until the day she died at the age of 91. She has given up everything, her wealth, privilege, father and family for the man she loved. In return he gave her his undivided love, 6 beautiful children and treasured memories. She was an amazingly determined and strong woman.

Unfortunately I do not have a picture of my great-grandparents, but here’s a picture of my grandma Jozefa and granddad Stanislaw on their wedding day. They got married 3 years after my Great-granddad passed away.