Events in December

December is here, the bright and cheery lights are making an appearance and the festive season is upon us. To bring this busy year to a close I have two final big events to share with you. I will be out and about in Scotland this month saying hi to lovely knitty folk and stopping by some of my favourite shops.

Copyright Ryan McGuire of Bells Design. Used under Creative Commons license.

First up – Fluph in Dundee is turning 1! Jess (from Ginger Twist Studio) and I will be there this Thursday with lots of gorgeous yarn and patterns. I will have my books too and Jess and I have done some exciting kits for you. If you are in Dundee pop past the shop to say hi and join in the party.

Thursday 4th Dec. 4 – 6pm at Fluph 164 Blackness Road, Dundee, DD1 5PQ

Next Jess and I are heading to Glasgow to visit the wonderful Zoe from Queen of Purls. We will be joining her for a fabulous day of festive celebrations to raise funds for The Great British Farm Project (more details can be found on Zoe’s blog). The event will run from 12 – 5pm and there will be lots of fun, laughter, knitting and general festive cheer. Zoe is running a mini workshop to create a hand felted ornament and there will be a raffle. Jess has dyed up loads of gorgeous yarn too to go with all my new patterns. It will be a great day. Hope you can pop past and say hi.

Saturday 13th Dec. 12 – 5pm, The Queen of Purls, 91 Saltmarket, Glasgow, G1 5LE

Hope to see some of you at one of these events.

Enjoy your Tuesday. I will have those promised articles about knitting needles later this week.

Happy knitting,

Clare

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Cuboid

Copyright: The Knitter/Philip Sowels (Used with permission)

I am so excited to share this design with you. Cuboid was born about a year ago when I first started out designing socks. I instantly fell in love with the stitch pattern and the shapes created by the simple lace juxtaposed against the garter stitch. I made a tiny little sock for my then tiny little baby.

Life has changed a lot since I first made that sock. I now have a willful young toddler who is certainly not teeny tiny anymore (I blame the giant husband genes), I live in a different country and am taking my first steps into a successful freelance career with many more exciting designs to come.

I initially wanted to use this design in my Sock Anatomy book, I found a striking green yarn and knitted up the samples. I quickly ran into problems though as I could not grade the pattern into the small increments needed for baby, toddler and child socks. The design was shelved as I worked on other patterns. I could not leave the design though, I knew it was going to make a beautiful sock, for me it just worked. The elements combined in a way that made my heart sing.

To say I was chuffed when The Knitter agreed to commission this sock would be an understatement. I was ecstatic. I could hardly contain my excitement and remaining cool, calm and collected was nigh impossible.

And now many months after that day when they called to say they wanted the sock I can present to you Cuboid. 

Knitted in Knitting Goddess Britsock, a magical blend of 60% Wool, 20% Nylon (Polyamide) and 20% Alpaca. 

The magazine (The Knitter – issue 0075) is available in good newsagents throughout the UK and I know you can have it sent overseas too as a good friend of mine in South Africa gets her copy every month. More details can be found on The Knitter’s website. 

Copyright: The Knitter/Philip Sowels (Used with permission)

An Interview

Creative Commons Alan Levine https://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/5560626994/

Things have been a little slow on the blog lately. I am finding my feet in the world of freelancing. It is great and I am loving every second of it, although the pace at the moment is a little fast.

That said, I wanted to pop past and share this podcast interview with you. I met up with Jo from the Shinybees podcast at Unwind in Brighton last month.

http://shinybees.com/2014/08/25/episode-20-pack-up-your-troubles/

If you would like to know a little bit more about me and how I am finding my place in the knitting world drop past and listen to this excellent podcast. The interview also features George from Yarn Garden who is a fantastic dyer from Newcastle.

Happy listening and happy knitting.

C
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Head to Toe KAL (and news)

July has been an incredibly busy month for me, I am really looking forward to August and a change of pace. I finish my job this week and will be focussing solely on my knitting ventures from the 1st of August. This is an exciting time for me and I have so much to tell you over the next few weeks.

Before I launch into new and exciting things I want to focus on the here and now. I have a little KAL running in my Ravelry group and would love for you to come and join in . We are a friendly bunch and the KAL is very relaxed.

Montrose Hat by Clare Devine

I have secured some fab prizes for the KAL and here are the details

A relaxed KAL to celebrate the launch of my collection “Head to Toe”, released in 4 installments from July – October.

These four stylish accessories have all been designed to use a single skein of Ginger’s Hand Dyed by GingerTwistStudio.

You can buy the patterns in my Ravelry store. They are available as a collection for £10 (four patterns) or as individual patterns (£3 – £3.50)

The KAL will run from the 7th July until the 31st of October.

You can join in at any time and knit any (or all) of the patterns. You can use any yarn.

I have secured some lovely prizes for KAL participants. To be eligible for a prize you need to complete your pattern and post a picture of the finished object in the FO thread with a link to you project page on Ravelry.

Prizes

Grand prize:
A skein of Ginger’s Hand Dyed. You can select from one of the four bases used in the patterns and from any of the colours in stock at the time.
A gorgeous project bag sewn by Jess from Ginger Twist Studio
A copy of Head to Toe (in print)
A selection of stitch markers crafted by yours truly

Runners up:
Two runner up prizes of a print copy of Head to Toe and a selection of stitch markers.

During the KAL there will be some wildcard prizes including free patterns, stitch markers and hopefully some more yarn. I will update you as I secure these prizes.

Hope to see you over on the Ravelry group

Happy Knitting

Clare

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Brunswick (a little taster of what is to come)

Hi everyone.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I was in Brighton for the Unwind festival. It was a brilliant yarn event and promise to share my pictures and stories with you later this week.

It has been a week since I launched Head to Toe and the response has been amazing. Thank you.

I wanted to give you all a sneak peak of what is to come next. On the 1st of August I will be releasing my next pattern, it is a gorgeous accessory for your neck and shoulders. The design is very versatile and will take you from warm summer nights through to chilly autumn days. It can be worn in many different ways and is the perfect single skein project for a gorgeous skein of sock yarn. The sample was designed using Ginger’s Hand Dyed Delight, a springy merino sock base available in a wide range of fabulous colours. 

 

I hope you like what you see. Can’t wait to share more with you.

Happy knitting

Clare x

Montrose

The moment I have been waiting for quite a long time has finally arrived.

Without any further ado I present to you Montrose, the first in a series of four hats designed with Ginger’s Hand Dyed. 

Montrose comes in three sizes (S, M and L) and two different styles, slouchy and snug. It is the perfect summer hat knitted in Splendor (50% Merino and 50% silk) and will last you into autumn. The lace is an easily remembered 4 stitch and 4 ran repeat. Perfect for keeping your interest without being too testing on the ‘grey matter’. I found this particular lace pattern highly addictive and I can’t wait to cast on another hat for the KAL.

Montrose can be purchased on its own for £3 or as part of the four pattern book (ebook £10 and print book £12 plus p&p). 

If you buy the ebook you will get each pattern as it is released and then the final ebook in October with the last pattern from the collection. The print book will be posted in October but you get a free ebook so you can get knitting straight away.

There is a 25% discount until 13th July on the digital patterns. Just use the code ‘headtotoe25’ in my Ravelry store. 

I will be announcing the details of a KAL later on today. I really hope you will come and join us in the Yarn and Pointy Sticks Group as we knit our way through this collection. It will be a very easy going KAL with lots of chatter and some lovely prizes along the way.

Happy Knitting

C

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Shhhhhhhhh …. The Big Reveal (and a discount code)

I have been alluding to this for a while now. I remember when I first floated this idea with the wonderful Jess from Ginger Twist Studios. We have come a long way since I burst into the shop saying I had “a plan” and it involved her yarn and some ideas for stylish accessories.

On Monday 7th July I am releasing the first of a series of patterns designed to showcase the gorgeous yarn created by Jess from Ginger Twist Studios in Edinburgh.

Here are the details and a few sneak peaks for my lovely blog readers. You can also hear me and Jess chat about the collaboration on the Knit British podcast.

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Ever wanted to wrap yourself in exquisitely hand dyed yarns from head to toe? This new collection will allow you to do just that. Four carefully designed patterns each featuring a single skein of gorgeous Ginger’s Hand Dyed will take you from high summer through to early autumn.

Head to Toe is an exclusive collection of four beautiful designs by Clare Devine in conjunction with the talented Edinburgh based hand dyer Jess from Ginger Twist Studio. Released over four months from July to October the collection features stylish knitwear to take you through the seasons.

Pattern release dates

Montrose (hat) 7 July

Brunswick (shawl) 1 August

Edina (mitts) 1 September

Elgin (socks) 1 October

E-book and print book released on 1 October 2014, available to pre-order. E-book customers will receive individual patterns as they are released.

The e-book and individual patterns are available from Ravelry to pre-order from 5 July. To say thank you to my blog readers I am offering a 25% discount on all my digital patterns until Sunday 13th July, please use the code “headtotoe25”

To buy Head to Toe in print please visit my Big Cartel shop to pre-order. The book will be posted to you at the start of October once the full collection has been released. You will received a download code to use on Ravelry to get your free copy of the ebook once you order has been processed. The book costs £12 plus p&p. Unfortunately I am unable to offer the discount on the printed book.

Now for a sneak peak of the designs. The first one will be released in full on Monday 7th so you do not have long to wait. I will be posting more details of the other designs over the coming weeks, hope you like what you see.

Details of a KAL and prizes to be released later in the week.

I would love to hear what you think of the designs from what you can see.

Happy knitting.

Clare

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Week in pictures #5

Hello there,

Sorry about the radio silence. It is always the case when you get back from a holiday, you think you have all this time and actually life just takes over. What have I been up to? Unfortunately round here there has been lots (and lots) of this …

It is all for a good cause though. I am working on finalising a super secret and very exciting project. All will be revealed later this week. I can’t wait to share the news with you.

To maintain a level of sanity over the last ten days there has also been some yarn and fresh air (and a little knitting adventure but more about that later this week).

I got my latest installment of The Golden Skein. I love this yarn club. It is brilliant and the yarns they send are always fabulous. I will do a mini review of them soon, once I have some projects lined up.

I participated in the Indie-Burgh Yarn Crawl in Edinburgh. It was super busy but I had a great day. I was very restrained on the yarn purchasing front. I am saving myself for Unwind Brighton.

I drank a lot of coffee. My mini coffee stash I brought back from Calgary is all gone now (insert sad face here). I need to treat myself to some Edinburgh coffee.

There were two photoshoots for my new super secret project. Sneak peaks coming in a few days. Here are two location shots to keep you going until the big reveal.

In between all the work the little one and I have been on some adventures. We bought a bike seat and the whole family went for a ride and a picnic over the weekend. We have also been admiring the summer flowers and checking on the progress of the local swan families.

I managed one run. The running is not going well – I need to find a better spot in my routine 6am and 6pm are not working for me. At least I managed one run.

How have you been? If you are in the UK I hope the weather has been as kind to you as it has been to us here in Edinburgh.

Have a fabulous week.

Happy knitting.

C

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A glance back, and looking forward …

I missed the end of the blog week, I knew it was a possibility. I had a hectic work schedule and spent all day Saturday at a conference. I am not going to go back and do the post for day 6 just yet. I am going to turn into into a feature instead. Coming up over the next few months I will be revisiting my interview series and chatting to some inspirational souls in the knitting world. I already have some fabulous people lined up to chat with and would welcome your input on anyone you would like to see featured here on the blog. I can’t wait to get started. It will probably be a monthly feature, though we will see how we go. Watch this space for more details.

In the spirit of 5KCBWDay7 I thought I would stop for a second and take stock of where I have ended up. This is my post from last year and looking back I can’t believe how much has changed.

We moved across the world, instead of the Australia plan we ended up in Edinburgh! Who would have thought. Since we arrived 8 months ago we have moved twice and are still trying to find out feet. I have learnt that knitwear is very useful for the Scottish winter months but blocking knitwear is almost impossible. This is in direct contrast to South Africa where I could block anything in a matter of hours but never had the chances to wear all my lovely knitted items.

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I achieved some of my knitting goals and others fell by the wayside. I finished the Rock Island shawl and knitting one more pair of Cookie A socks, then my personal knitting ground to a halt as my knitting adventure took me on a new and exciting journey.

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Inspired and encouraged by my friend Heidi I decided to start designing some baby socks. These became Sock Anatomy, published at the end of last year. Since then I have written for The Knitter and taught at Ginger Twist Studio in Edinburgh.

What does the rest of 2014 have in store? I have more workshops coming up in Edinburgh and I will be venturing further afield and will be teaching in Dundee and hopefully Newcastle. I have some designs coming out in knitting magazines you will know (and hopefully love) and have a very special collaboration due to be launched in July.

Then there are the plans for 2015, they are glorious and bold. I am in the planning phase for some exciting new projects and I promise to update you as soon as I can.

Thank you for sticking around this year. I know it has been haphazard at times. I enjoy your company though and hope you choose to stay with me for another year of adventures.

Happy knitting

Clare

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Update and exciting news

Hello,

It has been far too long since I popped past and wrote to you all. The last month has been a whirl wind of chaos, some good and some a little trying, but nothing terrible. It certainly has been busy though and I have lots of things on the horizon that I will be sharing with you soon. Some exciting collaborations and new designs. I promise I will not keep you in suspense too much longer.

In general news, I now have a job. Not that I have not been working very hard over the last 14 months. Looking after a little soul (or at least trying) and working on my designing and knitting related writing has kept me on my toes. So to add to the mix of things that is my life I have a “job, job” style job – one where I have to leave the house, and I can’t work in my pjs while drinking tea, type job. I won’t bore you with all the details as it has nothing to do with knitting, all I will say is that I am very happy about said job. It is keeping me busy but I am working in a field I feel passionate about, so life is good.

I certainly do not intend to stop the blog, designing or knitting related work, it might just be a little slower on that front as I find a balance between work and life again.

To add to the new job, we have a new flat (another new flat) so the last month has involved packing, lifting, carrying and then unpacking. Followed by endless phone calls to utilities companies and other boring things. On the new abode front, I am happy to inform you I have secured a prime location for my stash in the cupboard next to my bed. You know, in case I feel the need to rummage through the stash and find new yarn in the middle of the nightof course.

In between moving and getting a job I have done some writing for ….. drum roll please……

The Knitter!

The Knitter – Issue 70

I am so excited to have an article published in this amazing magazine, it makes me feel really proud. So if you fancy learning more about how to get the most from your sock heels grab yourself a copy of the latest issue of The Knitter, Issue 70. You can find me on page 74. The magazine also has, as always, a fabulous selection of patterns and brilliant articles. I can’t wait for toddler bedtime so I can put my feet up and read this issue cover to cover.

If that was not enough excitement for one day, I also feature in the latest episode of Knit British by Louise Scollay. If you have not started listening to this podcast already I suggest you drop everything, this second, and dash off to download the first few episodes. She is AMAZING!

More from me later on in the week.

Happy knitting.

Clare

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