About Last Night...

Last night was Spin A Yarn's Debbie Bliss Fashion Show at the Devon Guild Of Master Craftsmen. This time my designs and Claire Crompton's designs were featured along designs from Debbie's autumn/winter collection. It was great meeting Debbie, she's such a lovely person. I was trying very hard to control myself and not do the 'fan girl' thing but I did have to pinch myself a few times. I never would have imagined this happening 5 years ago.

Before we went down to the guild for the fashion show, Debbie, Claire and I spent some time in the yarn shop being photographed by a professional photographer and chatting. We had our own little knit group.

Once we got down to the guild coffee shop we were treated to a lovely meal with even more lovely desserts. I did remember to take some photos but they're not brilliant. My camera has the flash turned off and I forgot to turn it back on.

 Above is Debbie (on the left, Joyce (at the back) and Debbie's intern, Teresa, who was really lovely too. Imagine doing an internship with Debbie Bliss.

The designs were modelled by staff, customers and friends of Spin A Yarn and they did a great job. Below they're posing for the photographer in some of Debbie's designs.

 Some dedicated sock knitters (who will probably kill me if they know I managed to snap a pic):

 Verity, one of the dedicated and friendly Spin A Yarn staff members, modelling a shrug.

 The great thing about this fashion show is that the audience has the chance to stop the models and touch the garment and look at it up close. I wish I had managed to catch a pic of the front of the pink garment below as it had a lovely cable detail.

 Verity in a Norwegian inspired sweater. I love this design. Reminds me of home. A very elegant and feminine design.

 The little top below was actually from Debbie's childrens collection but we thought it looked great on Verity. It's knitted in the new Angel yarn which is simply divine.

 After Debbie's designs, Claire and I teamed up to show off our designs. Below  is one of the models (and sorry I've forgotten her name - very embarrassing) wearing my Daisy shawlette and one of Claire's gorgeous bags.

 This is a crazy combination of one of Claire's fun left over yarn bags (made by using bits of left over yarn), a skinny scarf and my Cornish Gems Wrist Warmers.

 After the fashion show we brought out all the samples and knitters had the chance to try them on, look at them in detail and ask questions.  I received a lot of compliments.

 The Snow Queen Shawl was a particular favourite last night. It's a perfect winter shawl.

Apart from the fashion show last night, talking about design and yarn with Debbie was great. Debbie told me she has a new lace yarn coming out next year and I was given 3 balls of it in a gorgeous pink colourway. I can't wait to play with it. I've got lots of yarns waiting for swatching but I think i will definitely make time for some swatching with this yarn this weekend, having said that I've got a deadline on Monday so have still got a lot of knitting to do on that.

A big thank you to Joyce of Spin A Yarn for inviting me to this fashion show. Joyce was the first one to book me to teach knitting workshops and has always encouraged and supported me, which I really appreciate.

This morning it was back to business as normal and I started the day (after a bit of knitting) with the publication of the Jurassic Coast Scarf. This is the third design in the Amazing Luxury Knits Collection. The yarn has been in my stash for a little while and I was determined I wanted to use it for a design in this collection as I loved the colours. It's Great Northern Yarns Cashmere and I can't find it on their website so it may be discontinued but they do a mink/cashmere blend which is also gorgeous. And their mink fibre is humanely harvested.

 I used two 40 gr skeins and the scarf ended up longer than I thought it would be. it measures 170cm/67in long and 20cm/8in wide. The scarf consists of several short row wedges. Each large wedge consists of 4 smaller wedges separated by a contrasting stripe. To add a bit more fun there are some eyelet rows thrown in. The eyelet rows are simple, just yarn over/yarn forward and k 2 together. The short rows are easy too. I use the wrap & turn method and instructions are included. You don't have to worry about knitting the wraps as they don't show up in the garter stitch. I carried the yarn not in use up the side to avoid having lots of ends to weave in.

The pattern is available as a single pattern or as part of the Amazing Luxury Knits Collection. If you purchase the single pattern you'll receive a code for £3 off if you decide you'd like the full collection. We're half way through Amazing Luxury Knits now. Three designs have been published and we have three left. They will be published in January, February and March. After March they'll all collated into an e-book which subscribers will be able to download in March/April. Sign up now.