A Trip to Holmfirth

I usually love train journeys. I love the sounds of travelling on a train, I love having time to looking at the landscape, and I love knitting on trains. My ideal holiday would be a train journey across a country or a continent. It is just so relaxing. Except if you are travelling down the East Coast of Britain on a hot and sticky Sunday in June. Then a train journey is hell on earth. After a five-hour journey, it was a joy to arrive at my destination in Yorkshire.

I have been to the Rowan Yarns HQ several times now and after the initial excitement of my first visit, I am now able to appreciate the Mill for other things than OMG, I recognise that cardigan and gosh, that's a lot of yarn. This time I closed my eyes and soaked up the quietness of the setting and recharged my batteries.

Most of the Mill is devoted to offices, but the workshop room never fails to make me smile. It is a riot of colour and textures - the walls are laid out like a giant yarn shop (though nothing is for sale), the tables and chairs are covered in Rowan fabric and every nook and cranny features Rowan projects. The photo above shows the Wool Week 2012 collection (patterns for which you can download for free from the Rowan website) tucked away in a corner with a Kaffe Fassett pattern library on the shelves underneath.

As workshop rooms go, this is hard to beat for location and creative spirit. As you can imagine.

I was there to preview the Autumn/Winter 2013 Rowan collection. It is always odd to preview winter garments and yarns in the height of summer, but yarn companies work with long lead-times. I know that just this past week they were shooting the Summer/Spring 2014 magazine which means that the Design Room is now currently hard at work on preparing for Autumn/Winter 2014!

(Needless to say, the mannequins on the right have nothing to do with autumnal or winter knits- I just loved the simple styling and the fruity colours.)

I cannot say anything about the Autumn/Winter 2013 collection - simply because it is yet to be released (although it will be released in a month or so). There are several new yarns and it is always one of the highlights of a Mill trip to see these. I have my own personal favourite already - but I always try to remember that I am not there for myself - I am there to assess how knitters will respond to the new yarns. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it!

Unfortunately I suffered from insomnia whilst visiting Holmfirth, but it meant I could work on the Stevie cardigan by the lovely Sarah Hatton. Because I live in Scotland, I'm doing the long-sleeved version(!) and I'm knitting it in Rowan Wool Cotton in French Navy. It is a top-down cardigan and I'm into the body section now which means perfect knitting night project.

The train journey back was much, much better. And I even managed to catch a glimpse of Antony Gormley's The Angel of the North.

The Light Is Pale & Thin

Oh, 2013. You are off to a slow, slightly bemusing start. Life is slowly creeping back into Casa Bookish. The suitcases are nearly unpacked, the laundry basket is nearly empty, and the fridge has been emptied of all holiday food. I still feel exhausted and I get easily winded, but I am feeling much better than I did just a few days ago. We've caught up with several friends and everybody seems to have been laid low with something this past holiday season. One thing is certain: I'll be getting the flu jab next winter season! No need to go through this %&¤#! again if I can help it..

So, I've been crossing off items on my giant To Do list. One of the top items was "preparing patterns for release" - and I crossed that one off my list today. All three yarn club patterns are now available for general consumption via Ravelry - you can buy them individually for as a bargainous e-book collection. Seeing as the original yarns are not available, I've worked together with Old Maiden Aunt yarns to find good colour substitutions.

At the same time I am busy designing some new things - I currently have two new designs on the needles and three other designs somewhere in the process between sketch and knitting.

In-between all my sample knitting, I have been knitting on my Bute cardigan. I cast off the second front last night which means I only have two sleeves to go, huzzah! I'll be block the back and fronts this week and hopefully get the body seamed, so I can pick up stitches for the button-band. I have a couple of different button styles to decide between but we'll cross that hurdle when we get to it.

Resident Photographer ran off with the camera today or I'd show you the unblocked pieces.

And if a blog entry could have a colour, this entry would be pale blue-grey with a dash of pink blush. The colour of winter slowly turning on its heel. Just like this photo from the Botanic Gardens we took late last year.

Nobody Told Me I'd Need To Do This On A Regular Basis

That's one shawl for magazine publication finished and sent into the world. I wish I could show you, but you'll have to wait until November :) What I can show you is what I got up to this afternoon.

I needed to get a head-shot done for various reasons (not least because my face'll be in a magazine soonish - good grief!). Luckily my Other Half is a talented photographer with a knack for making me relax in front of the camera - this is no mean feat as I hate having my photo taken and I usually pull all sorts of unnatural faces. It took Dave quite a few attempts to get some good shots and I thought I'd share some of his tips for successful photography:

1) Unless you have a really fancy kit, natural light is best. In the photos above I am standing right by a window.

2) Indirect light is a lot better than direct light. Direct light tends to either flatten your features or cast harsh shadows where you least want them.

3) Work with a neutral background. We have neutral coloured walls which work well in this context but brickwork, painted doors and foliage can also work. Remember, you don't want anything to compete for attention, so move that table lamp!

4) Take lots and lots and lots of photos. Dave routinely shoots between thirty and seventy photos whenever we work together on something. Having a lot of photos to choose between makes it  easier to find that "hero photo". For this headshot we actually shot in excess of 90 photos(!) because I just couldn't stop pulling faces.

5) .. and relaxing in front of the camera is something I find really difficult. I keep trying to pose or doing model-like faces - none of which work because I'm a 5'6" lumpy thirty-something woman, not a 14-year-old super-skinny genetic freak. How does Dave make me relax? He makes me focus on something else than that infernal camera pointing at me. He also ensures I feel comfortable - unsurprisingly I won't look relaxed if I'm wearing uncomfortable clothes or in an awkward setting.

I am not saying I look particularly relaxed here but that shawl looks absolutely stunning (especially in the original size photo). Apparently my Other Half is now so well-trained that he automatically starts homing in on knitwear. This bodes well for future Finished Object shoots..

.. which reminds me: come late August/early Sseptember I might be looking for a Goth/steampunk/burlesque type model for some knitwear photos. Sadly I cannot promise much in the way of financial recompense bar coffee & cake at Glasgow's finest retro cake shop, but it is a good chance for any budding model wanting something for her portfolio. Glasgow-based, por favor. And, of course, absolutely no nudity involved (oh please, it is knitwear!).

Day Four: Landscape

The West Coast of Scotland? It rains a lot and we frequently do not get much above 20C. But it is pretty here and I have plenty to wool to keep me warm, so it works out. What I hadn't planned on was how much the landscape would inspire my colour choices..

Shades of pale brown mixed with grey skies and hints of mossy green. You can see the Campsies in the distance if you look hard enough!

Grey-blue lichen on trees. Bark an enticing grey-brown with  - yes - hints of mossy green. This photo was taken during a walk around Possil Marsh which was rudely interrupted by heavy rain.

Mossy green! Spawling across reddish brown! This sight is very common in the Glasgow Arboretum, just a few minutes from Casa Bookish.

What has all this to do with my knitting and crocheting? Quite apart from being overtly fond of mossy green, I am also planning a pattern collection of accessories all of which will be knitted in colours oddly reminiscent of the photos above. My poetic partner says that I am wrapping myself in Scotland. It is a nice thought.

PS. Yes, this was supposed to be about seasons. We often have four seasons in one day. Layers make sense.

You can find more blogs participating in the Knitting & Crochet Blog Week by googling 3KCBWDAY4. If you have come here as part of the Knitting & Crochet Blog Week, thank you for visiting. I'll still be here once this week is over and I'm usually blogging about arts, books, films, language besides all the craft stuff. Do stick around.

West End Walk

Hey babe, take a walk in the West End..

Open the gate..

What will you find?

A chance encounter with beauty..

..or something else inside?

Maybe just a place to rest for a while.

Then close the door and whisper 'bye, bye'.

J & Dianne

My partner collects photos. He likes going through old photos in junk shops and buying whichever catches his eyes. He recently found these photos. In his own words:

There's something a bit sad and also a bit voyeuristic about this, but it spans maybe 20 years of this woman's life and a chunk of her daughter's. It's mostly sad because I found these photos scattered in amongst a couple of hundred more in a junk shop..

I am posting them here in roughly chronological order (as far as we can tell). The first woman is identified only as J. and the baby is identified as "Dianne" (also pictured as a young woman in the last photo).