Ann Kingstone

I love it! 😍

This was what she claimed in a speech the other day. Utterly bonkers!

I love it! 😍

Need to be clear that muslin is not what they call muslin in America (calico). Here what we call muslin is a very sheer open weave fabric.

Aww, I understand!

Yes, in my experience this is much better than a wet block for colourwork. Wet block stretches but doesn’t flatten the stitches. Try it on a swatch if you want to see how it works first.

Press it with a warm iron and steam. This vastly improves colourwork.

Side view of feet wearing a pair of dark pink socks that have light pink hearts running up the side from the toe to the cuff. The cuff is a light pink picot edge. The heel and toe are also light pink, and a light pink stripe separates the instep from the sole.

Front view of a pair of dark pink socks with light pink hearts running from toe to cuff at each side. Between the lines of hearts a pattern of dots arranged in diamonds runs up the instep and the front of the leg. The toe and picot cuff are also light pink.

View of the soles of feet wearing dark pink socks with a pattern of light pink hearts arranged in five stripes. In the second and fourth stripe the hearts are upside down.

I love knitting hearts, so I’ll have a few things to show you for this weeks #showmeyourknits prompt. First up are my “Lovely Socks”!

Opening the new costume drama exhibition at Bankfield Museum (Halifax, Yorkshire) in my new me-made gown! (I’m currently Mayor of Calderdale) #sewing #dressmaking

Thank you! 😊

Front view of Ann wearing a carmine red silk dress with jacquard roses and dots. The v-neck dress has armhole princess seams and a tapered flare skirt. The sleeves are sheer chiffon in matching carmine red. She is wearing patent burgundy red shoes. Her short blonde hair has pink and turquoise colouring in the fringe.

It’s not perfect, and it’s good enough for me. I learned lots designing and making this from my own self-drafted pattern, and I’m very pleased with it. #sewing #dressmaking

Part of a red silk dress featuring jacquard roses and random dots in the fabric is draped over the back of a chair. At the centre of the picture a line runs down the dress. The zip pull near the bottom is the only clue that this line is not a seam and hides a zip.

My first ever insertion of an invisible zip. Of course, I went in at the deep end with an underarm side zip in a lined dress. No tutorials on YouTube for this situation, and I was doing it on a treadle machine with an ordinary zipper foot. Intensely fiddly and difficult! #sewing #dressmaking

Back view of a mannequin draped with a pinky red and lime green shawl. The shawl has a leaf lace edging in the lime green. Above that are textured wavy stripes alternating the pinky red and lime green colours. The texture is formed from narrow stripes of garter stitch. Above the stripes the remainder of the shawl features a leaf lace pattern in the pinky red colour.

Not done much knitting in plain stripes. I do like to jazz things up though, so here are some wavy stripes from the mystery shawl knitalong I ran a few years back with fellow designer, Sarah Alderson. #showmeyourknits

Thank you! 😊

Rear view of somebody’s lower legs that are clothed in a pair of dark pink socks. The socks feature celtic knot cables that extend down the back and the front, including the instep. At each side of the ankle each sock features a rope cable that forms a rose stem leading to a blooming rose at the top formed from intricate cables.

Continuing with this week’s cables theme in #showmeyourknits, I’m particularly proud to show you the Rosedale socks from my book, Cabled Knits.

That would be so wonderful! ❤️

The front view of a seated black woman wearing a grey gansey-like sweater with yellow edging at the cuffs and neckline. From mid-chest upwards the sweater features alternating columns of cables and moss stitch diamonds. At the bust level there are three horizontal bands of purl stitches.

And my 3rd cabled offering for #showmeyourknits. 3: Esholt

The back of a red-haired woman wearing a cream-coloured knitted jacket with a hood. An intricate celtic knot cable runs up the back of the jacket. There is also a Celtic knot cable running up the back of the hood, and another runs along the edge of the hood.

My 2nd cabled offering for #showmeyourknits. 2: Rievaulx

The back of a red-haired woman wearing a green knitted garment that features a large tree that covers most of her back. The tree is formed of cables and embossed leaves against a purled background

And now, one at a time for #showmeyourknits, so you don’t have to squint. 1. Woodkirk:

The back of a red-haired woman wearing a green knitted garment that features a large tree that covers most of her back. The tree is formed of cables and embossed leaves against a purled background.

The front of a red-haired white woman wearing a cream-coloured knitted jacket with a hood. There are Celtic knot cables to each side of the half-buttoned jacket opening.

The back of a white woman wearing a cream-coloured knitted jacket with a hood. An intricate celtic knot cable runs up the back of the jacket. There is also a Celtic knot cable running up the back of the hood, and another runs along the edge of the hood.

The front view of a seated black woman wearing a grey gansey-like sweater with yellow edging at the cuffs and neckline. From mid-chest upwards the sweater features alternating columns of cables and moss stitch diamonds. At the bust level there are three horizontal bands of purl stitches.

This week’s #ShowMeYourKnits theme is cables. The third technique-themed book I wrote was Cabled Knits. It includes these 3 designs, 2 of which use a method I developed for starting the loops in Celtic Knot cables (see my YouTube channel for a tutorial). I give you Woodkirk, Rievaulx and Esholt.

It has felt that way to me so far. Lovely to see you here! ❤️

Very useful!

Some Liberty silk satin in the “Misti” pattern. Features little white flowers with yellow centres on a pink background with green foliage.

A black and white sketch of sone 1930s style cami-knickers with a floral pattern in the fabric.

Self-indulgent purchase has arrived. This is beautiful silk satin from Liberty of London. I’m planning to use it for some vintage style cami-knickers drafted from one of Grace Haslam’s lingerie books from the 1930s. #sewing

Seam binding is not going well. Hopefully this does not prefigure the emergency council meeting that I have to chair this evening!

In Yorkshire we call them jumpers, not sweaters. Here’s my latest, modelled by yours truly. I named it Clavver, which is the Yorkshire dialect word for clover. #showmeyourknits

Thank you! 👍

Join me this summer!

annkingstone.com/shop/breaks/...

Lithophane lamp at Lotherton Hall near Leeds. Incredibly these images are not created by paint, but by light shining through relief carvings. Beautiful!

Oops! Apparently #showmeyourknits is themed on shawls this week. So here’s Wessenden from my book “Lace Knits”.

It’s definitely a labour of love. Took me several hours last night to finish one edge of one skirt seam. There are six skirt seams!