Registration is closing this Friday!

So today's post is short. Just two pieces of info for you.

1. Registration is closing this week.

We are closing registration at the end of the day on Friday the 8th of August!. There are just a few spaces left and quite a few classes are fully booked. If you have any questions about class availability then please feel free to email me.

2. We have exciting sponsors on board!

I will be posting more details about them soon but have a look at the end of our home page for a full list. As our lovely participants from last year know, our sponsors were super generous leading to gorgeous gift bags last year. We feel very grateful to have them all on board this year.

See you at the end of the week!

Felicia x

The post about steeking!

So I finally found the time and space to cut the knitting. The delay was more about finding time when I had clean fingernails, and someone to take a photo for me, than an issue with the steek. Long term camping is not always very glamourous. Especially in the rain - and we have had a lot of rain in the last week. The dirt gets so stuck under your nails, and ingrained in your finger tips that only a good soaking will get it out. And there is nowhere to soak.

I digress. With the help of my middle child, I cut the steek! And I have to say that it is one of the most fun things you can do as a knitter. Even as I write this down I can hear that it sounds a bit nanna. But it's not. It feels devilish. Like smoking at the milk bar around the corner from your house when you were 16. Not that I would have done something like that ;).  

More digression.

This post is not a how-to. More a progress report. 

I have posted a short instagram video clip if you want to watch or have not yet seen a steek live. 

And if you were after a how-to I have two options for you.

1. In person. Sadly/happily our Steeking workshop, which is taught by Julia Billings at this year's retreat, is fully booked out. I'm thinking we should possibly repeat it next year as it was so popular! In the mean time you can experience Jules teaching steeking at Sunspun in Melbourne in October. Please contact them for the details.

2. Online. Have a look at the lovely Kate Davies site where she shows you how it is done. She also has a great post on different types of finishes here.

There is also a fantastic series on steeking by Eunny Jang in her defunct blog. This was how I first got my steeking confidence. It is a great read, as is much of the rest of her site.

The cardigan still isn't finished - which I like. I like that it has been my companion over these last four months as we have travelled about. And while I have knitted numerous other short-term projects over our time away, nothing that has the love that has gone into this work. This project has meaning to me. I learnt, I persisted and I'm hoping to love it. 

It still needs button bands and an extra motif added to each sleeve to make them a little longer. I'll let you know when I'm done. 

Have you ever steeked anything? Does the idea of steeking make you feel the joy? Or some fear….

Felicia x

PS. Only one week to go until registration closes! Feel free to email me if you have any questions about workshop availability.

Best Of Knitwear Designers #2 - Carrie Bostick Hoge

Seeing the picture below on Ravelry was the moment in which I fell in love with the patterns of Carrie Bostick Hoge of Madder*. And since that fateful day I have made so very many of her patterns. In fact it would be true to say that I have knitted more of her patterns than any other designer. 

Sibella by Carrie Bostick Hoge.

Why? I hear you ask. Let's start with the fact that...

Carrie has truly beautiful designs

Carrie has developed her own recognisable style based on simple shapes, beautiful stitch patterns and a gorgeous washed out colour palate. And her photos….well just look at the one below. Her photos inspire you to pick up the needles - yes? 

(Please note that today all photos are courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge unless I state otherwise.)

Sibella by Carrie Bostick Hoge.

Carrie launched an Anthology of her patterns in the last week, bringing two of my favourite patterns of all time together; the Immie and Sibella pattern lines are joined by two other pattern themes, Camilla and Beatrice.  As she explains at the start of the anthology she gets obsessed with a particular idea/stitch pattern and often designs multiple patterns around that theme.

My two favourites both use the Frost Flowers design from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. In Immie it is used as a panel up the front of the tee and with Sibella, Carrie has stripped out some of the elements and used them horizontally.

I love this stitch and I love what Carrie did with it. Knitting Immie a few times and loving the stitch, inspired me to use a version of Frost Flowers when freestyling the Christmas Dress below. My little girl adored this dress! I plan on making another when time permits…maybe as an a-line jumper?

Christmas Dress and photo by Felicia Semple.

Carrie writes beautifully clear patterns

As I mentioned the other day, I have two of her patterns on the needles at the moment. The lovely Maeve and the Imogen Cowl. And these, like many other patterns I have used of Carrie's are simple, to the point, clear and have good descriptions of the various techniques involved. They aren't too verbose and they aren't too pithy. I really admire this in a knitwear designer, as it is something many patterns (including the few I have written!) fail to achieve. It makes them a joy to knit. 

Maeve by Carrie Bostick Hoge.

Carrie's designs have an inbuilt simplicity

Her patterns have that balance between nice finishing without being fussy. I love Lila for this - and will be knitting another in grey when I get the time. Just the right amount of garter on the neckline and the bottom give the sweater a nice balance. It is one of my most worn knits. 

Lila - knitting and photo by Felicia Semple

Knitting and photo by Felicia Semple

Carrie's Uniform pattern is hopefully going to be knitted up by a good friend of mine - it will be her first grown up cardy and I think it is the perfect place to start. It is simple but with a great shape and in a good yarn weight for beginners. 

The pattern I am knitting at the moment, Maeve is another great example; it is so very very simple. It is a shrug and if you had told me a year ago I would be knitting a shrug I would have thought you were a little crazy. And then Carrie released this. Such a simple shape but so beautifully done. In my opinion, it is the width of the garter again that gives this pattern it's zing. 

Iphone photo by Felicia Semple of Maeve in Shilasdair DK. 

She makes beautiful kid patterns!

Carrie started writing small person patterns after having a little girl. And the ones I have knit are some of my favourite baby/kid knits of all time. They are also the ones that have been most commented on by other people in a "did you KNIT that?" kind of way. I think it is because of the beautiful but simple lacework.

Sibella Babe - photo and knitting by Felicia Semple

Immie Tee - kniting and photo by Felicia Semple

Baby Sibella as a cardy.- photo and knitting by Felicia Semple

Immie Tee - Knitting and photo by Felicia Semple

I have also been meaning to make this pattern for a long time. And how cute is this. 

To sum up - I think that is what is so good about what she does. It is the fact that I could go on and on and probably on about how lovely the patterns are. There is so much to love. Have a look at the shop page on her website Madder to see all she offers. 

Her Anthology ebook is available now and there is a print version available for preorder. I can't wait to get mine in the mail.

Have you knitted any of Carrie's patterns? Are you now inspired to do so?

Felicia x

*Which in retrospect amuses me on some level, as it is the one pattern of hers I started and haven't finished… it is sitting there in the basket at home as a fully knit body and two finished sleeves….

What crafting looks like today….

So here I am again without a finished post and it is getting too late to finish the one I have half done - it will come Monday. So I thought I would share a little of what crafting time looks like for me at the moment. 

We are currently in Rome - it is a little bit sticky and we have been taking the kids to "the" sights. As it is now the European summer, that involves people and queues that are somewhat unimaginable in sunny Australia.  We limit ourselves to one thing a day (because we know our/their limits), before returning to the flat for some reading or colouring. There are few spaces in my day when I am alone and even fewer where there isn't something that needs to be done. The fella and I were talking yesterday about the fact that "freestyle overland travel" is not exactly the same thing as a "relaxing holiday". We were a little naive methinks about what life would look like on the road ;).

So crafting - Life as it currently stands means that knitting is not exactly relaxing-with-a-cup-of-tea crafting. I'm not really able to knit in the campsite/flat due to the aforementioned jobs. Instead I've moved to mobile crafting in order to scratch the itch.  Crafting is more along the lines of standing in a queue, with small people who are hungry or need to go to the toilet, using knitting as a way to keep on smiling. And car knitting - oh how I love car knitting! We leave tomorrow to get back to camping which means there will be a few hours of click-clack which I am super excited about. 

I know that school holidays have just finished at home so I am guessing that crafting slowed down for a bit? I would love to hear about how you fit your making into your holidays….or are you infinitely more sensible and give it up until some space returns?

Felicia x 

An update on our September Retreat

So today we have a few announcements about our September Retreat. It has been a while since I’ve given you an update and I have a couple of important things to tell you.

The first is I've been getting some emails asking if we still have space. And we do!! Not heaps but some. We are fully booked in some classes but there are still great options available for you whether you are a seamstress or a knitter or a crocheter or interested in natural dyeing. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

The second thing is to let you know if you were thinking of coming (and I know there are still quite a few of you!) that that we are closing registration on August 8th – so about 4 weeks before the event. This allows us time to finalise our preparations, and our teachers the time to finalise any materials they need to prepare for the event. 

One of our teachers Kirsten Johnstone's new pattern for girls Medaki! There is still some space in Kirsten's seamless hat class at the retreat.

And the final thing today is to let you know that the lovely Kirsten Johnstone of Assemblage, j(ust one of our internationally respected knitwear designers!) one of our teachers, has sent me some pictures of the hat pattern she has created for her Seamless Hat class. When we were putting together the descriptions for the classes she hadn't really written the pattern so I posted pictures of another one of her hats as a place holder. So below are photos of the finished hat! I got them a little while ago, posted one on Facebook a while ago but forgot to post it here - Apologies! Kirsten has also just released the pattern - called the Go Hat - for sale on Ravelry.

So this workshop would be the perfect class for advanced beginners/intermediate knitters who want to work on bettering their skills. The hat pattern is fully reversible, has five design options (the black and grey in the right hand photo is colour blocked) and uses a single skein of worsted wool. You would be learning a provisional cast-on (which is not as scary as it sounds and very very useful!), about knitting seamlessly in the round, about decreasing shaping to the crown and i-cord bind off. I particularly love i-cord bind off. Incredibly satisfying and such a neat result. 

As well as being a great designer Kirsten is a top woman and great teacher. I feel really lucky we were able to convince her to teach!!

Felicia x