Wednesday 21 August 2013

Third Time Lucky - 1940's Jumper Without a Mistake!!

I hope this post finds you well.  I’m so pleased it’s almost the weekend, and a bank holiday weekend no less!!

Today’s post is all about the knitting!! 

If you saw my previous posts about the two most recent jumpers that hadn’t gone entirely to plan, then I’m sure you’ll understand why I’d somewhat lost my enthusiasm for knitting. 

After my previous failures, I was uninspired by the knitting patterns in my own collection and decided I needed something new.  Turning to Etsy, as you do, I stumbled across Bex’s rather fine collection of PDF patterns. 

There are some beautiful patterns in Bex’s Etsy shop but in the end, I went for a simple jumper which was predominantly stocking stitch, but that had the iconic 1940’s style.
 

I’m trying to be sensible and use up some of the 20+ Kgs of wool that is threatening to break out of the various suitcases under my bed.  Although I would have loved to have gone shopping for some pretty wool for the new woolly, I instead went to my stash and picked out some Stylecraft 4 ply in cardinal, which is a lovely rich red.

The jumper was easy to knit and came along quite quickly.  The loop detail across the front was really simple and the instructions were nice a clear, which isn’t always the case with vintage patterns.  I made an alteration to the pattern which was to change the ties across the front from knitted ties to satin ribbon.  There was no collar, just a row of double crochet, the only kind of crochet I can manage, round the neckline.  Simple black buttons and a snapper closed the back and voila, the jumper was done!

I did a happy dance when I slipped it onto Doris, for a photo shoot in the sunny garden, and found that is was all as it was meant to be!  No mistakes this time!





The jumper was sewn up just in time to be taken along to the 1940’s weekend at Ramsey and I’m pleased to say it found a new home.  Ramsey was brilliant this year, lots of displays and stalls.  I have added some pictures to my Facebook page which you can see here :o)

Back to the knitting!  I find knitting a real pleasure; you’ve probably already guessed that by the number of posts about my woollies that you’ll find on this old blog.  However, recently, I’ve found that knitting for other people puts me under great pressure.  In my very busy little life, homeschooling my little ladies etc, etc, etc, something’s gotta give and after great thought, I have decided to stop offering commission pieces.  I’ll still be knitting, of course I will, just try and stop me, and my jumpers will still be offered for sale either at the various events and fairs I go to or on my Facebook page, but the pressure will be off and a weight lifted :o) 

Saturday 10 August 2013

All the Fun of the Fair

Yesterday I thought I'd successfully published this post but it turns out it went out with no content, only a title, so I'm back to try again :o)

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I hope this post finds you well and you have been out enjoying some glorious weather.  I have to say that I’m pleased the temperature has dropped a little here.  32c at 7pm is not comfortable for winter loving me :o)

Things have been madly busy here with sewing and stitching and long days spent out and about enjoying the best of the British countryside.  My corsages are now being sold in a little shop so every spare waking hour is spent replenishing stock! :o)  Exciting stuff!
 
We are almost half way through the summer holidays now.  Mr Y is home which is wonderful, but with someone else under foot, productivity is very much below normal on the knitting front but we did pull our stock together for a rather fantabulous fair! 

Sunday saw us hauling our wares across the border and into Norfolk for the Little Vintage Lover Fair, Heydon.
 
We love this event and it is, by far, our favourite fair of the year.  Stalls are set up in and around a WW1 hut which is set in a privately owned rural village, what could be better?!

The weather was glorious and the sun kindly shone throughout the entire day.  The fair was really busy with lots of customers stopping by to add a piece of forties finery to their wardrobes.
 
I didn’t take very many photographs, too busy gabbing I suppose, but I did manage to get a few of our stall.
 


 
 
And someone else got some cracking ones of the event which you can see here.

Doris” did a sterling job modelling a little hand knitted 1940’s style tank top covered in my felt anemone corsages.  They were a hit and I only brought 4 home with me.  Better get stitching I suppose :o) 

 
There were lots of stalls selling tempting wares, Dead Mens Spex, Worn Out Shop and Wake Up Little Susie, to name a few, but favourite stall at the Little Vintage Lover Fairs is that of a lady called Diane who always has the most amazing 1930’s and 1940’s knitting patterns and magazines.  I only bought 2 this time, both for young girls, but at the fair at Greshams in July, I picked up quite a few more.  I can’t wait to get the needles clicking!


Over a number of weeks of knitting a little bit here and a little bit there, I have managed to finish a jumper!  I finished stitching it up the other day and here is a sneak peek of the detail across the front. 


I have taken lots of photographs of it so I shall be back soon, or maybe not so soon if I get distracted by my felt mountain, to show you how it has turned out :o)