Hot Water Bottle Pattern Available Online!!!

After a big break (babies and moving house- phew!) I've finally managed to get what will hopefully be the first of many patterns up online- from just £1.75 you can make your own copies of some of my favourite pieces! Currently only the Hottie is there but I have many many more to come........

Hot Water Bottle Pattern

*apologies that the checkout seems to go a bit crazy colourwise (it's fine- it just looks mad) between adding to the cart and finishing- I'm trying to sort this out! If you have any other worries or problems while this download system is all settling just let me know......

Cable Cushion Success From Knits At Home!

Thankyou so much for your latest update Jane Parker! I feel like a proud mother hen!

See what wondrous goodies Janes been making with help from my book Knits At Home/ The Knitted Home..........

 

The cushion above is one she has developed with the help of the section in the book that explains how to design your  own cushion with cables and the floor cushions below use the more general 'how to work out your own pattern' guidance- arent they all gorgeous- and I'm totally jealous of your beautiful house too!!!!

 

Janes Letter about the above......

Hi Ruth, 

How are you?

I forgot to take a photograph of the second finished cushion cover I knitted before mailing it overseas to my Mother in England. I did however take this photograph of it before it was sewn up and finished with steam.
It is just 'wrapped' around one of my other cushions to give the effect of it being finished. I am really pleased with how it turned out and already feel more comfortable sketching out and making up patterns. - It also didn't take too long (thankfully) to figure out what would still look good but be less complicated to knit. i.e. making sure that all my purl lines were straightforward and I could quickly knit them up without too much concentration !

I also wanted to show you a couple of my other projects.
These were inspired by the sea urchin style floor cushions I see in many of the Homes and Interiors magazines.
Again, I don't like the idea of simply copying other people's work but I wanted to see if I could figure out how to make them.

The larger one is made with 12 strands of yarn which I had to crochet into a chain link before putting it into the washing machine on a hot wash a few times to felt the wool together into a thick woollen rope.
Then I knitted it up (trial and error with the pattern) on giant needles that I made myself by transforming two 4cm thick dowelling rods purchased from my local hardware store.
With the amount of wool, hot water and hard work involved (I had to kneel on the floor to knit because everything was on such a large scale), I think it will be a while before I make another.

I am currently working on the chair pad cover you have in your book and am happy with how it is turning out.
The only thing is; I feel the need to be more original, so as I'm knitting away I can't stop trying to thing of my next project !!!

As always, thanks for everything.
Regards,

The Knitted Home- what yarns are used....

I recently got an email from a prospective reader asking the following;

'I'd like to buy your book but would like to know what yarns are used, where I can find them and how I can see more images of the projects before placing an order?'

And my answer was....

The yarns are a selection from Rowan, Debbie Bliss and Coats- they should be readily available near you or online. I have tried to use a variety of differently priced yarns as I'm aware how expensive some hand knit yarns are and didn't want to just make super expensive items. 

That said I think many of the yarns would be easy to swap with other makes/ fibre content if you wanted to do that and throughout the book I have tried to inspire and guide people to create their own patterns or adapt existing ones, so this may also help you change the yarn if you need to!

Regarding seeing more images I'm not sure what you've seen so far but if you look up 'The Knitted Home' on www.amazon.co.uk it has quite a good 'look inside' feature with a list of patterns as well as some images- there are also a few more on my blog so I hope that helps a bit too!    http://ruthcross.blogspot.co.uk/

Happy Knitting!

Xx

Still not flattering- come on High Street get your own designers.....

And again- a couple of years ago it was strikingly similar mug cosies popping up everywhere and this year it's knit effect Deer / Stag Heads...... 

So the competition is on- 5 points to anyone who can find any other (than the two we've spotted already) retailers who have a version of the below for sale this year.... Also- 5 points to any designer who can prove they had created a white knit covered stag/ deer head (like the old school taxidermy ones) which was published online or in the press earlier than February 2011....... the more similar the better!

Above- mine

Below- the most recent company to sell this strikingly similar item who is maybe not that 'Proud to back British' when it comes to British design!  Another 5 points if you can work out who it is....

Feeling Glam?

Thankyou Glamour- another fan of the cosy! 

Perfect for those days when you're feeling closer to cosy than glamour-puss (I say that like it's an anomaly for me and not just a regular day!)......

Thankyou Linda Bloomfield for being the best cosy promoter with your lovely ceramics!!!

It's a start!

For my Woolmark commission (for their London showroom piece) I've recently been knitting lots of stripy blobs.....it's a glamourous life.....Anyway I have finally started sewing them on so here's a quick snap of the centre of what now seems like an absolutely enormous canvas. 

On the downside I definitely need a lot more blobs (possibly fuelled by a box set or two), on the upside my eternally picky husband likes it so much that he wants one for the house! Now this is important as generally we have a surprising lack of my work at home (despite me sneaking in bits every now and again)- so to actually ask for one from the pickiest man/ man with the best taste ever is really a big deal! I must be doing something right....

Thankyou Good Homes...!

.......and lovely Seek and Adore and Dote! Yet more cosies in the press so thankyou everyone! The tea cosy and mug cosy are mine, made in conjunction with lovely Linda Bloomfield

You can buy just the cosy on it's own direct from my website here they make lovely gifts for awkward/ tea obsessed people!

What I Need Vs What I've Got...

So, for my latest project for Woolmark (an installation piece for their new London showroom) they have chosen this design.... it's 1m x 1m so actually has a lot more 'blobs' than is shown in the sketch.... I think they'll vary between about 4cm and 8 cm across each..

 This is a 'blob' prototype, knitted on four needles using Rowans DK- I'll make up the sizes and colour layout as I go, but I think I need between 350 and 450 of these to cover the piece....

 So that's what I need- what I actually have is 48 balls of yarn and about 2 weeks...better get knitting! (still- don't the colours look lovely)

And again! This time it's Good Housekeeping!

Yet more fans of the cosy mug.......

Buy your mug cosy here! perfect gifts for people who have everything!

Country Homes and Interiors Love Cosy Mugs..!

.....on a day like today surely hot chocolate and a cosy mug is the only way forwards?

To order your own cosy which will fit almost any mug click here or if you'd like some with Linda Bloomfield's Ceramics (as shown here) then she'll happily send some direct from her site!!!

Last. Minute. Changes.....

are literally the last words a hand knit designer ever wants to hear! And they very quickly explain why I've spent virtually the whole of the last 10 days knitting like a crazy woman- next time a rug is proposed as a Last Minute Change I'd like to think I'll say no, but experience tells me I'll probably just say yes again (not that I can't resist a challange of course!).
However the mission is now well and truly accomplished and alongside the lovely Ben, Sarah and Ollie we spent all of Friday in a lovely house- (see below!- Sarah and I are saving up.....) making some lovely photos, which if all goes well should end up in book 2........ unfortunately I cant disclose any of these just yet so watch this space!

In other news it looks like my first book 'The Knitted Home' is going to be published in France, Finland and Australia as well as here and in the states......how exciting!

Knitted, washed, dried- now where's the buttons.....

So thats what 175 mug cosies look like (or some of)! My whole office is now filled with mug cosies drying for Linda Bloomfield .... if only the buttons had turned up- although at about 20 per hour that is a lot of sewing.........maybe they'll come tomorrow....

Who said this wasn't mass production again- well done my lovely knitting ladies you zoomed through these!

Professional rug tester available

I have finally started work on the new book! Very exciting but a lot to do in a short time........ am about to start a yummy rug and have just done the stitch/ colour swatch- I went to take a quick snap on the floor in the sun and who should immediately curl up on it but Bertie.
I assume this means he approves........................either that or its just a good place to rest your tail?