Tuesday 26 March 2013

red riding hood

The oh so sweet oliver + s red riding hood from little things to sew. I do say it a few times, most likely when using an oliver + s pattern, but this was a dream to sew!


Main fabric is a red cord, just as I wanted, though with an unfortunate habit of turning anything else in a wash load a non too delicate shade of pink. This meant that my initial lining fabric purchase of a cheery large bright blue gingham wouldn't work. Obviously I only discovered this when I really should have already made and lovingly parcelled the cape up for a little lady's birthday. So with no time for searching the delightful internet fabric shops I had to shop local and oh my it was difficult to find a fabric to coordinate yet with a dark enough background to take the pink if this cape should ever need to be washed. This lining isn't a matchy match but somehow I think it works and though not a dark background I feel it could take a pink tint and still look sweet. No idea what the fabric is other than a cotton found in the depths of the local shop...

Anyway I cut the large size (5-10 years) as the birthday lady is 6. It is rather large. And other than saying it really is a dream to sew the next time I make one I may be tempted to position the arm slits a little higher. Or maybe increase the size of the slits? Suppose they may be very well placed for an older child...

I had a slightly sniffy moment when asking Patch to try it on... for the first time EVER he looked at something and hesitated because it was girly. This from the boy whose favourite colour is pink and adores flowers. Sob.



Parcelled up with this



Do hope you had a happy birthday, Lucy!

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Friday 15 March 2013

A jolly red nose day

And Patch did look rather jolly going to school this morn


Luckily Patch was keen to dress up as a clown - it is currently his chosen profession when a grown up - as we could re-use most of the clown outfit made a few years ago when P was in Nursery. A quick sew of buttons onto a bigger tee, though surprisingly the clown trousers do still fit. I used the basic trouser pattern from Emma Hardy's cute and easy costumes for kids.

Hmmm... those buttons looked more evenly spread last night. Probably I should have paid more attention to the buttons and less on watching Made in Dagenham...

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Tuesday 12 March 2013

A broken rib stitch scarf

Made for Mr R's birthday in January and still being worn today as it is oh so snug. And we have snow. I cast on for the width of scarf Mr R requested and then happily spent many hours knitting. Broken rib is so simple and so perfect for knitting while watching the television.


Mr R chose his wool... Debbie Bliss Paloma in Camel. A beautifully soft alpaca and merino blend, knit on 10mm needles so satisfyingly quick. It did take a few balls though to get the length of scarf required, so not a cheap scarf. Happily this scarf keeps on growing (sounds nicer than stretching-think it must be the weight) and is taking on Dr Who-like dimensions...

More birthday makes soon!


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Tuesday 5 March 2013

Birthday knitted wristwarmers




Hmmm, any dear friend who has had a birthday so far this year has had a pair of these knitted for them... maybe I should stop if spring is truly here. It has been a dreamy sunny day today but I would happily have still worn some of these going to school this morn, so maybe time for a few more pairs yet.


This is the wristwarmers with contrast rib pattern (with no contrast!) from Anna Wilkinson's Learn to Knit Love to Knit. I really do like the contrast rib shown in the book, particularly the contrast cast on row, but went for the solid look for these presents. I also made the wristwarmers a few rows longer than stated for extra snugness.

The red are knitted in one ball of Debbie Bliss cashmerino dk, and the green in one ball of Rowan pure wool dk in parsley.


I was looking for a mustard like yellow to knit the latest pair, and on a dreary day in the local woolshop this colour did look a little mustard like. In reality it is more of a gold colour though looks orange in the photo. Oh dear, another dreary day. This time I used Sublime cashmere merino silk dk, and needed two balls with most of the second ball now in the please-remember-to-use-me wool basket. Which really must be moved as we have discovered Miss Ethel likes a ball of cashmerino as much as I do. Oh and google informs me that the colour of this wool is actually marmalade. I still say it is more yellow...

And Miss Ethel! We have adopted a kit... again.


A sweet kit who likes nothing more than snoozing. Which could be why she is rather tubs. Diet and exercise regime have started. Actually, there is something Ethel likes as much as a snooze... my wool basket. As Mr R discovered one day when he found her blissfully tangled up in an entire ball of cashmerino. No acrylic blends for Ethel.

Off to make rhubarb custard biscuits!

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