Beautiful Bluebells - 1940's Jumper

Hello! It's been a while, I do apologise.  

Things have been a bit busy round here.  There's been the normal end of term shenanigans of frantic marking and box ticking; so glad school has finished for the summer.  I've been sewing some blouses, making lots of 2.5" hexies for my first ever quilt and doing plenty of knitting.  We've had family visiting us and then we travelled West to stay with the Mr's family for a couple of weeks.  I'm quite worn out!  

We're home now, returning to a boiler that wouldn't light.  The boiler repair man has been and gone and given our ancient old boiler a new lease of life, for now, and the Mr has just taken the girls to the local computer shop to see whether they can recover the data from the hard drive of his less than two year old laptop!  

So I have about an hour to myself, and what better way to spend it than showing you one of my top five favourite woollies.

This recent jumper is a commission piece knitted for the lovely Kitty Lou.  An Australian pattern from the 1940's, you can find the pattern here, the wool chosen was a gorgeous dull gold colour by Patons, part of their Diploma Gold 4 ply range.  

The pattern repeat is worked over 36 rows, and although the design looks quite complicated, there is a logic to the pattern.  However, for ease of working, I did type up the 36 pattern repeats into a word document which helped keep me on track.

 

Unlike the other bluebell one I did, which you can see here, the yoke on this one was nice and simple, so no pattern matching up and over the shoulders.  

Back and front knitted up well, albeit slowly, but the sleeves were a right pain in the rear end.  The shaping from the underarms simply didn't work out.  I tried and ripped them back 3 times before disparing and writing my own shaping instructions.  I won't lie, tears were shed.  Tears of sheer furry!  :)  I think there was an error in the pattern.  My mother in law mooted something along the lines of a bad workman blaiming his tools, but I don't think so.  

Following the picture on the front of the pattern book, I still managed to achieve the same look.  The boxy sleeves turned out really well, and the knitted shoulder pads finish the look off perfectly.

Although there was the slipup with the sleeves, this was one of my favourite jumpers to work on.  I'm really impressed with the quality of Paton's Diploma.  It's heavier than some of other 4 ply brands, so the jumper weighs in at just under 1lb, but the beautiful quality of the wool shows off the intricate detail perfectly. 

Wool - Patons Diploma 4 ply in Gold

Weight used - 9 balls

Time taken - 100+ hours

 

Farewell 2014; You Kept Us Busy!

Teetering on the dawning of another new year; a time to look back at what the last 365 days brought us. 

So how was 2014 for you?  I hope it treated you kindly!  Will you be celebrating at the stroke of twelve?  Me? Well I’ll be in my PJs, having consumed a takeaway, watching Foyle’s War and eating chocolates; such a rock and roll lifestyle!! :o)

There is something about the New Year that I adore.  The blankness of the pages in my diary and a crisp new calendar hanging on the kitchen wall; a whole 365 days worth of potential just waiting for us!

In the most part, with the exception of the blip in the summer with my Mr’s work life, this year has been joyous, filled with family fun, friends and much laughter, and when I compare the ride we’ve had to others close to us, we’ve had it easy, and for that I am thankful, and feel incredibly blessed.

The girls have grown another year older, their little personalities beginning to shine through just a little more each time they grow.  C, a book loving, soft hearted, fun loving child, she has been my little rock this year; great company, and such a great conversationalist! 

M, my forever baby, cheeky, a giggler, wears her heart on her sleeve and often lives in her own little world.

We’ve been on our adventures with them, had fun, and learnt more than any school could have taught them.  Home educating them is a gift and pleasure.

From a productive point of view, it was another bumper jumper year; over 20 woollies knitted and sold to fabulous customers both here and overseas. 

Lots of my little felt posies also crossed the miles as far and wide as Australia and the USA.

I also added more than a few knitting patterns to my collection, so there will be lots more woollies coming in 2015!!  Oh to have the time to knit them all :o)

2015 is already shaping up to be another good year.  I’ve given up making resolutions, after all, I’ll only end up breaking them.  Instead I’ll be making a list of things I hope to do, and places I hope to take those girls of mine.

To each and every one of, thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and for your wonderful comments and kind emails, especially those of you who got in contact over the summer.  I genuinely hope that 2015 is kind to you, and that it is everything you hope it will be.

xx

We've Been Making Memories

To all of you who celebrated the festive season, I hope you had the Christmas you wished for.

We were very fortunate and had a very relaxing time, making lots of memories with our little pickles, and the rest of the family. 

Mr Y has been on holiday for over a week now, how is it that holidays fly by so quickly?!  To be fair, it seems like he has been on holiday a lot longer as we have kept ourselves very busy.

As soon as my Mr had finished for Christmas, we popped out of the county and over the boarder into Norfolk to make a rather special visit to the man of season; a ride on the Santa Special on the North Norfolk Railway.

Although we’ve taken countless rides on the NNR, it was the first time we’d taken the girls on the festive special steam train.  The Black Prince did the pulling, and it was such a crisp, clear winter’s day, with stunning views, it was truly magical for them and us!! 

After sherry, a mince pie and a little bit of carol singing, we had a warming lunch in Whelks Copper and a brisk, blustery (freeeeeeeezing cold) walk along the prom before heading back into Sheringham for some last minute Christmas shopping and a trip to the fudge shop!!  The coffee fudge from there is divine!

A quick journey in the car to Norwich, where we were resting our heads for the night, an overindulgent dinner picnic and the final of Strictly Come Dancing, our weekend couldn’t have been better!

On the 22^nd, we made our yearly pre-Christmas trip to the local pantomime; this years offering was Cinderella.  It really was a great night, highly entertaining and engaging.  The evening’s entertainment was only slightly marred by the beastly man to my Mr’s left who felt it necessary to belch loudly after every sip of his seemingly never ending supply of Pepsi!!!  He looked like such a sweet little old man - proves you can never judge a book by it's cover!!! ;-)

Anyway, I finally managed to track down that illusive golden marzipan, so was able to finish my booze laden Christmas cakes!  We’ve made a start on the one for us; the others were for gifts and seemed to be well received.  I don’t eat Christmas cake, can’t stand dried fruit, so ours should last well into January.

For the first time since we’ve been married, we had Christmas Eve as just the four of us, and it was perfect.  Of course, there were some last minute preparations to be done, a mountain of vegetables to peel and chop, those last few presents to wrap, but we crammed the rest of the day full of family games, and festive baking to ensure that the little monkeys were tired right out! 

Watching Santa fly through the night sky at about 5.20, flying from West to East, added an extra special touch of magic to the day, before they tucked into a meal of roast gammon, jacket potatoes and pickles, then we all snuggled on the sofa to watch Arthur Christmas.  

Once offerings had been left for Father Christmas and his Reindeers, (yes, I burnt their cookies!), it was time for bed, and time for Mr Y and I to put our feet up with Foyle’s War and a box of Roses for company!

Christmas Day went smoothly, and all the days and weeks of preparation really paid off.  We spent it at home, cooking a roast dinner for my parents and brother, and the crackers that I made only a few days before went down really well. 

With the exception of my mum, everyone else spent the afternoon constructing some of the Lego that the girls had received for Christmas.  You’re never to old for Lego!   

I was lucky and was gifted some truly lovely things, including some scrumptious vintage goodies.  There were more knitting patterns from Mr Y (he knows me so well!), 6 brooches to add to my ever expanding 1940’s brooch collection (he had apparently been collecting these for months, sneaky thing!) and two new wool holders, one in a bright lemon yellow, the other grass green!

But my all time favourite gift was a Womens Land Army brooch, just like my Nan would have worn during WW2, given to me by my parents.

The tree is looking a little worse for wear, a few bald spots on its bauble heavy branches, and I’m itching to take it down, but it’s my birthday tomorrow, and I’ve never had a birthday without the tree being up, so I’m resisting the urge to de-needle everywhere; that can wait until New Year’s Eve!!!

xx

Time to Relax

Well, what wonderful weather we have been having here in England.  The summer has most certainly arrived, although I must admit that the mercury has crept a little too high for me, 32 degrees is just too much for a snow Queen like me.  So, to escaped the heat of the town, we have headed West were it is still gloriously sunny, but not quite so scorchio! 

Things are very much on the up in our happy household.  Mr Y made the best decision ever and walked away from his job.  Not an easy choice, as he has enjoyed 12 years there and has made many firm friends, but new adventures are afoot, and come September, he starts in a new place, a more positive and less destructive environment, and he cannot wait; exciting times ahead!

So before the craziness of fairs and events gets into full swing, we thought we’d take a little trip to Mr Y’s home.  We love it down here in Cornwall.  The pace of life is so much slower.  We have no routines, very few chores to do, the scenery is incredible, and while the house is happily nestled in the heart of the village, the beach is just a few miles away.  And, well, when the sun is shining, everything looks just a little bit brighter don’t you think?

Cornwall offers some truly incredible places to visit.  From wrecks to ruins, grand houses to rugged coastal walks.  As long time members of the National Trust, and having recently joined English Heritage again, we’ve certainly been making good use of the cards.  The British holiday season hasn’t fully kicked off everywhere, with many schools only breaking up today, so attractions have been relatively quiet; very much to our liking.

We haven’t done any vintage hunting, but I hope to rectify that later in the week with trips to Penzance and Lostwithiel, two of my favourite hunting haunts :o) To be fair, Cornwall offers relatively slim pickings on the 1940’s front.  There are countless places to pick up pieces of china and the like, but let’s face it; there are only so many “things” a person can pack into an already bulging home!!

In the evenings I’ve been keeping equally busy, and obviously I couldn’t let crafting fall entirely by the wayside, so I’m working on finishing off this rather natty knitted jerkin.

My woolly pursuits have been less than I had hoped for, because it has simply been too darned hot to knit for any great length of time.  So when my hands can no longer handle the wool, I’ve picked up a needle of the sewing variety and finished off a dress for each of the girls. 

The print isn’t my favourite, but they adore it.  I’m sure the neon pink, yellow, orange and green dresses and shell suits (yes that was my childhood!)  I wore as a child in the mid 1980’s weren’t my mum’s choice either, but I thought I looked the business, and neither she nor my dad ever criticised what I wore.  My mum is a great advocate of allowing children the freedom to be exactly that; children.  So I’m trying to channel her freedom of spirit and trying not to care what other people might think.

We aren’t Suffolk bound just yet, there are pasties and ice-creams to be eaten and more adventures to be had before we head back to normality.