Summer reading and reflections

My reading choices for the Summer of Books and Yarn challenge

It’s been an odd sort of summer in many ways and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it all. It’s been a time of highs and lows. Some wonderful times spent relaxing as a family, and time spent with other family members. Coupled with a lot of driving around the country and a lot of emotions as we deal with grief and inevitable upheaval that happens when people die.

I’ve been really grateful to have the time to spend with my boys, especially as we are now staring University open days in the face, and I’ve really loved both taking part in and running the Summer of Books and Yarn challenge.

No-one was more surprised than me to find me blitzing my way through all 6 books that I had planned - although losing my knitting whilst on holiday in Greece (it’s a long story and I eventually found it) certainly helped me with my reading target.

It’s been lovely to see all the great feedback in the Everyday Knitter Facebook group as well - it seems that I’m not alone in having a ball with it. And there have been lots of calls to have a repeat challenge, maybe even to make it a seasonal event and I’m definitely putting that on my to do list for the next few months.

There were so many good book titles shared that I promised I would do a little roundup of some of the popular book titles, and true to my word, you can find a list below of the titles that seemed to crop up repeatedly in people’s reading lists and which got good reviews. I haven’t hyperlinked the titles as everyone has their own favourite place where they like to buy or borrow books.

• A thousand ships by Natalie Haynes

• How the light gets in by Louise Penny

• The salt path by Raynor Winn

• City of Friends by Joanna Trollope

• Tidelands by Phillipa Gregory

• The Thursday murder club by Richard Osman

• Everything I never told you by Celeste Ng

• Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

• Where the crawdads sing by Delia Owens

• The miniaturist by Jessie Burton

• River Kings by Cat Jarman (non fiction)

• The midnight library by Matt Haigh

• The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini

• Endeavour by Peter Moore (non fiction)

If you aren’t already a member of the Everyday Knitter Facebook group do please come over and say hi. We are a really friendly bunch, I promise and if you are interested in another reading challenge that will be the best place to follow along with it.

Comfort Blanket KAL 2021

Amazingly, it’s almost a year since I ran the Comfort Blanket KAL and if anything, we need comfort more than ever right now.

As, the nights start to draw in (here in the northern hemisphere) it’s only natural that our thoughts turn to cosy, warm, blanket knitting - and to me - nothing meets these criteria quite like a sock yarn blanket.

This year, partly because my leftover sock yarn stash has reached epic proportions, I’ve decided to ‘go large’ and use my sock yarn held double on larger needles. I’m determined to get the bottom of this bag of leftovers if it’s the last thing I do.

I’ll be running the KAL as a 4 week event over in the Everyday Knitter Mighty Network community again and I really hope you can join me there. If you joined in last time, everything is still there as you left it and hopefully this might help with a bit of an autumnal kick start to revive your blanket mojo.

If you didn’t join in last time you are more than welcome. Please just follow this link to purchase the pattern, and your welcome PDF will contain the link to the group and all the information you need.

If you bought the pattern last time around and didn’t join the Mighty Networks group, don’t worry. Check your inbox in the next couple of days and you’ll find a bespoke invitation - just for you. I really hope you decide to join us.

Right, if you’ll excuse me I have some serious stash sorting to do - each of my blanket squares takes 60g yarn so I’m hopeful of reaching ‘zero leftover’ status by the end of this blanket.

Where did a year go?

How on earth is it August already?

But leaving that aside I was amazed, reading through some old journals to realise that it's been a year since I decided to move away from the old Everyday Knitter Facebook group and set up a new community on the Mighty Networks platform.

The old Facebook group feels like a whole world away now and I can't ever imagine going back to Facebook groups again.

In fact, if I didn't need to maintain an account in order to have any kind of business presence I'd delete my FB in a heartbeat. I hate that I can't do that, but at least I can minimise my presence there as much as possible.

If you haven't had a look at our Everyday Knitter community on Mighty Networks I'd really urge you to give us a try. It takes a bit of getting used to, as does any new platform but it is a refreshingly different and advert/algorithm free place to be.

And we have a new KAL starting today - for the Pattern Please Shawl - just in case you needed an incentive. You can find all the KAL information on my previous blog post.

And if you’d like to check out the group, please just tap on the link below.

In praise of fluff

The start of 2021 was never going to be a walk in the park but my goodness, if this first week of the year has left you feeling fragile and in need of solace please know that you are not alone.

I've been pretty quiet on social media this week, mainly because it's so hard to know what to say. Many people are struggling. I hate the word "triggered" but it really does describe very well the real knife edge that people are on right now. Myself included.

My emotions aren't so much a see-saw as a trebuchet and I find myself reacting to things that ordinarily I would let slide.

I've avoided posting the "fluffy" content, fearful of being seen as glossing over or trivialising the unfolding world events. But there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said thousands of times already and right now, damn it, I think we need all the fluff we can get.

So, starting this weekend I am declaring a FluffFest.

In a marker of how seriously I am taking this situation I am forgoing my usual coffee for hot chocolate and marshmallows. I'm digging out my favourite knit - right now it's a basic colourwork sweater that requires 13" of stocking stitch in the round 💓 and all the snacks.

If you'd like to join me please use the hashtag #JanuaryFluffFest

Bring your comfiest PJs, your fairy lights and All The Biscuits and let's embrace the fluff.

A new e-book: How to Knit a Temperature Blanket

E-book: How to Knit a Temperature Blanket

As my own 2020 Temperature Blanket draws to a close I find I'm not ready to say goodbye to it just yet. It's been quite the year - to say the least - and knitting this blanket has given me so much comfort and support during some very unsettling times.

I wanted to create a resource for those who'd like to knit their own Temperature Blanket and so I've written a 19 page e-book with tips, suggestions and resources for you such as:

• Working out a temperature scale

• Yarn choice

• Estimation of yardage

• Size and gauge

• Choosing colours

• Ideas for construction

Like any big project the idea of starting a Temperature Blanket can seem a little daunting. Decisions on yarn, needles, colours, temperature scales etc - can all seem a little overwhelming. That's why I thought it might be a good idea to do this together - within a separate group in the Everyday Knitter Mighty Network.

If you purchase the e-book there is a link in the PDF which will take you to the dedicated, private group which, whilst quiet at the minute, will hopefully provide you with a year long source of support and encouragement from others undertaking a Temperature Blanket of their very own.

Once 2021 is underway I might open this group out to others from the main Mighty Network group who are undertaking their own annual project (of whatever nature) but I'll be totally honest and say that I haven't decided about that yet. Whilst I want to make it as accessible as possible I would like the group, at least for the first month to be exclusively for those who are undertaking this project.

If you have any questions please do pop it in the comments below or email me (email link at the bottom of the page

What is Payhip anyway?

Wishing and Hoping Baby blanket

As more designers are chosing to explore platforms other than Ravelry you might have noticed Payhip being mentioned more and more. It is certainly a popular platform among those designers taking part in this years FastenOff Yarnalong. It’s become my top choice for selling digital downloads as it’s so quick and easy to set up - plus it takes care of the EU VAT issue which is an absolute must for me. The platform is extremely user friendly but as with anything new, it can seem a little unfamiliar at first so I thought I would jot down a few helpful pointers to help you find your way around.

What is Payhip anyway?

First and foremost, it's a place you can buy digital products (also physical ones, should I ever have any). 

It works exactly the same as Ravelry from the purchasing perspective. You add a pattern to your cart, you enter your email address and then pay using PayPal with either a credit/debit card or a PayPal account. A download link to the pattern is then emailed to you.

A few things to note:

1. Payhip is not a marketplace like, say Etsy. You can't search it for knitting patterns. You'll need to know the URL for the designer you want to buy from - or search Google for the designer name plus Payhip.

2. Check out yarndatabase.com for an A to Z listing of designers who are selling using Payhip (and other non Rav platforms)

3. Payhip doesn't require you to sign in and doesn't hold your details. If you want to follow a particular designer tap the blue follow button in their profile. Then, when they upload a new pattern you'll get a notification. This single feature is probably my favourite - and is a distinct advantage over Ravelry.

4. As with Ravelry, you don't need a PayPal account to buy a pattern. You can use your credit or debit card through the PayPal site.

5. Payhip doesn't have a library function. The PDF is sent to you to store as you wish, which is generally good practice with any digital download. Even before the Ravelry issue I always donwloaded the file to my own storage rather than relying on the library function of another platform. I use Evernote to store mine as it's search function will find text even in images or PDFs so I don't need to worry about tagging

6. If you do want a copy of a pattern for your Ravelry library, please email me at the support address on the bottom of your pattern and I'll gift you a copy

I hope this helps answer your Payhip questions but please let me know if there's anything I've missed