I know that’s an even longer title than my January post. And despite my plans to work less in favour of more making, nurturing and nesting, I’m currently busier than I’ve been for ages. Am I my own worst enemy? Of course I am!
This past week has been particularly ‘screen heavy’ so I thought I’d drop in with a quick blog update before I shut down my Mac for the weekend and finally get down to some sewing and gardening.
In my last post I introduced you to Hidden Star, my design contribution to Laine’s 52 Weeks of Accessories. This pattern celebrates my love of beaded knitting, and features a technique I call ‘beaded colourwork’ where beads are threaded in colour sequence, onto the yarn before casting on which creates a specific motif when they’re knitted in.
In Hidden Star the blocks of different coloured beads draw the eyes to a dart-like shape on the back of each hand, and these mirrored darts reveal a star-like motif when both hands are placed together. The instructions offer a choice of either full mittens or fingerless mitts and another interesting feature of this design is the yarn. I chose to use two close tones of John Arbon Exmoor 4ply Sock held together. This produces the most beautiful and gently coloured marl effect to show off the beads. Being me, I mixed orange (Quick Beam) and red (Peggles) for the top section and dark turquoise (Plashes) and navy (Whortleberries) for the bottom section, with an acid green (Oddmedod) stripe cutting across the centre of the mitt to give the eye a lift. But of course you can knit the design in your favourite colours with beads that either tone in or stand out. Don’t want to knit with two ends of 4ply held together? Knit it in a single end of DK instead. The choice really is yours.
So why am I telling you all this? Because this August 1st – 5th I’ll be at The Knitting Hotel in Dawlish, teaching a Beaded Colourwork workshop and Hidden Star is the pattern we’ll be exploring. You’ll learn all the techniques needed to knit your own pair of blingtastic mitts / mittens while enjoying the hospitality of The Knitting Hotel’s fabulous host, Belinda Harris-Reid (pictured above in one of her amazing rooms). The knitting inspired style of the venue combined with its stunning location on the Devon coast and a weekend of great food plus joyful learning in the best company make this the perfect opportunity to treat yourself. This retreat has been fully booked for some time, but this week I found out there’s just one place left that comes with a single occupancy room.
If you’re interested email katherine@theknittinghotel.co.uk. But you’d better be quick! Hope to see you in August.
Ok, here’s the offer from French brand Read Loop, mentioned at the top of the post. If, like me, you’re a postmenopausal woman of a certain age, you’ll be familiar with the panicked scramble for reading glasses whenever you encounter any text smaller than 18pt. In my younger days I simply couldn’t understand why older people pulled their glasses down their nose or held the unreadable item at arms length in an effort to make sense of it. Well, I hit my mid 40s and boy, did I find out.
That’s when I entered the realm of the ‘ready reader’ and started wearing reading glasses. It’s also when I discovered Read Loop’s asymmetric Patchwork design which became my ‘go to’ pair of readers. (They’re the ones I’m wearing in the above picture). Well a couple of weeks ago – and after 10 years of much loved wear – my precious favourites finally broke. So, I posted on my @jeanettesloan Instagram feed about how much I’d miss them, particularly because they were a Christmas gift from Sam. Well following my post, the lovely people at Read Loop got in touch and we’ve come up with a fabulous offer exclusively for you, whether you sign up to my newsletter, subscribe to this blog or follow me on Instagram.
Shop on online at www.readloop.fr and use the code JSLOAN10 to get 10% off, a free eyewear cord with each order and free shipping over €90 (around £77). Discount code expires 30th April 2024.
I must say a huge thank you to Claudia at Read Loop who kindly gifted me three pairs of glasses; one from the everyday ‘Comfort’ range, one from the ‘Digital’ range (great for screen working) and one from the ‘Sunrise’ range for when I’m sitting, knitting in my sunny new garden. If you do treat yourself to a pair(s) be sure to tag me and @readloop on social media. I really can’t wait to wear mine over the coming months and years.
Until next time, happy making!
J x
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