Author Archives: gavyn

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Hi Blogosphere.

I realise that most people won’t even see this, since I’ve been absent since my last post in October.  But I will write anyway.

I’ll start with “Happy New Year!”

2015, wow.  Seems like just the other day people were stockpiling food and things all ready for the Y2K thing to go down.  …. and here we are 15 years later!

One of my “resolutions” was to write more.  To blog, to write more songs, to create.  So I will start here and right now on this first day of 2015.

Looking back on 2014, it’s had a good share of its downs… but many more ups that’s for sure.  Sometimes we quickly sum up our year as “good” or “bad” when in actual fact its many of both, and then lots of ïnbetweens.

I am going to start to look for the positives MORE.. focus on them.

How did you celebrate the new year?  Did you go out and kiss your loved ones at the strike of 12am?  Or were you in bed long before any of that? 

My band were playing in the new year at a  venue on the coast …at Tutukaka.
We played to hundreds of party goers, and raged the night away.  I found it tough going as I currently have my leg in a moonboot due to tearing my Achilles tendon playing touch rugby…. so I had to balance, and lean on a stool.  But it was a great night.  We played about 58 songs over 4 hours, and on the countdown played a hard rock version of Auld lang syne while people kissed and hugged and celebrated.  Hubby and I got home at 4am, and were glad to see our bed that’s for sure!!

An awesome and happy 2015 to all of you … .from me xx

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So summer has definitely gone into hiding around here….  we have had rain, wind, rain, and more rain for the past week… Not so great for the start of the ‘summer’ holidays, but perfect for a bit of christmas baking.Over the past week we’ve mad… Continue reading →

The Indie Gift a Long is currently happening over on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/groups/indie-design-gift-a-long

I’ve been working up my own designs for almost as many years as I’ve been knitting, but I only began publishing patterns in 2010.

Where do you get your inspiration from? 
I find inspiration in a variety of places: Sometimes in nature or a place, sometimes simply out of a desire to add a particular garment to my wardrobe. For years, I envied how knitters wore their beautiful lace shawls. I love knitting shawls but somehow find myself “shawl challenged”. When I try to wrap them over my shoulders, they just never sit quite right on me lol. So, I did a series of designs (Elphaba, Daydream Believer, Iolanthe, and Sleepy Jean) that incorporate various elements of shawl design…and I get to wear a shawl as part of a sweater.

Another set of designs (my Quabbin Series) was inspired by four central Massachusetts towns that were flooded back in the 1930s to make way for a reservoir that serves the Boston area. These designs were inspired by the sense of place and history of each of these former towns.

What do you do with your free time? 
What free time lol? “I don’t always put down my work, but when I do…” I can often be found singing, cooking (I’m a total foodie), and/or in my garden (I grow much of my own produce in the summertime…I even make huge batches of tomato sauce that I freeze to use throughout the year).

What book are you currently reading? 
The Principles of Knitting, by June Hemmons Hiatt. It’s a huge volume full of “physics of knitting” type of information. I love it!

What is your favourite music at the moment? 
That’s a tough choice! I love a variety of musical styles: Pop, rock, popular song (think: Ella Fitzgerald) and jazz, classical vocal music (I’m a classically trained soprano who performs locally). What I’m listening to right now is Audra MacDonald’s latest album, “Go Back Home.”

What are 3 of your best selling patterns? 
Elphaba and Simplicity have been two of my best sellers, but my recent release, Soubrette has been selling very well in just its first month and a half.

And anything else that you would like your audience to know :) 
I try to write patterns that are clear as possible. People shouldn’t have to spend their knitting time trying to decipher what I mean, so I do my best to provide a photo tutorial for an unusual construction, text boxes that clarifywhy I ask the knitter to do something in a certain way, etc…

I also strive to empower the knitter to modify a pattern to suit their own fit preferences. No two people are shaped alike, and even two people with the same bust size will have different fit needs. So, in most of my patterns, I include a “Thought About Fit” section that takes knitters through the process of choosing a size, and modifying to best suit them.

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So Little Miss has a couple of Lego Friends sets…. We only had one Lego base for her to play with them on. She has a couple more sets put away for christmas, so it was time to make a bigger space to fit them all on…. I also liked the idea of always… Continue reading →

R and I were at the shops the other day and he was admiring some clear baubles with tinsel inside. They looked so incredibly simple that I thought we’d have a go at making some of our own. All you need are some clear baubles (I got mine from Spotl… Continue reading →

I have been busy knitting items plus hand dyeing wool to sell at a stall at this event. My Mum has also got in on the act as well and has some items knitted as well. If you live nearby, come … Continue reading → Continue reading →

….18 months in fact.  Long enough for a new job, new house, new dog…but thankfully the same Mr Man and kidlets…just a larger version (of the kiddlets…ahem), in fact 2 of them a taller than me…I’m just as shocked as you, for sure!Let’s ge… Continue reading →