I've got so much I want to blog about but no time at the moment. However, I was so excited by this Latvian Mitten project that I had to link to it and tell the world immediately.
Maybe it's my inner Canadian, but I love mittens. I've been planning my own mitten post for a while. Let these wet your appetite...
Just a small sampling of the 3000 Mittens the Latvians have knit for the NATO summit.
More from me soon!
I'm still not feeling settled back in London or my studio. The list of things I want to do is so much longer than the list of things I can do in a day. I'm having trouble settling to one task and putting aside the others.
So, ignoring my task list, I went off to the flower market with my sister. Look giant polka dot tea!
And dreamy flowers...
I hate to be another blogger to fill my post with flower pictures, but tis the season.
I'm knitting this Louisa Harding number.
China has a population of a billion people. One billion. That means even if you're a one in a million kind of guy, there are still a thousand others exactly like you. ~ A. Whitney Brown
I'm back in London. Back in the hubub and the stink. But I'm making good use of it. After my summer of Project Runway veiwings, I can't wait to start sewing some fabulous clothes and I've been looking around for inspriration. I have all of my September issues and I've even visited a few fancy shops to check out my faves.
As always, I love the clothes at Future Classics. I think this is the perfect dress:
Funky, vintage-looking, flattering and fresh. It is draped ingeneously and the silk crepe de chine with dirty-dip-dyed hem is to die for.
However, the price at £761, is far beyond me!
I'm also loving Future Classics tailored jackets. I'm determined to wear the new shoulder. My son says it makes me look like I have muscles.
It's also supposed to make your waist look smaller. We can dream, can't we!
I like a bit of military influence in a jacket too. Especially the front cut away and the all the vertical braid detailing like in this jacket by Bird Juicy Couture.
Or this Twenty8Twelve jacket:
It has some great lacing and flap details in the back:
Although, I think it needs more shoulder. How quickly my eye has readjusted to the pad! Or rather not the pad, but the height, as the new shoulders are not so much padded as cut and interfaced or boned into their shapes. Fun pattern cutting stuff.
As soon as I've unpacked and decluttered my studio, I'll be off and drafting. Stay tuned.
It's my last few days in the woods and then home to London and urban life. I hate to leave. Every year it's such a wrench!
I didn't do much painting this summer but the knitting juices have flowed and my design brain has been recharged and is very excited to get back to some autumn sewing. My friend lent me the first four seasons of Project Runway this summer, and I'm a comlete addict. I've come late to the party but I'm a PR fan now!
I lost 35lbs last year and it took a while to get used to dresssing my new figure. I'm used to it now and I have big plans for a fabulous coat wardrobe (with some embroidered details) and a special dress or two. I'll have to draft slopers for my new measurements, so I'll post about that for anyone who is interested. It's not that hard. (Slopers are the basic template from which patterns with styling and ease are drafted).
I joined the shawlette love club this summer and knit lots of little shawl/scarves. I tried the ever popular Ishbel pattern by Ysolde and agree it's wonderful! I think it's great because:
It's also beautiful in the large shawl size, here in the scrumptious Handmaiden Maiden Hair in Hummingbird colourway:
My son took this slighly embarresing picture of me modelling it by the lake.
I look silly (and the summer's pie is showing on my thighs) but I think the shawl will be great with my autumn wardrobe. I plan to do a month of regular posting to Wardrobe Remix in autumn so you'll see more of me in costume if you stay tuned.
I've been working on a number of my own designs, some have gone well, others still need work. This Scribble shawl will have to be frogged:
I love how it resembles moths wings but I was having trouble with the increases. I need to work out an easier way of achieving this look. I'll keep at it.
Time to pack up. I'll see ya'll back in London!
I'm feeling elated to be home in Canada in my cabin in the woods - to smell the cedars and the lake and walk through the woods! Absolute joy!
Another of the many exciting things about being in Canada is having a good snoop around the yarn stores looking at hard-to-get-in-the-UK yarns. My favourite yarn is anything by Handmaiden/Fleece Artist. I love the fibres, spins and the colours!
I am in love with this beautiful Handmaiden yarn, Silk Twist. The silk ply shimmers as it twists around the wool. And look, it comes in a perfect colour for a girl in love with the woods.
I knit it up into a Eliina shawl.
To wear in the woods.
Although today I go to town. Maybe I'll take it with me.
I've just been camping with my son's graduating primary school class. He got lost with another boy in the woods of Epping Forest for a few scary hours, but came back happy. They were on an adventure and imagined themselves as a wizard and a monk, which is much better than what I was imagining!
While away, I knit my Camp Betty hat in Rowan's Purelife 4-ply cotton:
I'm writing the pattern for it now and will be offering it for free next week.
If you go into the woods, remember your magic wand!
I've knit up two Meret Berets (pattern by Woolly Wormhead) with the merino I dyed last week. It is much too hot to model them so I'll show you flat pictures. This is the Chalcedony colourway. And this is raindrop:
This merino is softer than cashmere. So lovely!
I'm writing my summer knitting patterns and packing my painting materials for my trip to Canada. I get so busy before I leave!
I love dying yarn! It combines several of my passions; colour, painting and yarn! Last night, I demonstrated dying to my friend Dawn.
I took two skeins of Colourmart merino and painted on acid dyes. I then steamed them and Voila, the colour is set. If you you are a knitter and don't know about Colourmart, you are really missing out: great value, (mostly cashmere), high quality yarns.
I call this colourway raindrop. It is mostly pale blue-greens with a sprinkling of lilac.
This is Chalcedony. I was aiming for a semi-solid here, the colour of a chalcedony stone in my friend Henny's (check out her website, she's a great painter) earring.
I think I got it. I'll have to see what Henny thinks.
I've also been to the Hayward Gallery to see the Walking in my Mind exhibition. Not so interested all the junk in the men's minds but delighted to discover Yayoi Kusama and her polka dot hallucinations.
Me so happy!
Another post? So soon? Yup. I need help. I have a knitting query.
I love this sweater (Veronique) from French Girl Knits.
It's a great circular shape. It looks pretty in the lacy mohair (Kidsilk Haze is known as the crack of yarn, in knitting circles).
But I think I would be bored knitting so much plain stockinette. Plus I have this lovely skein of Pagewood Farm lace yarn in a colour that looks like melted crayons.
I'm tempted to knit this shape using a combo of lace yarns in a simple twisting vines pattern.
And trimming all the edges with a garter version of this stitch in a two row stripe with some Dream in Color, go go grassy green.
Is this madness?
Obviously I would have to compensate for the gauge difference. Knitting it in the round, I'll be casting on 486 whooping stitches!
Can anyone see the folly of my ways before I begin?
Should I just knit a shawl with these yarns instead? I'm feeling uncertain.
I've been on a hat-knitathon for various reasons. Who wants to knit socks? Hats are faster and will attract more admiration. Elizabeth Zimmerman recommends them as the perfect portable summer project. I agree.
I've been knitting from other people's instructions, which I don't usually do, but thought I would give a whirl for variety and to learn what works and what doesn't, in pattern writing. So far all my experiences have been good.
Here are some of my favourite hats so far.
This is Ana by Adrienne Thomas, knit in Casbah by Handmaiden yarns. Such a beautiful yarn with just a little bit of cashmere in it. It has a lovely gentle sheen.
This is a kind of pirate turban which is easy to wear and looks great on loads of people, including boys. I will be making more of these with my hand dyed yarns.
I also love the Picot Edge Hat By Carolyn at So Much Yarn, So Little Time! My version is quite different but that seems a common denominator amongst many of the hats knit from this pattern. It is a very flexible pattern.
I've made mine slouchier, with a lacier pattern on top and a big ole crochet flower on the brim. I love the way the large picot garter stitch band frames the face. And I love any hat the gives me a nice big area to trim with a crochet flower.
I made this in a beautiful silk/Alpaca from Blue Sky Alpaca. It took more than one ball but it was worth it. Should go back and buy another ball and make a second, as this hat isn't for me and I want one!
There are loads more but I don't know if I can take seeing another picture of myself on this blog today. Here, look at some strawberries from the market. It's Wimbledon and Strawberry season!
Enjoy!
