“A Built World” travels to Edinburgh

Hello from Scotland!

This week I am on holiday in Edinburgh, my first trip here and so far, I love it! The strangest thing was that this week’s pattern by Georgia Farrell for her “A Built World” Knit Along with Rowan is inspired by a building in Edinburgh so obviously I had to visit and take my knitting with me!

The building in question is The Museum Of Scotland and Georgia has chosen the new extension. I could see why when I got there! What a beautiful structure and the colours in the stone are stunning!

The Museum of Scotland is Georgia's destination for week four
The Museum of Scotland is Georgia’s destination for week four

Part of the stunning new extension to Museum of Scotland
Part of the stunning new extension to Museum of Scotland

We spent a lovely couple of hours walking around and enjoying the exhibits … I particularly enjoyed the textile and fashion sections. I sat and did a couple of rows of the block while I was there too. My husband took a photo but I can never understand how he manages to make it so unflattering!

Relaxing with my week four knitting in The Museum of Scotland
Relaxing with my week four knitting in The Museum of Scotland

This block was a very simple one to do which was lovely for a trip as we went by train so I was able to relax into the rhythm of it on the journey.

We are thinking of maybe doing this KAL in the shop as a course? What do you think? Would you like to come along and knit it with me?  We can help each other out, drink lots of tea and talk about holidays! Let us know if you’d fancy this, it will be great for those new to knitting … as long as you can cast on, knit and purl, you can do it … and great if you’ve never done a KAL before and a little scared of doing one!

The clues are out for the next block and I must admit, they had me quite stumped! I got my husband onto it and he worked out that we will be heading to Beijing! Unfortunately I haven’t got a holiday booked for there next week so I will be back knitting at home in Suffolk!

Take care,

Jenny x

Hello London for week three of “A Built World”

Heavens to Betsy, working in the shop really does make the week fly by! I have started doing some knitting on my lunch break at work now to play some catch up as I am on the drag with the KAL. Unfortunately I had four days of gastric flu and simply didn’t have the energy to knit!

I am still only half way through the Toronto squares, but I’ve laid them to one side temporarily so that I can get at least a couple of this week’s squares done before next week’s release!

So this week I knew immediately where we were going as it is my home town … London. I was born and raised in the east end of London and no matter where I am in life or the world, I will always leave a big part of me there. I love it! I love how cosmopolitan it is, how the old and the new sit side by side contentedly. I love the juxtaposition of standing in a modern glass building gazing at a centuries old stone fortress and vice versa. I love it’s smells, sounds, dirt and grime, the business of the city streets and the tranquility of the extensive parklands. I love the history, the secrets that are hidden around every corner and, of course, the architecture!

I was excited to see which building Georgia chose…so much choice! Would it be old or new? Or would it be a bridge? (I have a thing for bridges!)

I recognised the building instantly of course, it is City Hall. I love this building. I love how it is iconic yet comparatively small. It would be lost amongst the Shard, the Gherkin, the Walkie Talkie, et al, but to me it is more magnificent in it’s compactness. When I visit London I spend a lot of time in it’s vicinity and never fail to take a photo of it glinting in the sun or reflecting the grey skies.

So, now that I am well again, Toronto has been placed temporarily to one side and I am busy knitting away at London.

Week Three of "A Built World" stops off in London
Week Three of “A Built World” stops off in London

Again the pattern looks like it is very complicated and difficult but with Georgia’s video and support on the pattern and the Facebook group, it is definitely achievable … And Toronto taught me that I cannot knit and watch television at the same time as I do with crochet!!

London's City Hall in stitches
London’s City Hall in stitches

Anyway, I am away now on a wee holiday in Edinburgh so the next post will be a little delayed but excitingly, the next stop on the KAL trip is a building in Edinburgh!

See you soon, take care

Jenny x

We’re off to Canada for week two of “A Built World”

Hello!

Back again for another week of Georgia Farrell’s new Knit Along for Rowan: “A Built World” … and I have to admit I was a bit stumped by this week’s destination clues!

Georgia’s clues for the next step of the journey definitely kept me guessing this week – I guessed by the names of the sports teams that we were in the continent of North America and as one of them had the name of ‘Maple Leafs’ I was guessing at Canada. While thinking about the clues, I realised I knew very little about Canada! I think my knowledge amounts to: they play ice hockey, half of it is French, Celine Dion and Justin Bieber, oh and their president is really cool and quite dishy!

I could only name Ontario, Ottawa and Toronto as cities, and had no idea which one (if any) was the capital! Appalling! So now I have a new task of learning more about Canada!

Anyway, onto the KAL … It turns out that this week’s inspiration is indeed a building in Toronto. It’s the Royal Bank Plaza building and the design of this week’s square is really beautiful.

"A Built World" Week Two: Toronto - image from Georgia Farrell's Facebook page
“A Built World” Week Two: Toronto – image from Georgia Farrell’s Facebook page

Now, as a beginner knitter I would normally look at this pattern and think … I won’t be able to do that, it’s beyond my ability! However, I not only have faith in Georgia’s reassurance that it would be easy to follow, but this week she has also made a video for us to follow!

This video has been really helpful. If I’m not sure exactly how to do a stitch, seeing it being done really does help make it clearer.

One of the benefits of doing a Knit Along is the community of knitters you get to meet and get support from. I have enjoyed following the Facebook group that is running with the KAL and seeing everyone’s colour choices – and I also picked up this really handy tip: I am doing two squares at a time on the same
needles. This makes so much sense and really speeds things up.

A handy tip this week: Knit two squares at a time
A handy tip this week: Knit two squares at a time

So far, the week two squares are going well I think but definitely take a lot more concentration, so are taking me a little longer to do. I often find with a pattern that changes each row, that I lose where I am in the instructions. Thankfully Georgia gave us a great tip for following a chart and I’ve found this also helps with keeping me on track with the written instructions. I can’t deny, I struggle with charts and much prefer the written instructions.

A handy tip from Georgia for following a chart
A handy tip from Georgia for following a chart

Hopefully I will manage to progress far enough to get pictures of at least two of these Toronto squares ones onto my next post!
Best get back to it, take care
Jenny x

Georgia Farrell’s “A Built World” KAL begins!

Hello,

Welcome to my 2nd blog for the shop – the start of Georgia Farrells’s “A Built World” KAL for Rowan, how exciting!

Georgia built up our excitement with clues about our first ‘destination’ … I
guessed right that it was Rotterdam thanks to The Beautiful South clue.

I dutifully did my tension square first and I was ready to start. You could clearly see the architectural influence in Georgia’s design … The building she chose was De Rotterdam and she posted one of her drawings of it on her Instagram feed and it so obviously translates into a knitting design.

"A Built World" week one's design is based on De Rotterdam
“A Built World” week one’s design is based on De Rotterdam

So, I’m making the runner version and for this I have to make two blocks in the beautiful Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted Teal shade and one in the very pretty Sky Blue.

"A Built World" week one's design in Teal and Sky Blue
“A Built World” week one’s design in Teal and Sky Blue


The pattern is really quick and easy for this first square and I felt confident knitting it. Georgia was definitely right that beginner knitters will be able to do it.

This was also my first time using this particular yarn and it really is a delight to work with. The stitch definition is wonderful and it slides along my lovely new needles really nicely. In fact I am enjoying it so much I have bought some of the yarn for myself to knit a blanket for home! I am using the same KAL but have chosen a slightly different colourway so that it matches my room.

My attention was swiftly drawn to the clues for the next square’s ‘destination’ … a bit of a tricky one this, with the sports reference are we going to North America or, most likely, Canada? Let’s wait and see – I’ll be back very soon to let you know and show you the second motif.

I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am!
Take care,
Jenny x

A trip around the world with Georgia Farrell and Rowan

Hi!

Jenny here, I’m one of the new members of the Sew Much To Do team and I’m based in our Bury St Edmunds shop…I’m also taking over the shop blog and have a new project to share with you which I hope you’ll find as exciting and fun as I do!

As you know, we’re the local flagship store for Rowan Yarns and are huge fans of a designer called Georgia Farrell who regularly works with Rowan. So we were particularly thrilled that Georgia had teamed up with Rowan to do a Knit Along (KAL)!

Georgia’s “A Built World” KAL takes us on a global knitting journey with patterns inspired by Georgia’s travel journals.

The KAL features seven beautifully textured squares in a choice of palettes, using Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted yarn. Within the KAL, Georgia has created a collection of modern homeware designs that use different combinations of the squares and colours.

"A Built World” Knitalong Kit
“A Built World” Knitalong Kit

Georgia and Rowan assure us that this KAL is suitable for those relatively new to knitting and will teach us some new techniques, so as a beginner level knitter we thought it would be great if I followed the KAL and blogged about it here.
It would be great if you could join me too – we can chat about how we are
doing in our Facebook group and maybe meet up at the shop when we have finished to show off our items!

Firstly let me introduce you to the KAL. All the information for it is available on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of both Rowan Yarns and Georgia Farrell. To access the KAL and it’s patterns, you will need to register on Rowan Connect – Rowan’s new dedicated educational area – it’s free and simple to register.

The KAL was launched in April with the release of a video of Georgia chatting with Kerry Kimber from Rowan Yarns about her inspiration, theme, colourways and options of the KAL. This was a really interesting and informative introduction and I couldn’t wait to get started!

Designer Georgia Farrell with some of her "A Built World" KAL samples
Designer Georgia Farrell with some of her “A Built World” KAL samples

I decided to treat myself to some new needles especially for this KAL and chose the fabulous bamboo Sirdar needles from the shop. Aren’t they fun? I have coveted them since I started in the shop and this was just too good an excuse!

Cushions and Runner from the "A Built World" KAL
Cushions and Runner from the “A Built World” KAL
One of the vibrant Runners from the "A Built World" KAL
One of the vibrant Runners from the “A Built World” KAL

In the starter video Georgia and Kerry talk about the importance of tension squares. This is something I haven’t really paid attention to before but will do so in this case. Obviously with making a blanket or runner it really doesn’t matter how big or small it turns out (within reason) but as the yarn supplied in a kit contains a specific quantity, I can see that in this instance it is essential…Imagine getting part way through and running out of yarn! As I waited for the first pattern to be released I did my tension square, put together my essentials kit and tried to guess where we are going for the first pattern! Georgia will be dropping hints all week leading up to the Friday release day.

Let us know if you are going to be joining in with us and which option you have chosen…And now that our blog technical issues are sorted we’ll get our blog back on track and I’ll post my next KAL instalments very soon to get caught up…ah, those technology gremlins, thank heavens for our knitting to keep us calm!!

See you on my next instalment!
Jenny x

Hello Hello!

And here we are … our first ever blog post! 

Welcome to the Sew Much To Do blog – and another long standing ‘job to do’ can be ticked off, woohoo … aka Juggling Joy!

We’re starting our entry to the blogosphere with news of our first ever online Advent Calendar … which is now LIVE.

As some of you will know we had a bit of a mare recently when the server that our website sits on was taken down maliciously. We’re happy to report everything has now been recovered and the website is now sitting on a brand new sparkly server … and as far as we know, no information was maliciously obtained. Not a pleasant thing to go through, and our thanks to everybody for your patience and kind words of support.

So to pick us all up and with Christmas approaching fast, we thought we’d have some festive fun and try an online Advent Calendar, with special offers available up to the big day!

The Advent Calendar is now LIVE and if you visit our website you’ll see a link to it on our homepage – here’s what it looks like …

The 2021 Sew Much To Do Advent Calendar

And here’s a quick link to go straight there

It’s free to join in and super easy to take part … sadly no chocolate!!

We’ll be posting a special offer each day, available for that day only*. You’ll get to see some of the items coming up, but the special offer itself will only be revealed on the day.

All you have to do is visit our website at www.sewmuchtodo.co.uk and click on the advent calendar to view the special offer for that day.

A little small print to bear in mind: All special offers are available for that day only* and are while stocks last.

* The SMTD Elf had some tech tweaks to do so we were a bit late in launch, so Days 1-5 will run to the end of Day 6.

Thank you again for bearing with us during the website down time … Let the festivities begin!