Scandinavian Inspiration

I found some yarn today in our little local wool shop (which, by the way, is wonderful, although the website is a little basic). I was actually looking for yarn to make Totoro (from the film), but ended up with some balls which aren't really the 'correct' colours. But then I thought, why do they need to be the 'right' colours? What is a 'correct' colour anyway?

I think sometimes that design can be led by materials as well as other inspirations. Now my Totoro will be Scandinavian-style, which I'm quite excited about! I think I may have been influenced somewhat by Brella's wonderful Norwegian Totoro mittens, which are just adorable. I don't knit though, so I can't make them... Yet.

Anyway, here are the yarns I chose. They are Louisa Harding 'Thistle', which is a lovely Alpaca/Merino blend.

New Beginnings

Apologies for the complete lack of posts of late, but we have just moved to the countryside. Getting internet has been a complete pain, but my shop is now back online.

We are now in the countryside of Shropshire, which is absolutely beautiful. Here is the view from our bedroom window:

And, as a taste of what I've been up to, this is the Wren I've been working on. The pattern will be available eventually, but I've had some problems getting the right yarns (and the prototype you see here isn't finished because I ran out 3 rows from the end!). Mixing tapestry yarn and Rowan Summer Tweed has not worked well... There doesn't seem to be a suitable brown in the Rowan though. As you can see, I'll be making full use of our new environment for picture-taking!