A Meagre Offering

Hello everyone.  I know it's been yet another record absence from blogging, but it's been a long year, and blogging about a pair of socks might not seem like a very big accomplishment, but it is - truly.  I feel I've spent the majority of this year sleeping, or perhaps sleep-walking through my life.

It's been a very busy time, chock-full of very bad and very good.  The very bad, we lost my Dad in April.

He was a lovely person, very patient and loyal, and always fixing things, leaving the world a better place in small ways.  He will be missed.

In September we lost our little bunny, Pip.

The opposite of Dad, this little bunny was a vicious creature.  We suffered through many bites and scratches in the 13 years he lived with us, and though I certainly won't miss that, his absence is being felt.

But there's also been very good.  In June, Nigel and I went down to Minneapolis to see The Cure in concert.

 This was good fun, and, as we were staying at the same hotel as the band, I got to chat with Roger O'Donnell on the elevator (hey, check that link out, it's his birthday today!)

Also very good, Nigel bought himself tickets to Wimbledon, so I tagged along with him to England and met up with my Aunt and Uncle.

They are delightful people and we spent a lovely day wandering through antique shops in Hastings.

...on to the socks.

A simple sock pattern from Regia, using Regia Zoofari yarn, a kooky little yarn that knits up into animal prints.  These are the tiger stripes.  I added a little solid black at the heel and toe, and a smidge along the cuff.  Rrraawr!



So, in short, the good was wonderful and the bad was awful and the socks are tiger-stripe, and it's left this entire year feeling like some strange dream...and so...


Let's watch The Cure (circa 1989) sing us a Lullaby while I try to shake myself out of dreamland.

So Much Knitting, So Little Blogging

I've accomplished quite a lot of knitting since I last posted to the old blog... (over 6 months ago!!!), but I'll spare you most of the projects.  To be perfectly honest, I've not actually finished all that much.  I have a great pile of "almost done"s in knitting bags beside my chair in the entertainment room.  Some need sewing up, some need buttons sewn on, some need both these things, but I've no momentum at the mo. 

I will show you two projects I did managed to finish - oddly neither required sewing up or buttons.  First, Lilleput by Finnish designer Lene Alve.  This is a very clever knit, worked sideways, from hem to neck in a series of short rows, with contrasting panels and trim - I chose hot pink for the contrast and a soft cream and pale gray for the body of the cardi.

It came out looking pretty swish, if I do say so!

and finished up with sweet wee ties at the neck...

and here's wee Josephine modelling for us.  She's also showing off her hot pink Minimocs that Elly encouraged me to purchase while in Victoria last September.  Not that Old Nan needs much prodding to spend money on Wee Josephine!

Also finished recently, a pair of mittens for my other little darling - Nigel.  The pattern is Darth Mittens, by Swedish designer Therese Sharp, she has all sorts of interesting mitt patterns, but I knew these ones were for my man.

Just look at them!  Nigel isn't as agreeable a model as Josephine, but likes them very much and wears them when out in the cold evenings while walking the dog.

The Blue Pram Moon

 

It's very fitting that tonight is a Blue Moon as I've managed another epic absence from blogging, and with so much happening that's worth writing about!  What will wee Josephine think of her Nan once she's old enough to read all this?

This post is devoted to the vintage Swan pram I bought off Kijiji last October, shortly after Elly announced her pregnancy.  It started off looking pretty good, but I dolled it up while I was waiting for the snow to melt this past spring.

The hood was originally navy, but it had faded quite badly (no snapshot of that), so I refreshed it with a coat of teal coloured fabric dye.  I sponged it on, then hosed it down in the back garden - it needed a few coats, but came out looking much better .

Unfortunately, the trim along the inside edge became discoloured...so I hand stitched a layer of white eyelet and teal grosgrain ribbon...

I made some turquoise chevron and polka dot bedding...

added a friend...

and a blanket...

and a few vinyl decal polka dots to the outside!

Josephine didn't care for her first ride in the pram (she's a small child with big opinions), but perhaps I'll win her over yet!

Josephine

Sweet wee Josephine, born April 27th, 2015.

Welcome!

The Highchair

Here's the fabulous vintage highchair I bought for "Granny's House" (I'm putting that in quotation marks because I haven't decided if I want to be called Granny).

I bought the chair from Frank over at Avenue Antiques.  The wee bunny on the back of the chair is still mostly intact, which is impressive, but what's more impressive than that?

Well, the chair folds down into a play table!  Fabulous! 

The oval beads on the side of the play table were originally pink and blue and, most likely, painted with lead paint.  So, I carefully sanded them down and primed them and re-painted them with a bright red.  Pretty swish, yes?

Here's a shot of the tray turned round to the back...(this shot is a giveaway as to when I finished this project - there's still snow on the ground, which has been gone for weeks)...

and look at this adorable little adjustable foot rest...

...no, no... just look at it!  It's fantastic!

Since these chairs don't have any safety straps - it was made in a simpler time when children weren't the crazed daredevils they are now - I made a seat cushion to tie the baby down.

It's got elastic around the waist...

...and ties to the arms of the chair with big fat grosgrain ribbons in teal.  Please also notice the vintage turquoise buttons I used to secure the quilt batt padding.

This doll is quite a bit smaller than a highchair-sized baby, but you get the idea.

And, with the tray down. 

Nigel finds this doll a bit creepy, so I made sure to place the highchair just behind where his chair is at the kitchen table.

She's watching you, Sweetie!

Also finished recently...

...a bib!  I purchased one of those pre-made bibs that you embroider, but I didn't care for the pattern it came with (dancing elephants),

so I bought a pattern off etsy that I knew would appeal to Elly, and used that instead.

The pattern wasn't quite big enough for the bib so I added the hearts on either side and the "om nom nom" across the bottom.  Very Elly!

Elly's Peter Rabbit Shower



 

 

Let's take a step back in time, shall we?  Say to March 21st of this year, when we hosted a baby shower for Elly - who requested a Peter Rabbit theme.

 

Before the party got underway, I snapped a few photos of the décor that I'd spent ages putting together.  We had specially decorated water bottles - I do believe Ian took leftovers of these to University with him, and Nigel carted the odd one off to the gym.  I wonder what people thought!

Here's a link if you want to purchase this PDF for yourself.

I strung up a clothesline of doll clothes across the hutch in the dining-room.  Nigel remarked that it looked like a tenement.  He's such a charmer!

Also in the dining-room, dangling from the chandelier, were small cut-outs from a book of Peter Rabbit.  Now, I don't generally approve of cutting up books, but this was a somewhat battered thrift store find, a Peter Rabbit Pop-Up book that had lost quite a lot of it's pop.

The grand centerpiece of the book was a giant pop-up Mr. McGregor, who (after a good deal of cutting/pasting/reinforcing), became a grand centerpiece to watch over the trays of nibblies.

Big poufy tissue paper flowers, along with a fabulous thrifted chenille bedspread in hot pink roses thrown over the sofa.

An old bassinet to hold gifts.

Peter rabbit picture frame...

... Beatrix Potter books along the mantle, along with Jemima Puddleduck and Peter Rabbit knitted for Elly by my Mum a while back - quite a while back!

Another shot of the gift bassinet...

...balloons...

... family portraits...

and the rest of the Beatrix Potter books (mixed in with the Graham Greene).

in all the excitement of the day, I failed to take pictures of the actual guests.  So, documenting the party - fail, decorating the party - success!