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Alison Hawke

Alison Hawke

Spinning Q&A

What spinning questions would you like to ask Shannon Okey? She's out on tour but still emailing, and I've got some questions answered already. Her book Spin to Knit is showing up in bookstores, though Amazon still has it as a pre-order. It turned up in

Beginning spinners Q&A with Shannon Okey!

If you could pick the brains of an experienced spinner what would you ask? Shannon Okey, author of Spin to Knit, is going to do a beginner's Q&A right here! Leave a comment and I'll get your questions to her, and post all the

Milestones winner!

The humble colander is an item with many uses. You can strain vegetables with it. You can use it as an armoured hat in dressing up games. You can throw it in the air, take poorly-lit photos, and pretend it's a UFO sighting. You can also pull the

All mapped out

BBC News: From Aaron Hill to Zoffany St. When Phyllis Pearsall, born 100 years ago on Monday, got lost on her way to a party in 1930s London, she set about designing her own street map of the capital. The result - the A-Z - has become a byword for

Spinny spinny

I'm never going back. I have spun merino and it is wonderful! And a whole heck of a lot easier than that dratted Finn too (finished, plied, and dripping in the bathroom). This is Walking on the Sun, from Spunky Eclectic. Fast shipping, great colour, and it came

Spinning progress

Finished spinning and plying a skein of Coopworth on Sunday, it's mostly consistent, slightly thicker than worsted weight, dark chocolate colour, and soft. Plied it with a lot more twist than before and it came out good. Found two breaks in the singles, but they're easily

Contest: Milestones Past

I started this blog in January 2002 and my one thousandth blog post came and went unnoticed because of a quirk in post numbering. I thought it was worth celebrating with a contest, so I'm giving away this yarn to a commenter selected at random: * Two 50g balls

Talk like a Pirate Day!

September 19th is Talk Like A Pirate Day! Shiver me timbers! Normally I wouldn't talk like this, but there's a nifty WordPress plugin that is doin' all th' hard work fer me, avast. The Swedish Chef option on th' plugin may turn up

Stretch goals

I'm not a "big projects" person. Some people can churn out shawls and sweaters in no time; I take about a month for a pair of socks and judge bigger projects in terms of how many sock's worth of yarn they use. 800g for

Right-sized fashion

This is extraordinary sensible. BBC News: Madrid bans waifs from catwalk. Madrid fashion week, one of Spain's most prestigious shows, is banning underweight models on the basis of their body mass index (BMI). UN health experts recommend a BMI of between 18.5 and about 25, and some

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