I Won First Prize!

I woke up yesterday morning to a great email, letting me know I was the winner of the Malabrigo Sock Design contest. (If you're not familiar with mal yarn, Sock is the name of the yarn type). As a prize I get to choose any Malabrigo Yarn and colorway of your choosing, and they're going to send me a whole bag of it. Plus, a whole bag of their test yarn, Dos! I've rarely been so excited!

I've just posted my pattern on Ravelry, and you can buy it there (or click below). My whole store is now viewable, even if you're not a member of Ravelry.

This pattern was inspired by the beautiful Malabrigo Sock Indiecita colorway and T.S. Eliot’s “sea-girls wreathed in seaweed”. As I looked at the yarn, I could envisage the sea otters and mermaids, tangling themselves in the safety of the kelp forests on a cold winter day. You can twine yourself in this twisting kelp pattern, featured on the cuffs of the fingerless mitts and hat band, while staying toasty on land or sea.

Sneak Peak

I submitted my design this weekend for the Malabrigo Sock design contest.
The pattern will be up for sale soon. I thought I'd put up a sneak preview in the meantime.










We took our pictures outside Tate Modern. I really wanted to take them in the Ai WeiWei sunflower seeds, but we were a few days too late to walk on them, and it basically looked just like a gravel pit from where you were allowed to stand. A real disappointment!

This weekend we went curling for Martin's birthday. There's only one curling rink in England, and it's in Tunbridge Wells. It seemed an easy sport to get started on, but I think it'd take a lot of practice to be any good.

 

painted ponies

About a year ago (or maybe more, I'm not sure!), I painted the horses in our copy of Winner's Circle. My husband asked me to paint them because some of the horses were very similar in color. So, when you play this game in a dark pub, it's easy to mistake which one is which as they travel around the board.

I originally thought about using the silks of famous jockeys or stables as inspiration, but in the end I just used my imagination. I also painted numbers on each horse's flank for ease of recognition.