In the midst of the maelstrom of seasonal madness, I would like to share some wonderful news with you all.

Knitty.com has just published an original design of mine in its Winter 2018 edition. In fact, to my great surprise and joy, it made the Knitty Spin cover.

The design is called Spinal Twist, a double layer textured colour-work cowl to keep the winter at bay. It takes its inspiration from the spinal twist poses in yoga which work the vertebrae and facilitate the flow of energy through the spinal column.

The pattern provides information to spin for the cowl using fleece or to knit from millspun chunky yarn. I knit my sample from Corriedale fleece from Cloverleaf Corriedale Stud, Bulangarook, Victoria. I dyed the fleece using Earth Palette cold dyes, then drum carded the dyed fleece into batts which I then spun into a chunky two ply.

My wonderful model is my spinning compatriot Isabella. We met online and then in real life during the Spinning Certificate. She was such a good sport to model for me especially on the freezing day when we photographed by Lake Wendouree, Ballarat. It was such a gloomy day, not the crisp, blue sky day we had been waiting weeks for. But deadlines care nothing for weather and we just had to embrace the gloom.

You can find all the details over at Knitty.com. All their patterns are absolutely free.

I will be taking a break over January and will return in February with more Tuff Socks adventuring, handspinning projects, natural dyeing and home sewing.

Please be safe, be slow and may all the pleasures of the season be yours.