wicker and wool

Last week I was mainly making pom poms - I love them so much, and their bright woolly fluffiness. I saw Lucy's lovely baskets and after that couldn't look at our wicker washing basket in the same way again.



Poor plain basket (poor dirty mirror) (poor mum lots of laundry!)

I loved the look of Lucy's Pom poms, a sort of salt and pepper effect, so made my Pom poms with a coloured wool and a cream wool together to achieve that grand look. I used four different colours, a hot pink, sky blue, pistachio green and golden yellow.

I counted the upright sticks on the basket to work out my spacing and how many pom poms to make. I had 39 sticks so that divided nicely by 3 so decided to space them at every third stick - (I like logical). This meant 13 pom poms, which didn't divide so well between my colour scheme so I currently have a bit of a gap in my pom poms. Rich helpfully pointed out that this side could just face the wall so that's my current solution!



(Much better! Clean mirror too. And laundry done. A happy day!)

My pom poms are a bit more spaced out than Lucy's which wasn't intentional, and I need to go back to trim them a little more evenly I think, but really I am very pleased with my little pom pom basket now. That wasn't such a hard job but look at the transformation my little fluffy puffs made. It has really brightened up this corner of our bedroom too. Although I am not sure how long Rose will resist trying to pull them off... so far she doesn't seem to have noticed (dare I say it?)

Lucy also made tassel baskets, you really should have a look.

Baubles of wool

I came across this really nice pattern and couldn't resist a little more festive crocheting. Our tree is going to look so grand (when we get round to putting it up!)



Free pattern can be found here (i am making the most of it!)



There are a lot of projects in progress around here at the moment, but i am feeling confident that everything will come together in the (st.) nick of time (ho ho). It's nice to be so busy with making at this time of year.

Happy festive crocheting!

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!

Crocheting Beads

I found a nice little project this week - crocheting beads (not to be confused with bead crocheting which is something completely different - but something I might have to give a go...)

I really love the trend for painted wooden beaded necklaces - they are so bright and cheery, and just so cool! I found the idea for crocheting beads from a baby teething toy, which is probably not really so cool, but I really wanted to have a go at it.



I bought a few wooden beads in different sizes, but the ones which worked best for me were the big 25mm ones.

Here is how I crocheted my beads:

I used:

4 x 25mm wooden beads

a 3mm crochet hook

DK yarns in off white, bright orange, mustard and turquoise


My abbreviations:

SC = single crochet (in American terminology. This is a double crochet in UK terminology)

2SC = working 2 single crochet stitches into the same space

SC2TOG = single crochet decrease - single crocheting the next two stitches together.

(you might need to experiment to get the right tension - I found some of my DK yarn was slightly thinner and this made quite a big difference so if your yarn is thin you might need a slightly bigger hook)



Row 0:  6 single crochets into a magic ring.
Row 1 - 2sc into every previous row sc. (12sts)
Row 2 - working into the previous row, **1 sc into the next space, 2sc into the following space**
repeat ** to ** to end of row (18sts)

Work 5 rows straight.
If you want to make a half and half coloured bead, change colour after the third row. I have found a neat way of changing colour is to do the final yarn over and pull through of the last single crochet stitch with the new colour, rather than changing colour in a new stitch (hope that makes sense) 

Row 8 -  **sc2tog, sc1 into the next space** .Repeat ** to ** to the end of the row (12 stitches)
Row 9, sc2tog the entire way around the row (6 stitches).
Finish by breaking your thread and threading through the final row to draw it in and neaten it up.

and ta-dah!

I really enjoyed this project also because it was so quick. My necklace just took me an evening. And it's just to bright and lovely. One of my winter wardrobe staples are black thermal vest style tops, and this little accessory is just the ticket to brighten that up a bit on a gloomy day.
I would love to see if you have a go.

you can stretch right up and touch the sky

Hello dears,

I am not doing very well at keeping my in touch am I? I had good intentions of making a dress a month (a good aim for me) and being here much more than I was - but I got somewhat sidetracked over the summer...

I was having a very lovely time though. I am so lucky to live in a very beautiful spot. We have been here nearly a year now (one year next week) and I love this home we have found. We have a ferry crossing to France very locally, but I wasn't organised enough to sort out our passports, but as it was our first Seaford summer it felt like a holiday for sure.

My favourite memories of the summer are of one very hot weekend of impromptu sea swimming with Rose the little fish. I did some sun bathing on the beach which felt like it had been a long time since i last did that, and it just felt wonderful. Rose was very tentative towards the sea at first, but as soon as the first little wave hit her feet and she realised there was nothing to fear she couldn't stay away - she just wanted to be immersed in it as totally as she could, little teeth chattering from the cold and bare bottom shining in the sun!

Another lovely day that stands out for me is a lovely one i spent alone with Rich while Rose hung out with Nanny Jo and Grandpop. We walked over Seaford head to the seven sisters (quick refresh at the pub along the river, including a free portion of chips from our table neighbours who had over ordered) and back again in time for tea.

It is starting to feel very chilly around here now.

I hope you had a nice summer too. And enjoying cosying up for autumn.

Love from Emily. x

What year is this?

It's 2015 now! Where has the time gone?! I hadn't realised my last posting on my blog had been over a year ago - that is a long time ago.

But i am really pleased to let you know that I am back (hopefully) and I have made a dress! This is a happy time for me - it's been such a long while since I made one of these - in fact the last dresses i made were maternity dresses - many big tents for my big baby tummy.

But now I have something like a waist again i thought maybe it was time to make some less tentish dresses (although i do still like to wear those ones)

I have been thinking i need to start making some clothes again for a while now - it struck me that i really did used to make a large proportion of my clothes, and i had been struggling to find the sort of things i really like to wear. It's so nice now that i have a bit more time in the evenings and during naptimes (when i am not doing some hoovering) to start to make some things to revive my wardrobe.

So we were out in Brighton this week (because now we live in Seaford - but i am sure i will speak more about this at a relevant time) and we wanted to have a tea so we went to the C&aH fabrics cafe which is good when you have a pram, and also good when you really like wool and fabric. I had earned enough stamps on my loyalty card to get a free £5 gift voucher so it was a sign that it was time.

I found a couple of lovely pieces i really liked. This pink delight, i couldn't resist it even though i don't really have anything pink, and never wear this colour, but it looked so pretty and summery, and i had in mind that dress of Holly Golightly's and decided to be bold.

Unfortunately my fabric doesn't have tassels but i think it's still very festive.

Rose enjoyed wearing the fabric like a little Russian doll toddling about. Yes, that is her there - she is eighteen months old now.

The pattern i used was this one, my wedding dress pattern - which has a very similar bodice to Holly's. I altered the skirt slightly to give it a bit more of a fuller shape. I was a bit nervous about it still fitting me, so I just used 1cm at the seam allowances rather than the 1.5, and the result was a perfect fit!

Rose is normally much better dressed than me these days, but today we were a good match

It was a lovely feeling to have made something new and i am really really pleased with how it came out, and that i hadn't forgotten all of my dressmaking skills. I am going to try very very hard to make time for this pastime. i have a small pile of lovely fabrics now so will be back soon.

yours, one year older, none the wiser,

Emilia x

Happy Christmas Sock

So, back in november i had a baby. and with christmas coming up i was very excited when i found i could knit whilst holding the sleepy bundle of joy. So I decided to make a pair of socks for lovely Richard. I had a month and i didn't have to go to work any more, so i thought that was a reasonable task. Easy right!

... but at this time i was not experienced in living with the baby so my expectations of achievable goals were not very accurate at all!

Unfortunately, as that little one started to wake up and grow and move about, knitting whilst holding the baby became a bit of an accident waiting to happen and so by christmas i had only managed to knit 1 sock (mostly while Rich pushed her in the pram in the treacherous wind and rain) I did wrap it up for him to open on christmas morning. He was confused.

But look... now that spring is here, the socks are finished!



I am so pleased about it. What a triumph! And Rich learnt the lesson of good things come to those who wait.

His quote is "they are very comfortable"

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

Fairisle for me

Although i am knitting quite a lot for the baby at the moment (i can't help it - little things are so nice to make!) I did get some beautiful wool for my birthday last month.

I am using a pattern from the same range as my monochrome fairisle snowjumper from last year. Here is the original - shades of grey, black and white:

But i decided i would prefer to make a more colourful version and found this lovely wool - Drops Alpaca. There are a great number of colours to chose from, but i decided to pick from their mixed colour wools which have a slightly tweedy appearance.

You might think an alpaca is a bit of a wirey wooled creature, but this wool is the softest of any wool i've ever used.

I am not sure if i perhaps should have gone for a paler background colour, but i am pleased with the way this is going. Here is a sneak preview.

Back complete!

It's proving a little bit of a challenge as a lot of concentration is needed, but i am trying to stick with it as i know this will be a lovely new cardigan for the winter if i can finish in good time.

Yours alpacarama
Emilia x