With apologies for absence...

You may have noticed I have been a little absent of late, courtesy of a series of particularly nasty bugs. It turns out that I am not superwoman after all and that the ordinary common sense rules of "look after yourself" "eat well" and "get enough sleep" apply to me too - who knew?

Thanks to the miracles of antibiotics and some bed rest though I am feeling better than I have done in ages and almost back to my usual self.

I have learnt my lesson though and so I will be taking things slowly and not trying to do to much at once.

I just wanted to say thank you for all the well wishes, thank you for your continued support and to reassure you that normal service will soon be resumed.

And in the meantime, if anyone wants me I'll be knitting lots of stripy socks...

Contours - and a giveaway

I am really pleased to be able to share my latest pattern with you today.

Contours is designed using delicious Blacker Yarns Shetland DK yarn, specifically to showcase the wonders of natural gradients.

Knit entirely in garter stitch with yarn-over increases, this fun, crescent shaped shawl lets you relax and enjoy the play of natural wool shades, An i-cord bind off - attached as you work - provides a perfect finish to this relaxed and fun knit.

Although beautiful as a natural gradient, this pattern would also work well in modern brights or by pairing a colourful single skein with a more neutral background.

The pattern is for sale via Ravelry - here - but if you would like to win a free copy of the pattern head over to my Instagram account for a chance to win.

Knitting Goals 2016

After much thought I'm not setting myself targets such as 'Knit 12 pairs of socks' this year but rather my aims are to have a good balance of projects on the needles at any one time and to keep making progress through those projects without the distractions of the new and the shiny. At the same time, the trick is to leave enough flexibility in there to cope with the inevitable "Oooh...shiny..." distractions. I know what I'm like :)

My Mama Vertebrae cardi - very much in progress

Knitting projects for each month are to include:

1. Something using yarn from stash (bought pre Jan 2016)

2. A sweater for me (the same sweater may span several months)

3. At least 2 original designs

4. Vanilla socks...obviously

5. Something for the gift box (this can be something from items 1 or 4, or something else)

As each month end approaches knitting tasks include:

1. Updating Rav project pages and stash

2. Deciding which projects can be finished by the month end

3. Picking a new project to cast on, on the 1st of the month

4. Ensure that any yarn which has entered the stash has been photographed and logged (with date) on Ravelry - the little box marked 'Cost' can just stay blank.

I did contemplate going through the whole stash and making sure that my Ravelry record is accurate as I reckon that about 60% of my stash is properly recorded. In the end though, my chronic laziness won out and I decided that as long as I faithfully promise to make sure new stash is logged promptly, then my time would be better spent actually knitting my stash rather than documenting it.

So, how about you? Care to share your knitting goals - I'd love to hear what you are up to. Please do leave a comment below or pop over to my Ravelry group where we have a whole motivational thread devoted to goals, encouragement and a fair number of lists.

Airing my stash

The new year has seen a bit of domestic upheaval and decluttering and as a result I have been thrilled to have acquired a nice big wooden chest of drawers in our spare room. Of course, I immediately did what any self respecting knitter would do and filled it full of yarn.

All the boxes under the bed and on top of the wardrobe were piled gaily into the drawers and I gazed happily on its woolly contents.

These beauties from The Uncommon Thread have their own special drawer

After the dust has settled though I find myself surveying it with a somewhat more critical eye. I did a major round of decluttering last year so I am pleased to report that there is no lurking fun fur/eyelash yarn in there, and a lot of my pre-ravelry acquisitions have already been sent to the local charity shop.

On surveying what is left I realised I have some beautiful yarn and it needs to be allowed to see the light of day. I also have some non-so-beautiful yarn which leaves me wondering why I bought it in the first place. Looking at the yarn in the latter camp I realised that most of it was purchased at yarn shops as impulse buys, and mostly when exploring new towns and new-to-me yarn shops.

I'm sure you know the feeling. On a trip to a new town you come across a yarn shop, or your DH finds one and, pleased as punch, insists that you go in and he will treat you. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth you enter the shop, ready to be sent dizzy with yarn fumes and instead find yourself surveying a huge wall of baby acrylic yarn.

There really is a place for pastel baby acrylic yarns, of course there is, but I have a strictly limited need for it. Of my precious yarn storage space I would much prefer that I give homes to beautiful hand-dyed yarns, items of wonder and beauty and just enough good quality dk weight wool to make a few sweaters. Add in some great sock yarn and some fun self stripes and that really would be my ideal stash.

Anyway, that aside. The reality is that when I find myself in such a yarn shop, with my DH looking expectantly at me I usually panic and pick something that I know, in reality I will never knit with but it looks pretty. The yarn then comes home with me and goes promptly into the stash, never to re-emerge.

Now, I know myself too well to ever utter the words 'cold sheep' ever again. I love yarn too much and specifically I love buying and holding new yarn too much for that. What I do want to do though is to better curate my stash and make sure that I do justice to some of the lovely yarn I currently own.

I'm not quite sure what shape that will take but I am busy doing lots of planning for the current year and realistically assessing how much knitting time I have both for new designs and for personal knitting. With that in mind - and the recent Episode from Jo of Shinybees fame on Knitting Goals - I will be back shortly with my realistic, achievable and downright cunning Knitting Goals for 2016.

Loving my stash

This year I have been deliberately low key about my goals and intentions for 2016. I know I have a tendency to try to commit to lots of different things at once and often end up not achieving many, or indeed any of them.

This year I decided to take a little time and not feel the pressure to commit to any particular goals, just because January 1st has rolled around again.

One of my major goals for last year was to get the website up and running, and now that it is I feel as though I want to relax here a little. To take stock and take a little time to grow into this new space of mine.

One thing I have started to do however is to look at my stash with a more critical eye. Specifically the yarn I collected before I discovered luxury and hand-dyed sockweight yarn, and that which I collected after this point. My stash definitely falls into two camps - Noro Silk garden, I'm looking at you!

My aim for this year is continue enjoying fabulous hand dyed yarn from some amazing indie dyers and I have no intention of cold sheeping in the slightest. What I would like to do is to go through some of my older stash and give away that which I know I'll never use. Then, with what's left my aim is to always have a simple project on the go that is using up some of my older stashed yarn. Baby hats, blankets and little sweaters are always perfect for the gift box and use up those odd half skeins of sock yarn. I recently discovered the joys of holding sock weight yarn doubled to make an approximate worsted weight yarn and the resulting super-squishy fabric is perfect for using up some of that stash.

2016 is going to be my year of stash appreciation - here's to the well curated stash!

Wyrt Socks

The first pattern launch of 2016 is a bit of a cheat really. The Wyrt Socks were originally released in November as a 4-part Mystery KAL on the Ravelry Solid Socks group. It was my first time writing a pattern for a mystery KAL and it was so much fun. Lots of folks in the group were new to toe-up socks and were really keen to try a new technique. There was lots of chatter and support and, I'm pleased to say lots of new and beautiful socks as a result.

View fullsize

Wyrt Socks and the tree roots that inspired them.

The pattern was inspired by winding tree roots on one of our favourite family walks in the Lake District. We spent a happy autumn day there not too long ago, finding and trying to identify fungi, picking up leaves and generally having a fun family potter about.

The socks themselves were knit using one of my favourite sock yarns - Pendle 4ply by Eden Cottage Yarns. As a Lancashire girl who grew up in sight of Pendle Hill, the name alone would be enough to entice me but Victoria's genius with colours and the firmly plied yarn with just a hint of halo makes this a perfect yarn choice.

The socks feature two bold, textured cables which wind along the front of the sock, offset by garter stitch panels. Garter stitch is surprisingly underused in sock patterns - and speaking personally - I love the added squish factor that it gives. So much so that I decided to depart from my usual heel treatment and opt for a garter stitch short row heel. Fun and quick to work I really like how the garter stitch gives an added stretch to what can, traditionally be a difficult heel type for some people.

To see the pattern on Ravelry and to check out some of the inspirational projects - please click here.

How I Knit

Some of my favourite hashtags at the moment are the series on #howiknit and #loop2loop over on Instagram. As a knitter, nothing fascinates me more than how other people knit (apart from what they are knitting of course). Whenever I teach a class or go to a Knit Night I am always struck by how differently we all knit. We all do much the same thing, in much the same order and produce the same fabric but the actual mechanisms by which we achieve that vary greatly.

Like many people I was taught by my grandmother to knit, using long grey metal needles, in the 'English' or 'throwing' style. Wedged into the comfy chair at my Grandma's side I remember watching her practiced, fluid movements and trying desperately to get my needles to do the same. It didn't help that she knit by tucking her left hand needle between her armpit and ample busom and try as I might, I couldn't manage that skill. Nearly 40 years on, I am still lacking that essential life skill...and the ample busom to go with it.

Last year I started to get some wrist and shoulder pain and decided to learn to knit the Continental way in order to give my joints a bit of a rest. I came across the online course by Anniken Annis aka YarnAddictAnni and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I managed to pick it up. I was inspired in my learnings by Claire of the New Hampshire Knits podcast who also recently made the switch to Continental knitting and on her advice I chose a simple garter stitch project to learn on, rather than trying to change part way through existing projects. A simple baby blanket was ideal and after the first few rows I found that by keeping my left index finger very close to the needle tip I was able to keep a good even tension on the yarn - something which had always eluded me before.

Purling proved to be a little trickier, but practice really does make perfect and now I can happily both knit and purl in the Continental style. My knitting is defintely faster with this method and with fewer movements I am hoping that it will place less strain on my joints. Purling is slower than my knitting, but it is still much faster than my old way of throwing the yarn and it is still improving.

To check out the videos on my Instagram feed and to see how others knit just click here.

When it comes to learning new techniques muscle memory really is the key. If you are planning to learn this or any other new skill in 2016 my top tips would be:

1. Pick a simple project solely to learn that skill on.

2. Practice daily for 15 minutes - don't try to do too much in one sitting and risk frustration. Do your 15 minutes and then pick up something else to work on.

3. Persevere - learning a new skill takes time.

This weekend I am mostly knitting....bright colours with a hint of grey.

There is a decided sense of dichotomy about this weekends knitting. I have my bright yellow sock for the #knityellowsocks KAL (top right) in the superb On Prescription colourway from The Wool Kitchen nicely balanced out by my emergency stress-relieving Hitchhiker. This uses yarn from last years Golden Skein club - Golden Wings Flutter by - on the Britsock base from The Knitting Goddess.

Then I have my super bright Attic24 Cosy Stripes crochet blanket for DS2 (bottom left). This has been a WIP for far too long and I have faithfully promised to make serious inroads into it over the next few weeks. I sneakily removed a couple of the eye watering shades from the Stylecraft blanket pack before DS2 got his mitts on it but the overall effect is still pretty vivid. To balance things out I also have the grey Mama Vertebrae (bottom right) which I'm knitting to wear to Edinburgh Yarn Festival, using lovely Findlay dk yarn from Juniper Moon. This is also my KAL entry for the Suse Knits - Something Big - along which is encouraging us to knit a bigger project either for ourselves or others before spring arrives.

I think that is enough to keep me busy. With a bit of luck I'll be taking the family to see the new Star Wars film at some point so I'll need to make a mental note to dig out my 30cm circulars and get a Mama Vertebrae sleeve started. There's no rest for the intrepid knitter and cinema knitting is the perfect way to overcome my Sleeve Inertia problem.

Whatever you are knitting/crocheting this weekend I hope it is happy and productive.

And a new website is born

Today I am really thrilled to be able to announce the launch of my brand new shiny website.

Two of my main goals for 2015 were to develop a monthly newsletter and to create a new website to replace my old (and slightly outdated looking blog). The newsletter came along last summer and is growing slowly and steadily but the website took considerably longer - mainly due to my chronic procrastination and perfectionism - never a good combination at the best of times.

Fortunately a plea on social media for a bit of help/cajoling/technical support lead to me linking up with the wonderful and saintly Gem (aka littlegreygirl). Gem developed her own website recently ( do take a look by the way - I defy you not to be tempted) and was so helpful in getting me set up on Squarespace. She held my hand through the set up and gently prodded me into action when I procrastinated for too long.

Really, this website would never have been born without her and I owe her a real debt of gratitude.

With the website I wanted to create a clean looking space that allowed me to showcase my published designs as well as include links to my various social media profiles. Teaching is something that I enjoy immensely and it is something that I would love to do more of in 2016, so we have made sure that there is plenty of information on there about the the classes I teach and what I can offer.

In addition I plan to have a 'Pattern of the Month' feature where I talk a little more in depth about a pattern from my portfolio, giving you a little insight into how it came to be, my inspiration or yarn choice for example.

So, tell me, what do you think? I'd love to know. As Gem kept telling me throughout this whole process, putting yourself 'Out there' is never easy and sometimes it is necessary to just Be Brave and get on with it. 

So here's to 2016 - bigger and braver than ever.

2015: My year in knitting

Every year I like to keep track of how much I have knit and how many projects I have made. No real reason why other than it gives me a pleasing sense of tying up loose ends and starting the new year with a clean slate. It also allows me to conveniently forget about the large basket of WIPs by the sofa and cast on for a shiny new guilt free project.

Every time I finish a project in Ravelry I add the year tag - 2015 so that I can easily search them all and tally up my progress.

This year, thanks in large part to Stash Dash I got through 27,000m of yarn and completed 40 projects.

A random selection of 2015 projects

For specific details on any of my projects please see my Ravelry page here.

My categories of projects stack up as follows:

Shawls.    16
Socks.       10
Garments 5
Kids socks 2
Hats.          2
Blankets.   4
Cowl.          1

How about you? Do you keep a tally of your annual progress too?

Happy New Year 2016

We are currently on a family holiday, renting a gorgeous country cottage in our beloved English Lake District.

The time between Christmas and New Year is sacrosanct to us. A time to regroup and enjoy just being together in our little family unit.

We don't do very much. Days are lazy and unstructured here but we do manage to get out every day for a walk in the fresh air - often with rain but not always.

Today was New Years Day and we did what we usually do - a bracing walk around the Lake in Buttermere.

Fun,fresh air and a pub lunch. Happy days

I hope you have had a great start to 2016 too and I will be back soon with lots of sock related plans for the coming year.

Finishing strong in 2015

The end of the year normally approaches me with something approaching the speed of a bullet train and the solidity of a brick wall. The normal glitter-fuelled near hysteria of kids at the end of term, school pantos, carol services and more. Add that to the usual domestic chores labelled ‘getting ready for Christmas’ and it is easy to see why planning for my design business takes a bit of a back seat.

Last year I made the cardinal sin of committing myself to a big commission with a delivery date of the first week in January – no prizes for guessing what I spent my New Year holiday working on. I didn’t even dare drink too much for fearing of messing up the increases and having to rip it out.

But this year I am determined to be different. If not super organised than at least I aim to approach the end of the year with some business ends tied up and some firm plans in place to start the New Year out on a firm footing… and some calm, fun knitting for myself wouldn’t go amiss either.

I have been following along with Tara Swiger and her Holiday Sanity programme and I have to say that has really helped in terms of focussing my attention on tasks that need doing. Then I saw an amazing Instagram post from @BohoBerry, followed through to her blog and had a complete “Yes!” moment. her original blog post talks about setting goals to end the last quarter of your business or personal life in great shape but I thought it worked just as well as we enter the last few days of the year. Rather than disappear in a frazzle I thought it would be great to come up with 16 things that were achievable for me to do in the last days of 2015.

16 Things: Ready to start 2016

So, this morning I sat down with a strong coffee to make a list. Some of them may be a trifle vague and I admit that I did get a little de-railed towards the end with my sudden intention to Knit Yellow Socks. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing – we all need a little sunshine in our lives

New pattern release: Priory Socks

I am pleased to be able to share a new sock pattern release with you today.

Many of you may have been fans of the online magazine Knotions, back in the day. I know that I certainly was and I was really pleased when I saw that it was being brought back.

I was even more pleased to be able to submit a new sock design to it, and over the moon when it was accepted.

Priory Socks ºLouise Tilbrook Designs

The Priory Sock pattern was inspired by a visit to the wonderful 12th century former monastery - Bolton Abbey in the heart of England’s Yorkshire Dales. They are toe-up and feature an elongated cable design which creates subtle arches reminiscent of the high arched windows – so much a feature of this historic building. Even though it looks impressive the majority of the sock is worked in a rib pattern with infrequent cable crosses.

A different kind of heel - garter stitch is surprisingly comfortable

There is also a garter stitch short row heel which I think fits in really well with the design.

Alongside the Priory socks there are 6 other patterns. There is a great sweater by Elizabeth Helmich (Couting Sheep on Ravelry) and a matching beret. Rachel aka ThornMaiden Designs has a cute beret and matching mitts.Woolly Wormhead has a great hat pattern and as well as producing the magazine Jody aka Savannahchik has also designed some great fingerless mitts.

All the patterns are free to download here and there are some great articles and designer interviews too - well worth a look.

What knitting means to me.

A recent difficult weekend really gave me pause to reflect on this question and made me realise the importance of this craft of ours, in my life. I wrote this piece as a private, cathartic act after the event and in truth it was never intended for publication. 

By happy circumstance though I read of Kate of A Playful Day blog and her Cyber Hug initiative for Monday Dec 7th. Raising awareness of the mental health charity Mind, and recognising that for some people our craft is a very real way of improving their mental health. We use the term 'sanity-saver' quite loosely but for some it is just that. Whilst my own experience is nowhere near is dramatic it does describe a time when knitting came to my aid. 

You can read Kate's introductory post here. And if you would like to join in and share an image of something you have made and how it helped you please use the hashtag #makegoodfeelgood.

Combine a total of 12 hours of motorway driving, a very sick and frail old lady and stressful family politics and by the end of our trip my emotions were raw, my heart in tatters. Trying to keep everything on an even keel for our children, trying to sooth a distraught husband, trying not to succumb to road rage on the A1 when faced with road closures and a 50 mile detour.

By Sunday evening I was a mess. Mentally and physically.

Fortunately my husband realised that my floodgates weren’t going to hold much longer. He put yarn in my hands, a pot of tea on the table and took the children out of the house for an hour.

Holding back tears of frustration, anger and sorrow I picked up the needles and began to knit – very slowly. Not my usual rapid, slick, efficient movements where I slide stitches effortlessly and often without really thinking or looking. But slowly, painstakingly wrapping yarn and forming each stitch as though it were as fragile as I was feeling.

Slowly, my emotional turmoil receded as all my attention focused on yarn and needles. I was dimly aware that my breathing and heart rate were slower and calmer – and that tick in my left eyelid stopped too.

Stitch by slow stitch I literally pulled myself together. The very opposite of unravelling a sweater. The formation of each stitch helped me to order my thoughts and brought me back to myself.

The hour flew by. At the end of it, my shawl was only a few rows longer, but I was in an infinitely better place, mentally, than when I started and I was ready to face the world again.

Because you are fellow crafters the shawl in question was the Urban Hints shawl by The Wool Kitchen using her gradient yarn. It comes highly recommended !

RAK Yourself

It's the old airline adage of 'putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others'. Most of find the time to make a kind comment or gesture to those around us but how often do we extend that same kindness to ourselves. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose inner voice can be a little harsh, a little nasty and sometimes just downright rude.

My inner voice feels free to speak to me in a way that I would never dream of speaking to anyone else. And yet, more often than not I tolerate it. I don't question it.

This serves as a welcome reminder to me that my RAK challenge isn't all about making others feel good, it can be about allowing myself to feel good too.

So, today I am going to tell that pesky inner voice to pipe down and play nice while I sit in my favourite craft corner and play with yarn.

For December... something a little different

Hands up who is feeling a little bit overwhelmed as the festive season approaches?

To-do lists, shopping, groceries, carol services and decorations. It can all seem a bit of a frenzy at this time of year and I don't think I am alone in what I have heard people refer to as Seasonal Overwhelm. It all seems a bit too much, especially as we tend to put pressure on ourselves to have the "perfect" Christmas.

This month, in December I plan to take a little step back from my endless to-do lists and instead focus on small things that could help bring a smile to some other seasonally overwhelmed soul.

I took inspiration from this random acts of kindness calendar which allocates a small task to each day of December in the run up to Christmas. Because I am a Knitter I felt compelled to re-work it a little with more of a craft related emphasis - apart from which - I am British and the notion of approaching random strangers in the street is more than a little disconcerting.

I took some great suggestions too from members of my Ravelry group, as between us, we discussed small ways in which we could brighten someone else's day (and cheerfully procrastinate about not writing our Christmas cards).

So... the rules... well there are none really. The 24 suggestions I have laid out are just that, suggestions. I intend to do one per day and will try to post an Instagram picture or Tweet of my #rakdec15 action. If you would like to join me - as much or as little as you like - that would be fabulous too and if you use the hashtag I'll be sure to track you down.

As it is the season of giving I will have two skeins of yarn from my stash (yet to be determined) which will be given as prizes. If you are a member of my Ravelry group feel free to chat about the RAK challenge over in the thread and after Christmas I will do a random prize draw for 1 skein from among the chatterers. The other skein will go to a random prize draw from anyone on Instagram or Twitter who posts a picture of their random act of kindness and uses the #rakdec15 tag and #louisetilbrookdesigns.

Above all, have fun, relax and be kind to one another this festive season

5 minutes with...Hollyberry Designs

Today I have 5 minutes with Holly Stevens of Hollyberry Designs aka Biddybelle on Ravelry.

º Designs by Holly Stevens

What is the thing you enjoy most about being a designer?
The creativity and feeling of accomplishment when something I have drawn on paper comes to life! (and the fact that if it doesn’t turn out quite how I expected no one knows except for me…)

Where does your inspiration come from?
Lots of things, alot of the time I will see or think of a stitch pattern I love and think “wow that has to be a hat!” or when I am searching for a pattern and can’t find exactly what Im looking for I can start working on it myself. Sometimes I even see an item of clothing in a shop and think about how it would translate into knitwear.

What is the one thing you wish you had known when you started out designing?
I wish I have known about Stitchmastery a lot earlier! It’s made designing so so much easier and I would fully recommend it.

º Bobbie Hoodie by Holly Stevens

Which is your favourite design and why?
I often go through phases of loving something above all else, for a me-knit I absolutely love my Lilybelle hat, the lace is just so intricate but super duper easy to knit. I equally love my Bobbie hoody, I can hear my Nana’s voice echoing in my ear as she pulled my jerseys down lower saying “keep your kidneys warm.” In Southern New Zealand its rather chilly for most of the year so it gets a lot of use - now I just need to make one for my 4 other children!

If you could invite 3 designers to dinner, who would you choose?
Wow - that is a tricky question! I would love to meet up and pick the brains of Justyna Lorkowska and Georgie Hallam about kids knits. Oh definitely Andi Satterlund as I love all things vintage inspired and would love to chat to her about adults garments as one day I would love to try my hand at that - but I just don’t feel confident enough quite yet!

Instagram ID: hollyberrydesigns
Facebook:HollyBerry Designs 

5 minutes with...Sweet Paprika Designs

As part of the Indie Design Giftalong 2015 I am featuring short interviews with a few designers I have come across during the event. Today we have Elizabeth Sullivan aka Sweetpaprika on Ravelry



What is the thing you enjoy most about being a designer?
I love the creative process and trying to transform ideas from my head into actuality. Sometimes more successfully than others, but that’s all part of the process. I also love seeing people make and enjoy my designs.

©Sweet Paprika Designs

Where does your inspiration come from?
Everywhere! Often a yarn or a stitch pattern inspires me, but when I’m actively searching for ideas I start looking at everything around me: colour combinations of my son’s toys, sewer grates while out for a walk, embroidery motifs, vintage clothing shaping, street fashion… It’s kind of like my brain starts buzzing and everything becomes a possible starting point for a new design.

What is the one thing you wish you had known when you started out designing?
I started trying to design stuff for myself as a teenager, long before I ever thought of publishing a pattern. I wish I’d known a bit more about garment construction back then. I think it would have saved me a lot of half-finished sweaters! Socks and hats were my most successful early design attempts.

Which is your favourite design and why?
That’s such a tough question! One of my designs that I’m most proud of is Leif the Lucky because it was kind of an accidental design. I had three colours of yarn leftover that I wanted to make into a hat for my brother as a Christmas present. I wanted it to be really warm so decided to work it in double knitting, threw in some Latvian braid and once I knew I had enough yarn left added earflaps. I love the way it turned out and I probably wouldn’t have chosen the construction method I did if I’d had unlimited yarn of each colour, but it really worked for this design. Plus my brother loved it too and it’s always satisfying to know that a knitted gift is well appreciated!

If you could invite 3 designers to dinner, who would you choose?
I’ve met and worked with so many people online that I’ve never met in real life and it would be so great to sit down and have dinner with them all. Maybe not all at once though – that would be a big dinner!
If I had to choose only 3: Barbara Walker (my knitting hero), Jennifer Wood (who I’ve been working with for several years now), and Julia Trice (I’ve long admired both her designs and her articulate and supportive Ravelry posts).


Instagram ID: sweetpaprikadesigns

5 minutes with Corrine Walcher

As part of my participation in the Indie Designer GAL I have a series of '5 minute interviews' lined up with a few designers whose work caught my eye.

First up we have Corrine Walcher aka Gingy on Ravelry who has a great range of designs including socks and accessories.

Designs by Corrine Walcher

What is the thing you enjoy most about being a designer?
I love that I can make people happy with things that come out of my brain, and that I can work from home while taking care of my family. It’s really a luxury. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I love the math for sizing. And I hate it too, but mostly I love it for keeping my brain active.

Where does your inspiration come from?
Everywhere! I see patterns in nature, I see interesting shapes, and I want to turn that into something tactile. Sometimes it’s a theme or fictional or historical character assigned to me by a dyer for a club, and I’ll let my imagination go from there.

What is the one thing you wish you had known when you started out designing?
I always thought knitting design was magical - think of the first time you turned a heel - until I got a good grasp on the fundamentals. Once I had the knowledge that it isn’t really magic, it sort of fell into place. Or maybe it is magic, and I’ve just learned how to harness it.

Which is your favourite design and why?
My favorite design of my own? I think Key Largo. It’s the first time I really challenged myself and wrote a multi-sized pattern aside from a sock. I’ve knit a lot of sweaters - a lot, seriously - but I wanted something just mine. Serendipitously, Mrs. Crosby Plays needed something in one of their new bases, and contacted me.

Key Largo by Corrine Walcher

If you could invite 3 designers to dinner, who would you choose?
Cat Bordhi - she turned me into a sock knitter. I learned to knit with two circulars for her and now I churn out a pair of socks in a couple of days. Before that, with dpns, I felt like I was wrestling an octopus. And I’ll tell you, nobody else does a knitting video like her. When I do a provisional cast-on, I’m singing “Waaaaaaaaay up high! Waaaaay down low” in my head.

Elizabeth Zimmerman - I suspect we are very much alike. No-nonsense, get-it-done sort of people. Alas I’m too late for her to join me.

Maureen Foulds - she’s one of my dearest friends but we live far apart. She’s been instrumental in my designs from day one: helping with aspects I didn’t quite grasp, proof reading, even test knitting and helping with my advertising.

A big thank you to Corrine for answering my nosy questions. If you would like to follow her on social media she is on Twitter and Instagram as well as on Ravelry.

Indie Designer Giftalong 2015

Aaand..they're off

The 3rd annual Indie Design Giftalong has now started over on Ravelry.

335 designers from 30 countries have combined to offer a fabulous 25% discount on selected patterns. Use code giftalong2015 at checkout from Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST - Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US ES.

Louise Tilbrook Designs: GAL Patterns

As well as the sale and the chance to find some new-to-you designers there are KALs, competitions and general chatter happening over on the Indie Design Giftalong group.


 As you might expect I'll be hanging out in the thread related to sock and other foot/leg patterns but I can never resist checking out all the other amazing patterns - and I do need a new hat for winter....