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When do the reminders of my journey past, stop?

October 5th, 2015, 8 years ago today

When will spontaneous social media reminders stop pulling me back to a place in the past, a place of my dreams even though it is no longer a dream when it became a reality.

Visual reminders drawing me back to a time of pure joy in a place – Shetland  – it is always the frozen moment in time, captured in an image.

and, I begin to be torn, in my head.

question my leaving, questioning myself and my own judgement.

I achieved my dream but left it behind.

Re reading my journals for my Patreon posts pulls me back – leaving one foot in each place.

The city and the island.

How do memories fade?  Are they skewed or chewed?  Will my brain shrink until there is no capacity to remember?

This week, I heard the beautiful lilting pure Shetland accent on Louise at Jamieson’s,  flooding out of the telephone through the ether, words hanging in the air long after they are spoken. Such warmth, such beauty are the things I that I hang from. Dangling in mid thought.

Words left floating from a thousand miles away, and wished I could have been there. Back in that shop, in that street, in that town on that Island.

When do I lift my dragging foot out of Shetland?

The beautiful isles

The beautiful lilting accents of tangible generations.

Probably never.

Stash Buster Fair Isle Neck Warmer pattern, Knit along

Dear Friends

I am really happy to offer The Stash Buster Fair Isle neck warmer KAL to everyone who buys the pattern between now and December 2023 – and it begins today.

I’d love anyone who has bought the Stash Buster Fair Isle Neck Wamer pattern to join me in this KAL – I will be doing a free zoom chat on the pattern and the KAL on Saturday 14th October at 4-5pm UK time. if you have bought a pattern – I will email you an invite – last zoom invite will go out on 10th October.

We will all be making the Neck warmer,in however which way you want to.  I have already knitted it in 20 colours, but I will now knit it in 4 (or 5 or 6) so that it is an easier option to show everyone how to develop the pattern to their own tastes. The pattern offers all 16 charts for all 20 colours but it also gives you a 8 b/w charts option so that you can knit it in any of the following ways.

  1. your own 20 colours
  2. just 4 colours or
  3. just 2 colours – all of it.

So, What’s the plan?

Buy the pattern and join in on Ravelry on Tracey Doxey Knitting Patterns Group on link below – but you don’t have to join the ravelry group

https://www.ravelry.com/groups/tracey-doxey-knitting-patterns-group

the knit along questions page on ravelry is here

https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/tracey-doxey-knitting-patterns-group/topics/new

The Knit along will last until Friday December 8th. – I will be knitting a second neck warmer in 4 or 6 colours so that you can see how easy it is to use your own stash.

The Yarns? 

I used Jamieson’s of Shetland but this is not easy for everyone to get so I want you to use your own yarn in this project because Gauge doesn’t matter.  JUST USE THE SAME YARN IN ALL THE PROJECT

Prize? 

I reward starting, not only finishing.  All you need to do to be eligible for a prize is post your photo of your Stash buster Neck warmer knit on Instagram or on Stranded Knits facebook group and tag #traceydoxey, or @traceydoxey So that I can see it  —  Prize – there will be one prize for one person drawn randomly out of a hat on 8th December. The KAL winner will win – A choice of 4 of any of my knitting patterns on Ravelry. Just tag me to go into the draw. I will be keeping a tally.

There will be a free Zoom chat with Tracey Doxey about the neck warmer pattern and choice of colours and any questions. To be invited to the zoom meeting, Buy the pattern before 10th October, and I will invite you to join me on Saturday 14th October 4-5pm UK it’s free, come and ask any questions. Say your bit. Please NOTE the last opportunity to recieve a zoom invite to the KAL chat, is 10th October.

The Tracey Doxey’s Stash Busting Fair Isle neck warmer KAL zoom chat and question time will be on the date and time below.

Time: Oct 14, 2023 04:00 PM London

I am looking forward to my first KAL

Let me know your thoughts 🙂

best wishes. Tracey

Stash Buster Fair Isle Neck warmer

I designed and knitted a little thing – then a big thing.  I made the neck warmer, initially because my face got cold while I was biking to the swimming pool at 6:30am every day in the Winter and spring and then, as I knitted, the whole thing developed into a swatch for a jumper that I began to want to knit – this is how my mind races.  So, I spent hours and hours graphing out the charts, changing the joining sections of the motifs to fit 24 stitches, placing them in order and choosing colours, then, I just set off knitting without any real plan, though, alignment and the feel of the drape is crucial for me. I wanted a Persian carpet look using traditional Fair Isle motifs. And I got it

Finally, I put a little pattern out on Ravelry   It has a lot of colours BUT, really, you can knit this pattern in just two colours because the gauge doesn’t matter, so you can use your own stash and to support that, I have added all the motif charts in 2 colour ways and in Black and White so that you can knit it in your own colour choices – so give it a go.

If you want to use the same colours as I have, you need one ball of Spindrift in each of the following colours – Peat, Burnt Ochre, Sunrise, Burnt Umber, Mustard, Maroon, Daffodil, Coffee, Midnight, Sea Grass, Twilight, Granny Smith, Port Wine, Old Rose, Mantilla, Pot Pourri, Peony, Pumpkin, Camel, Clover

But, really, use your stash – don’t leave it in your cupboard – it is a waste and share your projects with me on instagram here @traceydoxey

I am also thinking of doing a knit along on Ravelry, if enough people would like to join  – I will knit the second neck warmer in much simpler colour work.

In total, there are 8 charts/motifs – each in knitted in 2 different colour ways, making 16 charts in total and 16 colours used and 4 additional colours used in the small band at the beginning and end. But, as I can’t stress enough, this is a pattern but it is also a worksheet for you to choose your own colours and use your stash of yarn – it is even called Stash Buster. For complete ease, you could knit the neck warmer, entirely in 2 colours only. For example, a light background and a darker colour motif. And if you only use two colours, you could knit it in the round – that would be easy peasy.

Take a little look – it is here and it took a very long time to write and chart this pattern out, it would be great to see it knitted by a community of stranded colour work knitters. 🙂

Ravelry: Stash Buster Neck Warmer pattern by Tracey Doxey

much love. Tracey

now I am going to share my behind the scenes knitting piece with Patreon supporters

walking

At the stones, it occurred to me, that, I could just keep walking, without preparing flask, or cardigan or the right shoes, or thought for returning.

Disconnected. Thinking.

Triggered annoyance from the repetition of the act of the cat and the woman’s words

Walking and walking, over drying mud and water.

In the wood.

Until I look up and there it is, the magnificent creature. Balancing on long thin legs, poised to leave.

We look at each other for a long while. It, finding its place, in the exact present moment. Ony being here and now. A sign.  Finally, I connect to something other than the words in my head. Hovering between awe and rising joy, stepping forward, only to see the wide winged heron bend, crane its neck then fly above the water, through the trees, passing the sun.  

All the sounds of the world are here, water flowing, trees creaking, the earth turning facing its ground to the sun, damp rising, warmth creeping, shadows stretching, the flapping of the heron’s wings as it takes flight to leave.

Pure nature, calming my annoyed soul. Hunger rising.

On exiting the wood, warmth rests on my arm and cheek.  It is as if the bird never existed, but for the feeling of joy lifted my heart.

Have you ever wondered…

Tonight, when I was out walking and knitting, through the allotments and the wood, I wondered, ‘Have you ever wanted to know what it is like to sell up your home in a city and move to an old croft house facing the Sea in Shetland?’ 

Well, I did that, as a single woman in my late 50’s and wrote the story.   On Patreon, I will share my story of living in Shetland from the time I went to view the old, tiny, sea-facing croft house three weeks before signing the binding Scottish missives  – from opening its original plank house door, to the day of walking away and closing it again behind me, 14 months later. Because, I had to leave it.  

On Patreon, I will post the book’s chapters in chronological monthly instalments, aligning them with the month of the year that we are in currently in August 2023, with the same month in 2020. The story will start from the day I went to see the house for the first time. As time passes, the story will unfold about the previous tenants of the Levenwick croft house and my research into their lives in Shetland. I spent many hours in the archives at Shetland Museum, going back through records to the 1840’s. I was especially interested in Susan, who was born in the house in 1876 and died there, 83 years later, in 1960. In every chapter, as well as writing on my life in Shetland, I write her a letter, linking past and present. Some of the chapters are linked to knitting patterns that I designed, inspired by my croft house and Susan, at that time.

Additionally, I knit, teach online colour blending workshops for Fair Isle knitting and design small Fair Isle style knitting patterns.  I only use Jamieson’s of Shetland, Spindrift yarn because of its many colours, hues and tones.  Two of my Patreon tiers offer a bi monthly meet up to talk about knitting projects or my old Shetland croft house or life in Shetland for a ‘Sooth Moother’

Take a peek at the tiers and come and join me. If you do join, I will email a thank you but bear in mind, the time difference from the UK to your place and I work in between. 🙂

https://patreon.com/tracey_doxey

the little mitts are Fiona Blue and in the link below

https://www.ravelry.com/designers/tracey-doxey

One Day Colour Blending workshop in Sheffield – 16th September 10:30 – 16:30

200 colours to work with during the afternoon session

I am really excited to share with you that I am finally runing a full day Colour Blending workshop for Fair Isle knitting, here in Sheffield on Saturday 16th September 2023, 10:30 – 16:30 GMT

The Venue is the lovely Dorothy Fox Centre, Botanical Gardens, Thompson Road, S11 8RB, as pictured below.

On the day, I will provide:-

A morning of tuition on how to blend your colours in your knitting projectes. A collection of over 200 balls of Shetland yarn to choose from to knit with during the afternoon swatch knitting session. Print outs of tuition presentation from the morning colour blending lesson. A printed Sea Urchin Hat pattern to work with after the workshop, to practice your colour blending.  Graph paper to practice your colours and coloured pencils. Plus print outs of the motif for you to experiment with colour to knit your swatch.

Experience Level of participants – Anyone who can knit a stitch and purl a stitch can join this session. Anyone who wants to experiment with and understand colours within motifs.  This is a morning tuition workshop plus time to experiment using your new found confidence with colour by knitting a swatch such as the examples below, during the afternoon.

This is a skills based, creative, confidence-boosting, fun, experimental, workshop where you will learn the skills to enable you to successfully and confidently choose and blend your own colours for your own projects.

The workshop is based around the tree and star motive in my Sea Urchin Hat pattern., which you will receive on the day.

During the first two hours, I will teach you the principals of colour blending then show examples of different motifs.  After lunch, you will be able to experiment with the 200 Shetland yarn colours available in the session to knit a small swatch in your own colour choices.

Afterwards, you will take away your colour blending skills to create your own swatches and choose your own colours for your future projects and you will be able to look at your own stash of yarn with a different eye.   On the day, I will bring examples of Shetland and Fair Isle knitting and design pattern books as well as my own swatch books for you to look at.

the session will be £80. If you would like me to send you an overview and booking form, please contact me at traceydoxey@hotmail.com and I will get back to you asap.

Excited? I am.

email me at traceydoxey@hotmail.com if you would like to be sent an overview and booking form.

I also teach online workshops – information in workshop tab on this website – here


Link to Botanical Gardens – On Thompson Road, a turning off Ecclesall Road, Sheffield S11 8RB

https://www.sbg.org.uk/how-to-find-us

choose your colours

2pm, Wednesday afternoon – feeling free.

This, just this very moment after finishing work, is seriously my most blissful happy moment of the week. I’ve finished my admin job, biked home, picked 30 sweet pea flower stems and balanced them in Susan Halcrow’s tiny cut glass jug. Alfie sits beside me, Teep is on my knee, colours are coming together for my next set of motifs in my pullover project (that could end up being a jumper).  There are two great passion flowers out in front of me and I’m surrounded by the scent of star jasmine, regular jasmine, and sweet peas. Honestly, these simple things (and a cuppa) signify Freedom. Freedom of mind, creativity and the senses. These simple things are utterly blissful.

Knitting is many things to and for me – today, it is freedom.

I’m looking at my yarn colours, choosing / feeling my way through them so that I sense what will work in the pattern changes so that they both balance as a whole and shine individually.

When I lived in Shetland, my inspiration was taken from my surrounding landscape and the stories of the woman that lived in the house that I had bought from 1876 to 1960.  When I teach my colour blending workshops, I show how to feel colours with your heart.

Today, back in the city, this Wednesday afternoon, I feel the joy of the colours of the flowers that I have grown, from their vibrancy and scent.  On my tiny slabbed area, in front of my small flat, I have grown an abundant, cascading mass of sweet peas, Star Jasmine, ordinary Jasmine, passion flowers, agapanthus and many other things.  It is survival of the fittest in the tiny silly border. All the plants are growing across each other, elbowing with their leaves to reach higher.   The sweet peas are so pretty, in shades of purple, fuchsia, pale pink, port, red, lilac, and white.   The little jug of flowers sits on the table, the cats join me on cushions that are placed either side of mine on the bench, a cuppa, my swatch book and then the yarn begins to join the table top.  The yarn comes alive and colours become inspired by the sensory pleasure of just feeling free, from not having to work again until Monday.

My knitting is not about just choosing colours from a pile of yarn, or shop but the colours come by feeling them through a sensory connection and today, it is a tiny jug of sweet peas that triggered the feeling of being free.  

If you would like to join me in one of my colour blending workshops, the overview and information is here

Fiona Blue Pattern

It is hot outside. The air wraps hot curls of heat around my bare legs when I walk in the city. It is not a day to promote Winter traditional Shetland motif mittens. But these mittens are a little special. They were designed with a wonderful woman in mind – Fiona, who had the bluest of eyes.

To everyone who knew her, it was devastating when Fiona suddenly died. I wanted to knit something to remember her by and to share her name.

Last month, I published a little pattern in her memory. for the first month of sale, 50% of profits will be sent to Macmillan Cancer Support.
The initial blog is here

It is the last week before I will send the charity donation to Macmillan, so I thought that, if you would like to donate and get a little pattern in return, then, here is a gentle reminder. The pattern is in the link below

the pattern is here

If you have already knitted this pattern, please tag me in your project on instagram, then I can share the work.

with thanks to Karen Sprenger for test knitting (bottom left image) and to Ericka Eckles for swatching test colours and gauge (bottom right image), for this little pattern.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fiona-blue

best wishes

Tracey

Update:-

On Sunday 18th June, I sent a donation of £188.00 plus £47 gift aid, making a total of £235 to MacMillan Cancer Support in the memory of Fiona Gray of Bressay, Shetland.

Just a little string

A couple of weeks ago, I gathered a big bunch of rhubarb stems, to harvest their skins because I wanted to make cord, or string.  Hoping for red.

I washed the rhubarb stems in a bucket of water then tried to peel the skins off.  Some lengths were successful, some less so, but I saved all the strands and hung them on a string across the kitchen window.  I froze the rhubarb in the hope of making crumble when the apples come. ( I might do a crumble party – with ice cream)   Crumble party in the autumn anyone?

I left the skins hanging on the string until they became dry / brittle.

After my unsuccessful attempt at making a tiny basket out of lily leaves, I turned to the red rhubarb skins, soaked them briefly so that they were pliable again, and twisted them into a length of string. (string, I can do)

I love the tactile act of twisting the natural fibres and the anticipation of what it might look like when it dries.

Above is after twisting the fibres, below is the dried little bundle a few days later.  It kept most of its colour

Now I have two tiny bundles of hand made string and I am on the lookout to collect more fibres.  It’s addictive.  The Iris leaves are definitely going to be next and I have my eye on long grasses.

Just a little string that I made.  

https://ko-fi.com/traceydoxey