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Secrets MY STASH
Delving into the stash of Amy
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uthor of Knit to Flatter, Amy Herzog set upon a quest to empower fellow knitters with her knowledge of creating knits that flatter any body shape, first through her blog, then by workshops and now a well-
Herzog
anticipated book, which means us knitters across the pond can practice what she preaches. With her expensive taste in yarn we couldn't miss the opportunity to root around to see what gems she has stashed away.
I think the word for my stash is 'respectable'. compliment you can pay a yarn is to knit with I'm nowhere near SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) and it doesn't need its own room or anything like that, but it's not as though I'll never be caught without yarn either!
I have two bits of yarn I'm desperate to use but can't decide what for. First, some
lovely hand-spun silk from a dear old friend. It's so special, and I just haven't figured out any object that matches it for beauty and simplicity. I intended to do a stole with the second bit when my wonderful friend Danielle handspun it for me, but now I have a sweater idea that could use it as an accent.
Amy's top choice yarns in her stash
Handmaiden Lady Godiva is my super-luxe, sweater to-die-for yarn. We used it in the book, and everyone who tries on that sample gives a little gasp. I'm not kidding! www.purlescence.co.uk
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Berroco Vintage is an acrylicwool blend, but feels like wool and wears beautifully. It's just the best partner for a crisp fall day. www.fabricbuy.co.uk
and I keep a yarn inspiration bowl on the side of my desk to look at while I work, filled with the yummiest of my yarns.
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Many of my designs originate from seeing a yarn in my stash. I'm a compulsive swatcher,
Swatch! Get to know the yarn, see what it wants to be. Try it in four different needle sizes, and really get a feel for how it behaves and looks. I keep a big bin of them and pin them up every now and again for inspiration.
There's no yarn in my stash that I can't see myself using. The highest
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it. And life's too short to keep yarn I don't love.
Knit to Flatter, RRP £15.99, published by Stewart Tabori & Chang, is available from 2 April 2013. Go to page 86 for a chance to win a copy.
I try to keep all of my designs fairly easy to modify. I tend to prefer
clean, simpler pieces. I have such luxe taste in yarn that I also try to make sure the design showcases the fibre – in most cases, the yarn we're knitting with is so much nicer than the material you can buy in the average shop. It seems a pity not to highlight the beautiful material. For more from Amy, visit www.amyherzogdesigns.com
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Sweet Georgia Merino Silk Fine is a lovely, smooth, fingeringsport weight yarn that makes a beautiful fabric at many gauges. www.aragonyarns.co.uk
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Quince and Co. Chickadee is a nice, soft-but-sturdy, 100% smooth wool sport weight. Unbelievably versatile, and I couldn't live without it. www.quinceandco.com
Brooklyn Tweed Shelter would be my last pick, because sometimes you just need tweed! And this is the crème de la crème. www.loopknittingshop.com
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Stash-buster Challenge 2013
www.lindacraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk The idea of Linda Solaiman and Ana from lanadeana. blogspot.co.uk, 2013’s stash-buster challenge has 93 sign-ups so far. Head over to their blog to join in the fun. www.letsknit.co.uk 75
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Secrets MY STASH
Delving into the stash of Sue
Maton
S
ue Maton has had a love affair with textiles for as long as she can remember. With a BA in Knitwear Design and an MA in Textile Culture it's no wonder she created The Mercerie, a business that provides information and materials to create craft items. This month Sue welcomed us to peruse her stash.
made up almost entirely of small balls of donated yarns. I have taught textiles for a very long time and over the years I have accumulated a rather eclectic collection of yarns. My stash is raided regularly and as a consequence has become irreversibly tangled.
knitted bunting is a fantastic way to use up those little odds and ends.
knitting for myself when I was around 13 years old. A rather punkish black mohair jumper was my first project, the ladders and dropped stitches somehow seemed to add to the effect. (This was the 1980s – just to put it into context!)
I tend to prefer what I call 'achievable' projects; things that can be made in a few evenings. In the past
I have started and not finished so many things,
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If I had to be really ruthless and reduce my stash down to the bare essentials, I would give away everything with any synthetic content! I believe very
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My mother taught me to knit when I was around six years old and my grandmother was also a prolific knitter. I began
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often because of the overwhelming enormity of the project.
Sue's top choice yarns in her stash
The Mercerie British Aran is the yarn I couldn't live without. I spent a great deal of time sourcing the British yarns we stock and chose it for its brilliant colours and excellent stitch definition. www.themercerie.net
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Colinette Giotta in the shade Elephant's Daydream because it has the most fabulous name ever and is beautifully silky and a very unusual yarn. www.colinette.com
strongly in using sustainable and biodegradable materials and worry enormously about the heaps of man-made fibres sitting in landfill sites.
The oldest yarn I have in my collection is a Rowan Aran Tweed which is twenty years old. It's beautiful and feels very rustic.
I knitted a jumper but was never entirely happy so I unpicked it and made a lovely cable knit beret. I've thought about how many other people have unworn hand knitted garments that could be unravelled and re-worked. With the current trend for 'make, do and mend' it makes this a rather interesting concept that I might pursue in a knitting workshop. For more from Sue, go to www.themercerie.net
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Shilasdair Aran is a yarn I discovered at The Knitting & Stitching show and simply adore the beautiful subtle colours that are achieved with natural dyes. www.theskyeshilasdairshop.com
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Frog Tree Alpaca is a luxurious yarn produced by a woman's co-operative in Peru. I only have a few grams left which I'm saving for something really special. www.frogtreeyarns.com
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Drops Eskimo Tweed is such a good value yarn and felts brilliantly. I have it in dark yellow for a pair of felted boots I've been intending to make for some time now. www.garnstudio.com
stash BUSTER Ewe Stash
Treeness An app that helps you manage your stash of yarn, needles and hook. You can even store a photo of your stash too. What more could you ask for?
Jennifer Rapalo
The one word to describe my stash is 'tangled'. My personal collection of wool is
The Mercerie's new 2013 collection launches this April, visit www.themercerie.net for more details
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Secrets MY STASH
Delving into the stash of Lauren O'Farrell
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auren O'Farrell, aka Deadly Knitshade, became intertwined with yarn when she started knitting to distract herself from the ongoing treatment for a tenacious blood cancer. Lauren writes with such an infectiously humorous outlook that it's hard to imagine the hardship she has dealt with. With all her knitting creations roaming the streets, we've been itching to find out what weird and wonderful yarns are in her stash! my secret shame. I did knit a corset-style The day that I picked up a jumper for a week-old piglet once. Does pair of knitting needles I that count? suspect that the
chemotherapy and radiotherapy combined with the yarn infused me with some bizarre knittingbased powers. My life is a
whole tangle of crazy knitted wonder and I am often fascinated to think it is all down to two wooden sticks and a ball of string. I feel unendingly grateful for the people and places I have stumbled across because of my craft. Knitters and crafters are generous, creative and hilarious people. I'm so proud to be herding a woolly Godzilla through the knitting world.
I love to knit on the London Underground; it's my favourite place to knit. Mainly because it's
hilarious to see people pretending not to watch you.
taking part in an art installation project in Germany as a graffiti knitting artist. It's ace but I have no idea what it will end up being.
The oldest yarn in my stash is Magic Stripe Basic Socks yarn by Lion Brand. I still have half a ball. The other half was knit into the only
The King Kong pattern from Stitch New York originated from seeing a yarn in the bottom of my stash. It was inspired by a mysterious and
Monstrous would be the word to describe my stash. It's huge, it's hideously bright and
sock I ever made which I stitched while travelling around India and Nepal. I managed to sneak in some stitches at the Taj Mahal and 3,500 feet up the Himalayas. I will never make the other sock but have used some of it to make a small pigeon.
I have never knit a jumper! From a girl who
I have three skeins of very fancy alpaca that I can't bring myself to use. They were given
sometimes people disappear into it and they are never seen again. has knit everything from an 8-metre giant squid to Woody Allen to five Telephone Box Cosies it is
to me by a Stitch Londoner as a thank you for running the community. It's too nice to use for one of my kooky creations.
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Lauren's top choice yarns in her stash
Harry Potter self patterning sock yarn by Opal is magical yarn. Accio DPNs! www.ebay.co.uk
Rooster Almerino Aran is so smooshy and it comes in unexpected muppet-flavoured colours. www.mrsmoon.co.uk
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Eyepopping neon-coloured Cygnet DK is my go-to graffiti knitting yarn. www.dragonyarns.co.uk
I have a ball of selfpatterning yarn in the colours of the German flag that I'm desperate to use but can't decide what for. I bought it while
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When Harry Met Sally hand-dyed yarn from A Stash Addict is dyed for a version of the Blockbuster Beanie in my Stitch New York book. www.astashaddict.co.uk
Any crazy eyelash yarn! Horrible to knit with but amazing for making monsters and beasts. www.texere-yarns.co.uk
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rather gorilla-like black furry yarn that was crying out to be turned into a big ape.
My plans for the future are to release more kooky little knitting patterns over at www.whodunnknit.com and write more city knitting books.
I'm also working on some top secret yarnstorming street art but if I told you what it was I'd have to kill you. No one wants that. For more from Lauren, visit www.whodunnknit.com
Readers can get Stitch New York by Lauren O'Farrell (RRP £14.99, David and Charles) for the special price of £11.24 plus free P&P (UK only). Visit www.stitchcraftcreate.co.uk and quote code R11980 or call 0844 880 5851 to order this fun book!
stash BUSTER Lauren’s Top Tip
If you can't be bothered to knit small balls of leftover yarn, you can always stick a set of googly eyes on it and give it to a knitting friend as a pet. They don't need much care and are toilet trained.
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Secrets MY STASH
Delving into the stash of Erika Knight
I began knitting during the punk years when Johnny Rotten made mohair sweaters de rigueur and ladders and holes were held together with safety pins. It was easy to have a go, there weren’t any rules to follow. I really like that approach and never want to lose that sense of creative freedom.
My favourite place to knit is on a long train journey. It's where I can settle with a project, switch the phone off and be uninterrupted.
The word for my stash would be 'selected'.
I choose to keep tonal, natural, textural fibres that inspire me and that work together. It’s not a random, chaotic tangled mess, but a considered collection; like a box of chocolates.
The oldest yarn I have is a little ball of very pale pink 2ply botany wool. It came in a kit to
knit a little cardi for a teddy bear from Wareham Bear and must be about 30 years old.
Seeing a yarn in my stash is often a starting point for a design. A little precious ball of silk
was the inspiration for some little silk shoes for my first baby book, and a reel of leather that I had been saving for something ended up as a floor cushion backed in chocolate coloured velvet, which still sits in my living room.
There's absolutely no yarn I can't bring myself to use. My problem is that I have too many ideas for all the yarns. It’s overwhelming, and is ultimately why all our stashes became a stash! I have a hank of Madeline Tosh hand dye that I'm desperate to use. I’m contemplating working it in a slip-stitch with a pop colour to create a muffler for my new book.
Accessories are my favourites . They are generally quick to make
and I like to have fun with colour and stitch. A new accessory can instantly update an outfit, whether it's a hat, gloves, snood, socks or collar.
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Erika's top choice yarns in her stash
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A vintage Kilcarra tweed, which was at the time a fabulous mill producing beautiful woollen spun tweeds with colours designed by Perry Ellis
A Blue Sky Alpaca hand dye in vibrant orange because it is absolutely stunning
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Linen Drape by Katia, it's long since discontinued but one of my all time favourite linens
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A very beautiful petticoat pink skein of angora. I don’t know where it came from, but it is the perfect blend - 60% angora, 40% wool, anything higher than this and the fluff makes it unbearable to wear
Vintage Rowan Magpie Aran is one of the best yarns they ever made. It was made from 100% wool but has now been discontinued
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My Erika Knight yarn collection, like my stash, is a concise and selected collection. There are
four yarns that are all pure British wool and Simple worsted spun to giura, from © Yuki Su by Erika Knight, g in itt achieve the highest drille Kn d by Qua publishe quality. The fur yarn is fast becoming a popular classic. Maxi wool is a voluminous yarn which is beautifully soft. Vintage is a generic aran weight that has a deliberate twist that gives it an old-fashioned hand-made texture. British Blue is my DK yarn and is sheer luxury in a small ball, a little 'taster pot' of chalky colour.
With my trend forecasting skills, I envision that knitwear will be going headlong into pattern.
Intarsia, geometrics, plaids and dogtooths, florals and Fair Isles; all piled up together in clashing colours!
On the horizon for me are new projects, new collaborations, new colours, new designs. I’m
always striving to come up with new designs and projects to entice people back to knitting and into wool. For more from Erika, visit www.erikaknight.co.uk
My favourite stash busting pattern to use is a rib snood, No. 6 in my design leaflet collection
stash BUSTER Erika's Top Tip
Choose a favourite pattern and use up your stash in a different way - ply up two or three yarns to make up the weight of your favourite pattern, or if you haven’t got enough of the yarn put a contrast colour tipping on the edges, or stripe your favourite pattern with colours and textures from your stash.
Unless stated, photos used are © Erika Knight Ltd
E
rika Knight has a well-established history in the yarn and fashion industry with her career covering everything from garment and yarn design to her fabulous trend forecasting skills. She has a multitude of knitting and crochet books to her name, and has her luxurious Erika Knight yarn collection too. With the beautiful yarns she's created, we just had to ask her all about her personal collection of yarn.
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Secrets MY STASH
Delving into the stash of Laura Nelkin
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fter falling in love with knitting in 2004, Laura Nelkin embarked on a career within the yarn industry, and is currently an independent knitwear designer. Even though she lives in the USA she is becoming well-known across the world with her workshops and tutorials on Craftsy, an online community with thousands of classes. With her love of lace knits, who wouldn't want to see what's in her stash?
When my daughter was four, I was at a play date and her friend's mum offered to teach me to knit while the kids frolicked.
Needless to say, we had a lot of play dates for the kids after that while she shared her knitting knowledge with me. Now, when knitting, I usually alternate between being either in front of my computer if I'm designing, in our vintage Barcalounger (reclining armchair) if it's family movie time, or in the kitchen at the wood stove with an audio book in the winter.
Lately I'm addicted to knitting shawls. I find it so amusing to watch them take shape, especially when lace stitches are involved! Hmmm, “What would you like to knit that you haven't made so far?” That's a
dangerous question. I did want to make an Icelandic Lopi Sweater, but did that last autumn. I'd have to say the next thing would be a traditional Bohus Sweater (Bohus knitting is a
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There's only one word to describe my stash – large. The oldest yarn in my stash is La Lana Wool Forever Random Worsted. It's a single ply handpainted wool yarn I got in Taos, New Mexico, whilst taking a Navajo Rug Making workshop when I was 20. Unfortunately this yarn is no longer being made, it is too precious to knit with. That's the only yarn in my stash that is safe from me using it!
tus Laura’s La scarflette
They're destined for a cardigan, but I have no idea if that greatness is top down, bottom up, seamless, lacy, garter stitch or some combination thereof!
When designing, sometimes the yarn dictates a design, and sometimes it's vice versa. When I designed Latus, for example, I
used half a skein of Madeline Tosh Sock from my stash that I didn't want to go to waste. I just knew it would be perfect for a scarflette with beads and set right down to make it!
As an avid lace knitter, one trick that works for me is to be a fearless knitter. No one ever told me I
couldn't do something, so every project I have tackled I just jump right into it. If you remember that it's all just knitting and purling, take it one stitch at a time, and you can do anything you set your needles to!
When my family travelled to Iceland last summer I brought back some really unique small batch undyed Icelandic Plutolopi and
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Jill Draper Makes Stuff Mohonk is a sport weight 100% New York State Cormo wool that is perfect for woolly warm but lightweight winter sweaters. www.jilldrapermakesstuff.etsy.com
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“One trick that works for me is to be a fearless knitter”
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String Theory Caper Sock is a cashmere/merino blend sock yarn. String Theory's colours are scrumptious and this cushy yarn construction is one of my favourites. www.foryarnssake.com
Laura's top choice yarns in her stash
Schaefer Yarn Anne is a light fingering wool/mohair yarn that is wonderful for lace. www.simplysockyarn.com
colourwork technique from Sweden). I'm hoping Craftsy will have a class on this technique one day... then I won't have any excuse but to try it.
some stunning reindeer horn buttons to match.
The Fibre Company Road to China Light is a sport weight yarn that is spun with alpaca, silk, camel and cashmere making it incredibly soft and drapey while the colours are luminous. www.meadowyarn.co.uk
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Swan's Island Merino Worsted, a 100% organic merino wool that's naturally dyed in a range of stunning colours. www.swansislandcompany.com
For more from Laura, go to www.nelkindesigns.com or sign up for one of her Craftsy classes at www.craftsy.com Readers can enter a giveaway to win Laura Nelkin's Lace from the Inside Out class on Craftsy. Preview the class by visiting www.craftsy.com/letsknit_lace and head to p83 for more details and how to enter.
stash BUSTER Laura’s Top Tip
I had so many precious bits of lace and fingering weight yarn that I couldn't see go to waste that I started designing knitted jewellery patterns. They're great stash busters and teach techniques for working with beads in your knitting.
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Secrets MY STASH
Delving into the stash of Jane Crowfoot
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tarting in the knitting industry as a Design Consultant for Rowan, Jane Crowfoot's career has gone from strength to strength and she is now recognised for being a tutor, author and designer. With all those under her belt, it was no wonder that we wanted to see what her stash is made of.
I don't make garments any more - I'm The oldest yarn in my stash will have to be all almost always of the cones of yarn in my loft which I used to disappointed knit my final collection whilst at Art School by them as It's scary to think that many of these yarns are they never more than 20 years old - they've probably live up to my been moth eaten by now anyway! expectations.
I pretty much taught myself to knit from a 1960s McCall's book of needlecraft. My Mum doesn't knit and my Grandmother didn't either; the knitting and crochet gene comes from my Great Grandmother Alice who we didn't see all that often, but who always had a Granny Square on the go!
My stash can only be described as disjointed. It's all over the place! I've got yarn stashed away in every part of my house, loft and garage. I have at least half of my stash in my studio so that it's around me all the time. I am forever rummaging through and arranging colour palettes and mixtures by laying yarns out on the table.
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Jane's top choice yarns in her stash
If I could only ever use five yarns again they would all have to come from the Rowan range. I would stick to the core range as I don't really 'do' fashion yarns.
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Rowan Cotton Glace is perfect for summer knitting www.mcadirect.com
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need to find the right pattern and some spare time!
“The number of projects I have on the go at any one time all depends on how you translate 'on the go'!” I have two 25g balls of the original Jaeger Cashmere 4ply in a really light pink/peach shade that I can't bring myself to use.
I used to knit bootees for friend's babies and pop them back in the clear box to wrap as gifts, but with only two balls left I am saving these for really special babies.
I am really eager to knit something with the new Rowan Sock Yarn 'Fine Art' as I have some skeins which have been newly added to my stash. I do fancy making a pair of socks, I just
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Rowan Wool Cotton has a great stitch definition www.laughinghens.com
Rowan Siena 4ply is also perfect for summer knitting and has such a wonderful sheen www.loveknitting.com
Rowan Handknit Cotton is perfect for all year round knitting www.getknitted.com
The number of projects I have on the go at any one time all depends on how you translate 'on the go'! I think the best thing
about any project is choosing the yarn and knitting the first two or three balls - after that I want to give up and knit something new. So if the question is ‘How many things have you currently got on the needles?’ I would have to admit the answer is possibly as many as six projects, but if the question is ‘How many projects am I actively working on?’ then I would say two! For more from Jane Crowfoot, head over to www.janiecrow.co.uk
Kaleidoscope by Jane Crowfoot and Debbie Abrahams (RRP £19.95) is published by Inspired Minds Publishing in association with Quail Publishing
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Rowan Felted Tweed has such a fabulous tweedy/felted look www.stashfineyarns.com
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Knitting and crocheting cushion covers and blankets is great because you can incorporate so many techniques that you won't get bored!
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Jane's Top Tip
I 'cull' my stash at least once a year, getting rid of all the bits and bobs I'm not likely to use. My friend Helen makes the most beautiful knitted necklaces and is really good at stash busting so I give quite a lot to her.
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Secrets MY STASH
Delving into the stash of Patricia Roberts
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s this is our British-themed issue, it stands to reason that we should have a peek in Patricia Roberts' stash. She is recognised as being the British designer at the forefront of handknitting in the late 1970s and early 80s, catapulting it into the world of high fashion and even influencing Kaffe Fasset to take up knitting. Without her, knitting would not be where it is today.
As I mainly knit stitch blocks to invent new stitches I am afraid that I don't have time to knit whole garments, although I do like
knitting small items like gloves. I am currently working on a new quilted rose design.
My first knitting memory is when I was six and started knitting dolls' clothes. I had just
“The golden rule to knitting anything is to check your tension and if necessary to change your needle size accordingly.�
been taught to knit by my grandmother. All of my friends' mothers were knitting clothes for their little Rosebud dolls, but my mother had no interest in knitting and didn't like homemade clothes at all. I got my mother to buy me a Rosebud doll and then proceeded to knit clothes for it. I would make up patterns and I remember the first thing I knitted was a fully fashioned dress in yellow wool with blue spots on it.
When I design I always do so with a particular yarn or yarn combination in mind, balancing the shape, the stitch-craft and most importantly working out the colours. It can take ages to work out a good colourway. I usually keep knitting and unravelling until I get it right.
The one word to describe my stash would be 'non-fashion'. I love simple, natural fibre
yarns which show the beauty of the stitchcraft. With so called fashion yarns, which are often over-complicated yarn combinations, I find what you get is a quick, often flashy result.
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blanket with it for my daughter when she was born. She carried it around for years and it
I'm afraid my stash is made up of my own yarns. They are all simple natural fibre yarns.
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Patricia Roberts 100% Cashmere shows up the stitchcraft really well and the colour range varies all the time.
I recently came across some pure silk in my stash that I used to sell, which came from Macclesfield. Unfortunately the mill closed and
the yarn is no longer available. It is very beautiful, but I'm not sure that I have enough to knit a whole garment. Perhaps I shall have to use it in combination with some other yarn.
If I could impart only one piece of advice to a knitter, it would be that the golden rule to knitting anything is to check your tension and if necessary to change your needle size accordingly.
The oldest yarn in my stash is some very old 3ply cashmere. I designed and knitted a baby Head over to www.patriciaroberts.co.uk
Patricia's top choice yarns in her stash
Patricia Roberts Fine Cotton knits up beautifully and shows lace patterns particularly well.
was washed so often that it became absolutely tiny. The blanket is called Scrabble, because it has letters of the alphabet knitted in lace with images of trees, houses, boats and the night sky through curtains. I still knit this blanket but usually in Fine Cotton. This is also the yarn I have least wanted to use, probably because I have so little left of it.
Patricia Roberts Angora I love the vibrancy of the colours that you only get in angora. I often use it for motifs on children's sweaters.
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Patricia Roberts Lambswool No.1 the yarn is really soft and is the best lambswool available; it works beautifully in combination with angora.
Some very old 3ply cashmere I originally had it in cream and a light natural colour, now all that's left is the light natural version.
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for yarns, knitwear, kits and more from Patricia Roberts
stash BUSTER Patricia's Top Tip
Combine yarns together to knit accessories that don't require very much yarn.
coming nextissue
DEBBIE BLISS REVEALS HER STASH SECRETS IN OUR CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, ON SALE 20 SEPTEMBER 2013