KNITSONIK & Friends: Colour to Knit eBook – projects and postcards from the club

photo by Britt Arnhilds - colouring pencils and shades for Brightlingsea found in Burano, Venice

It’s been a busy week as I’ve been working to move the club for the KNITSONIK & Friends: Colour to Knit eBook from Slack to Teachable. The reason for this move is that Slack have changed their terms for unpaid plans, so that the last 10k messages will no longer be accessible – rather, it […]

Bam and Pops in Shetland

Bam and Pops stand outside J&S with their beautiful sign featuring the red logo and the words HOME OF REAL SHETLAND WOOL

Back in the spring my Mum (Bam) mentioned that she and my dad (Pops) were planning to go to Shetland this July. Since my parents only planned to be in Shetland for two days, I wanted to prepare them for their trip so promptly sent them Volumes 1 – 3 of the fantastic Shetland Wool […]

Mudeford Sandbank meets Brightlingsea

Greetings from three weeks into the KNITSONIK & Friends Colour to Knit Club! Today I’ve been editing the recording of our second Zoom session and I’m feeling thoroughly inspired. In the enthusiasm of working on the eBook and seeing what everyone else is making, I’ve been happily making my own version of our first club […]

Knits of 2020

With huge immediate uncertainties about the COVID pandemic and the unknown impact of BREXIT, I’m finding that time feels very strange at the moment. At the end of 2020, I felt burnt-out and dispirited, and had the unsettling simultaneous sensation of the year having dragged on and on, AND a big question around where all […]

A Q&A with Nichola McGuire of Eclectic Gift

Following on from yesterday’s post, and celebrating the launch of my new greeting cards, we are joined today on the KNITSONIK blog by Nichola McGuire of Eclectic Gift. This post discusses mental health issues openly and is dedicated to anyone else who – like me, like Nichola – needs support in this area. All images […]

DOT PRIZE #3: THE CALMNESS OF DOTS

Concluding our dot-themed prize tour, I wanted to write about the wonderful use of calming blues throughout one of my favourite dot-themed publications: Making #3: Dots. I have particularly happy associations with this magazine because I initially spotted it (haha!) at Loop in London, when I was meeting my sister-in-stranded-colourwork Janine Bajus for the first […]

DOT PRIZE #2: REACH FOR THE STARS

My plan for these posts about DOT-THEMED-PRIZES was always to explore the vast scope for creativity and reinvention that might be found by playing with dots. Yesterday I spoke about the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama who has really redefined what you can do with these seemingly simple shapes. Today I’m following up with more thoughts […]

Of Polka Dots & Dolls

When I was planning the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Playbook, I knew I wanted to include a project that would enable me to talk about translating printed fabric into stranded colourwork. This type of inspiration source has appeared in nearly all the classes I’ve ever taught… …and I’ve always thought it was a wonderfully practical ideaa. […]

Shetland in pictures

We are back from a short break in Shetland; this was a special trip, as it was Mark’s first time in Shetland and a holiday for my birthday. I thought you might like to see some photos! Puffins at Sumburgh Head. The rocks around St. Ninian’s Isle. Sheep buddies! Seal buddy. Gorgeous ombré sand. A […]