Knitting Rekindled

I knitted this cosy for my Mum, as a Christmas prezzy. I haven't made anything at all for absolutely ages (much too busy simply dealing with 'real' life, which is all too dull to bother writing about, hence the lengthy silence). It was a soothing pleasure to get back to it.

The colours blend with, rather than match her home (I hope!!!). The golden colours appear in a painting of straw bales in a harvested wheat field, and the blue and deep purple are a nod to her middle eastern rugs. Not literal, just a suggestion. Plus, a tea cosy should turn out jolly in the end. I look forward to seeing it on my father's head. I believe it's compulsory?

Some Squares

The granny squares are accumulating. So far I have been adhering religiously to my plan to use up my stash, but I have got a point where I am left with a smidge too much pink that I don't want to use, and I feel a breathless craving for more shades of turquoisey-blues. So I am obviously going to have to cheat and supplement the spectrum with a trip to a yummy wool shop. The plan at the moment is to go around each square with a subtle and soft grey and then join them together with the same or similar colour, if I can find it. That way I think each square will stand out nicely rather than blurring into a painful cacophony of hues. Remember the snake in Disney's Jungle Book, hypnotising young Mowgli with his swirling eyes? Yeah well, that's not the effect I'm hoping for.

A note about the squares... Clearly, I have chosen to stick with the traditional granny square. I had bought a very funky-crazy pattern from Wonkey Donkey on Etsy, as seen on this post. But when it came to it, I could see myself spending years trying to learn each variation on the square theme and not getting very far with the blanket. As it is, this project is one to pick up and put down, according to mood or weather, so it's simple and comforting to just get into the rhythm of a familiar pattern. Then there are all those ends to sew in, but I'm not thinking about them today.

And So...

Right, that's that then. It's quite hard to pick up a blog when it's been left for a while, as many of the blog writers I read point out from time to time. Is there a bloggers' protocol out there, whereby we just type in a codeword and everyone understands the futility of trying to make up for the un-blogged weeks or months. That would be handy.

Plus, of course, there was that December festive stuff that seems to have been building up since about October, so let's not mention any of that. We survived. Nuff said.

So what's new, apart from the year? Well, we trundled around and up and down the country throughout December for friends' big-birthday and getting-hitched celebrations, as well as the family visits at the end of the month for you-know-what. Now we're happy to be tucked up once more in our Worcestershire hideaway.

And I just posted some Sock Critters from my Etsy shop to someone in Niagara Falls! I know that's probably exactly the whole point of being part of the Etsy handmade hyper venue, but it's still blooming marvelous to think that I can sit here in our Airstream in little old Blighty, knitting and sewing daft bits of loveliness, and someone in Canada (and Australia recently too) stumbles across my stuff and decides it's just what they need or want. Brilliant! Now the Little Tin Hut shop is looking a bit depleted so I have another Critter on the go and a tea cosy, of course.

Here's a cosy which I should have shown off proudly some weeks ago. It was made for Carl and Gaynor's 1959 Tradewind, with some of Gaynor's wool left over from her crocheted blanket. Her sister-in-law started her off this summer and I don't think she's stopped since. Dare I say she's hooked? No, I'd better not.

I've also been inspired to pick up the crochet hook again. I recently bought this pattern from Wonky Zebra's shop of vintage crochet and knitting patterns, and I have started working on the array of granny squares. The colours will be different of course, because I'll be wading through my stash as much as I can without making it fit-inducing.

From Wonky Zebra on Etsy

Classic And Frivolous

Pete's Mum asked me to make a cosy for a friend who likes blue and white china and always makes her tea in a pot (the proper way, right?). So here it is, more restrained in colour than usual but with a generously oversized pom pom to make up for it. I think a tea cosy should be frivolous in some way.

This bank holiday weekend, with the rain we have come to expect, has proven to be perfect for staying in and knitting whilst watching old movies which we have probably seen too many times already.

Glamping Essentials

I enjoyed seeing the glam accessories at the Spring Gathering last weekend. Since I am such a fan of bunting and tea cosies myself I was happy to see I'm not alone (see previous post). Other lovely extras included Trudie's Union Jack awning, some multi-coloured, striped deckchairs with co-ordinated wind-breaks, the obligatory pink plastic flamingos and an over abundance of fairy lights as John and Pete tried to outdo each other (John triumphed, just).

Our friends in Brazil just placed a huge order at my Little Tin Hut shop which is obviously fantastic in itself, but also because I get to make more stuff to fill the gaps. Luckily I have some red and white bunting ready to add and a turquoise, red and white tea cosy that is almost ready.

Happy Cool Campers

Well, we have reflected and discussed, we have caught up on our sleep and on Wednesday we moved from the site of the Gathering, back to our little Worcestershire hideaway. Now we will now get ourselves organised for taking part in a convoy to northern Europe. Very excited about that.

Our Spring Gathering last weekend was a big success. Phew! If you fill a field with beautiful trailers and vans and friendly people, what can you expect? Everyone mingled and chatted and admired each other's pride and joy. There were some very chilled out scenes, sitting in the sun, cups of tea being made, flags, bunting, lights, flamingos, stripey deckchairs.

Children played, food was blackened, fire warmed us as the night chilled. A downpour during the Sunday breakfast didn't even dampen our spirits (having a barn to shelter in helped heaps). It was just lovely.

As usual I didn't get to spend time with everyone. I think that I need to be on the site as people arrive. That way, at least I get to say "Hi". 

Pete and I really appreciate everyone's help, contributions and enthusiasm, and we will definitely take up those offers of help for the next one. Everyone knows it's the people who really make an event a success, and so many comments were about what a lovely bunch had turned up. It was also fun to have a mix of the Airstreams and the European vintage caravans. It made for a field of style and character.

the view from our trailer

Still Cosy After All These Years

This tea cosy inspired me to knit. Just look at it. Isn't it perfect? Clearly made from brightly-coloured scraps jumbled together, it is the word 'jolly' manifest in wool. It used to belong to Pete's grandmother and it brought a bit of crazy colour to our neutral-hued home for a few years before being put into storage at the beginning of our Airstream travels. We weren't going to have a teapot, taking up space and payload (weight allowance). Well that soon changed. Tea and coffee are important to me and they have to be made properly - brewed and infused rather than scalded and wrung out!

We recently had a bit of a sort through of our stored possessions and this little cosy came to light again. It has been brought aboard, even though I had just made a new one. A bit restrained in colour perhaps, but in keeping with the Airstream's interior.

My own grandmother showed me how to make cosies, carrying the yarn across the back and keeping the tension. She was a speed knitter. She used to make some dodgy things though, like ladies in crinoline dress toilet roll holders, and lacy tissue box covers. All of these unnecessary disguises would be in whatever garish wool she had stashed. Every time my parents redecorated the bathroom a new crinny lady would be produced, whereupon ( yes that is a real word, heathens) it would be hidden out of sight until she visited and it was ceremoniously placed on the toilet cistern, as if that was where it always lived. More grateful recipients were, hopefully, the charities to whom she donated her wares to raise money.

Anyway, I shall be making good use of one or other of these cosies today. Pete has gone to Wembley to see the NFL game and I will be indulging in a new knitting project, lots of tea and biccies and repeats of Sherlock Holmes and Poirot. More about the project later. I'll just say that it's a pair of hand warmers with a cable stitch. Hand warmers? Like gloves, but without fingers. I was assured by the enthusiastically helpful woman in the wool shop that there's nothing to a cable stitch, much less complicated than it looks. We shall see. Now, time for a brew.

A Glimpse of Ludlow

We finally forced ourselves to leave our idyllic spot in Shropshire. Where there was once a field dotted with shiny Airstreams is now a field of grazing cattle. The next time we are near to Ludlow we must explore the area much more. For now, here are some images from an afternoon in the lovely town.

Al Fresco Knitting

We have been without internet for almost a week. We had used up our monthly bandwidth in the run-up to the Airstream gathering and ended up counting the days til the 2nd of June when we could start communicating with the world at large again. I may have already made a big dent in this month's quota by catching up on blogs.


The gathering was lovely. More about it on our joint blog. I even fitted in a few rows of knitting under the shade of our awning. It's going to be a tea cosy. The craft world has embraced the internet and there is an overwhelming universe of knitting and crochet websites and blogs out there. I've noticed that some knitters get hooked on making socks. Just check out Yarn Harlot. She makes all kinds of stuff but always seems to come back to socks. For me it's tea cosies. It's like a default setting or a return to normality after trying something new.

We are on the road again. We actually ended up in one spot for six months. We hadn't planned it that way, it just happened, and we were in a lovely place on the Somerset Levels. Moving on to the gathering was a brilliant way to start our summer travels and now that we are on our way, I'm really looking forward to some new scenery and fresh outlooks. We will be moving every two or three weeks from now on. I will also be looking out for any signs of the upcoming World Wide Knit In Public Day, which is apparently on or around the 12th June.

Branching Out

After two years living and travelling in an Airstream and sharing the blogging on ukairstreamers.blogspot.com I thought it was time to branch out and put some of my wooly musings on my own blog. Don't be fooled by the title. It's not all about knitting.

Yes I am a nomadic knitter, and more recently crocheter and sock creature maker, but those titles don't scan so well. Plus I enjoy going off on a tangent and I aspire to avoid consistency.


One grandmother taught me the basics of knitting, the other crochet. These skills lay dormant until I decided a few years ago to knit a scarf in the style of Gromit's in A Close Shave as a Christmas present for Pete. I was perfectly happy to knit scarves for a while, simply enjoying the repetitive act of knitting rows and rows, and friends seemed more than happy to receive them as prezzies. Then when I was ready for more skills my knitting grandmother showed me how to make old-fashioned, pleated tea cosies. I have her pattern which is so folded and thumbed it has practically lost its molecular integrity.


So I make small things. I think I'm a slow knitter and I get excited about a new project, but I don't want to have to wait too long for the finished product. I also get excited about the colours, finding the right one that just sits there looking gorgeous, combining colours so that they blend or pop out from one another. These combinations aren't always wearable but they look fab on a teapot.


I recently had a flashback to how my other grandmother showed me how to crochet a granny square. Sadly she wasn't around for long and I didn't know anyone else who crocheted. I recently bought a "Compendium of Crochet Techniques" by Jan Eaton and so I am branching out. I like the potential for more three-dimensional textures with crochet so I'm looking forward to combining those with some jumping colours.