Some knitters fly by the seat of their handmade shorts, casting on with nothing more than blind faith. Others build systems. Glorious, glorious systems. I’m firmly in the latter camp with my spreadsheets, Ravelry pages, sensitive skin yarn libraries and all. Because nothing curdles the joy of a new WIP quite like realising you’ve knitted this exact sleeve before. Twice. And you still didn’t write down what modifications you made. (I’ve been burned before as you can tell.)

Here’s a peek inside how I keep my projects, knitting wish list and yarn stash in working order, and why it makes my knitting life infinitely easier (and, dare I say, more satisfying).

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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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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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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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I’m sorry in advance for putting such lovely yarns right under your nose. But I’ve been fortunate to find some absolute beauties in recent weeks and just had to put them all in one handy place. Ready for a pay day / ‘Yes I made it through Dry January!’ / ‘Darn I messed up Dry January, oh well, I’ll make myself feel better by buying some gorgeous new yarn!’

There’s a mixture of luxury and more affordable yarns in here, that I’ve earmarked for upcoming projects. The colourways are stunning and very wearable. I’m desperately searching for a supersoft striped yarn to use for my Weekender sweater by Andrea Mowry, but the right one hasn’t crept up yet (any suggestions, please let me know)! But without further ado, here are the yarns I’m ogling right now.

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Back in this post from February 2017, I set myself a handful of knitting goals in the hope of building my skills as a knitter and stumbling upon new fibres and producers. So 12 months on….how did I do?

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