Baby Makes

Here's a little selection of items I've crocheted in the last year or so for some new babies.

Tiddly mary-janes for a little lady's christening

This is the beginnings of a little baby blanket

There were a LOT of ends to sew in!

Tiny granny squares, all joined up with dc

I worked on it everywhere I went, even in the car on the way to Cornwall!

Here's how it turned out, and I must say I love the colour combination

Checkout the mustard!

These cute wee turban are always a hit for new baby girls

A pink granny square blanket with a white ruffle edging

A teensy turban for a wee baby born several weeks early

A wee dolly blanket for Poppet's little baby Susie

A wee teddy hat for a boy due to be born very soon

There's something special about making items for new babies. I think I prefer making baby items the most! I know I treasure all the handknitted and crocheted items Poppet has received over the years, and I always hope the items I give make a little difference to a new baby's wardrobe!

Until next time!

K x

Fashionable Dreams, my visit to Liberty in Fashion

Well hello!

It's been an awfully loooong time since I last blogged. A lot has happened in the time that has passed, some good and some not so much fun. Life just happens to you sometimes, doesn't it? I lost my mojo for writing and blogging and then I fell out of the habit... But this morning I woke up with the desire to write again, so here I am!

Last weekend my husband and I spent the weekend in London (a total rareity these days, damn you mortgage payments!) and we had a lovely time just being us and bimbling about at our own pace, doing what we wanted. We did a number of fun things but what I really want to tell you about is the Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum. Oh my goodness, it was wonderful!

This has been an exhibition I rather fancied getting to for a few months now and I'm so glad we went. Even Husand quite enjoyed it. Although, I think he more enjoyed chuckling at me proclaiming how I 'would SO wear that' every other minute! I've decided that the 1920s-1940s are my favourite style, and I lamented all the way around the exhibit that the dresses weren't available for purchase in the museum shop! Imagine if they were...! Sadly, the exhibition closes on 28th Feb, but hopefully it'll pop up again sometime in the future.

So let me get to it. This exhibition is dedicated to the influences that the now-world-famous Liberty London had in fashion since its inception. It went through from the 1870s up to the 1990s and showcased some of Liberty's most iconic styles and patterns of these decades. It was really interesting to see how ladies' fashion developed over the years and to see some elements that have definitely seen a revival over the decades.

Now, I could prattle on for ages about what I saw, but I figure I should let the pictures do the talking so here's a selection of the best bits from the exhibition. Sadly, I didn't make notes of the dates, designers or fabrics used but hopefully you'll get the idea of how lovely the pieces are. The lighting was terrible for photos (as is usual in museums) and I only had my iPhone, so these pics won't be the best but enjoy them anyhow.

One of Liberty's first capelets

This is the back of a beautiful velvet kimono

These just screamed 'Downton Abbey'!

The emboidery on this silk kimono coat was swoon-worthy

I HAVE to make a dress like this!

It even has a pocket!

Beautiful examples of hand smocking

This might be my top fave, check out the deep crochet lace trim!

Such a lovely print on this one, and hand smocking too

This is a velvet and silk pinafore, utterly gorgeous!

Hello 1960s flower power!

If only you could see how ORANGE this skirt suit was!

Velvet mini dress

I hope you enjoyed that little foray into fashion history. I don't promise to blog daily or even weekly, but I can say that I hope it won't be another two and a half years til my next installment!

Cheerio,

K x

Crochet Hook Storage

Any crafter will tell you, supplies and tools take up space. And they are best kept organised so you can lay your hands on what you're looking for just when you need it. Or is that just me?

I've built up a bit of a selection of crochet hooks, some cheapo plastic ones that came free with a magazine, some coloured metal ones, and loads of bamboos ones. I like the bamboo hooks the best, so much so that I've been selling them in my Etsy shop for some time now.

I like to have all my hooks together in one place in my crochet bag so that I always have the full range of sizes to hand as many projects I've done require more than one hook size. I've been using a pencil case to store them, but as my collection has grown, I find myself rooting around and emptying it out trying to find the hook I want. Annoying. For the longest time I have wanted a hook roll but between one thing and another I haven't bought/made one.

A few weeks ago I was perusing the online sale at Purple Linda Crafts and treated myself to a hook roll made by Sew Ray Me. I'm so pleased with it, now my hooks are organised and grouped in size order and so handy to grab the one I want!

The pattern is a bit different from my usual choice, in that it's not pink, but I really love it! There's even space for my pen which I use to mark my place on the pattern I'm using.

And it's not bigger than a pencil case once it's rolled up!

Pimped up Flip Flops

Flip flops are great summertime footwear but do you ever struggle to find a nice pair that you like or that will go with most of your summer wardrobe? I do, but maybe I'm just picky. I came across a little tutorial on how to spruce up a pair of flip flops with a bit of crochet and just knew I had to give it a go!

I got my hook out and a few leftover bits of yarn and got to it.

Rubbish late night Instagram pic

It's a quick and easy projects and you could easily make a whole wardrobe of crochet flip flops! Sometimes the straps are a but plastic-y and can make your feet sweaty, so covering them in this way is a great way to avoid that.

Pimped up flip flops

In hindsight, I should have used a cotton yarn rather than acrylic but they still work well. I just feel these look a bit woolly for flip flops, but I think they're cute! I quite like them and will certainly be stocking up on flip flops to jazz up!

To do these, I simply double crocheted (single crochet if using US terms) around the straps, making sure to bunch the stitches up so the rubber part didn't show through. Avoid crocheting around the toe post as I think that would be uncomfy to wear. For the bow, I made a strip of 12 double crochets and did 5 rows and then bunched it up in the middle by wrapping yarn around to make it bow shaped. Then I sewed the bow onto the straps and hey presto!

Who's been inspired to pimp theirs up?

Pram Hydration Station

I always have a bottle of water with me whenever I leave the house. It's a habit I've had for years, and it greatly contributes to my drinking 2-3 litres a day. Pushing a pram around, especially in the heat we've had recently, is thirsty work and in a bid to make my life a bit easier when it comes to rehydrating, I have been on the lookout for a nice but practical water bottle holder. Well, they apparently don't exist! So I decided to make my own based on a few ideas I found floating around on Pinterest.

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm not a great sewer and me and my sewing machine have a love/hate relationship, but I decided to look past that and get making. And boy am I pleased with my first water bottle holder!!

Pram Hydration Station

The way my pram (I drive a Mothercare Spin in limited edition black jacquard, for those of you who may be interested) folds, I need something that can quickly and easily be taken off the handle bar, and many of the shop bought items I've seen just don't offer that, hence my own creation. This bottle holder wraps around the handle bar and secures with two popper studs. It literally takes 5 seconds to put on/take off and that's just what us Mummies want when packing and unpacking the pram for a trip out of the house.

I used some scraps of floral fabric I had in my stash and borrowed Mr PC's popper stud gadget, so this wee project didn't cost a penny! Those are the best kind of projects, aren't they? 

What I really like best about this bottle holder is that it's so versatile. It will fit onto pretty much any type of pram and can be positioned anywhere you want it, unlike so many branded bottle holders which have to go on a specific part of the pram chassis. You can also use it for a baby bottle, and possibly for your takeaway coffee cup, although I have yet to test it for this purpose.

I uploaded a pic onto my Instagram feed and it was very well received with several people wanting to purchase one, which was a great surprise! I am currently working on some ideas and they will be appearing in my Etsy shop in the near future, so keep an eye out there for them. 

My First Baking Competition

Last weekend we headed off to the Essex Food and Drink Festival for a family day out. It was the cloudiest day we've had in months and yet I managed to get sunburn... no idea how that happened!

Our main reason for going to the event, apart from wanting to stuff our faces, was to see Paul Hollywood who was going to be doing some bread demos. I also decided to enter the baking competition as he was judging. It seems the competition was a great attraction as there were about 60 lemon drizzle cakes entered (the category was pre-determined)! Sadly I didn't win, which is ok considering the competition. But if there was a prize for presentation, I would have deserved to win as my cake was the only one displayed on a fine bone china plate. Just saying.

My lovely plate and cake

These are some of the other entries:

Yes, that would be HALF a cake at the bottom! Who does that?!

Some folk didn't even take them out the boxes they brought them in!

The bread category wasn't very popular

The youth category was scones and this little cake stand was so cute!

The man himself put on a great show, he told loads of funny stories about Bake Off and had many anecdotes about Mary Berry too which amused us all. He demonstrated flat breads as that's about all you can make in terms of bread, in just 45 mins. He's a pretty cool guy, regardless of whatever the tabloids have said about him. He knows his stuff and did a Q&A session at the end which was good. He was particularly impressed with the 12 year old boy who makes all the bread for his family on a weekly basis and the 11 year old boy who makes the 8 strand plaited loaf on a regular basis. The boys both asked very good detailed questions which really amazed everyone. Good for them, I say!

The rest of the day was good too but I have no pictures of that as I was too busy looking and eating my way round the stalls. It's certainly worth the £8 entry ticket! I wonder who they'll have there next year?