cartouches

Noticing that the Model is outgrowing her clothing at speed (wrings hands in glee) and in need of another quick sewing fix myself, I gave her access to the fabric stash. Despite the fact I've been very restrained since buying an overload of Irish linens at the beginning of the year, there is much weeding out to be done in the fabric cupboard so she chose this sweet Tilda fabric with a mustard background and cartouches of pink roses. Unfortunately I only had a metre so I pushed any ideas of making a dress to one side and sewed up a simple elasticated skirt. A couple of rectangles sewn together with a turned down waistband and a turned up hem, it was a nice, super quick project. And, with a fine cotton lawn lining, it's amazing how it can be so easily suped up.

You see that cute black and white beast in the photos? She's peskier than she looks, you know, because since coming back from our holiday she has developed some really bad habits. Jumping up onto the top of the wall cupboards in our kitchen springs to mind, and she has that look about her that says she's choosing her moment before leaping on to the top of the oven extractor hood. I have visions of the whole thing crashing down onto the floor and am thinking, groan, is it time for the water pistol again?

See you soon, everyone.

stuff

Thank you all so much for the comments on my Luka. The Boy was delighted to be told he is 'cool' with 'great taste', not to mention he has a fab jumper! The onset of puberty is making its mark so thank you so much for the self esteem boost! I bought a couple of pattern books at the weekend and hope to get stuck into the next project as soon as I can choose some yarn (and thank you for your advice there, too). I know if I don't get going straight away it'll be a long time before anything happens.

I'm having a house blitz at the moment, one that's been long overdue but now I've got stuck in, it's beginning to feel rather cathartic. I can see floor space, areas where the light hasn't got to in a very long time, even. And there is so much 'stuff' to be gone that I've talked the kiddos into staging a car boot. Admittedly not so keen on the outset, fair enough given it's mostly their stuff (oops!), the promise of splitting the booty 25% each way soon brought them round and all we await now is a warm, fine day!

Which brings me to the weather I suppose and I wouldn't be British if I didn't mention it at least once in a while. The last few weeks have been a concoction of torrential downpours that the chimney stack has reacted allergically too and found us flicking the boiler switch once again. Bright and beautiful sunshine with 20 degrees C one moment, then gales that perhaps forced the practically featherless robin out of his nest too early. The poor thing was doomed anyway but was sadly snatched up by our black and white feline before we knew what was happening. And suddenly, from nowhere, there was this urge to make myself a new dress.

Despite the commitment to doing other domesticated things, the feeling wasn't going anywhere in a hurry so I sewed up another Merchant and Mills dress shirt. This is number three (see one and two), which I think pretty much justifies the price I shelled out for this wonderful pattern last year. I know it pretty well now so it was a quick and easy fix, truth be told. The body of the dress shirt is taken straight from the pattern but I shortened the sleeves and rounded the hemline so it is now less shirt and more dress. A summer dress version, made with navy Irish linen and my new Saltwaters in mind. Actually, now that's it done I wish I'd shortened those sleeves a fair bit more but rather than changing things, I'm going to start wearing it straight away with a cardi over the top and thick tights (they won't come off for months yet!) and come the summer I'll be on that sandy beach, testing out those sandals in and out of the water. Do you remember when James Bond drove his Lotus out of the sea onto a crowded beach in The Spy Who Loved Me? Clearly there is no real comparison but all the same, I'm mindful of the fact that these leather babies are so very, very cool, don't you think?!

I took these photos using the self timer. No mean feat, deep blue not being the kindest of colours to snap, and focusing ain't the simplest of things when you're the wrong side of the lens as I've said before. But I'm guessing you'll be getting the general idea. Before I go there are a couple of ladies I really must mention here. Firstly, lovely Maider of Masustak Eguzkitan kindly awarded me a Versatile Blogger award a couple of weeks ago. I thank you Maider, for being so kind and thinking me worthy, but I hope you will forgive me for not playing the game properly. I'm so sorry but I'm just too busy at the moment to do it justice, I hope you understand.

Then there's Vanessa from do you mind if I knit. Vanessa kindly commissioned me to make an Iona dress not so long ago. I made it with some marled greeny/turquoise Irish linen, very similar to the blue fabric used in the Clare top, although obviously a different colour! You can see her blog post here, where she models the dress so well and says some absolutely lovely words. Thank you for such a fantastic PR job, Vanessa! x

And finally, the giveaway. Thank you to those who took part, it's been fun to meet some new bloggers and now I've got a lot of visiting to do. But as we all know, there can only be one winner so congrats go to you, Maider (again!), because your name was picked out of the hat by the Boy this morning! If you could let me know your address, a nice little package will be on it's way to you shortly. Enjoy, I hope you have a lot of fun with it!

I think that's about it for today! Have a great week, everybody.

luka

Although I am beyond excited about my latest knit, there is also much shame and embarrassment that goes with. You see, the conception of my Rowan's Luka actually began back in April 2011. A lengthy project by any standards but one that has finally, and at times against the odds, been completed. And hallelujah, it fits.

Various excuses are attached to the resumé -

* Those bloomin' cats being the main one. Not fully trained in leaving mama alone when she has knitting on the go, they still delight in pouncing, clawing, dragging a 'wip' across floors, even. This makes me stand up in panic mode, hurrying to finish the row, tension growing tighter and tighter with every stitch. It has been an exercise of the start/stop variety and lately, in a final and desperate bid to get the thing finished, the only option was to lock the kitties in their bedroom (yes, they do have one!) extra early so knitting could recommence. I was also mindful of the fact that the boy was growing, you must understand, making time of the essence.

* The weather. Last April, you will remember, suddenly became incredibly hot. Days after I started the jumper as luck would have it, and so the needles were put down due to sweaty fingers and better things to do in the sunshine quite frankly. Point 1 then came into play and the rest is history.

* Forgetfulness and laziness. Say no more.

It has been lovely to make something for my boy. I'm glad he was first off the grid when I announced I was going to knit something and asked who fancied being the recipient. After all, the Model has had her fair share of makes but all the same, it was a happy occasion to think he wanted his ol' mum to knit for him. He keenly chose his colour combi and the style he wanted from the two or three options I gave him out of this book, unfortunately discontinued now but available still on the internet.

Well, I needn't have worried about it being too small, in fact it is generous to say the least. The body of the garment fits beautifully with bags of room for growth, however the arms would be more fitting for a child of the simian variety. I suppose the right thing would be to take a couple of inches out of the sleeves but to be honest I'm not sure I'm up to the job, emotionally anyway. Given he's just as happy to turn up the cuffs I shall put it down to experience. I seem to remember adding length way back in the day to both the front and back but I don't think I did the same for the sleeves, perhaps my gauge was a bit off. My test swatch revealed tension was too tight so I knitted the jumper with needles one size up and now I'm thinking my tension reverted. Oh well, at least it has been consistent and that's got to be what counts.

Despite the turned up sleeves, the boy is over the moon and that makes it all worthwhile. So now that I've finished, I am keen to get stuck in to the next project .. one for the Model I feel this time. In fact I've had this and also this one in my Ravelry favourites for some time. Any thoughts from you knitters on which would be the easier to do? Whether I'd be able to achieve it, even? One small problem though. She says knitted cardis are itchy so can anyone recommend any non-itchy yarns? Or perhaps I should put my efforts into making something for myself, this one for example. Or maybe this. At least that way, if it isn't finished for a year or two, there won't be a sizing issue to deal with. Fingers crossed anyway!

By the way, there's still enough time to enter my souvenir giveaway which closes tomorrow night.

Have a wonderful weekend.

a souvenir giveaway : natural dye and block printing - NOW CLOSED

I thought about you a lot on my travels, you know. Wondering what you were all doing and whether you would like me to bring you back a souvenir .. that kind of thing. So I decided to bring back a token from each of the three cities I visited.

In Vancouver there is an amazing shop on Granville Island called Maiwa. I discovered it last summer when we were there, so made a bee-line there once again. Twice in fact. It would have been more, only the family already knew what I was up to! The supply store is a treasure trove, filled with all sorts of goodness to get the textile creative juices flowing; be it knitting, crochet, felting, sewing, painting, natural dyeing or printing. It was the latter two that had me transfixed mostly and I thought it may be of interest to you, too.

I picked up a special natural colour kit that the shop had put together on the back of one of the courses it runs. The set comes with nine pre-blended colours, all from natural plant dyes and extracts such as logwood, madder root, cochineal, lac, henna, chlorophyll and pomegranate, together with alum which is used to set protein fibres such as wool and silk. However, if you got yourself some tannin, you could also use this kit to set linen, cotton and other cellulose fabrics. There is a concise instruction sheet, which will help you through your experiments, and it is completely safe to use in the kitchen and get the children involved. Also included is a natural dyed/block printed organic cotton tote (chosen by the Model) and a leafy hand carved wooden print block (as carefully chosen for you by the Boy). And just to prove it was a completely family affair, the Husband picked up the bill. Ha!

Secondly, the seriously fabulous and groovy Space Needle celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, so from Seattle comes a retro 60s style tin filled with mints. The perfect for your handbag tin was made especially for the Space Needle to commemorate the iconic landmark's milestone this year.

And finally, from Portland comes a Larabar. Now, this may seem an odd thing to include but, believe me, these things are seriously delicious. So much so that we ate our way through the entire range and back during our visit. We even ended up bringing home a box each of the apple pie and cashew bars to keep us going until we can send the Husband back again for more. Free from gluten, dairy, soy, peanut and added sugars but unfortunately not available in the UK, you can choose which flavour you would prefer. Believe me, if it were up to me I'd include one of each but there's no way the kiddos will buy that idea. Not a hope!

So if you would like to win this souvenir, all you need do is leave a comment on this post. If you put the button on your sidebar, or mention it on your blog/twitter/facebook, then let me know and I'll enter you a second time. I am prepared to send to anywhere on the globe and will leave the giveaway open until midnight GMT on Saturday 12th May. A winner will be announced on the Monday. Good luck!

The Model has an important celebration on Friday so I must put all my energies into that now. See you next week!

slight change of plan

We woke up especially early this morning, all bleary eyed we were, for our first day back to school. But oh dear, when we arrived at the suspiciously quiet gates it didn't take long to find out school starts tomorrow instead. But just about long enough to be spotted by several members of staff! Oh well, at least we had a little longer to finish the homework project that didn't quite get done because of our trip. This morning the children made up a song - that'll be a music lesson to tick off, I reckon. Followed by a spot of impromptu baking (cookery: tick) and photography (art: tick).

These delicious cakes were knocked up in next to no time but despite them being so quick to make, no expense has been spared on taste. They are scrumptious.

almond and coconut cakes

170g ground almonds

scant 1/2 tsp bicarb soda

30g coconut oil, melted and cooled

2 tblsp runny honey

2 large eggs

creme fraiche to serve

makes 6

Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the ground almonds and bicarb into a large bowl. Put the remaining cake ingredients into a separate bowl and whisk till combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to incorporate. Spoon the mixture into six muffin cups and cook for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and a cocktail stick comes out clean when tested. Allow to cool in the tin before coating with a spoonful of creme fraiche. 
Best eaten soon after eating but will keep a couple of days or so in an airtight container, or alternatively freeze.

I'm not too sure what the harmony and rosie school will be doing this afternoon but it may possibly involve a field trip.

Happy Monday to you, I'll be back in a couple of days with a souvenir giveaway. I hope your day is drier than ours here!

about easter

Did you have a happy Easter? I do hope you did. We spent ours by crossing the Canadian border for a brief trip to the US of A, the beautiful weather following us every step of the way from Vancouver.

We had a mighty long drive but eventually, well into the evening, a tempting display of twinkling lights guided us over the many bridges the Columbia river has to offer and we found ourselves downtown Portland, Oregon. It seems to be a relaxed, laid back city with an edgy, creative feel to it; shortly before our trip I read that there are more Etsy sellers in Portland than in any other city in the world. It's also very clean, far more so than London.

Sadly we had only a limited time to explore but our first stop was the vibrant farmers' market on the University campus. It was such a happy experience, with so much life, colour and happiness going on there. An array of tempting organic food on offer, lots of delicacies to try, several bands playing on the grass, balloon makers fascinating the children and so much more. We then took advantage of Portland's free inner city tram system and whiled away a good long time in Powells. It's not the sort of place that can be done quickly because it claims to be the world's largest book store at over 68,000 sq ft retail floor space. They sell a mixture of new and used books, and are visited by thousands of book lovers each day.

But I have to say, the highlight of my time in Portland was spending Easter Sunday morning sipping hot drinks in a rather trendy coffee bar with my new bff, Alex of Lola Nova. The husband dropped me off, waiting for the a-ok thumbs up before whisking the kiddos off to the Science Museum. Of course I had an advantage over Alex because I knew what she looked like and as I peered through the window I could see her sitting there, waiting. It was so exciting and also rather surreal because, even though we had never met before, I felt like I knew her so well through many months of visiting her lovely blog. So we hugged and laughed and sat down with our 'cuppas' for a chat.

But after what seemed like a very short time, I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw the family looking rather confused to find us still deep in conversation as they announced that three hours had gone by since they had dropped me off at that coffee bar. Three whole hours and we hadn't stopped talking over the two cups of coffee and tea that lasted the distance.

I must tell you that Alex is such a beautiful and warm, easy going lady. She makes gorgeous dresses for cute Pony Girl and offers brilliant tutorials, some of which have already been snapped up by Mollie Makes. She makes delicious preserves with the glut of food she grows or finds at the farmers' market and more, but I'm sure you already know that if you're familiar with her wonderful blog. And because of this intoxicating mix, you won't be surprised to hear she has written a soon to be published book, Simple Sewing with Lola Nova, featuring 25 of her very own crafty designs. I know this book will be a winner and you can bet I'll be buying it when it comes out in the UK this September (publishing in the US, Spring 2013). Can't wait.

After I'd said a reluctant goodbye to Alex, the family and I headed off up the freeway to Seattle. We had even less time there but enough to get a general (good) feel of the place, plus fit in a ride on the monorail to the Space Needle, which is what makes Seattle's skyline so instantly recognisable.

When I come back next week I will have a very special giveaway because, as is good holiday tradition, I brought back a souvenir ... the only catch is, unfortunately only one of you can have it. Meanwhile I shall leave you with these lovely ladies who stand guard at one of my all time favourite stores in North America. The one in Kensington is nothing in comparison!

See you next week, everyone.

long haul

Have I mentioned that the husband travels a lot on business? Because he visits a variety of far flung places it means he can be away for a couple of weeks at a time, which is quite tough on the kids (me too, actually).

Anyway, about three weeks ago he had to go out to Nairobi. Then to Miami. Then to Houston. So when he suggested the children and I joined him in our favourite city, we leapt up very high at the chance. It was an extremely long journey which involved a lengthy stop over. But once there, it was all most definitely worth it and quickly forgotten because we visited a city where you can spend the morning up in the snowy mountains

afternoon, cycling to the beach

and perhaps a spot of shopping in the evening

right here ..

As well as revisiting Canada, we crossed the border into the States and drove down into Washington and Oregon for a couple of days over Easter. It was whilst in Oregon that I met up with a very, very special lady, and I shall tell you all about that next time.

Happy Monday to you, it is a fabulous day here.