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!

Tags: buttony, days are numbers, daysarenumbers film night, film night, knitting, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, Peckham film night

bye bye folksy

So, after 3 years, we have decided to say goodbye to our Made By Loumms Folksy shop :(

this is due to many reasons, and even though we are sad to say goodbye to our UK based online shop we are still going strong over at Etsy!

With the recent changes Etsy has made, it has become even easier for our UK/European based customers with prices now available in £’s as well as $!!

Made By Loumms is stocked full of our favourite wristers,

sock, sweater, and stash perfect button bags

and our very own sock patterns

also, in addition, our home-wear shop, Loumms Makes More stocks our

napkins,

aprons,

and much more to come!

A big thanks to all of our customers who supported us at Folksy, we hope to see you over at Etsy soon!

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!

Tags: buttons, cardigan, finished cardi, re knitted cardi

to seal or not to seal??

Last week I was beginning to get a bit frustrated with the state of my house.

It has been a good few years since it was decorated and it is beginning to show.

As it is rented I don’t want to spend to much on it and I also don’t want the landlord re-decorating and putting the rent up so I decided to do a bit of DIY myself!

Over the next few months, one room at a time with a budget of £50-£100 a room (depending on how bad it is!) I will transform my flat!

I started last weekend with the bathroom and it was a great success!
I knew it would probably be the most pricy to do but I managed not to go over budget.

I cleaned it down, re-painted the whole room using three tones of a browny/pinky/grey

and laid a new lino floor.

This was not as easy as I first guessed!

I laid out the lino in the kitchen then measured all of the bathroom including toilet, bath and sink and planned it out on the lino using masking tape.

Then I cut out the shape with a Stanley knife and carried it through.

Haha! It didn’t fit!! How?? I do not know!

Thankfully it was too big rather than too small so I went round everything again with the knife and eventually got it to the right size.

After a bit of dancing around it was laid out and smooth!!

It is amazing how much it has been transformed because of the floor! however I wish I’d read a bit about sealing the lino as that is probably the shabbier part of the room. Which is why I’m sharing what I have learnt!!

I used two types of sealant to do the floor, both able to be used without a gun, a translucent one for around the wall and and the bottom of the bath panel and a brilliant white one for around the toilet and sink.

Tips to seal a bathroom floor:

1-make sure the floor is clean and dry
2-move any large items out of the room to allow plenty of moving space (something I didn’t do which caused me to get into a huge tangle with my under sink storage)
3-place masking tape around both edges being sealed to give a neater edge (I didn’t do this which resulted in a slightly rougher edge!)
4-when squeezing out the silicone sealant, work quickly and confidently but don’t rush
5-don’t use too much sealant
6-allow to slightly dry for 1 minute before smoothing it out using a cloth dipped in hot water or a rounded edged spatula again dipped in hot water.
7-remove any extra unwanted silicone with white spirit before it dries.

If you follow these steps you should achieve a relatively professional finish!!

I will remind myself to take my own advice next time I do this!!

So after the floor was finished, I scrubbed the tiles until they were white again and cleaned up the fixtures.

Lovely.

Bring on the living room!!!

Tags: Lino floor, sealing a bathroom floor, Sealing bathroom floor, silicone sealer, translucent sealant, white sealant

rip it up and start again

A few years ago I made a sweater out of some discount yarn I got in the winter sales.

I don’t normally knit with such chunky wool but thought it was a good deal so found a pattern I liked and got knitting.

I was never particularly pleased with the result and it got put aside.

I was going though my winter clothes a few months ago and came across it again, I left it out in the hope that someone would wear it but it still sat there.
So, on Sunday I decided to unravel the whole thing and start again!

I knew I wanted a cardi instead of a jumper but couldn’t find a pattern I liked in such a chunky yarn so I got knitting a basic raglan, top down, no sewing cardi.

I have been trying it on the whole time (great benefit of top down!) and pretty much blagging the whole project!

It has been quite fun to knit as I’m doing a lot of guess work, absolutly no measuring, not a guage in sight and no shaping planning mathematics, and I’m not actually sure that I have enough yarn to finish it the way I want! I like a risky knit!

I’ve already done a button band however I’m hoping to be left with enough yarn after the sleeves (which I want to be loooong!) to add a stripe or dark brown followed by a stripe of light brown to each front!

I’m planning on adding button loops and huge chunky wooden buttons to finish it off!!

I do enjoy hodge-podge knitting even though the results never always work out!!

Fingers crossed this one does!!

Tags: brown cardi, cardi, gorilla knitting, guesswork, hodge podge knitting, re-knitting a sweater, rip it back, rowan chunky

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!!

Tags: childerens gift, February already, giant patchwork ball, hand sewn ball, handmade ball, handmade kids gift, large ball, red soft ball, stuffed ball, tutorial patchwork ball

mulled new year

Here is a tried and tested recipe for Mulled Wine which will surely keep you warm as we head into the new year.

The week between Christmas and New Year is always a tough one, the big day is over, you’ve eaten too much and spent an abnormal amount of time with your family.
This mulled wine is what you need to see you through.

Keep it mulling on the stove and it will fill your house with calming, warming scents.

For use with 1 bottle of wine

Ingredients

3 tbl sp light muscovado sugar
1/2 orange peel
1/2 orange squeezed
1/2 orange sliced
1/2 lime squeezed
1/2 lemon squeezed
2 bay leaves
1 tsp each of nutmeg, all spice, cinnamon,
6 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 bottle of wine (Chianti or Cabernet Sauvignon)
2-3 25ml shots of brandy

Method

Add everything except the wine and brandy to a pan on a high heat.
Bring to the boil with a slosh of the wine and reduce to a syrup.
Once the syrup is thick enough to see the bottom of the pan when stirred add the remaining wine and brandy.
Once the liquid is at a warm drinkable temperature, pour into cosy glasses and enjoy.
Do not boil once the alcohol is added or you will burn it all off!

Tags: mulled, Mulled wine recipe, spicy wine