STRAWBERRY AND GRAPE SWALEDALE.

I've been dying with Kool Aid over the weekend. Every time Sabrina comes from New York, she brings a few tubs of the stuff. Kool Aid is a children's synthetic fruit drink which comes in powdered form and can be used to dye protein fibre without any fixative. If you have a knowledge of textiles you'll know that protein fibre like wool and silk are difficult to dye, because you need to add an acid, which smells bad, and is poisonous to touch. Well it seems that Kool Aid contains something simular. I do not recommend you drink it, but for dying it's great because it doesn't mess up your kitchen and it makes your house smell like you are boiling sweets.

MOTHS ARE WANKERS.

Dear All,

Please be careful with your knitwear this spring. This is the month where all the little moth caterpillars, who have wrapped themselves in silver papery cocoons in your favourite jumpers over the winter, are feeling a bit warmer and when they emerge as moths, they will be hungry and eat right through your knitwear.

 'Moths are wankers' says Mr Zeel, who has made us these lovely badges which you can purchase here for £2 each. They are perfect for placing on or next to a hole, and quite a talking point. 

I would like to point out that Zeel means well and this exclamation does not apply to all moths, only the little silver/gold powdery ones that live in your wardrobe. Some of the other moths might be endangered, so please don't kill them.

Thank you.

FRIDAY 13TH.

Harriet (off Tatty Devine) and I,  kind of share a birthday towards the end of march. This year we realised that we were too busy to celebrate, and the only date we had free was Friday 13th March. What better day could one pick to have the dress code 'Superstition'. I regret there aren't more photos. The winner without a doubt, everyone agreed was Richard, who came as a wishing well, and Rosemary his penny. Harriet was a four leaf clover, louise a Lepricorn, Rob Ryan, Bev and Zara were all black cats and Megan was an upside down broom to ward off unwanted visitors.Felix was a sweater curse- reminding us of the only superstition in knitting, that if you want to knit a jumper for your boyfriend, do not totally finish the second sleeve or your relationship could be doomed.

I was 'Umbrella-Up- In -Doors', an easy thing to be if you purchase two cheap black umbrellas, saw off the handles and attatch them at the shoulders and sides with ribbons. My mum helped me stitch little plastic purls on for rain drops. It wasn't easy getting through the ticket barrier on the tube, and I was scratched to bits at the end of the night, as I'm sure everyone else was. 

My favourite and possibly the most subtle supersticious outfit of the evening was by Jamie Fawkes. Jamie had bird shit on his head, made from a concoction of toothpaste and green body paint. It suited him. It was lucky, but it looked like he didn't know it was there, which was why he wore it so well.

EASTER WINDOW.

Thank you very much to Miss Hilary Penn for thinking of Prick Your Finger whilst touring Barcelona last week. Hilary saw a haberdashery shop with a wonderful Easter display. The angel has hair of tape measure, pins in her halo and heart, and threads under her skirts. We thought it rather lovely.

MAD HATTERS!

Doreen and gang! The amazing Doreen, who is 89 years old,  arrived at the shop complete with her Stephen Jones hat collection. After styling us, she and escorted us to the V&A to see our knitted paper crown in the Easter Bonnet parade.  As we stood in the V&A foyer, the cameras went wild around Doreen!We were on time for the parade, but poor Tatty Devine were running late because baby Bebe was crying. They got to the V&A bang on time, by chasing a taxi with 'PYF' in the number plate. Yeah!

We all loved Rob Ryan's beautiful paper cut veil. It was crying, and we all thought of parties we had been to where we could have worn it.


Here we see two of the models before the easter parade with the Prick Your Finger Crochet paper crown(left) and the Tatty Devine Easter egg (right)  We didn't win Gold, Silver, or Bronze, but we did get a special mention from Stephen Jones, who asked the crown to step forward, and then said it was beautifully made and he couldn't work out how it was done! Woo!

For anyone who is interested, paper yarn is easy to spin, but not so easy to knit. It is actually crochet, and remarkably heavy. Harriet took some better pictures which I will post another day. Our bonnets will be on display in the French Connection flag ship store, and hopefully one day come back to PYF.