Ginger Knits UK

Last weekend friends came down from Gateshead for a weekend in London. It's great when people come and stay as we get to be tourists in our own city and visit things we haven't been to before. My sort of new years resolution this year is to see more of London, I've got in to a bit of a rut going to the same galleries and museums, which are great but it's good to try new things. I know South Bank pretty well but am not that familiar with what's east of London Bridge. Our friends had managed to get free tickets to the Design Museum so we started off there on Saturday morning. The Design Museum is very white and minimal and this white and minimalness was exacerbated by John Pawson exhibition which was on. Alex, Anitha and I are all quite messy so didn't really appreciate the clean white lines and interiors with no personalisation though Stewart is a neat freak and really enjoyed himself. There was a mock up of one of the monastery rooms Pawson had designed ( Cis...

When Bioniclaura came to stay for KnitNation she very kindly gave me some Donegal Aran Tweed Yarn . The yarn is made in Ireland in a mill in Kilcar, County Donegal and I bought a little more of it when I visited the Knitting & Stitching show in Dublin with p/hop in October. As I'm supposed to be making 52 pairs of socks this year of course I made socks. The yarn is lovely to work with and though it feels a little rough at first after a gentle wash in some soak it softens up beautifully. I made these socks toe up, using Judy's Magic cast on for the toes. I cast on 18 stitches and increased every other round using YOs knitted through the back loop to 36 stitches on 3.75mm needles. They have a standard heel flap and gusset and were very quick to knit, taking one evening per sock. I gave this pair to my Mother in Law for Christmas and she is very happy with them. Though she loves all my knitting and often contemplates nicking things I have made for other people like some yarny...

We went for a stroll this afternoon along the Seine where my MIL lives to work off the champagne and cheese from New Year celebrations and build up an appetite for our postponed Christmas meal. It was a good opportunity to take some photos of my latest FO, Bubbles hat by Woolly Wormhead . Compulsory Catalogue Pose I've met Woolly at several shows over the summer and we sat together at several meal times at the infamous Knit Camp as well as getting tipsy at Knit Nation. She's ace and also a great designer. She leads a pretty interesting life, living in a converted double decker bus in Italy. Take a look at her blog which is a good mixture of her day to day life on the bus with her partner and young son and loads of great knitting tips. The Bubbles pattern was great fun to knit and worked up pretty quickly, the cables providing just enough interest to make this a great knit while watching Agatha Christie mysteries on TV in between eating festive leftovers. I used Araucan...