Flowers to lift the spirits

Flowers are always a bit of a luxury in our house, I don't often buy them as they're not on the 'essentials' shopping list and I must admit to forgetting to water them on a regular basis!
So when I'm lucky enough to receive some as a gift, it's always a lovely treat and I was very lucky at the weekend to get these from my other half, not because it's Valentines Day but just because, ahh!

This weekend I have been wrestling with the pattern sheet from this months Sew Hip,

My youngest liked the dungarees so to be actually 'asked' to make her something is a rare privilege, so I photocopied the sheet at work on Friday, then sat down for a cutting out session on Saturday morning.  It was then that I actually looked at the pattern and realised that one copy was not going to be enough, in usual fashion the pattern pieces are all overlaid and a real nightmare to 'de-tangle' visually, I realised I should have made multiple copies.  This faff with all Sew Hip's pattern's is a real bug-bear of mine, it's such a long winded process to copy the right pieces, even with a photocopier, I much prefer the pattern layout from 'Sew' magazine, the copy price is similar so I do wish Sew Hip would convert, or just not overlay everything into a dis-organised jumble, colour coding is worth nothing on a b/w photocopy!
Ok, gripe over! And I should say that I prefer the actual things to make in Sew Hip rather than Sew!

Well I was in the mood to finish this, so I had to go old-school and crack out the pencil and greaseproof paper and get tracing!

No light-box but a large window!  After all that when we went into our local fabric shop I couldn't find any material that a) daughter liked or b) was a suitable thickness!

Will have to trawl the interweb, but it's so hard to gauge fabric/weight on-line, I may wait until I go to the NEC in March for the 'Sewing for Pleasure' show.


Speaking of Sew Hip, here finally is a pic of the mouse I made for my sister for Christmas, I was quite pleased how it turned out, the eyes were a bit wonky though!

After a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, I was very proud when my youngest came home from school to show me what she'd been practicing at school...

At four & a half she has learnt to ride her bike with no stabilisers!  I was so proud of her, she didn't want any help but gamely went back and forth, wobbling around looking very pleased with herself.  One of those milestone moments that makes you realise how time is passing.

Have a good week!

Quiet week

I have a bit of a quiet week, feeling under the weather and I haven't even wanted to knit much, so I can tell my energy levels have had a battering.

I did manage to finish the cashmerino baby hat, but I got a bit carried away and knit too much so had to rip back at one point!  So now I can see a small imperfection in it I'm wondering whether to send it to the intended recipient or make another one?!  I think my mattress stitch is improving though, but again it gives me cold feet about gifting something I've made to someone else who may not realise what work went into it and just see a boring knitted gift.  We talk about knitting having a revival but has it really in the general masses?  There is still an adversion to hand-knitted gifts out there I feel by people who are not 'in the know'.

Speaking of handmade gifts, I finally got a picture of the tree decoration I made for my Mum at Christmas, I think she's liked it, as it hasn't gone away with all the other Christmas decorations!

I got the free pattern from the lovely Lupin over at: http://bugsandfishes.blogspot.com/.  I got the felt from her shop too and it's lovely stuff, the range of colours are fabulous.

Have a good week!

Still Knitting...

        
 I've got a new addiction, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn!  It's so lovely to work with, all soft and silky and I'm loving the smallness of baby patterns!  I've finished two pairs of the simple baby booties, very simple and quick, the only thing I wonder about is how they'll fit and if they're comfortable, I need a baby to try them on!

 Next up is a hat to match, again in the neutral cream, again another simple pattern, all stocking stitch.

 The pattern is from the Baby Cashmerino 2 pattern book, which I got from eBay last week, it has some great small simple projects, I'd like to try a cardigan at some point.

I have started the moss stitch rabbit but I have say I've got a bit in a pickle with 'pkp' !  Need a bit more practice with that one!

I've also completed the cotton DK hat from Claire Montgomerie's book 'Easy Baby Knits', the pattern was really easy but I'm not sold on the yarn, it was like knitting with string!  I'm going to give it a wash to see if it softens up as it seems quite heavy and rigid for a baby item.

Now all I need is for the recipients to actually arrive!  Fingers crossed for the mums.

Monday

New Year, so a new moodboard selection is up!  It's hopefully a bit spring-like, clean and fresh, which is what I'm craving at the moment!  Both in my house and outside in the weather!

I've been rolling on with the Redhook, the rib is going well, I noticed a few ladders where I had the large plastic stitch markers, so thanks to a tip from Lion Brand Yarn (I get their weekly emails) I replaced them with small elastic bands, these are super small hair bands from Claire's Accessories and they're fab, they come in different colours too which could be handy!

As with any large project I find you need a smaller on the go project to satisfy that achievement urge, so as I know of two people who are expecting littles soon, I saw this quick and easy project in this months 'Knit Today' (issue 55) for simple booties.

Sadly I didn't have any Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, so I just had to go out and get some!!  Any excuse, and it's lovely stuff, really soft and should wash ok.  I went for the deep red and also got some cream - I'm testing out the red, but will do a pair in cream too and will probably send those off as they're a bit more neutral?

There is a bit of a mistake in the pattern though, the decrease rows are labelled wrongly, after knitting the first 18 rows it then reads ' Row 13'....  Just ignore the numbering and follow the rows one after the other, so it should read' Row 19 - 21'.  If that doesn't make sense, I found the answer on Knit Today's Facebook page and then also on Ravelry in the Knit Today group.
I should have one finished tonight?! *slow knitter*!

New Year, New Knitting

Hurray for January, no more crafting to deadlines (although it can be useful & productive!), it's a time of having a think and deciding what YOU want to make!
So after looking at what I had in my yarn stash, rather than buying new wool, I decided to find a better use for the Rowan Felted Tweed I've had for about a year now.  I originally bought 4 balls of this as I'd seen a pattern on Ravelry that I liked, no matter that the suggested yarn was alpaca and a bit thicker, I thought with a bit of maths to amend the pattern and some swatching I'd be sorted.....yes...well...I am a novice knitter I forgot, the maths I eventually mananged, what I couldn't get was the stitch tension looking nice on the larger needles I'd chosen.  So to cut a long story short, the project wasn't getting done because I wasn't happy with it, so with my January 'can do' attitude I had the brain-wave to search Ravelry for a pattern based upon the yarn I had *ding* - *lightbulb moment*!
Now it also had to be fairy easy as this was to be my first garment! I think I've done well, I've found 'Redhook' by Brooklyn Tweed, which is a lovely long waistcoat/vest type garment with small cap sleeves and is just rib and stocking stitch.  Head over to Ravelry and find me, I'm HoldMyHand, where you can see more!

I had an awful time starting off though, casting on and counting 244 sttiches was difficult for my little brain but then trying to get the rib pattern (k2p2) started proved to be beyond my novice skills!
I think I ripped back and re-started about 5 times, getting into a rhythm and having the right amount of stitches at the end of  every row was a nightmare, but I perservered, I broke down the three parts onto a piece of paper and wrote down what the pattern would be for each RS & WS row and what type of stitch I would be on at the end of each part so that if I did go wrong I'd know quickly and not at the end of 244 stitches!!
I've done about 1.5" of the 5" rib section now and once I got into the rhythm it was so much easier, that and remembering to purl the bumpy stitches!  The yarn is looking really nice too, the flecky colour is working up very attractively

While all the bad juju was going on with the above project I needed a soothing project to complete, ie. something easy!  So with the Sirdar Big Softie I got before Christmas I decided  to do some quick wristlets..

Very easy, I cast on 19 stitches (measured around knuckle width) and did a long rectangle in stocking stitch until I got a length from fore-arm to knuckles.  I then sewed up the side seam, leaving a gap for the thumb, nice and quick!  The bulky wool is really soft and warm, one ball was just enough for two, but I have a second ball left, so might think about a scarf to match, something short with a bit of character, more like a neck-warmer than a traditional scarf, I think I will have to peruse Ravelry again!

Christmas Crafts unveiled

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a lovely peaceful time with friends or family, the girls have had a present-tastic time and on the crafty side, I was very pleased to finish all the projects I started!

The above dolly was for my youngest, it's taken from the book 'Made by Me' by Jane Bull, which I have now bought as it's got lots of easy crafts for young girls (and their mums!) to try. It's a simple sleepy/awake dolly with knitted hat and simple dresses. I then made a simple cover, pillow and mattress from Ikea fabric and wadding to fill an old dolly bed/basket we picked up at a jumble sale.
The verdict? Was good, thankfully! I made a small drawstring bag and added in some extra dresses so she had fun dressing/undressing her. I made the neckline with elastic instead ribbon for easier changing and used pinking shears to cut as there were no hems in the pattern.

For my eldest I made the Lily doll and Pickle the panda from the Emma Thomson series of books, the were a bit fiddly, the patterns are available in two of the story books and worked up quite quickly.
The monkeys are from the Patons Colour Works Aran pattern book, I made one and my Mum made the other and it's really interesting to see the differences between our styles!  The sizes are different and the features make them really unique!
The last bunnies were not homemade, but came from the lovely stall at Vintage & Handmade by Donna Flower and have been loved and taken to bed already.

I also completed gifts for my family, but stupidly forgot to photograph them!  I'll see if I can a photo at the weekend.

So I was very happy to be able to stick to my pledge of homemade gifts and second-hand presents for the girls, as the majority were, eBay supplied a lot of the presents, marble run and more lego were a hit.
The new items were making kits like Hama beads...

Both the girls like these and they're a nice quiet activity!  This one is a mobile making kit, the youngest needs a bit of a hand but it should look good when it's finished.

Well, it takes ages to get ready for but quick as a flash Christmas is over!

Better start thinking about New Year resolutions now, the first will be more regular blogging I hope, I think I'll try to set a day of the week for a regular posting, perhaps I should take part in a challenge to keep me motivated?!

Christmas Fairs

Well here we are then, December!  The month where the days run away from you!

Time for a quick update on last weekend's visits....first on Saturday was the Handmade & Gorgeous Fair at Oxford Town Hall...after fighting through the shopping crowds (I remembered why I very rarely go into Oxford for shopping!), me & the girls got there and it was very quiet, there was no large adverts outside, so no real chance of passing trade I thought..

There were lots of stalls, but not as many as last years Handm@de Fair and there was a distinct lack of a 'buzz' when we got there, which to be fair was after lunch so we probably missed any rush.  The stalls were a mix of items, but in my opinion there was far too much jewellery, I am biased as I don't buy jewellery but it weakens the effect if there are too many competing vendors doing the same items I think.  The best stall I thought was Homespun, they had some lovely hand-sewn items, like bags, decorations & bookmark's, I can't seem to find any links for them at the moment..

I also got (another!) corsage, this time in a lovely dark mix, black & dark aubergine, again no info on the stall I'm afraid, the listing from the event wasn't very illuminating, lots of people didn't have web-sites to look them up later and most of the stalls didn't have any contacct info, like moo cards to take away.  I know they're an expense but they can be very useful, I know I always go back home and check out any web-sites and bookmark my favourites.

So after a shorter than expected mooch, we went round the corner to Darn it & Stitch, Oxford's slightly new and only sewing shop down on Blue Boar Street, which is a very small space (especially if you have small people and also not good for buggies as there are steps down inside the door, but it's quite quiet outside so you could leave it outside and keep and eye on it!) but it's crammed with loveliness, great selection of sewing & knitting supplies, I especially liked the giant ric-rack and the selection of quality fabrics.  They were having demonstrations upstairs of quilt-making, corset making & lace-making as they run all these and more as short courses, my eldest was fascinated by the lace-making and we had a lovely explanation of it as the sight of all those bobbins was quite off-putting, it actually seems quite methodical and logical the steps involved, a bit like plaiting/braiding.

I got some lovely cute animal retractable tape measure's for the girls stockings which hopefully they didn't see me purchase! 

Sunday, we we're up early in -4c weather and off to Chipping Sodbury for THE Vintage & Handmade Christmas Fair!  In stark contrast to the day before, it was absolutely heaving!!  I think we got there at about 11.30 and it was manic, lots of people and lots to look at, once you got to see the stalls!  There seemed to be more types of general shoppers on this occasion, not just vintage fans, which meant there were (in my opinion) too many large buggies and lots of 'other halfs' milling about which meant access to the stalls was a bit challenging!  The sheer amount of goodies on offer was hard for my small brain to take, it was like a small child being in a sweet shop!  Hence I completely forgot about taking pictures and only managed one!
There were the usual lovely sellers and also some new ones, such as The Devil Makes Work, with lovely applique items and the moving of the tea-room upstairs meant there was more room in the first room for more stalls.

The tea-room upstairs was a bit disorganised when we went to grab a well-deserved sit down!  There was only one poor girl serving and there was quite a queue, there was also stalls upstairs but as the queue was blocking the door I'm not sure a lot of people managed to get past and find the stalls at the back of the room, so a slightly different layout next time would be better.

I got some lovely fabric from Donna Flower and Sal's Snippets, I didn't get much Christmassy stuff, I think all the good stuff goes early!  The Vintage Magpie had the most gorgeous little elephant on her stall:

Such a lovely soft lilac colour, she's still looking for a home on Etsy I believe, I so wished I had the cash to take her home with me to join my little Magpie bunny!

On the V&H site there's a great selection of photo's to browse through and hey, I think I recognise that lady  with the stripy arms?!!

I'll try and get some pics of my purchases once the sun comes out...it may take a while!