A very special project involving Lancashire Lonk wool and some amazing women October 13 2017, 0 Comments

Susan Crawford is a legend in the knitting world. She specialises in interpreting ideas from vintage patterns for today and lectures in fashion history.  Not only is she a knitwear designer and author, but also a shepherdess. Her small flock of sheep includes Shetlands, Herdwicks, Zwartbles and Lonks

12 months ago, Susan was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive breast cancer and was given poor odds for survival. An intensive period of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy culminated a year later with Susan cancer free. She was, and continues to be, supported by the amazing local charity CancerCare, who provide complementary treatments and professional advice to cancer patients and their carers at no cost to the user.

Susan also became part of Phoenix, CancerCare's online group and formed friendships with many other women going through the same experiences. A short time after joining a project began photographing members of Phoenix sharing their scars, both physical and mental. These 'Scarletts' as they became known wanted to share their personal experiences of how cancer, and particularly, breast cancer, attempts to strip women of their physicality, their visual identity.

Through the portraits they wanted to take back ownership of their bodies, and to be proud of who they had become. These portraits have been turned into the 'Knocker Jotter' which is being sold to raise funds for CancerCare.

To help support this campaign and to put two fingers up at the horror that is cancer, Susan created the 'fubc' shawl kit. The kit includes two skeins of Susan's exclusive 100% Lonk wool, Ghyll, one undyed and one dyed, enough to make one of two shawl patterns included in the kit both inspired by the shape and structure of Lonk horns. In addition a copy of the 'Knocker Jotter' is included in every kit.

What makes these kits even more special is the dyeing. Susan reached out to four hand dyers, Old Maiden Aunt, Countess Ablaze, Skein Queen and Knitting Goddess, each of whom instantly agreed to provide an exclusive colourway inspired by one of the portraits in the journal.

My inspiration photo was of a Scarlett called Karen who wore a beautiful three-layered chiffon skirt in peach, gold and pink with a purple belt with the moody blue sky behind. It's a strong but feminine image as she draws back the string on a bow, ready to face her critics and her new journey ahead.

Each dyer dyed approximately 100 skeins. No two are identical and the four colourways are very different, each reflecting the approach of the dyer. There are fewer than 400 kits available. Susan's 2016 limited edition Ghyll yarn is available only in the fubc kits with a percentage of monies from each kit sale being donated to CancerCare. 

Ghyll is 100% British wool all from a single breed of sheep – the Lonk. Only the best shearling fleeces have been used, from just one flock living on the Lancashire moors overlooking the Lune valley directly across from Susan’s own farm. Using only the best fleeces ensures the highest quality of yarn.

Ghyll is worsted spun, meaning it is combed before spinning to create a smoother, stronger and less scratchy yarn. It is comprised of 3 plys which are spun together with quite a high twist creating a firm but bouncy yarn, suitable for all sorts of knitting projects but particularly textured patterns, lace knitting and even socks. 

Yesterday marked the last injection of Susan's treatment and it is so good to welcome her back into the knitting world.

The kits are available now to order exclusively from www.susancrawfordvintage.com

And the winner is.....*insert drumroll* May 15 2017, 0 Comments

And the winner of the two skeins of lovely Moonwalk Exquisite Twist is....

Congratulations, Michelle Ainslie! If you could get in touch, I'll get the yarn posted off to you at the soonest opportunity.

And massive thanks to everyone who participated - we raised over £275 thanks to your enormous generosity, helping the Fizzy Floozies smash their original target by raising almost £3,500 towards breast cancer charities.

We were all overwhelmed by one donation in particular - you know who you are - thank you SO much. And to every one of you who took the time to donate. 

I'm super proud of all nine of my friends who completed the 26 miles on Saturday night. What an amazing achievement!

And if you want to read more about where the money raised goes, these are some of the charities that Walk the Walk supports.

MoonWalk your way to winning yarn (without taking a step) April 27 2017, 2 Comments

Want to win two skeins of Exquisite Twist in the specially devised MoonWalk colourway and support this breast cancer charity?

On May 13th, nine of my hero friends will be power walking over 26 miles through the streets of London in an effort to raise money for breast cancer. They've all been training so hard - walking for miles and miles in the evenings and at weekends, when they could have been doing other things, like raising a glass of fizz with their feet up.

I'd love to be able to help them to get to their target of £2000, and they're very nearly there, so I'm offering 2 skeins of merino/cashmere/nylon to tempt you into donating a minimum of £2 to their fund-raising page in order to enter the lucky dip competition.

I will pick the winner at random on May 15th and announce who it is here on the blog so good luck! I'll post it worldwide, so don't be shy to enter.

All you need to do is:

1. Go to the Fizzy Floozies fund-raising page here.

2. Make your donation - please mark it with SQ so that I can tell if you've entered.

Feel free to leave the girls a good luck message to spur them on on the night.

And that's it! Best of luck to you and to Michelle Stevens, Sandra Benton, Karen Neumann, Karen Symes, Katie Lewis, Leanne Holland, Amanda Drane, Clare Stewart and Kate Flitter!

(Comments left on the blog won't count - sorry.)