Another blast from the past!

While browsing Julie Schilthuis' blog yesterday,  what a surprise it was to see two of my very old sweaters jumping off the page at me and even more amazed to see Philip modelling one of them!!  Bokila and Chestnut are from my second book, Knits for all Seasons way back in 1991, and I was delighted to read that Julie still loves them today.

Philip wearing Chestnut

It was a lovely book to make as we had lots of friends and family modelling the sweaters, as well as the odd few real models. I well remember the shoot with Swedish photographer Pia Tryde. There were sweaters for women, men and children in each section and our son Felix and several of his friends did a great job.

Bokila, aka Cairngorm, on the right 

I'm always intrigued by coincidence. We shot the May sweaters on a local village green with the little  children from the primary school dancing around the maypole, and lo and behold, twenty years later my grand-daughter, Isabella, has just started at the very same school.  Also loved this photo of Ianthe Wright, playmate of Felix's, but also grand-daughter of Sue and renowned sculptor Austin Wright, who as it happened lived on the very same Yorkshire village green.

Ianthe Wright in Bacchanalian mood wearing Pooka!

Such a fabulous project shooting each month of the year in different locations.  I particularly remember January as we'd been fretting about the absence of snow for many months, and it had got to the point when it was now or never.  We were all staying in the stylist's immaculate Victorian home in Studland Bay, a Dorset beauty spot, and even though it was freezing cold, there wasn't a snowflake to be seen.  So a snow machine was urgently ordered and we found ourselves shooting in a snowstorm of polystyrene.  It's the kind of stuff that gets everywhere and the whole house was full of it.  I hope my publishers were generous enough to send along someone to help with the cleaning the next day!

Thanks for the memories Julie!  Looking forward to your post on the 12th.

Tues 3 Jan  Wendy Knits Wendy Johnson  

 Wed 4 Jan  Knitgrrl Shannon Okey

➤ Thurs 5 Jan  Yarnagogo Rachael Herron

Fri 6 Jan  The Knitter  Rosee Woodland

Sat 7 Jan  Rhythm of the Needles  Joanne Conklin

Sun 8 Jan  Knit Purl Gurl  Karrie Steinmetz

                 Mon 9 Jan   CraftSanity  Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood
Tues 10 Jan  Planet Purl  Beth Moriarty

Wed 11 Jan  Sunset Cat  Stephannie Tallent
Thurs 12 Jan  A Really Good Yarn  Julie Schilthuis

Fri 13 Jan  knit 1 chicago  Lynn Coe

Sat 14 Jan  Go Knit In Your Hat  Carol Sulcoski

Sun 15 Jan  Redshirt Knitting  Erika Barcott

Mon 16 Jan   In The Loop  Cheryl & Ellen

Tues 17 Jan  WEBS  Kathy Elkins

Wed 18 Jan  Zeneedle  Margene Smith

Thurs 19 Jan   Knitspot  Anne Hanson

Fri 20 Jan   Urban Yarns  Alexa Ludeman

Sat 21 Jan  A Friend to knit with  Leslie Friend

Mon 23 Jan  Tentenknits  Margaux Hufnagel

Tues 24 Jan  Fancy Tiger Crafts  Amber Corcoran

Thurs 26 Jan  The Panopticon  Franklin Habit

Tbc  Chic Knits  Bonne Marie Burns