Charity shop wool

I bought this wool whilst in Exeter for Frances' wedding, it was £1 a ball so I bought 7 for £6 (the guy gave me the last ball free since I didn't have enough money in my wallet!). Vicky bought 4 balls as well so I'm excited to see what she makes of it!

I decided I wanted a warm cardigan that I could throw on over whatever I was wearing at the time, I used to have an amazing bright red Gap wool cardigan that I bought from Vicky but my Mum shrunk it in the wash and I've missed it ever since. I still want to make something thinner and less chunky but for my second attempt at knitting clothing, I wanted something simple I could take away on placement with me. I chose the Cozy Bolero pattern from Ravelry and it was perfect. It took me 2 attempts (the first version came out a bit small so is off to the car boot sale unless anyone reading this who is a size 8 with slim arms (Vicky?) would like to have it) but it was definitely worth persevering, I wear the finished product all the time now. I tend to just throw it on over a t-shirt when I'm cold in the house but I'm excited to wear it out when uni starts again in September, it's a bit warm for it at the moment.

Another thing I like about it is that it's got no fastening, so it gives me an opportunity to use some of the belts and brooches that I never get round to wearing. You could obviously modify the pattern to include button holes but I chose not to. Instead I made the sleeves full length instead of 3/4 and made the back long enough to come to my waist, rather than stopping mid-back as the pattern specifies. I reckon it would make a lovely wedding or evening bolero though if you followed the pattern and used a fancy wool.

With my electric blue thrifted vintage belt:


With my vintage RAF belt:


With one of my Gran's brooches:


Apologies for the mildly pretentious 'staring off into the middle distance' photos, Andrew took 25 photos of me in various poses and I looked a complete moron in every position but this one.

Vintage gloves

How amazing is this pattern?! I love her make up and her clothes, she's so perfectly '40s. I hope someone buys her soon!

MJ's cushions

Back in January, I went to stay for a weekend on MJ's farm in the Borders with Heather. We spent the weekend walking by the Tweed, skimming stones, eating cake, drinking wine and sitting by the log-burning stove. It was lovely.

While I was there, MJ was saying that her Mum was planning a big clear out of the house, seeing as they now have at least 3 generations worth of stuff and barely any of it is used any more. Fast-forward to April and Mary Jane arrives at my flat with not one but two MASSIVE sacks of fabric, it was like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one!

There were duvets, sheets, linens and fabric in there, as well as some amazing vintage annuals that I'm planning on turning into notebooks. I bought some lovely tweed off her as well so now my fabric stash has grown and Andrew is rolling his eyes. Besides the tweed, Mrs Fleming gave it all to me for free and to thank her, I made her some cushions for their summer house. The fabric was off her grandfather's bedspread so it was really nice to make something for someone that has a real sentimental value. I hope these went down well!

Hedgehogs and tea

Hedgehogs and tea might be the best combination of things in the whole world. How adorable is this tea cosy?! My friend Danica gave it to me for my birthday, which was fitting because it was a ladies' afternoon tea party. I baked scones to have with cream and jam, mississippi mud pie and made salmon and cream cheese oatcakes, ham sandwiches and egg mayo sandwiches (with the crusts cut off obviously). My uni friends brought homebaked cheese cake, victoria sponge with fresh cream and raspberries and fruit salad whilst Franca of Oranges and Apples brought yummy pistachio cupcakes and Claira of Vertiline in Love brought flapjacks and chocolate crunch, all wrapped up in a super pretty box. We had SO MUCH food, it was amazing.

The wonderful new tea cosy:


Andrew with said cosy on his head:


The food! There was more than this, I couldn't fit it all into one shot!


P.S. Made another Etsy sale today! The Aviator jacket has gone to a new home!

Wedding quilt in progress

Just a short little post today because I am hungover. But! before you judge me and my lack of self control, it was MJ's engagement drinks last night so it would have been rude not to have a drink. Or three.

Anyway, speaking of weddings, here's one wedding present in progress (I have 3 weddings so far for next year so in case any of you are reading this, you don't know who is getting it yet!). It's a quilt, loosely based on the log cabin design and I need 36 of the squares to finish. I've done 9 so far and I've got a year to go so I'm not too worried. Just got to think of presents for the other 2 couples now...

Start of the wardrobe sorting...

So, I Sorted My Wardrobe the other day. This deserves capitals because it was emotionally draining on everyone involved (namely Andrew and I) and sparked a tiny row when Andrew didn't, in my mind, express enough interest in the process.

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about it just yet (it's just...too...painful...) but a few exciting things came to light that I thought I should photograph and blog about before I send them on to the Big Wardrobe In The Sky.

My first attempt at gloves. I knitted them from a pattern but miscounted the rows in some of the fingers, meaning some fingers are far too long and others are far too short. I don't know if the photo makes it clear enough but the index finger on the left hand is at least 2 inches too long, making me look like I'm wearing one of those polystyrene giant hands you get at baseball games. Anyway, I wore them all last winter and am now binning them since I'm knitting myself some chunky cabled gloves to match my chunky cabled scarf (which is finished by the way, just waiting on the weekend so Andrew can take some photos of me wearing it).



My first (and possibly last) attempt at making pants. I know what you're thinking right now, "seriously?! Isn't life too short to make your own pants?!". Well, I'm not going to correct you, these were a giant pain in the bum (ho. ho. ho.). But still, there's something very satisfying about making your own pants, especially when you're recycling old t-shirts at the same time. I'm pretty certain the idea came from this book, but I could be mistaken. Anyway, I've worn these pants a lot, including once to a wedding where I got drunk and showed them off to a group of people who didn't believe I was wearing homemade pants. These are also the pants that inspired my Dad to introduce me to my cousin's fiancé for the first time as, "This is my daughter Amy, she makes her own pants". The poor girl wasn't the type to appreciate that either, being of a Radley-bag-and-Debenhams-account persuasion.
Now I've discovered the wonder that is American Apparel jersey boy briefs (awesomely bright colours, super comfy AND sweatshop free), I have no need to make my own pants any more. Which isn't to say I won't do it again for the fun of it of course.

2 most recent sales

I haven't made a sale on Etsy in about a month now, which is fine since I only really starting listing things again in the past few days. It would be nice to make a sale though, only because I have my eye on a pair of vintage sandals!

Here were my 2 most recent sales though. I was really surprised by the mustard cardigan, I bought it almost as a joke because it was so ridiculous, but it was snapped up within a week of being listed! The grey scarf as the same, not in being ridiculous but in being bought within days of being listed. I guess sometimes you're just lucky!