Review: Knitting Yarns by Ann Hood

Dec 9, 2020Dec 8, 2020 toomanystitches6 Comments

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you sign up to the course from this blog, I get a small commission. However, any recommendations and opinions are my own. For more information, please click here.

What does a knitter like to do when not knitting? Buy yarn, pet yarn, ogle designs, and read books about knitting. Got a knitter you would like to let know you’re thinking of them without entering the minefield of fibre blends, gauges and tools that look like torture devices to the uninitiated? Maybe Ann Hood’s collection of short essays could be just the thing for you…

Dyeing Sock Yarns (In Pairs!)

Oct 28, 2020Oct 27, 2020 toomanystitches10 Comments

Maybe it’s the dour dark nights of winter drawing in already but I’ve been finding myself really craving working with fibre. It’s been a struggle not to cast something new one the needles, but I have had the wheel out and some delightful yak for a bit of sampling work I hope to share soon. Somewhat dangerously, I did end up going to the virtual Indie Untangled Trunk Show, which is probably what inspired the current bit of dyeing.

Seaside Spinning II

Jul 22, 2020Jul 21, 2020 toomanystitches7 Comments

With all the fibre prepped, it was just a case of deciding how I wanted to spin it up and what kind of yarn I wanted to make. My default setting is spinning a somewhat thin fingering weight two-ply but I wanted to challenge myself to do something different and get the practice and control that comes with expanding your spinning repertoire. Even if it is something you only spin as a sampler.

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…trying again…? Really? III

Jun 10, 2020Jun 2, 2020 toomanystitches16 Comments

…This hat really is proving to be quite the disaster, isn’t it? To start today’s post, I’d really like to thank yarnmama10 for very kindly taking the time to point out on my last post that what I had claimed (and thought) was stockinette stitch on my hat was actually garter… Whoops. I am very, very grateful for someone pointing this out to me before I picked up one of those ‘lifelong mistakes’. In my excitement to knit on with the project and rushing to remind myself the pattern for stockinette I had forgotten to pause, breathe, and think about what I was trying to do. Whoops indeed. Here is a note to myself with a helpful guide on the differences between knitting flat and in the round.

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Trying Again II

May 13, 2020May 10, 2020 toomanystitches9 Comments

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time on my last post about this knitting project to take the time to share advice, tips and a lot of encouragement. It was so much appreciated that I’ve gone from having a row of cast-on stitches to a whole 11 cm of material now!

astitchornine (3)

Review: Knitlandia

Apr 29, 2020Apr 27, 2020 toomanystitches7 Comments

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you make any purchases via these links, I receive a small commission that contributes to the running costs of the blog. However, any recommendations and opinions in this review are my own. For more information, please click here.

A book about knitting in the New York Times Bestseller list? Apparently not as outrageous as it sounds. Welcome to ‘Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World’, Clara Parkes’s collection of tales of knitting conventions and events across the world.

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Try, try, try, try and try again

Apr 15, 2020Apr 12, 2020 toomanystitches12 Comments

I am not the most confident knitter in the world. When I see fellow bloggers like bonnyknits and Quite A Yarn blazing through project after project, I do have to wonder what magic it is that blesses their needles. It’s probably far less glamorous and down to years of practice, experience and learning but I am always amazed with tales of grandmothers who can whip up a pair of socks in a day.

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A Little Blue

Sep 25, 2019Sep 22, 2019 toomanystitches5 Comments

Oh summer, where hast thou gone? The bright mornings and the long evenings, not stumbling to and from work in the dark, and the general piece and quiet of being in a city that seems to lose a significant proportion of its inhabitants over the summer vacation… All gone… Seemingly in an instant. As I’m doing most of my dyeing outside now, it’s probably also coming towards the end of dyeing season and the start of needing the daylight lamp for any fine embroidery work. I think I start to understand why some people are seasonal silk shaders, it’s much easier when you can actually see what you’re doing!

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Review: The Big Book of Fibery Rainbows

Aug 14, 2019Aug 14, 2019 toomanystitchesLeave a comment

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you purchase the book through these links, I receive a small commission that contributes to the running costs of the blog. However, any recommendations and opinions in this review are my own. For more information, please click here.

‘The BIG Book of Fibery Rainbows: Creating and Working with Multi Colored Fibers and Palettes’ by Suzy Brown and Arlene Thayer of Fiberygooness was always going to be one of those books that someone would have to actively dissuade me from buying after reading the title. Fibre, colours and books, what was there going to be not to love?

astitchornine (2)

The Wooly Haven of Kiel, Germany

Mar 13, 2019Mar 9, 2019 toomanystitches7 Comments

Kiel is a charming city in the north of Germany, only about an hour and half from Denmark, with plenty of beautiful waterfronts. Maybe inspired by the slightly… brisk weather during the winter though, it also seems to be home to a surprising amount of spinning, weaving and wooly goodness.

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