stash busting Paulie

So I’ve finally finished my stash busting Paulie cardigan and I love it!

Well, it is minus buttons but that can wait until the perfect buttons show their face, and a lack of buttons has never stopped me wearing anything in the past!

I decided to do this project to use up a chunk of my left over sock yarn as well as having a new summer cardigan!
I gathered together a bunch of colours that I thought worked well together a basically worked the colours until they ran out,
you can see in the pictures the change in colour stripes as I went along but as I kept to a strick colour pattern I think it works.
Using the same three colours for the thinner stripes helped keep the pattern together.
I decided to do rib cuffs and bottom band as I personally prefer the rib to the garter stitch for the way it sits but I kept the garter stitch for the collar section.

I really wanted it to include a hood so I worked a bunch more short rows in garter stitch after the collar until I go my desired shape!

I think it will be well worn and my stash is tidy and organised with will a few remaining left overs to work those little baby booties and socks that are akways needed at short notice!

The best thing is that whenever I wear it I can look at the different yarn colours and fibres and think about the projects I made originally!!!!!!!

new blue chair

When I found this wicker/bamboo?? chair on my old street about 4 years ago it was in pretty good condition, obviously unwanted for space reasons rather than aesthetic.

I had intended to use it in the house not the garden, however due to my freaky OCD style obsession with bed bugs the chair lived outside in the old garden and came with us to the new flat, living in this garden too!

When I saw the lovely BellaDonna chair I mentioned in my post a few weeks ago I just new that I could use the wicker/bamboo chair to recreate the look!
(I would love the original but shipping costs for a chair from Australia are a little excessive…….)

So I took myself down to B and Q and got together my equipment….

Thin wire wool, primer, paint, brushes and a dust cloth

I began by using the wire wool to sand down all of the flaking bits of wood and varnish

This gave a nice smooth finish

I then used one of the little brushes to brush down the entire chair getting into all the little corners

Then, using the dust cloth I made sure there was no bits loose on the wood, cleaning it too as I went along.

Once this was done the chair looked like this

I then used a white primer, giving two coats to the entire chair

Once this was dry I could start on the main colour!!

After one coat

And finally after two coats

I think it will need a few more touches of paint but all in all I’m in love with my new chair!

From shabby

To stylish

too many shawls?? – never!!

When I decided to knit my sister a shawl for her 30th birthday I didn’t think it would take me this long to pick one!

Her birthday was on 28th Feb!!

I knew I was leaving it late as I still hadn’t finished my brothers socks, (due 19th Jan! Still waiting to be posted!) but even though I’m never normally on time with knitted gifts, this is even late for me!

The first point I was stuck at was picking the yarn. I gave Jen six options and she got it down to two……

Wollmeise Pure in Petite Poison

And

Madeleine Tosh, Tosh Sock in Moss

Eventually I decided to go with the Wollmeise as Amethyst is her birth stone and I wanted a shawl with more delicate drape than comfort squish.

Other than finishing Adams socks and picking a yarn, my main issue was that I couldn’t decide on a pattern. I had a few ideas in my head but wanted it to be special and perfect for her. So I took to Ravelry to see if it would help.

Looking through Ravelry just made it harder, there are so many amazing shawls out there, all pulling me in different directions!

So I decided to put together my favourite five shawls and compare them all together to help me decide.

The greatest thing about Ravelry is having the ability to see many knitters versions of patterns, it different yarns, weights and colours.

The pics shown are a mixture of the designers own and other Ravelry knitters projects.

I love the bold, determined style of Trilinear designed by Cindy Garland, but the thought of having to make another decision for the second colour has put me off this but has also put this at number eight in my Ravelry queue!

© Wild Prairie Knits

The delicate draping leaves of The Lonely Tree Shawl designed by Sylvia Bo Bilvia are just gorgeous and the border adds such a pretty finish but I didn’t want a block lace pattern for the entire shawl. (I think this would be awesome in another yarn in my stash too)

© Sylvia Bo Bilvia

The shape of Lazy Katie has me obsessed! Brigit Freyer has designed a work of art in this shawl but it needs a bold, colourful, variegated yarn to create the brilliant effect.

© BonnieRed

Semele Shawl designed by Asa Tricosa is practically perfect, it has a delicate drape a base of stockinette stitch and pretty lace border, I think it has made the final cut….

Knittimo

Whenever I think to knit a shawl my default designer will always be Susanna IC and Oslo Walk is fantastic. I love the dangling ice crystals and the yo’s breaking up the main section of the shawl. Susanna’s construction is always a winner for me so into the final it goes…

© OrangeLauren

The final decision has been hard but due to the weather at the moment being so cold and so icy I’ve made my choice…..

The winner is Oslo Walk!!

little elephant apron

I wanted to make my niece something practical for her birthday this year so decided on an apron as both her and her parents love to bake!

I had the awesome elephant print linen fabric from Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally last year from the great and wonderful Eternal Maker so decided to use that with some pink polka dots cotton left over from another project and green polka dot light flannel for the ties!

It’s so cute and she loved it!!!!!

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!!!!

you’ve got mail

There’s not much like the feeling when you receive something exciting through the post that you just weren’t expecting!

So when I woke up this morning and checked the front door and there was a parcel for me I couldn’t wait to open it!

I opened it on the way to work and its a cute little book about buttons!
It was from Jo, a friend of ours who is very big on sending stuff snail mail, letters, pictures, postcards and gifts and enjoys ribbing me on my love of buttons!

‘Buttons’ is written by Alan and Gillian Meredith who have collected and studied buttons for over 30 years (!!!!!!) and owned the only button museum in the UK which is now owned by Manchester City Galleries.

All sorts of materials and fabrics are shown in amongst a history and explanation on how to date a button.

Best of all though are the pics of the lovely buttons themselves!

Here’s a few of my favourites:

Vogue Art Deco buttons on their original card

Gentlemen’s waistcoat button

20′s Century painted glass (fab is the spotty one at the top)

All of these Art Deco buttons are amazing I just can’t pic my favourite!

This little plastic Brooks froggy makes me smile

And all of these wooden 20th Century buttons are great, mainly the top two right hand corner and second from right at the bottom

I think that this book, like a good stash of buttons, will, everytime I open it, show me a button I just hadn’t noticed the time before therefore continuing my love of buttons!!

perfect movie night knitting

So, continuing on from all buttoned up, I decided to re-knit some other items that may receive a bit more attention from me if they were altered slightly.

Next on the list, sticking with the button theme, is Buttony.

This was another piece I knit originally a few years back but it always felt too big and a little awkward to wear, probably because, as I noticed when I was unravelling it, that the shoulder inceases were all wrong!! How I managed to do that without noticing at the time, or the times I’ve actually worn it is beyond me!

Anyway Ive started it again and am pretty happy with how it is turning out.

I’m knitting it using the original yarn which is Lana Grossa, Royal Tweed but I’ve reduced the number of cast on sts, I’m following the increases correctly and I’m going to make sure it fits well this time.

Oh yeah Im also doing all the buttons, which is the main reason to knit it in the first place right??

It is also perfect knitting for the film night that my pals (and love) over at Days are Numbers are presenting tomorrow night in The Montpelier.

Should be a great evening, Rock and Roll movie Leningrad Cowboys Go America, good company, my knitting and a few beers!

all buttoned up

I managed to get my new/old cardi finished today!!

I had enough yarn to complete the sleeves to the length I wanted

and to put the stripes down the front button band.

I picked some of my favourite buttons from my stash, knit some I-cord loops and it was finished!

I’m so pleased and have not taken it off since!

A hodge-podge knitting success!

giant red patchwork ball

Wow it’s 15th February already???

I thought at one point that January would never end. It seemed to go so slow but now, looking back, it went so quick!!

Ive been so busy with multiple projects and time just runs away a lot these days!

My main January project was my nieces first birthday present.
I can’t believe it has been over a year since my niece was born and I was posting about meeting her for the first time!

I went to visit her for her first birthday at the end of Jan with her homemade gift (my sister wanted us to make our presents as she was so spoilt at Xmas!)

I’m really into patchwork at the moment (see Emmms future post on the hand washing bag I made her for Xmas) so I decided to hand sew a patchwork ball for my niece to play with.
However instead of normal sized I did a giant red ball with patchwork numbers sewn into each section and stuffed with teddy bear stuffing!

Giant Patchwork Ball

To make the ball, I set about cutting the 12 individual pentagons, using red felt, with each side measuring 7 inches.
I then cut smaller pieces, 6 inches, out of a sturdy interfacing fabric.

I pinned the two pieces together by folding the larger sides over the smaller sides

I then measured and cut out my numbers using scrap fabrics I had lying around.

I tried to use different textures, colours and prints to give it variety.

And I attached the numbers to the pentagons using different hand sewing methods

a cross stitch,

whip stitch

and a back stitch

Once I had all of my pieces, I joined them together.

I split the pentagons into two lots of 6 then using one pentagon as the centre, joined another five by placing the wrong sides together and using a whip stitch over the top to secure.

These two giant pentagons were now joined together in the same way and stuffed with teddy stuffing.

She absolutely loved it!!

wedding lamp #2

I spent this weekend at a lovely wedding up in Blackpool.
A friend who I’ve known since she was born was married in a local church and had her Candy themed (candy theme seems vvv popular this year!) family party in the church hall next door.

For dinner we ate fish and chips from a local van and ice cream cones for desert! Such a great idea!
I Ceilied my night away after enjoying a belly dance performance!

The whole weekend was lovely.

Anyway, my gift to the couple was a knitted lamp shade and 60′s style glass lamp.

I’ve really taken to this lamp shade knitting, after designing and knitting our own Emmms one for her wedding, (hurry up with the photos of that!) I decided this was going to be what I would do for everyone I loved on their wedding day.

This particular one proved harder as I didn’t receive the lamp until I was already half way through the knitting!

I guessed my gauge (risky I know) and began with the decoration for the top of the shade, a cabled pleaty twist.

I really wanted to do a maze pattern for the main fabric but time wasn’t on my side so a simple yo, k2tog knit up pretty quick.

Thankfully it fit perfectly and after knitting some little green balls to hang off the bottom it was complete!

My knitted lamp was not the only hand made part of this wedding.

The place mats were sewn by the brides mother, they decorated the whole hall themselves

and the bride herself made her own wedding cake!!

It was a very impressive ‘wonky wedding cake adorned with colourful flowers.
Just amazing!!

Congratulations Charlotte and John