My craft history

I learned to crochet when I was eight years old and the rest is history..... I designed my own clothes for my doll's and even sold some at a local market my dad had a stall at when I was about 11 or 12.

My next craft to learn was hand knitting, took me a little while to get the hang of it but I got there..... before I left school I had started knitting for Phildar, the french yarn company http://phildar.com/

My mum worked in their local yarn shop so I ended up knitting/crochet jumpers for the window display and customers orders. When I was 16 I had a couple of orders for 4ply stuff and after I had knitted them I said never again and got my mums knitting machine out from underneath her bed. So I started using knitting machines when I was 16 and now have quite a few machines but they all do different things honest!

When I lived in Cumbria I knitted kids stuff for a machine knitting shop and did that for over a year and thought hey I could do this for myself so when I moved back to Scotland I started my own machine knitwear business working from home.

Eventualy I got into dressmaking and decided I wanted to learn how to design clothes to incorporate this into my business so I went to college and did N.C. Clothing Tech. I had to stop trading as it was a full time course and I couldn't do both.

Romance and a baby came next after that course so I never started my business up again. Once my son was a few years old I decided I would like to learn more about designing knitwear as the course I had done hadn't included knitwear design blocks etc. So I went back to college and did a 3 year part time course, Centra Machine Knitting. Never got my certificate for that course as family problems meant that I didn't attend all of the course.

I've since done some peice work from home for a local knitwear factory for a little while but I found it soul destroying knitting the same plain pannels again and again. The yarn was nice though as it was cashmere so I got paid peanuts while they sold for lots of money!

I'm always looking for something new to learn so over the years my hobbies have included:- making candles, beaded stuff, cross stitch cards/pictures, silk/glass/ceramic/one-stroke painting, stenciling, stamping, patchwork quilting, tatting, macrame.........

Over a year ago now I joined a local Stitch n' Bitch group and I now have my own spinning wheel so I'm learning as I go to spin my own yarn, that's something I have always wanted to do. I knitted a hat for myself using my first hand spun. The pattern I used is 'Isla hat' by Jayne Ellison (from 'The Marasol Collection Book One) I'll post a photo when I have taken one and have got the hang of posting pictures exactly where I want them.

I turned 40 not long ago and I got the best present ever from my boyfriend who is very good at listening when I tell him what I would like ;) I am now the proud owner of an Ashford Rigid Heddle Weaving Loom! My first shawl didn't take long to weave and am so pleased at how it turned out. The warp yarn was dyed by a friend from the knitting group http://tigerlilith.blogspot.com/ and the weft yarn is Wendy, Precious Moments (probably discontinued). I've yet to wash it to full it up so hoping it won't shrink too much. Here's a picture........


I'm going to keep this shawl for myself as it is the first thing I have ever woven but usualy the shawls I make are 'prayer shawls' for others. If you haven't heard of prayer shawls then there is more information on the following website: www.shawlministry.com

I'll add more pictures of the things I have knitted/spun at a later date.