I don't know where this love originated: I first caught whiff of the giant squidgery through the magical lens of Jules Verne, then - I learnt that they were real, and there is one being housed at the Natural History Museum in London, of all places. 

It became my goal to visit Archie in his glass, underground lair. And, I finally did - it was my (belated) birthday present in 2009. It was fantastic, and everything I hoped it would be. I knew more than the guide.

How much do you love this origami from MIT?

My excellent friend Jonathan introduced me to the world of China Mieville, and I read Kraken on the cobbled streets of Prague when we visited last year.

Cephalopods have made their way into my home as well. Remember Stevie the Octopus?

Stevie has nothing on Plarchie: the giant knitted squid from the fabulous mind of Whodunnknit. Also, this is Plarchie posing with China Mieville. It doesn't get better than that.

And so, all this squiddy rambling brings us to fabric, as most conversations with me usually do. 

On my fabric adventures in internetland, I discovered (and fell in love with) Heather Ross and her Mendocino Range. It's filled with seahorses and octopi (octopuses, octopodes?), kelp, swirls, mermaids, underwater lasses and geometric patterns. I wanted it. All of it. 

The problem is, it's all but sold out. Faced with a fabricy conundrum, I did two things: (1) I ordered Heather Ross's book of Prints which is fabulous and (2) because of the lack of choice and colourways, I decided to design my own range of squid fabric and have it digitally printed. And why not? I design websites, I design patterns - a skill easily transferred to fabrics!

So that's what I've been doing. 

I'm working on six prints and a set of appliqué designs which I hope to finish by Christmas. There are mermaids, pirates and of course - squid. I would love to be discovered by a fabulous fabric house, and snatched up for a life of soft cottons and linen, but I suspect that my bit of fabric is bound for Etsy and Christmas Markets. Do keep a look out, won't you?