By Hand London Anna Dress for Dolly Clackett

Firstly I must apologise for my very long absence from blogging, for which I have no real reason. I have been making as much stuff as ever, but I just haven't felt the need to document it. The reason for today's post is a dress which I felt compelled to create because of another blogger who is getting married in May this year and in whose honour a sew-along was created.

I have been reading Roisin's blog for a while now and it always makes me smile, plus, she makes A LOT of pretty awesome dresses. Seriously, does she have a second home for her clothes?

Coming back to my blogger programme, I see that I had first intended to post about the Anna dress back in August of last year. I had bought the pattern after seeing some lovely versions made up by sewing bloggers and I duly completed my very first dress. The fit of this dress is great straight out of the packet but unfortunately the cheap-ish cotton I used to make it looked fine on the bolt but, I think has the unfortunate appearance of a hospital gown when made into an Anna.

Buoyed by it's sort of success, I then went on to make another for my daughter when she needed a frock for a wedding she was going to. At first I was really sceptical about the print that she insisted upon but I think it looks brilliant as a dress and had to concede that my daughter was right. So, apparently my fabric-choosing skills are sadly lacking when it comes to dress making. Unfortunately, my computer has decided to hide my old pictures away in an as-yet undiscovered file so you will have to make do with a hanger shot and a picture of a photo!

I love how you can't tell what the print is until you get close and then suddenly you think 'Oh, Pandas!' Note to readers: my daughter looks decidedly unimpressed with her frock, but actually, she loves it. That's the closest thing you'll get to a smile from her.

Fabric-wise, I had read about the sew-along and had toyed with the idea of participating, but then, browsing through some home-furnishing fabrics whilst looking for some fabric to make a present with, I came across this fabric which immediately shouted 'Roisin' at me. May I present 'Anna in Paris'.

Because of the print, I knew that the seven-piece Anna skirt would look very odd unless I was prepared to pattern match and waste metres and metres of fabric (I wasn't) so a gathered skirt it was to be. As a complete dress-making novice, I now realise that pleats might have been a better choice as they would not only have been more flattering, but they wouldn't have taken a whole morning to do because of repeatedly snapped gathering threads.

I french-seamed the bodice sides initially, until I realised that my gathered skirt had a front piece and a back piece and therefore nowhere to insert the zip at the back, so I did an ordinary seam up the back and finished it with bias-binding. I un-picked one of the side seams and placed the invisible zip there instead.

The waist seam was also bias-bound although the gathers made this a bit tricky, but the dress sits well on me so no harm done.

I was just going to do a bias-finished hem too but I really liked the contrast so I decided to show the binding on the outside. It was also a perfect match for my purple shoes, which I bought years ago but have never had an outfit to match.

I can even twirl like a princess and not feel remotely stupid as a middle aged woman doing so. Ahem. 

I'm not quite sure where I will wear this dress (although I will most likely be heading to Paris over the next twelve months) but I really enjoyed the challenge of making it and learned some new techniques along the way.



I wish Roisin and Nic a very happy wedding day and a long and gin-filled married life. Congratulations chaps! xx

Granny Stripe Blanket.....Done!

I know I said I wouldn't be blogging so frequently any more, but I didn't really expect to be absent for quite so long. My apologies and grateful thanks to anybody visiting.......

Things have been busy as usual over at Magpie Towers and although there have been bits and bobs of crafting going on, not many of them have made it to the finish as yet.

With then kids back at school after half term, I am having the annual panic of thinking "S***, I've only got seven weeks in which to spring clean/redecorate/learn a new language/address monobrow,  etc. before I have NO time in which to do these things because I will be performing earth mother of the year duties keeping my little darlings fully occupied and joyously happy for almost two months".

So, this week I will be attempting to clear a backlog of little jobs whilst having a little creativity thrown in.

I thought you might like to see that I can get some things finished. Here is the blanket which I started when I first learned to crochet last March, and which I finished a few weeks ago with a fetching border....

 

I am really happy with this, not least because it is finally finished, but because we have already been using it for over a year, it has been washed several times and still looks and feels lovely.

The only trouble is, there have also been a few tussles over who will get to snuggle under it at night, so it is back to the crochet hook for big blanket #2.

See you in another few months?

Beth  x

Colour Explosions

.... It wasn't just me apparently, Blogger is having some issues at the moment. I have skirted around the problem by using a different browser. If only it would find the wordy part of the post that Blogger helpfully lost too!

 

Anyway, are you ready to have your day brightened up? These funky ripples are from the secret project I was working on before Christmas. They were to be turned into a cushion for Mr Magpie's sister.



 

I revisited the Neat Ripple pattern from Attic 24 for the cushion, it is so simple and effective and works up quickly. I did the ripples randomly, unlike my Baby Blanket, which was more of a repeat.

To begin, I made a chain slightly shorter than the width of the cushion pad. I then rippled happily away until I was just short of the height, then made the reverse side with the same starting chain and the same number of ripples (forty-ish I think). Although the pattern was random, I did try to make sure that colours weren't used together too often and that the two sides weren't the same.

I intentionally made the two sides smaller than the cushion pad as I wanted to use a new contrasting colour on the edgings. I did this by making two trebles in the end of each row along the sides, once I had woven in all the pesky ends.



 

I had intended to flatten the ripple on the top and bottom but when I held the sides together I realised that they interlocked perfectly and all that was needed to join them together was a row of single crochet.

 

 

 

When I had joined the wavy ends, I turned the cushion inside out and sewed a zip along the row of treble pairs. Once that was in place I trebled all down each side again and then joined all the edges with a final row of singles. I'm afraid I forgot to take close-ups of this part.

 

 

So this is the finished result. I must say I was very pleased with it left it on the sofa for a few days so I could admire it! The recipient was pleased too and has requested more cushions on each birthday and Christmas for several years to come.

 

The next present was the Spectra scarf I was making for my daughter, which ended up being finished over the holidays. Again, I was really happy with the finished item so wasn't too cross when, after trying it on for the first time and keeping it on for all of seven seconds it was pronounced 'too itchy' and handed straight back to me!

I've been struggling to find a way of photographing this scarf in a flattering way, it really does look a lot brighter in 'real life' and I love the way it drapes when worn.

 

 

 

As predicted, I have enough of the colourful Poems yarn left over to make another, which I will probably do.

 

 

The next colourful creation is my Granny Stripe blanket, which gets the odd row added here and there when I can wrestle it away from whoever is snuggling under it of an evening (or afternoon, it has been in great demand by the various poorly Magpies who have been using it as a comforter). It really is huge now and unless I continue with my original plan to make it double-bed sized, I think I will be adding a border soon so that I can pronounce it finished.

 





My thoughts have already been working out the next sofa blanket I need to make (necessitated by the arguments over the Granny Stripe) and I have been steadily stashing the Stylecraft ready to make a start.

 

Until I make a decision, I have decided to embark upon my own crochet cushion covers and am planning to make several in different colours, but using the same group of colours for each, starting with the purple shades.

 

 

To the untrained eye it looks as though I am rippling again. I am, but this time using a different pattern from my Handbook of Crochet Stitches. This pattern does a TR3TOG at the bottom of the valley, five trebles in between and a TR, CH, TR into the mountain, which produces the holes you can see below.

 

Currently I am trying to find a combination of knitting pattern and yarn I like, but not having much success. Looks like the crochet will be taking over again!

Thanks for stopping by,

Beth x







Troubles

I know it's been far too long since I last posted but I seem to be having a problem with blogger that has persisted for a few weeks now and I am at a bit of a loss as to how to fix it.

When I am trying to add photos to a post, I click the picture icon but the 'browse files' button fails to appear as it used to and I can't work out how to get it back.

Is anyone else having this problem? I've got loads to show you but I don't know how!

Hopefully I wil be back soon, problems solved,

Beth x

Please can there be more days in December?

I'm still in denial about Christmas (shhh!) here at Magpie Towers. My daughter is turning 16 next week and I'm desperately trying to get her something made that I can give her on the day, I've always been adamant that her day shouldn't coincide with the other one that happens on the 25th.

That said, poorly children and a poorly Mr have been cluttering up the house this week so not much making happening, just a bit of knitting.

Since this is not yet halfway through, the Spectra isn't a contender for most on time birthday present, but I am enjoying knitting it very much because of the short rows and the interest of getting to the next colour. I will definitely be making another for me.

Anyway, back to the sewing machine...........

Beth x

In Which I Actually Make Something

Firstly, I will say that I am no longer going to apologise for my irregular blogging. I used to aim to post on a weekly basis, but lately life gets in the way far too much and I am still sans laptop. This is likely to be an ongoing problem for some time, so from now on I will be a more infrequent blogger but I hope you will keep visiting me when I have something to show you.

Secondly, thank you for all your kind words regarding the burglary. Unfortunately, the police haven't managed to recover any of our possessions and as predicted, the insurance company is so far refusing to cough up; they don't know yet what a determined little beast I can be when I put my mind to something so I am hopeful that we may get some good news yet.

So, all that having been said, let me show you  a little of what has been keeping me cosy of an evening.

First up is a shawl that has been incredilbly popular on Ravelry, the Color Affection. The idea is to take three different yarns (either lace weight or 4ply) and combine them in garter stitch rows to make a cosy wrap.

I had been wanting to try this for ages but hadn't found a colour combination I was happy with, so made sure to buy something specifically at Ally Pally. I cast on the day after I got back and finished last week. The last few rows are a bit hard-going as they take about 30 -40 minutes to complete.

I haven't blocked this monster yet; I need to get some advice from the girls at SnB. My problem is that as a tight knitter, my shawl has come out quite a bit shallower than it should have done and the top left edge (where the three-colour stripes start) is incredibly tight and I don't think blocking will relax it.

For the bottom edge I used a different technique to cast off which made the edge loose. This was the most fiddly and time-consuming cast off I have ever done and I had to break it down over three sessions! I wish I had tried this technique on my Changeling Shawlette though as it would have solved the stretch issue, but you live and learn.

I have worn the Color Affection, which is more of  scarf really and am happy to report that it matches my winter coat perfectly and the alpaca yarn (the green colour) makes it really swishy and snuggly. I might attempt another one day but I will have to address my tension issues first!

Before I had completed the marathon cast off, I snuck this little treasure onto the needles. It is another pattern that I have been itching to make, due to it's clever use of slow colour-changing yarn. Usually people kit it with Noro Yarns, but although I like the pictures I see of finished results with Noro, to me it looks un-appealing when I have seen it for sale and it feels really scratchy.

My alternative is the Poems yarn I used in my Changeling Shawlette. It is lovely and soft and a good deal cheaper than the Noro too. I have a different colourway this time.

For this scarf you knit little wedges of the colourful yarn in between the solid sections of the contrast. So far I am still on the purple but you can see from the yarn that I will eventually have a myriad of jewel-coloured wedges, that turn inwards in a spiral.

Miss Magpie Jr has already staked a claim on this one, which I am really pleased about as she usually turns her nose up at my latest creations. Also, I think the Poems is long enough to get two scarves out of, and as a short-row project it is much easier to make time for.

I can't reveal too much of the final project as it is under construction for a present, but I can happily report that I have re-kindled my passion for crochet, which had been rather doused during Larmer Tree. I am also using my cheap acrylic yarn again and have surprised myself by loving it as much if not more than some of the 'posh' stuff I have been knitting with.

So much so that I will be 'forced' to go and buy some more now ;). All I can give you is a little close-up,  I don't want to ruin the surprise.

We have had the sniffles around these parts. Yesterday I spent a glorious day on the sofa in front of the fire with the littlest Magpie as we were both poorly but I got lots of hooking done and it was nice to be indoors. Today we are all going about our usual routines and I'd better get some housework done!

Thanks so much for reading,

Beth x

Criminals, Camper Vans and Cake

Hi Folks, sorry it's been a while (again). One of the reasons for this is that I am now without a laptop. A couple of charming individuals did this to our dining room door, having slid open the half-painted sash that was without a lock.

They got a really good haul of all our electrical goods and even carted off my son's little home safe which he used to store his sweets in.

Lack of intelligence prompted them to use Mr Magpie's cards in two different cashpoints which had cameras on them and a car that was registered to their address. When the house was raided four days later our goods were long gone but other people's were found. A letter written to my son from his cousin (which had been in the safe) was also found, as was the tool that made the charming marks in our woodwork. This evidence was enough to charge a man with and he is now on bail pending a court date in the new year.

We are now waiting anxiously to see whether the insurance company will settle our claim since the window was unlocked (the lock had been removed for painting) even though the inner door was double locked.

Mr Magpie had a busy weekend after the robbery securing the house once more and adding window restricters and an alarm. I took the children up t'north to see family and we had a lovely time before coming back for our camper van adventure.

 

We have owned our old T4 Van for about six years now and although we have added (and removed, and added) seats to it it has essentially been a builders van, very useful whilst we have been renovating the house and also handy for transporting off-road motorbikes. It is also brilliant for camping since we would never fit all we take in the car. I was however very envious of my friend and her old VW in the summer when we went camping. She pulled up, hopped into the back and put the kettle on. I pulled up, had to unload all our gear and then spend at least two hours setting up camp.

 

 

Mr Magpie had been eyeing up camper vans for a while and spent much of his time at Larmer Tree sussing out the various options. We have been thinking of upgrading our T4 to a T5 so decided to hire one in half term to try it out. We weren't disappointed.  Since we didn't want to spend hours driving we had a lovely little tour of the West Country and it was just what we needed.




Glastonbury Tor
 



East Somerset Railway
 



Wookey Hole
 



I'll let you guess
 

The van was toasty warm at night thanks to the heater and it was fab for the days out too since we could provide our own hot snacks, drinks and warm seating area. This was particularly welcome at Stonehenge where the wind was whistling across Salisbury Plain.

We hired our van from here and thought the service was excellent. Although the owner is selling one of his vans, the £34,000 price tag is slightly over our budget so we will be looking for an ordinary van and 'pimping' it ourselves. I would love to hear if any of you have any camper van tales to tell or wisdom to impart.

Finally the cake you were promised. I can't show you a true 'ta-dah' since it is still in the oven and will be for at least another three hours, but it is that time of year again. I love making my own Christmas cake and in doing so I give myself the metaphorical kick up the backside needed to kick-start our annual preparations.

They are on hold for one more week though as this weekend I will be having a stall at Karen's lovely fair, so I have got a little bit of sewing to do. I am looking forward to catching up with Karen, as well as some other blog land friends like Katherine.

If you can make it to Alderholt on Saturday I'm sure you won't be disappointed, Karen did a fantastic job last time and always has a great mix of stalls and entertainment. Make sure you come and say hello!

Thanks for stopping by,

Beth x


My First Craft Swap (And one for you too!)

 

Last Thursday at SnB was swap night. We have spent a lovely few months collecting and making items for our various swap partners and we were all excited to be exchanging bags and opening parcels. We had five categories of items to be placed in the bag, with each item being given by a different member of the swap group.

 

 

 

Our categories were yarn, a pattern, accessories, a handmade item and an edible/drinkable item. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of Bex's handmade item, which is the handspun, hand dyed 3ply yarn you can see to the right of the picture. It is a mixture of bluey/greeny tones and has silver sparkle running through it too.

 

 

For my handmade item, I made my partner a needle case, which was a first time make for me. I looked at a few designs and then just sort of made mine up as I went along. I think I will have to make one for me too.

 

 

 



I also made a little project bag, and a pear pincushion, but I forgot to take a picture of that. It's like the ones you can see in my sidebar though.

I find these little bags come in very handy for someone like me who always has at least three (ahem) projects on the go at once as they are big enough to contain the yarn, needles and the pattern safely. When I went to Ally Pally and my water bottle leaked inside my handbag, my knitting was safely tucked up in it's bag, which is lined with waterproof fabric and no harm befell it.

Anyhow, all this swapping gave me a real taste for another one and as it is almost my first blogiversary I have decided to host my own swap. Since this is my first time, please forgive me if I am not following standard practise, I'm hoping to appeal to other novices too and hopefully we will all muddle along together.

I am going to call this swap the Stash-Busting Swap. I have decided to limit the number of items to three to keep overall costs down. As the name indicates, the idea of the swap will be to use as much as you can from your own personal stash of resources. The key input required here is time, not money.

I am keeping the time frame relatively short as I am aware that there is a little event looming that will be keeping many of us crafters busy, so I want to get the swap completed before we are all frazzled. There will be just under four weeks to compile your parcel so please don't sign up if this doesn't give you enough time. I don't want to be the creator of head/heart aches!

The three items are:

1) Handmade item. This forms the main element of the swap and will be either sewn, knitted or crocheted, tailored to your partner's taste.  We're not talking about extremely labour intensive pieces here such as a knitted jumper or double bed spread but  it should have taken longer than a few hours to knock up. Think about the quality of item you would like to receive yourself.

2) Crafting accessories/stash items. Ideally plucked from your own stash, this will be an item/items of haberdashery, again taking account of your partner's preferences. The value of this item should be around £5.

3) Edible/drinkable item. Because we all love a little treat. The cost of this item should be no more than £3.

Once I have some swappers willing to participate I will be sending out questionnaires that will help your swap partner decide what to send you.

I will keep the sign-up list open until November 1st and will then coordinate all the details and assign partners by November 5th. It is then up to you to tailor your parcel to your partners likes and dislikes (stalk her blog if she has one).

Participants who blog will be asked to write a blog post on their parcels when they are received and non-blogging swappers will need to be able to email me pictures so that I can post them on their behalf.

As the swap hostess, I am not responsible for the content of the swap parcels, I am merely coordinating partners, but if you have any problems along the way, contact me and I will help if I am able to. I will make sure that everyone has someone to swap with, even if we have an odd number of participants.

To take part in the swap, please leave me a comment below, including your name, email address and blog address if you have one.

Please do consider taking part, especially if you have never swapped before. As a newbie to this, I was surprised by how exciting I found the whole process (maybe I don't get out enough). We all love receiving parcels in the post and when they contain something made just for you, what could be better?!

Here's to a great swap,

Beth x