All dressed up

Well let’s start with the good news, I am currently temping at a legal media agency, so am no longer a burden on the state... now if only I could get a full time job, life would be perfect!

One of the lovely things about working in the West End was being able to nip into John Lewis to get some bargains in the sale and better still I was able to buy them with gift vouchers.  And this is what I bought a metre of each of the fabrics below, which will be transformed into little outfits for girls together with some matching cottons

Here is one of the little dresses which I finished over the weekend.  I love it because it brings together two of my favourite crafts, sewing and knitting.  The bodice is knitted in cotton, using a moss stitch background and a cable stitch, delicately finished off with a picot edging and the dress is worked in cotton.  These dresses are for 6 - 9 month olds but can be made up to fit a three year old.

And here is another dress which I will put together tonight... I love the grape colour of the cotton.  So now that you have seen these, how about taking a look at Wendy’s Handmade Monday and see what everyone else has been up to?

I am going to pop them up on my Etsy shop, do hope that people like them.

And finally, I delivered the rag wreaths at the weekend and Sarah is thrilled with them, which is a big relief.

Forty years on...

Well this is just half a HandMade Monday, the other sock will be finished during the week.  I don't know if you have ever made socks before but there is a great feeling of satisfaction when you turn a heel or finish off toes with a spot of kitchener stitching.  These were made with Austerman wool with extra Aloe Vera which means my hands are feeling rather good right now and if you need a copy of the pattern you can find it on Ravelry

And now for some really exciting news, I heard from Sasha Kagan following my last blog and the great news is that she is bringing out a new book.  

" My new book “The Classic Collection” has just been published by GMC, this is my 7^th pattern book and it takes an overview of my design career from 1969 to 2009 with 5 patterns from each decade. This book has been written to coincide with my retrospective exhibition “My Life in Textiles- 4 Decades of Hand knit Design” details of venues are on my websitewww.sashakagan.co.uk "


Not only is there a travelling exhibition this year but also a number of workshops and masterclasses, so do take a look at her website and more news of Sasha at the end of this blog.


So I wondered if I had a piece of knitting from each decade of  the last 40 years... and here they are... be warned they are not all pretty!

The first from the 1970s is an Aran Cardigan which I made when I was 11, I don't think it bears close inspection but I did make it all myself, which means every time my mum corrected it, I ripped it back to the point where I had gone wrong - I was a horrid child!

Next from the 1980s, we have a mohair and cable combo, I loved this jumper because of its construction, the bottom cream part is not cast off but sewn onto the cable panel.

Now we hit the 1990s, jumpers were cropped, even when you cabled them and this had such a snuggly neck line... but I somehow don't think my kidneys ever felt the benefit!

And finally into the 2000s, I loved this cardigan but I have never found the right buttons, butIi do still have a ball of wool left over to sew them on when they do appear!  Sometimes I think that this cardie should have been in blue rather than pink for the number of times I go the lace pattern wrong and swore at it.

Now, I have no ideas what the 2010s hold in store, but I do think that Sasha's Scotties may finally make it onto my needles (they are in the new book) but perhaps I will ask her for a suggestion.  That's right, Sasha Kagan has agreed to do an interview on my blog, so I thought I would ask if any of you have a question for her that I could include in the interview?  Pop the question into the comments and I will try to use as many as possible.


PS.  Look out for the cushion tutorial coming later this week :)

Charity Shop Bargain Brings Back Happy Memories

Yesterday, I found a couple of books in a local Charity shop that set my pulse racing and bought back happy memories of 1980s knitting, my sister dug deep in her pocket and bought them both for me at the princely sum of £1.35 (about $2.20).

The first book was the Sasha Kagan Sweater Book, I can remember borrowing this from the library in Stepney (back in 1984 it would have cost me a 1/12th of my weekly wage) and dribbling over the amazing pictures of garments knitted in a Fair Isle style. This was the first time I had seen this technique used to create fabulous pictures and back then the cardigan that I wanted to make was the Winter Scotties cardie... even if it was in 2 ply... yes, you read that right 2 ply! I never got to make it but there is a Scottie dog beret which even now is tempting me, although I think I might give the leg-warmers a miss!

The other book was The Sweater Book and excluding some of the shoulder pad heavy patterns, a number of them would translate really well into designs for 2011... although I am not sure I would submit a child to this!

So I thought you might like to see a couple of items I made back then from Patricia Roberts patterns... the first is a Sampler Sweater which I made in 1985, I bought the pattern and wool from her old shop in Covent Garden as a Christmas present to myself as I was going to be spending Christmas on my own, I remember having to wind up the skeins of wool into balls using my dining chairs to hold the wool!  It was the first time I had ever knitted from a chart and I worked into the night so that I could see the yacht, house, the night sky and the tree developing.  Although I have to admit the extra long cable between main sweater and the bodice still bugs me...

And the next is the Bow Tie cardigan, an absolute classic of the 1980s down to the shoulder pads which I used wear with black leggings and a black felt hat, and I thought I looked the bees knees, fortunately for me, no pictures survive!

 
I have realised that both these pieces are over 25 years old, but on searching for them, I discovered my first ever completed piece of clothing... An Aran cardigan made when I was 11 and my mother thought I should be kept busy as I was off school for a month with Glandular Fever.


Oooh when looking for my old pattern book I found a UFO (UnFinished Object) a Patricie Roberts cardigan using blackberry stitch to simulate bunches of grapes... and some of the skeins are not even wound up... it must be over 25 years since I started it... I think it might need finishing, what do you reckon?

The Monday Make

Do you know, for a couple of days after a show, I never want to see a sewing machine or a pair of needles ever again but then my fingers start to twitch and I need to get cracking again.  I had planned to do a tutorial on Cathedral Windows and have even got as far as cutting out and folding the fabric but then I went to the woolshop Bodkins of Thundersley.  


Well, I was well and truly scuppered and ended up buying a few balls of Can Can to create a handbag... which is progressing slowly but steadily as I work out a pattern for it.  However I also came across another new wool from Katia - Triana.  Now this yarn is almost like a mesh when you open it out and you literally knit into the holes a bit like just using the thread between pompoms on PomPom wool.  It was an extremely quick knit and I finished it in a couple of hours on Saturday night.  I admit to being a bit sniffy about the yarn when I saw it in the shop but I think I may be going back for more...


So here is my piece for Wendy's  Handmade Monday but there is a problem... if you are the one from the UK Craftsforum whose Easter bunny I am... please look away from the screen now... cos this little Summer scarf is going into the post for you this afternoon.

I promise to have the Cathedral Windows tutorial completed later this week... just the hand sewing to complete, so we might just make it.

The Rico Can Can Scarf

Let's be honest, by now scarves are pretty boring, at least that's what I thought until I discovered the amazing Can Can wool from Rico.  Actually wool is a bit of a misnomer, it is really is a tape

I like a fairly thickish scarf so here is what I do when I make my scarves.

First of all open up your tape as below, it will become quite wide.

 To cast on, you literally put your needle through the tape, about two wefts down (remember in fabric weft is the row which goes from left to right).  Be brutal, poke the needle through the tape, bring the need back to the front and about 1.5 - 2" (or if you are a young thing, about 5 cm) further on, poke the needle through again, you now have two stitches.  For a skinny scarf you will need eight stitches for a luxury thick scarf you will need to cast on 12 stitches.


How easy is that for casting on?

 Now start knitting your first row, remember to open up the tape, now as if you are going to knit put your needle through the first stitch, with the open tape catch about two rows down on the weft of the tape on the needle in your right hand and pull it through like a regular knit stitch.  Now I warn you, this will take you back to when you first started knitting and no-one had taught you how to wind the yarn around your needle as you will have literally take the yarn between your thumb and forefinger to ensure that the tape is open.


As you continue to work, the ruffle will develop on both sides, making the scarf rich and luxuriant.

 As you can see, it really is a different scarf, which all my friends have admired, which is probably why I have four more to make!