A Playful Day

A love affair

2012-03-09T16:33:00.001Z

I promised you all a very indulgent post about a shawl that I have been completely in love with recently. To say that I am besotted would be an understatement. As evidence of the reason why please see the picture below.

Pretty isn't it? The pattern is called Whippoorwill and is by Carina Spencer, who is also known as Sweet Mama on Ravelry. The pattern has been in my queue for quite some time. On a snowy day in February I decided it was time to release some stash that had been marinating for quite some time and cast on.

Firstly, let's talk about the yarn shall we? The main body is knit in NorthboundKnitting yarn, Super Wash Merino, a lovely fingering weight that I thoroughly enjoyed working with. As always with Lisa's yarns the colour is absolutely perfect and I was completely addicted from the get go. The colourway is called 'Moonstone' and is now firmly in my all-time top yarns. The subtle variation in this wonderful yarn is just the kind of colour that I love in order to create an interesting fabric.

To complement this lovely neutral I picked a Tactile Fibrer Arts yarn that I had been sent for review. The yarn is called Bolinas Sock and the colourway is 'Pomegranate'. It is a bouncy Blue Faced Leicester with a high twist that has been naturally dyed and I felt the red popped wonderfully for this project. While I had a few issues with bleeding from the yarn I had been cautious enough to soak it first as I knew that naturally dyed and red are both prone to bleeding. Luckily, it was more a case of excess and so I didn't lose any of its' wonderful deep colour.

(I'll be doing a fuller review in this Sunday's podcast episode so stay tuned for more news on this lovely yarn. It's a goodie.)

I loved working up this pattern, and was sad that I didn't do my homework before it was too late to realise that I could have squeezed a medium-size shawl out of these two skeins. Realising this, I set about adding an extra red ripple and the size is now perfect to wear around my shoulders this summer. You can see more details and notes on my Ravelry page here.

Roll on summer!

PS I appear to be getting better with this dictation software - photos!

Something new and very funky

2012-03-07T14:01:00.001Z

Before I start, if there are any errors in this post I'm going to leave them uncorrected. You will soon see why.

I originally started knitting following a sports injury that left me unable to do most of the sports I did at the time and in fact barely able to walk. Forced to sit still, I took up knitting as a way of soothing my very active self with a new kind of continuous movement. It seems that no matter what movements I'm doing, there will be injury as I'm now having to work out how to deal with RSI. I suspect I am naturally tense person and in my head I excuse this as being something of a 'creature', the kind that doesn't stay still and is constantly bustling about!

I have learned to position myself more ergonomically, take regular breaks and pay attention to where I hold my stress. This has really helped a recent change from teaching to freelance writing and editing means that 70% of my day can now be spent on my laptop be it as work or in my own time when I'm blog reading etc. I edit audio andvisual, format documents, write blog posts for myself and others, proofread and generally spend a lot of time clicking away at my desk. So while I have managed to overcome wrist pain from knitting, the constant use of my laptop was not going to work.

So I thought I would share with you my new solution -- dictation software! I have to admit I saw very strange chatting to myself but look, a whole blog post, complete with (over) punctuation and no pain! Also, as an added bonus I can break into 'Vogue' thanks to my nifty headset.I felt I just had to share as I know many of you out there suffer from RSI either due to your crafting the kind of lifestyle we all lead which involves heavy workload on a laptop or computer.

It is not cheap option and involves a large amount patience in order to train it to your voice and learn how to use it to manipulate different software programs. However, it now means that when I finish my working day I can sit and knit rather than stare sadly at my needles and mutter, "soon friends, soon". my next plan is to invest in a RSI friendly mouse because that investment now will hopefully save me from pain for years to come. Do any of you use different support for RSI? I would be very interested to hear about it.

The hardest thing is going to be resisting the urge to knit with my now free hands which would kind of defeat the whole point, don't you think? Also, if anyone knows how to get a similar software that will make my appliances respond and do things like all my laundry and cooked me dinner without my having to lift a finger, do let me know.

Episode 24: Unravel 2012

2012-03-05T15:53:00.002Z

A Playful Day is kindly sponsored by Superknits, and brace yourselves because..... the stripes are here! For more information, please click on the banner above.

A Playful Day is also kindly sponsored by NorthboundKnitting, uniquely hand dyed yarn, spinning fibre and modern knitting designs. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above.

A Playful Day is proudly sponsored by Candy Skein, hand dyed yarns sweet enough to eat! Please support our playful friend by supporting the banner above.

Show notes:

Subway Knits interview
-along, the playful group on Ravelry
There will be a podcast next weekend, Sunday 11th 2012 as I miss chatting about knitting and food....

You join us at Unravel where I record the (very noisy) podcaster's meet and greet with lots of friends and podcasters:

Electric Sheep

Miss Elle Knits

Knit.Spin.Cake

Also at the meet and greet were some playful friends including Lollipop Stop and Lioness Arts.

Vendors I chat to:
John Arbon Textiles
Well Manor Farm

Nimu Yarns
Skein Queen

The UnderCover Owl

One Hand Knits Ravelry Page

Purl Alpaca Designs

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
Alive by The Dala Girls, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Delay

2012-03-04T16:27:00.000Z

There will be a slight delay in the podcast- today just didn't go to plan.

Expect a podcast up tomorrow afternoon once things settle down a bit

It's that time of year again!

2012-03-01T14:50:00.000Z

I can't wait, the third annual Knitting and Crochet Blog week has been launched, hosted and organised by the wonderful Eskimimi. Thanks to this event, the podcast came into being and I had so much fun, made new internet friends and discovered a whole host of blogs to add to my GReader feed.

The event will be on the 23rd-29th April 2012 and further details can be found by clicking the link below.

Hope to see you there!

This is how it starts

2012-02-27T14:23:00.001Z

140grams approx of hand dyed BFL with the promise to play on my friends wheel included in the present.

Oh dear.

Leftover Soup or Winners Soup

2012-02-25T12:00:00.000Z

I love soup. Anyone who has ever read the blog before will know that my love for seasonal soup is what gets me through the week. I'm at my happiest when there's a tub of delicious soup in the fridge to schlurp from when I get peckish. So I thought I'd share a leftover 'go to' and the tips for making leftovers winning on the taste front.

The basic recipe is a twist on Moroccan soup and the lemon adds the zing sometimes nececsary to pick up a tired soup. I substitute beans, veg and all sorts but the basics remain the same: a good strong, tomato base, lemon and a combination of fresh and stored herbs and spices to add depth and interest. Here's the basics then I'll explain the twists as I go.

To serve 4 people you will need approximately:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion , chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 tsp ground cumin (this is basic- I add mix and match spices to add zip- see below)
600ml hot stock (to make this more meaty, use ham stock and add pancetta or chorizo at the onion stage)
1 can chopped toms
1 can of pulses, rinsed and drained or any other bean, soaked. It needs to be a good handful at least. Chickpea is nice and I often do a handful of two different beans or pulses.
zest and juice ½ lemon
large handful chopped coriander

To make a winning soup:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, fry the onion and celery gently for 10 mins until softened, being sure to stir frequently.

2. While this is cooking down, heat a small pan and lightly toast your spices to bring out their aroma. I use paprika, dried chilli and cumin, sometimes with ground coriander or dried garlic. It depends on my mood.

3. Add the spices in to the pan and any 'additional veg'. Last time I used carrot and pepper and a little left over cabbage but you don't need to.

4. Turn up the heat, then add the stock, tomatoes and pulses, plus a good grind of black pepper and pinch of salt.

5. Simmer- the longer the better

6. Add the lemon juice and heat through for 2 more minutes.

7. To serve, sprinkle on the zest and chopped fresh herbs (Parsley also works).

Ta da!

12 women in 12: Jeni (Fyberspates) Hewlett

2012-02-23T14:59:00.000Z

This month, my attention for 12 Women in 12 turns to the world of yarn production and just what it takes to make a yarn business grow to an international level. It's no mean feat and it's a goal not to be taken lightly. Offering a quality product, in a range that appeals to all kinds of Crafters, with pattern support takes time and dedication and here at A Playful Day we salute that.

Jeni, (c) Fyberspates

Jeni Hewlett is the woman behind the brand Fyberspates, and believe me, she is a force to be reckoned with. Jeni has built this empire from scratch and every aspect of the business and it's thriving community of supporters is a credit to her hard work and determination. Fyberspates started out as a small and independently run hand dyed company, but Jeni admits that it was never her intention to keep it that way. Fyberspates yarn is now sourced from within the UK, Peru, Italy, Spain and the USA and can be found stocked in LYS' from Australia to France and more, so you can see just how far a journey Fyberspates has enjoyed.

Jeni's aim was to grow her company slowly and build into a sustainable business which would be able to do things which she felt other commercial companies didn't do. This growth came from wanting to get Fyberspates products out into the world, and so Jeni came up with 2 ranges: a 100% Wool range and Scrumptious. Scrumptious was a huge success and so Jeni expanded what worked, and rolled out Scrumptious into 5 weights of yarn to suit a wide range of projects.

Now with a hand dyed speciality range, a whole sale range and pattern support from well known and respected designers, I asked Jeni what an average work week looks like; her answers were honest and I was struck by how much dedication it takes to create a yarn business of this magnitude. On average, Jeni will work 6 and a half days, occasionally managing a weekend off but even then there will always be work in there somewhere. A huge proportion of time is spent answering emails, organising advertising, sorting out wholesale orders, doing invoicing and packing orders.

Hand dyed lovelies, (c) Fyberspates

When Jeni first started, she had left a Master's degree which she hated and set out to make knitting her career. She started learning to design and dye yarns and from this small business enterprise, a yarn company grew that included a hand dyed range but also a carefully developed whole sale line. Jeni admits that dyeing has become the least part of what she does now, and admits that it is a shame because it's her most favourite part. With this in mind, the Fyberspates site moved and changed so that Jeni now has a new dyeing unit which means she can dye a lot more in a shorter space of time. Great news for those of us still loving the Fyberspates unique colour palettes.

Alvescot by Jeni, (c) Fyberspates

Furthermore to all this work, there is a huge amount of planning things that will happen in the future. Fyberspates now work on an 18 month plan ahead of time so that there is quite a strict structure to work in terms of patterns, books and other publications. On this schedule, Jeni states that it takes about 12 months to bring a book to fruition. This struck me as incredibly well thought out, with a clear understanding of the market, knitters and her own products. To go from working week to week, to planning so far in advance, means strict budgets and editing schedules. Like our other 12 Women in 12, Jeni is approaching her work with carefully measured plans and allowing projects time to grow so there won't be any nasty surprises in the future.

It would be easy to think that Jeni has, understandably, become removed from the customers who she first started dyeing for but this is simply not the case. Jeni exhibits at roughly one show a month and admits that this is great fun and that this is the time when she gets to go out and meet customers face to face, and get great and valued feedback on the company and products. Jeni states emphatically that this is something very important to her.

I asked Jeni for her business advice for those wishing to follow in her footsteps. Here's what she said:
1. Steady growth is extremely important, because it allows you to learn the lessons you need to learn as you go along.
2. Get customer service right- you have to deliver the things you have promised, and if you end up losing money/or customers, you must learn from it, move on and DON'T do it again. This is VERY important.
3. Find people to work with who match both your own personality and share the same values.

Longcot by Jeni, (c) Fyberspates

Finally, I asked Jeni what her proudest moments have been to date. Jeni described the way in which 'The Scrumptious Collection: Volume 1' opened so many doors for the company. Tellingly, Jeni states that it wasn't the book so much as the realisation that her business would fly once she had the right people to work with on board. Jeni now feels that she has a 'dream team' that can do anything together and so now the stage is set for further success. A point proven by her other greatest moment- being asked by John Lewis to be featured in their stores. Fyberspates is now a widely respected luxury yarn stocked in high end commercial and small, independent stores alike.

This interview gave me great food for thought and really made me appreciate just what makes a yarn company successful: determination, sound business plans and the ability to attract the right people around you. In the future, Fyberspates 'dream team' are planning Collection 2 of the highly successful Scrumptious Collection for January 2013 and also exhibiting at Handarbeit in March 2012. Lastly, there's TNNA to look forward to in June with the new Distributor Lantern Moon so things look very positive indeed.

You can follow all of Jeni's most recent news on the Fyberspates blog, her twitter feed, the Ravelry Group and Facebook.

Stay tuned for more 12 women in 12 and please do join in to show your appreciation for good business practice by yarn companies by eithertweeting along on twitter (#12womenin12) or sharing your feelings on your own blog. Be sure to let me know/ link us in, we'd love to know what you think!

Unravelling

2012-02-21T17:19:00.000Z

This weekend I'm off to Unravel so if you're there and spot me, please do say hello! My plan is to try to remember to take lots of audio and catch up with lots of friends and I can't wait.

On Saturday I will be part of the Podcaster's Meetup at the Ravelry Party being held in the East Wing of the Maltings. The Meetup kicks off at 11am and ends around 12.

I'll also be there on Sunday in a less podcasterly fashion but still with mic in hand- you never know who you might meet!

There will be a special podcast soon to tell you all about the frolics so stay tuned!

Ode to my Knitting Crushes.

2012-02-19T16:09:00.001Z

I have many knitting crushes. Some are pure and steadfast, some whimsical and some have been my biggest crush since, like, FOREVER. So I thought I would pay tribute to the people I consider legends in the knitting world and I would turn completely fan girl on at the drop of a knitted hat.

In no particular order....

8. Melissa Wehrle of Neoknits. My favourite ever knitscenes are without fail, the ones where she has several designs. I've built them up to the point I couldn't possibly knit them. But this year, as I say every year, it's going to happen.

7. Gudrun Johnston of the Shetland Trader. Just wow. Again, I'm in awe and am yet to brave casting any patterns on!

6. Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. I've made several of her stylish accessories by now and I'm thrilled that she has a collection coming out with another delicious designer: Hannah Fettig. I'm avoiding buying Coastal Knits for fear I will become knit frenzied and never leave the house.

5. Vanessa Smith of Knit Rhapsody. I think not only is her design work to die for but she is also hot stuff herself and I admit, I have a girl crush.

4. Veera Välimäki of Rain Knitwear Designs. Her designs are stylish and grey and striped and I must KNIT THEM ALL. yes.

3. Cecily Glowik Macdonald. My more recent knitting crush, a slow burning and building crush. Now it is fully fledged and I want to make about 10 of her sweaters/ cardigans NOW. I'm in awe of course and completely paralysed by the thought of not making mine as perfect as the pattern.

2. Stephen West. I love his wearable designs. His photography suits my playful self and I love, love the fact that I can make things for both myself and the giant that I will wear. Lace is nice but this is wearable. I'm working through this collection slower than I would like. It helps he's cute as a button too. Yes.

1. The ultimate for me, Brooklyn Tweed. Oh Jared, let us count the ways I love you. For me it's not just the clear, simple but informative pattern writing, the stunning photography but it's the classic nature of these designs. This is what knit wear should look like. The last two Fall collections have taken my breath away and made me sink into tea and toast and hours of reading and browsing over the pattern info. I can't bring myself to knit them. I'm too in awe. Aren't I silly?

Do you do this? Obssess about design collections but never seem to get there? Or dabble then run away again?

ETA: I have absolutely NO idea why this republished here. I was correcting typos last night and something funky happened. Ho hum

Episode 23: Stop! Sweater Time!

2012-02-19T09:32:00.000Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, who are changing and to mark this evolution are hosting a massive sale of all branded yarn to make room for their own super yarns- go on, spoil yourself!!!

Aplayfulday is also kindly sponsored by NorthboundKnitting, uniquely hand dyed yarn, spinning fibre and modern knitting designs. NorthBoundKnitting have just released a new update and if that is not enough to tempt you, the Fiber Club spots will be in the shop on the 24th February 2012. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above.

Aplayfulday is proudly sponsored by Candy Skein and is sharing the love with 10% off all purchases until 29th February 2012. Simply enter the code 'APLAYFULDAY' at checkout to claim your discount.

Show notes:

I will be attending Unravel at the end of February 2012 on both days. The podcaster meetup is happening in the East Wing, behind the Interknit booth at 11-12 on the Saturday as aprt of the Ravelry party. Please feel free to come and say hi on the Sunday but I won't be doing a meet and greet on this day!

Save the date- Wonderwool is in April.

Off the Needles
After thought heel socks by Laura Linneman in a mystery self striping of awesome- stay tuned!
Kai Mei by Cookie A in Superknits Mary, Queen of Socks, colourway 'With my tv and CD collection of Bob Marley'

On the needles
Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer using Northboundknitting Superwash Merino Fingering in the 'Moonstone' colourway and Tactile Fiber Arts Studio Bolinas Sock in the colourway 'Pomegranate'.
Julissa by Vanessa Smith of Knit Rhapsody in Miss Bab's Yowza! Whatta Skein! in the colourway 'Catherine'.

Playful Pursuits:
Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'Knitting Without Tears' for inspiration and Knitting Pipeline for pure podcast delight.

Munch, Burp, Schlurp
Delicious Pumpkin Nutella Swirl Bread from BarbaraBakes.

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
I'm Single by Deidre Flint, available on Music Alley
You Can't Touch This! by MC Hammer
Simon Says by Pharoahe Monch

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Tag You're It: Featuring Carol Feller

2012-02-17T21:31:00.000Z

I am joined by Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches fame. We discuss her book, Contemporary Irish Knits, and her self published collaboration with Fyberspates, Scrumptious Knits.

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
My Favourite Place by Katy Pfaffl, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Experiments with popcorn

2012-02-16T12:41:00.002Z

I am addicted

I love making microwave popcorn. The smell, the buttery taste (no sugar here) and the combinations that I can make with my own concoctions and recipes.

I also have a deep and undying love for Wasabi Peas but have run out. Yes, I know, it's tragic. A house without Wasabi Peas is a sad house indeed. I was a very sad panda

Until I realised- I have a tube of Wasabi! I put it in mash potato when I make asian salmon and have been wondering how else to bring more Wasabi into my life. It was as I prepped for more popcorn I thought 'This needs to happen'.

Here's what I did:

I heated 1/2 tbsp- 1 whole tbsp butter in a microwave safe bowl until it melted, then added 1 tsp plain oil (I used Groundnut) and 1 tblsp Wasabi.

I then mixed in 1/3 popcorn kernels and made sure they were all coated in the mixture.

Next, I wrapped the top with baking parchment and secured it with a rubber band, being terribly careful not to ping it in my face. I then stabbed some vent holes in to the parchment with a sharp knife (yes I did a psycho sound track as I did so because I'm a nerd this way)

I put it on high heat for about 4 mins and listened. You want the popping to go bananas and then slow so there's a good 1-2 seconds between pops. This is when you grab it out and devour ravenously.

Verdict: The paste has a slight tendency to burn, hence why I added the splash of oil. I'm now on a mission to track down Wasabi powder which you can buy to add water to and mix your own paste.

Failing this I'm going to try heating a Wasabi mixture and pouring it straight on to the popped corn, like I do with my salted caramel sometimes. What's that? Oh yes, you read that right. Salted caramel.

Expect more popcorn related posts......

Another Valentine's Winner

2012-02-15T10:19:00.000Z

We have a winner!

The random number generator has selected: Vanessa!

Please get in contact to claim your copy of 'All You Knit it Love'.

Thanks to all of you who entered x

Cold sheep? About that....

2012-02-14T13:17:00.001Z

I have been gleefully knitting these last few weeks. I have 2 new pairs of socks and I'm whizzing through a beautiful new shawl which is so lovely, it has to have a blog post all to itself. Really. I'm in love.

In the meantime I thought I'd update you on my sweater quest.

Part of the incentive to go cold sheep this year was to knit through some of the sweater quantities that I have so diligently accumulated. I have a grand total of 4 possible garments now and how many did I knit in 2011?

Well, exactly.

So cold sheeping got my sweater mojo whirring again and I spent a delightful evening swatching with this lovely yarn. It's Miss Babs, Yowsa! Whatta Skein! in the colourway 'Catherine' that I was given as a gift. I knew instantly that I wanted to make a sweater from it and tracked down a second skein with the help of a friend.

Since then it's been consulted often and like a yarn whisperer I listened when the yarn said that it might want to be an Idlewood, a beautiful tunic design with a monster cowl from one of my knitting crushes, Cecily Glowik MacDonald. I pictured myself in long sleeve tees and this top, nuzzling into the cowl and feeling happy after weeks of vanilla knitting.

Image credit Cecily Glowik MacDonald

Alas, it was not to be. This skein is a really light worsted and the design works best in an aran weight. There are examples of the Idlewood knit in Malabrigo but as we know, Mal is fluffy and made of clouds and therefore can be used in the absence of a true aran weight yarn. So I am back to day dreaming about this pattern and have a birthday present in mind because gifts don't count in cold sheeping. They don't. Honest.

So I thought about its' twist, its lightness and I listened again as the yarn said 'Something with negative ease please'. I found this pattern and I've admired it since it was published a few months ago.

'Julissa' by Knit Rhapsody (image credits Knit Rhapsody)

So I'm back to swatching and measuring and wondering what size to make. I am slightly concerned about the sizing and I suspect this Sunday's podcast to include tales of hilarity and woe.

Or omit to mention it at all. This is also a highly likely event if there is a sweater disaster. In which case, let us not speak of sweater knitting ever again hmm?

We have a winner!

2012-02-12T18:04:00.000Z

The Random Number Generator has spoken and Justine, you are the winner of this wonderful print from Sparklehen!

Please drop me an email at the usual address with your mailing address.

Don't forget there's still a prize to be won!

A non-resolution check up

2012-02-10T15:16:00.001Z

This New Year I opted for goals that would generally make me happier as I'm not a fan of resolutions. I'm not very good with being told 'don't'. The minute I hear I can't touch wet paint I'm splodging finger prints in it or trying to trick someone else to doing it too. It's just the way I'm built.

Instead I chose to liberate stash and gleefully cast on anything I felt like in a decadent call to arms that is 'Cold Sheeping' (don't faint). I get a lot of mail and a lot of it is yarn for various purposes and it threatens to drown my stash at times. I also wanted to curl up with a book more often. I thought I'd let you know how I've been going in terms of reading and I'll get you some knitting porn later in the week.

Highs: The Hungers Games, Elizabeth Zimmerman and The Moomins

The Lows: A badly written Judy Garland book that was only saved thanks to great photographs being included and the third book from the Hunger Games trilogy. It seems impossible to capture the momentum of the first books and while it wasn't a stinker, I wanted to be gripped as much by the third as I was by the first.

Finally, I need to declare to the world that I love Elizabeth Zimmerman. I love her writing style, her attitude to knitting and her humour. Heck I just love her ok? I want to read all her books. NOW

Be My Valentine: More Crafty Ideas (and another giveaway)

2012-02-08T12:54:00.000Z

I'm starting to feel quite cosy. Perhaps it's the snow we had at the weekend as it always makes me feel snuggly. There is something so satisfying about cuddling up under blankets, with piping boozey hot chocolate and hand knit socks; it puts me in a great mood for days to come.

So while I'm in this delicious mood I thought I would finish off the Valentine's features with a little round up of the fun things that I've been finding and a book giveaway.

First an internet round up of the yummy things that caught my eye.

Food:

I can think of nothing more decadent that a chocolate baked goodie. These wholewheat brownies from the '100 days of Real Food Blog' looked delicious and I'm planning to make these for Valentine's.

Cute idea for love heart ice cubes from 'A Subtle Revelry'.

I'm slipping a gin cocktail in here from the fabulous people at The Design Sponge because, you know, gin.

Craft:

These sewn heart cards from Reb Bird Crafts are so simple that even me, with my dreadful sewing skills is debating having a try.

I absolutely love Elisa's designs and creations and this printable card is adorable and free and not 'naff' and gooey at all like so many Valentine's things are. I approve.

Molliemakes brought these love heart badges (and other designs) to my attention from Not On The High Street.

I want cute heart elbow patches thanks to One Sheepish Girl.

Finally, the kind people at Collins and Brown have sent me a few books recently and one caught my eye for all you lovers out there. 'All You Knit is Love' is a quirky little book, reasonably priced at £5.99. The author, Debbie Harrold is the creator behind the 'Ha Pea Birthday' cards that I've giggled at in Paperchase and also known for books like 'The Knit Olympics' and 'Knitted Icons'. I'm not a toy knitter largely due to laziness and RSI but I know lots of knit friends who will make something cute for gifts now and then. I think this would defintely appeal to them.

The subtitle reads '20 patterns for romantic handmade gifts' and while 20 is true I'm not sure anyone other than a knitter would really see the romance in a knitted penguin or fish. It's a cute idea, don't get me wrong but I kept thinking that these toys work well in print, like the little peas to be photographed with quirky captions; in other words I liked them more as funny little pictures. To this end, each project carries a cute title like 'Cuddle Bunny' or 'Bee Mine' so I think something like a little handmade card with the pun included might make a knitted fish seem a bit more festive than say just handing one to your partner expectantly.

It's a cute little book that won't take up a huge amount of room on your book shelf so could be kept and pulled down for fun occassions. There's also a nice reference section at the back and this would really suit beginner knitters, looking to have some fun with a low commitment level of yardage to knit through.

If you think your partner or another loved one would get a kick out of a knitted toy, leave a comment on this blog by 13 February 2012 and I'll announce a gift of love on Valentine's day using the random number generator. Good luck!

Also don't forget you can still win a beautiful print from Sparklehen.

And in other news....

2012-02-07T09:17:00.000Z

A little while ago, my lovely friend Kristin from KnitNook interviewed me and the post just went up. I was really thrilled to be included as I love KnitNook (and Kristin). She said some really lovely things about me that made me blush and smile all day!

You can read the interview here.

Also I've got round to editting up a lot of photos and I found another 'best picture of food ever' without any clue what the dish was I was making at the time. I suspect a Nigel Slater seasonal special but I can't be sure. Clearly I wolfed it down without further thought but I was left with the dilemma of how to share the pictures in a meaningful way in a post.

Just put them in randomly, clearly. Behold!

Proudly Brought To You By....

2012-02-06T13:22:00.000Z

I am thrilled to be able to announce that the playful tribe now includes The Lollipop Stop as one of our cheerleaders! Long time readers and listeners will know I've always had a love for this lady's cute and well made bags to keep my knitting possessions in. I love her choice of fabrics and attention to detail so was really pleased to welcome her on board. It is always nice to support good customer service, products and generally all around nice people working independently in the knitting and crafting world.

You can find an interview that I did with Lauren here, follow her on twitter as @thelollipopstop and support our fab friend at her folksy store. She's also Lolabella on Ravelry.

Episode 22: Let There Be Love

2012-02-05T08:20:00.000Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, and brace yourselves because..... the stripes are here!

Aplayfulday is also kindly sponsored by NorthboundKnitting, uniquely hand dyed yarn, spinning fibre and modern knitting designs. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above.

I will be attending Unravel at the end of February 2012 on both days. The podcaster meetup is happening in the East Wing, behind the Interknit booth at 11-12 on the Saturday as aprt of the Ravelry party. Please feel free to come and say hi on the Sunday but I won't be doing a meet and greet on this day!

Save the date- Wonderwool is in April.

Mooncalf Makes, purveyor of handmade tea accessories is offering 10% for all playful friends. Simply enter the code 'playful' at checkout to claim your discount. Offer ends 14th February 2012.

Off the needles

Cedar Leaf Shawlette by Alana Dakos in Silky Malabrigo DK weight in the colourway Sand.
A stash liberation challenge for a design using SuperKnits soon to be announced Catherine of Aran-gorn.

On the Needles
After thought heel socks by Laura Linneman in a mystery self striping of awesome- stay tuned!
Kai Mei by Cookie A in Superknits Mary, Queen of Socks, colourway 'With my tv and CD collection of Bob Marley'

Notes from a Cold Sheeper:
Joyful stashing opportunities from Tactile Fiber Arts, The Uncommon Thread and Yarntini.

Munch, Burp, Schlurp
A guest feature from the blogger and podcaster LGesin of the 'Blog Like It's The End of the World' podcast. Laura mentions the following resources Veganise This, Veganomicon, The Vegan Table. Furthermore Stuff Vegans Say, and.....

Vegan Francaise Sauce

1/2 package silken tofu

juice of one lemon

1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

salt

creole seasoning (or red & black pepper plus garlic salt if you don't have this but this is much better)

2 Tbsp canola oil

Heat the tofu in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Throw everything in a bowl, beat with immersion blender until smooth.

Throw back in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute or until hot.

Pour over whatever!

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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The Story of a Cowl

2012-02-04T12:40:00.002Z

I have an incredibly lovely knit friend. She's the friend you've read about before, that you've heard in the podcast and extremely knit worthy.

BUT

I live in fear of knitting for her.

There's no reason other than my own self doubt. Struck by her own knitting prowess and in awe of how much I care for this friend makes it hard to feel happy with anything I knit. I try to make it really personal but small and achieveable because the longer that her project is on the needles, the faster my self doubt grows. In the past I've knit a hat as she stated she didn't have any she liked and a joke scarf (long story). For her last birthday I made Monster Chunks and photographed them getting up to no good all around London. This then became a book.

When I come to deciding her project, I always start too late, losing time with anxiety and self doubt. It is so silly, I LOVE wrapping the people that I care for in knits but this one cripples me everytime. I wear the shawls that she has made me with such joy and feel like I'm receiving a hug from my dear friend, who lives too many miles away to make us able to see each other more than once a year, tops.

This Christmas was no exception. In a flash of bravery, I decided that I would accept a challenge. PJ thinks that there is no such thing as a warm cowl because they don't stay around your neck. She has a point doesn't she? How many have you tugged at in sheer frustration?

So I made her the Tuesday Night Cowl from Malabrigo Rios. I even chose a daring colour as her love for purple is bipolar to say the least; she has a very love/ hate relationship with purple. I then set about working out the exact combination of squoosh and stiffness in order to be sure that this cowl sat neatly around her neck.

I was aiming for thoughtful. I found vacant I think.

I used a trick.

The pattern calls for a slipped stitch edging on both sides to make it smooth but also stretchy. I pulled one side tighter so that this could be worn closest to her chin and would help it stay up.

I would say I had some success.... she tells me she's worn it all week which makes me a very happy friend indeed.

Be My Valentine: Sparklehen

2012-02-02T12:52:00.005Z

I am a whimsical creature, as most of you know, and illustration, graphic design and interesting prints make me hum contentedly to myself and daydream. So for this Valentine's feature I invited Heather, also known as Sparklehen, to come and share the inspiration behind her wonderful prints.

I discovered Heather entirely by accident when rooting through Folksy looking for inspiration for Christmas presents. I saw a picture that was just perfect for the giant and very much in the style we both enjoy but I wanted it a little more customised. Heather was brilliant at making sure I had the perfect print for my giant and I was delighted. So much so I just had to share her with you all as I think there's a print for every love in your life in her store.

Tell us a little about you and your beautiful work
Well I originally qualified in Graphic design and illustration. I then worked in medical illustration, which was a great job, working with health professionals, putting together leaflets and posters, creating artwork and helping out at photo shoots.

However, I had made the decision to give it up to look after my 2 boys as there is only 15 months between them, and eventually I thought that I would try and put some t-shirt designs onto RedBubble, I then went onto opening my own shops on Folksy and Etsy.

You have a very distinct style, could you explain your inspiration for this?
Well I start with a blank page and look at it until my brain starts to bleed! Not quite, but it sometimes feels that frustrating when you really feel like your creative juices have dried up.

Sometimes it is starting with a blank page, other times it can be an idea from nowhere or when I'm in bed or in the shower.

My style really started back at high school, I was always doodling (when I should have been working!).

I think the more you do something no matter how much you are inspired by someone else's work, there is part of your personality comes through, making it your own. I'm still learning not to fight that, as it is easy for me to admire other peoples work and wonder why I can't be more like them. It's a confidence thing that I'm still working on I suppose!

There is a whimsical, playful quality that I love- would you describe yourself in this way?

Unfortunately I don't have a naturally smiley face, and maybe come across as serious, but once you get to know me....oooh this is beginning to sound like I'm looking for a date!.

What I'm trying to say is that I suppose I have a quirky sense of humour and I try to let it come through in my work. Sometimes I laugh at what I have done and wonder if anyone else will get it, so it's really gratifying when I get good feedback from customers or people who like what I do. It really makes what I do worth while!

Describe YOUR perfect valentine's date

It sounds sooo cliched, but it would have to be going out for a really lovely meal with my husband, but I prefer not to do it on Valentine's day (no, not because it's less expensive!) I just like being more spontaneous, well, as spontaneous as you can be with 2 young boys!

The best Valentine's gift you were ever given? Or perhaps one that sticks in mind (mine is a dead frog. I was 5 and it was the boy next door. I screamed blue murder)

I'm not mentioning any names here, but A pack of 5 M&S whites ladies briefs. I thought they were a joke at first, then I realised that they were the present along with a white t-shirt bra. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but they are hardly going to start any fires!!

Anything else?
I love Liquorice Allsorts!!!

I am thrilled to be able to offer MY favourite print, 'No Words Needed' (pictured above) to a lucky reader. Please leave me a message below this post by 10th February 2012, telling me which prints from Heather have caught your eye. Good luck!

You can find Heather as Sparklehen on Folksy as well as Etsy.

George

2012-01-31T13:30:00.000Z

Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie....

For those of you who did not hear my delighted tweets at the weekend, we have a new love and I'm infatuated. While we healed from losing our beautiful One True Love we received a call from a Doberman rescue home that a delightful bouncing boy needed a new home. Nervously we agreed to an introduction and when this charming young man licked my face and sat at my feet expectantly, we knew that we had to bring him home. He was already leaning in for more kisses when I said 'Let's give this pup a good life'.

George is 13 months and has had a pretty tough time of late. He was found as a stray, frightened and underweight then placed in a police pound for weeks. In the pound, he was caged in a crate that was far too small for a growing Doberman pup and so he is a skinny and slightly balding wretch (the crate rubbed the fur off his tail).

However, we have him in the nest now and are enjoying learning this docile pup's favourite things. Thus far, these things include any food item, cuddles and soft gentle whispers in his oversized floppy ears.

Be my Valentine: No.98

2012-01-30T10:12:00.001Z

Good morning all. I'm so excited to share this feature with you..... it involves one of my favourite people right now! Ever since I was given two jars of jam from No.98's Handmade Couture Preserves to review, I've been like a woman possessed. I've told everyone I know, tweeted and shouted from the roof tops that I am in love with this jam. One thing I haven't done is share but I'm expecting you to be better behaved than me.

My next suggestion for Valentine's involves one of my favourite treats: breakfast in bed. Slather these distinctive spreads over freshly baked croissants, dollop in porridge or simply do as I've done the last week or so and just grab a spoonful. What's more No.98 have waited for YOU, the playful member,s to announce their limited edition spreads: Bergamot and lime marmalade, Lemon and Strega Marmalade and Seville and Ginger. Nothing says I love you more than food. I'm just sayin'

I caught up with the Goddess of Jam that is Rebecca from No.98 to find out all about her, the wonderful world of seasonal goodies and to get some more ideas for jammy Valentine's goodness.

Tell us a little about you and your products.

I’m Rebecca and I’m a little bit obsessed with putting things in jars! A few years ago as I was finishing up my PHD I realised that I couldn’t get an academic job, and was spending a lot of time in the kitchen. The more I played and experimented with flavour, the more obsessed I became, and then one day my boyfriend casually suggested that I do it as a business. I did a couple of test markets and got great feedback, so off I went, registered my kitchen, and launched the business. Now I balance making my preserves and a part-time job in a local deli. Up until this week I was still only working with one preserving pan! I have about 15 flavours at the moment, but am already working on new ones for this year, which I find really exciting.

What makes your jams so special?

The aim of the business is to produce a very high-end couture product. It’s not mass produced, it’s made with real care with British or organic produce, only what’s in season and with a real attention to complex flavour construction. People laugh at me, but I think jam (and chutney) should be like a good wine, it should have a really complex flavour with distinct notes in it. If you buy something that claims to have several components, like my plum and rosemary jam, I think you should get a clear balance of them. Also, many of my products are designed to age like wines and get better. If you buy my Seville and Whiskey Marmalade now it’ll be good, but leave it six to twelve months and it’ll be really amazing!

Also, if you buy something from me, it’s all been done by me, from chopping the fruit to labeling the jars and standing behind the market stall and selling it. I think that has real appeal for customers: they can stand and talk to the person who is so passionate about what their doing at every stage of the way. Of course I want to expand, but I always want to be the person in the kitchen and talking to the customer. I never want to be a detatched CEO sitting in an office.

How do you decide new ranges?

I decide new flavours in a number of ways as I find inspiration from so many sources, and often that sparks an idea and then it’s into the kitchen to start one of numerous test batches. For example, I had a dessert in a restaurant in Italy last year, which has lead to the development of one of my new jams due this summer. Sometimes a customer asks for something I don’t have, and if I like the idea and think I can do it well enough within the ethos of British produce and complex depth of flavour I’ll give it a go. When I first started lots of people asked if I had a strawberry jam. Now, everyone does a strawberry jam, and I’m not a huge fan, but a few weeks later I was having a glass of Pimms with friends and thought, 'now this would be a good idea for a preserve', and so my Strawberry Summer Cocktail jam was born! [side note from Ms Playful: this is made of win]

The underlying aspect though is whether I think it’s good enough to qualify as a truly impressive flavoursome preserve. If I can’t make it to my own high standard then I won’t sell it. And you certainly do get duff batches, which is why my under-stairs cupboard is filled with jars of test products that we have to eat year after year!

Challenge: Name 5 uses for Jam....

Only five! Well, I have to be obvious as say on toast, because frankly for me nothing beats and amazing piece of bread toasted and slathered with jam. A nice chewy sourdough with a strong flavour and crisp crust is hard to beat. But I find so many uses for jam. Rich fruit jams such as plum, blackcurrant and blackberry are great stirred into meat juices to make gravy, they give it a richness and lovely sheen. I sometimes heat my apricot and vanilla jam and pour it over vanilla ice cream, a real treat! My lemon and rosemary marmalade cake has become a bit of a favourite at the deli, and is a great way to use up the dregs of all those marmalades sitting in the fridge. Recently a customer emailed to say she’s been using my pear, ginger and brandy jam to glaze her parsnips as they roast- what a wonderful idea! Oh, and if I can sneak in a sixth? If you make American-style pancakes for brunch I love layering them with a slather of jam between them, or heating the jam and pouring it over the top with some maple syrup. Delish.

Describe YOUR perfect Valentine’s date.

I have to say that I think my perfect date is probably what we do each year; I cook, usually putting a bit more effort in that a normal night, and we enjoy an indulgent homemade dessert, maybe Tiramisu (his favourite) open a really posh bottle of wine and curl up with Casablanca. If the 14^th happens to fall on a weekend I always do brunch in bed, with a bottle of fizz. There is something very delightful (and playful!) about having a glass of booze before “lunchtime” and having a really smart breakfast in bed. I might even go the extra mile and make jam-filled Danish!

What was the best Valentine’s gift you were ever given?

I received my best gift last year. I was at home, but the boyfriend was working. I got up late and came downstairs to find a sealed envelope containing a love letter left on my desk. It was so beautiful. It still makes me tearful, it was so perfect and touching. I guard that letter very very safely indeed.

Anything else?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past year or so it’s to be serious and yet not take yourself too seriously. I love what I do and am passionate about it, but I used to be such a worrier, I’d stress over the things I had no control over, as well as many of the things I didn’t. The past year has been a whirlwind of hard work, and it taught me that there really isn’t time to sweat it. If you want something, make it happen, because you really can, and you should certainly have a laugh about it along the way. That batch of jam that refused to set? Call it sauce, file under “learning-curve”, chuck it under the stairs and stop dwelling on it!

To order wonderful jams, marmalades and chutneys, please visit www.no98.co.uk or you can order direct by emailing infoATno98DOTcoDOTuk. Be sure to check out Rebecca's highly popular blog where you can win some new flavours and keep up to date with her on twitter, NO98limited.

Be my Valentine: Jane Richmond

2012-01-28T14:27:00.001Z

It seems like we're just letting the dust settle on the holiday season and already I'm seeing banners and adverts going up for the lover's holiday: Valentine's Day. Who stole January?

Here in the playful house, we're not really much for celebrating Valentine's and tend to do our own little nod to it with something sweet, possibly hand made and a dinner.... AFTER the 14th February.

So whether you're coupled up, loved up or planning to show yourself some indulgence, I'm going to feature 4 Valentine's posts over the next 2 weeks with some ideas for crafty gifts that will work especially well for Valentine's but also, for gift giving in the future.

First up, is Jane Richmond, a favourite designer of mine with beautifully fashionable garments and to die for accessories. I'm definitely a fan of accessories when it comes to gift giving as they're fast, lower cost and instant gratifcation. The patterns that really caught my eye were these 3 hats: Bailey, Christopher and Elizabeth.

Bailey is a lovely textured hat which I think is perfect for men and women alike. It's knit inside out from 1 skein of Cascade 220 so there's both interest in terms of a different construction method and ease in terms of 1 skein of readily available yarn.

Bailey, Image Credit Jane Richmond

Following on from the theme of interesting construction is Christopher, a top down striped beanie. Again this struck me as unisex and super warm and snuggly and I just loved the fact it was reversible. Two hats in one!

Last but not least is Elizabeth, my personal favourite. A friend on mine once knit me a Jane Richmond hat and I've worn it to death. I see this hat in my very near future! Elizabeth is a bulky weight yarn so super speedy and with cabled textures that just makes my heart sing.

While I ruminate on which hat I want to knit myself first for Valentine's (the giant doesn't wear hats so more for me I say), I will share some lovely answers Jane gave me to an interview earlier this month. I found her warm and charming and I love, love, love her web pages design style. Yum.

Christopher Image Credit Jane Richmond

Tell us a little about you and your designs
I am very mechanical (in another life I worked in the garage of a car dealership and desperately wanted my trades ticket as an auto mechanic) so my interest in knitting construction isn’t surprising. I love both math and art and never thought I would find a career that marries the two so well. I am both a process and product knitter so enjoying a well written pattern is just as important to me as the end result. I often sacrifice design elements in order to deliver a headache free knit.

You have a very fashionable look, how closely do you monitor trends?
Thank you! I don’t really follow trends too closely. I love fashion and admire people who do it well but I’ve always just done my own thing, regardless of trends. My look doesn’t really change very much from year to year, I think because my style is simple and minimalist it never really feels outdated.

You describe your designs as classic and simple, could you explore this a little further?
I think this is a result of my process & product duality that I mentioned above. I don’t think that knitting needs to be overly complicated to be beautiful and I always try to think of the knitter and their level of enjoyment. I am drawn to classic looks because they cross over current trends and will always be fashionable.

Elizabeth, Image Credit Jane Richmond

Many of your patterns are named after family members and loved ones. As this is a Valentine's post about clothing your loved ones, perhaps you could explain this inspiration.
In the winter of 2008 I challenged myself to hand knit Christmas gifts for everyone on my list. Not only were the gifts handmade they were all designed from scratch. These designs became my first self published knitting patterns and over the years I have continued to name pieces for their intended recipients, most of which have been family members.

Describe YOUR perfect Valentine's date
A homemade meal that was well thought out and from the heart would certainly make me feel loved ...And maybe the ultimate sacrifice of sitting through a sappy romantic chick flick!

What was the best Valentine's gift you were ever given? Or perhaps one that sticks in mind (mine is a dead frog. I was 5 and it was the boy next door. I screamed blue murder)
I always loved exchanging those cheesy Valentine’s Day cards at school (and keeping tabs on just how many you received!). I also loved candy grams and secret Valentine’s... who doesn’t love to know that someone somewhere is secretly crushing on them!

You can keep up to date with Jane on her blog, Ravelry or on Facebook.

12 women in 12: Jen Arnall-Culliford

2012-01-27T14:07:00.000Z

In my bloggerly and professional world I have found a theme growing this week: attention to detail. I have come to realise that the designers I respect the most are those that are as exacting in their patterns as they are creative in their designing. This level of professionalism is one I have huge admiration for and want to celebrate the kind of attention to detail that means audiences pay for patterns that are hugely fun to knit but also easy to follow and understand.

Enter technical editing, my focus for the first woman in my '12 women in 12' series. I invited Jen Arnall-Culliford to share her experiences and bring a profession that many people might not even be aware of, to the forefront where it can be celebrated for all that it brings to the knitting world.

Jen in a Wooly Wormhead wonder

Jen works as a freelance technical editor which means that she works for a range of different people and companies who publish knitting patterns. Jen's job is to check, and correct the instructions to ensure that they will produce the same thing as the photographed sample. This involves checking that the tension (gauge), and number of stitches and rows will make the right sized pieces, and that those pieces will fit together to make a garment or accessory of the correct dimensions. This is not a job for the faint hearted or mathmatically challenged.

Jen will also rewrite instructions to make them clearer and/or to fit them to a house style of pattern instructions. When knitters work regularly from a company's patterns, they should become familiar with the style of pattern wording. This makes it easier as the style is comfortable and known. As I described above, this is what really makes me fall for a designer and most importantly, stick with a designer as I know what to expect.

The work of a technical editor may also include re-drawing knitting charts and blocking diagrams, and grading patterns. Grading is the process of taking the first pattern (written in the sample size) and adding instructions to make the design available in a range of sizes.

In something I can only describe as detective work, Jen will also occasionally pattern-write from scratch. In this situation, the designer only provides a schematic or fabric toile to give the shape of the desired garment, as well as a knitted swatch of fabric. Jen is then required to write a full set of knitting instructions, so that a sample knitter can create the sample garment, ready for photography.

Talking to Jen I was really struck by both her professionalism and her commitment to getting it right. One of the questions I asked, 'If I could do it all again, I would be.....' resulted in a fervent answer that she loved what she is doing. Jen describes her work colleagues as being her personal heroes and this dedication really does show through.

One of Jen's proudest moments (and there could be many, she struggled to be pinned to just one) was the Fyberspates first pattern collection, 'The Scrumptious Collection: Volume 1'. Jen says, 'I think that Fyberspates wins by a whisker, because I was responsible for so much of the project' and goes on to describe the moment when she first saw the copies come back from the printer:

The Scrumptious Collection, (c) Fyberspates

"I could have burst with pride"

The Scrumptious Collection was the first big project that Jen worked on as a freelancer and helped Jeni from Fyberspates with almost every aspect of the book, from commissioning through to the styling for the photoshoot which she admits was out of her comfort zone. As well as the editing, the book also involved a few of Jen's own designs which she also does from time to time.

It is Jen's final word's on the project that makes me really appreciate the importance of her role. Jen finishes talking about the project by reflecting that 'Seeing how well the book has gone down with knitters at shows just makes all of the hard work so worthwhile'. It is commiting to both the knitters and the designers that makes the job of technical editors so important.

Congratulations to Jen for being such an inspiration for knitters and knit professionals alike. If you're wondering where you might see Jen, you might spot her in future projects with Susan Crawford, Kate Davies, Kyoko Nakayoshi, The Knitter, Simply Knitting, Fyberspates and Jamieson & Smith. Alas, she cannot reveal details as the importance of confidentiality on creative projects is high. Instead, follow her antics on twitter, JenACKnitwear or her own blog.

Cover of Knit Real Shetland, Jamieson & Smith (c)

Stay tuned for more 12 women in 12 and please do join in to show your appreciation for technical editing by tweeting along on twitter (#12womenin12) or sharing your feelings about well written patterns on your own blog. Be sure to let me know/ link us in, we'd love to know what you think!

Review: From Season to Season

2012-01-26T12:48:00.002Z

A little while ago I was browsing through my local library, as always looking for recipe books to ponder. I found 'From Season to Season: A year in Recipes' by Sophie Dahl (Published 2011 by HarperCollins) of the Delicious Miss Dahl fame and brought it home for closer inspection.

The series that spawned the first of her 2 cookbooks was met with mixed reviews. Some found it sweet, whimsical and pretty to look at (the series possibly therefore captured Miss Dahl?) but most found it just too twee and were left unimpressed as to Sophie Dahl's ability to be anything more than a stupendously beautiful clothes horse. Persumably then, this is the follow up book to really make her stamp in the cooking world.

So what did I find?

The book is set out by seasons and then each of these are divided again into Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. This works well and makes the book easy to navigate. Unlike many cookbooks I can source ingredients as they are currently in season as long as I'm looking at the correct section.

Image Credit The Telegraph

However, delving further in I'm dismayed at the array going on here- aloo gobi for breakfast nestles in amongst poached pears with healthy vanilla custard. Sophie is well travelled and seems to want to showcase it all inside one book. I'm all for new exciting cuisines and being adventurous but I began to suspect that Sophie spread herself too thin. Finding a fish finger sandwich confirmed this.

There's also a habit of stories throughout the book that I can't decide whether I like or not. I love food writing and have a real weakness for the food section of most newspapers at the weekend but it all comes over a little saccharine to say the least. Once again, I felt cynical and wondered how much material there really was for this book. I don't like feeling this way. I want to enjoy and delight in this book. There's pretty pictures in it to help me delight.....

Ah yes, the pictures.

The food pictures are wonderful but most of the book largely consists of Miss Dahl who by now I suspect is not eating some of the fuller fat disher. Plenty of pretty pictures of Miss Dahl,dressed in pretty, quaint little outfits, possible forgaging for food (she lives in a farm cottage).

What I tried: Baked Pumpkin with lemon, sauteed greens and toasted cumin dressing, and a Lentil Salad with a mustard dressing.

Verdict: A few nice recipes here and those I tried worked well with a good balance of flavour. I have to admit the seasonal ingredients are tenuous, as in the case of the lentils it was Mint providing the seasonal flare but I found it in the Autumnal segment. I would recommend this to someone like my sister who is a newly developing cook who wants a visually appealing recipe book with simple to recreate recipes. I would not recommend this for the die hard cooks out there. You will shudder at the fish finger sandwich rather than rejoice in the 'studentness' of it and devour one immediately, while still not following the recipe instructions as you have NO need to.

I have no idea why I mentioned that last gluttonous part......

Episode 21: Start as you mean to go on

2012-01-22T15:36:00.002Z

A playful welcome goes out to new show sponsor Candy Skein and is sharing the love with 10% off all purchases until 29th February 2012. Simply enter the code 'APLAYFULDAY' at checkout to claim your discount.

I will be attending Unravel at the end of February 2012. Stay tuned for details of a meetup.

Save the date- Wonderwool is in April.

A huge thank you to all of the many people who entered the Superknits giveaway. The winner of a skein of Bessie, a 4ply/sock weight yarn which is 75% Superwash Blue Faced Leicester and 25% Nylon, in the colourway 'Gothica' is: Yarngirl99

As always, please get in touch to claim your prize via aplayfulday AT gmail DOT com or pm me on Ravelry- I'm Greentrianglegirl.

Mooncalf Makes, purveyor of handmade tea accessories is offering 10% for all playful friends. Simply enter the code 'playful' at checkout to claim your discount. Offer ends 14th February 2012.

Off the needles
Tuesday Night Cowl by Susan Lawrence in Malabrigo Rios in the colourway Purpuras

On the Needles
After thought heel socks by Laura Linneman in a mystery self striping of awesome- stay tuned!
Cedar Leaf Shawlette by Alana Dakos in Silky Malabrigo DK weight in the colourway Sand.

Playful Pursuits
I wax lyrical about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and pledge to go cold sheep in 2012.

I also draw your attention to knitting podcast blog by the lady in the know, 1to1.

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
Dog Days by Amy Speace, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Proudly brought to you by.....

2012-01-20T12:05:00.002Z

Another announcement I've been dying to make for some time- a new addition to the playful family! Please say hi and make Candy Skein, our new sponsor feel very welcome. I've loved Tami's blogalongs for some time now and it was only a matter of time before I fell hopelessly in love with her bright colours and sock yarns to die for.

To celebrate the latest addition to our playful tribe, Candy Skein is offering you 10% off all purchases from her shop until 29th February 2012. Simply enter the code 'APLAYFULDAY' at checkout to claim your discount.

So here she is, in detail for all of you to enjoy.

Tag! You're it, take centre stage and tell us who you are.

Let’s see, first things first, my name is Tami and I live in sunny San Diego, CA. I started crocheting in November of 2009 and instantly fell in love with fiber arts and it blossomed into a love affair. I slowly realized that my goal was to learn to knit, which I did about a year ago, in December ‘11. The fiber arts are my life, especially when I started my indie yarn company, Candy Skein in May ‘11. Color has always been a huge passion of mine, as I have a background in fine art and yarn dyeing seemed to fall into place. It was a match made in heaven in my opinion. I get to play with yarn morning, noon and night and love every moment of it!

Candy Skein? That's a rather yummy name, what was your inspiration?

I’ll never forget where and how my husband and I came up with the name. I wanted a name that stood out and that had a theme apart from the hundreds of indie dyers out there. I’m a huge candy freak, so it seemed natural. I know a LOT about candy (seriously, I’m a candy addict) and the fun colors I wanted to carry in shop seemed to go hand and hand. As far as the actual name, we were playing around with a few other names while my husband and I were driving up the California coast on vacation. I wanted a name that wouldn’t be linked with anything else and I also knew I wanted to have a yarn reference, like skein, in the title as well. Finally, we were sitting down to lunch at the Trader Vic’s restaurant in San Francisco and it just came to us. Why not link my love of candy with my love of yarn! Candy Skein was born. I knew right away that it was perfect. I got really excited and started coming up with colorway names right there; all of my colorways are based on some kind of candy, sweets or drink. The candy theme has been great inspiration when thinking of a new colorway to add, though at times when I come up with a color first, it’s hard to match a name in the theme to it! I guess you can’t have it easy all the time.

What would you say is your ultimate goal with Candy Skein Yarn?

To be honest, my goal is to steadily grow the company each month/year. At this point, I take one sale at a time, thankful for the success that I’ve had in such a short time. I’m focusing on exciting ideas I have for 2012, and also doing at least 3 fiber festivals this year. I get so excited each time I sell even a single skein, but my favorite part of the whole thing is seeing everyone’s projects made from Candy Skein yarn. It makes me see the potential in my company and right now the sky is the limit. Candy Skein is a full time job for me, and I hope it continues for many years to come.

You've also got some lovely blogalongs too, tell us about them

Without my blog, Tami’s Amis and Other Creations, I would have never started Candy Skein. I started my blog in August ‘10 as a way to keep track of my crochet projects and share pictures of them with my friends. I never dreamed that anyone I didn’t know would visit the site. My friend and I got the idea of Work in Progress Wednesday because we wanted some way to push ourselves to continue crocheting. It was a great motivator! I decided to post about it in the Ravelry group ‘I Blog’ thinking it would be fun to have a few people participate. I included a way for others to link their blog posts into mine. After while, there were about 15 of us who participated each week. I noticed that when people finished projects, they’d post them in Work in Progress Wednesday and I got the idea to start FO (Finished Object) Friday. That way, not only did you have motivation to work on a project, you had a reason to finish them! It’s been a huge success, as we are now on week 76 of WIPW and week 70 for FO Friday (without missing a week I might add!) and have around 90 participating from all over the world. It has built a great community of people and has grown friendships. The group encouraged me when I started dyeing yarn, and because of them, Candy Skein was born. They made me believe that what I was dyeing was worth something.

What helps keep you playful?

I think you always have to keep life playful, in whatever you do. I know I’m very lucky to have the job that I do. Some days are tough, when I have HUGE piles of yarn in front of me that needs to be reskeined/tagged/mailed and it gets lonely at times as I currently work by myself. On the flip side, how fun is working with yarn all day!? My favorite part of the job is inventing new colorways, which is the reason I started the Candy Skein Sock Club. I get to come up with a new colorway each month, that will only be for sale for the month before being retired. It keeps me on my toes, that’s for sure.

Finally, I always go back to Peter Pan, you should never grow up (to a certain extent) and life should always be fun.

Name your knitting hero

Oh, this is a hard one! As far as someone in the public eye and in the knitting community, I’d have to say Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, I love what she has done for knitting. She has made many knitters (like myself) feel normal when all we think about is yarn and knitting! I love her obsession with sock knitting and sock yarn (who doesn’t love sock yarn!?). I’ve read all of her books and they make me laugh. As a writer myself (I originally quit my corporate job to write full time before Candy Skein was born), I respect her writing career and understand just how hard it is to write a book. She makes it seem so easy to make people laugh and cry, even when she’s writing about knitting. Trust me folks, it’s not!

Now, my true knitting heroes outside of the public eye has to be my knitting group. I went searching for a group about 10 months ago and luckily stumbled upon them. They were nice enough to take me into their fold. I have learned SOO much from them, and continue to do so. Monday is my favorite day of the week, because no matter how stressed I am, I know that I will enjoy the 3+ hours I’m with them that night. They have really encouraged me with the company, and as I said, I would never have started Candy Skein without the WIPW/FOFriday crowd, it would not be what it is today without my knitting group.

If you could share one of your products with the world, what would you choose and why?

I’d have to say my Delicious fingering line of yarn, which is 70% alpaca/20% silk/10% cashmere. I love love love love this yarn. If I could make every project out of it, I would. It’s so soft and warm, yet light weight. It takes the dye beautifully, as the alpaca and cashmere give it a small halo and the silk gives it an amazing shine. It has to be some of the softest yarn I’ve ever felt/worked with.

What does 2012 look like for you?

2012 is an insane year for Candy Skein. Not only will I be rolling out new colors to the permanent colorway collection, a new colorway each month for the Sock Club, new products and mini skein collections, but will be participating in at least three fiber festivals. The first one of the year will be the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival in Hood River, OR, April 20-22. I am SO excited for this show, I can’t even explain to you. This will be my first time in Oregon and I hear it’s gorgeous. The fiber community is huge up there and I can’t wait to bring Candy Skein to those in the Pacific Northwest who might not have heard of my company yet. For anyone who lives up there, please stop by and say hi! I will be doing two other shows in the Southern California area later in the year. I also hope to make the Candy Skein Ravelry group, Candy Skein Addicts, more active with new KAL/CALs (designers, if you’re out there and would like to team up with Candy Skein yarn and your patterns, please let me know!), people sharing their projects and exclusives to the members!

Any last comments or thoughts that you are dying to share?
I just wanted to thank everyone for their support on my blog and with Candy Skein. I have met amazing people online through both who have made me not only a better fiber artist, but also a better person. I also wanted to thank APlayfulDay for letting me sponsor the podcast and for reviewing my yarn. It’s much appreciated!

You can find Candy Skein yarns at www.candyskein.com, and her blog here. You can also keep up to date with the latest news by following Tami on twitter as 'Tamiklockau' or checking out the Ravelry group.

12 women in 12

2012-01-18T14:14:00.003Z

I've been excited about this for some time and I can finally share a feature that I will be hosting here on the blog throughout 2012.

What is it?

A project for women, about women

Each month I will feature a woman or team of women within the crafting industry who are making a difference to the way we view crafts. This list will include designers and yarn producers but also those women behind the scenes, tech editors, writers, publicists and other industry insiders you might not have been aware of until now.

Why?

There are lots of reasons to celebrate female talent in any industry but after internet debates such as a certain Huffington Post editorial and the Yarn Harlot’s piece about treating this as a profession not a hobby, I feel it is right for us to celebrate women making a difference within the industry.

It will not come as a shock to any person who has read the blog or listened to the podcast that I loathe the term 'women's work' and I have little time for thinking small when it comes to growing a business. Unless of course this is highly intentional, after all small can be beautiful. I have long accepted that the F word is bandied around in reference to myself and quite frankly, I don't mind at all. In fact, I welcome it.

I've often been intrigued by the different niches being carved out in the knitting and crafting industry. I have watched companies spring up with interest and excitement and cheered strong women making waves as they develop their careers. In my role as blogger and podcaster I have crossed paths, interviewed and cackled with some of the finest business women out there.

I thought it high time that I brought you some.

So stay tuned for our first featured golden girl coming next week and kicking us off with style. I'll be encouraging some chat on twitter under the hashtag #12womenin12 and invite you to join in with comments and blog posts of your own.

I am such a geek

2012-01-16T11:44:00.001Z

Some of you will already know the above statement is true. For those of you who don't I will now prove it.

Firstly, while I pootled around on the internet this morning, I became excited by an article about the rise and fall of Lard thanks to clever marketing by Crisco. This wasn't entirely out of the blue- I did a segment involving Trex for the podcast. My friend told me over dinner last night about this and I HAD to find out. Why?

See the title of this post.

Then I found Brooklyn Tweed has updated us on the locations of his photoshoot for Wool People 2 that I waxed poetic about in the review/ homage I wrote last week. I want to write more about texture and colour palettes here but it's best I step away before I start talking about little known facts about jam.....

Image credit BrooklynTweed.net

(psst. Here's the links to Brooklyn and Crisco posts if that flicks your switches too)

Blue Cheese and Cauliflower Chowder

2012-01-14T12:01:00.003Z

Another title of this post was almost, 'The Best Picture I have possibly ever taken of CHEESE'. You will see why.

This recipe is one of my long time favourites- I've made it time and time again. Sadly, the giant is not a blue cheese fan so it doesn't get put in to the rotation as often as I would like. I sometimes substitute a nice sharp cheddar but I find you need more cheese than if you used blue and it becomes a little less soupy and more heavy.

However, I had a friend coming to lunch and it seemed like it was just the right time to bake some soda bread and make some favourite soup. Incidentally, I've taken to replacing milk with Buttermilk in the soda recipe- the live cultures react wonderfully with the Bicarbonate of Soda and make for an amazing loaf.

I'm not a slave to quantities when it comes to soup, these are a rough guide

You will need:

1 large cauliflower, chopped into large florets

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 onions, peeled and chopped

1 pint veg stock

1/2 pint milk

150g blue cheese (I like Dolce latte)

1. Put all the ingredients except the cheese into a large pan and simmer gently for about 20 mins or until everything is soft and a bit mushy.

2. Drain off the liquid BUT KEEP IT IN RESERVE.

3. Liquidise the solid vegetables, being careful to remove the bay leaves beforehand. Blend to your preferred consistency.

4. Add this back to the saucepan and return to a low heat. Now add the reserved liquid back to the chowder, a bit at a time, stirring as you go.

5. Just before serving, add the crumbed blue cheese and stir a little.

And now for the picture.

Ready?

Ta DAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Featuring The Vintage Cookbook Trials

2012-01-12T15:40:00.000Z

Well you asked for it and here it is, more wit from the delightful Vintage Cookbook Trials. I featured this duo on the podcast and couldn't resist asking them back to delight us on the blog in more detail.

You can find them on twitter as @TheVCBT and don't forget next month is 'Pie Month'!

Tag you're it. Take centre stage and tell us who you are!
E: Hullo, we’re Elly and Alix. We’ve been friends for a long time.

A: The blog started in the pub, when we both realised we were amassing
loads of old cookbooks and doing nothing with them apart from looking
at the pictures, it struck us both that it might be interesting to see
whether recipes stand the test of time. For me, as I've cooked more
and acquired more books than I'll ever be able to do justice to, I've
developed an interest in a few tangents from the recipes themselves,
like the intrinsic role food and cooking has played in the history of
humans and also the evolution of cookery book design. Sadly, being
fairly lazy, little of this comes across on the blog, which, on my
part mostly consists of seeing just how awful a dinner I can knock up.

E: We blog about the process of cooking, as much as eating. We make
whatever we feel like, we're completely honest about what we do and
how it turns out. I love browsing Tastespotting for inspiration, but
our blog is the polar opposite of that. We both work full-time, so
most savoury dishes are mid-week evening meals, photographed quickly
in the kitchen. A friend called us 'enthusiasts, but not experts',
which is completely true - the only thing we take seriously is
deliciousness.

What counts as 'vintage'?
When we started it meant older than us (pre-1980), but then we
realised we were depriving our readers of the opportunity to laugh at
a lot of 1980s cookbooks, so now we define it as first published more
than 25 years ago. Our oldest cookbook is an abbreviated reprint of
Gervase Markham's The English Huswife (1615). It begins with an intro
saying (I paraphrase) 'You know how people used to shop, cook and eat
well and economically, but now those skills are being lost? This book
will show you how to do all that and be happier and more successful
because of it'. Sound familiar? It has also some good pie recipes.

Isn't vintage super trendy right now?
It is, but we've buying second-hand books and making a mess in the
kitchen and then eating it, all our lives.

What are your favourite dishes to cook?
E: My favourite things to eat - stews and puddings

A: Usually the ones that I enjoy cooking are the least edible! I like
taking a punt on an unpromising, maverick-sounding recipe, then being
disappointed by the resultant disaster. Even after three years I don't
seem to have caught on to the obvious flaw in this technique. The ones
I enjoy eating are the no-nonsense standards, for instance Maria Luisa
Taglienti's Italian Cookbook has yielded many a delicious pasta dish.

Do you still have a technique or dish that you're too nervous to cook?
E: I'm going to attempt puff pastry this year. I've never done it -
I'm determined to have a go. I should be too nervous to cook
meringues, instead I keep trying to make them and mucking them up.

A: I'll try anyway, but I am limited by equipment, money and time, and
I refuse to have anything to do with beating egg whites as I only have
a handwhisk, plus I cannot grill anything without setting the oven on
fire. Actually, my many failures in the yeast realm have put me off
baking. I just can't get it right.

Describe the perfect dinner party (imaginary characters may attend).
Guests:
Nancy Blackett (from Swallows and Amazons)
Elizabeth I
Marcus Gavius Apicius (author of the first cookbook)
Violet Jessop (ship-wreck survivor)
Jeeves (would be good to see what he's like off-duty)
That woman from Come Dine With Me who made a strawberry 'coulis' using
jam and water
Food:

Fishfinger Pyramid for starters, Croustade of Larks for main,
followed by one of Alison Burt's remarkably bad cakes.

Is it tricky blogging as a duo?

E: I sometimes finish a post, get over-excited and hit 'publish'
immediately so it goes out on the same day as one of Alix's. This
makes her very angry.

A: Yes, stop doing this!

If you could cook for anyone in the world or history, who would it be?
E: My grandmothers, both great cooks, who I never had the opportunity
to cook for. Or possibly Eliza Acton, but only if she promised to lean
against the kitchen doorframe with a glass of wine, criticising my
technique.

A: I think I'd just like to have a massive dinner party for everyone
who's ever made me dinner before.

What recipe would you make for the zombie vintage cook book trials?
Braaaaaaaaaains, of course! We’d brown them gently in sage butter and
because we like a varied diet, graaaaaaaaaains as well.

Any parting thoughts or comments?
If you enjoy cooking, we would encourage you to have a look at the old
cookbooks in your family and have a go at some of the recipes – we're
sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised. And if you enjoy laughing at
pictures of bafflingly horrible food, we encourage you to do the same.

This will come as no surprise

2012-01-10T13:30:00.001Z

This post was inevitable. You knew it. I knew it. We all knew it.

He's a genius.

image credit to brooklyntweed.net

The new year started with the release of Wool People 2, the follow up to the oh-so-wonderful Wool People from Brooklyn Tweed. The first one rendered me speechless but this time I'm going to try to explain what it is that I love so wholeheartedly about these publications.

Firstly it's the concept: individual designers having a pattern that earns them money for its lifetime. That's so important. So many designers give over their creative control when entering designs into publication. It's why we can't get this as a book- the downloads have to remain individual. I for one would LOVE to buy a Brooklyn Tweed published book for reasons I will discuss in a moment but the fact that this is really focussed on supporting great talent is brilliant.

The thing that strikes me with both series is the look and 'feel' of both volumes. As a photographer I'm struck by the colour palette throughout, complimenting and highlighting the colours selected for the yarn range and design. Structures add texture and the whole thing feels like it is working together. For example, there's a shot under a metal structure with thick grasses and contrasting texture. It made me think of all the textures that went into the designs. Yes, it's fashionable but it's not fashion that smacks you straight between the eyes like so much knitwear photography. It has context, depth, tone. I love it.

Then there's the patterns and the designers behind them. 14 projects, each as classic as the other. It reads like the who's who of hot designing right now: Veronik Avery, Gudrun Johnston, Cecily Glowik Macdonald, Ann Budd, Nancy Bush, Amy Christoffers, Carrie Bostick Hoge, Melissa LaBarre.... the list goes on. Many of these are names that have been synonymous with good knitwear for sometime. Others are newer but no less talented. It honestly is the kind of thing that excites me and makes my heart sing.

And my MOST favourite part? Oh the designs. Always the designs.

Graham by Cecily Glowik Macdonald

Fuse by Veronik Avery

Episode 20: Bringing Trexy back

2012-01-08T17:52:00.001Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, the home of super yarns for super knits. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above- go on, spoil yourself!!!

Aplayfulday is also kindly sponsored by NorthboundKnitting. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above. Also, don't forget you can enjoy 15% of all purchases by entering 'APLAYFULDAY' at check out- just in time for the holidays! Offer ends 10th January 2012.

Show notes:

I will be attending Unravel at the end of February 2012. Stay tuned for details of a meetup.

A huge thank you to all of the many people who entered the contest. Here's the winners!

A copy of the Be Mine Collection by Rose Beck = Secretsquire
A copy of The Uncommon Clouds collection from Lisa Mutch, along with a skein of fingering weight BFL/ Silk in the colourway 'nocturne' = Shanalines
A skein of British Merino and Silk 4 ply Sock yarn in the colourway Ruby Ruby from travelknitter
= tangledknits
A handmade Riverstone Bracelet from imake = cperrine
A handmade yarn and notions pouch from The Lollipop Stop = mikki522
A3 print from Tillyflop designs = Distel
3 patterns from Robin Ulrich (the Bosc scarf, Katriel Shawl and Fontane) = tilly4u
A cute handmade tea wallet from Mooncalf Makes = Schjerning
Stitchmarkers from Stephcuddles = Amberghini
The Uncommon Thread skein of Super Sock in the colourway 'Into Dust' = Chels580

As always, please get in touch to claim your prize via aplayfulday AT gmail DOT com or pm me on Ravelry- I'm Greentrianglegirl.

Mooncalf Makes, purveyor of handmade tea accessories is offering 10% for all playful friends. Simply enter the code 'playful' at checkout to claim your discount. Offer ends 14th February 2012.

Our lovely show sponsor is offering a giveaway prize of yumminess: a skein of Bessie, a 4ply/sock weight yarn which is 75% Superwash Blue Faced Leicester and 25% Nylon, in the colourway 'Gothica'. To win this prize, simply visit the Superknits website and tell me in the comments of this blog post, your favourite Superknits colourway. Entries must be in before 21st January 2012 to be in with a chance of winning. Please leave your ravelry name if possible. Good luck!

I review Juju's Loops by Juju Vail and Susan Cropper of Loop, London.

Off the needles
Stockholm Scarf by Knitted Bliss in Merino Cashmere DK, Artist's Palette Yarns
Man (or anyone) Cowl by Michael Wynnein in Sokkusu Original in colourway Deep Undercover
A modified Weavers and Buttons Cowl in Abstract Fiber's Soprano in the colourway Spinach
Molly by Erin Ruth in Candy Skein Yummy Worsted in the colouway Blackberry. To see the full yarn review, click here.

On the Needles
After thought heel socks by Laura Linneman in a mystery self striping of awesome- stay tuned!
Kai Mei by Cookie A in Superknits Mary, Queen of Socks, colourway 'With my tv and CD collection of Bob Marley'

Munch Burp Schlurp
I'm visited by the girls from The Vintage Cookbook Trials, who test out some apple fritters on me, their almost willing guinea pig. Stay tuned for further news of them in an upcoming blog feature!

(The Vogue Cocktails trial)

(Trex for those who need to know)

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
Or not by Amy Daly, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Candy Skein Yarns

2012-01-06T10:24:00.001Z

I've been enjoying knitting lately. I've dived into stash with delight and glee and loved everything on the needles. One of the things making me very happy was this:

This lovely bit of business is Candy Skein's Yummy Worsted, a delightful 220 yards of Superwash Merino. The colourway is Blackberry and according to Tami, the lady behind the Candy enterprise, it's one of her most popular colourways. I can see why. Some of you might recognise Tami from her blogalongs- WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays. I got chatting to Tami and was lucky enough to receive some review yarn.

The yarn is soft to the touch and has a really nice bounce that I wasn't expecting from superwash. It was more variegated than I'd imagined from the picture so I pondered the pattern choice for some time. Eventually I settled on Molly, a slouchy hat design by Erin Ruth. A third of the way into knitting I had a crisis- is this TOO variegated for cables? However, I was knitting with some friends over new year's and was met with oooo's and ahhh's and decided to keep going.

Half way through the decreases, I realised I was going to run out of yarn. I was horrified and ripped back to start them 3 rows earlier. The yarn held up well. There was a little fuzzing but no more than I've come to expect from other yarns and with a little knitting, everything looked good to go again.

I like the end result, especially the textured stitches in the body of the hat. I think if I was to do this again, I'd leave out the cable and have just the texture to really showcase the colourway. OR add 2 extra purls either side of the cable to really make it stand out.

Either way I'm pretty pleased. And warm :)

Guest blogging

2012-01-05T12:43:00.002Z

Some of the more beady eyed amongst you might have noticed a new button on the side bar- the 'Rock and Purl Guest Blogger' badge of honour.

For those of you who don't follow the very talented Ruth over at Rock and Purl, she is a designer, blogger and all around knitting genius. I've enjoyed her blog this year and when she put the call out for new guest bloggers I shyly raised my hand and joined super stars such as Shannon Oakey and Mercedes T Clark. It's all very exciting and slightly daunting.

Here's the link for those of you who want to keep up this year. I'm already looking forward to next Sunday's post.

Perhaps that new year's resolution should be about being brave...??

Traditions

2012-01-04T10:12:00.000Z

Well it's the time of year for that traditional funk. Call it what you will: 'return to work blues', 'festive blowout' or 'the January doldrums'. Whatever it is, I have it.

I shouldn't be so surprised, I have it EVERY year. Why? I'm not good with build up or expectation. Let me explain.

I find myself getting really anxious with this talk of new starts and resolutions. Sometimes I try to play along but mostly I just feel this anxiety to BE BETTER. What if I am not better? What if I don't achieve all those amazingly hard targets I've set myself?

I will admit I understand the need for reinvention. Anyone who has kept an eye on the blog from day one will understand I love a change or two. (I'm now redhead FYI). But I get really overwhelmed by this expectation that we will all strive to be better because it's a new year. I strive to be better everyday and the little perfectionist in me needs a break from all these messages of new improved me quite frankly. It makes me jittery.

Yet, as a blogger I feel a need to add a traditional post, reviewing the year and setting targets for the year ahead.

.........

Can I get back to you on that one?

Holiday Special with Subway Knits

2011-12-30T22:19:00.001Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, the home of super yarns for super knits. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above- go on, spoil yourself!!!

Show notes:

1. Leave a blog comment on the giveaway post (this is counts as a double entry if you are a follower so please state that if you are!) Please don't forget to leave contact details!

2. Leave a comment in the Ravelry Group thread (you must be a group member to enter)

3. Tweet me about the giveaway

4. Write a blog post/ podcast about either the podcast, the giveaway or one of our wonderful contributors and send me the link to aplayfulday AT gmail DOT com.

You can enter all 4 times, don't be shy, there's lots to be won. A huge thank you to all contributors and YOU for supporting the blog and podcast this year.

I team up with Maria from the Subway Knits podcast once more to reflect on a year of podcasting, stashing and knitting. We talk about dreams for the future and of course, Jared Flood.

Castle Pullover providing the background noise of needles clicking....

Brace yourselves: Blue Lagoon Ramen of DOOM

Hyperbole and a Half orginal inspiration post for knit all the things!

Love for all things fairisle in the form of Neep Heid.

Wishing you all a very happy new year!

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
Auld Lang Syne by Friction Bailey, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Featuring Superknits

2011-12-30T10:57:00.000Z

Continuing my theme of highlighting friends and fabulous people, I thought it was time I told you more about my wonderful sponsor Superknits. I was extremely lucky to stumble across this friendship and therefore her YARN quite early on in podcasting. Not only is this lovely lady warm and intelligent, she's a super dyeing genius and all time record holding best customer service person ever! (try saying that 5 times fast). Also, I love trying to guess where her colourway names come from- it's a favourite game in the playful household.

psssst There's free postage within the UK till 31st December 2011 so get in quick!

1. Tag, you're it! Take centre stage and tell us who you are.

I am the person behind superknits.com where I sell lots of nice yarns including my own range of yarns. For many years I drifted along in the legal profession but woke up one morning realising I was quite unhappy with my life. I wasn’t really sure what direction to take so I left my job and took some time out to discover what I wanted to do. I’ve always been a bit craft happy and had been knitting on and off since my teens. There wasn’t anywhere locally to buy nice yarn so I decided to set up Super Knits to sell all the products I liked. Deciding to set up the business was the easy part; getting finance was much harder. Unless you own a house, banks generally aren’t interested in you, especially during the recession and especially if you’re unemployed and single. In the end I went to the Princes Trust but although they could provide a mentor, they wouldn’t lend me any money either as they no longer support retail ventures! I finally managed to get a small amount of finance from a bank which enabled me to buy stock and set up the website. I liked the yarns I sold but I couldn’t seem to find the sort of shades that I wanted. I like slightly off palette colours, dirty teals, spicy mustards and semi-solid greys. I couldn’t seem to find these shades anywhere so I went on a course to learn how to dye yarn. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it. I love playing around with colours and for years I’ve collected paint charts, bits of wrapping paper with nice colours on, nice scraps of fabric. This seemed to really fire my imagination and I left the course feeling quite certain about what I wanted to do. I now sell my own range of hand dyed yarns through my website.

What helps keep you playful?

I’m a big reader. A few years ago I sold a lot of my books on ebay and that’s probably my second regret in life (the first is that I never got to see riverdance live). I also like taking photographs of flowers, animals and landscapes. I think it goes without saying that I do a lot of knitting. I am a cardigan and sock addict. I am taking part in a dozen shawls in 2012 KAL to try and curb this habit.

What is your guiltiest pleasure? (If you say X factor or Towie, I will remove you as Sponsor).

I am obsessed by medieval things. I love anything to do with the Tudors or the War of the Roses. It’s no coincidence that my yarns are named Bessie, Mary and Anne. I am thinking of studying for a history degree but I’m still a bit undecided about it.

I also love comedy, the sillier, the better. Neither of my parents have a funny bone and can’t stand comedies. I have no idea where I get it from.

I love writing my blog as well. It’s a kind of outlet for all the stuff in my head and I do enjoy it.

I also rather love the Eurovision song contest. That has to be the guiltiest pleasure of them all.

What is your comfort food of choice?

I don’t have one particular comfort food of choice but I do like a biscuit. I am a grazer and I snack constantly. I like Cheddar biscuits, those tuc biscuits which are really salty with the creamy cheese in the middle and bourbon biscuits. I have a bit of a thing for Skittles sweets at the moment. I like cheap, naff wines like babycham and blue nun. A friend and I used to buy each other rip off wines, each trying to outdo the other, like a magnum of “Charlemagne” (rather than champagne) although that came to an end when we got a 79p bottle of wine, nicknamed “the basilisk” from a discount shop and it was like paint stripper. I also have a bit of a thing for teapigs English breakfast tea.

What was your favourite childhood game?

My favourite games were the ones I made up (although I loved playing Hungry Hippos). The first was “fat bellies” which was a wrestling style competition for two people where you poked your belly out as far as it would go and then try and knock your opponent over using your stomach (no arms allowed).

The second game didn’t have a name but was by far the most superior. My childhood home was at that time, a quiet residential street with few cars. In the houses nearby there were lots of children of a similar age so we would all play together in the front gardens or in the street. For this game you needed a skateboard and probably at least 7 children; 2 riders, 1 pusher, 2 stewards and 2 traffic wardens. The street around the corner was a steep hill. One of us had a massive skateboard (you can see where this is going). We were lucky that we were relatively small children so two of us would sit on the skateboard, there would be a relay of shouts of “ready” up and down the hill, the pusher would give you a good shove, gravity would take effect and whoooosh, off you went. You would travel down the hill, picking up speed, trying to stay on the pavement and the skateboard and then when you nearly got to the bottom of the hill the traffic wardens would have to check the road was safe. I clearly remember being on the skateboard and a child having to stop traffic in the road, the drivers looking extremely confused when a skateboard carrying two children ricocheted down the hill, over the road at breakneck speed and came to a halt by crashing into a conifer tree. And no, we never wore helmets.

When you daydream, where do you tend to end up?

I once spent a really enjoyable summer season working for the National Trust at Hanbury Hall which is just outside Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire. It is a beautiful part of the world. I worked as a talking signpost (seriously) and was based outside. When I daydream I tend to be back around that area, being outside in the sun with a gentle breeze, surrounded by green fields and having a nice slow walk up the hill to the church. Of course I completely forget that it poured with rain, the wind blew horizontally across the fields, there was a large amount of sheep poo and I once got so wet my underwear was soaked through. Happy days.

Quick! Zombie apocolypse, what do you do?

I would probably wish that I had read the Zombie version of Pride and Prejudice, like I had always meant to, as this may contain some useful advice. By this time I would probably have been eaten.

If you and I had a party, what would happen and who would come?

Well obviously we would have to make sure we had enough babycham for everyone first! I’ve been going to lots of formal events lately which is nice but what I really want is a proper old fashioned knees up, you know the sort that’s held in a function room in a pub with a cheesy dj on his little dj set (with the flashy light and the speakers), playing really rubbish music like Agadoo with lots of cheap drinks. We would need to invite at least one person who can remember the dance routine to Whigfield’s Saturday Night.

Any closing thoughts?

I have often wondered if dogs bark with a different regional accent depending on where they live.

Festive

2011-12-23T09:42:00.001Z

Jar Labels

I had planned a series of posts, chatting about all my festive pursuits but somehow I just can't find the words. In an effort to regain some festive spirit I'll post some pics and links to share some ideas of happy things.

Gift tags inspired by imake's blog post

Rosemary salt making from this recipe

Thank you

2011-12-22T21:34:00.000Z

For being the best friend any girl could have

Sleep tight love.

When life hands you lemons (and limes).....

2011-12-21T18:14:00.000Z

It started off as a simple twitter 'what to do with limes that appear to be breeding'.

I'd done it again, a mountain of lemons and limes that I keep adding to as you should always have a lemon in, you need it for so many good dishes. I apply the same rule to limes. Incidentally I don't know what all these great dishes are as I clearly don't use lemons all that often and as for limes? Well, yes.

There were a number of suggestions and while I leaned toward a good mojito I realised I was still two presents down in the gift giving front. Curd? Yes.

Well you'll have to forgive the naff instagram pic, I just couldn't wait to share this (especially if you too are pushing it in terms of time this year). I'm sharing a recipe I made up after reading 16 different food blogs. I might have got distracted.

Lemon and Lime Curd (makes a healthy 2 medium jar amount)

You will need

2/3rd cup lemon and lime freshly squeezed juice

1/2 cup caster sugar

3/4 stick of unsalted butter cubed and softened

3 large eggs + 1 yolk beaten

1. Bring a pan of water to the boil and place a bowl over the top so it is not touching the water. Pour in the juice and caster sugar.

2. Once the sugar is dissolved, whisk in (slowly) the egg and keep this moving in the bowl for about 5-6 mins

3. Gradually add the cubes of butter, one at a time, letting it dissolve into the mixture.

4. Pour into ready waiting jars and don't steal some for you toast. It will thicken more as it cools.

Featuring Voolenvine

2011-12-20T10:35:00.001Z

One of the many joys of podcasting and blogging, is the people you 'meet'. I have been listening to podcasts for years now and was thrilled when Kristin began broadcasting. Pretty soon I was checking out her blog and thinking about the many ways in which you can use colour. This lady is stylish, charming and warm and she's agreed to an interview so that I can share her with all of you! Enjoy!

Tag, you're it! Take centre stage and tell us who you are.

Hi There! I'm Kristin, the host of the YarnGasm knitting podcast and blogger behind KnitNook.net! I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with my husband, where I work as a video editor and pretty much spend the rest of my waking hours knitting! I'm also Voolenvine on Ravelry and Twitter.

You've just created knitnook.net. What is the concept behind this?

There are a few concepts, actually. Me and my husband are moving in several weeks-- but before biting the bullet, we tried to make our current place "work."

I played with the idea of giving up my knitting room *gasp!* and carving out a smaller knit nook for myself in a larger room-- (Possible? Yes. Functional? No-- on both our ends, really. So we're moving! Yay!)

Anywho, before the realization, I was browsing Etsy and Pinterest for nook ideas and was really inspired! I thought about posting my ideas, finds and things I like on my personal knitting blog, Voolenvine.com but I saw these potential posts developing into another kind of blog. Then I kept thinking about the name, "Knit Nook"… I couldn't get it out of my head! I just love the sound of it! So, I got the domain and the rest is history!

Now that KnitNook.net has had a little time to grow, I have a better idea about where I want to take it. The combination of stash organization ideas, decor, design, interviews with other inspiring knitters, spinners, dyers, podcasters, etc.,-- I want it to be a place for other knitters to visit so they can be inspired, get ideas and even share their own! I really enjoy the interviews... I learn something new each time, and find it so fascinating that in a world of so many professions and lifestyles, we all have knitting in common!

As well as blogging, you also host a successful podcast, how did that come about?

First, it was 'KnitPicks', then I discovered 'Electric Sheep'… then 'Knitmore Girls'… and then 'Here's To Ewe!'… It was a domino effect. This podcast thing was so new to me, and so exciting that I wanted in on the fun!

However, it was a little difficult at first. Mainly because I'm not much of a talker. I'm usually a very quiet person and thought podcasting would also help me come out of my shell a bit.

There were a few times I wanted to put the mic down, but the reviews and the kind messages I received from listeners definitely encouraged me to keep at it and I'm glad I did!

Once I became more comfortable in front of the microphone and had a basic format down it became much easier-- and fun! I really enjoy hearing from listeners and it's nice to know your audience is genuinely interested in what your talking about. I love my family and friends to death but none of them knit. Whenever I get excited or gripe about a project I can't expectcolour them to 'get it'… The podcast is definitely a great outlet for that!

A noticable theme to your blog and podcast is colour and style, what influences your style and colour choices?

I've always had an appreciation for graphic design. I love playing with different fonts and colour schemes-- Also, I found Pinterest to be particularly inspiring. A majority of my pins are 'For the Home'-- Since I can't exactly pick up a paintbrush and renovate my own apartment (our landlord wouldn't be a happy camper) I channeled these ideas and designed Voolenvine.com and KnitNook.net as if they were real rooms! I wanted them to be inviting, fresh and cozy-- a place that I enjoy visiting!

What helps keep you playful?

Hmm… let's see

- Of course, knitting and the amazing community of knitters that follow

- My belief in unicorns

- Glitter (it makes everything better!)

- Only wearing dresses (put me in a pair of jeans and I'm a sad panda. I can't do it. I just can't!)

- Occasional alone time

- A decent internet connection / cell phone signal

- Ice cream!

- A good glass of Sauvignon Blanc

- Photos of Corgis doing silly things. (see exhibit A)

- Diet Coke… Yes I'm addicted. Yes I know it's probably bad for me. ::head/desk::

- Saving the best for last, my husband and best friend, Dennis. He keeps me playful… and sane! (and vise / versa)

One of my favourite things to talk about is food, what is your trademark dish when friends come round?

Good timing! I recently fell in LOVE with my crock pot. I swear, if I didn't have to work, I'd fire this puppy up almost every night of the week!

For my friends, I'd either have to make them my Spicy Beef Vindaloo, or Chipotle Tacos. I love spicy food!

I'm a big foodie as well!-- but only cook unless it's quick and easy. During the week it's usually pick a meat and / or veggie…. chop it up and throw it in a pot. As for whether we're having Italian, Chinese or Indian… THAT, my friend, hangs in the sauce. ;)

But yes… Crock pot FTW!

What was your favourite childhood game?

I feel silly admitting this, but I really got excited about Duck, Duck… GOOSE! Probably because I enjoyed replacing "Duck Duck Goose" with other words like… "pizza, pizza, pepperoni!" I was an easily amused child.

If we're talking teen years, that's a totally different story-- hands down, Dream Phone! Most of the time, it would be Bruce saying, "You're right! I like you!" over that giant hot pink phone. *sigh*

There's a huge knit event, everyone is there, who is most likely to reduce you to a gibbering fangirl and why?

AHH! That totally happened this year at Rhinebeck when I approached Ysolda Teague! (Remember: horrible at making conversation!) I walked up to her and said, "Hi! I'm Kristin. [huuuge creepy grin] I really like your designs! … K bye!) and then just scampered off. I really just want to crawl under a log! Can I have a do-over?

If so, I'd also like to introduce myself to Spilly Jane, Alexis Winslow and Kirsten Kapur.

Share on random fact about yourself that not many people know

I'm going to be 29 next month and I still don't know how to drive a car. Growing up in NYC definitely spoils you with cabs, trains, buses-- and the fact that everything you need is pretty much walking distance. Getting my license is definitely on my to-do list!

Any closing thoughts?

Thanks so much for the interview! It was fun.

Episode 19: The Season of Giving

2011-12-18T00:35:00.002Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, the home of super yarns for super knits. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above- go on, spoil yourself!!!

There is a giveaway of epic proportions going on! The giveaway entries need to be submitted by 7th January 2012 and winners will be announced on the show scheduled for 8th January 2012. Check out the many ways you can enter for multiple entries:
1. Leave a blog comment on the giveaway post (this is counts as a double entry if you are a follower so please state that if you are!) Please don't forget to leave contact details!
2. Leave a comment in the Ravelry Group thread (you must be a group member to enter)
3. Tweet me about the giveaway
4. Write a blog post/ podcast about either the podcast, the giveaway or one of our wonderful contributors and send me the link to aplayfulday AT gmail DOT com.

You can enter all 4 times, don't be shy, there's lots to be won. A huge thank you to all contributors and YOU for supporting the blog and podcast this year.

Off the Needles

Humanity Mitts by Denise Lotter in Rico Design Essential Soft Merino Aran
Rikke Hat by Sarah Young in September Yarns Essential Sock Yarn (discontinued)

On the needles
Stockholm Scarf by Knitted Bliss in Merino Cashmere DK, Artist's Palette Yarns
Man (or anyone) Cowl by Michael Wynnein in Sokkusu Original in colourway Deep Undercover

Festive Podcaster's Delight
Blog Like it's the End of the World
Brass Needles
CaithnessCraftCollective

Cast On

Cloudy with a Chance of Fibre with details of Knitchat
CogKNITive podcast
Craftlife

Electric Sheep

Fluffy Fibers

iMake
Knitajourney
Knitcents
Knitmore Girls
Knitting Pipeline
Miss Elle Knits
Never Not Knitting
The Savvy Girls
Stash and Burn

Stitch It!

Subway Knits
Yarn On Tap
Yarngasm

Poem featured: The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley
O Come All Ye Faithful by Merry Ellen Kirk, available on Music Alley
Silent Night by Kati Mac, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Giveaway Palooza

2011-12-16T13:23:00.004Z

In the sprit of the season and all things playful I have a smashing giveaway for you all. To say thank you for all the support for both the blog and the podcast, I've pulled together some of my favourite people in order to bring you a giveaway of epic proportions.

Please listen to this week's podcast in order to find out how to enter. I'm going to give you multiple ways to enter which means multiple entries. There's lots to be won so don't be shy, come and play!

So what can you win? Well I'm glad you asked. In no particular order:

A copy of the stunning Be Mine Collection by Rose Beck

A copy of The Uncommon Clouds collection from Lisa Mutch, along with a fabulous skein of fingering weight BFL/ Silk in the colourway 'nocturne'.

A yummy skein of British Merino and Silk 4 ply Sock yarn in the colourway Ruby Ruby from travelknitter.

A beautiful handmade Riverstone Bracelet from imake

A fantastic handmade yarn and notions pouch from The Lollipop Stop

An amazing A3 print from the very talented Tillyflop designs

3 patterns from Robin Ulrich to take you into 2012 with a bang: the Bosc scarf, Katriel Shawl and Fontane.

A cute handmade tea wallet from Mooncalf Makes for all those tea perfectionists out there.

A set of small but perfectly formed stitchmarkers from Stephcuddles.

And last but not least, from the talent that is The Uncommon Thread, a skein of Super Sock in the colourway 'Into Dust'.

Stay tuned....

ETA: ALL COMMENTS FROM 18TH DECEMBER WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY COMMENTED PLEASE FORMALLY ENTER IN ONE OF THE WAYS LISTED HERE. DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE CONTACT DETAILS! (rav name will do)

How do you like them apples?

2011-12-15T11:03:00.000Z

Since I was little, I have loved story telling. I come from a family of story tellers and while we avidly read, the tradition of on the spot story telling and crafting something without a text has been a longstanding one. My grandfather's regular character was Jerry the Goblin, a naughty goblin I've gone on to share time and time again.

My stories tend to be whimsical, shocking from a blogger dubbed 'Aplayfulday' I'm sure. On Friday I went to an event that reminded me of this love having not practiced for so long. Sure, I inflict stories on the giant, often just before sleep kicks in but I've not crafted for a while. On Friday we went to see one of our favourite spoken word artists and he impressed upon the audience the importance of not losing story telling.

When our audience participation did not win the prize, I remembered the devil was in the detail and I found words littering my head. I wrote them down until I found somewhere to speak them.

So in the way Polar Bear taught me:

What story did you tell today?

When good things happen to bad preparation

2011-12-12T18:44:00.001Z

Recently, I invited a favourite playful friend of mine round for dinner and raucous laughter. In the planning stages I pictured yummy food and merriment and looked forward to the date. I love this friend. She once suggested that rather than move out an old telly from our house that we just chucked it out the windows like rockstars. Her reasoning being that she'd always felt like a rockstar. I think you can see why we're friends.

However, on the afternoon of the planned dinner of jolity I realised I'd not thought ahead to what we would eat and what I would cook. In desperation I looked in the fridge and scrabbled in cupboards and came up with this:

It was a start. Chorizo, garlic, chopped tomatoes and cannellini beans. With more focus now I returned to rummage and added this to the equation:

Now things were looking REALLY good; onions, chillis, muscovado sugar and Worcestershire Sauce, the saviour of many store cupboard suppers.

Now full of hope and excitement I nipped to our local green grocers and added just 2 more ingredients. (I also found a Daim bar in all that rummaging and consumed it happily while plotting my dinner of jolity. Don't judge me).

So I give you, 'The (almost) Store Cupboard Dinner of Awesome'

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 large chilli, chopped and half heartedly deseeded

200g Spanish chorizo, peeled and diced

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 medium to large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced.

1 tbsp dark muscovado

150ml of water

1 healthy slug or two of Worcestershire sauce

Assembly:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the chorizo and peppers for a further minute, allowing the chorizo to release it's red juices.

2. Add the tomatoes, sugar and pepper and water. Cover and simmer for approx 10 minutes.

3. Add the sweet potato and Worcestershire Sauce and once again cover and simmer, this time for 45 minutes.

4. When the squash is tender, add the Cannellini beans for the last 5 minutes. Garnish with Coriander or parsley or whatever you local corner shop happens to have.

Serve with a friend, plenty of laughter and fresh made bread.

A Holiday Special: Christmas with Hoxton Handmade

2011-12-10T23:20:00.000Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, the home of super yarns for super knits. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above- go on, spoil yourself!!!

Happy holidays to all the podcast listeners out there! Here's a special episode to listen to while finishing those holiday knits and sipping some festive mulled wine. Cheers!

You can find the wonderful Hoxton Handmade and links to her podcast here on the Hoxton Handmade Blog (beware the sheep)

Recipe for Mulled Wine:

1 bottle of red wine

60g demerara sugar

Heat these in a large pan before adding a cinnamon stick, bay leaf and a few cloves.

Just before serving, add a healthy slug of Sloe Gin

Garnish with a mince pie in the other hand.

The Ugly Christmas Sweater Book

Songs:

Silent Night by Darrell Smith, available on Music Alley
Deck The Halls with We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Doug Boldt, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Treat yourself!

2011-12-09T13:03:00.001Z

To celebrate the arrival of our new sponsor, today's post is brought to you with a promotional code to score 15% off at NorthBoundKnitting.

Simply add the code 'APLAYFULDAY' at check out to take advantage of this yummy offer. Perfect for pre-Christmas treats and splurges alike.

Offer ends January 10th 2012.

Proudly brought to you by.....

2011-12-07T13:45:00.002Z

It's no secret to any regular follower of the blog or listener of the podcast, I've been a huge fan of Lisa Mutch for some time. Lisa is the creative genius behind NorthboundKnitting: a gathering of hand dyed yarn and fibre as well as strong and classic pattern designs.

Askew by Lisa Mutch

I am so proud to welcome Lisa as a new sponsor. I hope all of you will make her feel very welcome in our playful community.

Fibre like this makes me want to spin...

psssssst ask Santa if he's bringing you any of these lovelies this year....

Episode 18: Baby, it's cold outside

2011-12-05T16:52:00.002Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, the home of super yarns for super knits. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above- go on, spoil yourself!!!

Show notes:

Stay tuned for some surprise holiday specials.....

The winner of Coastal Knits is: Catalina! Please get in touch as soon as possible so I can get the goodies to you!

I interview Stephen West of Westknits fame.

Off the Needles
Purl Ridge Scarf by WestKnits in Madelinetosh DK, colourway Graphite.

On the needles
Humanity Mitts by Denise Lotter in Rico Design Essential Soft Merino Aran
Rikke Hat by Sarah Young in September Yarns Essential Sock Yarn (discontinued)
Stockholm Scarf by Knitted Bliss in Merino Cashmere DK, Artist's Palette Yarns

Review
A fully playful party for Socktopus by Alice Yu of Socktopus fame. Available from GMC or your LYS.

Festive Munch Burp Schlurp
I mix up some festive edible gifts, with a variation on this recipe for Cranberry Vodka. I added orange peel and am debating a clove, vanilla, and cinnamon mix next time.

I also share my last minute bread maker's gift hamper: pre mixed bags/ tubs of bread flour and seed butters in pretty jars. For the nut/ seed butters you will need approx 200g seeds or nuts of your choice and to crush them in a blender or coffee grinder. Add 1 tblsp of oil at a time till you get the consistency you desire (usually about 200ml). Keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley

When gentle snowflakes by Steve Stellavato, available on Music Alley
The First Noel by Alison Crowe, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Someone else knows

2011-12-02T11:10:00.001Z

Today I found something that so summarised my playful place, I just had to share. Someone out there understands the importance of birds being out of their cage and I adore that.

Found at http://tryingislying.tumblr.com/page/15

Have a lovely weekend everyone x

Times they are a changin'

2011-12-01T13:02:00.003Z

So a few things have prompted a little blog reshuffle, nothing huge, just a step towards somewhere I'd like to take this playful parade.

Let me know what you think!

Forget sheep, let's count socks.

2011-11-30T12:55:00.001Z

Lately I've been dreaming in socks.

I love handknits socks and I have so few.

I'm so looking forward to the next episode when I will be reviewing a very special book. About socks.

Have you guessed who yet? Stay tuned...

Middle Days

2011-11-29T13:38:00.001Z

I was delighted a few weeks ago when Brenda Dayne did a peice on 'imaginary knitting'. The idea being that while you might be tied to finishing other peices, in your mind, you have an imaginary knitting bag with works in progress. I really related to this sentiment and I thought I'd share the contents of my imaginary knitting bag today.

First up I have bright, beautiful socks. They're plain and I will learn how to do the perfect after thought heel and I will squeal with delight at their addictive stripes. This will mark the first of many striped socks, and I will begin to memorise my perfect vanilla socks. Socks I can travel with and cast on and finish at any point. I need never be without knitting again as long as I am armed with this.

Idlewood by Cecily Glowik Macdonald

Then there is my sweater. I have wanted a sweater project for so long but gifts are always more obtrusive than I give them credit for. In my head I am knitting a beautiful garment, in warm yarn, that is the perfect fit. Part of my imaginary knitting was matching stash and I realised I had enough stash for a knitting crush I've had for a while. It will be mine. Just not yet.

Then there is my true flight of fancy. I have been drooling over the sweater of awesome that is Beatnik, by Norah Gaughan. I have been noticing this a lot, I mean, I've been finding myself finding it on Ravelry in between rows. I dream up colours and I picture it's warmth now the weather has finally turned so cold. Most of all I think about how proud I would be as to be quite honest, this sweater is way beyond my skill set right now. I'll get there. It's my new year plan: more garment knitting.

What's in your imaginary knitting bag?

Episode 17: Madame Toad and her many friends

2011-11-22T16:13:00.002Z

Notes:

Save the date! 4th December 2011 12- 5 pm for the Playful Meet up 2011 at Interknit Cafe. Enjoy 10% purchases on the day and yarn tasting.
Also, please bring any essentials listed on this page to donate to Give and Makeup.

The winner of Lisa Mutch's pattern collection, Uncommon Clouds, and a skein of from Northbound Knitting is:. Please get in touch as soon as possible and we can get the goodies to you!

Be sure to enter the ongoing Coastal Knits giveaway. To win a signed copy of the book, please leave a comment on the podcast shownotes linked here, with your contact details, by 4th December 2011. I will try my best to produce a podcast over that weekend but may announce via the blog first so be sure to check back!

Off the Needles
Little Colonnade by Stephen West in Madelinetosh Tosh Sock colourway Baltic.
Juno Regina Stole from Miriam L. Felton in HandMaiden Seasilk in the colourway Salt Spray.

On the needles
Purl Ridge Scarf by WestKnits in Madelinetosh DK, colourway Graphite.
Humanity Mitts by Denise Lotter in Rico Design Essential Soft Merino Aran

Review
A glowing review for the Fold Out Needle Envelope, Hooky Yarn Pouch and Giant Yarn Pouch from the very talented Undercover Owl.

Festive Frolics
Franklin Habit gives us a Thanksgiving message to giggle over.

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley

Thanksgiving by Steve Stellavato, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Dark Days

2011-11-16T11:24:00.001Z

Sometimes you write a title just so you can follow it up with another titled post. I'm hoping the next one states that dark days are over, there's a Florence and The Machine video and a parade of food and knits. However, in order for there to be such a post, there needs to be dark days. I believe I'm in them.

Let's look at the evidence: the days are now shorter. So short in fact that yesterday the giant and I were ready to go to bed (we're both sick) and looked at the clock. 6.45 pm .Really? REALLY???? I swear it had been dark for hours at this point. Surely it had to be closer to midnight. Normally extra evening would be delightful, like waking up on Saturday, thinking it's a week day and gleefully realising your mistake. Last night however it felt like a day that was never going to end. Ever.

Then of course there is the fact that I remain in a black hole of knitting. I have not completed anything in ages and if I have, chances are it hasn't been for me. The Juno Regina stole is trying to kill me in my sleep. Seriously. I hear it whispering to me 'you will never finish me and I will be your albatross'. Or should that be monkey? Monkey on your back; albatross round your neck, right? Whatever. I have a friggin zoo climbing all over me right now and christmas is not getting any further away.

I also have a chest infection. AGAIN. How is it that I can catch a cold and go down with a chest infection with such ease? You know how men never have a cold but have man flu and might be dying? I am like that. I don't get just a cold. I get a chest infection and become my own little parody of Slimer with green goo. It's attractive I can tell you.

So to lift my spririts in these dark days I'm powering through the stole so that I can look forward to these new brights. You'll be hearing about them next podcast. If I can string a sentence together by Sunday. If not, I'll be dragging myself out of bed to write a blog post that announces the dark days are not yet over and we're all doomed, DOOMED, I tell you.

Artist's Palette Dk- with cashmere!

ROBOT LOVE!!!

Oh I have clever knit friends, yes I do....

Ok, that was dramatic. My fever might be up again. Apologies.

ETA: Slimer reference point

You're IT! Featuring Alana Dakos

2011-11-14T15:26:00.001Z

Aplayfulday is kindly sponsored by Superknits, the home of super yarns for super knits. Please show your support for our playful friend by clicking on the link above- go on, spoil yourself!!!

Show notes:

Alana's blog, podcast and patterns can be found on her blog.

Details of Coastal Knits by Hannah Fettig and Alana can be found here and this includes details of stockists.

To win a signed copy of the book, please leave a comment below, with your contact details, by 4th December 2011. I will try my best to produce a podcast over that weekend but may announce via the blog first so be sure to check back!

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley

Never Not Knitting theme song can be found on Alana's blog

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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My love grows stronger

2011-11-08T18:30:00.001Z

My knitting crush has done it again

Oh my

Oh wow

Let us count the ways we love him.

Episode 16: If in doubt, knit.

2011-11-06T19:57:00.000Z

Notes:

Donation giveaway:
The winner of a set of Stitchcuddles stitchmarkers from Stephcuddles and a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn in the colourway terracotta 802 has been contacted.

Off the needles
Purl Ridge Scarf by WestKnits in Madelinetosh DK, colourway Graphite.

On the Needles
A joyful reunion has meant Kai Mei by Cookie A in Superknits Mary, Queen of Socks, colourway 'With my tv and CD collection of Bob Marley' is now back in rotation but I've not yet worked out where I was in the pattern!
Juno Regina Stole from Miriam L. Felton in HandMaiden Seasilk in the colourway Salt Spray.

Munch Burp Schlurp

The giant and I visit Borough Market and the Vinopolis Whiskey Exchange.

Lisa Mutch joins us for a wonderful chat despite technical difficulties. Lisa is offering a pattern collection, Uncommon Clouds, and a skein of from Northbound Knitting to one lucky listener. To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us what you love about Lisa's designs or yarns! The winner will be announced on the 20th November so please leave a comment before this date. Good luck!

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley

Betty by The Lascivious Biddies, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Storage is not stash.

2011-11-03T13:37:00.001Z

I've been shopping. Now I know, I know, I'm trying to liberate my stash and I'm trying very hard. This is not stash, this is something even more essential.

Observe my previous attempts at storage for my notions: leftover wash bags and free storage that comes with interchangeable knit pick sets. Yes, those are crumbs you can see clearly through the cheap plastic.

It had to go. Just had to.

Check out this lovely little bit of business. A needle envelope from the ever so talented Undercover Owl. Note it's cute sheepy fabric, perfectly seamed finish and pockets for all by needles and cables. I'm quite enamoured to say the least. I keep inspecting it and finding it quite marvellous. If it did the washing up, I'd propose quite frankly. I feel much better about a storage solution that actually stores what I want, in pockets I can find and tucks away prettily into the stash nook.

And did I mention, it has sheep on it?

Let's enjoy some up close shall we?

What's more it came with a little freebie- a lavender sachet to store with my yarn and keep away moths. Isn't that sock monkey fabric so cute? Sarah informs me that she tries hard to include a different little gift with each purchase and I'm just pleased as punch with mine. Anything this cute that prevents my stash becoming expensive moth food is always welcome in my house.

So there it is, in all it's glory, a considerably improved set of notions storage....

..... what's that? The large bag? Oh yes, there's more reviews to come. Please tune in to the podcast for more information on yet more goodies from the Undercover Owl. Tee hee!

Inspired to blog

2011-10-27T19:55:00.000+01:00

Well, twitter defeated me. It's lousy word count is great for 'I had the best sandwich ever' messages but does not allow me to explain why I think Give and MakeUp is a worthwhile cause.

I should explain. Earlier today I noticed a Refuge tweet about Give and Makeup. Intrigued, I clicked the link and found an initiative bringing toiletries, baby food and women's essentials to women and children escaping domestic violence. One of the items listed was makeup. I tweeted my support for the chairty and received a reply:

"I love it, except the make-up part. That's not a need, YKWIM?"

and then

"I guess it just breaks my heart that women feel like they need it. Not right."

I understood the sentiment, that we shouldn't need to find our value in makeup and I wanted to explain that I agreed in part. I personally feel like choosing your own style is the choice of an empowered woman but I got the spirit of what this person is saying. I choose not to wear makeup except for kicks and giggles which averages about 6 times a year if I'm honest. What really made me sad though was I could not explain why I also supported the make up part of this initiative. Twitter just doesn't give me the word count. I really hope she reads my blog and emails me if she does.

Many young woman and mother I've worked with escaping domestic violence or who have experienced sexual violence often reach that point where all they crave is to feel normal again. Many escaped with their life in tatters and a few items of bare essentials; their lives have been far from luxurious. The kindness of someone giving them something nice like a bit of mascara and lipstick can be overwhelming. I remember one girl I worked with saying 'I wore LIPSTICK today and I just felt like a teenager not a down and out with no home'. It was so honest but I understood. She didn't want to feel like she was recovering that day and we discussed lipstick heroes such as Marilyn Monroe and Dita Von Teese that session rather than reapplying for a new school. We did that later, when she was ready.

Another charity that I have a great deal of time for is Dress For Success that provide professional attire for disadvantaged women as well as career support. For me, it falls under the same category as Give and Makeup. When you're trying to look professional you do not want the jeans you ran for your life in. You want to feel equal to every person in that room and confident about how you feel. Yes, I could get upset that women need to dress up but men wear suits to interview and if I choose to add mascara to boost my confidence, heck I'm gonna do it.

Finally, and probably the most difficult part for me to write is the saddest moments I have shared with these brave young women and mothers. After years of feeling worthless and shamed, many cannot imagine words such as 'sexy', 'vibrant' or 'attractive' ever being relevant to them. Many felt they had invited the terrible things that had happened to them and I can remember a particularly powerful session where we grouped items that applied to them and those that didn't. Lipsticks, magazines, hand mirrors, padded bras and all the paraphenalia associated with a stereotyped view of women were nowhere near them. The only sign left of gender was sanitary towels.

Wearing make up does not make you powerful, only you can do that. There are more ways that I can list here that you can feel sexy, or like a woman or know who you are. Applying lipstick requires you to look in a mirror, examine your face and enhance your features. It means that you see yourself as a woman. That in itself is an incredibly powerful tool.

I hope this explains why I will be donating all future loyalty card points and buy one get one free offers to items listed here and posting them to Refuge, Give and Makeup and my local refuge group.

Episode 15: Fairy Godmothers can be men

2011-10-24T15:02:00.000+01:00

Notes:

Save the date! 4th December 2011 12- 5 pm for the Playful Meet up 2011 at Interknit Cafe. Enjoy 10% purchases on the day and yarn tasting.
Pondering Sock yarn scraps with the help of The Encyclopedia of Knitting and Crochet for Blocks, Blankets and Throws by Luise Roberts.

Donation giveaway:
A set of Stitchcuddles stitchmarkers from Stephcuddles and a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn in the colourway terracotta 802 for any donation or contribution towards the podcast.
Sweater/ Cardigan. Jumper KAL to start on the 1st November in the Aplayfulday group. I'm still indecisive but hoping I can make a choice between Folded or something else.....!

Off the needles
Fallberry Mitts by Anne Hansen in the colourway Smoky Quartz in Road to China Light

On the Needles
A joyful reunion has meant Kai Mei by Cookie A in Superknits Mary, Queen of Socks, colourway 'With my tv and CD collection of Bob Marley' is now back in rotation but I've not yet worked out where I was in the pattern!
Purl Ridge Scarf by WestKnits in Madelinetosh DK, colourway Graphite.
Juno Regina Stole from Miriam L. Felton in HandMaiden Seasilk in the colourway Salt Spray.

Munch Burp Schlurp

Visiting podcaster and food lover, Subway Knits shares her favourite Greek inspired Macaroni and Cheese recipe. Saganaki is another favourite and you can buy Greek Products from this website.

Songs:

Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe, available on Music Alley

I'm Alive by Gilli Moon, available on Music Alley

Contact me at: aplayfulday@gmail.com
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Needle destash

2011-10-22T11:56:00.000+01:00

I have a collection of Addi Turbo, fixed circular needles that just aren’t working for me. I’ve been experimenting with different needles to help combat RSI and I need a pointy-er tip or I start tightening up and it hurts. It’s just the way I knit.

All are still in their bags and I’m really happy to trade for Knit Pro harmony needles, chiagoos, or patterns if that helps anyone. I’m just looking to pass these on rather than hugely gain from destashing them.

So I have up for grabs:

40cm cable-
7mm
10mm

60cm cable-
4mm
4.5mm

80cm cable-
3.25mm
3.75mm
4mm
5.5mm
6mm
7mm
8mm

As a rough guestimate I think £5 inc postage and packaging is what I’m going for but as I said, I’d rather see these go so email me a price and we can work something out. I’m happy to do multiples and knock some money off and obviously if you want the whole set that would be super easy for me.

Thanks for looking

Sleepless nights

2011-10-22T01:53:00.000+01:00

Are built for music such as this

And this was posted on a favourite blog. Oh my word. Chills.

Things I saw

2011-10-20T21:04:00.012+01:00

I've not written much about my commuting experience lately. Largely because I've not written much lately but that's besides the point.

I now have a new journey to work and I have new lemmings to ponder over. I make up stories for them while I knit. The ones that stare, slack jawed I tend not to bother much with but I did watch a delicious interaction the other morning that just made me smile.

I noticed a girl standing next to me, wearing voluminous red. I glanced up at her face and approved of her blunt fringe and slight frown of concentration as she read. How lovely. I then saw the man 2 foot away, peeping up at her from across the carriage. He couldn't help himself. It was so cute.

In my head they got off at the same station and then she bumped into someone and dropped her book allowing her to glance up and see him, smiling at her. He hands her the book and they get coffee and forget to go to work until it's 11am and they jump up, suddenly aware of the world again.

Soppy? Yes. But you try being cheerful on the circle line at 7am.

Further thoughts on Mending

2011-10-19T20:09:00.000+01:00

Well.... I'm clearly not meant for playful things lately and despite promises to jump back into blogging more frequently I've failed. Instead I'm sticking my fingers in my ears and singing loudly. If you've left a comment lately, mailed, pm'd or other please don't take it personally that there's been a lack of response. I'm mending. It's now a verb to describe moi. Even the giant has had sparse contact but then he has this habit lately of putting oceans between us. I'm trying not to take it personally.

I appreciate the contact, I really do, I'm just not very good at returning it back right this minute. I mean, it's not like I haven't TRIED to be playful. I did a mini yarn crawl with girlfriends that included Superknits and cocktails. Yes, cocktails. Well, it was cocktail rather than cocktails. I know, everyone is starting to panic at this point as cocktails usually fix everything. Also a paracetemol and tea according to my Nan.

I have made a new friend though. A special friend. In my hellish job there is a kindred spirit and it made me smile. Then I returned to stomping and railing against the lack of justice there is where I work.

Then I tried yarn. Just look at the goodies Amber sent me. YES. But I have placed it in the favourite yarn basket (don't judge me for having one of these, I know you do too) and returned to gift knitting. This shall be saved and I don't know what for yet AT ALL.It just sits whimpering at me as I walk past it in it's basket.

Then there was the winning moment when I left the green grocers, laden with autumnal goodness and realised that the local library IS open on a Sunday. I skipped in (gingerly as I was laden with goodies) and found.... MY FAVOURITE COOK BOOK. Oh Nigel, how I love you. But have I cooked from it yet? No. Have I even read it? Erm... no.

So I'm decidedly out of sorts. The best news was that today, my beloved hand made project bag that I lost on the underground was found. I truly skipped to the office and informed the nice man at the window that he was a fairy godmother and hugged my bag, openly and unashamedly in public. My knitting project was still there. My signature needles glistened invitingly.

But did I knit?

No. I came home and worked on a report for work.

A very UN playful response if you ask me.