A Crochet Hat

 I finished the crochet hat this week, as I mentioned last week I am not very fast at this so it was just a case of doing a little each evening.  I didn't follow a pattern although I did see an image I liked and that has three coloured striped so that is what I aimed for.  It was also made up as a flat piece and then gather at the top so perhaps not how may of you would do it but like I mentioned I was just making it up as I went.  The colours look well together and they are just odd bits I had from a few years ago, my main hassle was making the pom pom!  Oh my I have not made a pom pom in so long and the way I remember it with two pieces of card did not come out right, then I tried it around my hand and that was big and messy so finally I settled on a fork as I saw this on you tube.  Now there was still unravelling when I came to tie it but I did get a shape that is not too bad.  I know you can get pom pom tools, are they any good? The thing is I don't feel I will be making enough to warrant a special tool, I have started another hat though as I found the process very relaxing.(Apart form the pom pom! ;)

I didn't plan on matching my hat today it just happened. 

It had a road test when we went for a walk yesterday and it did keep my head warm, so that is the main thing.  I am sure it could be neater but I have not had as much practise with this skill.

There was some more baking yesterday in the form of cake, I did say I wanted to try a new cake each week so we will see how  long it takes me to run out of reasonable bakes.  I say this because the ingredient lists for some cakes are ridiculous and would cost a fortune to make, I am also not a fan when they state about three different sugars in a recipe in large quantities.  Cake is a sweet treat yes but I don't like sickly sweet.

So the recipe I chose to try out this week was from one of my Aine Carlin books The New Vegan, now the cake is called gluten free Orange Polenta cake but that went out the window straight away as Asda did not have any polenta and an assistant saying they had never heard of it and don't have it but I have had it there from before! So they do have it just not that day, so the first substitute was coconut (Ok it is nothing like polenta but I thought I would try it anyway)  Then they had no agave so that was quickly changed to maple syrup.  On the whole my changes worked just fine and I still followed the recipe but I have to admit to halving the sugar, we are so used to less sugar now none of us would be able to  eat it with the stated amount in.  The cashew frosting worked out super too and I might add looks very pretty with the pistachios.  In all it feels like a very posh coffee shop cake that I would normally not be able to eat because they never have gf vegan and this one is so it is one of my prouder bakes.   As usual fading daylight in the photo's and lets face it I am never going to be a food photographer. 

Another job for the weekend was finishing up this bag, again this is continuing the folk art inspiration.  It is actually based on a doodle on my notepad from some art I saw on pinterest but with a few changes and bits left out.  Sewing everything down is the most time consuming bit.  I think these ones are a little bit quirky so I hope they appeal to someone, I certainly like quirky so lets pray that others feel the same or I will have one large handbag collection.

I hope you are all well and have a good week ahead, bye for now. 

January Dress

 I have made my first dress of the month for myself this time, I had this lovely quilted jersey from minerva and wanted to make something practical but fun.  I have made another dress like this in the past, it is a sweater dress  with a big pocket at the front but this time I decided to add a  pocket in a different fabric to make it more interesting.   If you want to know  how I made this one have a look at my post on the Minerva site as this one was posted there.

I was hoping to get a few photographs in the pristine snow but as you can see the dogs had just run all over it with their little paws by the time I got outside.

This was very easy to make and is comfortable and practical so I know I will wear it a lot.  I also have a dress to alter for someone and a few more masks to make.  I have had a bag cut out on the sewing table for a week but I have changed my mind about three times as to what to put on it, so there it will sit until I make a decision.

We have been watching a new drama called Lupin, it is French and I have been enjoying that we also watched a film the other night called Perdida, that one was set in Argentina it was ok but not great and husband thought it was a load of rubbish ( it wasn't that bad).  I think I enjoy the different languages and picking out words and phrases I know while following the subtitles of course, I don't think he enjoys that side of it so even when these things are not great television I still feel I am getting something from it.    We always watch something together from about nine onwards, before that I am doing other things so most of out viewing is on Netflix or iplayer.

We have enjoyed walking in the snow while it lasted briefly, the dogs were  very excited and one of them had a limp the other evening I think he over did it a bit.  He is ok now and has been walking normally today, I think it is because they seem to bounce over the snow he must have just pulled it a little.

I have started to crochet a hat, I saw a picture on pinterest but didn't have those colours so I am working with what I have but it also wont look like the image in that I am just doing double crochet (at least I hope that is what I am doing!)  I haven't done this for about a year and I had only just started then so stay with me this is just an experiment.  I am basically making it as a rectangle that I will gather in then make a pom pom for.  I will share in a few days when I have added a few more rows, I know many of you would do a hat in an evening but I am  a novice at this you see, sewing is my first love. 

This afternoon I made  this Lemon tart from Best of Vegan, I had to adapt the pastry so it was gf so my pastry had gram flour, gf plain flour, flax seed and pure vegan spread in it.  It came out really nice so follow the link if you want to make it, if you are not GF you could just make the coconut crust from the original recipe.

We had alpro soy cream on it, it is very tangy but I like it like that, I am going to try and do a new desert each weekend until I run out of ideas.

I hope you are all keeping safe and have a lovely week. 

A Year of Sewing

 It is an odd start to the year but then I could be wrong and maybe this is just the new normal.  We have all been in school as it is open for key worker children so we are in as a full staff currently. Everyone is feeling a bit put out as lessons were planned and people were feeling ready for a fresh start, let us all hope this is the last push and we will see the back of this thing soon.

I put together a couple of photo grids last week of some of last years sewing makes, one of clothing for me and the other two of my bags.  Of course there was other sewing throughout the year in the form of cushions, accessories, alterations and a few other bits but just looking at my bags and clothes makes me realise I was more productive last year then I thought.

So I ran away with the bag making this year!

This next grid I made first so it has the watermark on the bottom and I have since discovered another way to do this without the writing across it.

We started the new year watching a new drama called the serpent, it was shockingly based on real events. After just a few days we have watched all of it so we now need something new for the dark evenings, any suggestions appreciated.

I have seen a beautiful pattern on the Dee Hardwick page, I looked on there after I made my hare dress in fabric by that designer.  I feel it is stunning but far too ambitious for me, having knitted in the past, it takes me a while and then if don't like the finished garment there is also the cost as materials are not cheap.  I know there are a few of you out there who could whip this up no problem, it is lovely...

So it is from a knitting book, here is the link to the page.

If any of you decide to try this I would love to see it completed, it deserves an accomplished knitter. That is all for today so take care and enjoy the rest of the week. 

 

A New Year of Sewing and a Vintage Dress

 Happy new year to you all, I hope you all got to celebrate in some way with your nearest families. For us it was an evening watching Vikings then off to bed before midnight with the youngest of the dogs going with us as the fireworks drive him crazy!  This has become worse as I am sure the fireworks keep getting louder, he never used to bother a few years ago, so taking him up with us for comfort was the best option.

My afternoon was spent making a vintage style dress for my son's girlfriend out of the Burda vintage anniversary edition.  It was not an easy make, it kept referring to markings that could not be seen on the pieces as the pattern sheet was so busy and despite straining my eyes I am certain they are not there!  Usually this is not a problem as I try on and sort things my way but as it is not for me and she is not here I could not do this. Also the fabric was so slinky it reminded me of the microfibre we used to use when I used to make sportwear for a company, it slides al over the place so lots of cursing ;)  I eventually got it made up and it is hanging on my mannequin but not before having to completely redo a front facing as the interfacing was showing through.  Yes not the most relaxing make, I really need her to try it now so I can finish it properly but to be honest I want to see the back of it, have you ever made anything like that? It really was such a contrast to the lovely relaxing day of sewing I had  making the hare dress a few days ago.  It just goes to show not all projects are equal and I would imagine if you were just starting out that could be the kind of thing to put you right off. 

So here it needs adjusting at the waist but we are different sizes so I need her to try it so I can do this properly.

She also didn't want the overskirt so it is just the image on the right but in the deep red fabric.

  So if you are out there and your new year resolution is to start making your own clothes do not be put off if you have an experience like this.  It just happens sometimes so just move on and make something else, I have been sewing years and this was just a combination of bad pattern markings, making for someone not here to fit to and the fabric.  So I will just accept this and move on, the plus side is that it looks nice, I have actually made the shoulder gathers into little pleats as I thought they looked neater.

Do you have any special plans for 2021? Our main one was to get in ten trips away in the new van, alas we have had it moths now and not been able to, we actually lost the deposit on the last site we booked but not  to be deterred as soon as we can travel anywhere we will be off for a weekend.  My husband was busy yesterday rubbing down a table  we bought for it second hand, it did come with a very heavy one but we wanted a light weight one we can take down easily and store in the awning when not in use so we are revamping this one.  We have even bought a glitzy topper to glue to the top as this table is a bit beige and boring.  My husband even went and sat in the van for a bit yesterday, he is keen to get using it. 

I have bought myself a book on coding, it is aimed at children but I find books aimed at children to be very clear and I have to say that this is definitely a new area for me so this is just what I need.  It had lots of good reviews from adults in the same position who had bought it for themselves so hopefully it will be useful.  So that is something I want to learn a little bit about this year.

One thing I am going to use less of this year is Facebook, I thought I never used to check it very much but I think this has increased and this is not a good thing.  Quite often it is a big time waster and my main reason for it was that sometimes people I don't see much of anymore might get in touch and need some sewing doing so they would message me that way.  This may only happen a couple of times a year so going it for twenty minutes a day is not necessary is it?? Yes I think it may be that long sometimes as I fall down the rabbit hole of reading everyone's posts, so that has to stop and I will do something more productive with that time.

A trip to the charity shop last week resulted in a couple of new books a few for mum, one for my husband and this one for me...

I have never read this though I know it was made into a film and I haven't seen that either so it is all new to me and a bargain at 99p!

Well enjoy your new start to the year everyone and here's to a good one.