tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218836772024-03-19T03:13:14.930+00:00Knitted BearKnitting and all things creativeCarie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.comBlogger724125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-33744390330515771822012-02-16T22:36:00.000+00:002012-02-16T22:36:22.309+00:00The time has comeI started this blog on 6 February 2006. I was in my early (ish) twenties, only engaged to the lovely man who became my H, and I wanted somewhere to keep track of my knitting projects, which at that stage largely consisted of baby clothes for miniature second cousins, and a little something Rowan for me.<br />
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Fast forward six years and this blog has recorded not only the knitting but all the other crafty things and a good few slices of family life. And like a pair of battered old favourite shoes, it's been starting to creak a little, and let the puddles in. Knitted Bear isn't going anywhere, I've no plans to take the blog down, or anything like that and it isn't time for me to give up blogging, far from it, but it might be time to move house.<br />
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So, if you'd like to come on a little adventure with me, please step across the way to <a href="http://spaceforthebutterflies.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Space for the Butterflies</a>, where I promise more of the same haphazardly delivered tales of a crafty handmade family life.Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-74940347427603862602012-02-14T21:47:00.000+00:002012-02-14T21:47:04.436+00:00My Valentine<div class="yiv545349086MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Reader, I married a Yorkshireman. And whilst there is a deeply romantic core inside that intensely northern exterior (and I know I've just made him blush by confessing it), for the most part this is a relentlessly practical man. So when I admitted to him over the weekend that I hadn't even looked at Valentine's cards yet, he came up with the perfect solution. Save the card pennies and put it towards steak.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We've just feasted on two rib-eyes from Aubrey Allen (local purveyor of mouth watering meat) some chips and veggies, and in a small white card box on the countertop are two Strawberry Millefeuille from my favourite bakery in Birmingham. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It isn't by a dozen red roses, or cards, or chocolates that I know that I am loved (all of which is not to say that I don't like them, although for flowers I'd rather have tulips) but by the daily actions of a man who knows that my perfect Valentine is good food, time together, and for flowers my velvety red Rapido amaryllis that burst into bloom yesterday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But I couldn't resist one more little touch. Kitty's nursery had a pink and red day and although she already fit the bill perfectly in pink vest, pink flowery dungarees, pink flashing shoes and pink hair bobbles (at least until she got very very excited in water play and soaked herself from tip to tiny toe), she just needed a little something…</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6877555929/" title="February 262 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 262" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7058/6877555929_41ca2819e1.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span>(<em>photo taken on my phone while she was in the sling on the way to nursery this morning, hence the funny angle)</em> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Her matching pair of heart hair slides were based on <a href="http://www.purlbee.com/valentine-heart-barrettes/" target="_blank">this tutorial</a> at The Purl Bee from a few years ago. I sketched my own heart shape to work with the hair clips we had, and used scraps of pink and fuchsia felt from a felt bundle from <a href="http://www.paper-and-string.co.uk/" target="_blank">Paper and String</a> and purple embroidery thread to put them all together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">They are incredibly easy to make; my pair took a little under half an hour of quiet undemanding stitching, curled up on the sofa last night surrounded by a confetti of felt off cuts. I'm starting to wonder whether something could be done with shamrocks? Easter bunnies? Diamond Jubilee Union Jacks? The possibilities are limited only by the amount of felt and the colours remaining in the bundle. I've hit the pinks and reds fairly repeatedly, but if you can think of a hairslide that needs a few varieties of fawn and beige we're all sorted!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I hope you've had a lovely Valentine's.</span><br />
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</div>Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-54367152268679615612012-02-10T23:14:00.002+00:002012-02-10T23:14:52.361+00:00A mini snow dayI'm hesitant to say this but I think we might almost be feeling healthy again. Having written that I now fully expect to be struck down by yet another plague. Seriously, I've had a cold, the flu, and the Noro virus in the last three weeks, Kitty's had a chest infection and H got a cold, a throat infection and his fair share of Noro. Fingers crossed, that's it for us for a while. (I didn't say that, I really didn't, I promise; we could really do with just catching a break).<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6853158287/" title="February 258 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 258" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6853158287_0f6ef6fd29.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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The snow fell again last night. Only a tiny dusting this time, light enough to cling to the tops of blades of grass, and form a crisp icy crust across the pavement. Kitty has just a touch of cabin fever, mainly characterised by bringing me her coat at regular intervals and trotting down the hall to pound on the front door, so I bundled her up this morning for a quick blast of fresh air. We walked up to the allotments, counting foot prints, and different sized doggy prints, and added our own swirly patterns to the path.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6853157631/" title="February 255 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 255" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6853157631_ca3babd19f.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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The walk to the allotments always detours to the baby playpark, and even the snow doesn't stop a pointy hand and cry of "Dap!" escaping from the buggy. The slide was out of action with a snowy crash mat at the bottom but she loved stepping out making little flowery footprints into fresh snow.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6853154781/" title="February 238 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 238" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6853154781_d868bcac69.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
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It's all melted now, and the forecast has switched the snowflakes for little round sunshines so I think we may have seen the last snowfall for the year. I'm glad we got to go out and play though, to see her with rosy pink cheeks and and a pink-tipped nose, playing in the snow, the winter she was one.<br />
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<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-80601132207626982932012-02-06T00:34:00.001+00:002012-02-06T00:34:17.544+00:00Let it Snow!It's true, I asked for it. No sooner had I pressed publish than the teeny tiny virus invasion force rallied its troops and sallied forth for <em>Cold 2012: Round 2. </em>They squirmed their weaselly way into every joint and sat there, tapping at my bones with tiny hammers, while their colleagues took battering rams to my retinas, and I sat at my desk at work, desperately trying to carry on, as powerless as a bouncy castle (and with something of that wobbliness) against their microscopic siege.<br />
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I spent Wednesday, at home, in bed, wearing two handknit jumpers, my socks, and a hat. Truth be told, it was an odd sensation, being home alone. With a toddler doing thrice-weekly germ warfare in the Teeny room, our little family has had its fair share of sicks and lurgies, but most of the time we battle through them, or if we're sick, so's Kitty. To nap, just because I needed to, was a rare and wonderful thing and did me the power of good.<br />
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I promised crafty finished goodness, but this is more than crafty, this is prophetic. You see I finished a quilt:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6819570523/" title="February 041 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 041" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6819570523_015efa1dbb.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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It's made from a couple of jelly rolls (and some extra bits) from a Moda fabric line from a few years ago, and it's called ...<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6825982237/" title="February 084 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 084" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6825982237_088f69b89d.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Let It Snow!<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6825987793/" title="February 070 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 070" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6825987793_acd57ed0b6.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Two beautiful fluffy white inches fell late yesterday and overnight, which we celebrated in time honoured tradition by going to the pub in the snow for a pint/hot chocolate/small bowl of chips and sitting in the window, watching the flakes fly, and the traffic negotiate the hill up into the village.<br />
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It's been melting today, and with rain forecast tonight it'll be gone tomorrow. I am wondering about calling a quilt "Large Lottery Win" though!<br />
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But back to the quilt.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6819566737/" title="Feb001 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Feb001" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6819566737_e90fc8315b.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
The pattern is the Barbed Wire quilt from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=twosey-foursey+quilts&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=6748542176&ref=pd_sl_8bte6tb4u3_b">Twosey Foursey Quilts</a>. I know it says it's barbed wire, but I looked at it and saw stars. I split out the white based strips from the jelly roll to make the stars, and added extras from another jelly roll, some charm square packs, and a few bits of Kona white to fill in the gaps.<br />
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It left me with more than a few leftovers of the other colours; some went into Kitty's Christmas stocking, some into her birthday dolly quilt, and some I saved for the back.<br />
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I wanted to keep the borders relatively simple because the top is so busy so I added a 2.5" border in Kona white, and the binding is Kona red.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6819567757/" title="Feb002 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Feb002" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6819567757_f31bb9fc02.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
I wanted to try a pieced back, not least because the chances of finding something to work with all of the colours of the front weren't very high. The middle band is pieced from leftover charm squares, and the rest is Kona red and Kona aqua. They are the perfect match for my fabric, but I'll admit to being a little gutted that with all the wonderful colour names Kona have for their solids, I got red, white and aqua.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6819569633/" title="February 040 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="February 040" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6819569633_2c75b73631.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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It's quilted with dark red thread, a quarter inch inside each of the stars to make them pop, and other than that I left it well alone.<br />
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It's huge, cosy, and just perfect to snuggle down under to watch the snow melt, drip by tiny drip.<br />
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<strong><em>The Bare Necessities<br /><br />Pattern:</em> </strong>Barbed Wire quilt from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=twosey-foursey+quilts&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=6748542176&ref=pd_sl_8bte6tb4u3_b">Twosey-Foursey Quilts</a><strong><em>Size:</em> </strong>68" x 80"<br /><strong><em>Fabric:</em> </strong>Moda 'Let it Snow!', two jelly rolls, two charm square packs and some Kona solids in red, white and aqua.<br />
<strong><em>Time to make: </em></strong>Years. So many years that I've forgotten when I started. It might not take years if you didn't take a few years off in the middle.<br /><strong><em>Would I make it again</em></strong>: Quilts tend to be a one time only thing - once is quite enough.<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-52427795742230571922012-01-30T21:58:00.000+00:002012-01-30T21:58:19.953+00:00One weekYou know when you have a week where everything falls into place: you get more full nights' sleep than not; the laundry fates align so that every family member's clothes are both clean and dry when they need them; delicious suppers materialise out of things you'd bought from a list, with a meal plan; your hair falls naturally into the bouncy glossy style only normally produced by your stylist and an army of blow drying assistants; trains run on time; and at work, opposing counsel lie like scattered dominoes, felled by the devastating power of your carefully worded legal arguments.<br />
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And then there are the weeks that counterbalance. The ones where a twitch of your skirt has got caught up in life's mangle, and there's nothing to do but ride out the storm and wait for it to spit you out sodden, snotty and slightly crushed on the other side.<br />
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Where have we been? let me give you a clue. Poor darling Kit's cough of a week ago turned into a full blown chest infection, complete with steam-train breathing sound effects that landed us at the out of hours doctors at some tiny wee hour of a weekend morning to get mademoiselle started on antibiotics pronto. And then just as she started to perk up, H and I, exhibiting rare synchronicity on the illness front, were taken out by the same lurgy within 24 hours of each other, just in time for H to take an exam through a cold fog momentarily held at bay by just about every over-the-counter pharmaceutical on the market. My pharmacopoeia being rather limited by the nursling, I've made up for it by a lot of groaning.<br />
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Last Tuesday I went down with a fever and the shivers and it wasn't until Sunday afternoon that I started to perk up, and only today that I've felt even vaguely human, and that's while speaking makes me cough, and I appear to have swallowed several golf balls.<br />
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On Saturday, having run out of, well just about everything, we ran a carefully planned mission to the butchers (for pie) and then both had to have a little lie down. Seriously people, if you know me in real life and you haven't had this horrid cold that's doing the rounds - run and hide (and chain eat Vitamin C).<br />
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But life goes on, and we are on the mend, a little less:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6791737195/" title="January 236 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 236" height="404" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6791737195_e50f1031c0.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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and a little more:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6791739495/" title="January 251 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 251" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6791739495_ee6dfff4a3.jpg" width="318" /></a><br />
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The fairies came at the weekend and did the washing up and took us for a restorative roast lunch at the Durham Ox and you never know, if you're very lucky, there may even be some crafty making in the offing. Come on this week, you really can't be worse than last week (and for the avoidance of doubt, that in no way shape or form resembled a challenge)!<br />
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<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-77655455539844940722012-01-21T21:12:00.001+00:002012-01-21T21:12:45.445+00:00Seasonally appropriate quiltingThank you for your help and suggestions for fixing my chronic inability to count. The popular vote was for option C - pick out the offending line and fudge it somehow and, by the power of evenweave, I think I've managed something that looks almost as if it was supposed to be like that. But more on that another day when I've had time to finish it properly and find some sunshine for some pictures.<br />
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Today we went to town, ran errands, and came home again, and then had lunch, went to town and ran the errands we forgot to do this morning. It's been a deja vu sort of a day, but that could just be the sleep deprivation talking. Kitty is currently combining the arrival of two new teeth (1 front, 1 molar) with a grotty cold, and to stave off the feelings of misery that clearly envelop her own bed, is showing a marked preference for sleeping on my head, preferably while simultaneously pulling my hair and kicking her father, and all three of us are wading through the sandman's cloying glue trying not to leave our boots behind.<br />
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I've only been embroidering while in full possession of my facilities to prevent any more counting incidents, so in the non-nursing gaps of the evenings I've turned back to my sewing machine for a little quilting.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6727323857/" title="January 203 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 203" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6727323857_7f193415c8.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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Well I'm not sure this even counts as proper quilting. I've been adding the borders to my Christmas quilt, just long long seams to add a 2.5 inch white border that will eventually be finished off with a red binding.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6738083489/" title="July 139 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="July 139" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6738083489_02d9126e42.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
The quilt in question started life as a jelly roll, and then I needed another one to get enough white background prints to have the desired effect, and then a few charm squares for the same reason. I ended up with a good pile of charm squares left over so I've used them to piece the back with some Kona solids for company.<br />
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One of today's final errands was to pop into Quilter's Den in Warwick for some cotton wadding and deep red quilting thread, and now that Kitty is asleep (for the moment) and H has popped out to compare parenting notes with a fellow NCT class Daddy in the pub, I'm going to push back the sofa, roll up the Aquadoodle, tuck small pieces of toddler-related plastic into all available nooks and crannies, and baste baste baste.Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-50040154713863729292012-01-19T21:10:00.001+00:002012-01-19T21:10:47.344+00:00Oh Christmas treeWith one New Year's Resolution (Kitty's trousers) ticked off <a href="http://knittedbear.blogspot.com/2011/12/appraisal.html">the list</a>, I'm feeling very January-enthusiastic and I'm motoring along with another, this time from the <em>Crafty Creating</em> section.<br />
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You see for someone whose craft polygamy flits from knitting to quilting (and a little sewing) and back again, I buy a lot of cross stitch magazines. And they (particularly <a href="http://crossstitcher.themakingspot.com/">Cross Stitcher</a>) frequently have beautiful patterns, and I think to myself, "I must make that, it would look cute/match perfectly/be so much fun", and I put the magazine in a pile on my sewing room floor, and there it sits.<br />
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It isn't such a big jump to imagine me actually doing some embroidery, I started in cross stitch, taught by my mum to sew a little red poinsettia picture to fit a dark green card one Christmas holidays, and I believe that she still owns the set of tea-napkins painstakingly embroidered by me with blue lazy-daisy flowers with a good deal of coaxing and cajoling from my grandmother when my enthusiasm wained after the second of the six (I can't have been much more than six myself). A folder full of DMC threads sits in a corner of my knitting box and a little bag of kits and spare fabric is tucked into a corner of my sewing room upstairs.<br />
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So in the spirit of Christmas-always, I picked up a pattern, found the fabric and one of the colours in my stash, acquired the other from Decorative Cloth, and set to.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6727326547/" title="January 208 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 208" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6727326547_71b2792602.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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It is the Deck the Halls pattern from the Christmas 2011 issue, which I didn't buy in hard copy, but found as a back issue through the ITunes Newstand. Incidentally, Future Publishing whose stable includes Cross Stitcher, Mollie Makes, The Knitter and Simply Knitting, have launched all of the above and many of their other magazines onto ITunes with an introductory free download issue. I don't know how long that will last for but a free magazine is never a bad thing, particularly when it can't add to the clutter in your house.<br />
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But back to the stitching, it's red and white, it's simple to sew and pretty to look at, and I've been enjoying stitching away to some old favourite films - the sort that you don't actually need to look at!<br />
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But clearly, watching <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844330/">Persuasion</a> (for the 100th and something time) was a bad idea. Look carefully. Somewhere around the time that Fredrick Wentworth realised that he did love Anne Elliott after all but was seemingly inextricably bound to Louisa Musgrove, I was counting down to position the house neatly under the snowflakes.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6727324995/" title="January 209 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 209" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6727324995_3dd354c0fc.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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It was only as I worked back up the tree, adding in the backstitch that I could see clearly that I've counted a row short. There should be an extra line of canvas so that the zig zag line doesn't touch the snowflakes, but I've mushed it together a bit.<br />
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Now snipping out everything underneath the zig zag line is more time consuming than it's worth so my options are: (a) leave it, it looks fine, it's only obvious if I point it out (b) start all over again on a fresh piece of fabric (and possibly finish this one and give it away to someone who won't notice, or (c) snip out the zig zag line and fudge something along the lines of a shallower zig zag so that it doesn't actually touch the snowflakes, just come close. What would you do?<br />
<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-84235106612068929592012-01-16T21:17:00.000+00:002012-01-16T21:18:45.040+00:00The Scoot or Cycle trousersI am in awe of <a href="http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/">Anna Maria Horner</a>. Actually I'm in awe of anyone who can sit there and just visualise a sewing pattern and draft it out (although I'm pretty sure there might be a bit more work to it, and possibly a few technical courses thrown in the mix too). Where do the ideas come from the in recesses of someone's brain to have the back leg a little wider than the front leg to perfectly accommodate a little nappy-clad bottom, or to have a two part back yoke to give a bit more dimension where it's most needed, and a dip at the front to take away excess poofiness?<br />
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As I said. Awe.<br />
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I've made the Quick Change Trousers twice now, and I can only see a growth spurt that puts Kitty way way beyond the pattern sizes and my rough and ready sizing up, putting an end to wanting to make more. The aforementioned little touches of genius make me love them as a Mama trying to persuade a wriggly girl that clothes really are the way to go, and the pattern is written in a nice simple straightforward way, to help me (an advanced beginner on a good day) make trousers that I'm proud to send out into public.<br />
It was -6 this morning so our photo shoot was short and sweet, and involved a lots of layers everywhere for both of us. Kitty stepped outside in both hat and mittens but abandoned them in the herb garden before she'd taken even a few paces so we snapped, hoped for the best, and scuttled back inside. But here they are, the Scoot or Cycle quick change trousers:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6710074385/" title="Jan017 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan017" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6710074385_66eb9cc138.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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I'm torn whether I like these or the pirates best, but on a day like today, flannel lining wins the day.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6710078271/" title="Jan019 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan019" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6710078271_b34dda4d4f.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
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Kitty certainly had no complaints which is the best you can ask for in a little girl whose vocabulary of actual words stretches little beyond Mama, Dadaaa, Yea, No, Dap (meaning "bring me! bring me that now"), Pow!, Row-row (as in Row, row, row your boat), Hiya (and variations thereon) and a whole hoard of wonderful babbling. (When she was having her bath this evening I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, answer: "Bebe!")<br />
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They've still got massive turn ups so I'm glad she's happy wearing them because with a bit of luck they'll last all this winter and be around for next.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6710075589/" title="Jan018 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan018" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6710075589_92101ef8c7.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
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The sizing up over the bottom worked really well; these have exactly the right amount of ease for her to play comfortably, with no problems getting them off and on over big nappies, and the slightly wider legs don't cause any problems. The next pair will definitely have the same waist and hip increases, but I might try to shape in towards the ankle back to the original pattern width to see if it makes much difference, or whether she ends up looking like she's sporting 1920's style jodhpurs. I'm also seriously contemplating reversible shorts for the summer, using different fabric for each side and different again for the back yoke. It's true, the possibilities are endless.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6710079321/" title="Jan020 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan020" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6710079321_783d82c22b.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
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What you can't see under all the layers is that the best match I have for a top half is a cream long sleeve t-shirt. Perfectly acceptable but not very exciting, and after the last aqua marl t-shirt in the right size sold out of the Mini-Boden sale before I could get to the computer yesterday, and my favourite Molo basics don't seem to do a turquoise, I'm a little out of ideas. Does anyone have any suggestions for a long sleeved shirt that might match? In the meantime I'm cutting a swatch of the fabrics to carry around in my workbag and planning an onslaught on the baby shops of Birmingham during this week's lunch hours.<br />
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<strong><em>The Bare Necessities</em></strong><br />
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<strong><em>Pattern:</em> </strong>Quick Change Trousers from <a href="http://store.annamariahorner.com/seamstome1.html">Handmade Beginnings</a><br />
<strong><em>Size:</em> </strong>18-24 months (the largest size) with 0.5 inch added to the outside of each pattern piece.<br />
<strong><em>Fabric:</em> </strong>Sherbet Pips Pink Skaters (cotton) and Michael Miller Bicycles (cotton flannel) both from <a href="http://www.fabricworm.com/">Fabricworm</a> in their Thanksgiving sale - I can't see either on their site at the time of writing.<br />
<strong><em>Time to make: </em></strong>an evening for the cutting out, two naps and another evening to finish - about 6 hours start to finish.<br />
<strong><em>Would I make it again</em></strong>: Yes. Definitely. Watch this space.<br />
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<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-23365351358686180302012-01-15T23:40:00.000+00:002012-01-15T23:40:18.760+00:00Winter, as in igloos and eskimos and penguins and ICE!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6704132777/" title="Jan010 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan010" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6704132777_3475ca4787.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
It turns out that I may have been a tad over-optimistic in putting the laundry out yesterday!<br />
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From one of the mildest winters in my memory we've jumped down the thermometer 10 degrees or so, although it's not a patch on last year, when a brisk minus two was the daily high. Even so, the world outside today is covered with a brittle of ice, like a white cold creme brulee. <br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6704133855/" title="Jan011 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan011" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6704133855_fbfd884b9c.jpg" width="500" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6704137181/" title="Jan013 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan013" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6704137181_1c6fa0f995.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
The fuchsias that had decided that it was spring have been scorched by the ice and defrosted into a pulpy mush, but these delicate pink berries seem to be holding up. I don't actually know what they are; they grow over the fence each year to greet the new year, and I think they're beautiful. Answers on a postcard/in the comments if you've any ideas.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6704139983/" title="Jan015 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan015" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6704139983_9e0c1ca8bd.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
The barbeque, sat outside patiently waiting all through the summer for the promised warm weather, could do double duty as a freezer, and it is to my great regret that Kitty's trousers<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6704141015/" title="Jan016 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan016" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6704141015_7e7b5d8020.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
say "Ahoy there matey", and not the more appropriate "Shiver me Timbers".<br />
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We had Kitty's slide out in the lounge today so a lot of the day has been spent first lifting her up to the top, and then stretching out a watchful hand or two just in case when she figured out how to climb the steps. I did manage a little sewing last night and this afternoon while Mademoiselle la princess took a petite nap.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6704131933/" title="Jan009 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan009" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6704131933_24b2e8eb26.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
Her newest trousers are finished, I just need some daylight and a cheerful girl to take some pictures, but there've been distractions today, aside from the slide, the first instalment of Kitty's Christmas present to me arrived yesterday, and it's an addictive read:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6704129639/" title="Jan008 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan008" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6704129639_c96457130d.jpg" width="334" /></a>Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-52979681656796894912012-01-14T14:04:00.000+00:002012-01-14T14:04:33.258+00:00Sizing upIt seems that winter is finally putting in an appearance around these parts. I have laundry on the line more in the hope of it smelling nice after a blast in the sunshine than actually drying, and when we headed out to the supermarket at 10 this morning I still had to spend a good few minutes scraping ice from the windows and mirrors with the aid of a bottle of warm water.<br />
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Perhaps my next project is then rather serendipitously timed. I've been planning on making Kitty another pair of the Quick Change trousers from <a href="http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/">Anna Maria Horner's</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Beginnings-Sewing-Projects-Welcome/dp/0470497815">Handmade Beginnings</a> book for a little while. Jo over at <a href="http://lifeinlists.typepad.com/blog/">A Life in Lists</a>, mentioned the idea of using flannel for the linings in a post on her plans for her boys' winter wardrobe, and it seemed like such a great idea for snuggly winter trews that I'm shamelessly copying it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6694797527/" title="January 175 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 175" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6694797527_316270ecfa.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
A Black Friday sale at Fabricworm brought me a little parcel of pretty fabric just before Christmas (Sherbet Pips pink skaters and Michael Miller bicycles blue cotton flannel), and I've been sat looking at it as I knit, and thinking about how best to size these new trousers.<br />
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The pair I made for Kitty's birthday in the size 18-24 months (the largest pattern size) are a great length on my little 15 month old, but she still has that babyish chubbiness (particularly when you factor a cushy washable nappy into the mix) that makes them not tight exactly, but with a little less ease than I think would make for a perfect fit.<br />
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Her two pairs of dungarees are a great fit, with lots of room for an active little girl to romp around in, and you can see from the comparison that they are both a little bit wider across the derriere.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662744211/" title="January 169 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 169" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6662744211_11dd864f82.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
You can also see that her pirate trousers need another wash but we'll gloss over that. <br />
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I've decided to try to add an inch to the circumference to match them to the pink flowery dungarees, which should also allow for any extra space taken up by the flannel which is a shade thicker than the quilting cotton that I used for the first version.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662744929/" title="Jan006 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan006" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6662744929_a6200b9149.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
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I copied out the pattern onto baking parchment and then used my long skinny quilting ruler to follow the line for the outside edge of the pattern piece at the half inch mark, turning it gently as the curve moved away from the straight line. The front and the back leg were easy enough, I can only hope that I've got the extra space on the right side of the back yoke, but for that only time will tell.<br />
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I know it means that I'll have more space at the ankle than I had previously, and there are no real needs to increase there, but it seemed more sensible to cut for the extra space and then try them on Kitty. If I need to bring it back to the original lines that will be easy enough to do, and I can mark the point at which I start to want the extra width on my real life model, without having to guestimate while she sleeps.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6694798237/" title="January 176 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 176" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6694798237_eb089b7da9.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
I did the cutting out earlier this week and it's all been sat in a little pile of fabric temptation on my newly tidied desk as I slogged away to finish a work project in almost every evening this week. But now the project is done (until Tuesday anyway) and there's time for a little sewing of the non-Christmas, non-deadline variety.<br />
<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-18192548505221638752012-01-10T23:18:00.001+00:002012-01-14T14:26:19.748+00:00On the fourteenth day of Christmas ...our lovely friends came to play.<br />
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By virtue of some alphabetical wiztrickery, H and A were lab partners at university, realised they'd spotted each other before at church, and we've all been the best of friends ever since. We count A as family, particularly now that he is Kitty's godfather, which mostly means that I don't sweat the tidying up if he's coming over. <br />
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His better half, L, has an appreciation for the merits of <a href="http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/">Persephone books</a>, salted caramel almonds from <a href="http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/?cid=PYNO15XLKORFSE3O36JY9KGMTW547SZ8">Hotel Chocolat</a> and all things handmade, so we were always going to hit it off.<br />
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They came to spend a quiet cosy Sunday with us; a big roast gammon and sticky toffee pudding lunch, followed by Christmas presents, and an afternoon tucked up in my quilt collections, playing Sonic, eating sweeties, reading, knitting and playing shop with Kitty. It was restful, fun and quintessentially English; if only we had a roaring fire and it had been snowing outside we would have been quite the picture postcard (well minus the computer games perhaps).<br />
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But you didn't really want to know about all that (and apologies to anyone whose New Year's virtuosity is wavering because I mentioned sticky toffee pudding (with ice-cream)). Sunday was the unveiling of the final handmade Christmas presents for 2011.<br />
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First, there was a large, flat, square, squishy parcel for A, which Kitty assiduously helped him to unwrap.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662758567/" title="December 141 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 141" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6662758567_907710021c.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
A 'very useful quilt for snuggling under on cold winter's days when part of your house has a stone floor'<br />
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The pattern is Pandora's Box from the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jelly-Roll-Quilts-Perfect-Making/dp/0715328638">Jelly Roll Quilts</a> book by Pam and Nicky Lintott, and the fabric is a Moda jelly roll that I bought from my very first Festival of Quilts. It perfectly fulfils the criteria of 'colours that I have seen A wear' and in fact he turned up in a jumper that perfectly matched the orange border.<br />
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It's a really great pattern for jelly rolls and just generally; it's nice and simple to show of the fabric to its best advantage and as it's all mixed up together, the quilt doesn't suffer for the quilter not being able to separate the jelly roll neatly into light and dark.<br />
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It also lent itself to a piecemeal construction. On one evening I took the jelly roll apart and did the first stage of cutting, another night I matched the strips into pairs for the centre sections, sewed them together during one nap time, and cut the second stage during another. At the end of each stage, all the pieces could be tucked away from tiny fingers in a bag without loosing my place, or upsetting a precisely piled stack of cut pieces.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662765577/" title="December 166 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 166" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6662765577_c2ffe2aae4.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Once I'd sewn up the main quilt top I stood back and marvelled at the centre points of the blocks; my quilting has improved so gradually through little bits of practice here and there I forget that I can be pretty accurate now if I take my time to do it properly.<br />
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The border is a flaming orange and gold weave; it doesn't feel like a printed quilting cotton but is much softer with more drape. There was just enough on the bolt at <a href="http://www.thequiltersden.co.uk/">Quilter's Den</a> for the borders or I would have been tempted to have a little bit more for a skirt in one of my favourite colours. <br />
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I had enough white on lime green polka dots left over from my <a href="http://knittedbear.blogspot.com/2011/02/testing.html">sampler quilt</a> for the binding, so all that was left was to choose the backing, and what a backing:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6433272685/" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="November 361 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="November 361" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6433272685_c423990ee2.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Enough sunshine to chase away any rainy day gloom (also from Quilter's Den). I really ought to pay more attention to the names of the fabric I'm buying I know.<br />
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I used a pure cotton wadding and quilted it all over with lime green thread in a square stipple.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662772137/" title="December 171 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 171" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6662772137_7fdbf09942.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
I can't imagine life without my quilts, they have so many uses from extra blankets on cold nights to tents in the lounge and space to lie out in the garden in the heat of summer so I'm glad A and L like their very own.<br />
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And just in case he doesn't share - <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6433278683/" title="November 392 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="November 392" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6433278683_ce84d52af6.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
L has a pair of handknit socks. It's Regia (definitely Regia this time - I found the ball band) Circus Colour in Akrobatik, bought on my last trip to Liberty's. L once borrowed a pair of my shoes on an impromptu muddy walk so I knit to fit me, using a 64st cast on and a slip stitch heel and I think they should keep her feet nice and warm walking around the stone floor of their kitchen on chilly mornings.<br />
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So there we have it; four pairs of socks, two quilts, a hat, a scarf and a jumper. Not a bad turn out considering that I didn't start until mid-October. Maybe this will be the year that I start a bit earlier (yes yes, I can hear your hollow laughter from here!). But first I have two new balls of Rowan Big Wool in a delicious deep pomegranate to go and squoosh.</div>Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-15370878030711544432012-01-07T19:15:00.000+00:002012-01-09T00:17:09.910+00:00KitteeThe twelve days of Christmas may have ended, and the trees, lights, baubles and tinsel have been taken down and packed away and I can now confirm (with pictures) that I did finish the Christmas knitting before the end of Christmas.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662739693/" title="January 147 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 147" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6662739693_e5a3422030.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
The one lone little piece of knitted present that still trailed yarn and needles was a jumper for Kitty, the <a href="http://quinceandco.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_20&products_id=86">Immie tee</a> by Quince & Co, knit from <a href="http://www.sparkleduck.co.uk/yarn.html">Sparkleduck</a> Galaxy in a deep midnight blue with silver sparkles. I'd just about finished the body and started a sleeve when I gave it up in favour of a relaxed Christmas Eve with my family, and sure enough it was there waiting for me to do a few little rounds on Christmas afternoon as we curled up by our tree to watch the last of the daylight dance with shadows across the room.<br />
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I packed it to take north after the end of the profiterole marathon, and knit as we trundled painstakingly up the motorway one day, and across on another motorway the next to stay with H's parents for a couple of nights.<br />
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I finished it one afternoon, sat in the family room as my parents-in-law enjoyed having all of their chicks and a couple of cuckoos around them, and owing to an incident involving lasagne for supper, cheese, grated cheese and a little more cheese, it was pressed into service straight away to visit Great-Gran to take tea.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653391021/" title="December 849 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 849" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6653391021_54bcde542e.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
Taking tea with Gran is somewhat of a ritual. Regardless of the time of day, or the proximity of any of the major meals you have to sit down at the kitchen table and have a cup of tea and a slice of cake.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653393657/" title="December 852 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 852" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6653393657_98df818805.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
For almost 13 years, H has drunk my cup of tea, and I have eaten his Ferraro Roche. That is the way that it is at Gran's. It's even more special now that Kitty's grown enough to have a big girl chair and a little Madeira cake, just as H did many many years ago.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653398533/" title="December 878 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 878" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6653398533_10183cb944.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
It also helps that Gran's poodle Sasha doesn't mind helping to clear up after little girls!<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653389457/" title="December 842 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 842" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6653389457_bd078589f9.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
Kitty played with her auntie<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653382327/" title="December 796 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 796" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6653382327_90099dc62d.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
and had cuddles from a great-auntie who popped by<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653395567/" title="December 900 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 900" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6653395567_c4dac9a324.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
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and it wasn't until we'd come back down home that I had the time or the resources to properly wash and block her latest knit.<br />
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But at last, a proper unveiling:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662742783/" title="Jan003 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan003" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6662742783_98107fab82.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<em>Jumper: Immie tee with long sleeves</em><br />
<em>Trousers: pink and purple stripes from the JoJo Maman Bebe sale</em><br />
<em>Accessories:</em> Room on the Broom <em>- model's own, Gruffalo socks from <a href="http://www.littlesunflowers.com/">Little Sunflowers</a></em><br />
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It grew a little with blocking but with incredible growing not-so-tiny wee girls that's not necessarily a bad thing and I'm happy that if it's a bit big now, it will be a perfect fit before too long.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662741621/" title="Jan002 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan002" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6662741621_852ca192b9.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
Clearly I've made one very obvious change to the pattern, I accidentally used a 3.5mm needle rather than a 3.25 and it grew sleeves! Well, ok, I did use slightly larger needles and didn't notice until I double checked them in preparation for the sleeves but I like the drape of the resultant fabric and I wasn't going to re-knit the whole body. She's wearing it here as a t-shirt layer over a long sleeved vest which works well, although it also works well as a more traditional jumper; in the pictures at Great-Gran's she's got a thick penguin t-shirt and a vest underneath.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662740635/" title="Jan001 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="Jan001" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6662740635_e34a48bfee.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
The original pattern has cute little cap sleeves but full length sleeves are a rather necessary ingredient for a Christmas jumper in England, even in this unseasonably mild winter, and I had plenty of yarn so I invented them.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662724571/" title="January 107 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 107" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6662724571_8d01df4fd7.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
This is the largest size, and the pattern would have you cast on 57 stitches and work a few rows of garter before joining it to the body. I cast on two-third of the stitches (38), joined them in the round and worked in garter stitch for the suggested rounds, then increased up to 57 sts in the next row and worked straight until they seemed about long enough (70 rounds). <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6662729897/" title="January 158 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 158" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6662729897_4eae15438f.jpg" width="334" /></a>Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-53692188642550575112012-01-07T15:52:00.001+00:002012-01-07T15:53:05.367+00:00FeastWhether they realised it or not, I know for a fact that the key influence on H's brother and his wife's decision to move back down north from Scotland to Yorkshire last year was the proximity of their oh so cute nieces aged nearly two and one and a quarter. Kitty (and H and I) are now a couple of hours away and K (and C's sister and brother-in-law are even closer). The better jobs, bigger house and the rest of the family had nothing to do with it - oh no.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653133469/" title="December 694 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 694" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6653133469_07f905d327.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
<em>(Kitty in her party frock)</em><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653137287/" title="December 689 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 689" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6653137287_c71a7d009e.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
(<em>and K in hers - it had snowmen on the bottom just out of shot)</em><br />
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They were working for their first Christmas back home (the perils of being doctors) so a couple of days later they hosted a party for fourteen, and both sides of their family got together for Christmas Take 2.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653140993/" title="December 672 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 672" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6653140993_d67784880a.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
(<em>Kitty explores her new Martian Mansion)</em><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6653139511/" title="December 686 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 686" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6653139511_dbb7939314.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
(<em>with help from K - who clearly doesn't wiggle as much as Kitty - and Auntie A wearing the bows from everyone's presents)</em><br />
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H and I volunteered to bring pudding and the two Cs pushed the boat out for the starter and main course; bacon and scrambled eggs Benedict on little toasties to start, followed by a gargantuan buffet that took up most of the kitchen. We had a rib of beef that had been cooking (a la Heston) for 18+ hours at a really low heat to leave it melt in the mouth tender, and a pork belly that was brined and slow roasted for nearly the same amount of time, all polished off with roast potatoes, parsnip puree, sauteed Brussels sprouts and red onions and a selection of gravies.<br />
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Now a supper that I haven't had to cook and won't have to wash up (all hail their dishwasher) is always going to get brownie points but this was right up there in the gold star category. It was delicious and amazing and I loved it.<br />
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I also may have eaten it all before I even thought of taking any pictures.<br />
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For pudding, I spent a good part of Boxing Day making 78 profiteroles (using the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/profiterole_al_limone_75324">Hairy Bikers' recipe</a>), and the creme patisserie from <a href="http://www.nigella.com/books/view/feast-5">Nigella's Feast</a>. The next morning I used up four of my twelve spare egg whites to make the Fig, Ginger and Almond meringue from Annie Bell's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gorgeous-Cakes-Published-Association-Magazine/dp/1856266141/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325951509&sr=8-2">Gorgeous Cakes</a> and then we packed the whole lot up (plus a raspberry jelly as a special request from H) and drove it gingerly up a heavily laden M1.<br />
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Once we'd unpacked we found the largest remaining serving plate and started piping custard and stacking my croquembouche. I thought that making spun sugar in someone else's kitchen was a step too far, and I'm also not very good at it, so I stuck to the caramel sauce in Nigella with some ingredients purloined from our hosts and it turned out really well. <br />
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In fact the only hitch in the whole operation was that the serving plate wasn't very big. I stacked and glued the best I could and then called for an engineering consult from H (MEng) and C's Dad (model railway builder). Their professional opinion was that I'd reached my limit, so we had a big croquembouche and a little mini one on the other side of the table like sugary cairns marking the location of a feast.<br />
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So here they are:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595354633/" title="December 715 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 715" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6595354633_371aaec872.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Two croquembouche, covered with caramel sauce and dusted with snowflake sprinkles, two trees and Father Christmas,<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595385079/" title="December 716 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 716" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6595385079_5b0fac3a60.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
and a spicy and light meringue that impressively survived the journey from Warwickshire with only minimal damage.<br />
H's Mum and sister had also been busy and arrived with trays of colourful cakes - just in case anyone had any teeny tiny space left over.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595373899/" title="December 719 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 719" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6595373899_8502e03761.jpg" width="500" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595363475/" title="December 720 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 720" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6595363475_1b7491c30e.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
We made some pretty good inroads into the table groaning with food but there was still plenty to send home with all the branches of the family, and still be left with more for late night fridge raids, and I may or may not have eaten a couple of profiteroles with my breakfast the next morning!<br />
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I don't think I was hungry again for the rest of the week. Now that's the sign of a good party - and a New Year diet.<br />
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<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-8214658934565085662012-01-03T22:47:00.001+00:002012-01-03T22:54:54.327+00:00A Handmade Christmas Part 3: for the Mummies<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6443499727/" title="December 015 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 015" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6443499727_9a865336c6.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Every now and then I come across a really beautiful knitting pattern, crafted from what can only be Rumplestiltskin's gold, or something else luscious looking but equally unavailable, and I sigh, and cruise the internets and Ravelry to work out a substitution, or how to not eat for a month to afford the shipping.<br />
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So when it turns out that the yarn in question is in fact a nice little Rowan, available from all number of places including a shop five hundred yards from my office; well, it seems only right and proper to knit it up right away to encourage the knitting muses to foster more such synchronicity.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6443497547/" title="December 004 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 004" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6443497547_985e2ece12.jpg" width="282" /></a><br />
I saw the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Cariemay/drifted-pearls">Drifted Pearls</a> scarf on <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/183451384790658770/">Pinterest</a> in a gentle grey, and when I saw it called for Rowan Lima, I knew I had Mum's Christmas present-to-be. It's knit as a traditional scarf with a loopy bobbly edging until you get a little over half the length you might want in an ordinary scarf, then the fabric is pleated, and the pleats securely knit into a loop. Tuck the end through the loop and you have a gorgeous warm wide scarf, perfect for Mum who tends to wear her ordinary scarves this way.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6630669563/" title="IMG_3070 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_3070" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6630669563_3b6569a513.jpg" width="375" /></a><br />
(<em>Photo shamelessly stolen from Mum</em>)<br />
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The Amazon blue matches the hat that I made for her last Christmas, and I hope they are both keeping her warm in the wild winds that are currently howling at our windows as they whip around the house.<br />
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Further north, lots further north, is another cozy Mum. We have a simple formula for H's Mum's Christmas gifts: fruit jellies (the good ones made with actual fruit juice) + handknit socks = happiness.<br />
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And when you know the recipient likes your knitting so much she wears holes in the heels on a regular basis, you can't but pick up the needles:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6433288365/" title="November 387 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="November 387" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6433288365_d16d6c2830.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Cariemay/edwardian-boating-socks">Edwardian Boating socks</a>, knit from an Opal blank that I hand-dyed with Kool-Aid. With a linen stitch heel and a sock yarn with a 25% nylon content I'm hoping not to see these in the mending pile for many years to come, and to be honest they may fall into the 'oh darn' over the bin pile as I'm not sure I could work out how to reknit linen stitch without dropping almost all of the stitches.<br />
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It's an addictive pattern though; I'd always want to knit to the next waterboatman, and the next and the next, until I had two socks sat in front of me. I'm glad I didn't knit them for me though as the linen stitch is not very stretchy and I would never have got them over my ankles. I know if I really wanted them for me I could change the heel flap to a simple rib, but it was nice to knit them as they were designed.<br />
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That's almost all of the Christmas craftiness out in the open; the last little bit is still wrapped up under our tree, but before I'm truly caught up I've still got to tell you about the Christmas Croquembouche and my brother-in-law's amazing ultra-slow roasted beef. That'll have to wait for another day though as it's late, and after an evening spent chasing electricity with a hairdryer when we got home from work to discover that none of the plugs were working, I'm off to make a nest in which to hide from the storm with a couple of quilts, a knitted blanket and as much of the duvet as I can persuade H to part with.Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-6472959341639192082012-01-02T22:44:00.000+00:002012-01-03T21:55:19.992+00:00A Handmade Christmas Part 2: Woolies for HIt's said that every one of us has a love language, a way of expressing affection and feeling cherished that trumps all the others. I am a Knitter and (for want of a better word) a creativist, and my love language won't be found on any list or in any bestseller; it's Handmade (subsection Wool).<br />
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If Kitty was predestined to be snuggled in cosy handknits and handsewns from the moment of her birth, how much more yarn should be heaped upon my H; the man who puts up with my (many) foibles, has loved and supported me unwaveringly throughout some of the hardest and darkest days of my life, and who did the entire Christmas washing up single handed on Boxing Day morning while Kitty and I had a mid-morning nap.<br />
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It's really no surprise then that the Christmas knitting that I was prepared to bust bedtimes for should now belong to H.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577749347/" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="December 644 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 644" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6577749347_3225860a74.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div>
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First, the Christmas hat. From a quick count in the hat cupboard this is the fifth Christmas hat, and I'm told it's the best to date. The pattern is the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Cariemay/irish-moss-toque">Irish Moss Toque</a> by Alexandra Charlotte Defoe, and the yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed Aran in the wonderfully named Storm Blue. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577752719/" title="December 647 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 647" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6577752719_3ea6f043ef.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
It's a really fun pattern to knit; the cables are interesting but logical so you don't have to refer back to the pattern every thirty seconds, and in an aran weight yarn you progress pretty quickly. It is worth noting that the called for yarn is sold in 100g skeins so when they say you need 2 skeins, and the yardage suggests that you need four balls of something in a 50g put up, you might not need all of the second skein; I used two and a half balls and this is a big hat with a really deep turn up. I would also recommend a circular needle rather than DPNs, even if you have to pull a loop to make it work, my standard length DPNs were just too short to keep all the stitches safely on three needles.<br />
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The yarn itself is slubby and tweedy with a bit of a crunch, enough to keep you nice and warm without being too scratchy on a bare forehead. It would make fabulous jumper yarn for a cabley aran. <br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577738581/" title="December 607 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 607" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6577738581_eb3118a870.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
I started it in the early hours of a dark Wednesday in the departure lounge of Birmingham airport, and knit the ribbing as we bounced and bumped our way through turbulence to Glasgow, and finished it late into a quiet evening a few days before Christmas, having chivied H into an early bedtime (and run him a bath).<br />
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It suits him, it fits him, and two hat-testing missions to our windy local playgroup says it keeps him warm.<br />
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Moving from a warm head to cosy toes, I gave him a pair of handspun Christmas socks:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6621389295/" title="January 087 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 087" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6621389295_b27bcc38d9.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
They started out life in our house as a braid of fluffy Falkland from Spindlefrog at Wonderwool a long time ago (2009?) in the Bogdust colourway.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6621398659/" title="January 091 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 091" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6621398659_764cdf57f7.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
I spun the whole braid as a fine continuous ply and then Navajo plied it (or my approximation thereof) to preserve the flashes of neon colour in an otherwise muted green/brown yarn. I love how it turned out but were I to do it again I think that dividing the braid lengthways into three or four and then spinning each one end to end would result in shorter stripes across the entire sock, rather than the off/on effect here. It would be fun to try anyway.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6621409323/" title="January 092 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 092" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6621409323_e0ea1e286c.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
The Falkland is soft and fluffy, although I'm not sure how hardy it will turn out to be. Still, socks are made to be loved and worn, and as you can see from the slightly Nora Batty-esque baggyness around the ankles, these made it to feet before photographs.<br />
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And finally, a pair of socks from Father Christmas, supplied to his elves by a convoluted system of packaging and posting made known to parents everywhere during ante-natal classes. (You thought they taught us how to look after the baby? Alas no, it's Santa's Secrets for Beginners followed by Embarrasing Your Teenager 101)<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6621417215/" title="January 100 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="January 100" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6621417215_9b0b397f43.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
You're going to have to trust me when I tell you that this <em>is </em>a pair of socks. Or at least, on Christmas Day when H unpacked his stocking and immediately put them on his feet there were two. The laundry basket contains only one. Ergo, one of them is somewhere in our house. H does not know precisely where but mentioned something about a bed/sofa/other furniture and the word 'under'. It bodes well for our marriage that my love language is not the accurate placement of laundry.<br />
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It's a Regia sock yarn from the back of the stash [ETA - it's actually Fortissima Colori Socka Color No 2405 - thanks Diane!], and I think even when I bought it it was in the discontinued and discounted bin. The yarn in the ball looks like the toe and heel sections so the rest was a bit of a surprise. If you have a ball of this, it's going to pool no matter how many stitches you cast on, it's just a question of getting the pooling you can live with and then maintaining an identical tension until you finish. The colours are two or three stitches long and even the tiniest shift makes a massive difference. I restarted the first sock because my afternoon train-ride tension was producing a completely different pattern to the morning.<br />
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The finished article is crazy and random and looks rather as if a box of crayons had exploded in the yarn factory, which happily is just the kind of socks that H enjoys.<br />
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Two pairs of socks and a hat. It doesn't sound like very much does it? But at a conservative estimate it's 50 hours dedicated to cherishing my husband, and that can't be a bad gift. <br />
<br /></div>Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-68224607682388610842011-12-31T23:28:00.000+00:002011-12-31T23:28:32.160+00:00Appraisal<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6609263269/" title="December 994 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 994" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6609263269_52cfc16f9a.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
It's dark and rainy outside, and only the throbbing beat of some questionable music somewhere in the neighbourhood suggests that it's anything other than a dreary winter Saturday. We've been counting down the last few hours of the year in a quietly insular kind of way; a little family in hibernation, reading, colouring, playing with toys and knitting, and now Kitty is fast asleep in her cot, H is playing Sonic and I'm here - it's very flash I know!<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6609260733/" title="December 1006 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 1006" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6609260733_590300ffdb.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
Looking back at last January, it seems that I did manage to make some New Year's Resolutions of sorts, the most specific of which was to buy a new organiser for the cutlery drawer that actually fits. So how did I do with that one ....<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6609259071/" title="December 999 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 999" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6609259071_518f69fec8.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
ah. well. yes - lets pass over that shall we.<br />
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I wanted to take the time to uncover buried projects and really enjoy the books and materials I have, and I think I can put a tick against this one. Twelve of my knitting projects used yarn that had been in the stash for over a year, although unaccountably the yarn seems to have expanded to fit the space again, and I tackled a few things that had been on the 'make me' list for a while, such as <a href="http://knittedbear.blogspot.com/2011/09/handmade-birthday.html">the birthday bunting</a> that I made for Kitty's party, her <a href="http://knittedbear.blogspot.com/2011/09/handmade-birthday.html">pirate trousers</a> (scroll to the bottom) and a pretty spotty dress with ice-cream's on it that I can't remember blogging about (now sadly outgrown).<br />
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I've got some more specific aims for this year (and not just the cutlery drawer organiser either), so with a vague promise to come back this time in 2012 and see how I've done, this is my plan for the next twelve months:<br />
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<em>Knitting</em>: <br />
<ul>
<li>I've got some great projects lined up so I want to continue to enjoy the stash. </li>
<li>I'm going to knit my Bohus Wild Apples kit and finish my 7 Chakras socks.</li>
<li>In a moment of weakness, H asked for a jumper and chose a pattern from a shortlist that's been loitering in my Ravelry favourites for, well lets just say 'a while', and the colour of the called-for yarn. I've a few things to finish first and then it's all systems go.</li>
<li>I'm going to write up my Phoenix socks pattern and publish it properly.</li>
<li>I'm going to design some knits for Kitty.</li>
</ul>
<em>Quilting</em><br />
<ul>
<li>Now that I've got the borders, backing and binding for my Christmas quilt, it's time to put it all together, quilt it and finish it up.</li>
<li>I've got fabric in the stash for <strike>three</strike> four complete quilt tops, and most of the fabric for two more. I'm going to make them.</li>
</ul>
<em>Sewing</em><br />
<ul>
<li>I'm going to keep sewing for Kitty; another pair of reversible trousers, and a couple of dresses at the very least.</li>
<li>I'm going to sew something for me (don't know what yet - any suggestions)</li>
</ul>
<em>Crafty Creating</em><br />
<ul>
<li>Every year I make Christmas presents right up until the last minute and all those Christmassy crafts get put away until after the presents. This year I'm going to have Christmas throughout the year and make the things I want for our house and our tree.</li>
<li>I'm going to tie down some of the pretties that float through my brain and actually make them.</li>
</ul>
<em>Photography</em><br />
<ul>
<li>I've stalled a bit; I can take pretty enough pictures but I really want to work on staging still lifes and my portrait photography - yay more pictures of a little girl who is incapable of keeping still.</li>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6609256925/" title="December 767 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 767" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6609256925_0cb9311820.jpg" width="500" /></a> </ul>
That may be my specific plan for a creative 2012. But above all of that my intent for this coming year is to Cherish and Nourish.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6609255975/" title="December 730 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 730" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6609255975_489dff04b4.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
Cherish - every little moment with our rapidly growing girl, and my lovely H; not focusing on the time we have to be apart but fully living every minute together.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6609262267/" title="December 1005 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 1005" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6609262267_8afa8a643d.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
Nourish - our bodies with good food and our hearts and souls with good words.<br />
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What are your New Year's plans? and do you know anywhere that sells really large cutlery organisers?<br />
<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-87013623808185008052011-12-29T13:31:00.000+00:002011-12-29T21:08:40.276+00:00HandmadeI'm four rounds off finishing Kitty's Christmas jumper (and a little darning in of ends and sewing of seams) so there's hope that she'll get it before the 12 days of Christmas are up. I think I can count that as finishing in time, yes?<br />
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One of the other reasons that I didn't worry too much about not having finished for the day itself was that she did have a large Mama-made parcel under the tree to open. <br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595697673/" title="December 652 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 652" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6595697673_8d8c913c55.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
She isn't short of quilts or blankets, but they were all made for the bump that turned out to be her, rather than for her specifically. That and if she keeps growing at the current rate she's going to need something a little bit bigger.<br />
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This is the next size up; about 46 inches square and on me it's a lap quilt, but for her it's big enough to play tents and hide-peepo and wrap up in until she's snug.<br />
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I'm possibly setting a new personal record for the time between buying the fabric and making the quilt as it came from <a href="http://www.boutis.com/">Il etait une fois</a> at this summer's Quilt Festival at the NEC. I walked past the stand, took one look at a print of a little curly haired girl on a swing and knew that it was coming home with us.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595678851/" title="December 659 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 659" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6595678851_da6e9de7f6.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
The picture blocks of the little girl and the apples and houses are sold by the block and the other fabric comes by the metre (a really really wide metre). <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595687335/" title="December 658 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 658" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6595687335_feb43afd2a.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
It's really the simplest of simple quilts. I cut the blocks to 9.5 inches square and played around with them until I liked the layout, then sewed them into rows and then into the quilt top. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6595641531/" title="December 670 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 670" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6595641531_71d4c304b4.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
The backing is another length of the gorgeous multicoloured check, and the binding is the same. To quilt it, I used a red/pink/yellow variegated thread and stitched lines with my walking foot about a 1/4 inch either side of each seam to mirror the check fabric.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6596139297/" title="December 662 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 662" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6596139297_57e217d491.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
Kitty had caught occasional glimpses of something interesting under construction through an open doorway or perched on the back of the sofa but all attempts at further investigation were swiftly curtailed. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she unwrapped it, hugged it, and lay down and rolled in it. I love that I made her something that she loves, now all I need are some new labels that say 'Mama made it'. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6596127757/" title="December 669 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 669" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6596127757_af0e66e57a.jpg" width="334" /></a>Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-25240796859682821442011-12-26T23:34:00.003+00:002011-12-28T17:46:24.394+00:00Artist in residenceMy grandmother's painting of the tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, with a softly lit Cherwell flowing around the Botanical Gardens in the foreground, hangs on the wall of my sewing room; H's sketches, still lifes and landscapes are framed around the house; and my father once knocked out a mean pencil drawing of our teddy bear David dressed in my blue gingham baby romper on a scrap of spare paper.<br />
<br />
With such genetic potential, and a smidgen of Mama's crafty ways thrown in for good measure, no one was surprised that Kitty likes drawing and colouring. There's only one hitch with such creativity in a house full of artists, well two hitches to be precise. Firstly, neither Daddy nor Mama try to eat the raw materials (cue chalks and a packet of wax crayons going back into the cupboard), and secondly, well lets just say I haven't yarn bombed the travel cot and H hasn't felt the need to add a touch of colour to the spine of my hardback copy of <em>Great Northern</em>.<br />
<br />
Father Christmas came up trumps on the edible art materials front, with a little box of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stockmar-Assorted-Stick-Crayons-tin/dp/B002NM27H2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=A1BTNK0TBNE1W3&s=generic&qid=1325093957&sr=1-2">Stockmar beeswax crayons</a>. They are really lovely crayons, smooth and easy to make a mark with the gentlest of pressure, you don't need to force the colour onto the page, they smell nice, and if she eats them I'm pretty relaxed about a combination of natural colours and beeswax. Her little box has 8 colours, but I think we may be adding to them in the future.<br />
<br />
I think the crayons were her favourite present until Christmas afternoon when we unwrapped a big shiny parcel from Grannie and Grandpa:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577721295/" title="December 568 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 568" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6577721295_ae0f5bd947.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
Can you tell what it is yet?<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577726221/" title="December 580 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 580" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6577726221_617307f4b9.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
When we were little we had magic paper painting pads; you brushed them with water and a picture appeared in a pastel rainbow. That was then, this is now. Magic paper, meet your future self, an <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tomy-6189-Rainbow-Aquadoodle/dp/B000T50MBI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325094128&sr=8-2">Aquadoodle</a>.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577729619/" title="December 582 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 582" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6577729619_53b5fd5136.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
(please also note the effect of roast potatoes and sticky toffee pudding as hair styling product!) <br />
<br />
Kitty loves it, and we've found it curiously addictive - even after she'd gone to bed <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577732573/" title="December 595 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 595" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6577732573_b74d257a54.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
<em>San Salute from the Accademia Bridge </em><br />
<br />
Thank you Grannie and Grandpa - we all love it!Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-58271785999082801822011-12-26T23:34:00.001+00:002011-12-26T23:39:28.342+00:00Merry and Bright<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577674767/" title="December 478 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 478" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6577674767_53c7ce31b5.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
The days leading up to Christmas are not exactly stressful, because I adore this time of year, but full of busyness, making sure that all the jobs are done and all the loose ends come together at the right time and in the right order so that Christmas Day (and the following 12) are calm and restful. With help from H, who crucially managed to find somewhere else in the house on which to balance the partially completed jigsaw that has been dogging our dinner times for the last few months, freeing up that end of the table to be loaded with roasted edibles, we had a wonderful Christmas, and today we spent the day curled up like well fed house cats with a saucer of cream; warm and cozy from head to toe.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577678691/" title="December 479 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 479" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6577678691_c25e182717.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
Kitty mastered the art of unwrapping presents fairly quickly, demonstrating a determined insistence for removing every last scrap of paper and throwing it over her shoulder before turning her attention to the goodies inside. As is only fitting for our only daughter she has been spoiled rotten at every turn, and a happier little girl you'd be hard to find.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577694737/" title="December 510 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 510" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6577694737_49fdbe87ec.jpg" width="334" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577696097/" title="December 514 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 514" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6577696097_61a20be6ba.jpg" width="334" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577699685/" title="December 528 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 528" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6577699685_05f78ec5c2.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
(<em>unwrapping and playing with her present from Auntie Zee and Uncle D)</em><br />
<br />
My highlight of the day was watching her unwrap her Mama-made quilt (pictures to follow if it ever stops raining); she took all the paper off, hugged it, spread it out around her, lay on her back, kicked her feet and giggled, and then wrapped herself up in it. Clearly someone (Daddy?) has been teaching her the proper way to respond to handmade (it's also a cute quilt if I say so myself). <br />
<br />
I'll be doing some more detailed posts on some of the Christmas crafting over the next few days but for today I leave you with some snippets of our day:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577681411/" title="December 490 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 490" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6577681411_d14dffc2bd.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
<em>Scrambled eggs for breakfast</em><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577685471/" title="December 500 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 500" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6577685471_f22c0a4378.jpg" width="334" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577688673/" title="December 503 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 503" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6577688673_060c30b197.jpg" width="334" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577692297/" title="December 505 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 505" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6577692297_46e2b52e39.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
<em>reading That's Not My Snowman with Daddy (and yes, in the background is a metre of Jaffa Cakes, from Kitty to Daddy)</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577715487/" title="December 558 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 558" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6577715487_fa21cab8ea.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
<em>Talking to Grannie and Grandpa in Devon</em><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577711965/" title="December 557 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 557" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6577711965_2c9da06d16.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
<em>It's for you! - chatting to Gran and Grandad in Yorkshire.</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6577737153/" title="December 616 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 616" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6577737153_e6d9b01246.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<em>A trip to the playground in between rain showers this afternoon.</em><br />
<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-28047839748284340242011-12-24T22:31:00.000+00:002011-12-24T22:31:49.134+00:00Merry Christmas<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6527856767/" title="December 250 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 250" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6527856767_bbcabd58b9.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
It's Christmas Eve. The veggies are peeled, the chicken is prepped and stuffed according to my Great-Grandmother's recipes, a pile of red and white parcels are smothering the Christmas tree skirt, and Kitty is asleep in her cot, dreaming of mince pies and shiny things.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6566003227/" title="December 435 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 435" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6566003227_5930e3d1c1.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
This morning I made two dozen mince pies (not all of which remain), cleaned and tidied the house (a somewhat pointless task with a toddler on the loose, but worth doing for the honour nonetheless), and corralled and folded the laundry from its various drying points around the house.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6566002269/" title="December 426 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 426" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6566002269_03859fd069.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Our Sunday club put on a brilliant nativity for the Christmas Eve Crib Service, and Kitty reprised her role as 'smallest star', perched up on Daddy's knee on the steps at the back of church for the best view, giggling and clapping her way through the production, and then this evening, lovely friends came to visit, bringing a most interesting and excitingly large box for Kit (unconfirmed reports suggest that even the generous benefactor's seriously grown up sons were intrigued by the size of said box). Kitty hugged it, and then started to work out that wrapping paper is supposed to come off so it's been tucked away until the morning.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6566005747/" title="December 459 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 459" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6566005747_82e1a8f046.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
Tomorrow I'm looking forward to time with our wonderful church family and a day spent in the company of my little family of three, watching Kit drink in all the sparkle and the wonder. <br />
<br />
For the very first time I haven't finished the Christmas knitting; Kitty's jumper is minus a sleeve and a half and the shoulders to neck section. A serious assessment at 11.30 on Friday told me that I could either spend Christmas Eve madly knitting and scrape in under the wire, or spend Christmas Eve getting ready for Christmas, and just enjoying my family. Given the option between helping Kitty make shiny ornaments (with a kit from the front of her Waybaloo magazine), curling up to read the Gruffalo (again), and cooking with H while Kitty napped, or knitting frantically, the yarn didn't stand a chance. <br />
<br />
For one, Kitty isn't going to turn round to me when she's all grown up and accuse me of ruining Christmas because her jumper was a couple of days late, but she will remember that Mama and Daddy used to read her stories and sing carols and |Christmas songs, and that we all plomped down on the floor to make the most noise with her rattles and shakers, and for another, I really like the yarn, I really like the pattern and I don't want to rush through the knitting and loose that pleasure, or tinge a jumper with the frustration of deadline knitting.<br />
<br />
So my plan for the rest of this evening is a nice long bath and a quiet night with half an ear open for sleigh bells.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6566152617/" title="November 327 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="November 327" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6566152617_3896f74bd7.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
H, Kitty and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and we'll be back in time to wish you a Happy New Year.<br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000;">May the joy of the angels, <br />the eagerness of the shepherds, <br />the perseverance of the wise men, <br />the obedience of Joseph and Mary, <br />and the peace of the Christ child <br />be yours this Christmas</span></em></span>Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-43281804585342601262011-12-19T23:42:00.005+00:002011-12-19T23:42:55.087+00:00Dress RehearsalThe nursery Christmas extravaganza opens to previews tomorrow, with the command performance on Thursday when H and I are going to see our super special snowflake be a star.<br />
<br />
Her costume is finished, and I'm pretty pleased with it. I'll take some proper pictures on Thursday, but here's a sneak peak.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540410359/" title="December 306 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 306" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6540410359_90308a1e83.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
I popped her into her ensemble this evening and let her run around for a bit to test drive it and to see if anything fell off. There are limits to what interfacing and felt can achieve so I had to add a safety pin to keep the point of the star upright, but other than that it seems to work well.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540414883/" title="December 313 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 313" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6540414883_38278be493.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
The only possible drawback, and I really should have foreseen this one given how much she enjoyed playing with the raw materials, is that she does have a bit of a fascination with the skirt ...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540416109/" title="December 319 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 319" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6540416109_c393d645d2.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
and may well spend most of her time in the spotlight with her head in at least one layer of gauzy skirt.<br />
<br />
So Kitty, is it fit for purpose? Let's see (cue music):<br />
<br />
<em>Twinkle, twinkle, little star</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540418511/" title="December 355 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 355" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6540418511_b68f5fee5c.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<br />
<em>How I wonder what you are.</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540419537/" title="December 362 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 362" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6540419537_7310f4bdd4.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<br />
<em>Up above the world so high,</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540421303/" title="December 368 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 368" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6540421303_d55320df65.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<br />
<em>Like a dia....</em>hang on a minute Mama<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540423321/" title="December 372 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 372" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6540423321_25d72325ce.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<br />
<em>diamond?</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540425143/" title="December 373 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 373" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6540425143_62aee4f276.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<br />
<em>diamond! in the sky.</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540426267/" title="December 374 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 374" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6540426267_309fda080c.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<br />
<em>Twinkle, twinkle, little star,</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540429327/" title="December 375 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 375" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6540429327_93710fe694.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
<br />
<em>How I wonder what you are.</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6540432523/" title="December 380 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 380" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6540432523_85182c3026.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
(exit stage left)<br />
<br />
She's going to bring the house down.Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-21073883111892151552011-12-17T23:47:00.000+00:002011-12-17T23:47:04.985+00:00Twinkle twinkle little star<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6527855731/" title="December 258 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 258" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6527855731_bac0bf5f22.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
We have a star in the making. The babies group at Kitty's nursery are performing the crucial role of stars in the nursery nativity plays, which from all I've gleaned from her favourite carer involves trying not to crawl into the audience to find Mummy/Daddy/toast, and doing the actions to twinkle twinkle.<br />
<br />
We've been practising the twinkling today during both of her bath times (morning and lunchtime, the latter to remove sausage from her hair, and the former because occasionally babies just need a bath), and this afternoon I set about her costume.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6527854739/" title="December 259 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 259" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6527854739_8d909dfb02.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
<br />
I've made a little pale gold layered tulle skirt for her to wear with a cream t-shirt and white tights from a metre or so of fabric, and I'm planning for her to have a big star that she wears sort of like a backpack, with elastic loops to keep it on her arms.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6527851861/" title="December 264 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 264" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6527851861_62b38685ca.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Kit tried to help me draw a star, but as that mostly involved trying to chew the ruler while sitting on the felt, we didn't get very far, and most of my progress has been made after she went to bed.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6527852837/" title="December 260 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 260" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6527852837_a96e5b9754.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
I've laid out the radial lines in water soluble marker and I'm slowly filling them in with sequins and beads and all sorts of sparkle liberated from the bottom of my embroidery bag. <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6527853651/" title="December 261 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 261" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6527853651_16c9c20901.jpg" width="334" /></a><br />
I'm still deliberating over whether I want to fill in the gaps with swirling embroidery, and it might be a moot point because this needs to be finished for Tuesday morning - what do you think? No embroidery, gold embroidery or sparkly white/silver?Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-27047525236777029822011-12-15T09:59:00.003+00:002011-12-15T10:06:16.416+00:00"Tomorrow shall be my darning day" or "Avoiding the Christmas Knitting Part 3"<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6443510961/" title="December 039 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 039" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6443510961_c870cede5b.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
I said it, I said that I was surprised that my MIL didn't wear out her socks more often given that she wears them daily. The Knitting Muses, curled up in their cosy stash-lined eyrie in the Great White North (not Mount Olympus - too hot), put down their needles, untangled the yarn from around their ankles and stretching out a lanquid arm, twisted a finger through the wind and rain to snag a tiny hole in each heel of yet another pair of lovingly knitted socks. I think they must have something against Colinette Jitterbug - it's always the Jitterbug socks that come back for mending.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6443510051/" title="December 041 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 041" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6443510051_0f6e6d7f75.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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But with fairy godmother-esque timing, the Fates smoothed out the winds, and gently shooed the clouds away so that my darning day dawned sunny and bright, and I had time to take a few photos and put together a tutorial of sorts to mend a short row heel.<br />
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So, step one: Have a good look at your heels. If the yarn has broken, it's likely that some stitches will have dropped back down, and it will all look a bit of a mess.<br />
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Top tip - If you see the yarn wearing thin, darn it with duplicate stitch before you get a hole - it's so much easier (and if I took my own advice I wouldn't have a pair of beloved handspun socks with holes under the ball of the foot)<br />
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You are looking to find a round of nice plump stitches, one or two rows before the longest of the short rows. If you want you can go to the last rows of the pattern, but I think it's a little easier to work with a buffer zone. If you need to ladder some stitches back up to make this round complete then that's fine as long as the yarn you are using is still in decent nick.<br />
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Step 2: take a couple of DPNs a size or two smaller than the ones you used to knit the project and slide one under the right hand leg of each stitch on your chosen round. Spread these stitches over two needles, turn your sock over and repeat for the other side of the round. Your sock should look like this:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6443506727/" title="December 043 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 043" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6443506727_a82cc84d90.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Step 3: time to rip! First, work out which side of the heel was the last that you knit, ie. if you were working top down it would be the side on the bottom of your foot, for toe up it's the back of the heel. Snip a thread in the row above the row you have on your needles and tease out the ends. You should be able to simple pull the knitting back now although occasionally there will be tangles where things have felted together and when you get to the holes you might have to do a bit of jiggery pokery to find the right end to pull.<br />
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At then end, you should have something a bit like this:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6443511911/" title="December 052 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 052" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6443511911_a14a08a817.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
with two ends coming from the sock and a little pile of squiggly yarn. You can see my two ends at either end of the base of the triangle of needles. <br />
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Step 4: Count your stitches. I frequently end up with one or two fewer on one side than the other. If you're the same, pick up loops at the corners until it works, this is darning not restoration of a priceless treasured antique. At the same time, arrange one half of the heel stitches over two needles and the rest on one if you like to knit using 4 DPNs or two if you prefer 5.<br />
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Step 5: Double check that the heel you are about to knit is going to line up nicely with the existing toe.<br />
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Step 6: Using the new yarn, and starting at the middle of the two needle side, knit 1 round. As you go around the corners, check that the stitches you are making are nice and neat; knit through the back loop if you need to close anything up.<br />
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Step 7: Knit your favourite toe. Mine is as follows:<br />
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Round 1: Knit to 3 stitches before the end of needle, k2tog, k1; k1, ssk, k to 3 stitches before the end of needle, k2tog, k1; k1 ssk, knit to end.<br />
Round 2: Knit<br />
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Repeat these two rounds until 24 stitches remain at the end of a round 1; knit to end of needle 1 and graft shut.<br />
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Step 8: Gather up your courage, maybe award yourself a square of chocolate and a gold star, and repeat with the other sock.<br />
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And there we have it:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6492155689/" title="December 136 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 136" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6492155689_a1c71f572d.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
Two <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hopscotch-socks-2">Hopscotch</a> socks returned to circulation with wildly contrasting crazy heels.<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6492158045/" title="December 138 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 138" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6492158045_aaa4071d2b.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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And if all else fails, Mandy's failsafe is just to <a href="http://myknittingandallotmentblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/mending-socks-felting-way.html">needlefelt the holes closed</a>!<br />
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PS - I've decorated for Christmas - do you like it or is it taking too long to load?Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-14996571120453541572011-12-12T19:55:00.000+00:002011-12-12T19:55:13.970+00:00Casting on<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6492159917/" title="December 224 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 224" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6492159917_f5d24e23db.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
There's something special about a newly cast on project, that first row on the needles all soft and nubbly, perfect stitches in crisp new yarn, before it's been scrumpled up into a knitting bag, ripped back and reknit a few times, or some over enthusiastic patting from tiny hands has impregnated it with apple pudding and glitter.<br />
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It's like the first page in a new crisp notebook, when you're still fussy about making sure you use the blue ink pen, and underline the date, and write in your neatest, prettiest handwriting. By the end of the book it's a scrawl in whatever comes to hand, but that moment of cracking open the cover inspires the very best intentions. This is the project that won't have any mistakes in it, that won't need to be undone to fix the after effects of knitting on too late into the night, and that will be perfect in every way for its intended wearer and garner a gazillion complements.<br />
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The yarn is wound, and I have 13 days until Christmas and four and a half projects to finish. It's time to done the blinkers and knuckle down with some cheesy Christmas films, trying not to think too much about whether it's sensible to start a jumper in 4ply a fortnight before it needs to be finished. Fortunately, (a) it's for Kitty who despite serious efforts in the growing department is still relatively tiny and (b) the yarn, <a href="http://www.sparkleduck.co.uk/yarn.html">Sparkle Duck Galaxy</a> is delicious. It's all systems go.<br />Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21883677.post-60485756436962058622011-12-11T13:01:00.001+00:002011-12-11T13:17:40.341+00:00Getting ready for ChristmasIn the corner of the lounge is a plump, round, green little tree, dressed from head to toe in lights, baubles, snowmen, stars and a whole heap of felt ornaments along the bottom layer. We went back and forth this year on the pros and cons of a real tree, knowing that this year of all years, anything tall green and sparkly in the lounge is going to be a magnet for a one year old, but in the end it wouldn't be Christmas without the fresh smell of pine needles toasted by snowman fairy lights, and so we have a little Nordmann fir, set up on the coffee table so that the lowest branches brush Kitty's head (or at least they did when we set it up, before she started yanking on them). <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6492159169/" title="December 235 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 235" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6492159169_0be2560b33.jpg" width="334" /></a> <br />
The precious baubles, the ones from our holidays, from the first Christmas we were married, and the first in Kitty's collection, with tiny 12 week old hand and foot prints are all up at the top, safely out of view and out of reach.<br />
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Our newest bauble is right up there too, a Murano glass extravaganza, lovingly nursed back from Venice in multiple layers of bubble wrap:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6492167121/" title="December 192 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 192" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6492167121_e6ee9aa955.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
We choose it together on the last rain-drenched day, in a wee little shop tucked down one of the tiny streets of the Dorsoduro; trying not to drip on the entire stock while Kitty snoozed in the sling. I'm glad to say it fits in beautifully with out ramshackle collection of treasures.<br />
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And we've added one to Kitty's collection too. I want each year's ornament to reflect the things that she loved at that time so this year when we pottered around the Christmas shop in Stratford, there was one that jumped out straight away:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6492164975/" title="December 208 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 208" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6492164975_af8658679a.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
A little swinging elf, for a little girl who loves to swing.<br />
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December has hit double figures, we've got four strings of fairy lights in the lounge alone, I've turned this:<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6443513973/" title="December 061 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 061" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6443513973_0294699713.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
into this:<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59349258@N00/6492163643/" title="December 213 by Cariemay, on Flickr"><img alt="December 213" height="334" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6492163643_3f12e3db70.jpg" width="500" /></a> <br />
(and eaten the resulting mince pies before I remembered to photograph them), the cards are sat on the dining room table waiting to be written, and finally there's a wintry nip in the air. Christmas is coming and we're getting ready.Carie @ Space for the Butterflieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13060566680311122115noreply@blogger.com1