Fox Cub Hoodie

 

Well... if you are going to have a little fox cub you might as well dress him like one!

I am very pleased to show off this adorable little fox hoodie which I have knitting for the little man. I found the pattern on Ravelry and I just couldn't pass it up!  Its knitted in really chunky wool so it made up really quickly (unlike these darned 4ply baby knits I keep picking up!). 

The pattern was easy enough in the most part, but I had a lot of trouble with the ribbing cuffs etc. The pattern is translated into English so although it probably makes sense to the more seasoned knitter, as a bit of a novice I struggled with some of the sections. I still dont think I have the ribbing correct... I mean look at those sleeve cuffs, what are they all about? But I dont think it matters, it came out ok in the end and it should fit a little boy brilliantly. 

I made it for a 1 year old as the pattern was only for ages 1,2 &3 but at least he will have time to grow into it, hopefully by next winter when he starts needing new outerwear again. 

The wool is some very cheap Wendy Serenity 100% superwash which I purchased from what is fast becoming my favourite online wool shop www.loveknitting.co.uk. They are always doing 10-15% off something, email you free patterns and they send out your parcels in gorgeous little bags which arrive very quickly. You couldn't ask for better service. I just need to stop buying wool for projects before I am near to finishing the last one... oops!

I really have discovered I love a baby knit because they are so small, quicker than an adult knit, and easier to port about. I just hope I still find a little bit of time to do some more when he arrives as it would be a real shame to have to stop!
 

One thing I will say though it that I am really missing sewing my own clothes. I know I really should have done a bit more maternity sewing, but I had one of those bad experiences with some elastic (which seems to be in all maternity sewing patterns) and I just couldn't face picking it back up again. I have however already started shopping patterns and fabrics etc for when I do finally (fingers crossed) return to my old shape so I really can't wait to get back into that again. I really hope I can find some time (and energy) for it! I will just have to get Mr Fox looking after baby whenever I can!

But for now... on to the next knitting project! I don't like to blog about a project though as I feel like I get a curse and they never end up finished, so you will just have to wait and see on that front.

Have you got any projects on the go at the minute you want to share? Or do you have any baby sewing/knitting kawaii/fancy dress ideas you want to give me? You know I am always on the look out for more! Do feel free to comment and share away.

We have completed kitchen

It's finally finished, a good month after they started, so it's been marred a bit by its trials and tribulations (nothing is ever easy eh!) but we now have a fully functioning, completed kitchen. 

If you have alook at how it looked before you can see how much different the place looks now:

The biggest things I was adamant about we're getting some patio doors, though I never expected ones as big as we finally got, and more work surface. As you can see the old kitchen had a mid hight oven right in the centre. I am not sure what the thoughts were of the owners who arranged this one but there is just no long bit of worktop to do your prep work on. Something we have rectified now. We also have a lot more cupboard space as well. 

W arre really happy with how the whole thing turned out. Even with all the black the kitchen is just so much lighter, and the garden almost feels a part of the house now. 

Time to get on with the next job which is decorating the baby room. We have next week off work but have made so many plans it's going to be difficult to get as much done as we wanted! Some of plans include Europes strongest man, the zoo, microlight flying, afternoon tea... It's going to be fun if nothing else. 

Have a lovely weekend and I will see you on the other side. 

Getting Some Baby Sewing Inspiration

Happy Friday! I am off out for dinner tonight (lack of kitchen) and Mocktails with friends so I am very much looking forward to it. 

The kitchen renovations appear to be going pretty well, they have already ripped it all out, plumbed, rewired and measured up half the cupboards. Hopefully we will have lovely new skimmed walls by tonight as well. I have to say though we are already fed up of the lack of kitchen and everything being in upheaval. I am also really not liking the fact I have lost the craft room to a make shift kitchen! its not good for my productivity.

So instead I have been purchasing an reading this new book from Lotta Jansdotter to get some inspiration for more baby makes. You are really not surprised are you. This book has some excellent ideas in it, my favourite being the rattles (what an excellent way to use up all those spare cat bells we get from the cat collars), the support pillow and the tag blanket. Though of course I can see me making many more of the things out of this book in the near future. You can get a look inside the book on the Amazon site to give you an idea of the types of projects in here but it looks like a great little book. I really can't wait to find out the sex of our little baby so I can start really planning some sewing. 

I hope you all have a fun weekend planned ahead, enjoy whatever you are doing, and I will see you on the other side. 

New Year, New Dresses!

This year I will be ringing in the New Year in my new hand sewn Velvet Prom Dress:

The dress is the prom dress pattern from the great British sewing bee book. This is the first time I ever bothered to make a toile before just hacking straight into my nice expensive fabric. I have to admit it was a good idea given that I have never inserted an invisible zip, or used my new invisible zipper sewing machine foot. The toile came out pretty well for a first attempt and I actually think the fit on this version came out better then the finished one. The material is some thick cotton I was given a whole roll of for free and has a black strip in it. Its pretty think and heavy with just a slight stretch to it held the shape of the dress really well. I actually think I need to hem this (and hide the white zipper!) as its not a horrible dress. I might even be more inclined to wear this one that the velvet one in the future :/

For the actual dress thought I purchased some gorgeous 4 way stretch velvet from the internet specifically to make a dress for New Years. Its the perfect time for velvet, its warm and luxurious, with just a hint of extravagance.I have read some horror stories about working with velvet fabric, but actually this wasn't too distressing at all. I have a walking foot for my machine and I think this helped a lot as i really didn't struggle. The only difficulty I came across was not being able to press the seams easily, but as the fabric is so soft it didn't matter too much. Also, as the hem is a circle, and i can't press it I decided to omit a hem seam. I know this isn't the most professional finish, but the fabric doesn't frey and acts a lot like jersey so I am going to get away with it. It is slightly on the large side, which I am going to blame on the stretch and the weight of the fabric. The fabric acts a lot differently to the stuff in the toile but I can chalk that down to experience for next time. Sorry about the pictures, its a really dull day, and the fabric is not the best for showing off the seams.

The pattern was really simple to follow. It is down as something for the more experienced sewer but I think as long as you have some common sense about it this one is really easy. The pieces fit together well and there are not too many of them. I have to admit that I omitted the interfacing (you can't iron it on to velvet, that and I didn't have any!). I also didn't include the boning because after cutting it up and tacking it on to the bodice i realised the fabric was not firm enough (too stretchy) to hold it and it just made the bodice an odd shape. I would definitely make this again, I even have some leopard cotton I might use. However I have to admit I would prefer straps rather than a halterneck (a bra is an important thing to me) and I would prefer a centre back zip to a side one. But I would recommend giving this pattern a go if you have the boo, its very versatile. I have visions of leopard bodices with black skirts, or sequined bodices with a black skirt. There are endless possibilities here to use different fabrics and colour combinations.

Thank you for checking out this post, and if you got this far, I want to wish you a very happy New Year xx

A Crafty Christmas

It's all over :( but it's not time to wallow...

It's time to start thinking about the year ahead, the things you want to achieve, the people you want to see and what to enjoy. As well as this, for those of us that are still enjoying a break from the everyday grind it's time to spend some time enjoying those lovely gifts which our kind friends and families bestowed upon us.

I have been very lucky this year and so am writing this post to you from my brand new iPad (I really do have a far to kind husband) but I couldn't be happier. I really want it as a place to write the blog from, read other blogs, collect magazines (where they won't clutter up the house!), collect recipes as well as obviously the odd game and or movie. 

But this wasn't the only awesome gift I received, I got some beautiful jewellery as well as some craft items. I got some knit pro circular needles which I just adore. They are so useful as you can just untwist the needle from the string bit, that must have a proper name?, and add a new needle size. I have also started doing a lot of my straight knitting on. Circulars as they are much easier than having big long needle hitting you, or the cat, whilst you are knitting. I also got a new Kim Hargreaves knitting pattern book as I have a real hankering to make Longing so I can't wait to head out to my local yarn shop and get this cast on. Let's see if I can finish a jumper eh. 

I also really must sew up a nicer little case for these bad bouts, the plastic is a bit icky.

So put your feet up, relax, enjoy those gifts and think about the year to come.