How will you be greeting 2015?

A new day and a new start- yesterday we took a bracing walk on the beach to dust off the cobwebs and welcome in the New Year.  There we witnessed the Port Talbot New Year Dippers - a local tradition where brave souls gather at 11 in the morning to greet the new year by stripping off to their bathers and racing en masse for a dip in the icy sea.

Many will have gained sponsors to raise funds for various charities, some will do it for the fun (?) of it, but for others it is a way to embrace the new year with attitude - demonstrating an intent to face any challenges ahead with gusto. I was merely a spectator but hope this spirited approach will have rubbed off and I can take a leaf out of their book.

I'm not keen on making New Years Resolutions in the traditional sense - I see little point in making lists of things that I musn't do - where's the fun in that? I think it's always best to go with your strengths - and I have willpower by the sack load - just not so abundantly gifted with won't power!

So instead I like to think about what I will do - I have a short lost of things I'd like to achieve, such as learning a new skill or tackling a specific project I have in mind, and I like to have a couple of  life enriching principles/philosophies in mind to focus on for the year ahead.

1.This year I'm feeling inspired by Paloma Faith's recent song offering - Ready for the good life - this is about letting go of negative experiences, fostering optimism & positivity and being receptive to the good stuff instead.

2. Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful (William Morris). In order to be ready for this 'good life' I'm also going to be big on the decluttering this year to allow plenty of time and space for all these wonderful things that will of course be coming my way!

How will you be facing 2015? Do you have any New Year traditions or do you prefer to simply go with the flow? Do share by commenting below.

I hope you have had a lovely holiday period,  and wish you all the best for a fulfilling and creative 2015

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Seasons Greetings

One of my little Christmas traditions is making paper snowflakes - I love the fact that each one is unique and when you are cutting them you are never entirely sure how they are going to come out Despite my years it never fails to excite me to see how they turn out.

Here's one I prepared earlier :-)

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Creative 2015!

Finding Design Inspiration

Finding inspiration for your next creative project can be a real challenge and when faced with a blank sheet of paper/canvas/piece of fabric we can feel truly daunted and find it find a starting point. And there is no single definitive process - this can vary from person to person, but also from project to project. I  always find it fascinating how people's processes can vary, and thought I'd share with you the sort of approach I have when working creatively.

Inspiration can come from many sources, and sometimes unexpected, however it is extremely rare to have a bolt out of the blue fully formed idea, and most ideas come from a process of adjustments, corrections and further ideas generated as we actually do the work. Some folks seem to get down to that work almost immediately, but I tend to need to do a lot of 'mulling over', and it can feel like an age has passed before I can actually start to move forward.

Each year Stitches Coven, a creative textiles group I am a member of, put on an exhibition on an agreed theme. Next year's one will be on the theme of Memories. I have been letting this 'percolate' in the background for a good couple of months as it is a fairly abstract & conceptual topic, and I want the resultant work to be really personal to me. I still hadn't come of with a suitable 'hook', but a recent trip to visit family in Poland has unexpectedly provided me with a great source of design inspiration and will allow me to express a personal story.

My family on my mother's side are from Szczawno-Zdroj, a small Spa town in the South west of Poland, which has a long tradition as a health resort for healing, convalescence and rehabilitation, and boasts a mineral water pump room which dispenses naturally carbonated spring water.

Pump Rooms at Szczawno-Zdroj

There is also a Spa park which is great for recreation, plus some plants & trees are grown that are considered to have medicinal qualities. We took a stroll around the pump rooms and grounds with my family  including my aunt, an ex-teacher who is suffering with dementia. As is often the case for this condition, her long term memory remains strong and she is able to recall and impart information well - it's a pity my ability to understand her 'teachings' was not so good due to my limited polish, but as we walked through the park she pointed out a gingko tree and tried to explain how this was considered to have medicinal properties which were good for memory. She picked up a few leaves for me to take with me, and this was a lighbulb moment for me  in terms of design inspiration.

I love nature and especially forest & woodland - my earliest memories are of trips to the woods where we used to live at that time, and trees feature prominently in my memories of visits to Poland. The gingko leaves serve as a personal and poignant memento,  as their association with memory and my aunt's dementia strikes a deep chord from me. Thinking about memory also makes me consider how I experience being born in the UK but with family in Poland - in the absence of regular day to day contact, much of the 'relating' feels like it based on memories rather than the present. Whilst I have a deep desire to keep these relationships alive, I also fear that without taking due care to ensure this, they will fade like memories over future years.

So, a quick stroll around the park has given me plenty of food for thought, and a great starting point. The gingko leaves look attractive too, and are a great motif to work with. On my return home I quickly did some gelli printing with them, making numerous prints onto paper and some fabric - this will provide raw materials for developing further. I've no idea at this moment what direction it will take or what my finished piece of work will look like..................but it was great fun making the prints!

all set for a printathon!

the actual leaves with lots of paint and pattern on them from printing

a stray mulberry leaf

Gingko with dill and sweet chestnut leaves

So that's a little glimpse into how I approach a creative project, at least this one as it varies. I'd love to here about how you find your inspirations, or if you have any good tips on finding your inspiration and getting started, so do leave a comment below.

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News for 2015

I know it's only the end of September, but I've been busy thinking ahead to what exciting plans I have for you for 2015.

2015 Programme of workshops at Hazel Court, Swansea.

 

I've been busily compiling the 2015 programme of workshops at Hazel Court, Swansea which are now available to book here. There are a few new subjects for next year as well as some 'staple' ones that continue to be in demand,  so hopefully there will be something of interest for you all. I'm particularly excited about Lavish Lace, for developing your lace skills further - this is ideal for those of you who will have attended  An Introduction to Lace Knitting, but don't worry if you missed out on that - if you can knit and purl and follow a simple pattern you will be able to undertake this class.

As many of you may know, I love colour so I'm really looking forward to  Fathoming Fairisle which will provide you with a solid introduction to this popular technique.


I'm sure many of you will be delighted to know that the lovely Alison Crowther-Smith and I will be undertaking another 'foreign tutor exchange' scheme where we cross the border to teach a workshop at each others' venue - This year I will be teaching Intermediate Crochet on 21 February at Alison's wonderfully cosy Somerset studio, and Alison will be joining us at Hazel Court for a frill bonanza with Frill Seekers on 21 March.

All workshops (excluding those with a guest tutor) are available to book at the 2014 price of £30 if booked by the end of this year.

New Workshop Loyalty Reward Club

 

As a thank you to those of you who regularly attend workshops at Hazel Court we now have a Loyalty Reward Club where if you attend 3 or more fyberknitics workshops over the course of a year you'll receive a £10 voucher to spend at workshops or in the fyberknitics online shop. Don't worry I'll keep track of this for you and make sure you get your voucher after attending your 3rd workshop of the year.

We've nearly completed the second year of fyberknitics workshops and I am grateful for the support (and banter) I have received from  those who have attended and made the workshops such a success - so I'm going to start the Loyalty Reward Club retrospectively  and  if you  have attended 3 or more classes this year, you will receive your voucher very soon.

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New Knitting Design from Start to Finish

Meet 'Marilyn', my latest knitting design which I created especially for my workshop Cables & Bobbles & Beads, Oh My! According to this cowl’s namesake, diamonds are a girl’s best friend, and this cabled cowl with bead-jewelled diamonds will certainly add a touch of glamour to your wardrobe.

Marilyn Cowl by fyberknitics

I thought I'd share with you the design process for this project. First I had a rough idea that I wanted to make an item that used these particular techniques - my starting point for a design will often differ from this, but as this piece has a  specific purpose, i.e. to consolidate new skills and techniques learned at the workshop, this was an appropriate jumping off point.

I played around with some ideas on paper to start, with some very rough working sketches giving me an idea of the dimensions etc I wanted the cowl to be. I also made a decision about what yarn to use which I posted about previously here, plus I had chosen some lovely buttons already. Having decided on the type of yarn I then fine tuned my ideas with a generous swatch before charting the stitch pattern properly, and writing myself a rough pattern.

Although I'd swatched in a lovely teal colour, I opted for  purple in the end as I really like the zing of the yellow buttons against this. Then of course came the knitting which I thoroughly enjoyed as cabling makes for an interesting knit - and in fact got a bit carried away with as it was too long for what I had in mind. So after some pulling back a good chunk of it and finishing off, the cowl was ready to block. Here it is pinned out on my ironing board.

With the addition of those lovely yellow buttons Marilyn was then born.

Cable knitting has a long tradition and its enduring appeal never seems to fade, and indeed we see a wealth of attractive and fashionable designs available at the present time. These can seem very highly complex, but are in fact made using of a few simple techniques which  can be easily mastered. My workshop provides a thorough introduction to using and combining these techniques for great textural effects, and improve your confidence in undertaking such a project. I'll also be showing how you can make some quick fixes if you should make a mistake - and as a gal who makes a lot of mistakes with my knitting I love a few good quick fixes!

If you live in the Swansea area, I am offering this workshop again in Oct 2015 and still have just a couple of places left for the workshop which you can book here.

The Marilyn Cowl design has now been professionally checked and is available to buy as a PDF knitting pattern in my shop or via ravelry. Alternatively watch this space as I will be providing an online course which I hope to launch in spring/summer 2015.

Over to you

Have you done any cable knitting? If so how did you find it? Have you seen some of the lovely new Autumn Winter designs featuring cables - which is your favourite?

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