Magazine Feature

My cosy Hand Warmers are featured in the Isle of Wight's Style magazine Jan/Feb Issue 14.
you can find them in an article for Winter Warmers page 70
http://styleofwight.co.uk/




All my hand warmers are hand knitted and each pair are individually designed using different colours and decoration detail The garter stitch pattern gives a slight stretch allowing for a snug and cosy fit.
Handknitted Handwarmers are perfect for wearing in the garden keeping your hands snug while sowing, potting on and planting out.
Also great for walking, camping or even working on your computer, as they keep your hands warm while still being able to use your fingers easily.

With this cold snap upon us I'm certainly enjoying wearing mine!
I shall have some more pairs available to purchase in my online shop very soon. Meanwhile you can purchase them from "Made on the Isle of Wight" shop or email me via my online shop at Folksy to place an order- please click on the links on the right of this blog page.

My Designs- Organize and Develop

I am having a good sort out and trying to organize my work for easy reference so as I can develop some earlier ideas into projects for today.
Over the years I have recorded my concepts,workings out and pattern writing in various A4 ring binder folders and notebooks of different shapes and sizes. Some have their original tension square attached to pages of notes, others have scribbles saying such things as- refer to design ref22 or "see photo" "see sketch etc.

In the last couple of years I am more in favour of project notebooks of A5 size as these are handy to have alongside me whilst knitting or weaving so as I can make notes as I work. These are very basic working notes with the title,date, measurements, details of knitting needles used or warp gauge for weaving etc and with the yarn samples/labels stapled to the page. They are backed up by photographs.



The joy of a digital camera is not only to use it to gather inspiration in photos for my designs but to use it as a tool to record my work for reference. I have literally hundreds of pictures on file, many of the same item taken from different angles. I need close up detail of stitch or pattern,colourway ref. Pictures and life style shots for customer viewing on line or for my brochure and group shots if it is in a range for example hand warmers, socks and hats. It is great to have all these!

Nowadays I write up the design on my computer and then it is ready for use and/or publication.
These notes are from one of my old folders. They are the workings for a sweater. Inspiration taken from a child's drawing of sailing boats a chart was created using- ref to photos "Cowes week regatta" - these were pre digital so are a couple of Kodak prints!

I knitted the sweater in double knit yarn, the abstract design depicting a flotilla of sail was knitted in the intarsia style.

This is one of the designs I have chosen to revamp. I want to take the intarsia chart work and play around with the layout to produce a pattern to knit into other simple items such as bags and cushions. The enjoyment of this design is experimenting with different colourways but still keeping the nautical theme.

I can see this organization and development task is going to take me quite some time as I keep finding little gems of ideas!

Back On Course for 2012

With the start of the New Year it's great to be thinking about getting back on course with my knitting, weaving and spinning. An early morning walk on the beach at Ryde at low tide where I can enjoy the vast expanse of the sands is a wonderful way to start my day. A perfect place to go when I need to get inspiration, to contemplate, be invigorated and energized.

I have set up my loom once more and have been mulling over some new ideas to get weaving.

These are a couple of commissions completed recently. These small rugs are fun to make and I particularly enjoy varying the warp colours so as to produce wide and narrow stripes through the piece, this also makes the tassels much more interesting too.

I want to develop my designs this year with this pattern trend using nautical and summer seaside colours in cotton blended yarns.



On the knitting needles at the moment are some more hand warmers to re stock my Folksy shop and my Isle of Wight stockists. I made myself a pair of long hand warmers and they are just lovely to wear out on walks to the beach.



Putting my camera and notebook to good use I come back buzzing with creative thoughts.

Dreaming of being back on course sailing again soon, as I look out across the Solent.

A Little More Stash

Whenever I take a ferry across to the Mainland I'm always on the lookout for a few more balls of wool to"add to my stash".

As I love to design and create my hand knitting and hand weaving using combinations of colour and yarn types, I enjoy shopping around for odd balls of wool which have interesting colours or textures so as I can knit or weave them with other yarns to produce unique cushions, bags, table runners, throws and small rugs.

My hats, scarves, warmers and socks are always colourful and individual as well as being soft and practical.

This newly acquired selection of yarn was sourced from various outlets and I'm just itching to get started on it!

I want to use some of the chunky yarn for a new hand woven scarf, but with Christmas a few days away now I'm rather busy with all the festive preparations around the home for a family Christmas, so my loom is stored away for a little while.

I can however get my knitting needles cast on... now what shall I make?

Thank you for reading my blog and for all your lovely comments and custom

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Award Time!

We attended our sailing club's Annual Dinner and Prize Giving evening at the end of November.I'm happy to report we were awarded this lovely tankard for winning the Mirror dinghy race from

"The Folly to Newport Quay" on the day of the River Fest (I blogged about the race back in May).

This time of year is Cast On rather than Cast Off for me. While our boats are tucked up for the winter months I find more time to get knitting, spinning and weaving.

I'm looking forward to setting up my loom and weaving some new ideas I have been developing. I want to try some more experimental pieces such as a wall hanging, I'll blog about it as I create if it works!

My knitting is always on the go, but again I want to try different ideas and design more items to offer as "projects to knit"

Spinning yarn is so satisfying and it's great snuggled up on a cold day spinning on my wheel making yarn, it certainly keeps me warm!

Thanks to all who came to "Christmas Crafts At Quarr" we had a lovely busy week!

Wooden Buttons and Festive Brooches

I've been making a new batch of my little hand knitted brooches. I decided to make these ones in novelty yarns and festive rich colours in pure wools. My miniature knitting needles are made with cocktail sticks and wooden beads and the little piece of knitting is in garter stitch.

The gorgeous wooden buttons are handmade by Skipper with the wood from our old cherry tree in our garden. The buttons work so well with my hand spun yarn to give a natural look, they also look great on my many coloured bags and waistcoats.


I glue a wooden bead on each cocktail stick needle. Each brooch is knitted on fine needles then transferred to the cocktail stick needles. I wind a small length of yarn around the needles to hold them together and make the miniature ball of yarn.

A little gold pin is attached to the back, so as it can be used as a brooch.

My brooches are always popular I shall be taking this batch to Christmas Crafts at Quarr Abbey.

They make a perfect little treat for a keen knitter and an excellent stocking filler gift for Christmas.

I shall have some of the wooden buttons and a selection of my dorset wheel buttons on sale too.

New Display Equipment

I'm really pleased to have been able to find these new display stands in time for my next craft show this month.
I'm looking forward to being able to display my knitting and weaving in a more creative way and these simple items in wood and calico will allow me to show off the colours and texture of work more easily.
I'm particularly pleased with my new mannequin as I will be able to display clothing and accessories such as scarves in a natural wearable style.

The Exhibition Gallery at Quarr Abbey is a lovely venue with it's plain white walls, tiled floor and beautiful old wooden tables to display work on. I don't know how I'm going to plan my area in the room as yet, in the summer I was there for my Open Studio event and I took my spinning wheel with me to demonstrate "spinning a yarn".
This time we are back for our Christmas Crafts At Quarr Abbey.
I'm looking forward to setting up a festive theme, do pop along to see us if you are on the island, there will be plenty of choice and ideas for Christmas presents on offer from hand knitting,weaving and felting to pottery,painting and photography.

For more details of how to find us please click on link in the right hand column.

Christmas Crafts At Quarr

November 24th-29th

open 10.30am-4.30pm