art equals happy.

A Striped Hat. :: Spinning & Knitting Adventures.

This hat is made with the same pattern as This One. The big difference is that's it's made with my Self Stripe Handspun. I gave mum 100g of it, and asked her if she'd make me up a sample so you could see the stripes when it's knitted up. Funny thing is, we were doing a market that weekend, and ALL my stock of it sold out! Haha. So now we have a beautiful hat with a discontinued yarn (it's not naturally dyed)- but good news is Mum wears this during the winter and always gets compliments, so that's good. :]

I really like it, it reminds me of a watercolour drawing. We added a little 'Art Equals Happy' pin badge (get one here!) onto the turned over bit of the hat. Love it!

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Lucy's Birthday. :: Video & photographs.

Happy little hat. :: Spinning & Knitting Adventures.

This little hat was made up of some precious Handspun of mine. I had originally intended this yarn to be used in a jumper, but that project got scrapped. It was also pretty similar to some of the Self Stripe yarn that I made for the shop, that needed a sample. :] So we picked a favourite and much loved pattern and made up this little cutie.I really love how versitile it is, and how WARM. That's the thing with 100% wool. With all the imitations out there you can forget how wonderfully soft and warm a real wooly hat can be.

It's so amazing to be able to dream up a fibre, mix it up, spin it, and then knit it up. Every single time it's unique and different and super special. This one has really subtle stripes of ligher yellow and then some tweedy bits of red and mustard. Thanks for letting me share. :]
Kimxo

Gradient Cowl. :: Spinning & Knitting Adventures.

I've had quite a few people ask me about the Gradient Yarn that I've spun up especially (One and Two). They wanted to know what it looked like- well here you go! This is a Cowl that my Mum made, with her xmas pressie from last year. You can really see the changes in colour, and the slow progress from pink to purple.The Cowl pattern is a simple K1P1 with a little increase on the ends- then sewn together. We just made it up. Haha. It's the warmest, snuggest, lovliest thing ever and Mum wears it all the time- especially outside to markets in the wintertime.I am very very tempted to spin up some for myself & knit one up. Maybe in yellows and browns? Would anyone like to see these in the shop? The yarn by itself with a pattern or the finished object? Let me know!Kimxo

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Wonky Gradient Socks. :: Knitting Adventures.

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Finished Story Socks. :: Knitting Adventures.

These socks have such a nice story behind them and in them! I started these about a year ago on my friend's canal boat. (post here) The yarn was given to me as a present and I was really into samples and small colourwork patterns at the time. I mean, I'm still into that stuff, but I just had such a big itch to go kind of crazy. I was also covetting some dainty stocking-type socks that I was seeing in vintage pattern books. The kind that are misshappen and knitted on the tiniest of needles and have intricate 'clocks' worked into them. While working on the first sock (The mainly brown and pink, post here.) I knitted in little elements of whatever I was doing at the time.I've always loved the idea that a crafted object tells a story- that with each stitch, you are weaving in a pattern of emotions and thoughts. These socks took me the better part of a year to complete (finished in December 2012) and I love that I can pick out what I was doing, and read it like a story.They also look a little wonky and funny, but they fit SUPER GREAT! I wore them to the Knitting And Stitching Show last year and got loads of compliments. haha.
A great, special project. I'm kind of sad to see them finished now, actually. Perhaps I'll have to start a new pair for this year? Kimxo

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Wonky Gradient Socks. :: Knitting Adventures.

These socks turned out super wonky because I was using odd needles and it was over a long period of time. I also kind of rushed the foot of the second sock (we've all done that, right?). It's the same pattern I used for my Grandma Socks.Using different yarn made a HUGE difference- it's not as soft and the gradient is so messy. I just eye-balled it and was lazy with unpicking if it didn't look good. In hindsight, I feel like I should've NOT done the random lines of colour & made  it a more uniform stripe. or something. But enough with the negatives...The souls of the feet are my favourite part. Super tiny stitches and the colour change. :] This is a design I love and designed a couple years ago, when I first started playing around with Fair Isle.Anyway, you win some and lose some, hey? It was a good learning experience. Kimxo

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Baby Bowie and his socks. :: Knitting Adventures & Friends.

Hello! Remember when I made these for a dear friend of mine? Well, Bowen is getting bigger now and growing into them. :] They are still pretty big though, but he just looks soooooo cute! Jen sent me these photos of him & said I could share. Enjoy the sweetness...Eak! kimxo

Beth's Socks. :: Knitting adventures & Shop Talk.

These happy little socks are off to go and live with thier new owner, Beth. She's a sweet girl in my Illustration class that asked for custom designed socks. :] She loves comfy and mix-matchy and fun. Here is a photo of her little tootsies all cozy and warm in her new socks with shoes!Something blue, with a little bit of gold sparkle. Something like the night sky. Maybe a moon or star on the heels! And darker heels and toes and cuffs.These were super fun to make, and I sort of designed them as I went, only with a vague idea of what would go where. The purple accent on one sock is made with handspun that was a little bigger than the rest of the yarns, so the sock is a little bigger there- but I think it adds a fun variation. :] All wools are either handspun bits and bobs that I had lying around or 2nd hand wool.

To learn more about my handkint socks, check out the shop. There are three pairs up for grabs! And if you wanted to order a custom pair, shoot me a little e-mail.Lots of love, Kimxo

SOLD this weekend, Handknit Socks. :: Shop & Knitting.

We had a pretty good weekend at Spitalfields Market, with the We Make London people. Right now I'm just busy updating the shop with socks and badges and things. :] Thought I'd share some photos of some socks that went home with a lovely couple (they said it was going in someone's stocking!!! Exciting!).You can read and see more about these new types of socks right here. Bear with me as I update the shop this week. :]
Love, Kimxo 

A pair of socks for Grandma. :: Knitting Adventures.

Back in summer 2011, I visited my Grandparents in South Africa. I've still got lots of photos to share but you can see some of my adventures here. I started a pair of socks about a month before we left- with the aim of finishing them up in time to gift to my Grandma. For such a long pair, they knitted up very quickly.
I used a shop-bought yarn, especially made for sock knitting, with this delicious self-stripe. I'm not usually a fan of using only one type of yarn in a project, so I made up this little ribbing which added a bit of interest. (I love a challenge when knitting!) One of my favourite parts is this smooth decrease down the inside, and how the ribbing merges...What do you think?I also used smaller needles for the heel, bottom of the foot and the toe- to give it strength. I ended up finishing the socks whilst I was in South Africa (which is where these photos are taken), and she was pretty pleased, she wears them in bed when it's cold to keep her toes warm. It's nice to know a little bit of my love is always there when she wants it. :]
Kimxo<3

'Bi' at Mother, London. :: BA Illustration.

A few weeks ago- our class was working hard on creating an exhibition at Mother, London. Read a bit more here. Here are a couple dark photos from the opening night- and some wonky photos of my piece.It looks really skew here, but it's just the angle. Going to take better photos when I get the piece back. Just thought you'd like to see. :] kimxo