fo: larch cardigan

After a mere nine weeks, my Larch cardigan is ready to wear! This project actually started way back in the depths of last year when I contacted Lyndsey from Countess Ablaze to ask her if she could custom dye me some of her DK-weight blue-faced Leicester, Bluefaced Baron DK. We back-and-forthed over the colour for a few weeks until she hit upon the single most amazing emerald you have ever seen.

This is the emerald that makes you think of rolling hills and mythical creatures and burial sites full of untold riches. It is lush.

I knew almost immediately that it had to be a Larch cardigan. Larch, for the uninitiated, is an Amy Christoffers design. Amy occupies a place of deep affection in my heart. She is an incredible designer. (I’ve heard several people say that it’s like Amy designs just for them, but they’re wrong. She designs just for me.) Her cardigans are exactly my aesthetic.

I did a few small mods that others might find helpful.

1. I tend to find long, loose cardigans gape around the small of my back (because my bum sticks out and I have little natural waist), so I spread the decrease stitches evenly rather than at the sides where they would traditionally fall (every 50 sts for the first set and then immediately above [i.e. so they're stacked] following Amy’s row count). This seems to have worked very well.
2. As usual, I knit my sleeves until I thought they were long enough and then added an extra inch and then added ten rows. This seems to be the only way I ever manage to get sleeves that fit. NOTE: I did NOT do this for my Acer or my Tinder and my sleeves for both projects are definitely a bit too short. I think it works rather well with the vintage feel of the Acer, but I have a good mind to hack into the Tinder and add some rows.
3. I extended the sleeve caps and arm holes by about 6 rows. Amy’s main criticism is that her sleeves tend towards the tight side, which I noticed in my Acer. These sleeves fit perfectly. They are deep enough to be able to comfortably wear a couple of layers underneath (which is totally necessary at the moment! When will it be spring?!).
4. Amy suggests using a double-knit BO around the shawl part of the collar, which is super stretchy but looked very unfinished and amateurish when I attempted it. I stuck to my regular BO (k2, sl 1st st over 2nd, * k1, sl 1st st on right needle over 2nd, repeat from *), but looser than normal.

I am very pleased with the result.

On the needles now: not another Amy (I just couldn’t decide!), but my long-awaited Perfect Christmas Jumper! About time, no? Lou finished her’s years ago.

ooooh I like that!!!

This week I’m totally loving stripes!

I go through phases of stripes versus polka dots but for a while now striped have been on top……

So this yarn is right up my street

Mind the Gap from Trailing Clouds

This week I’m also dreaming of sunshine and getting outside to begin painting my garden furniture.
My plan is to try and re-create this beauty from NeonVintageDesigns

My new kitchen tiles have to be on my love list this week, my dad spent the weekend creating this masterpiece

More on the kitchen next week………..

Made By Loumms

Unfortunately me and Emmms have been a bit quiet over at our Etsy shop’s Made By Loumms and Loumms Makes More for a while due to other (not so crafty and fun) duties however we have re-listed a bunch of stock!!!!!

At Made By Loumms we have some really cute Socky Wristers,

Our sturdy and dependable Sock Perfect Button bags,

And a lone Sweater Perfect Button bag,

We have also re-listed our Apron Bags at Loumms Makes More with 25% discount!!

Once the new year begins we hope to have a lot more time to spend on making loads of new stock for both shops!!!!

foxes: cunning, charming, crafty

Foxes really need to come IN in a big way. Like the way owls have been IN for the last few years. My obsession with owls is well documented; less so my obsession with foxes. But Lou and I agree that foxes are where it’s at.

(Exhibits in no particular order.)

Exhibit A:

Pen and ink and watercolour — this is one of my favourite prints by Caitlihne.

Exhibit B:

Matthew the Fox clock, by Big Bad Wolf Designs. Awesome.

Exhibit C:

Fox and Rabbit mug by Julia Davey, perfect for coffee and Faulkner.

Exhibit D:

The adorable Two Fine Foxes onesie by Iota Illustration. I’m telling you, as soon as I’m knocked up…

Exhibit E:

My heart pangs when I even think of this: Made in Hackney‘s 75/25 wool/nylon sock weight in Urban Fox. LOVE.

Exhibit F:

Red Fox screen print eco-friendly cotton tote bag from Mystic Moose Crafts.

Exhibit G:

Similarly screen printed, the mirror-image Red Foxes tea towel by Helen Musselwhite.

Exhibit I:

A fox stuffie by the excellently named A Fox in the Attic!!!! To go with the adorable Two Fine Foxes onesie!!!! Could there be a finer combination?

Exhibit J:

96 g of hand-spun 2-ply BFL, Wensleydale and silk, dotted with sequins from Three Welsh Hens, in the very tasty Fiery Fox.

I rest my case.

mmmm, yarn: letterbox edition

I broke down! I couldn’t resist. The lure of yarny deliciousness was too great. I have a good excuse, though: it’s my mum’s 60th birthday and (I don’t think she reads this, but in case you do, Mum, AVERT YOUR EYES!)

…

…

and I’ve really been wanting to make her a shawl. Not just any shawl, but a shawl containing Really Impressive Lace. I am still undecided on the pattern, but I now have the perfect yarn:

Isn’t it dreamy?! And: button! It’s Countess Ablaze alpaca/mulberry silk lace weight — these images do not capture the colours properly (but they are near perfect in the CA shop). The colourway is ‘Softly Softly’. (I’m pretty sure it was named that on purpose: we’ll just ease you back into stash enhancement, Emmms… nothing to be scared of… softly does it now.)

It is amazingly soft and sheeny and the colourway is just divine. It also came in perhaps my favourite packaging next to our ziplock lunch bags:

She brown-bags the yarn!!! Yes, now I too can at least attempt to hide my dirty little stash-increasing secret. I cannot WAIT to cast this lovely yarn on.

new pattern: agatha c.

Intuitive yet challenging, the central cables that run down the front and back of the socks complement rather than mirror each other, while the twin cables that flank them provide a grounding sensibility that help reorient you whenever things get tricky.

I am so pleased to finally introduce Agatha C., my new (though not brand new) sock pattern. Worked top down, Agatha C. incorporates a simple well-turned picot cuff, a sturdy Welsh heel and neat Bavarian cables.

It is named, of course, for the inimitable Agatha Christie and inspired by her characters’ abilities to unravel twisting knots of all varieties, and recommended to be knit up in Sweet Clement Smitten or Sweet Clement Smitten II (which is exactly the same as the original Smitten but includes a touch of nylon).

Aggy made her official debut at the Bothered Owl event back in December and has spent the last 6 months available exclusively at the Sweet Clement Yarns Etsy shop, and is now available on Ravelry and our own Etsy shop, Made by Loumms. Pippa (the genius behind Sweet Clement) had asked me to knit up some of her new yarn line as samples for the event, but as soon as I cast on Agatha coughed and ‘ahemed’ delicately until I stopped faffing about with a vanilla sock and starting paying attention to the story she was trying to tell me.

The fat ply of the yarn endears itself to cables, especially tight, twisty, Bavarian-style cables. Agatha made herself known, revealing the yarn’s excellent definition and such sproinginess (technical term) that allows the cables to stand out yet retain their elasticity.

Perhaps more important than these considerations, given the yarn is hand-dyed, the colourway itself lends the cables real depth. I love semi-solids and Pippa has such a gift for them; but not all semi-solids are created equal. Some are bland and boring; some a rich and tonal. Pippa’s semi-solids, like the Mallard colourway, are secretly deeply variegated. Each stitch is a different shade of green and blue, sometimes veering into a dark purple, covering the entire palette. The range of colour is subtle and glorious.

Agatha C. is available for purchase at the Made by Loumms Etsy site, Sweet Clement Yarns, where it will soon be available in a kit (including one of our Wristers and a skein of Sweet Clement Smitten), and on Ravelry. Sweet Clement Yarns is available on Etsy.

wedding shawls – the mum shawls

I looked at the calendar the other week and to my horror realised we have just over six weeks to go before the wedding — eep! How has it snuck up so quickly? We’ve got their dresses, but we haven’t found the Best Broad shoes yet (or mine, for that matter). This means I can’t get started on their shawls yet, so I cast on Mum’s thank you shawl over the Easter weekend and finished it on Wednesday.

I went with the Winter Lilies pattern by Susanna IC from the Fall 2010 issue of Knit Circus, in the most gorgeous lilac-y cashmere/merino from Skein Queen. I love the yarn almost as much as I love the pattern! It’s a bit shallower than I thought it would be, but that’s probably just as well as it used up heaps of yarn!

(I don’t think Mum reads this blog, but I’m not risking showing the whole shawl, just in case!)

I cast on Matthew’s mum’s shawl on Saturday, this time the Alcea shawl, also by Susanna IC and from Knit Circus’s Spring 2011 issue, in a beautiful rose from Sweet Clement. (I was knitting a new design with this yarn, but as soon as I saw the Alcea shawl, I knew it couldn’t be anything else. Fortunately I have a growing collection of Sweet Clement yarn at my disposal!)

I adore this yarn; it’s ridiculously soft and is giving the lace pattern such amazing definition. I’m halfway through the chart, so this will hopefully be finished by the weekend as well!

Next up will be my shawl, but I’m having the hardest time deciding between Little Leaves and Susanna IC’s newest pattern, Vesna, in the latest Twist Collective. At least I have my yarn, though – Hand Maiden Silk. Lush!

(PS, If you’re here after seeing the Yarn Harlot‘s Edwardian Boating Socks, thanks for stopping by! I hope you’ll stay a while!) (PPS, Squee!)

a new year’s resolutions

1. Plan our wedding.
   So far so good!! Since 1 January we’ve put up our bans, got our date in June confirmed, dress-hunting dates are in the works, lace shawl patterns are being sorted and we WOULD have had our parents meet for the very first time last weekend, but Mum woke up with a headcold and the future in-laws had only got in at 3 that morning, so we’ve rescheduled to this weekend coming at our reception venue, eep!
2. Keep knitting through my Dream Sweater List.
   Last year I finished my Lace Yoke Pullover and Matthew’s Cobblestone (if not decent pictures of either of them), both on schedule. Sometime between Christmas and New Year I cast on Welt and Rib Raglan by Shayna Zelko, from Interweave Knits, Winter 2008.

   

   I’m using the glorious, GLORIOUS Devon Fine Fibres Bowmont DK from my stash, which I just adore working with. I had originally wanted to finish it before the start of term, but working on my thesis got in the way (a good thing, methinks). I reckon if I can have it blocking by 31 Jan, I’ll be SORTED for the rest of the year.

3. Post to Loumms at least once a week.
   Er… So, I’ve failed on this one so far, but if I make it up with another three posts this week, that counts, doesn’t it?
4. The Great Big Garden Project.
   I totally slid on the garden front over the summer last year and I am desparate to bring my garden back to form. It looks so sad and weedy right now. Poor neglected beast. I’ve got a schedule for seeding in place and it’s looking promising. Oooh, one of my catch-up posts this week should be this schedule. Then I’ll HAVE to stick to it. The Internet will know I if I haven’t.
5. Bake a loaf of bread a week.
   Already started! I love my own bread so much more than store-bought, but since I started working in-house again — even though it’s only two days a week, combine it with working on my thesis and teaching one day a week, trying to plan a wedding, maintaining some semblance of sanity — I’ve spent my weekends collapsed in a heap. Nonetheless, I really do love my own bread. I feel better when I make it and better still when I eat it and I’m determined to keep up with this. I should really post again in a few months’ time to see if I’m sticking to it.
6. Exercise.
   I’ve always been fairly sporty. I did loads of competitive sports when I was in school, yoga for years, lifeguarded for even more years; I cycle/walk everywhere and go running regularly. HOWEVER, in spite of having grown up in Canada, I am a TOTAL WUSSFACE and cannot bear cycling/running in the cold. I’ll happily walk wherever you need me to go, but my little hands get cold when I cycle! And I get cramp! And my face starts hurting! I know it’s not -40C outside, like in some places, but I still wimp out. Every time I even look at my type pump or dig out my trainers. Thus, I’ve join a gym. Yep. I have turned into one of those. A gym-goer. I never thought it possible, but there you are. And you know I actually enjoy running on a treadmill? I certainly never thought THAT would be possible! The gym at my uni has a great schedule of yoga and pilates classes that seems to be maintainable, so here’s hoping my enthusiasm keeps up!! (At least till June!)
7. Publish my patterns, dammit.
   Lou and I have Big Heap Plans on this front. We’ve been working on a men’s sock pattern collection, including the Sloe Gin pattern, which we’re hoping to release fairly soon. Hopefully this will be a brans new year of socks!
8. Get sewing!
   I miss sewing. I’ve hardly spent any time sewing in the last few months and I miss it. We moved out of our studio a couple of weeks ago because our own schedules have just been too crazy to do the space justice (it kind of sucks when you’ve only got an hour to spare and that translates into a mere 20 minutes actual sewing time once you get to your machine). But in moving out of the studio, we rediscovered a whole whack of amazing fabric!!! We have the BEST fabric stash ever. Seriously!!
9. Dinner parties. Lots of dinner parties.
   Another one already under way. Our first was this past Friday — I made Broccoli and (Veggie) Sausage Pasta, with Super Garlicky Garlic Bread and a fresh green salad. It was delicious, the company was divine and the wine utterly delightful. I must remember to post the recipes I use when we have these shindigs (and this one will definitely make it into a catch-up post! It’s too good not to share!). The next one is in two weeks. I can’t wait!

I do have more that I want to achieve this year, but I rather think a list of 9 is just about supportable. Anyone else making resolutions this year? I kind of feel a bit passe, but goals are good, right? Happy 2011!

garden dreams

Whenever we get a day when the sun shines all I can think about is getting the garden ready for the spring!
When I get up in the morning and it is bright and fresh it always reminds me that rotten January is on the way out!

Last year I missed all of that with the hernia and stuff so this year my mind is making up for it!!

I am already planning what vegetable seeds I am gonna plant and when, what I want this years raised bed to look like, how to now get the cats out of the strawberry patch and rescue them enough to get a crop, and what goodies to start collecting to help it all run smoothly!!
And I picked up this cute little purple watering can from TKMax this morning!!

I know it is early for this but I’ve been searching eBay for this years garden treats and have found all of these!!!

An adorable bench made out of reclaimed wood from an old red farm building!!

These pretty seed/plant markers, engraved vintage spoons!! Genius!!

A simple little seed storage tin, a replica of The Seed House at Fordhook Farms built by Atlee Burpee and Co in 1895

A handy painted bucket

A embossed vintage brass watering can

And one for the dreams a gorgeous shabby chic green house (oh how I would love to own this!!!)

Keep garden dreaming, but not for long!!!

nifty napkins and perfect picnic

Last Wednesday me and emmms finally managed to get a few hours out of our insanely busy lives to meet up, do a photo shoot and enjoy a bit of a picnic!!!! (although I cant believe it has now been a week since then, where does the time go??)

The weather was on our side and after a trip to sainsburys for some picnic goodies we set up camp in my newly tidied garden. (thankfully I managed to get out there for a good tidy the saturday before!)

It felt like so long since we both got together to photograph our loumms stock and it was starting to get to both of us. One of the things we both love about making our bags and aprons etc is the time we get to spend cooing over them before we bag them up and ship them out, the whole photo soot process is also a love of ours but this one imparticular was very special as we were photographing brand new stock!!!

Once again emmms great eye for photo stlye proved priceless as that, mixed with some juicy strawberries, a wicker basket and freshly baked bread, gave us what I think are our best shop photos yet!!

Our Lunch Box/Picnic/Party/Baby/Every Day Double-Sided Earth-Friendly Cloth Napkins have been floating around in our ‘to sew’ pile for ages but now have their place in our (almost) new etsy shop loummsmakesmore

alongside some more of our Handy All-Purpose Gardening/Market/Kitchen/Craft aprons

Thankfully I know its not going to be too long till I see emmms again as we are off to The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace this Saturday, see you all there hopfully!!!!!