Crafty Christmas Club

Even though it's still October, Christmas items are already creeping into the shops, and Christmas nights out are being organised.

I'm very pleased to be a part of the Crafty Christmas Club, organised by Tilly and the Buttons. It will be great to get some inspiration for presents, and also to encourage me to make items in order to be able to share them on the blog. I don't have a lot of people to buy for, but I hope to make as many things as possible. I have a couple of ideas already, and look forward to blogging about them soon. Once I can stop making things for myself, that is!

K x

Winter Knitting

As previously mentioned, I've been very much enjoying knitting as the weather has been getting colder. I'm still slogging away at the Rosa short-sleeved jumper - I've finished the front and am about halfway up the back. You can see my work-in-progress peeking out of the knitting bag above.

I'm not sure that I'm totally sold on the green wool I've chosen but hopefully I'll like it when it's sewn up and completed. With hindsight, I wish I'd gone for a neutral colour such as a grey, and used a bright red for the contrast trim.

Despite my dislike of patterns which require endless rows of stockinette, I've been enjoying this knit. However that hasn't stopped me taking on smaller projects at the same time. It's nice to be able to complete a short project to help keep the momentum going with the longer knit. I've knitted two pairs of Fetching fingerless mitts, the first in pink and the second in purple.

They're a great knit, a lovely pattern and quick.


Following a visit to K1 Yarns in Edinburgh, I purchased 3 skeins of beautifully soft Artesano Aran in a raspberry shade. I will be making the Little Red Riding Snood, a hooded scarf with cabled borders. I'm really looking forward to knitting with the wool as it is so soft and the hood is so cosy-looking. I spent some time perusing the range of Artesano Aran colours. I loved all the bright shades, but as the item will be wrapped around my face I decided that I softer shade was required.


And of course, as the wool is aran, I will be using 7mm needles, and am looking forward to how quickly it will knit up, in contrast to my 4 ply/3.25mm project!

K x

Giveaways Giveaways Giveaways

There are some very lovely giveaways on some of my favourite blogs just now. Here are a few;

Rachel Red Lips is offering $30 store credit to Clover en Rouge vintage collection

Diary of a Vintage Girl is a 'Mini Vintage Face Starter Kit' from Collection 2000

In the Heyday has a beautiful Fleur dress to give away

And ending tonight.....

My Happy Sewing Place has a selection of cute vintage patterns

Good luck!

K x

Stripy Sencha

It's finished! Sencha number 3, in stripes, using vintage buttons purchased from a craft/vintage fair a few months ago.

I think I'm most pleased with this version of the blouse. I love the neckline tucks, and much prefer the back with buttons rather than poppers. The button hole feature on my machine also worked perfectly, after some misbehaving on a previous project.

I was pleased to make use of these particular buttons too. They're a bit smaller than recommended but large buttons are not very practical to have down the back of your blouse if you're planning to be comfortable when sitting down. I also machine stitched the folds for the buttons on each side of the back, instead of hand stitching. This has been a weak point for previous versions and I think it looks absolutely fine machine stitched.

So, on to the next project, which will be Beignet, also by Colette Patterns. I've seen some lovely colourful versions of this skirt but have decided to go for a more sober wool, with a spotted lining.



The wool is gorgeous, and I'm hoping practical, as it will go with a lot of things, and both blacks and browns. The spotted lining was bought from a charity shop a couple of months ago.


(shown with cat's head for scale, and because she has to sniff everything when I'm trying to take photos)

And finally, one more picture of Dot exploring the pattern as I was attempting to cut it, just before she was banished from the room for unruly behaviour and reckless pattern endangerment.

K x

The House of Eliott

One of my favourite things to do is spend a Saturday afternoon knitting or sewing while watching TV. My favourite recent television rediscovery is The House of Eliott. I used to watch it when it was on BBC 1 in the early 1990s, though on re-watching it again, I had realised that I had forgotten virtually everything about the story.

For those who don't remember, it centres around the lives of the two Eliott sisters, Bea and Evie, who set up a fashion house in 1920s London. It's worth watching for the beautiful 1920s fashions and interiors alone. However the story of how two women build their own business from scratch and break away from their sheltered upbringing is also worth watching. I'm not pretending it's Oscar-worthy stuff, but is definitely worth a watch. I bought the DVDs from Amazon for just for £10 each per series.

There are a few clips of the first episode on You Tube, but I've chosen this one, where Evie gets her distinctive 20s bob haircut;



Whilst looking on You Tube, I also found the French & Saunders parody, 'The House of Idiot' - also worth a watch!

Progress Report

In my short blogging experience, I've come to realise that my photographs are pretty rubbish. All of my favourite blogs are the ones with great pictures. But dammit, my photos are functional rather than beautiful.

It can be really nice to see other peoples' projects coming together online through their photos, and with that in mind I present....

Rosa by Kim Hargreaves (well, she designed the pattern and I did the knitting...)

I really love the style of Kim's patterns as they have a great vintage look. However one problem I've found is that they can be pretty boring to knit. Row upon row of stockinette stitch, particularly in 4 ply which doesn't knit up quickly, is incredibly dull. I already have one unfinished cardigan hidden in the cupboard that I grew tired of knitting.

So far with Rosa, the pattern has struck a good balance of being simple to knit but having a few things to remember each row. The above picture represents about 3 weeks of knitting, made alongside another knitting project and a sewing one.

I've also come to realise that stockinette has its merits, as it's much easier to talk to people, watch TV or look out the window of the train when you're knitting stockinette. That said, I think the back of the jumper will be considerably less interesting.

My sewing project, as previously mentioned, is yet another Sencha;

I'm using the afore-blogged striped fabric for the project. This is my third version of the pattern but the first time I've tried a button version, and this one also has tucks at the neck.

When preparing the project, I didn't make a connection between the issue of sewing with stripes and making tucks. So, while I'm really pleased with how the tucks and neckline have turned out, it was a bad choice of fabric to use. The above photo shows the half-made item, with the odd-looking striped tucks.

I'm persevering with the blouse nonetheless, and will then finally, FINALLY move on to a new sewing project.

K x