I was talking to my friend Caroline at work, she was saying how she wants a pattern for a really big chunky cowl so her mum can knit it for her. I don’t quite know how, but this has some how worked it’s way into my consciousness and now, guess what? I want one too…

So I had a look on etsy and found this gorgeous one;

It’s slightly out of my price range sadly so I had a look on ravelry and found a few of good patterns

Chunky Chunky Cowl

Chunky Chunky Ribbed Cowl

Marian Seed Stitch Cowl

I like the crochet ones and I’ll probably make them wider than the pattern but what do you think? Any preferences?

My friend brought this positively wonderful quilt to my attention earlier in the year (another inspired Purl Bee production) as she was thinking of making it for her wedding, this hasn’t yet happened but it made me think, how good would this look as a skirt? Fucking brilliant, that’s how good!

So at some point (when I finish my painstakingly slow hand-stitched patchwork quilt) I plan to make this and then sew into a simple straight skirt pattern, I worry that it might be slightly ‘folky’ but i just need to accessorise it correctly and I’m sure it will look great.

As previously discussed I am trying to get on with my Christmas craft and have seen some cool pincushions knocking around.

I saw somewhere online the idea of turning a pretty teacup into a pin cushion by stuffing the inside with sharp sand and padding out with toy stuffing and covering with a contrasting fabric. I had a look around and the best recipe for it I found was on Gingham Cherry but i prefer the overstuffed ones. I particularly liked these ones for sale on etsy:

I also found this really cool picture on Living Creatively and just assumed it was a pretty brooch (it didn’t have pins in!), however, the pattern is for a pincushion, either way it’s super cute and I will be making many of them, yes indeed!

I squirrelled away some simple but pretty teacups destined for the Dinosaur Derby crockery smash which I plan to cover with some flowery print material, probably a Christmas present for some lucky seamstress.

I got this last year from a freecycler, she was brilliant, it was near Christmas and outside their house instead of lights or decorations they had handmade christmassy bunting, something I plan to copy. The coat is around 1940s and such a flattering shape, I LOVE it.

However it needs  a bit of work, the buttons are not original and there are only two of them so rather than try to match them (as it’s not that nice) I bought some lovely faceted jet buttons from ebay – ooh pretty…(the photo doesn’t do them justice)

I also need to re-line it, it has a brown silk at the moment which is rather threadbare and ripped in places. The woman who gave it to me had done a pretty good repair job but I would really like to restore it to it’s deserving glory. I was thinking I would buy some silk to do this but I have no idea how to cut out a pattern for it (any help appreciated!).

I really want to wear it this winter but it needs sorting out first so here are a selection of fabrics I have selected – vote now for your favourite:

This week I have started thinking about Christmas, it’s a little early I know but I need to get started on the craft to make sure I have time to create lots of beautiful, lovingly produced presents. So I bought some wool and some fabric and have a couple of good patterns to get started on. Obviously you won’t be treated to the delights of these here until AFTER Christmas just in case my recipients are reading (is that conceited of me?).

In thinking about hand-made gifts I have recently signed up for the Martha Stewart ‘Craft of the Day’ email on the recommendation of craft goddess and my good friend Lizzy Ruffles. In particular she mentioned this excellent doormat/bathmat/rug which is made using the ocean plait knot I, ahem, perfected on cub camp (see previous post).

I thought this would make a really lovely present for my mum, it would look perfect in the house in France, rustic (I was planning to use a nice natural fibre rope rather than this nylon crap) yet functional. You can find the instructions here.

But wait just a cotton picking bastard minute, do you have any idea how expensive rope is?!? The really nice hemp or manilla rope 16mm is about £1.65 per metre, even the horrible white polypropylene is 72p a metre, and guess how much you need for this quickly forgotten about home accessory? 165 bloody yards! That’s 150 metres and about £250 for the nice rope, £100 for the ‘cheap’ stuff – WTF? How is that a craft ‘for the day’, how many people do you know who spend over £200 on a piece of fucking rope? Unbelievable.

Anyway if you have 150 metres of nice rope knocking around that you don’t want or need I’ll happily take it off your hands…

I’ve just joined an open source sewing site called Burda Style. It’s such a great find! It’ got loads of free patterns to make everything from pants to prom dresses and tutorials to show you how to draft your own patterns or adjust them to fit your measurements. I’m going to have a go at a ruffled clutch to start with but I plan to make this dress too, once I convince myself that I can, it’s such a lovely shape and I really like the colours.

How-to on etsy here: http://bosh.me/9cccgE

I’m going to make a load of these for the coming baby months, they are so cute and look really easy to make, i’ll rate it’s easiness once i’ve made the first one.

Oh my god what a fucking mission! Just drove to Woolich to get this fabric from a lovely freecycler, hampered on the roads by a closed road (diversion 1), an accident (diversion 2) and finally after 1hr 40mins of ‘instinct driving’ I get home to be denied entrance to my own street by some idiotic policewoman who, after interrogation, admitted to not knowing:

a) Why the road was cordoned off
b) Where the accident was
c) What roads still had access

What a jobsworth bitch!

Anyway this is what I’m going to use to make my rag rug with the kit I got for my birthday from Green Circle Crafts – it’s not a very good photo but it’s a sort of ribbed jersey so it should be perfect (and won’t fray), I just need some contrasting colours now.Iit’s going to be a slow burner but I’ll try to make a dent in it this weekend.