Needles & Natter Conversation 1

Tomorrow is Thursday and Thursdays, as you may have gathered from my previous post, are my Needles & Natter mornings at Rosie's Tea Room - laughter-filled, inspiration-packed and creative energy-releasing. As a way of sharing some of that a bit more widely, I am hoping to have an intermittent series of posts that will be conversations with some of the Needles & Natter group members so you can join in. Hopefully you will share 100% in the inspiration, encouragement and some of the laughter, although I fear the cake won't be more than virtual!

This is the first conversation. The questions will be the same for all the conversations but of course what people say in response is entirely unpredictable! 

The N&Ners are a talented bunch and so much fun to be with. I hope you enjoy sharing a natter with some of them.

Hello to .... Sarah!

Sarah is in her forties, living in Oxfordshire. At the moment she's a housewife, but in a previous existence she was a high-flying TV producer. She was in Hong Kong covering the handover, in Paris covering the death of the PoW and has had the chance to look deep into Tom Cruise's eyes! (verdict on the latter - "scarily intense"!) 

Now a dedicated countryphile, she loves baking - her scones are to die for - and along with her husband and son she shares her home with five chickens, a cute West Highland terrier and a cat. More of them later!

What type are your needles of choice? "Knitting and crochet"

Tell us about your current WIP. "My current WIP is a Japanese flower scarf which I am making in the gorgeous Debbie Bliss Andes alpaca / silk mix yarn as featured by Lucy on Attic24. When I spotted this on Lucy's blog here, I just had to make it! It was calling to me! I then discovered you were making the same pattern which was great because it saved me the pain of trying to work out the pattern from first principles."

(Ed: The besetting problem with this pattern is that the original is in Japanese and for copyright reasons can't be reproduced. But we have found instructions for something pretty similar here on Revlie's blog.)

"The yarn is unfortunately, extremely expensive and purchasing, therefore not easy to get past the household financial authorities! I needed nine 50g skeins which, at more than £7 per skein in the first shop I tried, was a bit eye-watering. Internet shopping proved a better bet (£6 per skein), although one of the colours I wanted was out of stock. Waiting for a fortnight for this and unable to start without it gave rise to a spot of "wool rage" (Ed: what a fab phrase!) but it was worth the wait. Annoyingly though now, I discover I have run out of yarn with only a few flowers left to go. Good news has been recently discovering a local shop supplying the Debbie Bliss Andes at £6 per skein; bad news is that their suppliers are hiking the price up to £8 per skein - ouch! The pattern looks complicated but is actually really easy to do. Everyone loves it including the boys in the house! And in spite of the spiralling cost of the yarn, the scarf gets oohs and aahs of admiration whenever I am working on it. I hope it will eventually become a family heirloom."

Can we have a peek?

Ed: Fab isn't it?

What projects are you most proud of completing and why? "Completing?! Ha ha!! Most things remain WIPs including a jumper for my husband that's taken almost twenty years to finish!! It's a big Norwegian sweater - I had to finish it having spent £80 on the wool! The project I'm most proud of is a cable knit Aran sweater for my father which I made without a pattern 25 years ago. He still wears it all the time and it looks as good as new. My Japanese scarf, once it's finished, will also be on my list of woolly highs."

Can you give us a twirl of some finished projects?

The Aran sweater Sarah made for her Dad over 20 years ago 

and still going strong

Alpaca scarf from Erika Knight's "Men's Knits

Baby's hat. Pattern from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino 2
in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Norwegian sweater - finally finished after 20 years!

What's in the pipeline next? "Might be another shawl - I've made a few recently and I want to make a lightweight lacy, cotton one for my SIL who lives in French Guyana. Unlike her brother she shouldn't have to wait more than twenty years for it because the knitting bug has bitten and now I can't stop! The family are really happy about this because they all benefit from scarves, hats etc!

What top tips would you give someone starting out with their needles? "Don't drink too many glasses of wine while knitting! And you can forget trying to watch subtitled TV programmes. Also it's a mistake to knit with a kitten in the room! Join a club like the Needles & Natter group because knitting can be a solitary thing. I've made some great friends through N&N. Don't feel you have to be an expert to join such a group - there is always someone delighted to help if you get stuck and learning how to do new things from someone who can actually show you is great. When I first joined this group I'd been struggling with a pattern for some baby socks for eight months and in the very first session a lovely lady showed me where I was going wrong and the socks were finished within the hour."

Tell us about what's in your yarn stash! "Well, not infrequently, one dog and one cat!!"

"But underneath there is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - great for baby-clothes - and some Rowan Super Chunky which knits up really quickly. I also have a supply of Katia Astrakan which made a really cosy scarf that everyone thought was a sheep! Baby Alpaca is also a favourite. I've recently discovered the Scandinavian yarn company Drops - they have lovely colours and are very reasonably priced. Their website has hundreds of free patterns for knitting and crochet. I love wool shops and I'm the archetypal embarrassing cutomer who has to squeeze every single ball of yarn in the place!"

What are your favourite sources of inspiration? "Three books at the moment. "Men's Knits - New Direction" by Erika Knight, "Best In Show - Knit Your Own Dog", (sic!), by Sally Muir & Joanna Osborne and "Home" by Debbie Bliss." 

Needles & Natter sessions are always accompanied by a nibble or two! What's your favourite homemade nibble? "Scones! Or Victoria sponge."

Ed: I can confirm that these were just as delicious as they look!

Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your needles and nattering on my blog,
as well as on Thursday mornings!

See you tomorrow!