Knitters are organised

Well perhaps not me, but this is a blog well in advance of Easter and introduces Ravelry as a source of patterns.  They say they have 2,000 new patterns every week and they certainly respond to new events very quickly.  I like this site because it has links to people’s comments about every pattern they have knitted.  Knitters rate the pattern out of 5 for clarity, difficulty and overall.  Members will have uploaded photos of their project so you can see different yarns and colours.  Some patterns are free like the links below while others have a charge.  These charges vary depending on the dollar to sterling exchange rates and some are much more expensive than others.  Most patterns are written by amateurs, but many will be professionally checked or sold by commercial companies. If a pattern is sold by the company such as Plymouth Yarn and is only available...Read More

Knitters are clever!

International Women’s Day 2021, ‘Choose to challenge’. As part of this special day, I read an article in the FT by Claer Barrett, which encouraged women to be ambitious and be proud of their achievements; so that other people will also see the pride that they have in their skills.   The article is about interview skills but can also be about any conversation.  Being proud in our achievements can make us less prone to imposter syndrome, where we undervalue our skills and experience, and fear being exposed at being no good at our work, or in this case our knitting skills.  Imposter syndrome can leave us feeling we have no right to be calling ourselves "experts".  All knitters are experts! Knitting can be complex.  It’s a craft which uses both hands together, just like a concert pianist and this involves both sides of the brain so it is a good brain...Read More