fillet first attempt

(Well, it did seem a logical progression from all the doily-work)

a bit of fancy dress

Okay, so I am, as ever, a bit late in posting this, but here I am all dolled up for the Oscar party of the mother of my dear friend T.  Every year T's mother has an all out party to celebrate the Academy Awards, complete with red carpet and mandatory dress code.  This year we were asked to dress as a nominated role.  Three guesses who I am.  Really, when it came down to it, there was no contest as to what I would wear.  My closet is littered with 1930's pieces (or damned good imitations), so, as this did come as a bit of a last minute invite, I went with my only possible choice:  Helena Bonham Carter as the Duchess of York.

In praise of doilies

I would like to take a moment to muse on the humble doily.   I have just spent the better part of last month crocheting doilies and, while not exactly difficult to make, they can be a wee bit tricky and require a bit of concentration on the part of the crocheter.  In many ways, I found them more difficult to make than a sweater (which will usually have a "continue in pattern stitch for 10 inches"- brainless!!)

Why have I done this when only days before embarking on my project I came across a flea market vendor selling antique ones for $1 each.  Looking at the vendor's giant overflowing box I couldn't help but think of how many hours of handwork were moldering away inside, though I would suspect that many of the people buying these items have never made a doily in their life and thus could not appreciate the effort involved.  Anyway, I still can't come up with an adequate reason for making my own doilies other than I had a lot of size 30 thread laying about and . . . well . . . I just sort of got hooked (heh) on the process.

Ah!  Doilies on denim.  Lovely!

(this one would not lay flat and sort of reminded me of a beret, so I tried pining it to my head with questionable results)

my first doily!

making breakfast

The Sweater Challenge Update

Well . . . I tried.  Here is how far I got:

This one is probably going to be finished in the next couple of days.  I have a small amount of sewing left to do, and cuffs still to knit.

This one is also very nearly finished.  I just need to find some ribbon to weave into the picot edge and I need someone to help me adjust the straps.  Given the temperature at this time of year, I have not been too keen on standing around in a camisole while someone fiddles about with the adjustments and thus . . . not finished in time.

I'm pretty sure all the knitting on this sweater is done, I just can't find the instructions, so I'm not entirely sure how it should be constructed (the sleeves seem reasonable enough, but looking at that collar baffles me).

Another one I cannot find the pattern for.  This one is particularly sad because my lovely merino wool is now covered in tiny moth holes, so in addition to finding the pattern and sewing the collar and neck zipper, I now have to mend about 10 holes.

I do have the instructions for this one, but stupid me ran out of yarn and will now have to try to order something similar (you can clearly see where I had to switch yarns previously).  

The Sweater Challenge

Hello there reader, once again I have decided it is time to set myself a little creative challenge (and I must say that having a blog, no matter how neglected, is a wonderful way of keeping on track).  This time I have taken it upon myself to complete 5 sweaters by the end of the year.  Upon first hearing, this may sound a little too ambitious, I assure you reader it is not.  Having recently uncovered the mother-load of unfinished knitting projects whilst unpacking some of my many boxes (sadly, just because everything is out of storage and in my house doesn't necessarily mean that it's out and contributing to the general quality of my life) I think this should be a challenging, yet doable task.