Katielee.co.uk

Screenwriter and crafty type

We’ve been in the Cool Seat on Radio Shropshire !

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Ten years ago I was listed as one of London’s 1000 Most Influential People. Today, I’m not even the most influential person in my shed and I’m the only person in it.

And I’m fine with that.

No really I am! There’s no way to say it without sounding like a massive fibber. I mean loved being at Shiny Media in its heyday. When I wasn’t trying to stifle my engulfing Imposter Syndrome, or chomping down antibiotics for stress-induced lymph-node infections, or having meetings with people who leave no box unticked on the Psychopath Checklist, it truly was the Best Time Ever.

We employed brilliant people whose careers I follow with huge amounts of pride and awe. Sure, we didn’t get everything right (not even close), but the things we DID get right were entirely down to the clever, funny, kind, nerds and trailblazers who worked for us. 

So if it miss anything, it’s seeing those people every day. But the rest? I’m good thanks. 

Oh, apart from one other thing

I really miss all the radio stuff. I loved being on the radio. Why didn’t I try to get more radio work? It’s a lesson in grabbing opportunities when you get them. 

So when the lovely Jim Hawkins asked if famous children’s author and illustrator, Alex Milway and I wanted to go on his morning show to talk about our weird career paths, I booked a cottage in the hills, bought the kids some walking boots, and went back to my old hometown.

If you’d like to listen, it starts about an hour in. It’s only available for another 11 days as of this post. 

Katie Lee and Alex Milway in the cool seat with Jim Hawkins

PS. this blog post is the PERFECT example of how not to write. If I were editing this, I would remove the ENTIRE first section of the post. No one will read it, it’s completely irrelevant and you could cut nearly all of it with no loss of meaning (plus you’d lose the barely concealed brag about a decade-old glory that the author still clings to because it got her invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen). But it’s MY blog and no one will read this anyway so I’m going to leave it right where it is.

PPS. But seriously, try deleting your first three paragraphs of anything you write, it’s a top tip. 

PPPS. You could also delete these final 3 paragraphs .

Holsten Pullover – another top down raglan

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Anyone who lives in or around Crystal Palace in Southeast London will know Haynes Lane Market. It’s a relic from a by-gone era, a proper flea market selling knick-knacks, antiques, curiosities, records, vintage clothes, ephemera, general gubbins and down-and-out junk.

I love it.

Or, at least, I did. I haven’t been there for years now. Trying to prevent your kids from marauding around rickety shelving units filled with vintage crystal takes a lot of the fun out of the Sunday mooch.

But, back in ye olden days, 10 years BC (before Cecily), I regularly went to idly wander the sloping corridors of the old market. And by golly did I find some wonders. 

Including one fine day when I discovered an entire stall filled with someone’s Haberdashery stock from their old shop. And that’s where I got a bag load of slightly musty smelling Linnen Brilliant yarn from Scheepjes.

I kept hold of the yarn for years, used bits of it to make some granny squares and then one day, BINGO! I found the right project for it. 

The Holsten!

And I would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been that I totally didn’t have enough yarn for that project. 

I mean, I thought I did. I checked it!

I’m sure I checked it. 

Anyway, somewhere along the way, I realised I didn’t have enough yearn to finish. That’s when I started messaging random people on Ravelry who had the right yarn in their stash. 

But no one got back to me instantly. And I’m impatient. And also, I don’t check my Ravelry inbox regularly. Turned out, some kind soul had actually responded. But by then it was too late…

This is pretty much the dictionary definition of over-sharing. I don’t even know this poor woman. Why did I tell her all this??

Actually, the top is the better for it. It was definitely on the wide side. Maybe I’ll make it again and this time actually measure myself before I start. In fact – brainwave people! – maybe I’ll actually take all my measurements (before the 5pm Discarding Of The Bra ceremony obvs) and WRITE THEM DOWN so I actually know what size to make.

Sheesh, this is like rocket science or something. 

The Details

Bracken Jumper – Top Down Loveliness

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Two Brackens

My love for top down knitting knows no bounds. I am struggling to think of anything I’ve made recently that doesn’t arrive on circular needles. And yet, I actually don’t mind seaming stuff. I know many people consider it a giant ball-ache, but I find it quite satisfying. 

What I don’t like is keeping track of different bits and pieces. Even worse is the casting on, which is surely the devil’s work. I never get the length of the long tail right on long tail casting on techniques and I NEVER remember how many stitches I’ve done. A pox be upon it. 

Gosh, this update is becoming positively mediaeval in tone. Verily! 

My silly girls

Again, you beady-eyed types (why do you have beads for eyes, is what I want to know) will note that I clearly ran out of yarn for Cecily’s Bracken. She has red sleeves and collar. She didn’t mind, bless her beautiful heart.

This is such a fun, quick pattern to make. I know a lot of people have problems with the neckline and it does take a while to get your head around. But, in fact, my problems have been slightly different. First the neck is just very tight even with a stretchy cast on. I actually ended up completely re-making my youngest’s Bracken. I tried to unpick it from the top neckline (ie what is actually the “bottom” of the knitting), got horribly confused and just had to weep gently while I frogged the entire thing.  

And second, I ended up with a very strange line of yarn across the front of the neckline where the extra stitches get cast on. I finally worked it out when I made my first one recently. I’ll share that exciting drama (and more!) in an upcoming post about the new one I’m making.

For anyone stuck with the neckline instructions, I can also attempt a tutorial. I know you’ll be on the edges of your seats until then!

The details

Working with Zodiak Kids

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It’s been an incredibly exciting year for us. Amazing, in fact. Why’s that, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Back in October 2017, we met the extremely lovely people at Zodiak. They asked us to develop a children’s comedy drama series for them. We shook ourselves to check we were definitely awake, successfully resisted the urge to run over and kiss them jubilantly, and calmly accepted their offer.  

I’m still unclear how much we are allowed to say about it all. So for the time being I’ll just say that it’s been the most amazing experience, we absolutely loved working on the project, and we hope you’ll be hearing a lot more about it one day! 

(By the way, you can now Follow my blog with Bloglovin)

Knitty bits – an update!

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The giant crafty update

Just when you thought you’d got away from my waffling, fibre-arty epistles, I go and start up again. Hello!

Now, listen. The completist in me wants to go back and chronologically update you with EVERY SINGLE THING I’ve made since I last blogged 400 years ago. But actually, I don’t think I even have photos of some of the things I’ve given away. I regret the loss of my daughter’s little blue cardigan most of all. It’s a reminder  not to give away things you’ve made for your babies. You never know when you might want to pull the tiny outfits from their moth-resistant storage bags to have a little cry about how quickly little ones grow. Plus it had pink alpacas on it. What a loss. 🙁

Anyway, I digress. The point is, I’m just going to shut my eyes, say “to hell with chronology” and go ahead and do another craft dump. (That sounded ruder than it needed to.) 

The big news is, I’ve recently got the sewing machine out of hibernation and started up sewing again. I have no idea what I’m doing, but looking back on here, I am reminded of how bad I was at knitting. Now look at me – unpicking the same top-down raglan neckline every evening because I’ve been distracted by the TV and have forgotten to increase. I’m a seasoned professional!

So, expect to see more sewed items on here soon. “Soon” in this context could mean “in 3 years” given my previous track record. 

Anyway, enough blather. Here are a selection of recent and no-so-recent makes. Enjoy!

Hetty’s homemade ensemble

Even though this photo was taken quite a few years ago, Arrietty (nearly 6) STILL wears this beautiful Summer Days cardigan by Elena Nodel. 

It was my first ever top down knitting project. It’s made seamlessly in one piece. It comes together using some sort of sorcery called the “Contiguous Method” developed by a magician called Susie Myers. It truly is magic. 

It is also very fun to make. Even better, I became a more adept knitter because of it. However, any new skills I learned have almost certainly all been forgotten because I can only retain about 10 pieces of information at a time. Thank god for YouTube.

The buttons are vintage from my bumper box of buttons inherited from my husband’s nana. They’re beauties.

I made one of these for Cecily too, but the yarn I used was a soft baby merino instead of this beautiful cotton-merino mix (which I think was Debbie Bliss) and it turned out floppier than I’d like. She still loves it and wears it, though.

In fact, this has been so popular, I started making another one for Arrietty in red. It’s in the queue to be finished next. 

Here’s a photo of my knitting it last summer (yes, I started it ages ago and never finished because [reasons]). Please also enjoy the swollen left ankle. I twisted it at our wood when I was distracted by a tree. 

Elevated ankle + knitting. 

Beady-eyed crafty types will also note I’ve written some Universal Crochet symbols along the bottom to help me remember increases. I don’t know the knitting symbols (I assume there are some – I’ll save that rabbit hole for a day when I’m on deadline with an important work project.)

I wish all patterns uses charts. They’re so much easier. 

ALSO! I totally sewed that skirt!

I made that skirt for Cecily yonks ago. In fact, so long ago I barely recall it. What I CAN recall is that she only wore it a handful of times because she only really liked wearing giant “spinny” dresses at the point (ie dresses so puffy she could spin and show her knickers). I think it was a contributing factor in me deciding to mothball my sewing machine (but more on that later.)

Again, I think I gave the skirt away so I can’t upload a better photo. However, I can exclusively reveal that it’s made out of Liberty fabric I got from a fabric outlet mill in Lancashire. 

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Hold on, change of plan!

Actually, I know I said I was going to do a big crafty dump, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m moving my other knitting makes to new posts. This one is already long enough and if I don’t hit publish soon I’m scared some of you might enter an induced coma before any of us reach the end (with me being the inducer). 

See you in the next blog post! I know you’ll all be on the edge of your seats waiting for it. See you soon!

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