Tag: handmade

London Sophistication

Posted on by Alice Neal

I’ve been longing to share these… but, y’know, it was Christmas, and they were for Christmas, and she’d’ve seen.

So I’ve had to sit on them (not literally, though I guess that’s a potential new way of blocking?)

The story.

My sister, an artist (amongst other things, in a multi-talented, envy-provoking fashion), London-dweller and she of the chilly wrists, asked me for some fingerless gloves for Christmas.

I knew they had to be delicate, as is she. And she wanted long cuffs.

Being newly in possession of some Bloomsbury DK, I figured it would be perfect for the job.

A spot of horseshoe lace, some hand-dyed merino wool, a few eyelets, and voila! The Sophisticate Mitts were born.

molls-mitts6

And just because I can, here are a gazillion more pictures:

If you  fancy a crack at them, the pattern is here.

I hope everyone has had a fabulous Christmas and that the New Year holds love, laughter and prosperity for you all <3

A passionate affair

Posted on by Alice Neal

Once again, please forgive the knees 😉

But look…

I mean, LOOK.

Stripes, pure wool, bursting with colour…

What’s not to love?

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And once again, they are just perfect with my old faves, the Duckfeet.

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And just in case you were worried…. there are more on the needles. I am too in love to stop just yet.

Drops Big Delight provides those beautiful undulating colours, and Drops Nepal provides the striped relief.


Bliss

And the next ones….? Expect greens…. pinks…. browns…. *wistful sigh*

If you fancy a pop at knitting them, the pattern is here 💜

A dog is for Christmas 

Posted on by Alice Neal

….

No. Wait. Life.

A dog is for life.

But since Christmas is nearly upon us, how about she gets to join in with the festivities?

Juno, our  little Jack Russell princess, remember? The one who pokes her nose out of the door as a barometer? Then swivels on her heel (so to speak) and hides behind the sofa if conditions are less than perfect?

Well, in an effort to drag her from her grump and into the great outdoors…

… she has a new Christmas jumper.

If you have a petite pooch of your own, who feels the cold and needs some festive cheer, you can find the pattern on the Loveknitting.com blog over here (and it’s free till 18th December)

Now… back to the Christmas knitting !

(And yes, I gave her the biscuit 😂)

Cozy Toes

Posted on by Alice Neal

And snuggly calves.

And knobbly knees.

It’s all a bit frantic around here just now, with Christmas wool coming out of my ears…

But I took about 120g of Drops Big Delight, a pair of 5.5mm circulars and a few hours out over the last few days and made myself a long yearned for pair of boot socks.

Forgive the knees and marvel at the beautiful self-striping magic…


See you on the Yule flip-side (and may it be merry and bright) 💜

Yarndale 2016 – lucky me!!

Posted on by Alice Neal

Yesterday, one of my dreams came true.

And, my life the way it is, it really was a stretch that I might actually make it. But the stars aligned 😉 and the world rolled out the red carpet. I mean, hey! Look at my journey:

road-to-yarndale

To top it all off, I met up with the loveliest friend – a friend for a couple of years now, but geographical distance has made meeting up in person an impossibility until yesterday. Perfection.

Now, keeping that in mind – you know, the meeting-friend-for-first-time-in-real-life – AND bearing in mind the fact that I was quite seriously and completely surrounded by scrumptious squishy wool of pretty much every conceivable blend, variety, hue and weight, you’ll understand that I didn’t get too many pictures. When I wasn’t fondling skeins and oohing at colourways, I was catching up on real, proper conversation with the lovely.

I did manage to get a shot of CoopKnits’ beautiful Socks Yeah! range and managed to meet Rachel in person for the first time.

socks-yeah

I was recently asked to review this very yarn, and her book of sock patterns, which you can find here and which looked like this:

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And I WISH I had jotted down who it was displaying this beautiful miniature clothes line, including mermaid’s tail (if any of you recognise it, please do let me know in the comments) :

And boy, but it flew. A day was not enough. Since returning, I have discovered that there were at least a couple of stalls there that I would have loved to have visited but somehow managed not to see at all (though I did manage to catch up with old friends The Knitting Gift Shop and their new and silkily beautiful yarn range). Mind you, it was heaving. Predominantly ladies, a small number of whom trailed husbands (I’m thinking – possibly stereotyping and horrendously sexist –  probably in the guise of packhorse: you can not go to such a place and return empty-handed), many of whom sported the most beautifully assembled handmade garments of the ‘Ooh-do-you-mind-if-I-just-touch-it’ variety. Where else can you go where someone knows the precise yarn from which you knitted your tunic?

Fairly early on I visited the Midwinter Yarns stall. Well, it would be more accurate to say I was pretty much engrossed in conversation when a basket (I love baskets. Don’t you love baskets? I would HOARD baskets if I had the space) of pure loveliness caught my eye. Pure in every sense. Pure wool. From Greenland. In… *gasp*… greys. Man, I love greys.

“Too rich for my blood. I mean, there isn’t even a price on it. It must be beyond my purse” I sighed, already defeated.
“Do you think?” my lovely companion challenged. “It’s in a basket after all, is there not a price?”
Lo and behold, there was! And these fabulous, gorgeous, hulking great 100g hanks of scratchy grey wool (the very BEST kind) were only a fiver apiece.

Six skeins and a plastic bag later, I had my fix for the rest of the day, every so often caught in the act of burying my face in the bag and inhaling the fabulous, authentic sheepy smell, only to be met with a conspiratorial wink, or a knowing look, from people who knew what it was about. Oh, the joy of being amongst your own kind 😉

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Needless to say, in spite of the million and one WIPs I already need to finish, I had to cast on, just, you know, to see? You know? I know you know.

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It’s beyond beautiful.

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Oh, and it was definitely a day for making friends:

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Now, where did I put my knitting?

 

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Dog jumpers – the story

Posted on by Alice Neal

Would you believe, I have FOUR to choose from now?

I find it hard to resist, not because I think animals look cute in clothing (though, obviously, I do) but because on a far more practical level, it gets pretty  blooming cold up here in the North of England when winter rolls around.

Juno, our little Jack Russell Princess:

juno

Well, she gets a bit chilly out there. She’s teeny, wiry, fierce as a T-Rex… but chilly. Her natural state is curled up in a beam of sunlight. Sometimes, I am led to suspect she believes herself a cat. She pokes her nose outside the door and, if it’s too cold, wet, snowy, a flat refusal usually follows: a swift 180, nose in the air, and a trot back to the sofa.

So, in an attempt to coax her dainty paws into the fresh air, I designed her a little sweater, little knowing how popular it would prove to be. I’ve had so much lovely feedback telling me how much people have loved making it. The Juno Jumper was born (click here for link to pattern):

Juno Jumper.jpg

Hot on the heels of her little sweater, I was thrilled to be asked to design some Christmas sweaters for Simon Cowell’s Yorkies for ITV’s Text Santa (click here for a link to the pattern):

Yorkies.jpg

But… you know? I started to feel a bit guilty. Juno is not, after all, an only dog. She has a much bigger and (to her) unbearably, overwhelmingly cheerful enforced companion, Aphrodite:

aphrodite16.jpg

OK, OK, she’s MUCH bigger now, but loooook. Man. Her tag looks like an enormous medallion!

It was time Aphy got a jumper too.  She provided a goodly challenge though. She has the most ridiculously long and gangly legs. There is no way on God’s green earth we’re hooking those babies through leg holes. So…. some woolly engineering was called for. Buttons, and flaps, and ribbing. Oooh, it was fun! And look – here it is! (click here for link to pattern):

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Oh, but THEN…. I thought wouldn’t it be gorgeous to have a mini one of these, perhaps reversing the colours, for Juno…? How unutterably adorable would that be, on our wintry walks? So….

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(click here for link to pattern).

You will not believe what’s coming next… I’m giggling as I type.

Off to clack some needles!

How to… floral phone protector

Posted on by Alice Neal

phone4

Y’know? When you’ve sacrificed the security of a fully-protective phone case in favour of one that’s, frankly, a bit of a Cath Kidston knock-off (but she doesn’t do those spots in a Samsung Edge… 🙁 ) and you’ve stuffed it in your bag and there are other things in there that might give it a bit of a hard time…

So you decide to make something pretty to keep it in.

Frankly, it’s not going to rescue your phone from your keys in there. But it does look pretty 😉

Look no further!

phone7

And if you want to make it, here’s how:
(UK terms:
dc [double crochet] = sc [single crochet] US
tc [treble crochet] = dc [double crochet] US

But it’s all very simple:

I used Drops Safran which is a DK cotton in all sorts of delightful spring colours, and a 3mm crochet hook.

  • ch 21, dc back through chain to beginning.
  • 3dc in first ch  and continue to work around in dc to end
  • 3dc in first dc and continue to work around in dc to end.
  • ch 2 and tc around the entire piece, sl st in original ch2.

phone1

  • repeat twice more
  • switch to green, ch2 and 2tc in same tc. [Skip 2, 3tc in next] to end. Sl st in original ch2. {ref point 1}

phone2

  • switch to flower colour. Ch2, make 1tc through middle of the 3 green tc, but leave last loop on hook, make another tc in same green tc, but leave last loop on hook, pull yarn through all loops on hook, ch1. [Skip 2 (always making these flowers in the middle of the three green tc), make 3tc, leaving the last loops on hook, in middle green tc, pull yarn through all loops on hook, ch1] repeat to end.

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  • switch to original blue. Ch2 and make 3tc in each 1ch gap to end. Sl st to original ch2.

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  • Ch 2, tc in each tc around. Sl st to original ch2
  • repeat. {ref point 2}

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  • Repeat from {ref point 1} to {ref point 2} until you have 3 rows of flowers in total. Change flower colours if you like 🙂 After the last flower row:
  • ch1 and 3dc in each 1ch gap. Sl st to original ch1
  • ch1 and dc around. Sl st to original ch1
  • THEN on JUST ONE SIDE (working back and forth and no longer in the round): ch2 and tc to end of side. TURN, repeat.
  • ch1, dc2tog, then dc to half way along row. Ch3 for button loop and sl st into last dc worked, dc to last 2, dc2tog. Cut yarn, fasten and sew in ends
  • sew a button to middle stitch of front.

TADA!

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As ever, if you decide to make it and anything I’ve written doesn’t make sense… just give me a holler <3

 

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Third time’s the charm…

Posted on by Alice Neal

Valentine's-blanket

Do you remember this?

In Wendy Aran wool.

It started off being called a Valentine’s Blanket, because I was making it for my love for Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day came and went.

So it became the Birthday Blanket.

His birthday is a distant memory.

So, jokingly, I called it his Funeral Blanket (yes, my sense of humour can, on occasion, be a little dark).

Then on Christmas Day he went and had a bloody heart attack!

So, I’m not finishing this one. It feels jinxed.

SO.

I started another, in one of my favourite yarns: Drops Andes. I figured, hey. On big fat circulars, back and forth, this will knit up quickly.

And it did. But it was soooooooooooooooo boring.

So I abandoned it and will use the wool for something else.

Now, I am making this, in Drops Nepal, and Drops Big Delight, with a 5mm crochet hook, and I. Am. Loving. It.

Jem1

It’s fast, and it isn’t boring. A lot like my knitted cardigan, in one plain and one colour-changing yarn, I just love the way the colour graduates through it.

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I’m already plotting the next 😉