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.

inside crochet 32 ::

On Friday the new issue of inside crochet hit the shelves.  I was so excited about this issue for lots of different reasons.
:: Firstly, I have 2 patterns in this issue, I've never had 2 patterns in one issue of anything before, so that was pretty cool.
:: Secondly, one of the garments is adorned with some of my handmade buttons and as a result I was asked if I could send over some photos of my buttons for them to be included elsewhere in the magazine.
:: Thirdly, I had a sneak peek of some of the photographs and knew they would be gorgeous.
:: Fourthly, the lovely Claire Montgomerie has returned to her post of editor after a maternity break and has given the magazine a grand new look. After all the drama surrounding the magazine under it's previous ownership (I won't go into all the details here, but I'm sure if you google All Craft Media administration you'll get an idea) I was really pleased to see the magazine continuing under much improved leadership.

What I wasn't expecting, when I popped in to Smiths to see if I could spy it on the shelves, was to see my creation gracing the cover.  I squealed with excitement! I was on my own with the toddler and so very nearly grabbed the nearest grown up to show them my achievement, I managed to hold off, but did very loudly show said toddler (who was more interested in the cbeebies magazines, which are inconveniently located right next to the craft magazines).

This issue is really great and everything I hoped a UK crochet magazine could and would be.  When I heard of ACM's administration, what I was most upset about, even more than the money I was owed and would most likely never see, was the loss of our only UK crochet magazine. The shelves are awash with knitting magazines and some really fantastic one's at that, I believe there is room for a crochet magazine and that it could do fantastically well.  The US has 4 that I can think of off the top of my head and some really great quality one's at that, but I feel, with the new look and great new team at the helm, inside crochet is going to be fantastic.

I haven't had a chance to read it cover to cover yet, but some of the highlights for me so far are a really interesting article on the '(short) history of crochet' by Zoe Clements (the new editor of inside crochet's sister, knitting magazine, yarnwise), a fantastic stripy sweater pattern by Emma Varnam and the exceptional photography by Britt Spring.

Claire was the first editor to commission any of my patterns, a mere 12 months ago, which gave me the confidence to carry on when I'd already received a fair few rejections and now just a year later I have deadlines looming every week and more work than I could have dreamed of, for inside crochet, 2 US crochet magazines and a few knitting magazines! So I'm very grateful to her and the rest of her team and proud to be a part of this new vision of her magazine.

lacy sweater pattern ::

now available for purchase is the 'lacy sweater' pattern I originally designed for inside crochet issue 25.

It's a fairly simple sweater, worked in a lace pattern repeat.  The sweater is worked in one piece from bottom up in the round.  Originally worked in cotton this light garment, is a great feminine edition to a spring/summer wardrobe. 

ravelry page :: here

yarn :: here 

child's raglan sweater pattern ::

Now available for purchase, is the child's raglan pattern, I originally designed for 'Inside Crochet'.

This easy, chunky weight, child's sweater, is great for beginners, a simple, quick to work, versatile jumper.

I used a discontinued yarn, by paton's for the original I made for Milo, and Wendy Mode Chunky (a lovely soft merino) for the Inside Crochet sample, but any chunky weight yarn would work.  It would be great in cotton for a warmer weather sweater for example.

ravelry page :: here

yarn :: wendy mode chunky 

in the garden ::

so it has not exactly been sunny here the last couple of weeks, in fact it has been positively miserable.  It has been rainy forever, well it certainly feels that way.  As a result my garden is very much behind compared to this time last year.

But there is still stuff happening, plants are still growing, fruits are appearing, and even, ever, ever so slowly beginning to ripen.

blueberries, we have lots lots more than last year (the bushes first year) and they are looking much bigger this year too, though I'm guessing they are still a way from ripening.

   

 cornflower, the first to open, last year I had flowers in April!

 

 

courgette, I'm fairly sure that by this time last year, we were already putting courgette in everything, this is the first and doesn't seem to be growing at all.

I'm trying not get down about it all and hoping that we'll have a lovely hot, long summer yet.  

On a more positive note we did have our first handful of raspberries a couple of days ago and a handful every day since.