Err, well, since I have singularly failed to update poor old Good Hooking for quite some time, I thought I should just consolidate my personal blogging empire into ONE unkempt blog, rather than scattering them all about the internet like pizza menus.

As those of you who follow my Good Hooking exploits will know (hi Will! Still not entirely sure what you doing on there, but you knock yourself out), I have been promising to update with a full inventory of all the self-crafted items I have lovingly produced over the past… however long it is, but I have yet to make good on that promise.

Well, today I plan to change all that!

Here, for your viewing pleasure, I can exclusively reveal my a/w 2010-2012 collection.

L-R Top

Sirdar Red Bamboo jumper

I love this jumper. It looks a bit wobbly now from washing (some of the bamboo shrivelled and went wirey even though it’s machine washable. The cheek!) but it has to be the best thing I’ve ever made. I love the yarn, I love the pattern and I love the colour. In fact it looks like I bought it from a shop. But as we all know, if I’d bought it from a shop it would have cost a LOT less money. And that’s what counts. Or something.

I learned about three new cast off techniques for this one. The neckline kept coming out too tight, so I had to keep re-doing it (leaving it a little bit wibbly after the 20th attempt). I now try to only ever cast off using a crochet hook. What sane human would do it any other way, I ask you?

Also, I actually used the right yarn with the right pattern, which I think is only the second time I’ve done that. It’s a thrilling experience, I don’t mind telling you.

Pullover with round or v neck pattern on Ravelry.

Last year’s winter hat

I was going to finish this off with some neat neck ties. And then I didn’t. And then winter finished.

Toe up socks!

Very fun, very quick. I learned many things.

1. I like knitting using the magic loop method so much I want to lick it.
2. I do not like knitting two socks at once using two sets of cables or one set of cables for that matter. What faffery!
3. I love Judy and her magic cast on.
4. The Lifestyle toe up socks pattern will give you a lot of confidence in just winging it a bit with patterns.
5. The short row heel is very clever, but takes practice. I pulled the heel a bit tighter after taking this photo.
6. The quest for the perfect cast-off may never be over, but by golly people have turned it into a science. I love the innovation, and I loved trying out different ones. I can’t actually remember which one I used in the end though, dangnabbit. Weebleknits has an assortment of stretchy bind offs she’s helpfully herded into one blog post.

Too-small cardie

I took too long to make this one. I used lovely Rooster Almerino I got from RKM Wools in a huge sale they were having (I started sweating when I walked in and saw all the lovely yarn on sale). But by the time I’d finished Cecily had outgrown it. Ungrateful child.

I then spent two evenings unpicking it all and getting the wool tangled up.

Ribbed baby jacket pattern on Ravelry.

Three Christmas hats

I made Cecily a lovely warm hat (using the frogged yarn from the Too-Small Cardie) and then I rushed to make two more for her two cousins who are staying with us. I finished the last one at about midnight on Christmas Eve.

I made up the pattern based on a hat my mother made me when I was a toddler. I remember loving the hat, which probably explains why I still own it all these years later.

Yarn Stash!

I gave all my teeth-jangling acrylics to Deadly Knitshade – so she could go and create pigeon pullovers and scarves for telephone boxes – and upgraded to real wools, bamboos and cottons. I am now one of those smug crafters whose whole lives are tinted with a “retro” filter. Plus, my yarn stash is now one of the most valuable things in my house.

I will be the person stuffing wool into bags while the house burns down.

Most of it was bought in a state of feverish excitement from two massive yarn sales from RKM Wools and House of Linens round the corner from me (which I only just discovered – a bloody wool shop round the corner from where I live ALL THESE YEARS!)

And breathe

There are a few bits and pieces still missing. Where, for example, is the masterpiece that is the blue and pink Alpaca motif cardie? And where, pray tell, is the not-quite-enough-buttons chunky knit cardigan?

Patience my friends, patience.

Check this out! We redesigned Dork Adore.

This year, we’ve been working with Yahoo and Diet Coke to produce Style It Light, a branded fashion magazine for young women.

Our marvellous team of writers is being used across the whole of the European Style It Light network. We’re brimful of pride and extremely thrilled to be working with two such eminent brands.

Style It Light

Because I thought to myself “you just don’t have enough poorly tended personal blogs kicking around the internet”.

But this one has a simple premise: a place to collect all the witty, insightful, clever, brilliant and sometimes terrifying words I write for one of my websites, or a client’s website, or a newspaper or magazine.

Just anything at all that I may have written at some point in my life.

I’m slowly adding everything. It may take some time: I’ve written a LOT of internet.

What Katie Wrote

I’ve been having a lovely time editing a Slow Life Magazine for the wonderful Jorg & Olif, a Dutch Bicycle company.

This is a perfect fit for me, since it gives me the chance to write about things like:

• How to buy a wood
• An AMAZING yurt-filled campsite in Norway, where you can have a bath outside.
• Zenware and the art of clutter-free computing — how to get rid of all the distractions and actually get work done.
• Lovely bicycle panniers from New LOOXS, a Dutch bicycle accessories company.
• How to give to charity for free
• Riverford vs Abel & Cole. The best organic delivery box scheme
• Could you live in a tiny house?
• Five of the best alternative social networks
• How to form good habits

All of these articles are dream pieces, combining online geekery, camping, Dutch stuff (when not buying Dutch tents, I’m buying Dutch child seats for bicycles), a long-standing obsession with the Small House Movement, lifehacking and general eco-worrying.

If you want to read more of my pieces for Jorg & Olif (and don’t worry, I don’t write the whole site — otherwise it would just be a laundry list of my current obsessions) you can check out the Katie Lee author page.

It’s a great example of brands owning their own media, with a remit to cover anything related to the Slow Life Movement — even if that means writing about and linking to other bicycle brands.

Jorg & Olif is  a great company, with true vision and a fantastic ethic. I’m proud to be working with them.

Slow Life Movement Magazine on Jorg & Olif.

It’s not that I don’t love you — I do, honest I do — it’s just that since moving house and having a baby I seem to find it impossible to actually locate things I’ve made, photograph them and then remember which SD card they’re on.

Such simple tasks in theory, and yet I fail consistently.

This is not helped by the fact that my brain likes things filed neatly, and so even if I locate a few items on a memory card, they get rejected for not being the thing I made after the last thing I blogged about.

Anyway, I’m just going to have to let it go and show you what craft-related items I have on my laptop right now (oh, and the death of a laptop has not been helpful in my quest to locate and file).

:: :: :: :: ::

OK, after a long search, I’ve found… some baby booties.

At this rate, the backlog could take a while to get through…

Anyway, I made these ages ago (last summer) from a lovely Japanese pattern book. They were extremely quick and easy. The downside being that Cecily left them on her feet for about 20 seconds before pulling them off.

After that, I actually altered the pattern and added a little extra row which made them less inclined to give into the merest tug from a curious infant. Unfortunately, this meant that they stayed on for a lot longer until Cecily decided enough was enough and ripped the entire strap off.

After that, I put them in my craft bag where they make me smile and where a baby can’t seek and destroy.

Look at her ickle chubby feet!

Back when I was one of just a handful of women writing about consumer tech I often referred to myself as a “professional opinion-giver”, or — *HILARIOUSLY* — “opinonator” . I spent almost as much time on TV, radio and in print speaking as I did actually writing.

Now, gadgets for women are the same as gadgets for men (before, they were the same as gadgets for men but painted pink), and yet I still find myself being asked to speak.

Which is just fine by me!

Nowadays, however, my speciality has changed. I’m now the go-to girl for blogging and the joys of social media.

Back in February, I took my three-month-old baby to the Sheer Luxe conference to tell the gathered luxury brands why they should be using social media and blogging (you can watch a variation on that talk over at Does my business need a blog?)

On Thursday, I was over at the Sheraton Park Lane to join Shaa Wasmund on stage to discuss the many benefits of blogging in front of a room full of delegates.

If you’re wondering how to set up your own business blog, head over to the Miramus Blog where there are all kinds of useful tools as well as information and advice for budding business bloggers.

Well, I say “recently” but given the parlous state of this blog, what I actually mean is “in the really quite considerable amount of time since I last blogged”.

I’m going to whip through them all, keeping my usual hilarious commentary to a minimum as I don’t have as much time to play with these days.

That’s because one of the main things I’ve made since I last wrote was this:

Cecily May Milway. Born 30th November 2009, 6lbs 6oz

Aren’t I clever!

A girl’s got to have something to wear:

For her friend, baby Noah, born 2 weeks after her.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that I’ve been knitting again (shocking, I know). All patterns are from the Erika Knight baby Natural Knits book.

So, not only have I been busy knitting, growing a human from scratch and packing up to move house, I’ve also been working away at a brand new pet project: Dork Adore.

It’s basically a geek haven, designed to have a category for nearly every area of the internet that dorks adore. And, of course, it goes without saying that there’s a craft section.

Recent posts include:

I’m very proud of my new site, and I’m also blown away by the number of lovely writers who have given their time to what is basically a labour of love.

Lots of ex-Shiny writers are on board, including Susi Weaser (my successor as editor of Shiny Shiny), Gemma Cartwright, Robyn Wilder and Anna Waits.

I’ve also had world-famous children’s author, Alex Milway (he’s my husband, I’m allowed to be biased. Buy his books!) and Gemma’s other half, Charles, who has written a hotly debated piece about Twilight and how rubbish it is.

And last but by no means least, my wondrous editorial assistant who works for my company, Miramus – Emma Cossey.

Anyway, have a look at the site, and let me know what you think. And if you’re a crafty person and have any tips (or want to write!) you can get in touch over on Dork Adore.

It’s outrageous, I know. I’m basically a traitor to the crochet community. But the fact is, I got myself knocked up (intentionally, I should probably add), and I started making a few crochet things, but soon even I had to accept that knitting has the edge over crochet when it comes to clothes.

But knitted toys still aren’t as good as crochet ones. Which is probably why the “knitted character” on Harry Hill’s TV Burp is clearly crocheted and should be renamed immediately.

Anyway, that was an unplanned side-rant and I should probably move on before I start getting foam bubbles round my mouth.

So, here’s something I still haven’t finished crocheting.

And here’s the same thing, made by my crochet-whizz of a mother.

And this is the point that I got bored of crocheting trebles round and round and picked up the needles.

As you can see, my first attempt at knitting is a little bit iffy. There are clearly some errors in there. However, it turns out that one of the things that has always bored me about knitting was the simple fact that I always knitted scarves because I didn’t know how to make anything else.

And knitting up and down is as dull as crocheting trebles round and round.

But once I’d actually decided to work out a pattern, it turned out to be surprisingly fun. And now I know how to pick up a stitch (why did no one tell me it was so easy – I used to unpick it all!) and do some basic stuff, I’m 2 jumpers, a cardie, and a nearly-finished cardie the richer.

I’ll upload proper photos once I locate the memory card I took them on. But rest assured they’re a lot less dodgy than my first cardie. Plus, I actually made sure I had enough wool to finish the pattern – unlike this red one with the dash of “oh crap I’ve run out of wool, this will have to do” blue.