Giant Knitting

My fab friend Emily got me a fantastic wedding present in May: A super huge pair of wooden knitting needles from Rachel John at a craft festival earlier in the year. I just saw them and knew I had to have a pair!

But they're not as HUGE as these ones! They wouldn't fit in my living room!

Rachel's needles are great, but you can find giant needles on Etsy too - SnokistFarmGirl does very pretty ones for $12 a pair plus shipping. I'm making a cool chunky knit throw using about 8 different strands of machine yarn on a cone - gives an amazing multi tone effect as you can see:

I just need to find time to finish it now!! I've knitted it in stocking/stockinette stitch with a garter stitch border to make sure it does not curl up when laid flat. It's actually really light weight - and the looser weave means it has a really floaty lace like quality to it - a great light weight throw or blanket. I think it might "grow" with time, so I've made it the width of a double bed but half the length - intention was to put it across the foot of the spare bed, but it might end up somewhere else!


There has been some fantastic chunky knits in the shops for their Autumn collections, and to celebrate my love of all things knitted I've created a chunky knit treasury on etsy. Some gorgeous pieces to covert or gain inspiration from.

Can't wait to knit some more super cool items with my chunky needles!! This has to be a project I find time to make at some point:

Reminds me of a giant sea anemone - so soft and squishy...


Debs!

The Joys of Internationalism!

I'm a great lover of treasures around the world - Though I've not travelled much in my years so far, my sister Jooles has spent the last year or so travelling around the world, including South America, India and South East Asia.

I've been spellbound looking at all the cool things she has got to see on this mammoth Odyssey. (If not a bit jealous at times having to see pics of her on the beach in Rio whilst I'm experiencing snow and ice in a wet and windy Wales...) She is currently in Vietnam - here is a snapshot of her travels!

Etsy have just launched a new International Forum to their site - I'm a big fan of this; it is really about time I say. Etsy is an international phenomenon for everyone who loves craft to get together and share experiences and sales tips... but it is very Americanised... I'm hoping this is Etsy opening it's eyes to the wider world at large!

To celebrate the opening of this forum, and to show the best of International crafting I've pulled together an International Treasury - Around the World in 20 Listings!


(Notice I managed to find a Welsh themed item to sneak in too!)

I'm a member of the Etsy UK sellers team as well as the Etsy Cymru Team (our Welsh team), and I've enjoyed networking with the members, getting advice on Tax returns, what items are popular with UK sellers, how I can get involved with local craft fairs and trade shows and just meeting people in the same country to chat about crafting - my husband doesn't understand when I enthuse about new yarns or cool new needle types.... in fact he gets a bit fed up with the whole "knitting all hours of the day and night" thing at the best of times, so it's really nice to find people around the world who like what I like - and don't glaze over when I mention Intarsia or Fairisle...

So thank you Etsy for waking up to internationalism, and lets hope it leads to making this big old world of ours a little bit smaller....

Another Birthday, another milestone...

"Why is a birthday cake the only food you can blow on and spit on and everybody rushes to get a piece?"

I am writing this in anticipation of my 25th birthday on the 8th July. It's a cause for reflection, contemplation... and celebration!

It's been a truly rubbish year, same as the truly rubbish year the year before if honest... but I'm optimistic things will pick up soon. Highlights so far in 2010 include getting married (my first birthday as Mrs Harding!) and spending more time with good friends.

To celebrate, I've created a birthday themed treasury!

What have I got planned for this special day you ask...? A 2 hour strategy themed staff meeting in the morning at work, spending the whole day in the office ploughing through admin duties, then home to my lovely husband at some point in the evening to find out what he has been plotting over the last week or so - I can't get into the spare room - he has been locked in there doing "secret stuff", so I am curious to find out what he has been up to!

I may even take the night off from knitting.... might....

*** Had a fantastic night - went out for a meal with the hubby, bought me a new tea pot, posh tea and retro records and a record player - fab! ***

New Treasury - Cream Creations!

I have been a member of the Etsy Knitters team for about 6 months now - and it is a really great team to be involved with to meeet other knitters from around the world, read about what everyone else is up to and get patterns and ideas from around the world - all pretty tidy me thinks!

So in homage to this, I've created a Cream Creations Treasury using it's members stunning creations centred around creams and whites. I hope you think it is as pretty as I do - it took me ages as there were so many lovely creations to choose from!

***Remember guys - only 2 days to go until the super knitted blog giveaway!!***

New Treasury - Coral Creations!

I haven't made a treasury in AGES - and was pleasantly suprised with the new treasury format - no waiting for hours for a slot to appear; just put it together, and there it is! I chose to theme the treasury around CORAL - that gorgeous colour which is everywhere in the shops here in the UK this summer. Hope you enjoy it!

See my treasury here - CORAL CREATIONS!