What the f*** is that in your freezer??!?

In my freezer you'll find the basic essentials of life (bear in mind this is just my little fridge freezer; I also have a pretty serious industrial freezer big enough to hide a pair of bodies that I found on the side of the road that is host to a many more exciting frozen goods... no bodies though):

Fish fingers. Obviously.

Lots of ice-cream. Of both the Italian and dairy-free varieties.

Black Cow vodka. Seriously good stuff. Made by a friend of mine in Dorset, this is the world's first vodka made from pure milk. Seriously good stuff.

A sandwich bag full of crochet granny squares. Whaaaaaat?! 

Truth is, I got moths.

I started crocheting these squares in the Summer, using my many, many random balls of DK yarn with which I don't yet have the patience to knit something real, but always seem to buy from sale bins or discontinued stock. A technicolour granny square blanket along these lines seemed the obvious fate for those poor lonesome yarns. 

After a slowish start, I really got into the swing of things as Autumn turned to Winter when I was given a beautiful yarn basket from a beautiful friend for my birthday. I knew immediately that that would be the official granny square blanket basket. So things were going great... and then I went away after Christmas for a couple of weeks... the moths saw their opportunity, moved in and got busy.

Anyone who knits/sews/owns cashmere will know that it's not the fully grown moths that chomp away on your best woollens, but in fact their larvae. Their pesky, greedy, good for nothing offspring. Killing moths as and when you see them is obviously a good preventative (extreme moth contraception), but what you really want to do is actually stop them f***ing in your stash. This time I was too late. When you find those white wispy strands of moth larvae the only thing for it is to get that shit in the freezer. That's the only way to kill them.

I have not been put off by this little hurdle however, and I am full steam ahead with operation Technicolour Granny Blanket Stash-Bust and hope to have all 432 - yes, four hundred and thirty-two - squares done and joined for next Winter. In the meantime, as a precautionary measure, each square I complete is immediately relocated to a sandwich bag in the freezer until further notice.

Slowly But Surely

Observant types may have picked up on a secret project going on in these parts... It was meant to be the ultimate Christmas present - a Memory Quilt, commissioned by a Mother for her Daughter, made using her dear, late Father's shirts. 

Much to my regret, I didn't finish it in time... And things like that cannot be rushed.

So with what I had, I put together what I could: a written explanation illustrated with photos to be printed off and given on the Day, a promise of the quilt to come. While work on the quilt still continues, slowly but surely, now that the cat is out of the bag for the people who matter, I get to share with you the piece I wrote ~

Wrapped In His Memory

Two months ago I received a very moving message from your Mum asking my advice on having a quilt made for you, using all of your Father’s shirts. We met, discussed, designed (and had to sneak around a bit!), and eventually I found myself in my studio, rotary cutter in hand, a neat pile of your Dad’s shirts on my table, terrified. Not only is this the most challenging quilt design I have ever worked on, but easily, and so terrifyingly, the most emotionally valuable project I have ever embarked upon. I think I spent two days just staring before I could bring myself to cut the first piece.

After sewing the first ‘flower’ with my heart in my mouth, I saw how truly beautiful this quilt could become. So I kept going… cutting and sewing, arranging stripes, colours and textures, finding the special details to take pride of place as the flowers’ epicentres and keeping aside labels and buttons to incorporate later…

As expected with a project such as this, things never turn out exactly as planned. There have been hurdles, changes to the design and minor set-backs. But despite the extra time, these hurdles have only added to the beauty of this quilt – like the addition of white shirting ‘pathways’ to accentuate the flowers, the decision to hand-tie the quilt with individual threads rather than quilting by machine, realising I had miscalculated the width and therefore having to make more strips to bulk it out!

Darling Camilla, 

This should have been under the tree for you today, but being the work of Love that this is - from the love you shared with your Father, to the love from which your Mother conceived the idea for this Quilt, and the silent, humbling love I feel as I cut and stitch each piece – this is something that could not be rushed or hurried. And so, disappointed as I am that it is still a work of love in progress, I only hope that this is enough, for now. 

SSS'11: Days 10, 11 & 13

A quick run down of the weekend in Self-Stitched outfits...

day 10

Day 10: Short Sorbetto Top & Fuchsia Silk Tulip Skirt (made from a self drafted pattern in 2004ish).

day 11

Day 11 (my sister's birthday): Pleated Maxi Skirt on me (left), Cotton Shirting Sundress on my sis (made from a self drafted pattern in 2007ish).

day 13

Day 13: Cotton Shirting Layered Big Pleats Skirt (made from a self drafted pattern in 2004ish).

What happened to Day 12...?  Well... After a weekend of fabulous birthday parties and a family sleepover at my Mum's, Monday 12th was pretty much spent in PJs.  

I'll take this moment to add that, while I am doing my best to be me-made every day, my lack of homemade comfort clothes is making it hard to dress for daily life with a toddler.  But maybe that's made up for by the fact that every evening, just like any other evening, we all cosy up on the sofa in our Monster Granny Square Blanket and, more often than not, handknit socks.

Baby Snuggle Wrap - knitting pattern

Baby things are always such a pleasure to knit.  I find myself taking the rhythmical meditation that comes with rhythmical stitching to new levels... with every stitch I imagine I'm infusing my handknit with love and hope and endearment, to envelop and protect the tiny baby who wears it (so much so, that I can't knit for a baby if I'm in a bad mood).  This Snuggle Wrap was not actually knitted with anybaby in mind (wishful knitting, possiblement?)... just an idea I had and it seemed like the perfect project for the Misti Alpaca yarn that had been calling out to me from my stash basket.  A delicious yarn to knit with, and a deliciously satisfying project, and even dreamier to knit if you have a little one on the way...

Size: newborn - 6 months
Gauge: 3.5 stitches per inch

Abbreviations

k - knit
p - purl
st(s) - stitch(es)
rep - repeat
cont - continue
CO - cast on
BO - bind off
RS - right side
WS - wrong side

Materials

• 3 x 100g Misti Alpaca Chunky (100% baby Alpaca)
• 7mm needles
• 5mm crochet hook
• yarn needle to sew in tails
• little scissors

alternative folding technique

Instructions

CO 97 sts.

rows 1 - 6: work in Moss st (k1, *p1, k1 rep from * to end of row).

row 7 (RS): (k1, p1) 3 times, knit to last 6 sts, (p1, k1) to end.

row 8 (WS): (k1, p1) 3 times, purl to last 6 sts, (p1, k1) to end.

rep rows 7 & 8 until piece measures approx 20in/50cm in length.

next row (RS): (k1, p1) 15 times, k37, (p1, k1) 15 times.

next row (WS): k1, (p1, k1) 15 times, p35, (k1, p1) 15 times, k1.

rep these last 2 rows 2 more times (6 rows total of the Moss st shoulders).

next row (RS): BO 26 sts, (k1, p1) twice, k37, (p1, k1) 3 times, BO last 25 sts.

At this point you can either break off yarn and rejoin it, or using a crochet needle slip stitch over to your 46 live stitches.

Hood

cont in the same pattern of the 6 st moss st border at each end of row, stockinette st in between, until hood panel measures approx 8.5in/21cm.

You now want to slip 23 sts onto another needle (preferably a double-pointed needle, otherwise you'll have to slip them all a second time in order to get your needle points matching up when you fold the panel to close the hood seam).

Close hood seam with either a 3 needle bind-off or the kitchener stitch.

Sew in loose tails.

Fastening

Using a crochet hook, join your yarn at a shoulder corner, chain 10, rejoin with a slip stitch at the same point you started to create a loop.  Break off yarn and sew in tails.

Using the photo as a guide, join yarn at a point on the opposite shoulder, chain 40, break off yarn leaving a few inches of yarn to spare.
Make a mini pom-pom with a scrap of a contrasting yarn, or the same yarn, and attach it securely to the long chain (I like a simple reef-knot).  Now you can feed the chain through the loop and fasten it however loosely or tightly you want.

A Quilt for V

Instead of setting myself a resolution at the beginning of this year that would focus on some negative aspect of my personality that I wanted to rectify, I decided to set myself positive goals.  Challenges to focus my creativity, new skills to better equip my life.  Top of the list: Quilting.  During a very boring week of being ill at home in January I got restless and decided to get stuck right in to my first quilt without having done any research or reading, so needless to say, it didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped.  (But I still love it in spite of it's imperfections)

So for my next, and first proper quilt, I prepared the process a little better.  Made for my 2-and-a-half-year-old son, I wanted the design to be very simple, colourful and happy.  Made with fabrics we picked together, 100% cotton batting and big enough to fit on a single bed (110 x 165cm).  I had started out contour quilting by hand, sewing little running stitches 15mm away from every seam... Not only did this get tedious but also really hurt my fingers!  So I resorted to quilting by machine.  (Next time I definitely want to quilt by hand, but I will space the lines further apart!)  Although I did get a little emotional as I sewed the binding, not quite believing it was really finished, I couldn't be more thrilled with the result.  Perfectly embodying that childlike enthusiasm I get as I embark on a new project, and beautifully flawed in its sometimes uneven construction as I learn a new skill, to me this quilt represents all the love, mistakes and learning curves, and the unpretentious wholeheartedness of childhood.  What better gift for my little boy? 

embroidered quote from my romantic boy

the finished quilt top

feeling very tense as I watched it go round in the machine for the first time...

...and feeling very moved as I watched my son sleep in his new quilt 

this evening...

...I am working on my Monster Granny Blanket, inspired by the Great Granny Blanket from Pickles.  

...and listening to