Frome Independent and the delights of The Bakemonger

I am fortunate to live in a town that I really love. Frome is a place where people have creative ideas, and then they get up and do something about it. There's always something going on, from the Frome Comic Con, to the Half Marathon, people have ideas and run with them (sometimes literally!). One of my favourite events is the Frome Independent - a huge market that takes over the centre of town on the first Sunday of each month between April and December. The market is run by a not-for-profit organisation and aims to:

showcase the very best of independent produce, retail and makers that the region has to offer, against a backdrop of music, visual art and events

The market is a feast - and not just in the sense of the choice of things to eat! So when I first heard about the Market Makers scheme I signed up straight away. Running a market of this size in a way that supports both the town and the traders is a huge undertaking, and I fervently want the market to continue, thrive and grow (not just to survive), so we handed over our cash.

Imagine our delight a few weeks later when we learned that we had won a celebration cake (from the Market Makers scheme) from our absolute favourite Frome Independent trader: The Bakemonger! My mouth is already watering at the thought of what tasty treat I might enjoy at tomorrow's market. I'm a sucker for her salted caramel brownies - just as delicious as they are beautiful!

The whole process of choosing our cake was a treat. We decided to use the cake to celebrate the arrival of our new nephew, and Helen talked us through deciding on flavours and then design. We chose a rich chocolatey cake with passion fruit curd and chocolate ganache, decorated with white chocolate discs and stunning origami fans. The cake was jaw-droppingly beautiful and completely delicious.

It was the perfect celebration cake for our new nephew, and I've been pondering excuses to order another cake ever since... Many, many thanks to all the team at both the Frome Independent and to Helen at The Bakemonger, for not only giving us such a great market every month, but also for our delicious cake.

If you haven't already visited Frome, then I highly recommend a weekend break for the first Sunday of the month. And if you live too far away, then you can enjoy the cakes vicariously on The Bakemonger's stunning Instagram account: @the_bakemonger and see the action at the market on the Frome Independent's Instagram account: @thefromeindependent

I will be back soon with knitting content... in the meantime, if you care about local events, then find ways to support them! Use it or lose it is sadly the way these days.

The State of the WIPs/FOs

It feels like a long time since I last updated what I've been making, but I've been busily working away, and the pile of WIPs has diminished significantly. So without further ado, here they are:

My Islay cardigan (pattern by Gudrun Johnston) is complete!

I'm really thrilled with how it has turned out. I added about 2 inches to the body length as I'm fairly tall (5ft 9in), and also continued the garter stitch "seams" down the arms, in the same way as they are worked on the body. Apart from those two small mods, I've knitted exactly as per the pattern. I used just over 10 skeins of gorgeous Buachaille yarn in Between Weathers, and I'm really pleased with how well this yarn works for Islay. It's such a smooth st st fabric, and the lace and ribbing pops really nicely too.

I had a dilema over which buttons to use for this cardi, and my cheeky side really fancied some red octopus buttons that I've had in my stash for a while. In the end though, they didn't sit nicely on the i-cord edging, so I went for these elegant fretwork buttons instead, and I'm delighted with how they look! I shall just have to knit another cardi for the octopi!

I have also finished my Pawkie mitts (designed by Kate Davies) from the Seven Skeins Club that ran before Christmas last year. I finished one mitt back then, but the bag languished waiting for its partner.

These are also knitted in Buachaille Between Weathers, this time with a Ptarmigan contrast. I'm really pleased with them, and I'm sure they will get plenty of wear in the office on chilly days this winter.

And last but not least in the FO parade is my Fractal Danger shawl (designed by Martina Behm).

I so enjoyed making this! I completed it as part of the Summer Strickmich Showdown in Martina's Ravelry group (though as a moderator I'm sadly not eligible for the wonderful prizes!). If you have a pattern by Martina on your needles, or fancy making one during August, then do head over to her group and join the fun!

I used a sushi sock roll from Easy Knits that I've had sitting around for far too long! And I'm really happy with how well it showcases the lovely construction of this shawl/scarf. This is another accessory that will get a lot of wear once the weather turns colder.

That's it for FOs, and I'm down to just two WIPs... My Golden Wheat shawl (yes, I know, yawn... one day I'll pick it up again!), and my Alfrick socks. Looking over at the project page for the Humungous shawl, I last worked on it on a car drive to Chester, and funnily enough we are off to Chester at the end of next week. So who knows? Perhaps I'll dust it off and work a repeat of two. My socks are coming along well too. I've finished the colourwork on the leg of the second sock and I'm ready to start the heel, so look out for finished socks before too long as well.

Whilst I love having a nice choice of projects to work on (and it's always good to have a portable, easy project alongside something larger or more tricky...) I also reach a point where I need to clear the decks. And that's the place I've been for the last few weeks. It's possibly the end of the school year that does it. I need to sort out my spaces and declutter. The same goes for my knitting projects and I'm eagerly anticipating my next few projects - a Harewood Hap and possibly Knitter's DNA. Both gorgeous designs and I've got the perfect yarn just waiting...

What are you working on over the summer?

FO Prizes

It seems that all I do these days is blog about the #hapsarehappeningKAL, but those days are numbered. The deadline to get photos of your finished haps to the FO thread is next Monday (8th August). We will then draw winners at random from the list of projects.

There are already examples of all 13 patterns in the FO thread and it has been a real privilege to follow the stages of their development and to see how the same pattern can look so different in different colours or yarns.

So what can you win? These are the prizes to date and there may be others to add.

First on the list is 3 skeins of Coop Knits Socks Yeah! yarn generously donated by Rachel Coopey. This is more than enough to make your own Uncia, or socks if you'd rather. Socks Yeah! comes in 50g skeins in 10 marled colours and is 75% super wash merino, 25% nylon.

Next up is 2 skeins of Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply in Pebble Beach donated by Fyberspates. The variegated brown-grey palette has attracted considerable discussion within the group, being described as 'magic yarn' by some as the number of shades is greater than those you can see in the photograph.

Lucy Hague has generously donated a copy of her stunning Celtic Cable Shawls ebook as a prize. I know from reading through the forums that many knitters have come across Lucy for the first time, and I think that this collection will give huge enjoyment and satisfaction to the winner.

ADDED
You could also win your choice of product from the AndSewToKnit Etsy store. I have the honour of owning a wonderful AndSewToKnit apron for working at shows, and it's beautiful and still looks great 5 years on. Choose from yarn bowls, knot bags and more. Many, many thanks to Yvette for this lovely prize!

The final general prize is a set of pattern downloads from the designers that contributed to The Book of Haps. That's a whole lot of knitting! 

If you've finished a Nut-Hap and posted a photo in the Nut-Hap FO thread, you'll be in with a chance to win this rather splendid tea towel, donated by Frome-based illustrator designer-maker Mary Kilvert.

If you're ever in our neck of the woods, Mary's shop, right at the top of Catherine Hill, is well worth a visit to see all of the wonderful objects bearing her designs. Oh, and you can order online, so if you fancy your own handmade sheep, sheep mug, or notebook......

Finally, if you've double dipped into our KAL and the Knit British bookofhapsalong, you could win a copy of Lucy Hague's Illuminated Knits ebook and a skein of Yarns From The Plain hand-dyed yarn. These won't be drawn until the Knit British KAL finishes.

 

We are enormously grateful to everyone who has donated prizes here and throughout the KAL. It has added an extra dimension to what has been a truly inspiring couple of months.

If you're still deep in WIP territory, you have a few days to power through, so drop everything else and get knitting!

If you'd like to purchase some of Mary Kilvert's beautiful products, have a look at the options below:

And you can also purchase a copy of The Book of Haps from our online store:

Hapsarehappening Still

In the month since the publication of The Book of Haps, the hapsarehappeningKAL has racked up nearly 200 projects on the needles, or finished. I wonder how many there will be by the time the KAL finishes on the 8th August. Whatever the final number of projects, there will have been a bewilderingly large number of stitches worked, and hopefully a huge amount of joy in the making process, joy in completing projects, and in many cases joy in receiving a hap as a gift.

As usual, I've picked a few project photos that have caught my eye. First up is this Lang Ayre in progress, made by Kharis (peeriewyes). I'm a great fan of the delicate pastel palette she's put together.

 

The original colours of Happenstance were chosen to match Romi Hill's surroundings in Nevada. This photograh shows another Happenstance, made by Dawn (nibbleknitter), again with colours that reflect her surroundings.

 

My favourite photo of Houlland in the book is undoubtedly the one with the hap and its shadow as it reinforces the lacy nature of the hap. Similarly, I really like this Houlland by Pauline (Ranadi). The yarn gives the lace motif firm definition.

 

I may have mentioned previously how much I admire Uncia, so here's another fine example, made by Tina (TinerW).

 

The last two rounds of prizes have been generously donated by Carol Feller and Romi Hill (last week) and by Hélène Magnússon and Lucy Hague (this week). The lucky winners are SaraMW, kathrynsmyth,  fluffspangle, wolke100,  Dimityknits, soupdragon, Gynnifer and Annarga.

Keep tagging your projects with hapsarehappeningKAL to be in with a chance of winning prizes as next week is the last for WIP prizes. You can see all projects at a glance here, and see all the Instagram photos posted of projects here. Come back next week to see more beautiful creations. 

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Facebook | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on YouTube | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Ravelry | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Twitter | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Instagram | And sign up in the sidebar to get our blog posts delivered to you by email.

All photos © of the respective knitters.

Dial H for Haps

I have been slow in putting together this week's progress post, but I have been giving it some thought. One thing that's struck me throughout the whole Book of Haps project has been the number of designs that began with the letter h, roughly half. Except for the obvious, I've no idea whether naming haps with an h was deliberate on the part of the designers or not.

With this in mind, I'd like to share two finished h haps, Happenstance and Houlland.

 

Top: Happenstance made by Kim (kimknitessex); Bottom: Houlland made by Julie (Crochet-Julie)

It should be pointed out that Julie's Houlland is one of 3 haps she's finished already!

Last week, I featured a partial Hapisk, one of the larger projects in the book. This week, we were treated to the sight of a completed Moder Dy, a square some 5 feet across before blocking. I am hugely impressed with the speed at which Elithea has produced this, and really look forward to seeing it laid out to its full size in the near future.

 

Of the other massive projects, a few more Hexahaps have been shared in the last week, and this half Hexahap by Caroline (lindyhopper) is all but finished. If you click through on the link to her project page, you get a really good feel for the modular nature of the design.

 

Random weekly prizes for this week have been kindly provided by Martina Behm and Gudrun Johnston and go to Dimityknits, daynasue, MonkSqueeDunk and 0bev0.

Keep tagging your projects with hapsarehappeningKAL to be in with a chance of winning prizes. You can see all projects at a glance here, and see all the Instagram photos posted of projects here. Come back next week to see more beautiful creations. 

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Facebook | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on YouTube | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Ravelry | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Twitter | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Instagram | And sign up in the sidebar to get our blog posts delivered to you by email.

All photos © of the respective knitters.

HapsarehappeningKAL Weekly Progress

All over Knitlandia, knitters are making haps in all sorts of shapes in all sorts of yarn. This week, I've picked up some pictures of the haps that weren't featured last week.

Working backwards, first up is a finished object: Lucy Hague's Uncia, made by Danielle (KnittingNixon)

I am constantly impressed with the way that Lucy managed to reproduce the architectural lines of great cathedrals of Europe and this and all of the other Uncias out there are permanent monuments to Lucy's skill as a designer.

While some of the haps are relatively quick to knit, there are a few enormous designs that take some doing. Moder Dy by Kate Davies and Hapisk by Hélène Magnússon are two of these.

Georgie (GeorgieVinsun) has got further than this photo suggests, but you can see the wave motif that gives the pattern its name very clearly.

Pip (RamsayBaggins) is charging through Hapisk. I find the colour combination almost mesmerising, and although it wasn't the inspiration, I am strongly reminded of photos of Saturn when I look at the stripes.  

Of the smaller haps, Montbretia by Carole Feller and Theme and Variation by Veera Välimäki have proven to be popular.

Beverley (0bev0) has chosen colours inspired by wildflower meadows to make her Montbretia and they work fantastically well together.

Trish (Trish88) has gone for an attractive blue and grey palette for her Theme and Variation.

One of the ongoing discussions within the KAL has around choosing a favourite bird, and then matching yarn to plumage to customise the Nut-Hap. There will be birds from all over the world represented.

This example, that was recently completed by fluffspangle, takes its colours from the greenfinch. You can see how tucks are incorporated into the design, and to find out how to do this, Jen made a tutorial on adding tucks to your knitting last week. 

The randomly selected winners of prizes, provided by Donna Smith and Jen, are: Nell9, carolynintheuk,  nibble knitter, and elithea. 

It's still not too late to get involved as the KAL will run into August: simply tag your Ravelry project with the tag hapsarehappeningKAL to join in. You can see all projects at a glance here, and see all the Instagram photos posted of projects here. Come back next week to see more beautiful creations. 

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Facebook | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on YouTube | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Ravelry | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Twitter | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Instagram | And sign up in the sidebar to get our blog posts delivered to you by email.

All photos © of the respective knitters.

June Pattern Round-Up

Much of June was taken up with promotion work, but there have still been a few patterns that have crossed our desks and been published. 

Summer is most definitely shawl season, and Bristol Ivy's eye-catching Rillmark stands out from the crowd.

It takes its name from the marks left in the sand by the retreating water once a wave has broken on a beach. It has a clever construction in the way that increases are worked not only in the body of the shawl, but also in the edging without any obvious break in the pattern.

Conifer, a baby cardigan, is the latest release from Ella Austin's Colour and Line Collection. 

Any child wearing this beautiful cardigan will undoubtedly get jealous glances from all quarters.

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Facebook | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on YouTube | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Ravelry | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Twitter | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Instagram | And sign up in the sidebar to get our blog posts delivered to you by email.

Photos © Bristol Ivy and Emma Solley (Ella Austin) respectively

How to: Add tucks to your knitting

To complement the pleats tutorial from last week, here is a how to video on working tucks in your knitting. If you've ever wondered what the difference is between pleats and tucks, this will explain all (or is it just me that thinks about these things?). I adore the generous texture that tucks can add to knitted fabric. My Nut-Hap for The Book of Haps features a tucked edging, which is worked in a slightly different way - more on that another time.

I am busy planning our next lot of filming for next week, so do let me know in the comments if there are any techniques you'd like to see us feature.

A tutorial on adding tucks to your knitting

This video covers the following areas:

What is a tuck? What's the difference between a pleat and a tuck?

How to pick up stitches for a tuck.

How to work a tuck joining row.

Ysolda Teague's Ripley Hat pattern uses tucks.

My Nut-Hap uses tucks worked in a slightly different way.

The cowl I'm wearing in this tutorial is my Knotted Kernel design.

Photos © Kate Davies Designs Ltd

Video © Arnall-Culliford Knitwear Ltd

HapsarehappeningKAL Progress

This knit-a-long (hap-a-long?) has been running in our Ravelry group for a whole week. I am already struggling to keep up, simply because there are so many people taking part and talking about how they're getting on. This is of course a good thing since it means that there are huge numbers of photos from all over to look at, lots of help and advice being doled out, and most of all knitters from all over the world sharing their love of knitting.

What's really heartening to see, is that every pattern within The Book of Haps is being worked on. I think it's a testament to the designers that they've all interpreted the brief differently and have come up with something that really appeals.

With so many projects on the go, it's been hard to feature them all, so here is a small selection of those still on the needles:

 

From top to bottom: Jen's (Gynnifer on Ravelry) Haemgaet, Brenda's (brendadada) Harewood, Debby's (sailingby) Hexahap, Sara's (SaraMW) Houlland.

 And a few finished haps.

 

 Top to bottom: Alix's (AlixPearson) Lang Ayre, Maylin's (blithespirit) Shore Hap, Annegret's (herbscat) Happenstance.

Each week we're giving away prizes, randomly selected from those of you who have shared your projects with us. This week Tom van Deijnen, designer of the Hexahap and Bristol Ivy, designer of Harewood have generously donated patterns for us to give away. Merrybg wins a Bristol Ivy pattern of her choice, Paisley wins a Tom van Deijnen pattern of her choice, and FolkieFi was very lucky to come up twice, so wins one of each.

It's not too late to get involved as the KAL will run into August: simply tag your Ravelry project with the tag hapsarehappeningKAL to join in. You can see all projects at a glance here, and see all the Instagram photos posted of projects here. Come back next week to see more beautiful creations. 

Keep up to date with all we're doing:
Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Facebook | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on YouTube | Arnall-Culliford Knitwear on Ravelry | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Twitter | JenACKnitwear and VeufTricot on Instagram | And sign up in the sidebar to get our blog posts delivered to you by email.

All photos © of the respective knitters.

How to: Add pleats to your knitting

We're back with our first tutorial video! This is about how to add pleats to your knitting. It was shot at the same time as my introduction to Theme and Variation that I posted a couple of weeks ago, so doesn't reflect any of the kind feedback we received. We will work those tweaks in when we do our next lot of filming in July! I do hope you'll enjoy the tutorial, and find it helpful.

Adding pleats to your knitting explained

The video covers the following areas:

What is a pleat?

Underlay, turnback and overlay.

Setting up your fabric to add structure to your pleat.

How to prepare the stitches for joining in the pleat.

Joining 3 sets of stitches.

Pleats are featured in Turmeric by Veera Välimäki and Manu by Kate Davies.

And finally, I am wearing my Knotted Kernel cowl, which is my own design (but includes no pleats!).

We'll be back tomorrow with a round-up from our Hapsarehappening Knitalong over on Ravelry, and we'll be awarding the first work in progress prizes, so get your project photos up in the group. There are some truly stunning projects in the making!