handmade in Lancashire
I promised you a look-see at the yarn I got for Christmas, and as we’ve had a wee bit of sunshine today, I could take photos to share, so here we go.
The first of the 3 kits is the Breiwick hat by Ella Gordon from Kate Davies’ book Milarrochy Heids.
Hello! I do hope you’re all keeping warm. Unless you’re in Australia, then keeping cool! As I’m typing this there is snow drifting past the window and actually starting to stick. The small peeps will be beside themselves.
Hello there! I do hope that the Christmas holidays, however you celebrate, or if you don’t, have been peaceful for you.
We’ve had the most wonderful time. Christmas Eve was spent at The Lowry theatre watching the marvellous production of Doctor Dolittle.
Christmas Day we went out for Christmas lunch to a local restaurant with the in-laws, and it was stress free and just delightful. The children even waited until late afternoon to open their gifts.READ MORE
Whilst I’ve been missing from this little corner of the blogosphere, I’ve been off doing ‘real life’ stuff. Most of it has just been the minutiae of everyday life, coupled with a real drive to slow things down (not entirely successfully, but we’re making a start).
However, you may have seen on Insta that Dave and I managed to bunk off parenting for a couple of nights and zip up the motorway to the Southern Lake District for a bit of time just being Mr and Mrs.
For quite some time now, Summer’s Grandad has been telling her stories about a small mouse named Monroe and his wife, Marilyn, who live in their home and have fabulous adventures.
As a girl with a wide creative streak, she is entranced by these tales.
Whilst I was making Spencer the Pug for Dylan (who’s now called Robertson, for reasons that escape me), it seemed a fine opportunity to make Monroe and Marilyn for Summer.
Obviously, for a project such as this, there is only one designer you need…Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits. I’ve waxed lyrical about her delightful family of woodland creatures before, so this was a complete no-brainer.
Julie’s patterns are not a quick make. They are beautiful heirloom knits and as such need a little work. But neither are they a difficult knit.
You just need to pay attention to her scrupulously written pattern and all will work out. She holds your hand all the way, not just with the knitting but with the sewing up and stuffing too!
And at the end of it you get these magical little animals to delight someone special in your life.
Project notes:
| Pattern: | Boy mouse with a cabled sweater |
| Pattern cost: | £6.75 |
| Yarn: | Bergere De France Calinou |
| Colourway: | Bleu Nuit & Lac |
| Purchased at: | John Lewis |
| Yarn cost: | £7.00 |
Who ate all my time! I can’t believe it’s over a month since I last posted.
Life here is super busy. Isn’t everyone’s?
After many years of battling we finally have some support in place for the children, so have social workers, family support workers, and conferences and workshops coming out of our ears! Funnily enough it’s also led to a friend (also an adoptive mum of a chap with additional needs) and I to realise that there is a huge hole in the market for a one-stop-website for parents and guardians like us.
Over coffee one day, lamenting the lack of such a resource, and wondering why somebody didn’t do it….we realised that we were just the people to fill that gap. Now we are working hard for an Autumn launch. Its exhilarating and exhausting in equal parts, and the steepest of learning curves, but we’re only a month in and getting great feedback, so watch this space.
With all this going on, you can imagine that crafting time is limited….I haven’t looked at a tapestry sheep in weeks, and my sewing plans are gathering dust. I’m slowly working on a waistcoat for Dave, but I’m awfully glad he’s patient!
Thankfully, I have been knitting. Most recently finished are these beauties.
Look at those colours!
Look at those perfectly matched stripes!
Sock perfection! And a happy husband. I’ll take that win!
Of course I have another pair of socks on the needles, for conversational knitting occasions. But I also have Galaxie from Quince & Co. for evenings in front of the TV.
Image copyright Quince & Co.
I’m knitting it in Finch in the colourway Stream.
Image copyright Quince & Co.
Both the pattern and the yarn are sublime. I’m happily doing a few rounds a night and enjoying the making. I’m usually a product driven knitter, so this is a lovely change for me. And it’s nice to be knitting a garment other than socks!
It’ll be ready for Autumn too.
Project notes
| Pattern: | Regia 4ply sock pattern |
| Pattern cost: | Free |
| Yarn: | Zwerger Garn Opal |
| Colourway: | Kim |
| Purchased at: | Black Sheep Wools |
| Yarn cost: | £7.99 |
This post is so overdue it’s ridiculous. And it’s all been hanging on photographs! Yesterday Summer agreed to take a couple of quick snaps as I was wearing my favourite of these tops, so here we go, at last.
I’ve already covered the fitting changes I made to this pattern here and, I’ll be honest, I’m still wearing that top on a regular basis, despite it’s imperfections. It fits better than pretty much anything I’ve bought from a shop and is great to throw on when I’m running around the house with a pair of jeans doing chores.
I have, however, since then made 4 other versions, with varying degrees of success. The success or failure of the finished garment has been purely down to fabric choice.
First up my favourite. This is a lovely sheer, lightweight cotton that has almost a cheesecloth texture to it. The print is delicious, and it’s cool and lovely to wear as we head into warmer weather, but also a great layering piece with a cardigan for us women-of-a-certain-age!
The fabric is from deep stash and was gifted to me by my friend Christian, who is a seamstress with impeccable taste! I’m glad I’ve finally got this one in my wardrobe and its in heavy rotation.
Second favourite is another fabric from deep stash, which I purchased yonks ago from Abakhan. it’s a printed cotton jersey, and it’s my favourite for when I just need something comfy for dog walking or housework. Love this top and it proves that this pattern is great for knits as well as wovens.
The first of the unsuccessful tops is this one.
The fabric is from the wonderful Stone Fabrics in Devon. I bought this on holiday a couple of years ago, so again it’s good to get it out of the stash. I’ve checked their site and the don’t seem to have any of it left. Which is a shame because the fabric is beautiful, and the print is lovely.
Unfortunately I look like an extra from the Walking Dead in it. It’s a really bad colour on me.
And finally is this lovely blue print.
Which is all the colours that look amazing on me. But the fabric (a bargain bin purchase from Abakhan for very little money) is awful. And clingy. And just plan old nasty.
So I can happily say I’ve now got my first TNT pattern. It’s such a useful little top I’m sure to make more. However, on the sewing table at the moment is a Harris Tweed waistcoat for Dave, and the Imogen top in its second iteration with an FBA. As the kids are back at school next week, I’m hoping to get some sewing done on both of them.
I know I’ve been teasing you with my visit to Toft and the pug I made for Dylan for Easter. Both my kids are nosy, so I didn’t dare put anything up anywhere they might stumble across it before Easter Sunday. We’re safe now, so here goes the first of two posts about impossibly cute woolly animals.
Just after Christmas my friend, Julia, and I had a bit of a road trip to the Toft Studio in Warwickshire. We headed off on the Saturday afternoon, and after a lovely pub supper, a ridiculously early night, and a full English breakfast we didn’t have to cook ourselves, we had a crisp and sunny country drive to Toft.
The setting for the Studio is impossibly bucolic. Classic English countryside, red brick houses and a beautiful building that is home to the studio, shop, and a very warm welcome.
We did two workshops. One amigurumi and one on stripy blankets. Both were for complete beginners, and I came away confident that although I’d never crocheted anything before I could happily complete the white rat that I’d started. I didn’t….I poached the yarn for the wee mice I made for Summer! But I did also purchase the yarn and pattern for Spencer the Pug for my pug mad boy.
And I did complete him.
The hardest part of this project is remembering to count! I’m not a confident enough crocheter to try and do this and watch a film. But it’s amazing what you can accomplish with a little quiet concentration.
Dylan is so delighted with him. Spencer has joined Margaret, the knitted pug, as his favourite companions.
Although now, obviously, he’s not called Spencer. A new name has yet to be decided on. But with toy pugs already named Margaret and Phillip Reeve, who knows what we’ll end up with?!
I’m feeling decidedly accomplished and planning other projects as soon as I’ve worked through some more stash. I can, however, highly recommend Toft workshops. And the yarn is simply sublime! I want to knit All The Things in it now.
Whilst the husband, Dave, has always been a big fan of the hand-knitted sock, the rest of the family is starting to get in on the act. Most recently, the lovely Miss Summer.
As she’s growing like a weed at the moment, I decided to go with a tube sock. With no heel, not only are these a ridiculously simple knit, they also last longer as she grows.
These are knitted from the toe up, so although they’re simple, it was a new technique for me. Not a difficult one at all.
And as you can see from the pictures, these are well worn. Summer absolutely loves them and is clamouring for another pair.
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To complete the flamingo love, I embroidered the back of a store bought denim jacket for her.
I didn’t have much choice. Whilst we were out shopping she said how much she loved the jacket, but that it would be so much better if only it had an embroidered flamingo on the back. And that would be something I could do for her, wouldn’t it?
You can’t argue with a 10 year old! She’s got the skills of a Hague lawyer, that one!
Project notes:
| Pattern: | Tube Socks For Kids by Jane Richmond |
| Pattern cost: | Free |
| Yarn: | Jawoll (not sure which one) |
| Colourway: | Pink |
| Purchased at: | No clue! |
| Yarn cost: | Who knows? Who cares? ? |
The Sew Me Something Imogen Top has been on my sewing list for what seems like forever. And as I’ve a few lengths of pretty prints in my stash that are perfect for this top, I decided to make a quick toile to see what it looks like and fits like.
Fit is still a massive challenge to me, but for this top I decided to compare the measurements to a RTW blouse that gets heavy rotation. Although the fit on the RTW blouse isn’t perfect, it’s still good enough, and it’s one of my favourite wears.
Taking some measurements from the RTW blouse, I decided to cut a straight size 20 and added 4″ to the length. I’ve made no other adjustments to the pattern.
As you can see, it’s come up a bit long. I will go back at some point and chop probably a couple of inches off the length. That’s an easy enough fix and due to me being overly cautious – you can always shorten but it’s tough to add length once you’ve cut.
The bust is the problem area. You can see drag lines pointing clearly to the bust, indicating that although, theoretically, this top fits around the circumference, it does need a full bust adjustment (FBA) to make it hang nicely.
I like the gathered neckline and elasticated cuff.
All in all, I really like this top. It’s an easy wear and, although it’s been very shoddily sewn, as it was intended only to be a toile, it’s had several outings and a compliment every time it’s worn.
Construction wise, it’s simple enough, apart from the placket. I couldn’t get my head around the instructions, but that could just be user error. I’ll let you know the next time I make it.
For the next iteration, I’ll go do an FBA and the shorter length, and see what I end up with. If it’s half as wearable as this toile version, then I’ll be a happy sewist!
Project notes
| Pattern: | Sew Me Something Imogen |
| Pattern cost: | £16.00 (£9.00) |
| Fabric: | Blue print poly |
| Purchased at: | Birmingham Market |
| Fabric Cost: | £3.00 ish. Not very much at all. |
| Photographs by Miss S. Jones | iPhone 8 |