Those of you who have sampled the delicious cakes in Tea Bags Full, may have wondered where these delights come from? Well, the homemade cakes are all made by a lovely lady called Leona. Yesterday when she popped in with a new selection of sweet treats she also brought along her latest knitting projects. As always we love to see what people have been up to with Black Sheep yarns. Not only does she make yummy cakes her knitting projects are very pretty too.

Leona has made two garments  for her grand daughter who lives in Canada – a cardigan and a top. The cardigan is knitted in Sirdar Flirt Dk, following a pattern from Sublime book 636 and the top in Sublime Baby Kapok DK. They are both to go with the super cute skirt that you can see on the photos. What a gorgeous gift to receive in the post!

Yesterday was the first meeting of the Black Sheep craft group – ‘Yarn in the Barn’. We had a great turn out with 10 ladies attending. There were plenty of fabulous projects on the go, some of which in their early stages, others very close to the finish line. I could see a good mixture of knitting, stitching and crochet taking place. Hopefully I will be able to share many a UFO (Unfinished object) or a completed project with you in the coming weeks. For those in the group we had an offer of a hot drink and a yummy slice of cake for £2.50 from ‘Tea bags full’, along with a selection of biscuits on the tables. A sweet treat is always handy fuel to keep you going on your latest craft project, even if it does lead to the odd crumb needing to be dusted off at the end.

If you would like to come along next week the group will be meeting every Tuesday here in the Craft Barn 10.30 – 12.30pm. Please call the Craft Barn on 01925 764231 or email amy@blacksheepwools.com to be added to the list.

‘Yarn in the Barn’ busy chatting and working away.

A cross stitch project based on ‘The Killing’. It looks very impressive up to now.

This is the beginning of a cross stitch wedding sampler. The chart that is being followed is a vintage chart. Looking forward to seeing this progress next week.

I just had to share this image with you. When I saw all of the shades sitting so perfectly side by side I couldn’t resist taking a photograph. I really do love colour. Seeing the deep red hues through to the sky blues, it is so inspiring. Very often this is the starting point for many a project. I will become fixated on a shade and need to make something with it. Sometimes it is the combination of the yarn and the yarn fibre that just get me. I guess this can also lead to the problem of increasing my stash a little too often. Oooops!

Where do you find inspiration for a project? Do you search for a pattern or the yarn first?

The beautiful shades of Rowan cottons from left to right are - Siena 4ply, Handknit Cotton, Softknit Cotton and All Seasons Chunky. When all

Would you like to make a gift for someone this Easter? Whether you would like to knit, stitch or crochet a small treat, I am sure that there will be something here that will take your fancy!

Easter Inspiration: Idea 1 – FREE download from The Making Spot blog, a pretty daffodil.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 2 – FREE download from Pom Pom Emporium blog. A cute Easter chick to hold a creme egg.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 3 – A baby sweater knitted in the lovely Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK from the NEW Rowan Studio 30 book.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 4 – Knit a cute egg cosy in a Sirdar DK yarn. Either an Easter egg or a little chick from Sirdar Pretty Knits book.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 5 – A FREE pattern of teeny, tiny bunny rabbits from Mochi Mochi Land blog.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 6 – A FREE download from Rowan Edmund the Easter Bunny by Jemma Weston. This cute bunny can be knitted with one ball of Rowan Revive yarn. Download the pattern here.

Katie is currently busy putting the finishing touches to her degree show. Not many months now until her degree show. Katie has sent across a selection of samples she is currently working on, including both machine and hand knitted pieces. These pieces will go on to influence her final garment choices. I love the colour palette she has chosen to work with and there are some amazing textures created within her pieces.

Here is what Katie had to say about the samples shown below………

“The whole project is based around an appreciation for traditional crafts contrasted with modern technologies and this is linked to the film industry and it’s translation from analogue to digital/ moving image to digital movies. Therefore the knitted fabrics focus around ideas of movement and film strips etc, so there is quite a lot of linear aspects but moving the linear lines in different ways, to achieve that movement. I also created a photo shoot to make my own Eadweard Muybridge style moving images and then programmed these onto the Shima Seikki machines. I am then also doing some hand knitting and crochet to explore the more traditional methods in a modern way!”

Over on ‘The Making Spot’ blog you will find a fantastic competition. A chance to win lots of Black Sheep Wools goodies including 5 balls of  the beautiful red shade in Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace. The competition closes on 28th February 2013, so make sure you don’t miss out on this gorgeous yarn bundle! Head over to ‘The Making Spot‘ here.

Katie Agar is a student in her final year at Winchester School of Art, studying Fashion Knitwear. Growing up surrounded by the craft industry through her parents’ business, she always had a passion for designing and making and her degree has allowed her to further this to become career prospects and aspirations.

Katie creates designs using hand knitting and machine knitting on Domestic, Dubied and Shima Seikki machines. She is passionate about knitwear being bold and exciting and using unusual materials that perhaps wouldn’t be normally considered within fashion. She has worked in the past with combining knitwear with plastic, leather and metal to create challenging, contemporary designs.

Going into her last term at University, this year Katie will design her final collection, consisting of 6 outfits of knitwear, to be displayed at various shows and also Graduate Fashion Week in June. The blog will be following her progress from her inspirations and designs through to the final outcomes.

The images show some of her previous work, illustrating her passion for boldness and striking designs. The white cloaked outfit was inspired by using Stevie Nicks as a muse, along with taking influence from Alfred Hitchcock films. The navy outfit took it’s inspiration from the skies of the Sahara Desert, where Katie spent time a couple of years ago, and the geometric patterns that occur naturally within the world’s landscapes.

We are hoping to follow Katie’s progress through to her degree show later this year and then wherever her career takes her beyond this stage. Keep an eye out for more blog posts soon.

Monday is always a good day for cake (or any day of the week really!). I am talking about knitted cakes, not edible for a change. The ‘witty knitters’ knitting group have been busy knitting cakes ready for the tea shop, which will be opening in the coming months here at the Craft Barn. These cute and tasty looking cakes have been knitted from the Sirdar book ‘Knit Vintage‘. Taking photographs has made me very hungry and fancying a piece of cake. The bakewell tart has definitely caught my eye, if only it was real hey!

Back in May we went to visit Sirdar to see the new Autumn / Winter yarns and patterns. Now the yarns are available to order I wanted to share the photographs I took while we were there. It is nice to see what the garments are like off the pattern page and from different angles. If you see anything that takes your fancy head over to the Sirdar page here.

Faroe & Softspun Chunky

Montana Dk

Folksong Chunky

Bead knitting or is it knitting with beads? I hadn’t attempted this knitting technique before until the other day. I have to say it is reasonably easy and fun to do. After browsing through various books and online how to’s I discovered there are generally two ways to go about bead knitting. The method I have used below involved adding the beads on the knit row using a very fine crochet hook and threading the bead onto the stitch ready to knit, putting it back onto the needle and knitting it in continuing the row until adding the next bead. The other method involves threading all of the beads onto the yarn before you begin. I plan to try this method out soon as I think that this is probably going prove less fiddly.

First attempt at bead knitting in Debbie Bliss Angel

Knitting with beads really compliments delicate yarns such as mohair or fine Lace. It gives the knitting that extra dimension – an opulent quality. Decorative beads look beautiful on scarves and evening wear – such as cardigans, maybe even purses or bags. There are so many possibilities.