Recently, I’ve been inspired to pause and think about the Knitting Squirrel and all my ideas and plans for the blog and online yarn shop.
Have you ever wondered why I called my website the Knitting Squirrel?
My website name was partly inspired by my brother’s favourite toy…
A very long time ago, when we were children, we were visiting Robinson and Cleaver’s a rather elegant department store that used to be in Belfast opposite the City Hall. When you went through the ornate front doors, situated across the room from you, was an elegant wide stairway leading to the first floor. We were at the top of the stairs starting to come down. My brother had picked up a beautiful plush red squirrel toy, and mum had told him to go and put it back on the shelf, when it accidentally slipped off the balustrade of the sweeping staircase, straight into a bucket of water. (I suspect Paul was trying to make it slide down the bannister at the time).
At that time, there would be buckets of water left surreptitiously in various corners of a store, just in case of an incendiary device. (Well, it was the early 70’s, in Belfast). The poor squirrel was rather unceremoniously scooped out of the bucket utterly bedraggled and dripping wet. Mum went to the counter to pay for the squirrel… As we left the shop Paul cheerfully turned to my mum and said, “wasn’t he brave”, as he looked into the bag with the sopping wet squirrel. So the squirrel (which became one of Paul’s favourite toys) was named Squirrel the Brave.
… and partly inspired by the fact that squirrel’s find nuts and then bury them carefully for their future needs. Which has always reminded me of my wool and fabric stash (and probably best not to mention my extensive library of books at this juncture). For me, my yarn stash is like a large box of soft pastels – just waiting for the perfect choice of colours to be combined in a project where they will take on a life of their own.
In 2003 I created Sasha Doll Style where I designed collections of knitwear and clothing for the Sasha, Gregor, baby and toddler dolls. (Sasha dolls were originally hand made by Sasha Morgenthaler and later were made under licence in Germany and the UK). Until 2011, most of my time was spent knitting and sewing clothing for these gorgeous 16” dolls and her siblings. I also wrote stories which are on Sasha Doll Style where Paul and Squirrel the Brave were an influence. Over the years, Sasha Doll Style evolved into a website that’s all about playfulness. Enjoying your Sasha dolls. Finding ideas for dressing them. And of course my Sasha Photo Stories!
Writing a blog is a little like the night before Christmas when you were a child… on many occasions, just as I’m falling asleep, I’ll think of something, and I either lie in bed unable to sleep or I get up and open my notebook and write the idea down. Sometimes it turns out to be a great idea, whilst other times, not so much!
In August 2010, I was in Kent, visiting my mum for a few weeks. Out of nowhere, she asked if I would knit her a pair of socks. I hadn’t knit anything for myself or anyone else in many years. So I promised to knit socks for mum as part of her Christmas present. The following months were difficult with the loss of family and pets. And I, having cast on a sock to work out how to knit one, suddenly, found myself utterly obsessed with knitting socks. I wouldn’t have one sock on the needles, no, I’d cast on 5 or 6 socks, mainly because I wanted to see how the yarn would look when it was knitted.
I’ve always had a large stash of sock yarn, 4ply and fingering weight yarn as this was what I preferred to use for knitting Sasha’s sweaters. My yarn collection is stored by colour family in plastic crates. By June 2011, I’d decided I’d like to blog about my knitting and I started my blog, Colour Choices, along side my personal blog.
In 2012, I moved Colour Choices to WordPress and it became the Knitting Squirrel. In the last 5 1/2 years I have posted 255 blog posts, of which, many include a pattern. Much of my time is spent thinking and planning new post ideas for the Knitting Squirrel, choosing new yarn ranges for the shop, or knitting a new project. Knitting is an utter delight for me. I love knitting while watching a movie or listening to an audio book. It always amazes me that instead of time wasted in front of the tv, within a few evenings, I’ll have a new pair of socks, a hat or fingerless mitts to wear.
Of course, it was inevitable that I’d succumb to the lure of the dye pots (again) and beautiful skeins of undyed yarn started to arrive. Dyeing, is for me, like alchemy, you add a touch of this and a drop of that and before you know it, the neutral skein has magically transformed.
And for 2018?
Although, I also have ideas that don’t relate so much to knitting so I’ve been thinking of reawakening my personal blog for those as I’ve always kept the blog on the Knitting Squirrel focused on my knitting projects and yarn related.
We are all multi-faceted people who enjoy a myriad of interests – sewing, reading, drawing, designing, journaling, walking, gardening, watching tv shows, cooking and Sasha dolls to name but a few of my varied interests.
But, I do ask myself, is it a stretch to want to juggle 3 different spaces? I’ve thought about bringing more of my interests into the blog on the Knitting Squirrel but have always erred on the side of keeping it focused on my passion for Knitting.
I have lots of ideas for posts on the Knitting Squirrel, and plenty of posts that were started in 2017, which I intend to finish and post even if they are a bit late! Watch this space…
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Kathy D says
Nicolette, hello
Follow your passions– You have so far. You have inspired me the last 8 years to try new projects, yarns, patterns. After my big surgery I had to sit a lot. T.V. Gets old quick. Knitting was the perfect thing. Life goes by quick. It’s better not having regrets near the end. (I’m not there yet. I heard you can’t die if you have a big yarn stash! I have a LOT of yarn! Wink). That takes being brave and keeping trying and doing. You have a great passion for what you love to do. Thank you for sharing with us. Go For It! Kathy D, USA
Nicolette says
Thank you Kathy, I hope that your health has improved and that you are succeeding with working through your yarn stash. I need to do that with some of my yarn stash as well.
Laura says
I love reading your Knitting Squirrel blog…it has the most complete patterns, and your photography is stunning! I enjoy your book reviews and reading about your travels. It would be nice to blend this blog and personal blog as the Knitting Squirrel already has been connected in some ways. Juggling 3 blogs would be a challenge, I’d think, but that would be up to you. I’m grateful for your sharing and letting us in to your life. Many thanks
Joyce Pruhs says
Nicolette,
I really like the browns in your mom’s socks. Nice job!
Thanks for sharing the origin of your site name–Kntting Squirrel. I like the pics of the squirrels too.
As for adding others of your interests to this site–I think it would be fine if the Knitting section was kept easy to access. I too like gardening, sewing, reading, walking as do many others who also knit. Listen to the whisperings of your heart and you will be a sucess no matter what you add to this Knittng Squirrel site. Joyce in Utah
Sylvia Kurowski says
I really enjoyed your story about Squirrel the Brave, and how that influenced the blog name
Knitting Squirrel. I hadn’t thought about it before, but I can clearly see the connection between a squirrel collecting nuts for the winter and knitters building up a stash. We really never want to get caught without enough yarn. And while it’s waiting to work it’s way into a project, it’s so beautiful to look at and touch. I do enjoy your blog so much!
Min Ng says
What an interesting account of how you got this blog title! I thought all these time it was because squirrel was your favourite animal.
I wouldn’t mind reading your other interests and non knitting related stuff on this blog. Perhaps you can have a subtitle after the main blog title, eg The Knitting Squirrel – a blog on knitting, sewing, walking (etc etc) in beautiful Belfast. That would allow everything to be included in a single blog 😉
I can’t wait for your yarns to be out of dye pot again!
Ruth Brown says
Hello Nicolette, I loved your description of how the Kitting Squirrel name evolved. Your poor mother having to pay for the toy, but what a delight for your brother and his new friend, who was “so brave”. Ruth
Christine Durand says
Dear Nikki,
Your Sasha site was always a “delice” for me. The child in me was reading your little Sasha stories and enjoyed them very much. You should come back once in a while to your Sasha creations to light up my eyes and my heart.
Let me dreams twinkle again.
Love,
Christine