winter prep…

I finished a little something this week that will help with the cold in London. I’ve heard the pro strat is a cowl under a scarf, so i finally broke out the beautiful Rabbit Ridge DK that i bought in San Francisco (that came from Alaska!) and used most of it to create the lovely hydrangea cowl* from Brave New Knits.

I blocked it – it dried in about 5 seconds- and even braved the heat to get this shot…

Hydrangea Cowl in Sitka Rose

The fact that it matched my dress was purely coincedental!

 

and now the moment you have all been waiting for. I present Sylvi

thanks so much to vintagenettles for the photos!

*rav link

Babies Galore!

So the thing about being 30 is that most of the people i know are either getting married, having babies or planning ways of moving closer to doing one of the above.

This year (so far) has seen three babies on the horizon. My cousin, for whom i knitted the little cabled slip over is due ANY MINUTE NOW! I am planning on making debbie bliss’s bunny to go with the slipover, but will maybe give it to them in person in September since the US apparently don’t want anyone to send them mail ever now.

The other two babies have both had gender determined (though i won’t specifically say what just in case… though you can probably work it out)

I started this little project with one recipient in mind, but changed my mind halfway through. I am now working on matching items.

Sideways ribbed baby jacket in Adorn Silky Cashmerino 4ply

(thanks nett for the awesome photo)

Baby clothes are so much fun to knit – they are super fast and are totally worth luxurious (machine washable) yarns. This was under 2 balls!

I’m working on a DK weight jacket now for the other baby. I started Friday and have already finished the back and fronts. One and a half sleeves to go, then seaming and then bands. I would finish this weekend except that i can’t find a decent sewing up needle here (at my parents) so might have to wait til i get back to Melbourne.

I do have another project with me of course, something for me in ARAN weight because i am totally SICK of 4 ply. between baby clothes, socks and my Fay (in Pear Tree 4 ply) I needed something a bit quicker to work on, so I am doing Emily from Kim Hargreaves in Rowan Alpaca Cotton. Not the combination i originally intended (though I contemplated it) but i just wanted to knit something-not-4ply. I have also bought the Rowan Cocoon to do Stockport from Rowan 46. Yay for a bulky knit !

Random Craftiness

Hello my beautiful crafty types.

I apologise for my silence -many reasons, but mostly because whilst i’ve been busy doing things, I’m not sure which of them to tell you about!

Would you like a post about Tasmania? The housemate and i went there last month and whilst there is a supreme plethora of novelty yarn in Tassie, we did manage to find some delicious yarny goodness to bring home. Yes? Ok I shall post about that soon.

In the meantime, I will tell you some random things…

With the arrival of warmer weather, I have gotten out the sewing machine in earnest.

I bought some beautiful silk chiffon to make Chantilly from Colette at the fabric place in the South Melbourne Markets. It was the end of the roll so she gave it to me for $10pm! I couldn’t bring myself to cut it yet, but i did trace and cut out all the pattern pieces and make sure i could get all the pieces out of my fabric. Which i can! yay! so that project will be happening soon.

In the meantime, I decided to finish off a project that has been hanging around since 2008! Remember the apron workshop i went to? Well, as well as picking out fabric for aprons for my mother and my grandmother, I also picked out fabric for my own apron. I found some images on google, used Leanne’s letters and created a stencil for my ‘name plate’ and embroidered it and cut out all the pieces before it all went into storage last year. So all i needed to do was sew it all together!

I apologise for the weird colouring. It’s purple not blue, but can’t seem to get a good shot of it!

This photo is more true to the colours and you can see the kitties!

The very observant amongst you might notice the stray fibres on the apron – this is because it is going to be a crafting (namely spinning and sewing) apron, rather than a cooking apron. It’s too nice to get food all over, and it means i can spin loose fibres, or unpick things, or lay things on my lap without getting my clothes looking any more fibrey than they already do with 2 cats in the house! There’s also useful pockets and the pocket at the top will be primarily for tissues so i don’t always have to stick them in my bra!! (stupid sinuses)

The other sewing adventure in recent times pertains to a certain Cabaret i am performing this week! (if you’re in melbourne, please, come  along). I bought a new corset at Antons (I only have crappy photos so i won’t share yet) and decided (because i am CRAZY) to make a knee length circle skirt to go with it. One trip to clegs and an awful lot of money later, I had some GORGEOUS silk satin and italian lace… Thanks to a circle skirt tutorial from Ruffles and Roses – and a little bit of pinning from my awesome house mate – I now have this…

The lace is unhemmed at the moment and is likely to remain so since it is sitting at a really nice height compared to the hemmed silk now. It won’t fray so as long as i trim any loose bits is should look neat. I used the scalloped edge of the lace fabric to create the waistband. I’m really proud of that!

So already planning some more sewing projects. The wrap dress I asked your opinion on a while ago, the chiffon dress, a maxi in gorgeous light aqua silk with a grey and white print on it, plus all the projects that have been sitting in my sewing box waiting to be made. Sadly patterns and fabric do not mate in the dark producing gorgeous wearable offspring. I have another maxi, a shift dress, a 50s dress and a 70s-ish dress in 3 fabrics all ready to be made, plus a houndstooth 50s/60s style shift cut out and only needing sewing!

Meanwhile, the knitting and spinning continues… but this post is getting long, so next time, k?

Squids!

I have had a few requests (well, 2, but i feel that any more than 1 request for this particular item is worth noting) for squids for birthdays.

My friend nett put me on to hansi singh’s adorable squid-a-licious pattern asking me to knit her one in colours of my choosing for her birthday present. She bought me the pattern and a handful of others as my own belated birthday present, so it only seemed fair!

So, I present Squidy the First!

When i mentioned this request to another Gemini/Cancer cusper i know, she too requested one for her birthday present!

and so i present (apologies for the poor photo) Squidy the Second!

it’s hard to see him, but he’s a maroon purple with green underside and green pupils. This is one of those times where i actually feel my first effort was the more successful of the two, but I do actually enjoy doing these!

I also knitted an owl (one of the other patterns I received for my birthday) for my grandmother for mother’s day (may). She loved it. I knitted it in a silk tweed in pinks. strange colour for an owl i know, but it suits him. Apparently she kept picking him up and looking at him and putting it down again.

Next – Seahorses!

My first Garment

Having bought Heartfelt, I knitted something from it! And I LOVE it.

It’s Cherish, knitted in Rowan Big Wool (as designed) in the M/12 size in colour Smokey. It is sooooo warm and snuggly and as it gets colder here in Melbourne I’m hoping to wear it even more.

Here it’s pinned with my sewing up needle, but I have since sewn a button on it, though in my eagerness to wear it i modelled my own shawl pin for a while, which looked great!

I’m now working on Calm, which i’m knitting in Jo Sharp’s Rare Comfort Kid Mohair in colour Tranquil. How appropriate, no? I’m aiming to finish it in time to wear to work on Saturday.. so two days! but i only have the top of the sleeves, the sewing up and the small yoke to knit. Easily done!