I signed up to Craftsy an online learning platform some time ago and joined Gertie's Sew Retro Bombshell Dress class, the more recent Starlet Suit Jacket class as well as Susan Khalje's couture dress class. All the classes are really useful and you get the freedom of learning whenever and wherever suit me which is great. It saves a lot of travelling time. It's also economical compared to in person classes.

Once you sign up to Craftsy you can often get discounts on other courses. I've recently signed up to the Sweetheart lace shawl by Kristin Omdahl as they're doing summer sale. All classes are US$19.99 max until 2nd July!

You might wonder why I'd want to knit in the middle of summer. Firstly, England's summer is quite short. Secondly, the weather can be very unpredictable, i.e. very hot in the day but when it gets dark you'll want to have a shawl or a cardigan to keep warm. Lastly, I spend at least 2 hours a day commuting to work so knitting or crocheting on the train seems to be good use of time.

I'm not completely new to knitting as my grandma taught me knitting when I was about 10 years old. That said, my knitting productions are limited to accessories as I don't quite have the patience to knit a whole garment. My last knitting related item was this mohair scarf which I brought with me when I moved from Hong Kong to England. Actually it's crocheted and because of the scraf's lace design, it didn't take too long to make (man this scarf is more than 12 years old!). The pattern is from a Japanese crochet book, since I made this such a long time ago, I'm quite sure that this pattern is no longer in print.

Three mohair yarns were used starting with the deep red in the centre, then the pink and finally the ivory which was used to join other red and pink flowers together.

Here's a close up of the flower block.

Now the challenge will be on balancing the time between sewing and knitting. I already have tonnes or sewing projects which I planned to do so hopefully knitting won't reduce my sewing production! Do you sew and knit? Do you have lots of projects which you want to do? How do you find time? I'd love to hear from you!