A Rather Crafty Weekend

Last weekend I went back 'home' to Saffron Walden...the town where I grew up and my parents live. I still tend to still refer to it as home out of habit, even though it is almost 9 years since I've lived there properly! I spent a fantastic few days visiting my parents, catching up with friends and playing with my little Godson J. One of the main reason for this trip was to attend a knitting colourwork workshop at CraftDays, a new shop of crafty awesomeness which has recently opened its doors in my hometown. The workshop was run by Erika Knight, she of knitting book and yarn fame. If you are not familiar with her I highly recommend that you pop over to her website...all of the yarns in her range are 100% British in origin, which is a venture that I feel definitely deserves our support!

Erika was brilliantly friendly and welcoming from the start, and not at all intimidating, considering she is someone so well known and famous amongst knitting circles! Her genuine enthusiasm for the joys of my hometown was also very lovely to hear. Erika took us through the process of design and the way in which she selects colours for her yarn range, which is based on neutrals and muted colours with the addition of a limited palette of 'fashion highlights'. It was really interesting to gain an insight of this process, which is something I must admit I have not thought much about before. Sometimes it is tempting to just grab as much colour as possible, so it was a new experience to take a step back and consider working with a smaller palette of colours which complement each other. Erika is hoping to add a wider range of colours and yarn textures in the future, which is something I will definitely be looking out for!

We looked at a number of different ways of working with colour, including stripes, Fair Isle and colour blocking (also known as intarsia). Erika showed us how to strand the yarns and minimise the number of ends which we are left with to make our work tidier. Here is my work from the front and the back….

After this introduction to working with colour I definitely feel more confident using it – I can’t wait to incorporate new these techniques into future projects. I am also beginning to see more clearly how to add colour and motifs to existing patterns, which is an exciting prospect.

The same weekend I also managed to fit in a trip to a Quilting and Patchwork Fair which was held at Chilford Hall in Linton. To say I went on a bit of a fabric splurge is an understatement. There was no restraint practised at all. In my defence, there were so many fabrics on display, it was hard to resist. I ended up coming away with a rather large stash of new acquisitions of small lengths, all either fat quarters or half metres. This was despite my New Years promise to buy for purpose only. Opps. But every dieter is allowed a little slip up right?! Or even a rather considerable slip-up in my case! Look they are so pretty...

I do already have quite a few projects in mind for my new purchases, so expect to see a few smaller makes coming up over the next few months! Aside from my lack of control, the Quilting Fair was a great experience with many gorgeous quilts on display – the time and effort that must have gone into some of them is just incredible. It was wonderful to see it so busy as well....the British love for crafting is clearly booming!

K xx