Purl and Seam

New York Cardigan – Made by Ma

January 8, 2012

Ma’s been at it again. She knitted me a Christmas cardigan and showed me that this is how lovely Aran weight cardigans should look.

The pattern is New York Cardigan by Erin Harper which you can purchase on Ravelry (of course…this is one of my favourite resources for knitting patterns).

The yarn is Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran.

It’s so delightful to wear. Soft and cosy and comfortable.

I love the detail on the front band:

Once again I prove I’m the luckiest girl in the world!

Funny story, though…I wore this cardigan yesterday to take Ma out for belated birthday coffee and cakes and to purchase fabric for her birthday gift. We were sat having coffee and Ma got up to get serviettes. When she returned she was laughing to herself. She’d been thinking as she walked away from the table what a lovely cardigan I was wearing…only to realise it was the one she’d made!

Which goes to prove what I’m always telling her, that she is indeed a talented craftswoman.

A small quilt for a small boy – Made by Ma!

January 3, 2012

New Year’s Eve was Ma’s birthday and as is the norm we all gathered to wish her well and deliver her hugs and gifts.

I think she missed the point because she turned up with a gift for The Boy!

It’s too adorable. We got the fabric from Festival of Quilts last year. Each of the squares came ready cut so it was quite simple to construct (compared to the king sized double wedding ring she’s working on!).

The backing fabric co-ordinates with the face squares.

I wish I could tell you the name of the company I got this fabric from. They were a French family…Maman designs the fabric, Papa prints it and La Fille runs the business side of it. They were absolutely darling and very charming when I butchered the French language whilst purchasing these fabrics.

If you know who I mean, please let me know. I’d love to share a link with you. They do just the most adorable fabrics for children.

Edited: I got a chance to nip to the loft and rummage whilst The Husband bathed the bairns and the company is Il était une fois…. I’m not being held responsible for any shopping you might do whilst on their site! 😉

And Ma makes the most adorable quilts.

That was the year that was

December 28, 2011

I can’t believe Christmas is over and we are heading rapidly to the end of another year.

I love this little hiatus between festivities and New Year celebrations. It’s a time to relax with the family and take a breather to reflect on the year that was and plan for the year yet to be.

It’s been a productive year in many ways…I’ve finished 26 projects this year, my favourites being

The common thread with these projects is that I took my time, paid attention to detail, fit and finish, and it really paid off. These items are worn a lot!

I think this is the biggest lesson I’ve learned this year…enjoy the process…take the time…do it properly. It’s the only way to get results that you love and will wear again and again.

The year has been successful in other ways.

We’ve finally finished with the adoption process and both children are now officially ours…we all have the same surname now, which is more joyful than you can imagine.

I’ve committed to the last two modules of my degree…I’m on the home stretch now and by this time next year it will be done and dusted and I’ll hopefully have the results.

My niece and her family have moved to the same postcode as us. It means that we are finally getting to spend lots of time together and that really is delightful.

And despite Pa SIL launching himself through the loft hatch, and the Ma’s and niece spending far too much time in hospital for anyone’s liking, we’ve all made it to the end of the year more or less intact. This is a blessing. Long may it continue.

On checking my goals page I see that the stash has been well and truly busted, although you might notice some new stuff creeping in at the edges!!!

I couldn’t help it.

Honestly.

And whilst I didn’t make a dent in the list of TNT patterns, I am getting nearer to having a pattern for the perfect slim legged trousers. Just a little more work.

But that said, I’m still very happy indeed with what’s been achieved during this year, both in my own right and as a family.

Now I just need to think about what I’d like to do next year. There are some big things already in the plan…but they’ll have to wait for another post.

A good time was had by all

December 27, 2011

The children slept till 8.20am! Little angels.

Santa was very generous to all of us.

The bairns said thank you to Santa as each present was handed to them.

The afternoon was spent with grandparents and niece/nephew/great-niece/great-nephew, and an inordinate amount of food and wine.

I was too busy cooking and celebrating and eating and drinking to take pictures, but I did catch a rare moment of children behaving nicely

It didn’t last long!! But they had a blast.

We couldn’t have asked for more.

I’m hoping by New Year we’ll have cleared up the house! 😉

Fairly hopeless

December 19, 2011

You’ll remember I’m sure the Fairhope cardigan I’ve been knitting.

The last time you saw it, well, it looked like this:

And then, of course I ran out of yarn!

But now it’s finished.

In fact it’s been finished for a few weeks.

But I’ve got to tell you it’s not a happy ending.

You see, this is what Fairhope should look like when finished:

Gorgeous, no? Elegant and cosy and just generally lovely.

Yeah! Right!

Although, in fairness to the lovely Kim, the pattern has been a joy to knit and the cardigan itself looks exactly as it should, just with a few inches extra length.

I think the problem is with the model.

I’m only sharing this with you because I know you won’t laugh.

But really…..this is an amazing pattern that is just completely the wrong style for me. I think it’s that good old learning curve rearing it’s head again!

Thankfully Ma really enjoys such tedious tasks as unravelling unfortunate knits. Which is a godsend as frankly I’d rather stick red hot pins in my eyes. I’d even gone so far as to get permission from the designer to sell this cardigan.

But I love the colour.

So it’s back to the drawing board…with big fat thanks to Ma!

And let’s face it…if this is the worst thing that happens to me this week then the world is a pretty cool place. So watch this space.

The urge to make

November 30, 2011

This morning the sun was shining and I felt like playing hooky from my chores. The Husband was working at home all day and he took the munchkins to nursery. So I pootled round loading the dishwasher and the washing machine, did the bare minimum of housework and ate a leisurely, and luxuriously quiet, breakfast, just me and the magazine from the Sunday paper (thanks Liz!).

Whilst I have some studies to do to finish this weeks unit, a quick diary shuffle took care of them and left me a morning free to do as I pleased.

Such a treat.

I felt the need for a quick win. Something concrete to show for the free morning. Something not too mentally taxing. So………….

I finished all the blocks!

That’s it now until I can get the fabric for the borders and the backing, which will just have to wait until after Christmas.

But for now it’s pinned to the wall at the top of the stairs to the sewing loft so that whenever I go in I can admire my first attempt at patchwork and decide where its new home will be when its finished.

PS. I know the photo is a bit weird but it’s taken at night as I balanced precariously halfway down the loft stairs.

I simply couldn’t wait until daylight to share it with you.

Squint and you’ll miss the wonky bits!

A Gardener’s Journal – yet another block done

November 29, 2011

Only two blocks left to sew!!!!!

Woohoo!!

I’m determined to have them done by year end.

Pants!

November 28, 2011

After the debacle that was the black trousers I decided enough was enough and signed up to a Palmer/Pletsch trouser fitting course at Bambers in Manchester.

I managed to convince Ma to join me and on Friday and Saturday we packed up our sewing boxes and headed off hoping to crack trouser fitting once and for all.

At this point I should point out that Ive had a copy of Pants for Real People for forEVAH!

But have I read it!

Of course I haven’t!

I had scanned through it and thought that tissue fitting your pattern looked so tricksy and counter intuitive to everything I’ve ever learned about fitting that I put it to one side (together with it’s companion edition Fit for Real People) and left them to lurk unloved on the bookshelf gathering dust.

So I had high hopes but a lot of trepidation when we arrived at the class. Ma too.

We had nothing to worry about.

Firstly the class was very small; just us two and two other lovely ladies – Lisa and Anna.

: Lisa preps a pattern for fitting. Note the gorgeous dress she made herself!

: Anna sews her new (perfectly fitting) trousers wearing a beautiful hand knitted cardigan

And then there was Celia, the instructor.

: Oooooh they’re going to kill me for this photo. Every other shot was of the back of their heads!

I have to tell you that if you ever get the opportunity to take a class with Celia grab it with both hands.

Seriously, she’s amazing.

Not only is she incredibly knowledgeable but she’s really keen to share that knowledge, which is hugely inspirational. Add in a warm personality, a fabulous sense of humour and a passion for dressmaking and you’ve got the perfect recipe for an amazing teacher. Oh, and she likes cake too! Always a winner in my book.

So now I have an almost finished pair of trousers from this pattern

McCalls 5239

Whilst these are not my first choice of trouser style they are a good basic shape that I can then play with and add features. I am indeed thinking of cracking the spines on my pattern cutting books using this pattern as a block.

Vogue 8774

I also have this Vogue jeans pattern half fitted.

I think its the most telling measure of how successful I found the two days with Celia that I’ve swung from never wanting to attempt to sew another pair of trousers as long as I live, to being ~~overly~~ excited at the prospect of making my own jeans.

And if that wasn’t enough, Ma and I have signed up for the Fit for Fashion course in April so we can get down and dirty with fitting bodice patterns.

I’m working to get time to finish the trousers over the next couple of weeks and as soon as they’re done I’ll share photos.

Gardener’s Journal – another one bites the dust!

November 16, 2011

It’s supremely wonky.

Wonky doesn’t bother me.

I only have three blocks left to make, so I’m hoping to have the quilt top finished before the end of the year.

It’s just about doable.

I think. 🙂

Paper

November 14, 2011

This weekend The Husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

Our wedding day was simply perfect.

Our married life is even better.

Don’t get me wrong…we have trials and tribulations like everyone else. But we are a team and a family, and together we can face whatever life throws at us.

And each day I love this wonderful man even more.

Happy Anniversary my love.

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