Named Quinn Shirt

I bought this pattern in the Named advent calendar sale. I’ve had it in my sights for a while because although I love the Archer shirt pattern, the interesting cross-over collar, button placket and French cuffs mean that this shirt is just a little more dressy. And sometimes I want something a little bit smarter.

At Last: Bláithín

I notice, as I leaf lazily (and metaphorically) through my blog, that I haven’t written anything about knitting since August. This came as quite a surprise, as I probably spent more time knitting last autumn than I did sewing. There was the purple cardi, which I sort of finished, and then decided needed the button band re-doing (it’s currently sitting on my sofa with the button band removed but not replaced), a couple of baby presents, but mostly this cardi – Bláithín by Kate Davies.

Two cardis, you think, that doesn’t sound like so much. Oh if only you knew, dear reader, the sorrows I faced. Perhaps I exaggerate. Not sorrows, then, let’s call it frustration.

A Heffalump Linden

This is my current favourite item of clothing in my self-made (or, if you insist, me-made) wardrobe (or possibly my entire wardrobe). At least, it is as the moment, but my first chambray Archer shirt is coming up on the outside, and when I’ve hemmed it and put the buttons on, it could well be neck and neck. (Or collar and ribbing. Ha!) But anyway, I’ll let the jumper enjoy it while it still has the edge.
It’s the Linden pattern from Grainline Studio, made from some lovely cotton interlock printed (in case you hadn’t noticed) with elephants. 

The last throes of summer: more Tiny Pocket Tanks

Every time I think that summer is fading into autumn, and the relief of cooler days, the sun pops back up and says “hey! How about a nice cup of 35 degrees?” and I have to pull out the summer clothes again. That said, unless we get an Indian summer, I expect that last weekend will have been the last bout of swelter for this year. So in honour of that, here is the last of my summer sewing, in the form of some more Tiny Pocket Tanks. 

And now for something completely different… (Aftur)

… a man with three… Oh, no, hang on. Something that I finished in the last week. Instead of the usual “here’s what I finished a few months ago…” malarkey, this jumper literally came off my needles last Tuesday, and went straight down onto the cork boards for blocking.

Patching it up.

One of the things that I do quite a lot of is mending clothes. I really believe in not throwing clothes away when they break, but mending and re-making whenever possible. It makes you realise how quickly the clothes that looked good on the shop hanger deteriorate – in our awful culture disposable fashion, they’re only meant to look good long enough for you to buy them, get them home and wear them once. Almost all of my jeans (apart from the newest pair) have holes in the knees, which I’ve mended over and over usually with a bit of fusible interfacing on the inside and machine or hand stitching to secure it, and draw attention away from the hole make it look more interesting.

The Remains of 2014 – Guston

Here are a couple of jumpers that were finished around Christmastime. The first is Guston by Anne Budd, which was intended to be for The Boy’s birthday, and officially it was, but it didn’t make it off the needles until shortly before Christmas. The cold season here has only really started since I’ve been back after Christmas anyway, so no harm done.

Two Airelles

You may remember that I was given a couple of Deer and Doe patterns for my birthday. And that I was psyching myself up to make a couple of Airelle blouses. One as a sort of wearable muslin on cheaper fabric, and the other on some lawn that I spent far too long deciding on. Internet shopping is terribly addictive, but also the bane of my life. Time just slips by.

Stockinette and Garter

This has come off the needles (and been buttoned) in the last couple of hours. In time for a new arrival that should be here sometime soon. I like knitting for babies of an unknown flavour, I like knitting something without worrying if it’s too girly or boy-y (hum) as I thoroughly disagree with putting them into gender-specific clothes and imposing gender stereotypes on them from birth. Here’s to gender stereotype-bashing!

In that spirit, here is something that is neither blue nor pink:

Pattern Snippets

In this post I introduced you to some pretty patterned fabric that I have clothing plans for. One of those plans is finished, this pretty china-patterned (and as someone pointed out, which describes it beautifully) Delfty cloth: