Father of Purl 🧶 🇺🇦
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guyfreeman.bsky.social
Father of Purl 🧶 🇺🇦
@guyfreeman.bsky.social
580 followers 520 following 290 posts
Oldish bloke; enjoys travelling throughout Australia, especially with Bush Church Aid as a BCA Nomad.
Knitter.
Husband of one wife.
Slava Ukraine!

Banner: Anthony Gormley statue at Lake Ballard, WA.
Mugshot: drawn by Rocco Fazzari.
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guyfreeman.bsky.social
A US security guarantee isn't worth a pinch of shit!
Why?
The Budapest Memorandum, that's why.
Image is a poster detailing the shortcomings of the Budapest Memorandum and how Ukraine was betrayed.
August 19, 2025 at 12:14 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
Scarves don't have to be boring.
Blue scarf knitted with one 25g ball of kid silk yarn. The pattern is derived from traditional Shetland lace.
August 19, 2025 at 10:45 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
I've been knitting since about 1983 and I can assure you that you'll keep on making mistakes. They become more adventurous. See my recent Shetland lace post, for example.
And this pic shows a mistake I call 2P2K, which means too pissed to knit (I misread the pattern).
I hope you enjoy the adventure.
Cable knitting in orange wool. It was intended to be a jumper, but came out far too big, so it was ripped back to balls of yarn and turned into a blanket.
August 19, 2025 at 10:40 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
#Knitting #ShetlandLace #lace #cobweb #1ply
My samples project (from Carol Christiansen's "Shetland Fine Lace Knitting") has resumed.

Not only am I learning how to knit Shetland lace but I'm also learning how to knit 1-ply yarn.

1/2
The sample images show the scrunched up sample straight off the needles, the sample being "blocked" (pinned out to dry after washing or dampening), the finished sample. The samples pictured are made from 1 ply lace yarn (Shetland wool) also called cobweb yarn. These pics show some recreated lace patterns from Shetland's past. In this pic the sample is called Zigzag and mesh stitch sample. See alt text for the other pic for more detail. The pattern being shown here is: Single Diamond Drop on alternating sides.
August 19, 2025 at 10:15 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
The sound ... contentment.
Here's a pic of my recent batch of quince jelly (QJ to my kids); previous batch was made about 40 years ago!
Pic shows a tower of jars of ruby hued quince jelly glistening in the sunlight.
August 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
They are the colours recommended in the pattern.
Pic shows Tingwall tea cosy pattern and yarn kit from Shetland. The kit arrived as a welcome distraction from the Aran sweater in the background. The natural, cream coloured jumper is now being worn almost daily in the southern hemisphere winter.
August 18, 2025 at 12:32 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
#ShowMeYourKnits Fair Isle tea cosy in Jameson & Smith wool yarn from Shetland.
Pic shows a multi-coloured (mustard, moss, rust,blue) tea cosy with Fair Isle pattern on the outside and simple stripes for the inside lining. The pattern layer + carried strand layer + lining layer make it a super-effective three-layered tea cosy.
August 17, 2025 at 8:40 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
#knitting #cables #sweater #wool #handmade
Finished the Aranmor sweater, designed by Alice Starmore, today (19/7/25) in good time for the rest of the southern hemisphere winter.
I started in October and paused for our summer. If I take it on an aeroplane I’ll have to wear it, because it’s so heavy.
Oldish chap wearing an Aran patterned jumper (sweater) called Aranmor, designed by Alice Starmore. The jumper has about half a dozen cable patterns. The colour is almost natural wool colour: creamy with a little tweed-like flecking. The yarn is thick (10-ply) and rustic; it felt like knotting waxed rope . The fabric is robust and quite rough.
July 19, 2025 at 5:54 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
My grandson asked if I’d knitted my socks (yes) and he asked for a pair for himself. Here’s the result.
#knitting
Multi-coloured socks knitter for a young boy.
May 19, 2025 at 10:33 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
#showmeyourknits

Purple shawl made from sock yarn.
Lace shawl in purple sock yarn. Knitted from the centre out. Purple sock-yarn shawl being blocked on a bed.
May 19, 2025 at 10:31 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
#showmeyourknits
This was my first Stolen Stitches KAL … for my purple-loving wife.
Yarn is a blend of superbaby alpaca and kid silk.
Light purple cardigan with dark purple trim. There is a lacy motif in the yoke.
May 19, 2025 at 10:25 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
They look great!

I made these for a 5-year-old, who wore them almost day and night for the next three days.
Five-year-old legs in socks made from a gradually changing “rainbow” of colours.
April 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
Map detailing a creative proposal for North America.
February 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
Yep, it won’t work in this pattern.
Wonderful, intricate Shetland lace stole in blue/grey yarn, held up in front on an exposed-brick wall.
February 9, 2025 at 3:04 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
🧶 Grrr! For the second time this row: pattern says k20, but only 19 st remaining on the needle. And I can’t find the missing stitch among the stitches already knitted.
Black knitting needle with 19 stitches of white yarn lying on a pattern requiring 20 stitches to complete the row.
February 9, 2025 at 1:51 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
🧶 Attempting a Shetland lace shawl and so far failing spectacularly.
Missing stitches, dropping (and losing) stitches while tinking and now, snapping the thread while attempting to frog and pick up the initial garter stitches. Wrong yarn maybe.
Hmm, enthusiasm for this project is taking a battering.
Disappointment pictured: fine grey thread snapped while ripping because it gripped so tightly to the knitted fabric. Also pictured: a knitting needle, a temporary cast-on in white thread and a few rows of garter stitch.
February 2, 2025 at 9:58 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
🧶 #ShowMeYourKnits
The inside of the recently completed tea cosy has a striped lining.
More details here:

ravel.me/FatherOfPurl...

I can confirm that three knitted layers (the pattern, the yarn carried behind the pattern and the lining) keeps the teapot warm.
Four-coloured tea cosy (mustard yellow, blue, green and rusty red) in Fair Isle pattern with striped lining. The top right of the pic shows a sad bit of 1-ply pulled from the needles … my first (failed) attempt at Shetland lace project with extremely fine yarn.
February 1, 2025 at 9:09 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
🧶 #ShowMeYourKnits
The intended recipient models her new beanie (Frost Hat from @samlovesyarn.bsky.social ).
She will have to wait for the southern hemisphere autumn and winter before she can wear it … it’s too warm for this time of the year in Oz.
Teenage girl models a mauve-ish beanie of hand-dyed luscious merino, silk, cashmere 4-ply yarn. The soon-to-be-released pattern features travelling stitches which give the appearance of cables. The model’s spectacle frames are an excellent match for the beanie.
February 1, 2025 at 3:21 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
Oh dear, the art of losing one lovely sock … I made a pair of travelling stitch socks for my wife (took ages). It’s now just one sock — and there’s zero chance of a third being knitted.
Composite image showing a sock in black yarn. It has something called travelling stitches which look like cable work but are actually made with a particular stitch technique.
January 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
I fully understand. I have in hibernation an Alice Starmore Aran jumper (it doesn’t need to be completed until the southern hemisphere winter). I’m enjoying the project and looking forward to wearing it … but I’m also noticing a hope that I’ll be over my Aran aspirations once it’s completed.
Aran cable jumper in a neutral/natural cream colour … sweater almost half completed (a front and an arm.
January 28, 2025 at 3:06 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
🧶 #knitting #FairIsle #Shetland
Tingwall Tea Cosy was finished today; pictured drying (blocking) after a wash.
Details and stats on Ravelry: ravel.me/FatherOfPurl...
This is my second WIP completed in two days.
Now, anyone for a cuppa before I pick up WIP No.3?
Knitted tea cosy lying (to dry) on a blue and white tea towel. Tea cosy is four colours of Jameson & Sons (Shetland Wool Brokers) 5-ply yarn: Marsh, green; Mustard, yellow; Rust, red, and Marine, blue. It is a cover-all tea cosy, so no holes for handle or spout. The pattern is Fair Isle colour work. Picture of the cover of the Tingwall Tea Cosy pattern. Anyone for yarn chicken? The recommended yarn quantities were spot on as the picture shows how little of each colour is left over.
January 28, 2025 at 1:41 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
#ShowMeYourKnits 🧶
Here’s another, from a Japanese stitch book.
It was quite tight.
Interesting project, but not one I’d repeat.
Reluctant model (hence blurred) wears purple cable knit beanie.
January 27, 2025 at 9:04 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
What a great idea. Well done.
I just finished a cable-ish test knit beanie.
Maroon beanie on white background. Has cable-like travelling stitches. Crown of previously described beanie. Old chap models said beanie. I hope the designer likes it.
January 27, 2025 at 12:08 PM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
#ShowMeYourKnits 🧶
Knitted this a year or so ago; ripped it back to balls and made a knee rug for a friend instead. Jumper was too big.
Plus an oddity from the 1980s.
And finally a beanie I completed today.
My cable Aran sweater is elsewhere in my Bluesky posts.
Cabled jumper modelled by a very old bloke. Jumper far too big. Jumper yarn repurposed into knee rug (no cables) … for a delighted friend. Knitting + ADD = quickly bored. What a cacophony of strangeness. I was using up yarn ripped from a failed garment attempt for my mother. Sleeves have cables: one sleeve has cable of same colour, other sleeve has two-tone contrasting colours. One evening while out for dinner a stranger (wearing a beautiful, intricate jumper in 4-ply yarn) congratulated my wife on making this. Less than impressed or flattered, she pointed out that *he* knitted it. Just off the needles today: a maroon beanie with travelling stitches that look cable-like. The beanie is a test knit (my first). It is in 4-ply merino, silk, cashmere (70:20:10).
January 27, 2025 at 11:53 AM
guyfreeman.bsky.social
I’ve been keeping this project quiet until it was presented as a gift. A few months ago one of my daughters said she wanted a tea cosy. I subsequently saw an advertisement for this Jameson & Smith pattern and I ordered it and the yarn, which was sent from Shetland in the UK. Postage was more
…
Green and white Fair Isle tea cosy on a glass jar with pattern cover images in the background. Ready to steek: the yellow thread marks where the knitted fabric will be cut. There is a row of backstitching either side of the yellow to secure the yarn ends once cut. Steeking cut completed and, to my surprise, the fabric didn’t fall to bits. View is inside of the tea cosy; the carried yarn of the Fair Isle pattern can be seen. Completed steek after the cut ends had been sewn into place inside the tea cosy.
January 18, 2025 at 11:28 AM