Vicki Brown Designs: February 2012

Friday, 24 February 2012

Rowan finds ::

I was so lucky to discover these beauties in the charity shop last week.

Dating from 1992 and 2000, they are full of some real treasures. In all honestly I can't see myself making any of the garments from eleven, but they are a fabulous part of modern fashion history. So much colour work and lots of oversizing, goodness me I can't imagine how long some of these pieces would take to knit up!

But twenty seven, though obviously dated, has quite a few pieces I would still love to knit and wear, in the 8 years that passed between the two publications simplicity really took over, there's lots of ribbing, moss stitch and a few tummies on display under the cropped tops!

The thing that is really apparent to me is the quality you expect from Rowan, the gorgeous styling, fabulous photography and stylish garments is forever present.

Thursday, 23 February 2012

my boy the knitter ::

seriously my heart nearly exploded when one morning last week, not long after breakfast, my little boy asked "shall we do knitting mum?", oh go on then if you insist!

Spent ages building milo a train track, he just wants to do knitting!

Now it happens all the time, at least once a day he stumbles away from his current playtime toys and declares "I just want to do some knitting", throughout my own knitting/crochet I am asked, "what you making mum, is a present for me?" and he will sit quietly and for long stretches of time with ball of yarn and needles in hand, he loves to browse through my stash carefully choosing which colours to use today and his imagination is endless, he has so far declared to be knitting, a fairy godmother, an imaginex toy and noddy, to name just a few. He sure is a talented one my boy.

Knitting with the boy, his colour choices!

Of course he's not yet 3, he can't actually knit, he has no interest in learning, if I try and guide him or dare to cast some stitches on for him, he gets frustrated, he just sits there with his ball of yarn, his needles and carefully weaves one needle in and out of the yarn ball (leaving said yarn ball in quite a knotty state if I'm honest), but nothing gives me as much pleasure these days as sitting on the sofa, knitting/crochet in hand, boy beside me, 'knitting' a present for one of his friends.

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Inside crochet 27 ::

My third pattern to be published by inside crochet is in this months issue and is this super quick and easy child's raglan sweater.

I made a version up for Milo in the summer time as a sample, I used paton's shetland beehive, that I found in a charity shop, unfortunately this yarn is now discontinued, so for the inside crochet sample I used Wendy mode, which was lovely, so soft and snugly.

It's a great project for a beginner or an expert looking for a quick make.

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

happy pancake day to you ::

Strawberry and blueberry pancakes with banana and maple syrup

We're going all out today, strawberry and blueberry pancakes for breakfast, Milo's making pancakes at nursery this morning and more pancakes this evening with the stuffed nonsense ladies...yum!

Finding inspiration :: allotments

I've been thinking a lot about the plans for my allotment recently. There is a lot of work to do (two thirds of it is grass that is heavily compacted due to my neighbours using it as a car park) fortunately my mum has sad that she will come down to help me dig it all up.

But for now, whist it's still dark in the evenings and most days too cold to keep Milo happy there for long, I am planning and dreaming.

Here are some beautiful garden's I've been ogling on the internets ::