We love the glimpse of other people's lives we get through their blogs, and the Daily Drivel blog is a great mix of knitting, spinning and dyeing – with a few other fun things thrown in for good measure, like a day out with her local Guild and the Ilkley Jubilee Historic Rally.

Fab pictures illustrate her posts, and you'll find plenty to inspire you in the mix of colours and textures used – as well as the knitted objects, of course!

If you've fallen in love with the cute animals in the header, hop on over to her Etsy shop, Yarnimals – Pets for Your Pins for super-cute stitch markers and jewellery – you might have spotted them on our news pages ones or twice!

Read a great blog? Write a great blog? Tell us what it is and why you like it, and you might see it here next Friday. 

The 'Casting Off: A Coat for a Boat' project is complete, and Friday 12 June marks the first day you can see it in all its glory! It's going on display at The Custom House in South Shields, and will be there until 21 July. On 12 July it will be launched into the Tyne as part of the Mouth of the Tyne festival. It will also appear at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in October and at other galleries around the UK in the following months.

It's been a long and interesting journey to get to this point. Artist Ingrid Wagner worked with Esen Kaya, visual arts development officer at the Custom House and lots of knitters to create the fabric to cover the boat.

“This has been a very exciting project to work on,” says Ingrid. “Tradition and innovation must meet to enable any craft to grow and change with the times.  Casting Off is a perfect example. ”



School children, college kids and knitters of all ages and abilities have been busy working on all sorts of accessories for the boat. Over 300 knitters have been involved with the project, both locally and from around the world.



While many of the accessories, like this fish, were knitted on regular needles, the Coat itself was created on 25mm needles, each 40cm long. The yarn was made from recycled cotton sheets from a regional hospital laundry which were ripped and rolled into balls.

The boat which wears the coat has been built by the boat builders of the Northeast Maritime Trust, an organisation dedicated to preserving traditional maritime skills.



It's been a long an careful process to create this authentic and seaworthy fishing boat.

Esen says, “The Customs House is located right on the river Tyne which has a long maritime tradition and I could see boats going up and down the river all day.  My dream was to create something which people would never expect to see in a gallery: a life size fishing boat covered in knitting!” 



Knitting was applied to the boat using waterproof glue and staples.

The finished boat looks stunning, and since this shot was taken it has been adorned with all the fish and other items, ready for the grand opening!