Who am I?

Hi, I’m Vikki Bird, a happily married mum to a son and a daughter. Originally from Somerset, South-West England, I now live in beautiful County Durham, North-East England, and being that bit further north justifies knitting and crocheting plenty of jumpers and blankets. I learnt to knit when I was about 7 and it’s a hobby that has stayed with me ever since. In late 2012 I finally took the plunge and self-published my first design on Ravelry. Since then that first pattern has been joined by many others, including several in third party publications (for Knit Now and Willow Yarns), so I now count myself as an independent knitwear designer, albeit a part time one. At the minute I’m taking a bit of a break from design work to concentrate on bring up my young family, I will get back to it, but two children under four is not conducive to meeting deadlines. I also crochet having taught myself from a book in the final year of my degree; my favourite things to crochet are blankets, especially baby-sized ones as they’re super quick!

My other great love is baking. I’m not much of a cook (my husband has described my cooking technique as ‘chop, throw in a saucepan and see what happens’), but I love to bake. Occasionally I make things that are beautiful, but most of my baking is more functional – lemon drizzle cake is one of my favourites, and it’s never going to be pretty, but it is delicious! I also love to share my bakes; my office mates are used to being guinea pigs, as are my friends with toddlers, who are all used to me arriving at their houses armed with baked goodies.

What else do you need to know? I have more yarn than I really know what to do with, so am currently knitting only from stash for a bit (the cupboard was starting to complain). If I drink tea it’s weak and black (which baffles most people), but I’ll drink coffee as strong as you like. My favourite colours are jewel-colours; I am not a pastel person. My favourite season is autumn; the colours on the trees here are amazing, and I adore wearing jumpers, coats, tights and boots; hats and scarves are a bonus too. Having said that, spring is pretty good too… I also love to take photos of friends and family. I treated myself to a digital SLR about 5 years ago, and I have never once regretted it.