18 today!

My gorgeous little baby girl is 18 years old today. I can't believe where the time has gone and am always so aware of how lucky I am to have her. 18 years ago yesterday I was rushed into hospital with pre-eclampsia, my kidneys had failed, I was going into shock and was given 3 hours for us both to live. The choices were stark. Have an emergancy ceasarian section which could kill my unborn baby or we would both be dead within hours. After an incredibly scary time in the operating theatre my little girl was born at 28 weeks weighing 2lb 1 oz.

Her lungs were not yet functioning and she was kept alive by an injection of an artificial lung fluid, which opened the lungs up enabling her to breath. I too was seriously ill and didn't actually get to see my baby for 4 whole days, when she was wheeled in to my room in an incubator on her way to another hospital without me. The following few days were a nightmare, with me fighting constantly with the hospital authority to let me join my daughter. Eventually they agreed and I moved with her to the Special Care Baby Unit at Fazakerley Hospital in Liverpool. My poor baby had tubes everywhere. I remember the first time I was allowed to hold her that was all I could actually feel!

 Looking at this photo still makes me want to cry.

You can see in this photo just how small she was compared to her dad's hand. Note her little prem baby hats in each of these photos made by some wonderfully caring, unknown knitter.

After 9 whole weeks in hospital she was finally allowed home weighing just under 5 lbs. 18 years ago it was very difficult to buy prem baby clothes or to get knitting patterns for them either, so my little love came home in Tiny Tears clothes bought in Toys 'r' us...

I still have many of her tiny clothes and they are so small its unbelievable. Please ignore the worn out woman on the right. I hadn't slept very well for a few weeks!

Forgive me if I've told this story before but I am so, so proud of my Charlie and so grateful to have her in my life. She really is the best daughter any mum could ask for. And look at her now, so beautiful! (and short!)

We are off now for a family meal and tomorrow evening I am out on the town with my little girl and her friends!

but for now,
Ruby xxx

This Weekend

I will be here:-

Knit Nation - 29-31 July 2010

I hope I get to see some of you there.
Do come and say hello.

Look for me signing my books at Loop, Booth 137 on Friday and Saturday at 3.00 pm


for now
Ruby xx

Knit Camp

I am writing this post to express my sincere apologies to anyone who is booked onto any of my classes at Knit Camp, Stirling in August. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to resolve several issues with the organisers this was not to be and I have therefore been left with no alternative but to withdraw from the event. Again I cannot apologise enough, and the thought of having to take the action I have has made me physically ill, however with no contract and various other issues I felt I had to take the decision that I did.

I have spoken to some participants on ravelry and I hope this message reaches other students. I sincerely hope that everyone attending Knit Camp has a wonderful time and hope to meet some of you in the future. The demand for vintage themed knitting workshops weekends seems to be building so maybe that is the way forward.

I don't know what else to say. I feel absolutely terrible about this but you just have to do what is right.

For now
Ruby xx

End of the Pier Show

I realised today that it is two weeks since I last blogged. How can it have been so long, yet again? Well for week one, I still didn't have my computer. I finally got it back a week ago. It then took quite a few days to get things up and running again. I still can't use my printer and have one or two other problems - no right click! - but I'm getting back to normality again. The second week's lack of blogging is due to much more pleasant reasons.

First of all, my very good friend Woolly Wormhead, her partner Tom and gorgeous young son Aran, paid us a visit in their bus. They stayed for a couple of days and I realised what a toddler unfriendly house we have. We have stuff everywhere! We had a wonderful time though, and Woolly and I found time to go through some italian stitch books and discuss cables, twists and decreases which was fascinating. The italian stitch patterns are charted, albeit with different simples but Woolly explained them to me and I'm hopeful I will be able to make use of this new knowledge. The best part of all though was making soil castles in the garden with lovely Aran and getting a big hug and kiss bye bye from him. Broody? Not exactly, but nostalgic.

Our next visitors then arrived.

My friend Donna Druchunas with her husband Dominic are travelling through europe whilst Donna works on a new book about Lithuanian knitting. We met up a few weeks ago and showed them the bright lights of Liverpool. This time we shared the victorian splendours of Southport, and in particular, the pier.

Southport pier was first opened in 1860 and at one point was 4380 feet long. It is a fabulous metal and wooden structure extending far out into the irish sea.

Southport Pier in Victorian times

After experiencing gales, collisions with boats and a fire it somehow survived until 1990 when it was nearly closed down by the local council. It is the second longest pier in Britain at a length of 3650 feet. Recent renovation was supported by individual donations where local residents could sponsor each and every plank of wood.

The Pier as it is today

Taking a walk down the pier in bad weather is almost something you just have to do, and is almost a requirement if you haven't experienced a soaking wet, english summer's day.

What really makes it worth the walk, is the victorian amusement arcade at the end. The various amusements actually vary in age from victorian through to the 1950s but all operate with one old penny.

 You have to change your money to 'old money' and then you can have your fortune told

You can be scared by the guillotine or the haunted churchyard

Or be absolutely petrified by the laughing sailor. Truly the most unpleasant of 'amusements'

You can watch a puppet show

Or even play a game of football. Note the players' oversized handknitted jerseys!

You can even 'Watch what the Butler didn't see'

We had a great couple of hours, turning the clock back and keeping dry!

for now
Ruby xx

Summer Sweaters

A slightly different post to what I had originally intended, I thought I would dwell for a moment on that dreadful wardrobe conundrum - wearing knitwear in the summer. We have had good weather over the last few weeks here in the North West of England, but in fact it has probably been three years since we have experienced more than two consecutive days of sunshine. And it has been wonderful. But, other than throwing a little cardi on of an evening I was struggling to wear my knitwear. So I decided to look at some of my previous work and see how I could interpret it for summer wear.

The first garment I decided to revisit, is a free pattern on knitonthenet, from a couple of years ago, called Blanche.

I have worn the original garment so often it is now almost falling apart and is actually in the mending pile for a bit of careful darning and repair. However it is a really flattering pattern, short sleeved with a low square neck, making it perfect really for summer wear if it only wasn't in merino wool! So I checked my stash and found some Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple in a soft yellowy gold called Rattan and an additional skein of Tilli Thomas Rock Star in the same shade but with beads threaded through the yarn. Both yarns are 100% silk and the same tension as the original yarn used - Filatura Di Crosa Zara Plus - 18 sts to 10 cm (4 inches). The yardage is considerably longer on the silk yarn so I only needed 2 skeins of the main yarn and the 1 skein of the beaded yarn, so although quite an expensive yarn per skein, it was quite reasonable over all. And this is the rather lovely result.

I knitted the 38-40 inch although I'm a little bigger as the silk will very likely stretch and I would like the sweater to still look fitted. Interestingly enough, this was me in the original photos for knitonthenet, but I was dreadfully self conscious and didn't think people would want to look at photos of me so hid my face. I've got a little bit better these days but still don't like seeing myself!

The next pattern I revisited didn't require any interpretation except to make it in my size! It is The New Cowl Neck Line from A Stitch in Time.

It is knitted in Habu Silk A-4 which I still had quite a lot of since using it on a number of garments in A Stitch in Time. I decided to use this warm, earthy, coppery tone which I have never worn before but which I really like. I followed the pattern for the third size exactly, other than making the waist belt longer than the pattern and gathering the cast on edge of the body into it slightly more than in the original.

I did this due to the 12 inch difference between my waist and bust and I wanted this one to sit on the waist rather than on the hip, where the belt would accentuate the width of my hip rather than the comparative narrowness of my waist. It does require high waisted skirts or trousers to accompany it, but as the original is from the 1930s this would be appropriate anyway. I've paired it here with my long white linen skirt which has a knack of looking very 'period' but is actually only a few years old.

I am still knitting the last garment I want to talk about, and it is the Adorable Bed Jacket from Vintage Gifts to Knit.

I am knitting the 40 inch and am using Anchor Artiste Crochet Linen, which is about a 1 ply laceweight yarn, but using 3.25 mm needles as specified in the pattern.

This is resulting in a fabulous openwork style lace pattern and is coming out pretty successfully to the required garment size.

I just love how this looks and shows how versatile a little pattern this jacket is. It looks completely different from the original but just as good. The fabric being produced is a little crisp at the moment but I'm sure once it is washed it will begin to feel more like an aging linen fabric. I have still to decide on the perfect ribbon trim but I would like to see the washed results before making a final decision.

At 6 a.m. tomorrow a hose pipe ban begins in our area so no doubt it will rain solidly for the next two weeks, but here's hoping I'm wrong.

so for now,
Ruby xxx

Intern Opportunities Available

Via Arbour House Publishing and knitonthenet we have two great intern opportunities available. The full details are available below. If you are interested in applying please contact the email given below rather than contacting me as I am not involved in the initial selection process. They are two really exciting posts with lots of opportunities for personal development.

Arbour House Publishing is offering two unpaid internships to work independently on fixed term projects this summer. Each 6 week placement will start after 25th July, and end by 26th September (details to be confirmed).

Location is not important because attendance on site is not required. Virtual interviews will take place by phone or skype on the week beginning 19th July. 
We are looking for enthusiastic entrants into the web design and publishing sectors and are committed to helping them develop valuable skills for their chosen career.

Web Design Intern 
Project: Building and populating two/three websites to a specified brief. Existing website construction skills are required and a knowledge of Drupal would be a particular advantage.

Publishing Intern 
Project: Book Design. To include production of sample book covers, text editing and manipulation, image correction and replacement, and index creation. Graphic design skills are required for this project.

Requirements for both of the internships are:

Ongoing undergraduate education. 
Unlimited computer/broadband access with relevant software. 
Availability throughout six week period. 
Minimum 15 hours per week.

Please note, these are unpaid positions. Full credit will be given for work undertaken and references provided on completion of projects. 

In the first instance, please send a CV and cover letter to Ingrid Murnane at ingrid(at)arbourhousepublishing(dot)com by 15th July 2010.

Technicalities

The last ten days have been filled with frustrations, all caused by technical difficulties. I am not a natural on the computer but have learned how to do a lot of things over the last three years or so since moving much of my business online. I don't have any IT training and rely heavily on advice and guidance from my husband, friends and forums. However since getting my IMac just under two years ago, things began to make a lot more sense. The apple system just seems to operate more in line with my mindset than PCs ever did and as a result I have gained confidence, that is until last Friday, nasty, horrid, bad, bad, Friday. My wonderful foolproof IMac just decided to die. Well actually the hard drive has died. It has proven itself immune to being read from any source and needs to be sent to a specialist. The death of the hard drive almost caused one of maybe only three or four arguments my husband and I have ever had. Who was supposed to be backing up the hard drive? The answer from each of us was the other, the reality was neither. I have no excuses other than I genuinely believed that it was being done on my behalf. I never actually thought to double check, so a valuable, and unfortunately costly and time consuming lesson has been learned.

I have therefore been predominantly without computer or internet access for 10 days except for when my daughter, like now, has left her Macbook home alone. My pride and joy, my IMac was accepted for repair by the apple store yesterday and I found out that I had miraculously had the sense to purchase apple care when I first bought it, so the repair of the computer itself including a new hard drive is covered. Ordinarily apple keep the old hard drive, which they return to the manufacturer, but they have kindly agreed to let me keep it so I can send it off for data recovery. This however is a more costly affair, costing several hundred pounds and maybe taking several weeks. So unfortunately, much ongoing work is currently held up, accounts not available, photographs and emails lost. And so it goes on. But hopefully much of this valuable data will eventually be recovered and as I have already said, an important lesson has been learnt. So if everything seems a bit slow over here its because even more than is normal, I don't know what's going on!

My other main technical gripe, is much to my disappointment, with blogger. I have been aware for a while that there is a significant lack of space on my blog pages for patterns both to be purchased or free, and also for my books. I recently discovered that additional pages could be added to my blog so that I could set up independent pattern pages etc., to make it easier for readers to find things while they wait for me to develop my website. Although this has been delayed by lack of computer access anyway, I have found the system sadly lacking. The design control panel does not function properly with error messages coming up for a whole raft of functions. It has taken several hours today just to get one page to remember its styles and settings. I have therefore decided that putting all these hours into something that was supposed to be a quick temporary fix is really turning into a waste of time that would be better spent getting the website built. So please do excuse the blog if it is somewhat untidy for a little while and some of the links to products etc are missing. I will add the basic items that need to be present but not all the information that the currently empty pages suggest. Treat them as a taster of the type of thing that will be coming on the website and in the meantime I will just keep blogging as normal - once I get my computer and data back - at which point normal service will be resumed!

for now
a technilogically frazzled
Ruby xx

Blog Upgrade

Just a little note of warning in case everything on the blog goes rather strange for a few days. My blog is being updated and redesigned this week and its possible that things will look a bit untidy until the update is complete. Once the update is complete is should be much easier to find old posts, patterns, books etc.

for now

Ruby xx

The Jelly Tea Party

This lovely tea party was organised by the even lovelier Alabama Whirly and her gang of Outcasts. Lots of people came to partake of wine, tea, cakes and a little knitting. It was a glorious evening and everyone was in their summer frocks, sitting on deck chairs and relaxing.



The deckchairs before everyone arrived.



My little stand



the stand from another angle - here you can see the motoring hood with the simply perfect corsage worn as a brooch.



Here I am with Jen from The Knitter. Jen wore her long gloves especially for me! and was trying really hard to be well behaved and ladylike.



What the girls from the knitting mags really get up to on their nights off!



The adorable little bed jacket paired with the skating skirt.



The perfect combination



The gorgeous Skein Queen who brought the lovely yarn above and had a stand alongside mine.



There was lots of tea.



And lots of cake!



There was even a display all about the pleasures of tea drinking.

We all had a really lovely night thanks to all the Outcasts, who worked so hard to make sure the evening went so well and thank you everyone for coming along and joining in the fun.

for now
Ruby xxx

Vintage Gifts Part I

Its been a busy couple of weeks first coming up to the publication of Vintage Gifts to Knit and then in the week following. I felt it would be easiest to break it all up into separate blog posts although they all link together. So first of all, let me introduce you to all the projects in the book:



There are projects to knit for women, men, children and the home, for yourself or for gifts.
There are a wide range of sizes available with the women's garments ranging from 30-54 inch chest. I'll talk in a bit more detail about the different patterns, inspiration and construction over the next few weeks. You can also view more images from the book on my flickr page (not yet finished but expanding)

I am delighted with the book as I have said before, but particularly with how it has captured the essence of some of my biggest inspirations, Stitchcraft and Needlework Illustrated, which I will talk about more next week.

The book can be purchased in print form for £14 or as an e-book for £10 and each of the patterns can be purchased individually as a pdf download at £3 each. All the different formats can be purchased from the knitonthenet shop, here on the blog** or the downloadable formats can also be purchased through ravelry.

** I'm working hard on the just call me ruby website so that it will be easier to purchase directly from here but website design isn't exactly my speciality so it is taking a while!

I'm delighted that I can also offer a full wholesale package for the book and the patterns which you can find out more about either by contacting wholesale[at]arbourhousepublishing[dot]com or by emailing me directly on the usual email. Review copies are also available via Arbour House or me.

Finally, for this post, I am working with two or three yarn stores in the UK on events instore during the latter half of this year to promote the books and patterns. If you are interested in holding an event do get in touch on my email. On the new website there will also be an events page which will give details of whats happening.

Tomorrow's blog post will be all about last week's tea party and a 135 year old department store.

but for now
Ruby xx

Vintage Gifts to Knit is finally about to be published!

I can't believe we have finally got here, but on Wednesday of this week - that's the 9th of June, Vintage Gifts to Knit will be published. I am so excited yet incredibly tense. I have felt as though this day would never come and was terribly conscious as well of letting people down if we didn't get the job done. But we are nearly there now, just 24 hours to wait. I am travelling later tomorrow, or possibly Wednesday morning, down to Reading for the Summer Tea Party (see previous blog post) which will be an unofficial launch party for the book. If you are coming and you have pre ordered a copy of the book, you will be able to pick up your copy on the night. All other orders will be being despatched on Thursday. Everyone has been incredibly patient while waiting for me to get this book together and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support. Thank you all so much.

I have to update the blog and the shop and ravelry etc properly at the end of the week but in the meantime here's a little sneak preview of some of the other designs in Vintage Gifts to Knit.



This stunning jacket is inspired by vintage bed jackets and can be worn in its traditional role or as a cardigan or 'day' jacket. It is knitted in Rowan pure wool 4 ply and is deceptively simply to knit, with only a 4 row lace pattern to follow. I love this one - It also has neat, little gathered sleeve heads and a fabulously draping hood , very Phantom of the Opera!



I've called this mens sock pattern 'Father's new socks' just because I think its the sort of present that my dad would really love to get. Unfortunately for him, these ones are for Gavin - seen here as 'foot model'. Knitted in Jamieson and Smith 2 ply jumper yarn using a really simple slip stitch to create the mock fair isle effect. I've gone for these muted autumnal colours but they would be really good in black and grey or navy and cream for office wear too.



And finally for tonight, the much mentioned skating skirt. Designed initially for my good friend Alabama Whirly to knit during the Olympics, this turned into something far more than originally expected. Seen for the first time, being worn by Alabama at Unravel in Farnham, so many people asked about the pattern I realised it had to be included in the collection. It is knitted from the top down in the round in Jamieson and Smith 2 ply jumper yarn (yet again) and has 8 panels with shaping worked into each one creating this lovely drape, reminiscent of bias cut fabric. The rest of the photos for this one are fantastic, I can't wait for everyone to see them.

Its only at the end of this project, that I realise quite how much of myself I put into it. Its a very personal collection of designs that I absolutely love individually and collectively and all say something about the era they have been influenced by and the things that I love. I hope you all love it too.

Time to go to bed.

for now
Ruby xxx


Vintage Gifts to Knit is available to purchase from shop.knitonthenet.com for £14.00 plus £3 p&P worldwide.

Summer Evening Tea Party

Click on the image for a better view!

As you can see on the poster above, we are having a Tea Party at Jelly in Reading. It will take place from 5pm-9pm on Wednesday 9th June and will be the 'official' launch of Vintage Gifts to Knit. It should be a wonderful evening filled with cakes, tea, deck chairs and knitting. What could be better? Well actually, on top of all of that the event is Free! Skein Queen will also be there with her beautiful yarns and there will also be other hand crafted goodies to buy. I will be doing a little talk at around 7 pm and all the projects from Vintage Gifts to Knit will also be on display.

You can find out more information about the event by clicking on the poster and I do hope to see some of you there.

for now
Ruby xxx

Vintage Shetland

I recently returned to Shetland to visit the Shetland Museum Archive, where I am working on a very special project in collaboration with the Museum. The Museum houses an incredible collection of hand knitted garments, many from the 1920s-1940s. All of this knitwear has been made by people (usually women) living and working on the Islands.



The Shetland Museum

Much of this knitwear has been kept either by family or descendants of recipients and at some point the decision has been made to donate the garment to the Museum collection. As you can imagine many of the pieces have deteriorated considerably over time and as none of these pieces of knitting have written patterns the garment itself is the only record of the effort, the design, the history.

Only a small selection of the knitwear is on display at the Museum itself, the remainder is housed in an archive building elsewhere on the main island. This is where I spent several days examining, photographing, measuring and transcribing stitch by stitch a selection of these garments.

Here I am in the process of transcribing a jumper from the 1940s.





From this information I will choose about 18 to 20 of the garments which I will then write multi sized patterns for. The task of knitting the garments to match the originals as closely as possible will then begin. Once all this has been done and the patterns have been tested and checked and the stories behind the jumpers written and the photographs taken and the artwork, layout and printing done, Vintage Shetland will be published!

This is obviously a long project and the work has only just begun but I will be sharing progress as I proceed.

We managed to have a little time off while we were there and attended a 'Hamefaring' - My good friend Connie of Jamieson & Smith had married in New Zealand earlier this year and the hamefaring was held for those of us who couldn't make the trip. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the evening but I learnt both a waltz and a reel. The next morning Gavin and I went for a walk around the headland.

Here I am in my Beret for Country Walks from A Stitch in Time.



I have another trip this weekend, this time to Devon, and then I'll be back to prepare for the publication of Vintage Gifts to Knit - Yaaay!

for now
Ruby xxx

The winner of the guess who competition is

Sara. Can you email me Sara with your address so I can send you some treats.

Sorry for the brevity of this post. I will post again properly tomorrow.

for now
Ruby xxx

Who she was and a new design

Well, the time has come to reveal who my mystery visitor was. Was it Ysolda? No. Was it Lucy Neatby? Again, no. Was it even Kate Nash (who on Jools Holland last week had gone very retro)? Yet again, no. It was in fact, as several of you guessed, my lovely friend Woolly Wormhead. When Woolly came to visit at the end of March we thought it would be fun to do the full on retro glam treatment to see just how different she might look. I think she enjoyed the change for a short while but was keen to get back to being herself.

I shall pick at random from the names of people who identified Woolly as the mystery visitor and I shall send one person some 'woolly' goodies.

I have released a new design today, from the Vintage Gifts to Knit collection, called Town and City Tufted Cape.



It was photographed in Edinburgh when I went with Charlie to sort out her university lodgings. It is knitted in Biggan Design First Cross Merino 8 ply, which is a standard DK yarn, in a soft sage shade of green with a black edging. It has a very 1950s feel to the design, however the construction is more modern. Knitted from the neck down in three pieces using 5mm needles, the tufted pattern makes the increases for you rather than extra shaping having to be worked. Once the three pieces have been worked the edging is picked up across all three pieces together and worked in one piece. Because of the shape of the cape it is very accommodating to different sizes and although slightly shorter and more open on me than Charlie I could wear the same cape if I wanted to. The pattern explains how to make a longer length cape too if you prefer.



The pattern covers sizes 30-52 inches and is available as a PDF download for £3.00 from here or from ravelry or comes as part of the Vintage Gifts to Knit book which is currently available to pre order from the knitonthenet shop for £14.00 with free packaging and postage or as an ebook for £10 from the shop or again from ravelry.



The gloves are from a vintage shop in Camden. I got them about four years ago and they are one of the best things I ever bought, I wear them so often and the little hat is from Hope House Costume Museum in Derbyshire, run by the wonderful Nottie and supported by her equally lovely friend Pat.

I do hope you like this simple little cape. I get so involved with each design that they become so important to me and the releasing of a design is quite a scary feeling as a result. Just like your children, you want everyone to like them!

Anyway, for now
Ruby xxx

Guess Who?

Whoops, did it again. Hit return from the title and it publishes the post! My apologies if you came to the blog to find an empty post.

With lots of secret knitting and lots of pattern checking on the go, I thought I would have a little competition. There will be a little knitting related prize to the first name out of the hat on Friday to have guessed the name of this 'mystery' knitting person.



Enter by leaving your guess in the comments please - and please sign in to blogger so I can send you an email back if you've won.

ETA. I think some clues may be needed:

This person is in disguise!
She is a fellow knitwear designer
And although this hair do is striking, its not the one she's known for!


Good luck

for now
Ruby xxx