Baby blankets, Knit machines and more!

I finally got my new machine and am now producing cushion covers and baby blankets! Above is the blanket I made for my nephew. I will hopefully have some photos with him modeling it soon.

This is my new machine Passap E6000. Thats it knitting away with the motor, I love it!
Also I finally moved to the Netherlands so will soon be posting some photos of my new surroundings.

For Sale!

I have finally found somewhere to sell my work. A local garden centre! I have been contacting people about selling my work and am still hoping to hear back from galleries and craft shops but this is the first step towards people stocking my work. Hopefully I will have more shops selling my work by Christmas. Keep up to date with stockists via my website. Also my interiors range will be up for sale soon :)

Craft Fair

I took part in Glasgow south side craft fair on 15th August. Although I didn't manage to sell anything it was a good experience to have. I got to talk to the public about my work and experience my first craft fair. I shared a stall with Fiona Walker who was trying to sell her woven blankets. First photo shows one of her blankets with Poro. Bottom photo shows the products I have made for my new Talvi collection that I displayed at the fair. Everything is for sale on my etsy page.

New collection

'Talvi Ranua'

'Talvi metsa'

I have been working on a basic collection of scarves to sell all done on my Knit machine and inspired by my Scandinavian project I did at university. These are images of a couple of scarves I created for men, I wanted something simple yet unusual that men would be willing to wear. They are all knitted and felted then each one is hand cut. They will shortly be for sale on my Etsy shop.

Alpaca designs

I was recently employed to come up with designs for an Alpaca farm near Killearn, Ballochruin farm (campsie camelids). These are the first designs, a hat and pram blanket. They were very well received and I'm already working on more designs for them. They wanted simple attractive designs that showed off their Alpaca's yarn, Focusing on yarn quality rather than impact design. I created this Alpaca symbol and am currently working on their company logo, trying to translate it into fabric design. It was nice to work on simple attractive designs with minimal colour, watch this space for more Alpaca related design.

My new studio

I am on my way to setting up my own business, I now have a temporary studio in my parents back garden, their old shed. Although a bit old and falling apart it feels good to have somewhere to put all my yarn and equipment, just now there is a slight mouse problem so my yarn is living in the house until I have sealed boxes for it. It has now been about a month since i graduated and although i don't have a permanent job yet and I have signed on I am feeling more positive than ever. I will soon be selling my work on www.notmassproduced.com, I was asked to join the website after being seen at new designers. I am also designing some knitted pieces for an alpaca farm near Killearn, www.campsiecamelids.co.uk, I am using the yarn from the alpacas on the farm to produce baby blankets, scarves and other accessories. I'm really excited about this as it's my first proper design job since leaving university, I am now a freelance designer, so exciting! Now all I need is a permanent job to help pay the bills until my business is up and running...

New Designers

I was at New Designers in London last week displaying my work to a larger audience. It was a good experience and I got to talk to lots of people about my work which was great. Unfortunately this was probably the worst year to graduate as less people are buying and employing. But on a positive note it has encouraged me to start up my own business and I'm in the process of purchasing a new knit machine. So watch this space for information of my new work.