Month: May 2025

Finding time to knit when life is throwing everything at you

| beth

Oh, this is one I’m all too familiar with. I did so much knitting when I was pregnant with my son. Endless hours of calm(ish) clicking needles, daydreaming about tiny cardigans and booties. And then life delivered a squishy newborn into my arms and I’ve been chasing that glorious knitting downtime ever since. Newborn stage, baby stage, toddler stage. Each phase brings its own delightful set of problems to navigate.

And outside of motherhood? Well, we’re also somehow supposed to juggle work, life admin, relationships, other hobbies… not to mention the occasional attempt at sitting still for five minutes without someone asking for a snack.

So, how do we find the space to keep knitting when real life is elbowing us in the ribs?

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Knitting terms explained

| beth

Or…the surprising origins of the words knitters use

I’ve been knitting for more years than I care to count, let alone commit to writing where someone might quote me on it. Over the years, I’ve adopted the knitter’s vernacular so wholeheartedly that I sometimes forget that normies have absolutely no idea what I’m on about. Friends stare at me like I’ve sprouted dpns from my forehead when I say I had to frog my latest cardigan back eight inches, or when I breezily announce, “I’ve only got to block it and then it’s done.”

But every now and again, the English Literature student in me stirs and I start questioning the curious language we knitters toss around without a second thought. When did we start saying “purl” or “notions” or “frogging”… and why, exactly?

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The Summer Edit: my top 10 summer knitting patterns

| beth

When I first got into knitting, I assumed it was strictly a winter sport. Best enjoyed under six layers of soft, squishy merino, ideally with a biscuit. But no! Summer knitting is a whole different game. The summer knitting pattern scene has exploded in the last few years: there’s a whole host of lightweight yarns, breezy silhouettes and sharp, modern shapes. All this means you can have a (slightly smug) handmade wardrobe staple for each season of the year. And quite frankly, I’m here for it.

Here’s my handpicked list of 10 stunning summer knitting patterns that have me reaching for my needles.

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A knitter’s diary: 01

| beth

April 2025 – climbing rocks, dodging snot and exactly zero finished jumpers

April felt like one of those months that moves in quiet surges between the good and bad. The sort of month where time moves fast but your needles don’t. We had long lunches with old friends (one with a deliciously squishy six-month-old), asked two of our favourite people to be our best man and celebrant at our wedding (they said yes!) and packed the calendar with visits to the park, National Trust wanders and ice-cream catch-ups with the Fantastic Aunties (no Great Aunties in this house, only the Fantastic kind.)

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Back on the blog: knitting plans, sustainable projects and wedding patterns

| beth

After an embarrassingly long hiatus (no really, let’s not count), I’m gently tiptoeing back into the Shortrounds blog. The past few years have been a lot, and that’s not to say I haven’t been knitting through it, but life most definitely got in the way. As it tends to. As it probably will again. But for now, I’m feeling the urge to write and share my little corner of this knitting world – I’ve got stories to tell, yarns to squish and knitspiration to share.

So what have I been up to these past four years?

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