When did you first start knitting / crocheting and where did you learn?
One auspicious day in 2011 I went to the shops bought the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu Ray, some yarn and a pair of knitting needles and decided to teach myself to knit.
I looked up some tutorials on youtube, practiced and practiced until I had a very wonky scarf but I was hooked.
Can you remember the first thing you made?
It was a truly wonky scarf, but I was so proud because I had knitted it myself.
It was on straight needles and squeaky acrylic but I made it myself.
Who are your favourite pattern designers and celebrity knitters & crocheters?
I love love love all of Ffrench's designs. Her patterns are always so comforting to knit, but produce a stunning finished object.
Martina Behm has this brilliant brain which creates unique and beautiful patterns that I could not design in several lifetimes.
I'm not sure if they're celebrities persay, but my favourite knitting bloggers are Keri from whendidibecomeaknitter.wordpress, Caityrosey from all-she-wants-to-do-is-knit.com and Lisa from teaandcraft.blogspot
What are your favourite things to stitch and do you have a favorite item you've made?
Last year I went through a huge shawl phase, but have previously had sock phases and hat phases.
I think I like accessories that I can wear. I'm quite practical like that.
My favourite item I've ever made is my two slouchy summer sky hats.
The second one is special because it was made with my own hand dye and my own pattern which is rather thrilling for me.
The first one went to one of my best twitter friends who encourages me every day. #teamrehab
What music/podcasts/TV shows do you love to stitch along to?
I will binge watch all the TV I can and knit the days away if I could. I love dramas like Broadchurch, Scandal, Orange is the New Black and comedies like 30 Rock, Gilmore Girls, Friends and so many more! I have a pretty long netflix queue.
I love cricket and Aussie Rules football and knitting does keep me calm during stressful sports watching.
The three podcasts that I knit to?
Welcome to Nightvale: a strange and dark but incredibly funny news bulletin for the town of Nightvale (All hail the glow cloud)
Talk The Talk: a linguistics podcast produced on my local community radio station which talks about language and how it's evolving and is just interesting and thought provoking
The Shinybees podcast: Jo Milmine is a knitting fiend who likes her knitting and comedy in equal measures. She is a frequent cause of tea snorting out of my nose. In a good way of course!
Do you do any other crafts and what are your hobbies?
I dabble in jewelry making and love the instant gratification of making a pair of earrings and then wearing them straight away.
Same with making stitch markers. They're jewelry for my knitting.
I also embroider, mostly quotes or song lyrics, which go on cushions & I metal stamp cuffs, again mostly quotes or song lyrics.
I have a notebook called 'other peoples words' which I jot down my favourite words and quotes. I then transplant them to somewhere like a cushion or a cuff and give those words another life.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Thanks for having me!
This has been really awesome to get my brain into action and doing something I wouldn't usually do.
Clothes
Hats
