My Textile and Fibre Craft Hero (Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2012)

Today's theme should be 'My Knitting or Crochet Hero' but for me it needed to encompass the wider world of textiles and fibre craft. This isn't to say there are no members of the knitting and crochet world worthy of acclaim, there are several I could easily think of whose designs I like or whose blogs inspire me, but is simply that there is one woman who has stood out to me since childhood as the creative someone I would like to be like.

She isn't famous, she isn't rich or glamorous, I don't even know if she knits but she is inspirational. She's an school friend's Mum!

I haven't seen Elaine for 14 years but she still inspires me. Throughout my childhood and teens she was this amazing creative presence who was also a haven of calm. I remember, in a houseful of lively children, Elaine kneeling on the floor calmly cutting silk for a wedding dress and I'm almost certain it was without a pattern; it was as if the calm in the centre of a storm could pick up a paintbrush and paint a masterpiece.

That quiet, creative confidence is something I would love to acquire. To be able to pick up my needles and yarn and quietly knit away as inspiration takes me, regardless of the hubbub around me, that is the knitter I want to be.

Photography Challenge Day (Day 2 of knitting and crochet blog week)

In a near unknown museum today I discovered Celtic Knitwork:

Colour Lover (Day 1 of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2012)

Colour Lover, a seemingly challenging subject for someone whose wardrobe is predominantly black? Well, no. You see, I seldom knit in black!

Mostly I knit in yarns with mixed colourways. I find watching the colours flow from one to the next very therapeutic, a bit like watching the play of light and shadow on water. In fact, this project, Trish Bloom's Bloom in King Cole Mirage double knitting, reminds me very much of the sea:

The colour that features most often in my knitting is purple. I find a good purple hard to resist, though what defines a good purple depends on my mood on the day. Sometimes it's a dark, dark purple, so dark as to be almost blackberry; other days it might be bright and lively, heading towards magenta territory. I think that's why this next little gem, Jazz Tones chunky knitting, is so desirable,  even though it is slightly cheap and static prone acrylic:

So, what else is in my stash? My stash can be divided into two, make that three, groups. The first group is yarn bought to knit gifts for other people. This has at times included moss green, jade with black, soft peach, chocolate brown and even shocking pink and bright yellow. The next picture shows one ball of each of the yarns currently in this stash:

 The outer two yarns have already knitted projects and I'm toying with the idea of knitting co-ordinating items.

The second group consists of yarns bought to knit for me. One ball of each currently looks like this (though purple gypsy is missing because it somehow managed to hide in the stash box):

The Tivoli Ocean back left of the picture has been used to knit myself Bloom and the Tivoli Ocean back right of the picture is what's left from knitting a hat; I plan to knit fingerless gloves of some description with both. Jazz Tones at the bottom left is halfway to becoming Robin Dodge's Broughton Street vest top (see post Too Tired to Knit for a picture), the black and silver which I've lost the label for and have a temporary blank on the name of is in the process of becoming a stole. I haven't decided what the other two yarns will be but a purple double knit is always going to be useful and the fluffy black will be good to trim something with.

And I've just realised the time! This feels a very tough and ready post and not remotely well written but it's time to head to work.

Oh, and very quickly, the third group of yarn is a selection of colours (including more dreadful pink) that was in a mixed bag of yarn from the Red Cross shop. I've used all the nice colours and am now stuck with some pinks and yellows I really don't know what to do with and can't even bring myself to photograph!