WHAT I'VE BEEN KNITTING: FOX STOLE

Todays knit follows on from yesterdays post on the children scarves I'd been making. As I was making for a younger client I wanted to redesign him a little, using felt for the eyes and nose and having a shorter tail and legs. I used beautiful Rowan Creative Focus Worsted yarn, made up of wool and alpaca so he had a lovely texture to him. I think tweaking the design gives me more options when making these foxes, however I'm still not ready to finalise a pattern for them!

Sincerely,

Louise

xox

WHAT I'VE BEEN KNITTING: BADGER SCARF

Just as I was about to finish all my Christmas knits I accepted a last minute order to knit three children's scarves; a badger, a fox and a dog. I started them a week before Christmas and shipped them two days later. I worked non stop, having to travel to three different craft shops to source the yarn, as they had to be done in real wool, rather than acrylic. Here is the first of the scarves, a badger, as my client had seen some photos of my other knits, including the toy badger. I used my machine to knit the body, then transferred it to my needles to do the face by hand. I used felt on the eyes and nose as I knew it was a safer option for a child. I also used felt on the bottom of his little feet which I thought added a cute touch. The yarn is Rowan Cocoon; Mountain, a beautiful blend of merino and kid mohair.

Custom made badger scarves are now available on my etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/118858151/custom-made-knitted-faux-badger-stole

Sincerely,

Louise

xoxo

WHAT I'VE BEEN KNITTING: MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO

Now Christmas is over I can finally post about the knits I made my family and friends. Today is Totoro, from Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro. 

My boyfriend asked me for a knitted Totoro for Christmas, and after a trip to hobbycraft (excuse my Frech) where he chose the yarn, I started knitting away. I'd never seen the fim before so whilst making I watched away. It was lovely, and I couldn't believe I hadn't been introduced to it before. Talking about it to a friend she then mentioned the conspiracy that went along with it, and it then became a film that changed my life twice. However you perceive the film, Totoro is still super cute and I'm glad I knitted him. I used felt on the face, like I had with my knitted Jake, so I could adjust the face to any of his wonderful expressions. Custom Totoros will be available on my etsy shop in the new year!

I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and got all their knitting done in time!

Sincerely,

Louise

xox

FEATURED: JUNIOR MAGAZINE JANUARY 2013

In November I had a call from a stylist inquiring about borrowing some of my knits for a shoot and I was fortunate enough to have a piece featured in the January 2013 issue of Junior Magazine. The editorial Dream Weaver was shot by Mark Shearwood and styled by Rachel Caulfield. It was really great to have one of my little foxes included, an does inspire me to make a mini collection. I'm looking forward to 2013, I'll be knitting like crazy!

WHAT YOU'VE BEEN KNITTING: UP AND AWAY

After posting my photo of my small unpoppable balloon on instagram, followed by the pattern on here, my friend 'sleepytime21' said they wanted to knit one. To my delight I was tagged in a post on IG with this adorable photo taken!

 

Soyoko Wakatsuchi started knitting only a while ago, but already has a lovely blog full of cute knits, yarns and other charming photos. I love how knitting can be translated across any language and how patterns bring people together. I think their photo is adorable, and puts the balloon into context. It makes me want to take better photos of my knits (with my degree in photography and all).

 

You can view Soyoko's blog here:

 

 www.knittens21.blogspot.com

 

 

KNITTING PATTERN: UNPOPPABLE BALLOONS

This is a super simple way to create cute little 2d balloons that will last forever! When casting on just leave a long tail for the balloons string and up and away we go.

Materials:
4mm Needles
A small amount of DK yarn per balloon.

CO - Cast On
K - Knit
P - Purl
KFB - Increase by knitting into the front and back of the stitch
K2TOG - Knit two stitches together to decrease
P2TOG - Purl two stitches together to decrease
BO - Bind Off

 

CO 3 st
1. P
2. K
3. P
4. KFB, K, KFB (5 st)
5. P
6. K1, KFB, K1, KFB, K1 (7 st)
7. P
8. K1, KFB, K3, KFB, K1 (9 st)
9. P
10. K1, KFB, K5, KFB, K1 (11 st)
11. P
12. K1, KFB, K7, KFB, K1 (13 st)
13. P
14. K1, KFB, K9, KFB, K1 (15 st)
15. P
16. K
17. P
18. K
19. P
20. K1, K2TOG, K9, K2TOG, K1 (13 st)
21. P1, P2TOG, P7, P2TOG, P1 (11 st)
22. K1, K2TOG, K5, K2TOG, K1 (9 st)
23. P1, P2TOG, P3, P2TOG, P1 (7 st)

BO the first stitch, keep the 2nd stitch on the right hand needle ready to BO, K3TOG the third stitch and then BO the 2nd. BO remaining the 3rd stitch and remaining 2.

 

 

Any questions please feel free to write to me!

 

xox

WHAT I'VE BEEN KNITTING: PAST KNITS MANNEQUINS, FLOWERS & BADGERS

As Christmas is approaching I have so many knits on the go, but am unable to post about them because that'll ruin the surprise, and the best kind of prize is a surprise. Hello boxing day blog post!

So today I thought I'd blog about some of my past knits that I haven't posted on here. The first is a mini dress makers mannequin I made for my boyfriend's mother after she treated me to some lovely pastel yarns. I brought some black wire for the legs and attached it all together. I think I'd like to make a bigger one with patterns on and play around with the shaping a little more.

The second is a flower I made for a dear friend as a parting present when she moved back to India. It took a week on the train after I made two sets of petals. The first where with an odd yarn, so I simplified them with a lighter acrylic dk.

The third is a badger I made a while ago when I had finished uni and wanted to surprise a friend with him. I had my scribbled down pattern to upload which I then lost. I'm thinking about putting many of my prototype knits on etsy to remake so I can finally get these patterns online!

I'm looking forward to my weekend as I'm almost finished my Jack Russells, I have one sitting on the sofa currently headless and can't wait to see him come to life.

xox

WHAT I'VE BEEN KNITTING: CEDRIC THE BULLDOG

For a while my friend had mentioned about making a knitted version of her bulldog Cedric. And after saying I was taking Christmas orders she quickly contacted me asking for him and a beard for her mother.
I began researching different knitted bulldogs seeing how they had been made as I wanted him to incorporate that much needed droopy texture. I found a horizontal pleat technique and worked that into my pattern on the face and his back.
From posting his photo on instagram I have been asked to knit other custom dogs. He will be on my etsy shop soon and once I have made a couple more I will be putting the pattern online.

xox

 

 

 

WHAT I'VE BEEN KNITTING: FOXES & BAUBLES

With Christmas approaching I wanted to knit some baubles to put on my etsy shop, it's still a little bare, and to keep me busy on my commute to London. I played around a little with stripes and simple patterns and more contemporary colours. My favourites to make were the luxury ones, using Sidar's beautiful softspun yarn. Overall they're easy and quite fun to make and will look super cute on any Christmas tree.

Also with all the cold weather I love wearing all my woollies, especially my fox scarf. In the Christmas spirit I've put a discount code on etsy so others can keep warm without any cruelty to animals!

The discount is FOXLOVE20 for 20% off

MY ETSY SHOP

 

 

Inspiration and DIY - London

I've been spending a fair amount of my spare time in London, with some of my favourite people living there I've done a little bit of window shopping and idea gathering. First is this beautiful scarf I saw in Topshop Westfield. I love how it looks like unicorn hair. Its super chunky with those lovely tassels.... something to think about making with some of my spare yarn around giant needles.

The second thing that really caught my eye was this shirt collar in Blitz London, walking down Brick Lane I was enticed in. I think Blitz has vintage appeal, but in that it looks like vintage, rather than is. I'd love to go back with a couple of hundred pounds and spend it all. 

I kept thinking of the shirt collar, digging out an old New Look shirt that I'd never worn that much. Seeing its shade of denim I took a trip out with my Nan to our favourite craft shop, buying a fat quater to sew onto my shirt. A little hand sewing and an added button and I now have a shirt I'm happy to wear doubled up with a darker denim.

Baroque

What has recently caught my attention is the Baroque revival/influenced clothing for fall 2012. Seeing the return of luxury fabrics, embroidery and craftsmanship excites me as this is an opportunity to stand out in beautiful golds and blacks. 

Looking at Fashionising.com there were so many beautiful photos from the Aquilano Rimondi, Balmain, Dolce & Gabbana, Giles, Mary Katrantzou and Marchesa shows. I have pulled a few of my favourites from the site, which inspire me the most. The regal look of well placed gold pieces is something I am incredibly interested in, as well as the embroidered dresses and religious aspects of some of the pieces.

I started looking on etsy for some pieces similar to those I saw online and found these, however I doubt I could find something as extravagant as the runway in my budget! 

Continuing my search, I went looking to see if there was anything similar in knitting. There are so many different types of knitted collars, but nothing I could find in a baroque style. I feel I was attracted to the first one because of the colours used, but not the style it has been done in. The second is similar, but simpler. I have tried knitting a collar before but it was not much of a success, so I think I need some careful planning and looking into other patterns before starting my own.

A quick knitting search including baroque pointed me to this. I like the pattern, but like the two collars it doesn't have an elegant or luxury feel. Perhaps this is something I could look into reinventing, looking at the textile patterns of the dresses on the runway and creating my own knitting version of it. Watch this space for some developments of my baroque knitting project!