Caswell Bay, Ketch Harbour, Martinique Beach

January 18, 2016 Fiona Alice

Over this recent holiday break, I indulged in some long awaited personal knitting. I only just spent the summer knitting these items as samples for Take Heart. However, since I had some time, I decided on these pieces because I eagerly wanted them for my own winter wardrobe.

This first design to be finished was the Caswell Bay Fingerless Mitts. I chose Eden Cottage's Bowland DK which is 100% Blue Faced Leicester. I recently had the opportunity to knit with other BFL blends for the book and enjoyed each one immensely. This particular colour has been staring at me from the shelves at Loop for a while now. I find Bowland knits up as a light DK, so it was a perfect substitute for Handmaiden's Lady Godiva. I may just have to pick up another skein for the hat to complete this set.

I've always wanted to use Orkney Angora's St Magnus DK that we stock at Loop. Plus I have been craving a black shawl for awhile now and I felt this angora blend would be perfect since it is warm and very lightweight. It's been an accessory I've had a hard time removing since I started to wear it. I picked the colour, London's Dark Evening, for Ketc h Harbour. London's Dark Evening is one of the seven exclusive colours only available at Loop. I want to start picking very special yarns as I'm using them to eventually remind me of my time in London once I leave.

Last but not least, is Martinique Beach. I'll use anything as an excuse to knit with any colour grey by The Uncommon Thread. Olive Leaf, Toast and Grit are the three greys used, plus I chose Tea Smoked to partner with them. I love the difference in the look you get by using a much more subtle colour palette. For my Christmas knitting projects, I picked out these four skeins of Uncommon's Lush Worsted. They came with me to Sicily for the holidays. I was able to cast on over Christmas surrounded by some of the best food and wine I've ever had.

I've also been enjoying my new stitch markers, sent to me by my mom at Christmas. Winter is coming! They are by Winemakerssister on Etsy. My antler necklace is by Damara Mossman from Lunenburg, NS. It was a treat I picked up from a local Halifax shop, Big Pony, when I was home visiting in the fall!

Photos by The Line Girl, Leanza May.

Winter 2016

January 14, 2016 Fiona Alice

It's shaping up to be a busy winter already. My first festival of 2016 will be the Waltham Abbey Wool Show this weekend. It will be my first time at this show along with promoting my new book, Take Heart: A Transatlantic Knitting Journey. I'll be there again with Natalie Selles, Leeleetea, and we'll have our selection of knitting kits and patterns. Stop by to see the samples from the book in person or just to say hi!

Waltham Abbey Wool Show, Sunday January 17th, 10am to 4pm

My next festival will be Unravel, again hosted in Farnham at the Maltings, February 19 to 21. Then it will be a few weeks till I head up to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival again, March 18 to 19. I'm looking forward to revisiting both of these shows this year. Hope to see some familiar faces and meet plenty of new ones!

Take Heart: A Transatlantic Knitting Journey

January 11, 2016 Fiona Alice

Some of you may have already seen, Take Heart: A Transatlantic Knitting Journey, the first book to be published by Pom Pom Press, the latest endeavour of Pom Pom Quarterly. It was released nearly a month ago and I am so pleased and overwhelmed to call it my own. That's right! My very first book in partnership with Pom Pom. We've been working together on this project for the last ten months and it's finally in the hands of many readers and knitters. Take Heart is my first collection of ten new accessories for fall and winter. Head over to Pom Pom's blog, they have a much more eloquent and detailed description of Take Heart: A Transatlantic Knitting Journey.

Along with ten new designs, I also decided to included Take Heart, my first published pattern. At the time the definition behind Take Heart,'to be encouraged, to be brave', was a fitting title for this project. In this book you'll get a glimpse into how I started knitting and how it led me to London, where I am today. It's been an intense and educational journey putting this book together. I've been striving and struggling with various new experiences while trying to defeat old insecurities. Once again, 'Take Heart' was an appropriate name for this new collection.

Since I had to keep this project under wraps, I felt as if my posts and photos of my knitting were barely non-existent. If you follow me on Instagram, you may recall seeing the occasional picture of yarn. I am very thankful to have had the support of each company featured in the book. These are all blends and colours I admire and I hope you do as well.

It's also been overwhelming to see the support from the knitting community. Many knitters and yarn shops were anticipating the release of Take Heart, once Pom Pom and I started to divulge what we had been up to. A few have already finished projects from the collection and it's a joy to start seeing them pop up on Instagram and Ravelry. Many reviews by various bloggers have started to flow in as well. Please feel free to share your thoughts on Take Heart: A Transatlantic Knitting Journey with me. Some of the reviews that I do know of can be found with links on my 'Press' page. All of the pieces can also be viewed on Ravelry.

If you're looking to get your hands on a copy, head over to Pom Pom, to order directly from them. There's always an option of a PDF version too, if you'd prefer. Ask your local yarn shop to see if they are stocking it. Take Heart has been available in shops around the UK since Christmas and it's just started to make an appearance in Canadian yarn shops. If you're in London, stop by Loop and you just might catch me on the shop floor. Pick up a copy and say hello!

SEPEMBER

September 10, 2015 Fiona Alice

September always feels like the beginning of a new year, more so when compared to January. First of all my birthday is at the beginning of September. There's a lot of time spent thinking on what this past year has meant and also provokes me to narrow down my goal to accomplish before the year is over. Plus, fall is my favourite season. Small signs creep in and take over the fading summer. For a long time it was the start of a new school year, which meant new challenges and new projects. Now, September sparks the first real buzz again amongst the knitting community. Of course, I knit all year round, but during September I find more knitters are picking up their needles again after a hot summer and striving on with the fall projects and contemplating their Christmas knitting.

This time last year I was just starting to get to know the knitting community in London. So far I had been interning at Pom Pom for a few weeks and one of the first events I helped Lydia and Amy with, was The Great London Yarn Crawl put on by Yarn in the City. Pom Pom hosted the afterparty for the knitters to regroup for drinks, a pop quiz and prizes! This year the organizers, Alison and Rachel added the Pop-Up Marketplace as a place to visit and shop along side London's independent yarn shops. The marketplace was at the Chelsea Old Town Hall and I was fortunate enough to be a part of this elegant event.

Natalie Selles, also known as Leeleetea, and I will be teaming up together to take on some of the upcoming yarn festivals and craft fairs this year!

Acadia & Terra

June 29, 2015 Fiona Alice

You may have seen the recent photos I've been posting on Facebook and Instagram. If you haven't seen them, then here they are. If you have seen them, then here are some more! This mini collection started four months ago when I spent the weekend at Unravel in Farnham, my first yarn/knitting festival in the UK. I happened to have a table next to The Fibre Company and spent the weekend drooling over their yarn and chatting with founder, Daphne Marinopoulos. By the end of the weekend I was delighted to bring home some of their blends, such as Terra and Acadia, to inspire new knitted accessories. So here they are - my finished pieces, conveniently out in time for Wool Fest this weekend in Cumbria. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend Wool Fest this weekend but I hope to venture there next year!

The first blend is Terra, a rugged Aran weight blend of baby alpaca, merino wool and silk. My first idea was to reknit my Reversible Cable Headband because one skein of Terra is perfect for this project. I never seem to tire of knitting this headband. It's incredibly quick and easy to do. It was a pleasure to have a change from the neutral colours I usually use for this pattern and knit with the beautiful colour pallet Terra is available in. This sample is knit in their colour, Black Locust Bark. Also, this time last week I was soaking up the sun's rays on Guernsey. See my last post as to how I ended up there. However, Guernsey allowed me to photograph my new pieces against its breathtaking landscape. Plus no wind machine necessary, bonus! The following photos were captured by my housemate, Marcel Le Bachelet, on our hike along Icart Point. He's a talented social media guru and photographer extraordinaire, so check out his site!

Naturally, Terra inspired me to design another headband. This one I've called Rocquaine Bay, after an area of water off the Guernsey coast which is known for it's treacherous rocks and tragic shipwrecks. Again this pattern only uses one skein. The sample is made with their colour Beet.

The second yarn I had the pleasure of working with was their double knit weight, Acadia. Again, it is a blend of baby alpaca, merino wool and silk. I don't have the words to describe how much I love this yarn. It's heavenly and lends itself perfectly to the simple stitches that I like to use in my designs, yet the organic texture of the yarn still sings. These are my Pembroke Bay Mitts, named after Pembroke Beach, where I was able to stick my toes into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in over a year. Samples are knit in Blue Leaf Birch and Mountain Ash.

This last one is probably my favourite of the three new patterns. Icart Point Hat uses two colours of Acadia. If you choose two subtle colours like Verbena and Pinecone you'll get a lovely gradation of the colours in linen stitch. I can't wait to knit this up again with a higher contrast of colour.