Ever since I joined Instagram in 2012 it seems that each Christmas I’ve posted a picture of my homemade fudge. You could almost call it a ‘tradition’. I’ve been making fudge on an off for over 30 years. As a teenager I would make large elaborate selections of sweets for aunts and uncles and family friends. … More Holidays mean Fudge: A Recipe
Before the ‘big move’ I was lucky enough to be involved in the development of Susan Crawford‘s new yarn ‘Barn‘. Interesting though the process certainly was, the yarn that emerged is truly amazing. I am thrilled to join Susan herself and Julie (of Julie Knits in Paris) in designing a pattern for this wonderful new … More Tyto Alba: A new design for a fabulous new yarn…
One of challenges about moving to a country that has reliably hot summers is knowing what to knit in the summer months, or in fact whether you can knit at all. As we move into what here in the northern hemisphere is being referred to as ‘sweater weather’ and ‘sweater season’, I thought it would be … More The Sunny Side of Working with Linen… mainly
Today I’m taking a little time to look back over my garment knitting. There has been much talk recently about elitism in knitting industry and who that serves to exclude. I raised this in a previous post and started to link to the yarn used in the hats I’d knitted to demonstrate how beautiful designs … More Yarniflections and a Sweater Parade
Following on the heels of my make it up as you go along yoked cardigan which I’ve worn so much because it filled that ‘wardrobe staple go with anything’ remit, I decided another such cardigan was required. Again in fingering yarn, of which I have rather a lot. It’s mostly vintage and woollen spun and … More Winging it with Afterthought Pockets
Wow. It’s just as well that returning to this post 4 months after I started it, and 5 and a half months after the events I’m talking about, that I can still laugh at the hubris with which I started this post, and yes, I’m leaving it as it was so you too can laugh … More Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2019: Vignettes
We were still mid move when I first drafted this post but as I publish we’ve been ‘here’ 6 weeks. Actually since we officially moved, and by that I mean sold out house and had to vacate it earlier than planned, I’ve actually been back in the UK finishing up some fieldwork, come back to … More Preserving and Making Space: My Adventures in Marmalade
As I start writing this post I’m looking forward a week to the debut of this cardigan at Edinburgh Yarn Fest. There were a lot of twists and turns in the genesis of this cardigan but I’ll say right up front – it was worth every one. The pattern is from the Vintage Shetland Project, which … More The Cardigan of a Thousand Cuts
In my last post I talked about hat knitting; about how the combination of portability, simplicity but with a bit of interest, worked to make hats the perfect travel companions. In the screenshot of 36 completed hats projects there was however a hat that, whilst it racked up a fair few miles on the clock during … More The Twageos in the Room
A cursory glance at my finished projects on Ravelry (I’m Tessvintageknits there), shows quite a collection of hats completed over the last few months. In my last post I mentioned that we’re moving to Italy and as a result we’ve been busy since last summer implementing that plan. Since then the date for the final move was brought … More A Headful of Hats…