Wool and the Gang Double Trouble Jumper, Take Two

Hands down the best part of winter is the jumper. Jumpers are my favourite item of clothing for winter. 

1. They go with everything, jeans? yes! A skirt? Yes! A dress? Yes! pyjamas??????? YES YES YES! 

2. Technically if it a loose enough fit you don't need to wear a bra and I am all about the no bra life right now! Although is it true that if you don't wear a bra your boobs sag quicker? Is that a thing or is it just some rumour created by the head of Ann Summers to keep us spending £30 on bras? 

3. Cosy. I mean I wouldn't go as far as the say I wear one and turn the heating off. But it certainly adds an extra level of snugness to those cold winter nights. Other snugness levels can be achieved by drinking hot chocolate and lighting candles.n

This is the Double trouble jumper by wool and the gang which is one of their free patterns [find it here] .

I've made it before and even though it was suppose to be a red jumper but ended up being orange, I still wear it all the dammed time! 

So I decided to make a another, that hopefully I'd wear a bit more.

But it took me ruddy ages! I must have had this wool since last year? First of all I had other projects to complete, then I finally cast on but it just took me so long to get through the pattern! I swear the last time I made it it took a week or so? This one must have taken a month and a half maybe? And I'd made some changes to speed things up!

First of all I knit a small the same as last time. I did this because I know it will eventually "grow" from being in the washer. Although I have already vowed to wash this one on the special knitwear cycle we appear to have and to try and avoid putting it in the tumble dryer. 

Changes wise, I opted to knit the tops of the sleeves in garter stitch. Mainly to save time but also to echo the garter stitch that's used on the edge of the flappy bits at the back [Omg just had a 10 minute laughing fit at the phrase "flappy bits" nice choice of words Frankie! ]

I also crocheted the collar instead of picking up stitches with knitting needles. I have a fierce hatred of picking up stitches because I can never do it evenly. Crochet is a lot quicker and easier and by some miraculous chance it made it so I could wear it as an off the shoulder jumper. Which I know kind of defeats the object of wearing a jumper because LOL now my shoulders are cold! But it does look fabulous!!!! 

Here's the flappy edge bits! I still love this feature. I just think its so nice and comfy to wear and it makes the jumper a bit "trendy"?

I like this version a lot better than the first one. Probably because I feel like the colour suits me a lot more? I used Hayfield Bonus chunky in sandstorm. Wool and the gang do recommend using their own brand of wool for making all of their patterns up in, but I've never seen a ball of their wool in real life which makes me a bit cautious about buying some. Although I have heard very good things about it from other knitters. 

In other news!

CHRISTMAS IS NEARLY COMING! I try and make a new decoration every year but this year I'm stumped! I'm wondering if another Christmas quilt would be overkill? 

I'm still plodding away with Eat Pray Love. Its a bit of a mixed bag really sometimes I'm finding myself bored and then every now and again the writer will say something so bang on that I feel like I need to keep reading! 

I need to decide what to do with my hair. Preferably before Christmas so I don't look like a tatty head on any pictures. So far I'm thinking of going shorter again but part of me wants to go Icy blonde [A La Debbie Harry] Or pink like.......ummmmm nurse joy from Pokemon? I'm terrible about my hair I hate having it the same style for too long! 

I've started a new knitting project! I'm currently making Mr Fortywinks from Jean Greenhowes knitted clowns book. So far I'm enjoying it, its a nice combination between easy and hard enough to keep my interest. I am annoyed though because the wool I'm using for the face is the only peach colour I had in my stash and its a lot stiffer than I thought it would be. I'd decided that it would be a stash busting project which is why I haven't brought any wool but now I'm worried it might throw off the gauge? Or give him a really heavy floppy head!!!! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Caron Cake Scarf

A while ago the crafting community went crazy for Caron cakes. I actually knew this was going to happen. No I'm not clairvoyant, it just so happened that a few weeks before I;d been at the CHSI stitches show and spoken to one of their representatives [whilst he fed me a Caron cake.....not actually fed me, it wasn't like a roman slave thing....he just gave me a cake to eat]  Anyway he used the words "these are going to be huge" and I was like "oh alright Hun, may I have another cake for on the train?" 

And then they launched.

And before you could say knitting needles Hobbycraft had sold out, and on line had sold out [I mean who knew the INTERNET could sell out?] I actually saw a picture of a lady walking out of Hobbycraft with 10 of them! I MEAN TEN!

Luckily for me I snapped one up a few weeks later when the drama had died down! This was during Rikki's why don't you spoil yourself and get a hobbycraft order moment...... I'm still not 100% what he's broken. 

I chose the "Funfetti" colourway which is no longer available on the hobbycraft website [insert sad emojis] I'm not sure why I picked that one, apart from I was two glasses of wine down and the title Funfetti just seemed hilarious! I already knew I wanted to knit a new winter scarf and who does want to swath themselves in Funfetti? 

I believe it comes under the title of a colour change wool, well because the colour changes but its not in  your typical fade style. Instead you get set blocks of colour, all of which I think are roughly the same length [its hard to tell when its knitted up because of gauge and stuff] Now because of these solid blocks of colour I decided to alternate my stitches so for example I started knitting in garter stitch and then when the colour changed I switched to moss stitch! I kept going like this until the end, It worked out quite nicely because it gave me a break from the moss stitch which I am really really slow at. Plus it gives the scarf a bit more texture.

I cast on 31 stitches because you need an odd number to create moss stitch and knitted the whole ball of wool. I knitted it up on 7.00mm prym ergonomic knitting needles. The clip ends on the needles came in very handy for this project as they stopped my knitting slipping off and coming undone! In fact they worked so well that this scarf survived camping without dropping a single stitch! 

Isn't moss stitch pretty? Its so underrated!

And here's my personal favourite garter stitch! Fun Fact : I can knit garter stitch without looking at it. this makes it perfect for watching films for "mindless knitting"

The ball of wool cost me £10 which I think might be the most I've ever spent on a 200g ball of wool but I used the lot! Its worth it though to have such a long scarf! Shops never make scarves long enough to wrap around twice or do a loop with. [ Although my Mother has informed me the best way to where a scarf is to cross it over your chest and across your tummy to keep the cold out.] 

It actually turned out pretty cute as my new winter scarf I like all the colours and the length is a definite bonus but the best bit is the content of the wool, Its 20% wool and 80% acrylic which means its soft enough that it won't scratch but that its hard wearing enough to go through the wash a few times! I'm not sure what it is a about winter that makes clothes so grimy but it sure does! 

In fact the only quibble I have is that the end colours of my ball of wool were a bit mottled. Ever other colour had been perfectly even but the last two were very splotchy and well messy looking. I'm not sure if mine was just a bad lot but it did irk me a bit. Especially seen as £10 for a ball of wool isn't exactly cheap. 

Its not enough to stop me buying more Caron cakes though! I'm lusting after "bumbleberry" at the moment! 

In other news!

-The boys are more than pleased with the latest Liverpool result all I can hear every now and again is shouting!

 - We have brought a new rug for the living room and its shedding like a Yeti! I'm genuinely worried wee are going to have no rug left. But Rikki assures me that its just because its new and that it should stop soon. I will have to hoover though which is gutting!!!

- We are still surviving the summer holidays but we seem to have found out groove a bit more this week. So far we've been to see the monkeys, played mini golf with dinosaurs and learnt some sewing skills! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

The Half Finished Jacket - Part 2

Okay so here's part two on my half finished coat project! You can read part one here: or you can read the short recap below!

Okay so I was given the pieces for a coat by an old friend, she had already cut it all out and basted in the interfacing, I finished said coat according to instructions including hemming etc, then realised I am NOT living in the 80's, so I took the whole thing apart to alter it again! 

The image above is how it looked the last time you saw it!

and below is the finished and altered jacket!

So I think we can quite safely say the fit is a lot better right? Its still got the big and slouchy vibe to it but The general fit is just better!

First of all I tried it on and worked out where the shoulder head needed to be on me. I marked this by standing in front of my mirror and using tailors chalk. 

So then I unpicked the entire thing, with wine, lots of wine. Because well if your going to sit and unpick an entire jacket you've just finished you are going to NEED wine!! Well actually I just unpicked the lining and then took out the sleeves and unpicked the side seams the neckline and the collar as well as the shoulder seams stayed intact!

I even unpicked the pockets and took them off [I was sure to mark a line where the top of the pocket needed to go though!] 

Then I measured how much I needed to take of the side seams and shoulder seams. A whopping 6.5cm which is slightly bigger than your average digestive biscuit. Luckily as the shoulders were drafted quite flat [I guess to accommodate the shoulder pads , which I also removed..... and burned] taking in the side seams just meant laying my pattern pieces back over the fabric pieces and re cutting the shoulder and side seam line as well as the armhole. That description probably isn't very clear which is why I took a picture of it one my phone, which Lil man then deleted whilst taking selfies........   If you want to see a really awful picture of what I was planning to do check out my instagram! [thanks by the way to all the guys who commented on my idea telling me whether or not they thought it would work!]

I did this for the fronts and back as well as for the lining, then I positioned the pockets centrally and sewed the whole thing back up! [I had to remove the pockets because they were placed within the 6.5cm I was getting rid off] 

I even did my fancy hem stitching again! Happily due to me re-sewing the sleeves I was able to set them in flat this time which I think is a better way of doing it! Plus I didn't scratch all my arms like last time!

All in all I think its a much better fit and I am glad to be rid of those darn shoulder pads!

Gosh this has been a pretty heavy post hasn't it? I'm actually surprised that I worked out how to alter a jacket and that I managed to do it and that my theory panned out! I guess that means my sewing skills are starting to improve? 

Yay I have a new winter coat! Although it still doesn't have buttons! And a huge thanks to Sue who gave me the coat to work with , thank you so much of thinking off me!!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

The Half Finished Jacket Part 1

Okay so this jacket was given to me by an old friend, I used to go to school with her daughter and then I used to serve here in the pub! [Stella shandy, half and half, the fact that I can still remember drinks orders like this but don't know where my slippers are is highly amusing] 

Anyways she was moving and she started this jacket when she was in college [which was a little while ago, I ain't going to start divulging peoples ages!] and she offered it to me! As well as an awesome sewing box that folds out! 

P.S This is my first finished jacket so prepare yourself for a long post! 

The jacket was already cut out and all of the pieces had the interfacing attached and the pad stitching had already been done! The pattern was vogue 1446 , which as you can see is VERY 80's!!!! The jacket that was cut out was the middle one [view B] and a good portion of the work had already been done. 

Here's a list of what had been done:

Cutting out

Pad stitching

Pockets attached to front pieces

Fronts and backs of sleeves sewn together [They are in two parts]

Sewn side seams [As it goes I undid the side seams and sleeve seams and re sewed them because I know how seam allowances can vary from person to person]

Anyways I finished it!!!! Woop woop! I had actually forgotten just how good vogue instructions are!

I had to attach the collar which went in easy and attach the sleeves which was less fun, vogue has you set then in with the side seams sewn up and I scratched up my arms because of all the pins I had to wrangle around my sewing machine!

Then I had to sew and attach the lining, I sewed most of the lining to the front facing by machine but the neck area was stitched by hand just so I'd have more control and be able to achieve a neater finish.

I love how this turned out because you can barely see the stitches!

I hemmed the sleeves by hand as well.

The fabric was a British made wool and is LUSH! its like the most beautiful fabric in the world and I think I fell in love with it! Surprisingly it pressed really really well! Although I did use a pressing cloth so I wouldn't scorch it. The lining is just a typical lining fabric. The combination of the two makes a lovely snuggly coat!

I finished the hem using the "taped hem" method [At least that's what Jamie from male Devon sewing calls it!] Basically I turned up the hem once and whip stitched it down and them I covered the raw edges and the whip stitching with a strip of ribbon and some very neat stitches!

Then I top stitched around the edge of the whole coat, at this point I'd given up with the instructions and was just going my own way! I also left the buttons off because I just wasn't feeling it!

Okay so here's the deal , whilst I had a blast sewing this up and I love the fabric and I do genuinely think its some of my best sewing....... It is very 80's. I mean very 80's it has shoulder pads for gods sake! Now I know this slouchy style is very on trend however I think this might be a bit too slouchy for me [The lady who gave me this would have looked fab in it, shes very tall and by here own admission has the shoulders to carry it!] I however am quite short and have very little shoulders so It sort of drowns me, which is why..............

I have altered the living shenanigans out of it!!! Haha yep I went on a full hacking spree on this bad boy and now its bad-ass! But you'll have to wait for this until part 2!!!

Much Love 

Frankie

xxx

P.S if you made it to the end I'll be well impressed because this was a well long post! 

  

Finished Crochet Blanket

Its finished!!! It was a labour of love but I finally managed to complete it and boy am I feeling pleased with myself! 

So here's the general gist :

1 x 20 row granny square

2 x 15 row squares

5 x 10 row granny squares

23 x two colour five row granny squares

2x multi coloured granny squares

I started it just after Christmas and I finished it on the first Sunday in February whilst lil man was feeling poorly. In fact he helped out by passing me various squares to be stitched together! Naturally now he's been telling everyone he made it........

I wish I had blocked the squares because its hanging funny on the washing line, but I guess you live you learn! Size wise Its a bit bigger than I thought it would be but its not huge! I'd say its lap quilt size. Lets put it this way it covers little man very nicely and it covers me if I;m curled up on the sofa after walking to school!

The initial colour pull came from my stash I chose greens, blues, greys, whites, blacks and purples. Towards the end I was starting to run  out though so the final influx of wool came from my lovely pen friend Jeanette [who also sent crochet hooks because she is a BABE! ] And Rikkis Nan who is now trying to learn crochet for herself!  Luckily granny squares only take a small amount of wool so she was able to clear out all of her odds and sods of wool!

I went for a patchwork style of blanket and worked according to a plan I had drawn up. I like the hippy vibe it has and I'm really glad I decided to mix things up because I think I would have been bored if I had just made granny squares of the same size. 

After all the squares were stitched together I decided to add two rows of crochet as a border, This was SOUL DESTROYING! the sides were huge and I felt like I was crocheting for hours! That said I think it really ties the whole thing together!

I am so chuffed with this project, after struggling for so long it felt lovely for the skill to finally click. And it was also nice to see how my granny squares improved over time and got neater. 

Now I just need to work out what my next crochet project is going to be!!!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

My First Ever Crochet Project!

I've done it guys I've actually cracked it! I have mastered the art of crochet! Well I say the art... I can manage a granny square! BUT COME ON GUYS! That's a pretty big deal! Especially for someone who's been struggling for as long as me!

It all started when I unwrapped a Christmas present from my mum and dad, they had gotten me a book on easy crochet. Mainly because when she had a flick through she said the instructions were pretty clear. My first thought was "dear god" how dare they buy me a book on a craft I CANNOT DO! Those swines! Then however, I manned up and thought well why not give this another shot! And guys I did It! I conquered! I mean I only conquered a small amount, if I was an evil dictator it would probably be the equivalent of the Vatican [FYI that is the smallest country in the world , I am so ready for university challenge!]  

Anyways naturally as soon as I had gotten to a place where I felt comfortable with a hook in my hand! [my house is currently littered with my many attempts!] I decided to start a big project! Because why not run before you can walk? I decided to make a blanket!

I know right a blanket, I've never even made a big knitted blanket! but in my defence I'm finding crochet very relaxing and I'm really enjoying how easy it is to pick up and put down as well as the fact its using all of my odds and sods of wool.

Although I am a bit worried I might run out at some point. I've made a desperate plea to Nan for scraps and she says shes going to have a look for me!

So here is the plan: the idea is that the pink ones are multi coloured granny squares of five rounds, the blue ones are five round granny squares of only two colours, the purple are ten round ones in multiple colours and the light green and dark green are 15/20 round ones of multiple colours! 

Then they will be arranged according to my picture in a sort of whimsical scrappy fashion to hopefully create a scrappy patchwork granny square quilt!

So far I've completed all 23 of my five round multi coloured squares and my large twenty round one! So I'm well on my way to snuggly goodness! 

Colour wise I'm working with a lot of dregs from my drawers I'm trying to keep to colour palette, to blues, greens, purples, blacks and white. And so far I am loving how its looking! In fact it might be one of my favourite colour pulls yet!

Size wise I'm aiming for 1 metre square! each patch is just about 10cm and there's ten per row so hopefully my maths works out and my tension stays the same throughout!

In other news THERE WAS SNOW! Yerp we had snow it was all very exciting especially seen as we live on a hill! Nothing quite like watching people struggle on hills in winter! And Lil man had the day off school! I'm not 100% why? the snow wasn't particularly heavy and they had already texted at 6.30am to say it was still on but lo and behold at 7.30 [after I had already gotten us dressed!!!!!] they texted again to say it was cancelled! Leaving me at home with no milk delivery! no bread and one small child! Luckily my mum and dad braved the roads to come and visit us and brought bread! 

anyways I think that's about it! We've got little mans birthday coming up next week so I;m sure preparing for that will keep me busy!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx  

Hobbycraft Haul

You may have noticed that I dont actually do many Haul posts and well that's because I don't really buy much stuff throughout the year. Instead I tend to rely on kind family and friends who are getting rid of fabric #GIVEMEYOURCURTAINS!

And birthday and Christmas money and vouchers! Luckily for me I got two hobbycraft vouchers for my birthday and I finally found time to email Hobbycraft and get them combined [fun fact, you can only use one gift card at a time on the Hobbycraft website however if you message them on Facebook they will combine them and send you a new gift card with the full amount] and spend them!

So without further ado here's what I got!

So I got three balls of wool on the three for two offer that they were running and they were £1 each but because of the offer I only paid £2. These are destined to be baby booties and hats.

I picked up a pack of hobbycraft pins for £1 and a magnetic pincushion for £5. this pincushion is a game changer I literally just throw pins at it and I love how neat and tidy it looks!

My first ever set of Washi tapes! These ones are Christmas themed and came as a three pack for £1. 

Some red paint, this was meant to be for my wooden advent calendar, but I ended up using gloss because it covered better. £1

paint brushes, because you can never have enough paint brushes!  £2

I got a pack of assorted sewing machine needles because I always stock up at Hobbycraft, they were £2.50 and I picked up a magnetic seam guide in an effort to make my seams neater. This wasn't the one pictured on the website which miffed me off a bit but I mentioned it to Hobbycraft and they said hemline have changed the design and they have updated the website and for any inconvenience they are sending me a gift card. But anyway the seam guide was £2.50 and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I love the accuracy it gives me particularly with going around corners. 

A set of measuring spoons, £1. These seamed like an absolute steal! one side is spoons and one sides is cups. They sit inside each other and have a little magnet so they stay together in the drawer.

And this was my big spend, this cost £12 and is a wooden advent calendar. I've been wanting a wooden calendar for a while now and I think this one is going to look super cute sat on our fireplace! Ive already started painting and my only quibble is that it takes loads of layers of paint to get a decent finish and that its super fiddly to do. I think I might have liked it better if It had already been sprayed white so you had a plain base to start with!

and it might have saved me some curse words! FYI if you do buy one of these use acrylic paint! it gives the best finish!

And that's it! 

Hopefully I get some Christmas spends so I can go fabric shopping and do a fabric shopping haul!!!

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Wool Cape

So this is a very simple cape pattern that came from the "sew everything workshop" book [I know they just made capes on the sewing bee but I promise I made this before they made them!] 

Its my first garment from the book and its a really simple pattern, there's only three pattern pieces, and although there's a lining its applied in a really simple way so its not confusing! I really like that its lined and that there's small vents to put your hand through. 

This make has been on the cards since I saw the vintage cape my mum had brought and then lo and behold I'm given this book and there's cape pattern in it! 

The fabric is a great wool from abakhan fabrics and the lining is just some plain poly stuff that I had in my stash.

I didn't really try and pattern match it too careful instead I just lined up the print when the fabric was folded and tried to place the hem at the same point for cutting. 

The buttons are from an old river island coat that I brought when I was sixteen. There's not a lot I can say about that coat apart from it was in the sale and it was hands down one of the best coats I have ever owned. 

All of my button holes went in first time so no complaints there!

The instructions call for you to hem the coat using your machine and then place ribbon on top of the hem to hid it nicely. Instead I hemmed mine by hand so It would be invisible and then added lace on top to make sure it looked super pretty. I'm pretty sure the lace was my grandmas!

The arm vents are slip stitched by hand so there's a good amount of hand finishing on this cape, which I don't mind as I find it very therapeutic.

So if I make it again what changes will I make?

well I'm thinking I'd like my next effort to be in a colour? Maybe a nice jewel tone like red or purple or blue? Id like the add a hood of some sort and some patch pockets. I'd do the button holes as bound button holes and I'm feeling like some faux fur trim would look all kinds of awesome!

But I really like this one, I'm so pleased it picked a neutral colour palette because it goes with everything in my wardrobe and its nice to have another smart jacket type thing for when I go out.

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx