A sort of love letter to Mr NDS

I've just read a comment from someone on NDS's Facebook group saying "you are so awesome".
I'm not really, but I know someone who is - Mr NDS.

I don't talk about him very often, but I should do.
He is the reason NDS has grown into a successful business.

Once upon a time he had a proper job and career.
When I first met him he was a clerk in a shipping company with no particular direction, within 17 months of meeting me he had a wife, baby and mortgage.
He had also discovered his ambition and after 25+ years he had worked his way up the corporate  ladder to become a director of a logistics company.
His career always came first, it fed, clothed and housed me and our 3 children, but according to the company I was just his nameless, faceless little wife. It was ok, because it gave me the time to follow my artistic career and play with wool.
Then about 3 or 4 years ago (I can't remember how long, so much has happened since then) his world fell apart.
The recession killed his company and his ambition, he was angry and heartbroken.
He decided to leave the corporate life and join me in my little wool dyeing business.

It was very hard work, we lost our house, all the trappings of sucess and lived through some nightmare situations.
But we re-discovered happiness and he rediscovered aimbition.
He took over the business side of NDS and pushed it to the limits and is still pushing.
This left me time to develop the creative side of NDS and return to my career as an artist, although now it was re-named designer.

When we moved to Exmoor he cut all his ties to his other life, he didn't do it on purpose, it just happened.
But he discovered peace and a new lease of life with new mates doing boy's things -  fishing, kayaking, walking, allotmenting, pool, football etc etc
And we are happier and more content than we have been for decades.

One of his life challenges is to look after me, I didn't ask him to do it and never expected it, but he has taken it on with gusto.
He does everything, because he likes to think I am incapable of looking after myself.
He cooks, cleans, does the washing, walks the dogs, drives me everywhere, wakes me up every morning with a cup of tea etc etc
I know he panics when I am left on my own to do things, but occasionally I have to, just so I don't forget how to do it.
Only last week Dais and I had a stand at the North Devon show, which was an hour's drive away. He was obviously struggling with the fact that he had to let go for a day and offered to drive us in the van.
But we refused politely and really enjoyed our day, I have to say it felt a bit like being Thelma and Louise, me and Dais in the big bouncy van going places on the open road - only if it was just to Umberleigh and back.

You might be excused in thinking that I am being smothered, but I'm not.
I have the time to indulge my passion and my obsessive artistic side. I dye wool, I look after the website, I do social networking and I get to crochet and design every waking hour of my day.
This year's book is nearly finished and I am already designing next year's blankets in my head.

I wouldn't have the time or space to do this with out Mr NDS.

I love you Phil, Thank you for letting me live my dream.
xxxxxxxxxx

Plankton Crochet Scarf

Plankton Crochet Scarf - Update 23rd of September 2013

I've updated this post to add the links to the pattern, which you can find in my new book MADDER TRIANGLES - HERE

and as a single pattern PLANKTON CROCHET SCARF - HERE

There are also some new photo's :-)

 I'm going to say this will be a tiny blog post, but you know how I ramble on about nothing so it may be longer than I intended.

I have just finished and blocked Plankton, which is a crochet scarf and design number 7 for Madder Triangles.
The following is its introduction in the book

Plankton was subconsciously designed, I tend to watch mindless tv when I am crocheting, I had a pile of scraps I didn’t want to throw away so I made little lace triangles and crocheted them together in a semi  random pattern.

Later when I looked at the blocked sample I realised the triangles looked like Plankton’s eye, 

Plankton is a evil genius plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants which I had been watching all day and it obviously affected me subconsciously

Plankton is also inspired by the work of Sophie Digard who designs scarves made with hundreds of tiny motifs made with a multitude of colours.

And here are a couple of photos.

The first one had a phenomenal feedback in the NDS Facebook group, it had over 80 likes, plus lots of comments. 

I was very happily shocked as I hadn't expected such a reaction :-)

Plankton Crochet Scarf - Update 23rd of September 2013

This post has being getting a lot of comments asking for Plankton's pattern, so I thought I'd better update the post rather than answer everyone 1 at a time - hope you don't mind :-)

Plankton was published a couple of weeks ago, both in my new book MADDER TRIANGLES - HERE

and as a single pattern PLANKTON CROCHET SCARF - HERE

And here are some of the new pattern photo's

Last week & Community

We had a holiday, not really a proper holiday as most of it was spent driving.
And we didn't go anywhere exotic, we went back to Suffolk to see the family, we also popped into London on the way past to see our big girl and her husband in Bethnal Green.

We had a lovely evening with them at "1st Thursday", on 1st Thursday all the local art galleries open for the evening, Felice and Phil live in street full of art galleries, so we spent the night wandering in and out being part of the London arty crowd.
On Friday morning Felice took us to see Bow Arts Studio's, up until a few weeks ago she had a studio, she has now moved out as she has space to work at home, but she still spends time at the studio's as she is part of the community and she will be showing in one of their exhibitions later in the year.

As we took Tinks with us we thought we needed proof that our country dog had been to the big smoke, so here she is in front of the Olympic park, just around the corner from the studio's.

London looks wet and gloomy in this photo, but as we had suffered 37 degree heat the day before it was heaven.

Then we drove to Suffolk and spent 2 nights at Phil's sister in Kessingland, we went to Southwold on Friday night for fish and chips and a pint of Adnams. 

It was a very strange experience, we felt like tourists in a place we had spent all our lives....

Last time we went back to Suffolk I felt very anxious and didn't enjoy it much.

Even though I am a born and bred Suffolk girl the last few years before we left had been a living nightmare.

I think a part of me still didn't believe that I had found peace and happiness on Exmoor and I was worried that I wouldn't or couldn't get back to my new life.

This trip was different I was relaxed and happy and could enjoy the sun and pretty Suffolk countryside, as I felt safe in the knowledge Exmoor is my home, I'm part of the community and I belong there/here.

Anyway back to our holiday, on Saturday we had a very enjoyable Perkins family barbeque and Tinks met Peggy the pug, she didn't quite know what to make of her and was slightly scared. However when it came to begging for burnt bits of burger on my plate she decided that Peggy was safe enough to sit next to.

On Sunday we went back to Woodbridge to spend the afternoon with my Dad and Aunt, we had a lovely relaxed lunch and filled the van with the last of our belongings. Fred met us there and helped with the van packing :-)

Then the 3 of us and Tinks went to Shingle Street for a walk. I hadn't ever wanted to go back to Moors Farm and our old house, but when we drove past they seemed like a distant memory and it was nice to see them.

I've just realised that Tinks looks like a lap dog in all the photo's, but she isn't. 

Firstly she's now a bit big for a lap dog and secondly in the above photo I had to hold on to her as she had been running around the marshes like a mental case and needed to be held just to have her photo taken.

Sunday night was spent at Fred's eating Chinese takeaway from our favourite Chinese takeaway.

And on Monday we drove back to Exmoor, arriving home about 4 pm.

Tuesday was spent sorting out all the e-mails and sales we had had while we were away and yesterday Daisy and I took NDS to the North Devon show.

It was fun and lovely to chat to new customers and meet lots of local's, but it also reinforced that Exmoor is our home. 

Several Lyntonites came to the show and came to chat with us, it really made me feel happy that these were people I know from my everyday life and Dais and I were able to show them what we did.

Oh and while we have been jaunting around I did this......

Firefly is beginning to come together and the pattern is beginning to show, I have 2 weeks to finish it in time to be photographed for the book. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

I love Godiva HT

I was really excited when we took delivery of our first batch of Godiva (Merino singles)  HT 4 ply, I love the Godiva DK its soft and plump and makes very snuggly cuddly blankets and garments, so I was hoping for the same in a 4 ply version.

When the 4 ply arrived I loved it, it was beautiful and soft in the skein.
It dyed like a dream, much like its big sister the DK, strong vibrant colours.
But became crinkly when we mordanted and dyed it.
I understood that the crinkles were a result of the very high twist, which makes it a lovely sock yarn with a brilliant stitch definition.
But I personally don't really like crocheting with high twist yarns I prefer plump, soft cuddly yarn.

Phil disagreed with me, he likes making socks and likes high twist, so he promptly knitted a pair of these claiming that someone should always test knit a new yarn and declared his undying love for Godiva HT.

So I thought I had better try it and used it for the background of my new Spyro blanket.

And instantly I fell in love!

Its soft and smooth to use, and had a brilliant stitch definition.

When I blocked Spyro the Godiva bloomed and transformed into a stunning blanket yarn.

I'm sad to say it has replaced Dazzle HT in my heart, my only regret is its Merino and not BFL, but you can't have everything....

We have some new colours in tomorrows update at 7pm UK time - you will be able to find it HERE

But if you can't wait for tomorrow night you will find we already have some colours in the shop and you can find them HERE

Madder Triangles July 2013 update

I thought you might like a book update, I'm really hoping to have it published at the end of August.

I've had to abandon the star section as I was never going to have enough time to crochet and design a new blanket and scarf, so the book is down to 8 designs, the star's will have to be in next year's book, although I will publish Florence as a single pattern and maybe another one before next year's book comes out.

Kaleidascope

Lecchi Blanket - Finished

Plankton Scarf  - WIP

It looks very wobbly as the centre section is blocked.

Ripple 

The Rising Sun - Finished

Isabella Scarf - Finished

Spiral

Spyro Blanket - Finished

Firefly Wrap - wip

I started Firefly on Sunday while watching Lewis Hamilton win his first F1 race of the year - I love Lewis.

These 3 photo's illustrate 3 day's worth of designing, the first is unblocked, the second blocked and the third after I had designed a new filler, which I hope works as well when its blocked.

Wings

Icarus Shawl - Finished 

Serefina Shawl - Finished

Granny Squares

As it was a designing day on Friday I thought I would have a look at Inside Crochet's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/insidecrochet)
Inside Crochet asked a very interesting question - What is your opinion on Granny Squares?
They have a reader's poll with 3 possible answers
1 - love them - 27 likes
2 - They have their uses, but not for every project. - 16 likes
3 - They are good for learning crochet, but I have moved on. - 1 like (and that's mine!)

I was surprised by the results.
I expected the majority of people to like no 2, instead of which most people liked no 1
But I'm the only person to like no 3
I didn't realise I was in such a minority.

Before you all start shouting at me for being a crochet snob I will explain.

Firstly I want to define what I think a granny square is.
I searched the Ravelry data base for crochet granny squares. 
The search came back with over 1000 designs tagged granny square.
Most of them were square motifs that could be used for blankets, so I refined my search to crochet granny square blankets, this weeded out a lot of the square motifs and left a lot of designs using my definition of a granny square, there were still over 300 designs.
Many were the same old design used time and time again, some clever colour variations, but still the same basic design. (I'd like to add that one of them was Mine:-)
This is my definition of a granny square.

Granny squares are the perfect beginners project, they are easy to make and grow quickly, you can use any yarn or hook size and once you have learnt the pattern its difficult to forget.
Most designers start their careers with simple designs, normally scarves or hats, 6 years ago I started mine with a granny square blanket.
It was called Bessies Blanket and made in honour of my granny - Bessie

I have a very short attention span and quickly bored of the granny square, too many trebles and not enough scope to experiment. I prefer half trebles, one time less through the hole each stitch and they're bigger than double crochet stitches. But this is just my opinion.and I don't expect many people to agree with me.

Over the last 6 years I have experimented and played, my motifs became more and more complex, but I've never used complex stitches, I'm too lazy to learn them and can achieve the effect I want with simple stitches.

I have now returned to a really simple motif, because I want to play with colour and surface design. Its easy to make, if you can make a traditional granny square you can make this. 

If it was square it could be classed as a granny square, just not the classic granny square.

Going back to my comments about being surprised because the granny square is so loved, I'm not surprised that so many people love a crochet motif, I'm surprised that so many people are happy to stay in the same place and re-make the same thing over and over again instead of trying something new.

There are so many amazing designs and designers out there waiting to be discovered.

To all granny obsessives everywhere I urge you to give yourself a challenge, make one granny, make one something else, make one granny, make one something else.....

I've done a couple of Ravelry searches - maybe you'll find something you'll fall in love with...

Cardigans

Shawls

Hexagon Blankets

I'll leave you with this quote from my favourite author, I feel its relevent to my blog post and the film version of the song is playing in my head while I write this post. its the first verse from "The old walking song"

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with weary feet,

Until it joins some larger way,

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Rising Sun update

I finished the blanket on monday night and meant to post about it on tuesday.
But we've had a busy week here at NDS, lots of visitors coming to see us, so I'm only just getting round to it now.

Here's the blanket almost finished, before I finished the border and ends.

And here it is finished and being modelled by Tinks

And here is a very rubbish photo of it drying in the sun after its wash.

And lastly a not so quite so rubbish detail photo

Next time you see it, it will be properly photographed and heading for publishing in my Madder Triangles book.

Happiness & playing like a tourist.

Like everywhere else in the UK it unbelievably hot here on Exmoor.
After last years rain its a welcome change to actually have a proper summer.
Lynton & Lynmouth are both really popular tourist places, it makes the whole area a really happy one, people come here to relax and enjoy themselves, its hard not to join in and enjoy it with them.
So last saturday I went on a boat trip with my girly friends and Tinks, all our men spend their weekends kayaking, fishing and playing at the allotment, so we thought it was time for us to stop working for a few hours and relax.
The boat goes from Lynmouth harbour along the coast for a few miles, past The Valley of Rocks and up to Lee Bay.
It was amazing and wonderful to see my home from the sea.
I didn't take many photo's as I was too busy enjoying the scenery, but thats ok because the view is 5 mins away from my front door and I can go again any time I feel like it.

My sea dog on her first trip, its not a very good photo, but you can see Lynmouth in the background, so I thought it was nice to include it.

And on Sunday it was the annual Lynmouth raft race, which is brilliant fun.
The raft's parade along the village street down to the harbour wall, then launched from the slipway, they make their way out of the harbour and up the Lyn river to the footbridge over the river.

Photo courtesy of Miles Trevelyan-Johnson

The race is to a buoy just outside the harbour wall and back, some of the rafts make it, so of the competitors take it very seriously, some just join in for fun including the Wayward Women ( Daisy and her house mates :-)

Photo courtesy of Miles Trevelyan-Johnson

For the entire duration of the race spectators line the beach, harbour wall and road throwing flour and water bombs.

I stupidly went to collect Daisy's shoes from her when she was on the raft parade and ended very wet and slightly floury.
Its made me think maybe next year I'll be part of the team, in fact I might of mentioned it to Dais and Jill her landlady, I suspect they might not let me forget :-)

And finally for those of you who used to read the old blog and remember the trauma's we suffered and Daisy's heartbreaking history
Here's an update photo - I'll let you make up your own minds as to what it mean's, but I will say life is so much happier here on Exmoor.

Serefina and Icarus

A few weeks ago I gave you some very small sneaky peak's of my 2 crochet club shawls.
The club ran from April to June 2013 and there were 2 variations, a 4 ply and a lace.

I really struggled with the design, but once I had allowed myself to use my trusty triangle it was easy.

I made the 4 ply version first and was limited to 3 colour's, 1 skein per month for the duration of the club. I really struggled with 3 colours, I kept wanting to add more, so I allowed myself to use as many colours as I wanted with the lace version.
Here are the final results, I'm afraid the photo's aren't very good, the 2 shawls need to go on a proper photo shoot.
Both of the patterns will be published in Madder Triangles, so I am afraid you will have to wait until then.
Icarus will be the only design in the book that doesn't contain orange triangles.

Icarus - named after the Greek mythological character.

And Serefina - named after a character in the Golden Compass trilogy

Incidently if any of my club members have finished their shawls I'd love to see some photos :-)