For Knit Nation 2011, we have teamed up with Joy of The Knitting Goddess and Anna of OneHandKnits for a very special collaboration.
You can find the details by clicking on the tab in the top right corner, or here
The London in Stitches set
Completion May 17, 2011
Ooh lookit, lookit, I actually finished making something!
It’s the second pair of socks I’ve made as part of ORASH (Operation Replace All Socks with Handmade. Still not sure why it’s not ORAWSH but then I am an enormous pedant and it’s not my invention! And ORASH sounds like Oh, rash, which in hindsight signing up to knit a lot of handmade socks while being …ahem… snuggled by 3 small people, 2 cats, a husband and a handcrafting business may have been. Also, did I mention I am completely sleep deprived? Hence this very long run[on sentence filled aside! Roll on the caffeine, people. *twitches*)
Strange cloven hoof style toes
The pattern I chose was Hedera by Cookie A. I really like it. You get these lovely, almost architectural, columns of twisted stitches and lacy holes. Very graceful feeling.
Obligatory sideways pointy toe shot
I altered the toe somewhat, opting for a round toe construction rather than a wedge toe as written in the pattern. I’ve been wanting to try one out for ages because my socks always wear out at the side of the toe, where all the decrease stitches are. Round toes don’t have that little line of decrease stitches so I want to see if these wear out less quickly.
They look a little strange, slightly like I’m hiding a pair of cloven hooves in there.
But they’re very comfy, no pressure on my toes at all and I would probably use a round toe again.
I definitely recommend the book and this pattern in particular.
And now, bring me the caffeine, people. BRING IT.
Sarah
The Create Place May 5, 2011
The Create Place is a fabulous new project being run in east London (Bethnal Green). It is a space that aims to bring crafters, artists, learners and shoppers together. They run workshops, offer space for people to drop in and learn skills, run craft-based parties and evening functions, and sell hand-crafted items.
When I saw The Create Place calling for crafters to sell in their pop-up shop for Mother’s Day, I knew I had to be involved. I popped along for a chat with Jill, the creative force behind The Create Place. There was a lovely vibe about the place – light, airy, and full of crafty knowledge just bursting to be shared.
As I am selling stuff in the shop, I will also work in the shop as part of the collective idea to keep the place running. I did my first shift there on Monday, and I had a lovely time. The shop was pretty quiet being a Bank Holiday, but I kept myself busy with chatting to another volunteer Andrea, and by wiring lots of Lego.
I’ll be heading back to the shop on May 22nd and 29th. If you’re in the area, swing by and say hello!
Alex 🙂
Oops! May 2, 2011
It has just been pointed out that I’ve not actually told anyone officially what the new owlet’s name is. Very remiss of me.
Come on, mother. The suspense is killing me.
He rejoices in the name of Elias Pelham Goldzieher Leavesley.
Goldzieher’s my maiden name and I’ve lumbered all three of them with it. Pelham is for dear old P.G. Wodehouse.
So there you go. Officially announced and registered and everything.
Sarah
Clubbing May 1, 2011
You may remember from this post a while ago that I have a bit of a sock yarn problem. Although it’s only a problem if you feel it’s a problem. I see it as my own little private art collection. And insulation.
In any case, I decided it was time to do something about it, after the discovery that I seem to have over 70 skeins of sock yarn kicking around. Inspired by my friend Suzanne, who was, in turn, inspired by this, I resolved to make myself a sock club aimed at using up what’s in my stash.
In the intervening period I got a little distracted by tiny things, like finishing off custom orders and having a baby. You know, the little, every day things that suddenly crop up and absorb every minute of your waking life.
But then this week I had a little time to myself so I ordered a big parcel of brown paper bags and today I went stash diving.
Snorkel is optional. But probably useful.
Stash diving is So.Much.Fun.
If you haven’t done it recently, you really should.Every so often, even if I’m not actually planning on making anything I like to dig through mine and roll around in it remind myself of what’s in there.
There's no yellow in my rainbow.
In my case, a surprising amount of purple and green. But no yellow.
One of the things I love about indie yarn is the way each dyer can take a particular colour and produce their own totally unique spin on it. (No pun intended. Genuinely sorry.)
Here’s some examples I retrieved from my heap this afternoon.
Sweet Clement, Enchanted Knoll, Knitting Goddess and Yarn To Knit.
All nominally green. All totally different. The Sweet Clement is incredibly intense, almost glowing. The Yarn To Knit is intense too, but it has a really grassy feel.
Another good example is purple. True purple, or so I understand from dabbling and much reading, is really hard to dye. Something to do with the different uptake times of red and blue dyes. It is also one of my favourite colours, as evidenced by the fact that I have a HUGE amount of purple yarn in my stash. I like purple because there’s such enormous variety and subtlety of shade in there. And it can be so rich.
Check it out:
Knitting Goddess, Sweet Clement, Old Maiden Aunt
Again, all purple, all semi solids but the differences between each dyer is incredible.
And then you have all the variegated and striping yarns. And again, no two dyers will do the exact same thing with the same colour palette.
Viz:
Fyberspates, Solstice Yarns
The yarn on the left is some Fyberspates I got in a 12 month sock club a few years ago. It was the February skein, as I recall. The yarn on the right is a skein of Solstice Yarn I picked up just before Christmas. They use a similar colour palette but each dyer has done something different and striking with those colours.
Anyway, I digress.
I’ve spent a very happy morning and afternoon going through my books, paper print outs and Ravelry.
Yes, yes I do have a slight penchant for Cookie A's patterns. How could you tell?
I’ve picked 30 or 40 patterns and matched them up with appropriate yarns.
Make sure you work out whether the pattern will suit variegated or semi solid yarns best.
Knitting Goddess, Paintbox
The end result of the exercise: a massive pile of brown paper parcels:
Not *quite* as attractive as before. But intriguing!
I’m really looking forward to dipping into these. I figure with approximately 40 odd packages, there should be enough to keep me occupied for a good long while. You know, in those dull moments between changing nappies, feeding and generally stimulating the older kids, breastfeeding, making stuff for the shop and sleeping.
Sarah
Wonderwool Wales 2011 April 18, 2011
The Bothered Owl attended Wonderwool Wales for the very first time this year. Held in Builth Wells, it was the third year that the show had run, and this year was the biggest yet.
The show took place at the Royal Welsh Showground,in a very large shed. We were amazingly lucky with the weather, and had glorious sunshine and blue skies.
Scott and I left for Wales a day early, so we could be tourists. We headed to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. It had been on my to see list for a while, and with our hire car, it was an easy detour.
We also checked out Beaumaris Castle, the Menai Strait, and Caernarfon Castle. Scott and I had a lovely time being tourists on our way to Wonderwool Wales. The calm before the storm!
Menai Strait
Caernarfon Castle
Beaumaris Castle
We arrived in Builth Wells after a long drive from Caernarfon in the late afternoon. We unloaded and began to set up.
We had a corner stall
Saturday was a super busy day. We had a lovely day chatting to customers, selling loads of fabric envelopes, bags and of course stitch markers, and enjoying the atmosphere.
Sunday was quieter. We rearranged the layout of the stall so we had the two tables in an L-shape. This seemed to work better. We both wandered around to see what else there was on offer. There was an amazing range of fibre, yarn, and notions on offer. From Manx Loaghtan sheep to Angora bunnies, there really was something for everyone !
Thank you to everyone who came to our stall to shop, to chat and to browse.
And now for some pictures:
Our fruity stitch markers
Yummy stitch markers on our table
Our fimo cake stitch markers
Angora Bunny
Manx Loaghtan sheepies
Home April 5, 2011
Hey guys
Just checking in briefly, in between supplying drinks, to say we’re home. Still slightly shellshocked from how quickly everything happened in the end, but very happy.
I guess I got my come uppance for my practical joke on Sunday night, hey! Woke up about 2 hours later in the full swing of labour and had to speed to the hospital. He was born a couple of hours later at 7.15am.
First visit
The new owlet remains nameless thus far. He’s enormous, 10lbs 5oz and apart from the odd melt down when he gets hungry or a bit lonely, he is incredibly placid and peaceful so far, quite content to lie on my lap or in his rocking chair or basket and stare at his own hands.
Baby Surprise Jacket is finally in use. It will fit him for about a week!
Orlaith and Esme are completely entranced with him. Esme wants him on her lap all the time and held hands with him all the way home from hospital. Orlaith sings to him and is busy concocting ridiculous pet names for him.
3 owlettes, all in a row
So now we just have a few weeks/months of settling into the new pattern of family life as five instead of four.
And we need to find him a name…
Sarah
A new Owlet April 4, 2011
Just a quick entry to say that Sarah has had her baby.
A boy.
10 pounds 5 ounces and very long.
As yet unnamed.
But super cute!
Alex with Brutus
I arrived home from my visit to Australia yesterday. Sarah had speculated that Brutus would wait for me to arrive back in London before being born. And she was right. I’d been back in the country for just over 12 hours when Sarah rang at 3:45am to say that her waters had broken.
I’ll need to stock up on cuddles from this new little one (and Orlaith and Esme of course) before Scott and I head home to Brisbane.
=
🙂 Alex
A tiny new arrival
Wee Foxy Fox
Made you look!
Brutus continues to be an obstinate little creature and refuses to come out of its own volition, so I am off to hospital tomorrow evening to begin a controlled explosion. Otherwise known as being induced.
But not before I managed to finish this little lady for Esme. She was in need of some solace and consolation the other day after a 2 hour shrieking session and I happened upon this pattern via the lovely Skein Queen’s blog.
Esme was mesmerised and the ensuing search for appropriate yarn calmed her down.
The pattern is called Intrepid Fox and you can purchase it from Ravelry. It’s a lovely, quick and easy knit with the option of making it somewhat more complex if you fancy some colourwork. I have never tried colourwork so I went for a slightly more vanilla option this time around.
I already have orders from Orlaith that I am to make her her very own fox, who shall be named Cuddles, apparently.
Esme’s name choices thus far are fairly predictable: she says the fox is to be named either Sleeping Beauty or Prince Phillip. Curse you, Disney classic movies, curse you.
Anyway, I couldn’t sleep until it was finished and Brutus makes it rather difficult to sleep any way, so I thought I’d share this with you, in case you’re also troubled with insomnia and in need of a comforting wee face to help you snooze.
Hopefully the next time I post, I shall have something else small and pink to share with you. Here’s hoping, eh.
In the meantime, I believe Alex will almost certainly have some delightful things to entertain you with in the coming days. Keep your fingers crossed for safe delivery, please!
Sarah
Finished Objects March 19, 2011
I was trying to come up with some kind of witty title for this post but to be honest, I’m exhausted from actually finishing the pieces I want to show you so I’ve given up on that! I’ll focus instead on trying to write some kind of coherent account to accompany the pictures. Does that work for you? Excellent. Let us begin.
Selena of The Couture Cookie Shop got in touch the other week and asked me to design a couple of new items for her.
First up is an adjustable belted waist pouch, a bit like the ones we wear for doing markets.
Roboto!
Selena does a lot of walking with her kids and needs something she can store her stuff in that’s easy to carry (hands free is good when you’re a Mum) and also secure. This pouch has three pockets, two with button flaps and one enormous one, hidden away inside, with a zipper:
Capacious! Pocketty! Yay!
Fully adjustable waist band with back pack style snaps
I made the waist band the same way I do the straps for our messenger bags. Both sides needed to be adjustable so the pouch didn’t end up lopsided and weird when adjusted, so I used a couple of grippy tri-glider thingies to make sure there’s plenty of wiggle room. The snaps were a must. Much less irritating than trying to tie a secure knot when busy with a couple of active toddlers!
I have plans to make some more of these, if nothing else I must make myself one for when I start doing markets again.
The second item I want to show you was something of a learning curve and if I’m honest, the main thing I’ve learned from making it was that I really don’t want to make one again! I’ll explain why after the visuals.
It’s a mei tai style baby carrier.
Check out those dinos!
With a button up pocket on the front for those little bits and pieces you need to have with you. It’s hot, wearing a baby, so coats and jackets tend to be awkward and jeans pockets are a pain. Hence the need for a front pocket:
Flappy. Useful. There's a limit to how much I can really get excited about pockets in this post, isn't there.
Selena chose the same cute dino fabric that I used for the trims on Orlaith’s pirate jacket the other week. And to go with it I picked a chocolatey brown cord. I chose cord because it’s fairly tough and when folded in layers it’s very very soft. Given that this is going to be used to carry a heavyish toddler around, tied on, soft padded feeling straps are a must.
And there is the main reason why I will almost certainly never ever make another one of these. It’s going to be used to carry around someone else’s child. Which means it has to be securely sewn to the point of paranoia and insanity and it needs to be sturdy beyond belief.
In terms of construction, this is a really simple item. It’s a big rectangle, with four longer, thinner rectangles poking out at each corner (the straps.) But to make sure that everything is secure and won’t unravel you have to sew it over and over and over again.
The main rectangle has to be made of at least 2 to 3 layers of cloth, for padding and for strength. Do NOT use jersey for this. Sturdy woven cloth is what you need here. I used quilting cotton, reinforced it with interfacing for a bit of added stiffness, a layer of plain lining cotton and then a layer of the brown cord, to make sure it was really cushy and strong.
The straps were the real killer though. Each of those babies is a long strip of cord, folded in on itself several times over for thickness and strength, then top stitched 3 times with straight AND zigzag stitch for extra strength in the seams.
I stitched them onto the centre layer of cloth in the main body of the mei tai, then I put all the layers together, sewed around leaving spaces for turning inside out. Once turned inside out, I had to do triple rounds of top stitching round the edges and THEN I had to securely topstitch each of the four straps in place:
Doesn't look like much but it took me over 3 hours to put the straps on.
It’s not the prettiest stitching I’ve ever done but by gum, it is secure.
In summary, if you want a pretty mei tai carrier, don’t ask me to make you one! I found it interesting to try out a new technique and the finished product is very satisfying to look at but I won’t be making one for Brutus. I’ll be sticking to my enormous woven cloth sling or if I’m feeling adventurous making myself a stretchy Jersey one like the one I whipped up for our friend Claire.
If you want to have a crack at making one for yourself there are tonnes of detailed and fantastic tutorials out there, for example this one: how to make a Scandinavian style mei tai, which explain in great detail how to do so. But there are also lots of lovely people who already make them out there, who are specialists and who can probably make one for you faster, sturdier and with a lot less cursing!
I’m looking forward to handing over Selena’s finished items and do make sure to go and check out her website, especially if you’re in the South London area as her cakes and cookies are AMAZING!
And now, I have a date with my rotary cutter. Just ONE custom order to go! It’s a big one, but I know that once it’s done, I don’t have to panic about going into labour leaving anything unfinished. Ahh, the relief!
Sarah 🙂
PS I can confirm that Alex has landed safely in Bris Vegas and appears to be enjoying herself thoroughly in the warm weather. Huzzah!
The Bothered Owl 