Finding Inspiration :: Dream Craft Room ::

As Christmas (yeah I said it!) approaches, I'm already feeling utterly daunted by the amount of work I'm going to be drowning under.  Every year I say I will be more prepared, every year I fail!  Now I am by no means ready this year, in fact I'm probably the least ready I have been, so to try and combat this, I plan to completely reinvent my very neglected basement.  Almost 2 years ago now I officially moved in there as a work room, but it's never really been a very well executed functioning room.  Ideally I need tons of storage and lots of organisation, both of which are sorely lacking.  I also think realistically I need a little craft space for the little one, so we can 'work' together.

So in the next few weeks I really hope to give it a grand overhaul, but in the meantime, here are a few work/craft rooms I've been lusting over on pinterest.

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: decor8blog.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: blog.stylizimo.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: alvhemmakleri.se via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: brabournefarm.blogspot.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

finding inspiration :: London Fashion Week (so far) ::

I have too much work on at the moment to be working on any new designs just yet, so I've been using pinterest to keep track of some of favourites from fashion week, ready for when I get some time.
But I'm already feeling very inspired and dreaming up lots of new crochet garments.

Here are a few of my favourites so far ::

Margaret Howell ::

Source: vogue.co.uk via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: fashion.telegraph.co.uk via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Clements Ribeiro ::

Source: vogue.co.uk via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: vogue.co.uk via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Issa London ::

Source: vogue.co.uk via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Moschino ::

Source: vogue.co.uk via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Sister by Sibling ::

Source: vogue.co.uk via VickiBrown on Pinterest

You can see more of my favourites on my pinterest page here.

Happy Monday.

facebook ::

A very happy Friday to you.

I just wanted to say that I now have a facebook page for my crochet/knitting patterns.

You can find it over here, you know if you fancy giving me a like ;).

boot fairs, trains and vintage knitting needles ::

Last weekend, Bex and I planned to go to Oxford, I was going to give her the grand tour, we were going to go out drinking, do lots of sightseeing and generally have an awesome time, but then life got in the way as it tends to do.  Bex had to have a tooth out (ouch!) and we both had mamouth amounts of work to do and little money to spend, so reluctantly we did the grown up thing and decided to postpone our eagerly anticipated trip to another time.

However we couldn’t see the whole weekend go by without a little bit of fun.  So on Sunday morning we headed up to Cheltenham Racecourse to have a hunt about the car boot fair.

It was a lovely day, perfect car boot weather in fact.  As is usually the case I think Milo came home with the most/best loot, some lego, a steam train book and a WallE lunch bag.  I didn’t find much but I did spot a very lovely fairly old looking case, which when opened revealed a wonderful collection of teeny tiny steel knitting needles and some embroidery floss.  The whole collection is in quite a sorry state, the needles are rusty the case is very battered and falling apart in places, but I love it none the less and for the princely sum of £4, I think it was a steal.

After our bargain hunting we took stroll up the old station and took a short ride on the steam train there up to Winchcombe, where we ate our picnic before heading back again.

The train was great, we even had a lovely little carriage all to ourselves.

It may not have been the weekend Bex and I were planning, but it was lots of fun regardless.

tattooing ::

As part of, what I'm calling an early midlife crisis, in the wake of turning 30, a couple of weeks ago I found myself shaking with fear, perched on a sofa, on an extremely hot day at skullduggery tattoos.  Just a week or so before I decided, maybe I'd like to get a tattoo, I had an idea I doodled away on myself, wore biro drawings on my wrists for days, but part of me thought I'd never actually do it. However, sitting in my mum's shop a few days later, passing time as we waited for Cromer carnival to begin, I drew my idea on my wrist once more to show my sister, when my mum saw to my surprise she said how much she liked it, then proceeded to offer to buy it for me as birthday gift. Before I knew it she was booking me an appointment and there I was waiting for the needles.

And do you know what, it really didn't hurt, not in the way I had imagined it would anyway and now I'm already planning more!

This tattoo, as quickly arranged and attached to my being forever, as it was, still manages to hold a great deal of meaning, which is what I was really hoping for I think.

I choose the ball of yarn and hook, for obvious reasons, but beyond that, it was the day before my 29th birthday that I received my very first crochet pattern commission and over that first year there have been ups and downs, but as I turn into my thirties this new little business/dream of mine is truly thriving.  I feel I finally know what I want to do with my life, it took me thirty years but now I'm there and I'm doing it and that is a fantastic feeling.  Having it be a gift from my Mum, is wonderful and every time I look at it, I'll think of her.  Not only that, but having it done in Sheringham, the place a little piece of me calls home, on a gloriously sunny day, with a tattoist who is the little brother of an old friend of mine, makes me very happy indeed.  

So I hope with all these positive associations attached to it, even if I come to despise the image itself in time (which I hope of course I won't) I'll still love the idea of it and the memories it recalls. 

As and aside if you are in the North Norfolk area I can strongly recommend Skullduggery, they were kind and helpful to me and my ridiculous nerves and though I don't have anything to compare it to and it's only a tiny piece, the work is great and it healed very quickly.

inside crochet 33 ::

The newest issue of Inside Crochet hit the shops the Friday before last and once again it looks fantastic!

One of my patterns is featured, this time a chunky chain necklace, named Jesamine.

These were so much fun to make and when Claire asked me to make lots in different colours, I knew they would look great in the photo shoot.

The pattern itself is a lovely quick to make project, but the finished item is so much fun.

There are so many great patterns in this issue, but a couple of my favourites, and pieces I'd love to make, if only I had time, are the Mod Squad Sweater by Amy Depew and the Lulu Leggings by Pauline Turner.

Both are items I don't think many people would have dreamed possible for crochet and I guess that's what I particularly love about them and I think this freshness towards an old craft is what's making the new Inside Crochet so utterly wonderful!

Photography is by the superbly talented Britt Spring.