Some time ago now I did my BDes(hons) in Constructed Textiles. It was 3 years of fun with knitting,weaving and tapestry, but also a lot of hard work. In my first year I won the Rowan Hand Knitter competition with my design for a chenille hand knit sweater. I will try to fish out a picture and post it if anyone wants to see my design! During my degree I discovered my love of felting things & some of my final degree show consisted of felted machine knitted scarves with inserts of autumnal leaf motifs in 100% cotton chenille.
After my degree I worked for a Scottish Knitwear firm as their in-house designer and learnt how everything is worked out to be manufactured on a BIG scale ( a real eye opener to a freshly graduated student). I saw my sweater designs produced & then sold to stockists round the world…. which was sooo exciting!
After a year or so I decided to go it alone to design and produce my own range of felted knitwear. I was based in Edinburgh at the time when Alistair McDonald came to interview me & wrote an article on my collection for Machine Knit Today. The finished article was published in Oct 1996 (see – Fiona Swinley) if anyone still has a copy at home and wants to read it….
In 2004 we moved back to the West Country as my mum was undergoing her 3rd lot of Chemotherapy and both her and dad needed some help. Mum recovered (thankfully!) and has been in remission ever since…
These days I’m a stay at home mum of Finn (will be 2yrs in Aug), carer of my parents and wife of a fabulous husband that just about copes with my endless hoarding of yarn, fabric, beads, buttons, embroidery threads, sewing machines, overlockers, books & drawing stuff to name but a few!
I love to design & create so many things I sometimes find it hard to concentrate on just one craft… but my love of crochet never fades. I’m really excited to be publishing my own patterns and selling them on Ravelry & Etsy. So I hope you enjoy my them and that you’ll stop by from time to time for a chat 
& say hello!
Fi
x
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and your nice comments! Oh, to be able to work with my hands like you can. You probably get this all the time from us silly Americans, but I simlpy love Scotland. My husband and I spent 3 weeks in Scotland in 2006 and it was very hard to leave. I shall visit your blog often to be inspired by all the lovely handiwork. If I can figure out how to link your blog to mine, I’ll do so. I’m rather new to this as well!
Hi Fiona,
My name is Lauren and I am writing from a publishers called New Holland and I was wondering if you might be interested in doing any reviews for us as we publish a wide range of crochet, craft and knitting titles? Let me know if this is something you’d be keen to explore. You can get in touch with me via my address. We’ve got some fun titles coming out this month and we are keen to promote them as much as possible. Perhaps, if you are not so keen you might also know of some good channels to target?
Thanks and best wishes,
Lauren Gurteen
Marketing Executive
New Holland Publishers
PS On a personal note, I love the layout and feel of your blog – how did you get it looking so good? I’m just starting out on blogging myself on blogger.com and it would be great to get any tips!