Diagonal stripe, rainbow, baby blanket

There's not really a lot I can say about this project to be honest, because I don't completely love it. 

But it's finished so I'm blogging it! I decided not to crochet or knit the border in the end, I knew that sinking precious time into this project would not make me like it anymore so instead I just threaded the edges (my increase and decrease holes) with a sparkly gold ribbon and finished with a big old bow! 

Hopefully the ribbon will help it to hold its shape. 

The patterns pretty basic , I started with two stitches and increased 1 stitch at the end of every row, when I was happy with the size I decreased. Simples! I knitted the whole thing in garter stick but I'm sure it would look nice in stocking stick aswell! In fact my next one might be in stocking stitch! 

I'm still not sure about the rainbow colour palette , but I'm not a very bright colourful person I tend to favour neautrals  . 

Close up of my sparkle bow!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it to be honest, I'm not sure I know anyone who's in the market for a rainbow baby blanket! Mr knit wit has kindly offered to drive me to a local hospital or dogs home if I want to donate it . Apparently dogs homes are always looking for blankets because their dogs get to take them home! It's definitely something I'm going to keep in mind when I'm clearing out the airing cupboard! 

In other news I'm still plugging away at my patchwork and I'm still participating in me made may, I've just given up on the whole taking pictures thing! Life got in the way so I might just run a me made week just for me when I'm less busy! Although I thought then I might just put all my me made clothes to one side so I have to wear different things! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

an odd sense of satisfaction.

I currently have a whole host of unfinished projects floating around my house, i have a vintage blouse cut and ready to go but am feeling meh about it, a knitted blanket that needs some sort of edging either knitted or crocheted but I'm debating if throwing myself back into crochet is really the way to go. I have a patchwork blanket, but I think this is going to be a long running project, and i have a decapitated bear, that I was given yesterday by Mr knitwits nan (but more on that tommorrow) .

And i also had my sweet peas that needed putting in the garden, which i was dreading. I tend to have a bad reputation with gardening, in fact mr knitwit takes great pleasure in reminding me of a time when i thought i could grow, pumpkins, courgettes, carrots, potatoes and squash all in a metre square plot of garden (in my defence i had just binge watched the goodlife and was on a felicity kendall high)! Naturally it did not work and since then ive kept my gardening habits on a slightly smaller scale.

and my sweet peas are included in this i brought the kit from home and bargains for under a pound and was pleasantly surprised when they actually grew! YES something i planted grew! And then came the unfortunate task of putting them into the garden! which required the quite hefty task of weeding and foofing the soil around and throwing rocks away (where do the rocks come from seriously?)

anyway heres how it looks now!

My lovely sweet peas tied to their canes in all their glory! (thanks again the nan for the canes!)

with my gardening gloves and makeshift trowel! turns out we dont have one but a wooden spoon works just aswell!

anyway im off to try and finish at least one more project today!

Much love

Frankie

xxx

Coming from a sick bed near you!

Okay so I'm still feeling wretched , to the point where Mr knitwits took lil knitwits to nursery today! After a night shift! I know right, sometimes that man is a first prize twonk and other times he's a flipping diamond!

So yeah that was my day snuggled up under a fuzzy blanket on the sofa, trying to feel like a human being again. 

So I watched "the fault in our stars" (pretty good, depressing but in a nice way if that makes sense) 

And then binge watched "pretty little liars" on Netflix, which I'm still kind off enjoying, I feel like if I couldn't watch the episodes one after another I'd have lost interest by now to be honest. 

Also regarding Netflix, does anyone else feel judged when the "are you still watching ............." Banner comes up after like 3 episodes? 

YES I AM! STOP JUDGING ME! if I wanna binge watch a TV series I will! And if I wanna do it in my Jammies I will do that too!

So anyhow apart from all of the TV watching I've been doing I also added another couple of rows onto my English paper pieced hexagon quilt. 

I'm sooooo glad I put the white in there! It really breaks up the colours and stops it looking like a scrap vomit quilt! 

A scrap vomit quilt (technical term) is what I call the quilts I make, where I launch myself in head first and don't think about composition, or breaking up colours or pattern or anything really , so it just looks like a bucket of scraps has vomited! Here you can see the white breaks it up and stops this problem. 

I'm still not sure where it's going to end up, there's a couple of babies being born this year so one of them might get it (my expectant friends can form an orderly que) or I might just save it for when I get a dog!

AlThough I might cry if the dog wrecked it? 

No I'd definitely cry! 

Much love

A poorly 

Frankie

Xxx

P.s please direct your sympathy to the comments box :) 

Possibly my favourite thing that I've ever made...ever...

Today's post is brought to you from my sofa, under a fuzzy blanket, wearing my huggie (for those out of the loop a huggie is lil knitwits name for a hoodie and I think it sounds much nicer) 

I'm poorly, like down in the dumps, everyone feel sorry for me poorly. 

But I still have an dress to show you today, luckily I took the photos last night when I was just feeling icky, rather than today where the world is ending! 

The top of the dress is made from the bottom scrap of my bridesmaid dress, and the shorter corset pattern from the gbsb book! 

All the seams are flat felled (or welts I can never tell the difference!) and these were super fiddly I think it's because of the type of material I used (some sort of thick silky stuff) 

The skirt is a self drafted gathered high, low, cross over, hybrid type thing (technical explanation right there!) and because this fabric was lighter and moved faster than usain bolt it was tricky to hem! So I stitched down a piece of ribbon and used that to get an even double fold . I did try and use my rolled hem foot but apparently there's only so many times you can curse until the air does actually turn blue!

My method worked pretty well though and left me with a glitzy trim on the inside.

The zip is repurposed, but I think it's too heavy for the fabric so I might switch it for something lighter. (Must stop putting my head down on behind shots, I look like the hunchback of notredame) 

The zip seems to be bubbling where it's attached to the lighter fabric! 

And the straps are repurposed from an old bra, the double strap v was a spur of the moment detail! The straps are not supportive they are just there for peace of mind and decoration! 

All in all I LOVE this dress, I wanted something with a structured top and a softer skirt so I'm pleased with how that looks. I wish it was a lil more modest at the front, here I'm wearing it with a lace slip, I did make my own but it was far to long so I've kept that for other decorum emergencies! Although I did check and I can sit down in it without my hoohar being on display. I like the finish and to be honest I feel pretty darn fabulous in it! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

Custom ukulele

I cannot believe I haven't posted this project yet! I mean seriously I must be off my game becuase this was so dammed hard to keep secret. So without further ado! Do you remember at Christmas when I was saying I had a lot of projects I couldn't blog about becuase they were gifts? 

Well this is the custom ukulele I made for my bother in law for Christmas , quite simply I brought a ukulele and decorated it! My brother in law is very musical, in fact he's the very same brother in law who plays in the band hybrid nine who's album artwork I have done! He's also pretty hard to buy for, he doesn't read so it's usually something vaguely musical or haribo for Christmas! 

His tastes tend to lean towards to abstract side of art, so I tried to too! 

I put scales on the side (ya know it's a musical pun) 

And added this quote to the side

"Behind every favourite song, there is an untold story" 

But the backs my favourite part, there's a old skool tattoo style woman and a banner and at the top there's a little music note/anchor design. 

And there's a number 1 because it's my first custom piece.

All in all I love it and I hope he did too! (I think he did these are the pictures he shared on Facebook afterwards anyhow) 

In other news , I finished my dress! And I ironed it ready to take photos! And then realised I hadn't taken a strapless bra out off the bedroom so I couldn't, photograph it! Poor Mr knitwit is working nights so nipping in the retrieve it during to day (when he goes to bed) was not an option! 

I've even made a slip to wear underneath it, although I think it's an awkward length for a slip so I might just be a hussy and go without! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

My really old animal hat

Okay so I made this project years and years ago! In fact it's that long ago that my sister lived in her old house and I was working at the pub! Little knitwit was not in existence and I'm pretty sure that Mr knitwit was still just the cute barman who served me drinks on my nights off.

Anyway at the time the river island animal hats were the MUST HAVE super cool winter accessory (<--- my phone claims this is spelt right but my dyslexic eyes think it looks weird and wrong) anyway anyone who was anyone had one of these hats, and I was a person and I wanted one! 

Until I saw the price tag that is! From what I can remember they were not cheap at all! Which probably means they were ten pounds or more! 

So I made my own! 

The hat was pre brought by my mum, I think she got it for something stupid like 10p? (I have another two in the drawer), the nose was embroidered by me by hand, sat on my sisters sofa whilst house sitting, as were the Pom poms! (Funny story as I was finishing the second pom-pom her evil cat attacked me and I accidentally batted it across the room. In my defense it really scratched me and I didn't damage her, she's still alive now!)

I also went one better than river island and opted for Google eyes! Which were given to me when I was about six by a neighbour! 

Anyway even after all of these years it's still a firm favourite for poor weather! 

In fact this is me looking super grouchy after walking lol knitwit to nursery in the rain this morning, and I'm starting to think it's looking a lil tatty? So I might whip up another and do a quick tutorial for it? It's a super easy project and I think it would appeal to teenagers or people who are new to sewing! 

Much love

Frankie

Xx

Corset top and tulip skirt!

Do you remember the silky sheets I was given by my MIL? Well I have already cut a blouse , but couldn't find the motivation to sew it, then I found myself cutting out another project last night! 

It's a bit of a mash up! First I've cut cut out a corset type top part using the gbsb corset pattern (short version) and the bottom scrap from when I had the bridesmaid dress from my sisters wedding shortened. Yerp after her wedding my sister was nice enough to suggest that I shorten my dress so I could wear it again, and the lady who did the alterations was kind enough to give me the bottom scrap (it went from floor length to knee length so it's a pretty hefty scrap) and she was nice enough to do the alterations in about two days so I could wear it to a party! 

But anyway the material for the dress was a thickish, dark blue with one silky side and one Matt side. 

(Blue fabric on a blue carpet, brilliant idea!) 

Excuse my me made pjs! This is all my corset pieces lined up, I think I'm going to do flat felled seams (or the other ones which are like flat felled seams just a bit different) the plan is the have a very structured top with a draped skirt. 

Speaking of the skirt I decided to use some of the leftover purple silky stuff from the bed sheet. I'm trying something new here the plan is to do a gathered high low type skirt. 

So I cut the fabric into a triangle and then free handed a curve! 

I'm hoping it's going to look all sophisticated and expensive and stuff. But there's a few things I'm unsure on, for starters the bottom is very floaty so how the hell am I suppose to hem it? Part of me thinks I should get my rolled hem foot out but the other part of me knows how crap I am with it? I could do a tiny double hem? But I'm not sure I'm dainty enough? Hmmmm it's a conundrum! 

But anyway that's what I spent last night doing, that and continuing to binge watch pretty little liars. I'm three seasons in and still have no idea who "A" is..... And sometimes when I've been watching for three hours straight and I'm tired I think it's me! (If you don't watch pretty little liars you won't get this joke, so just take my word that it's hilarious and we'll leave it there) 

Other than that the only seeing I've really done is putting backing into little knitwit said curtains to stop the sun. 

Could NOT have been more dull if I'd tried! 

So yeah that's everything with me! 

I've pinned my project to my mannequin and hopefully I'll get some seeing done tonight, and solve my hem problem! 

Much love

Frankie

X

Out with the increase, in with the decrease!

The YAY! I've reached the halfway point in my diagonal rainbow knit project! YAY! No more adding stitches to my needles! Now I get to get rid of them! 

But I'm still in two minds as to whether it's the best thing ever or just a lil bit hideous? 

The colours are less blah in real life and I used l different types of wool to make it to sensory? But I dunno? I think it's pretty fun, but it might not be to everyone's taste! 

In other news I cut out the pieces for making a silky vintage blouse from the second gbsb book, but couldn't find any motivation to sew it today so I decided to leave it. It features a few new techniques so I need to be on my sewing game before I make a start! 

Other than that I've just been knitting , and adding more to my window sill garden! But more on that another day! 

No I do like it, it's a happy hippy rainbow blanket! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

P.s I'm pretty sure I've been blogging for over a year now, so thank you if your reading or have just started reading, or even if your just here to laugh at my shining wit, or even just to look at the pretty pictures! Xx

Cast on , cast off.... It's like the karate kid but with less wax....

I've had great news

I can't tell you yet! 

Cryptic I know, but this news didean that I immediately dropped my previous knitting and started this bad boy! 

 

It's a diagonal rainbow blanket! I've been fascinated by this type of blanket since I saw lil knitwit snuggled up underneath one in neonatal. His was blue and I wish we'd offered the buy it , because it was the first blanket he used. 

 

I opted for rainbow colours because..... Well because rainbows are awesome and stuff? 

The patterns pretty simple, I cast on two stitches and then I've been adding one stitch onto the end of every row, when it's wife enough I'm going to decrease at the end of every row. Then I might try and crochet a pretty boarder, then again i might also try and grow wings and fly.

It's also my first time knitting of wooden needles (kindly given by my nanny, who couldn't get on with them!) im not sure if their bamboo but I do like them, they are quite light and I'm hoping that they might stop my arms from hurting when I knit? Although I am scared I might snap them! 

In other news I went to a wedding on Saturday and go to see one of my makes in action! 

Yet I made those! (The letters not the couple, that would be awkward) i had a lovely day made even better by the apparence of a photobooth and a sweetie cart ! 

And by the two bags of sweets I took home! 

And promptly ate

Much love

Frankie 

Xxx

Me made may - first week!

Okay so it's day 7 of me made may, and I've already gone to pot! I've still been wearing me made but my idea of taking a photo everyday just did not happen! Turns out I can't even carve out a small block of time to take one measly picture! 

Not helped by the fact that lil knitwits decided to puke on two items of handmade clothing yesterday. Seriously kids who'd have them! 

But here's what I've worn: 

1- black cocoon cardigan

2- kimono cardigan

3- blue Megan dress

4- wool skirt suit

5- skinny clemence skirt

6- striped lilou (puked on) refashion jumper (puked on)

7- margot pj bottoms! 

So that's my first week done, hopefully I'll find the motivation to take pictures next week! 

In other news , my lovely grandad and nanny re potted my tomato plant because it was becoming root bound? Still no idea what that means but I'm hoping it will perk up! 

And I'm taking a plunge and starting to knit a new cardigan for myself! 

The wools sparkly, so can we just take a moment to bask in that glory! And I'm pairing it with a navy wool (the patterns striped) 

I can't decide whether it will look good or if I'll look like a small child but either way I'm excited for the challenge! 

Sparkle sparkle! 

On a completely unrelated note, my bunny rabbit bit me last night 

Don't be fooled by his adorable face, he's a lil vampire! 

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx

If it's fabric and it's free , then I'm taking it....

I find it very hard to write blog posts when I have nothing to write about. There's been no huge change in my knitting or my patchwork, and I haven't made any clothes recently because I've been soooooo uninspired by my fabric! 

I have however been keeping up with my me made may challenge, although I do keep forgetting to take photographs so you'll have to take my word for it! 

And I got gifted some fabric yesterday so hopefully my sewing blues will go away! 

Well I say fabric, It's actually a brand new bottom sheet and quilt cover and a lovely purple silky fabric! And it's a double!!!! 

Now I just need to decide what to actually make? 

A silky jumpsuit? 

But I do love a good cardigan? 

A vintage style blouse? I don't have many tops? 

Or shall I just go the whole hog and make a maxi lilou? 

So far I'm undecided! 

I have decided what to do with our old curtains though! 

Pile of curtains ready for the wash, the backs are going onto little knitwits curtains, so hopefully the sun will stop waking him up at stupid o'clock. but thelovely  linen/wool/? Fabric side is hopefully going to be turned into some sort of linen and lace jacket? 

Although maybe with a collar? 

I saw one in a shop recently that was a mixture of lace and linen and leather and it looked amazing! Hopefully mine will look good too! 

Other than that I don't have much to report! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx