Albert

Hello and happy new year! A little bit of a long overdue greeting from me. I am pleased to announce my best creation of 2016- Albert. Six days late and born on Rose's birthday!





Here he is with his wonderful big sister just a few days old (he is almost three months now - slow down time). She has been a real gem, I never imagined how patient she can be. And she just loves her brother. One day this week I got a bit cross with her and she went and sat with to him to sulk and tell him all about how misunderstood she was. Little partners in crime. I have been trying very hard to photograph them together every week to record how they grow. I'll be sure to share some of those as the months pass. Sorry if I vanish again for a bit - it's quite busy here, but very nice and we're having fun (despite the frozen winter and pouring rain) my evenings are mostly spent in a dark room with a sleeping baby and iplayer, but I am hoping for a chance to pick up some crochet again soon. I'll let you know!

all the colours

When Rose was a baby i didn't do as much knitting for her as i imagined i would as a mother (in fact i knitted her nothing after she was born, and really only this little one while i was pregnant) I did however get a rather magnificent collection of hand knits for her from charity shops, and i am in denial a little bit because some of them were so great, but am beginning to accept that mostly they are all too small now. So i felt that it really was time to fulfill my knitter mummy duty and make her a new cardigan.



I had in mind this lovely diary scarf (an idea i really like) my friend Debbie made a little while back, although i didn't use the diary idea, i really like the design of it and thought something like this would be a perfect use for all my odd balls of wool. I found a basic raglan cardigan pattern (i like a raglan with stripes, i think it works so well) in my extensive library (handed down from nanny) and started with the back to set the pattern.  Although i wasn't doing a colour a day like Debbie did,  i really enjoyed the  process of deciding how much of each colour and how to order them.

I finished this project just in time for Rose's birthday and she was very pleased to wear it at last. I was just relieved it fitted her! And just in time for this cold spell too.



perfect scamp-wear!

Little Rose Riding Hood

Very much time has passed since i knitted this little snug cardigan, and since then i haven't really made many things (there were a lot more maternity dresses, but they were all very similar in the end!) but I did make this little thing to fill that cardigan...

Her name is Rose and she is the reason I take a long time to do everything now! But she is the best.

xx

i like this outfit

After the success of my tunic, i decided another skirt and top set would be good to mix to help mix and match a little.

I found this remnant a few weeks ago and thought it was just really a sweet pattern.

I made the skirt just by folding the fabric in half and seaming down the back, and then elasticating at the waist. Although unfortunately i don't have a waist anymore so had to make a decision about where the skirt would sit - under bump or over bump. i decided over bump was the more comfortable choice, although perhaps not the most flattering. but i've stopped worrying about that sort of thing really (my poor new husband!)

The top i made for this set i used the pattern for my tent dress and shortened it, rather than the tunic pattern i made. It worked really nicely.

It's nice to wear a t-shirt with the skirt too. I only really do that indoors though as i am a bit shy of wearing anything too figure hugging in public. Sometimes when the baby moves about it makes some funny shapes out of my tummy! scampy baby! x

expanding wardrobe for expanding me!

I have been quite enjoying dressing my big tummy, but i have very much missed wearing skirts and tops. I had a little trip to the highstreet and found a very practical jersey skirt - good for stretching over all sizes of tum! But what to wear with it?

I just got myself a little piece of blue fabric and went about making a tunic top. the pattern was the same as i used for this little two piece suit - but just made a little longer in the body. i haven't drawn a new block for my new shape - that might be an interesting project though - i wonder what shape that would come out.

annnnyway - here you can see what a simple shape it is - just some bust darts, but otherwise very straight:

it was looking a bit like a hospital gown, and not the denimy sort of look i was aiming for. I found this lovely trim though which really helped! i think i have more patience these days as sewed it all by hand and enjoyed that task.

 it is such a comfortable little outfit. good for a lazy weekend day. x

little red riding hood

A little while ago while i was trying to make some more space, i had a very ruthless clear out of my wool, only keeping the ones i thought i could definitely use and limiting myself to one basket full! It was a bit brutal - but it is nice that all the balls don't get so tangled up now.

One ball that survived the cut was a massive ball of red chunky wool from tea cosy projects of yesteryear. It made me think that red is a very good unisex colour when you have to clothe a baby but don't yet know if he's really a boy or not!

I did a little ravelry search for baby patterns in chunky wool and my favourite was this one - a little snug!

I enjoyed this one as the construction was really interesting - you might be able to tell from the picture - it was all knitted in garter stitch and more or less seamless. And the pattern was really informative with lots of good instructions. I learnt some good skills like provisional cast on (using a bit of crochet) and grafting.

I hope this will keep little baby as cosy as it keeps our tea! xx

little legs

Soon we will have a baby come to live with us! And i am really very much into nesting mode. We have managed to clear our spare room so we can make it more like a home for him in there. And I have started collecting some warm woollens as am very aware he will be with us in November and the start of the cold months.

Ebay has been a wonderful source for hand knit cardigans and jumpers and i've managed to collect some real gems. I decided my hand making energy will be best directed having a go at making some trousers for baby. I can already tell there are some good legs on that little one - he is exercising them well.

We don't know if he   will be a boy or a girl. But everything does seem to be quite blue... but i thought it will be easier to sew lots of bows onto blue things, but making girls clothes into boy clothes is more challenging! There is logic there somewhere.

Anyway, with this leggy mission in mind, i managed to find some good patterns for trousers and leggings.



This knitting pattern was one i found after a charity shop rummage. i stormed through the little leggings  in no time...



The wool i got in the sale and it is lovely and soft, but i am not sure about it for a cardigan/bonnet/mittens (i ran out for the last few rows and had to improvise - odd foot). I will definitely try to do another pair of these though in something a bit woolier that will lend itself better to creating the whole suit (my poor baby!)



I also was pleased to find this dressmaking pattern to be able to make some little things using my sewing skills. The baby looks a bit hot in all those clothes, but it seemed to be a perfect collection for the winter, including a little jacket and dungarees (i want to make those in corduroy!) for now i have had a go at the little trousers in this brushed cotton fabric. They are so soft!





They were supposed to be lined, but i thought this might just all be a bit much fabric in the end (now i look at it, perhaps this pattern is for out-wear) Because i just used a single thickness it did create the need for a bit of improvising with the turn ups and waist band, but i am pleased with how i managed.

Snug baby.

Blooming Marvellous

Having an ever changing body at the moment is really keeping me on my dressmaking toes! I am quite limited with what i can wear from my wardrobe at the moment, but there are a few little gems which are seeing me through (my betsy dress and this old faithful yellow tent dress and this little gem are my new best friends!)

And here are a couple more new(ish) items which I am really getting a lot of wear from (made during wedding fever with no time to blog) They use the same tent dress pattern as my new checked dress, but just changing the fabric has given them their own styles.



This lovely daisy dress i really adore. i just love the fabric. It is a lawn cotton so is really light and floaty and although identical to my other tent dresses, the drape of the fabric seems to totally change the style.





 And this one is made with a crisp cotton, but as the fabric was quite narrow i had to streamline the shape and wear with a belt. This is definitely a good one for getting a seat on the train!

I bought a little basic stretchy skirt from H&M last week so I am hoping this will open up some new possibilities for me.



And for now I have this remnant to play with - there is a metre and a half and I am hoping perhaps a tunic and skirt would be a nice change? I will let you know what happens! xx

Emilia. xx