Frequently Asked Questions

Here at knitonthenet we get a lot of questions through our contact form on the website. I thought it might be useful to post the answers to the three top questions we are asked here, for easy reference.

How can I get a poppy pattern?
Just call me Ruby's poppy brooch pattern is only available for purchase and download during the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal timeframe, which runs from the start of October until mid-November. This is an agreement we have with the British Legion in order that all monies from the downloads go straight to their appeal fund. Look out for it again this October!

What does the instruction w&t mean in a pattern (for instance Maille)?
'W&T' means 'wrap and turn', which is an instruction that is used when a pattern requires you to do short row shaping, such as for bust darts or shoulder shaping. I wrote a blog post a little while ago which should help you with this: short rows.

Where can I find the pattern errata?
Here! We are working hard at getting all of the errata up on the page, and they are not all there currently. If you don't think that a pattern is working quite right, but can't find the errata, please do get in touch we we will sort it out with you.

Please do keep sending in your questions about anything you need to ask about knitonthenet and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Just one thing though... please, please remember to put in your own email address, or I won't be able to answer!

Happy knitting
Ingrid

Didn't we have a lovely time at Goodwood

Here's a post from editor, Susan about what she, Gavin and Charlie got up to at Vintage at Goodwood. It was originally posted on her blog Just call me Ruby which you should definitely check out if you don't read it already.

There has been quite a lot of negative feedback about this event. I for one, am really not in a position to comment on the organisational side of things as I wasn't directly involved in that side of the event, and to be honest despite one or two hiccups, had a thoroughly lovely time. I was invited to attend as a volunteer to teach knitting at the Vintage School sponsored by Oxfam.

Each attendee paid £5 for their class which was donated directly to Oxfam. I taught some lovely ladies to crochet, some to knit and some how to make handknitted dress clips and buttons.

The high street was cleverly constructed using prefabricated buildings which were disguised with ply wood shop fronts like Hollywood films of old.

I had my hair curled here.

And watched Curse of the Werewolf at midnight here.

One of the highlights for me was bumping into glamorous retro girls wearing garments from A Stitch in Time. I tried to get photos whenever possible, without scaring people half to death! Here are two To Set off your Summer Frocks together.

This photo was taken just before The Chap Olympiad where my old friend and model for A Stitch in Time, Fleur de Guerre was working. Here are Fleur and I together.

Bizarrely, during the photography for A Stitch in Time I don't think there was a single shot of me and the models together. I'm going to make sure I get some this time round when photographing Volume 2. I also bumped into my friends The Shellac Sisters, who very kindly volunteered to come and DJ outside of my Vintage Knitting class.

One of my favourite places was the Torch Club, which was a 1940s themed dance hall. Here's me with my hair newly curled, and Gavin in his new slip over. This slip over matches the Father's new socks pattern from Vintage Gifts to Knit and will also be available as a pattern in the near future. Gavin got into the spirit of the event too, buying some brylcreem to slick back his hair and shaving off his beard to leave a 40s style moustache.

There was lots of music on over the three days - my favourites were Earth, Wind and Fire, who were everything I wanted them to be and more, and Heaven 17, who took me back to my youth, playing songs from Penthouse and Pavements and finishing with Temptation. I unfortunately missed Squeeze who made a guest appearance during someone else's show. We particularly enjoyed the Let it Rock! stage at night, although the name is somewhat misleading as it had a very eclectic line up of musical acts from The Lady Luck Club to Wanda Jackson to The Damned, with a little Burlesque thrown in too!

Despite some rain, having to camp - which bizarrely, I thoroughly enjoyed and having several copies of Vintage Gifts to Knit stolen, which really saddened me, I had a great time, and hope there will be a next time.

For now
Ruby xxx

Get Creative for a Good Cause

Innocent Smoothie Hats by Stitchlily on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons.

Our UK readers have probably noticed the little bobble hats that bottles of Innocent Smoothies wear each autumn. You might even have knitted some of them yourself. Well, it has got to that time of year again: the now annual Big Knit 2010 has cast on.

Every year for the past seven years, people across the land have knitted their socks off in aid of the annual Big Knit campaign. Innocent have received an amazing 1.6 million little hats and raised over £800,000 for Age UK (formerly Age Concern and Help the Aged) - all to help make winter warmer for older people.

For 2010 each be-hatted smoothie sold in Sainsbury’s stores will raise 25p and their target is £200,000, which is quite a pile of hats. This is why they need your help -simply pick up your needles or DPNs and knit us a little hat. It is a great way to use up those little bits of yarn in your stash.

The basic pattern is only 28 stitches and 18 rows – that’s not even a tension square. Could you whip one up while you watch your favourite soap? How many could you do in a month? The deadline for hats isn’t until 5^th October so please try and fit a few

Innocent will be putting up lots of fun patterns and announcing a competition or two very soon but for now just go to their site to get started.

My friend Katie and I had lots of fun making these last year: here she is looking suitably innocent with one of hers!

Ingrid x

PS Forgive me for the line spacing in the latter half of the post; I can't seem to clear it.

A Stitch in Time through the generations!

In honour of Vintage at Goodwood this weekend, here is something just brilliant that one of our readers, Jan, sent to us.

She has had the 1970s A Stitch in Time book for a good while, and during the 1980s, knitted these two garments from it. Here is her lovely granddaughter, Monica modelling them today.

Jan says: "I wore blackberry in the 80s with a gray/red check softly pleated skirt (M&S) boots and a white blouse with a pussy cat bow....thought I looked pretty snazzy."

These patterns are truly passing through the generations. The Blackberry Stitch cardigan, below from the 1940s has been made in the 1980s and is still worn now in the 2010s. Not bad going!


Many thanks to Jan for sending us her story. Here's her blog, A Passion for Vintage Textiles, if you'd like to read more.
...and if you've been inspired by these lovely sweaters, you can purchase your own up-to-date version of A Stitch in Time, at Arbour House Publishing's Knitonthenet shop.

Happy knitting,
Ingrid

Vintage at Goodwood

The events are coming thick and fast this summer for knitonthenet. Susan, Gavin and Susan's daughter Charlie are travelling down to Sussex for a weekend at Vintage at Goodwood. Susan is teaching there on Sunday and I will be there helping out with the class.

The thing about Vintage at Goodwood is that it is not your 'normal' festival. The weekend celebrates '50 years of British cool' and there will be lots of glamour and dressing up. Sounds great, doesn't it!

Here's what Susan will be wearing on one of the days: it's an original 1950s dress! And in a sneak preview, the gorgeous green cardigan is one of the patterns that will be in A Stitch in Time volume 2.

Susan and Charlie, copyright Just call me Ruby

We really hope to see you there, if you're coming along.

Ingrid

Just call me Susan

If you're on Ravelry, you might be interested to know that we have just started a new group for anybody who is interested in our editor Susan Crawford's patterns (published both under her real name and her design name, Just call me Ruby). It's called Just call me Susan and you can find it by following the link here.

Hope to see you there!

Ingrid

What happened when we went to Knit Nation?

Here's a quick look at what happened last weekend when Susan and I travelled to the knitting extravaganza that was Knit Nation.

Imperial College was the setting for this fantastic show, organised by Cookie A and Alice Yu.

There were lots of designers there with stands: here's Susan with Ysolda Teague who had her sample knits photobooth with her (and her assistant Sarah who was lovely too).

There were plenty of yarn stands as well. Here's Skein Queen's fabulous stand, manned by the lovely Alabama Whirly.

Skein Queen's Tweety Birds.


Susan had a booksigning for Vintage Gifts to Knit on the Loop stand on Friday and Saturday.


Here she is, in action!

The lovely Meghan from Loop kindly modelled the Adorable Little Bedjacket with Hood.


It was a great time for meeting friends, old and new.

I went to the Ravelry talk in the evening in which Casey and Jess told the story of how the site started and grew to the behemoth that it is today! It was a great end to my Friday at Knit Nation and I have heard tell that the Ravelry party on the Saturday was even better!

What a really great event Knit Nation was. Did you go? Tell us about it in the comments!

Ingrid x