Rowan Mill and the new collection

Two weeks ago on Monday I started my wonderful three day adventure up in Yorkshire, well, the Rowan Mill in Holmfirth to be precise and what an adventure it was!

It was just wonderful to catch up with all my colleagues and friends. We all work all over the country and very rarely have a chance to meet and truly catch up, those three days were exactly what was needed not only to refocus when it comes to work but have a proper good old gossip with good friends. Of course it wasn’t all a giggles and Pimms, we were there to work after all! However; playing with yummy yarns, trying on knitted garments, seeing the whole amazing Rowan Autumn/Winter collection and all the exciting things to come can hardly be called work, but work we did…..incredibly hard.

Rowan Mill is incredible, you enter it and feel like in woolly wonderland. The meeting hall is full of gorgeous knitted garments, yarns, fabrics and anything crafty, I could truly have happily moved in there. The hotel we all stayed in, Bagden Hall, was originally built by Benjamin Norton a wealthy mill owner, who made his fortune running weaving mills which supplied yarn to weavers, very fitting. Quite an impressive hotel, but the best bit was the lovely lake and old house at the back of the hotel.

Let’s talk about the new Rowan A/W 15 collection…….

In two words….LOVE IT!! And I’m not just saying that, I’m saying that because it’s absolutely true. This is Rowan back to its best!  For the past few years the collections have been good, but this is GREAT. You can really see the refocus in the magazine 58, the freshness, new ideas, every design is stunning!

As always the magazine is split into three stories Tranquil, Frost and Essentials, what is different this time is that a different designer was the art director for each story.

Tranquil

Directed by Sarah Hatton and is all about texture and delicate tones. From traditional fair isle to slip stitch textures, all worked in Rowan’s great variety of tweeds and flecked yarns. 'Aldernay' is just beautiful!

                               Yell                                    Aldernay                                     Unst

Frost

Directed by Lisa Richardson is shot in the stunning Copped Hall in Essex which dishalvened look provides a perfect back drop for the rather romantic collection. Frost is my favourite story in the magazine, the garments have simple shapes with lots of textures, from wrap stitches, fair isle, cables and few interesting yokes, loose fitting cardigans and coats perfect for layering to keep the cold away. Few interesting colour work pieces with delicate colours. I’m starting ‘Snowy’ as soon as I finish all my other projects, not only has it got the most fantastic yolk, but it’s also made in my favourite 

Rowan yarn, Kid Classic.

                                 Frosty                                Frozen                                      Snowy

Essential

Directed by Marie Wallin, it is a collection full of key shapes with subtle textures and a touch of colour work, easy to wear styles. ‘Brannagh’ is rather wonderful.

                               Bevan                                  Brannagh                            Sheenag

And if the 40 designs weren’t enough, there’s also a very interesting article about history of Swarovski crystals and an exciting glimpse of collaboration between Rowan and Swarovski.

Also an article about textile designer Zandra Rhodes who has created two fab garments for Rowan, which are available on knitrowan.com.

Let’s talk about the yarn…..to me this season’s winner is most definitely Hemp Tweed. A blend of 75% wool and 25% hemp, wool and hemp create 'breathable' knitted fabrics which are cool in warm weather and warm in cold. Hemp is a great fibre as its resistant to stretching and with its stunning texture and gorgeous colours it’s a must have yarn, it knits incredibly well as well.

Second favorite is Rowan Big wool Silk, its bit more luxurious sister of the original Big Wool yarn is 70% wool and 30% silk, giving a beautiful sheen to the knitted fibre. Very soft to touch I’ll be knitting some house socks in this yarn very soon. 

The all-time favourite, Pure Wool Superwash DK has returned, just new and improved in a massive range of 32 colours!! And last but not least is the Super fine Marino family, 4 ply, DK and aran weight, 100% wool made with high quality extra fine merino, it’s a yarn which is incredibly soft and perfect for any knitting, from baby to adult. 

I truly adore the full new collection, it is really a pleasure to see Rowan back doing what they excel at.

I really miss Yorkshire and Rowan Mill a LOT!! I’ve been back for two weeks now and it’s has been non stop busy, but busy is good. I’ve done some great tutorials for Love Crochet which I’m sure you have already seen. I’m so ridiculously happy with how they come out and the great response I had about them. I’ll write a lot more about it in next blog.

Anna x

Headbands and mats

The sun is out; flip flops are out, BBQ is dusted and Pimms chilling in the fridge, summer is most definitely here and I think it's going to be a good one.

I've been working on some new designs and very exciting tutorials with LoveCrochet! Really can't wait for them to be revealed! Not long to go now! 

Oh and I have also joined the world of Instagram!! If you would like to keep up with my day to day going ons and see unhealthy amount of pics of my cats then please follow me here

Also decided to design some very exciting Knit Alongs coming in autumn, I've never hosted a KAL and I really can't wait to show you the designs and hope all of you will take part. 

In the past three weeks I've released two new crochet patterns. One of them is retro inspired 'Cherry' headband and earrings. It's a really fun crochet project that I wanted to do ages ago. I wear head scarves in kinds of vintage/retro inspired styles constantly and really wanted to design one. The headband is crocheted using Rowan Handknit Cotton, which comes in amazing array of colours, totally spoiled for choice!! You can of course use any DK yarn, but cotton is the best as it keeps it shape and is so easy to wash. The Cherry earrings are very quirky and truly speak to my statement side. I adore kitsch accessories which these earring most definitely are and with few beads and they also add a bit of sparkle 

 The second pattern is 'Very Useful Mat' and that is exactly what this beauty is. The mat was first featured in Simply Homemade magazine last year, the pattern rights have now reverted back to me. The original mat was crocheted using household cotton string (medium weight), I decided to rework it using garden twine (medium, 3 ply twine), the result, I hope you agree, is rather fab. The mat can be used anywhere you like in your home. In twine as a doormat or a rug, in cotton string as a bed rug or bath mat, so many possibilities.

You can also line it, as I did with felt to give it more structure, however if you decide to do it I'm sure the mat will be a great addition to your home. 

In twine

In cotton string 

Both of the patterns are available here:

Moochka

 Lovecrochet

Craftsy

Ravelry

Anna x

Mandalas for Marinke

I've been cooped up at home for the past 3 days due to pretty bad case of food poisoning (Ah BBQ season, how I love you) I have been mopping around, being very cranky ( my partner will be the first one to agree) and generally feeling very sorry for myself. The only good thing about being forced to be at home is that I had plenty of time to catch up on all my crochet and knit news within the craft community, which I don't have time to do as often as I would like.

One of the news that I found out this week has impacted me deeply and put everything in prospective. The amazingly talented Marinke (aka Wink) from A Creative Being has sadly lost her battle with depression. It's just heartwrenching and my thoughts are with her family and friends. When I read Marinke's last blog entry I hoped with all my heat that she will be ok, but reading her sister's heart breaking message this week it was clear it wasn't so.

The crochet community has lost one of the most talented and inspiring people. She will be deeply missed. I have discovered her blog about a year ago when I came across one of her amazing mandalas, she had an amazing eye for colour which her mandalas showed off incredibly and her book Boho Crochet is truly inspirational.

The lovely Kathryn at Crochet Concupiscence Has started a fantastic project in memory of Marinke to celebrate her life, creativity and to raise awareness about depression. To contribute; crochet one or more mandalas using patterns by Marinke, write a short message why you want to contribute and post it to Kathryn. All of the crochet projects will be curated into an art show in San Francisco. Don't forget to share your creations on social media with the hashtags: #MandalasForMarinke #MandalasForWink please go to Kathryn's blog for more details and address where to post your contribution.

Here's my mandala for Marinke. It's very colourful as I wanted it to represent her, her creativity and of course raise awareness about depression.

Please all grab your hooks and yarn and let's all make a mandala for Marinke.

Anna x

New Forest

I finally got around to writing this post, I tell ya I'm still in holiday mode, oddly exhausted after it, but very slowly I’m getting back to normality.

It has been a magical week in New Forest; I'm absolutely and utterly in love with the place. I haven't visited New Forest for about 6 years and I really forgot how amazing it is. There's just so much to explore and see from the harbour to the most stunning forests. Dave and I are both great lovers of nature and very keen walkers so for us all the forests were a dream comes true, we just couldn't get enough, but by far our favourite one was Bolderwood. Where else in the country can you go for a walk and see deer, ponies, donkeys, sheep and cows during one walk.

 We also found the most magical little spot in Bolderwood with stream running through. We spent a good few hours there; it was the perfect place to catch up on my knitting.

   

Dave has a very keen interest in nature photography, I think he's brilliant at it, he took some superb photos. It’s nice to look back at photos and see New Forest through his eyes. 

We stayed in Lymington which is a very charming harbour town that boasts the best fish and chips I have ever tasted and I even managed to find a very sweet haberdashery shop whose owner, Amy, couldn't do enough for you. 

We took a day trip to Bournemouth, it's nice to see that the town has changed since I last been there, but for the better, with its golden sandy beach and green park it's just so very inviting.

I couldn't resist popping over to Beadles haberdashery department, as I heard they done it up and boy, I wasn't disappointed, with its gorgeous duckegg fixtures it's a very inspiring department, but by far the best thing was seeing my book on display there!

The house we stayed in had a beautiful façade and most interesting lay out, inside felt as we have entered a time warp, not the downstairs part, but upstairs felt like it has been stuck in the 70’s with green carpet and wicker bedroom set, not to mention the very creepy old style cot in our bedroom I did not sleep well the first night. However the garden was beautiful and Red and I did take advantage of it.

 

The best thing of all was having Red there as a constant walking companion and ready for cuddles at any time.

 Selfies time! I did try to take a photo with Red, but I think he just saw a squirrel

One more thing; if you are ever around those parts, please visit The Crown Stirrup, its a very old stunning pub with the most delicious carvery, they allow dogs inside and even have biscuits for them and if that wasn't enough the guys who run it are so incredibly friendly, you feel you have been going to this pub for years.

Anna x

  

People power rules!!

I was suppose to write this post a lot earlier, but we were having such amazing weather on our holiday we were making most of it, but today a bit of a storm is hitting New Forest so morning spent in our rented house is advisable, perfect opportunity for blog writing. 

Anyway, about a week ago I wrote about a very sad, end of era type of news and changes that will be happening as a direct result of this news. However, on Friday just as we were about to get into the car and drive to New Forest I've received a phone call that changed it all!! 

As most of you know; apart from my own freelance business I also work part time as Rowan Design Consultant based in a very well known department store, I have been with Rowan now for 4 years and it is a job I absolutely adore and treasure with all my heart. It has been my dream job and it taught me so much, not only did I expand my knowledge of knitting and crochet beyond my wildest expectations, but also learned lots of technical and administrative things, how new yarn lines were launched, visual merchandising, how to submit a design and put together a collection, organising, hosting events and incredible knitting club and so much more. This job gave me the confidence to start Moochka (which has been a dream for as long as I can remember). 

Most importantly I have met the most incredible, like minded bunch of people, most of whom I'm very proud to call my friends. 

So when few weeks ago I was informed that the well known department store decided they will not require instore design consultants any more, apart from the flagship store, as you can imagine I was totally devastated. It didn't only mean the end of Rowan Design Consultants but also the end of the community, Rowan girls play a vital role in their local community by constantly hosting events and clubs, advising, teaching, helping the advanced knitters and the ones that just starting on their exciting craft journey. To lose this would have been devastating. I was offered a position to continue with Rowan in the flagship store, which of course I took, but my heart was still broken that such horrible changes were happening and all those talented, incredible people were losing their most loved jobs, but then something incredible happened.....

All those lovely people who realised what an important and vital job Rowan Consultants are doing, picked up their phones, wrote emails and letters, the response was so huge that the very well known department store had no choice, but listen!! They have taken the decision to reinstate all Rowan Design Consultants to their positions!! I'm beyond happy and amazed, words really cannot describe how grateful I'm to everyone who voiced their opinion and took a stand for the consultants.  One thing I know for sure, people power rules!!!!!   

     

 This photo was taken 4 years ago, just when I started working for Rowan and it's the first yarn wall I helped to merchandise. It was a fantastic day playing with loads of yummy yarn. 

Anna x