As our terribly dreary Spring continues in the UK, instead of dreaming up floaty dresses for warmer weather, I'm still craving warm, snuggly things!

I'm making steady progress with my Panelled Effect Lady's Jumper and hopefully I'll have a front and a sleeve to show you soon. But for now I thought I'd share some of my favourite patterns from A Stitch in Time Vol. 2 - despite the price tag, I naughtily gifted it to myself a couple of months ago!










You can also see some of my favourite patterns from A Stitch in Time Vol. 1 here.

Do you have a favourite pattern from the ones above? If you've knitted anything from either volume, I'd love to see it so please do share a link in the comments below!
Friday, May 04, 2012
**I'm already breaking the rules, but I can't stand to let anyone down! So, although the rules state making something for the first 3 commenters, I will be making something for the 6 lovely people who want to play with me...also meaning that all 6 of them can then Pay It Forward too...whoop! I'll be in touch soon ladies!!!**

When I saw this post on Kat's blog - Petticoats & Peplums - I just knew I had to get involved and for once, I wasn’t too late in commenting! I’m especially excited to be receiving a little handmade something from Kat, as I’ve been following her lovely blog for a while now and even took part in One Pattern, Seven Bloggers with her. 


Here are the all-important details: I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post - the gift will be a handmade surprise by me and I will send it to you sometime in the next 365 days.  All you need to do is:
Leave me a comment telling me your favourite colours (or the colours you hate) to help me make you a gift you'll hopefully love! Please don’t forget to include your email address so I can get in touch.
To sign up you must play along too by blogging a similar post and pledging to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on it.
So, who’s going to join me and Pay It Forward then? I’m so excited to be playing along! 
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
When Karen announced her Pyjama Party Sewalong I selflessly thought, “Great, a chance to finally do something nice for the boyfriend"! You see, he really hates my saggy comfy PJ bottoms. In fact, they depress him so much that a curfew has been imposed and I'm not allowed to wear them before 9pm. Which may sound reasonable to you guys, but I could truly live in my PJ bottoms given half a chance. 

Anyway, I thought I'd pick out a sexy, smooth fabric that he would find irresistible. But sometimes my taste in prints is questionable and I'm afraid this make turned out fugly as sin!!! My fabric choice – cotton viscose - is a buttery soft dream against my skin and my PJ bottoms look harmless and unassuming all folded up on my pillow...


...but coupled with a mismatched cardigan, it's astonishing how much I resemble The Dude (Jeff Bridges) in The Big Lebowski!
Seriously, which one's which?!?

But surely the boyfriend can't hate these babies as much my other pair can he?!? I only wish you could have seen his face during my big reveal. He was speechless for a while before asking me if I was going to combat or planning a trip to the jungle. I explained my intentions which he patiently listened to and simply asked, “What sane person wastes their time on fabric that looks like tie-dyed sick?”. I'm wondering exactly the same thing myself...they are truly hideous! Karen, is it possible to enter your Ugly Amnesty a second time - I think these PJ bottoms totally meet the criteria, don't you?

Luckily, Simplicity 2116, coupled with Karen's expert sew along, was a ridiculously easy project, so I'm determined to make amends sometime soon. For now, here's a couple more photos for you to enjoy, as this will be the last time you see these PJ bottoms on this here blog...EVER! 

Settle down tiger and read a book (I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith if you're interested)

To see much nicer PJ's, make sure you check out Karen's blog post and the comments left on it!
Saturday, April 28, 2012

Sure you do! So hop on over and join Karen's Pyjama Party Sewalong! Even though the big reveal is this coming Saturday (28 April), I reckon if you have a spare evening this week you totally have plenty of time to get involved...if you want to of course ;o)

In sadder news, my sewing machine's misbehaving and I was wondering if any of your experts might have some advice...

Basically, I think the thread from the spool is not feeding through properly. The best way that I can describe it is that it keeps 'tripping' while I'm sewing. Initially the 'tripping' would completely jam my machine and I'd have to prize the fabric away and start again. For some reason I think the tension isn't quite right, so the thread slackens and then gets caught up around the bobbin holder. I've checked and I don't think there's any random thread in between my tension plates, everything's threaded properly and I've even removed the bobbing holder and given the whole thing a good clean (boy did it need it!). 

What did seem to help though was changing my tension from #4 to #5. I've always sewn on #4 with no problem, so that's a bit weird. Anyway, with my tension set to #5 the 'tripping' is less frequent and when it happens it doesn't jam everything up. But it does create little knotted loops on the underside of my fabric:



Any ideas how I can fix this? Do you think I should send it off to get repaired anyway in case it's something serious?

Finally, I wanted to thank you all for replying to my post about lamenting the demise of Picnik. You came up trumps with all you suggestions. I now know that elements of Picnik have been incorporated into Google + and that lots of you rate Gimp (which I personally find brilliant for re-sizing and adjusting colours), but conclude that it's not easy to use for collages etc. Picasa  seems to be a popular alternative among many of you and after your recommendations, I will also be checking out iPiccy, Aviary and BeFunky. For today's post I used PicMonkey and it seems pretty cool, with collages 'coming soon' apparently. I hope all this proves helpful for others too!

Sunday, April 22, 2012
Is anyone else absolutely devastated that the awesome photo editing website – Picnik – is closing tomorrow? I feel I discovered it way too late, through the sharing nature of Karen and Lauren. We’ve had such little time together, but in that time we’ve created beauty that has transformed my blog posts for the better.

I don’t want to go back to how things were...stark and unimaginative. So this is a plea to you my friends! Can any of you recommend any similarly awesome sites? Even if they come at a reasonable cost...I’m willing to explore all options. It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy, I’m happy just being able to round off the edges of my photos and create little collages. I’m a simple creature at heart.

Please help...

P.S. This is a pictureless post to illustrate my devastation.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Do you ever walk into your sewing space and feel overwhelmed instead of inspired? I've been feeling a lot like this lately and annoyingly it's all self-inflicted. I've accumulated too many patterns and fabric and I just don't know where to start. Then there's all the awesome sew-alongs and challenges that are constantly taking place and I just feel panicked that I can't keep up. As a result...I end up doing nothing and then feeling guilty about doing nothing. 

It's a vicious circle and quite a ridiculous one at that! I actually know I'm lucky to have all these resources and in a moment of clarity, I realised that all I really needed was a manageable plan - serves me right for not setting myself any goals for 2012! A mini plan perhaps – something realistic to keep me focussed and productive in the short-term, yet flexible enough to change directions when I want to.

APRIL / MAY – I'd like to get three things sewn up by the end of the month if possible, but realistically the odd one may spill over into next month:

I'm making the view with the ruffle and it's all cut out and waiting patiently for me to get on with it!

I've also had Burda's Sleeveless Blouse cut out in a peach eyelet for a while. It was originally inspired by Ooobop's version, but seeing Karen's equally adorable take on it has convinced me that I need to sew mine up pronto!

I'm also tacking part in Karen's Pyjama Party sew-along and I couldn't help but be drawn to some cotton viscose animal print...I just love me some tacky fabric!

MAY / JUNE – I'm allowing myself plenty of time for these next two projects as they will both be challenging for me and also May's a really busy month at work:

Inspired by our Walthamstow outing, Rachel is organising a blogger picnic in June. I'd love to turn up wearing something made from our swap, so I decided to put Michelle's red wool, some polka dot lining and the yellow view of McCall 6916 to good use. I've never made a jacket before, let a lone a fully lined one, so this will really test my skills!

After seeing this and this version of Rachel Comey's Vogue 1209, I thought it would be perfect for my boyfriend's brother's wedding in July. The boyfriend's not convinced about the floral print, so this fabric isn't yet set in stone.

Now, I know this doesn't sound like that much...but I'm a truly slow stitcher...especially when new techniques are involved. Fingers crossed I can pull this lot off in time...eeek!

Either way, I do feel relieved to have regained a sense of stitching purpose again!

Do you ever feel like this, or am I just a weirdo?
Saturday, April 14, 2012
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