Yes, may I please speak to pizza

I love the holidays.  Love them.  So many children.  So many things to do.  So many builders.  Last week, we were in Devon for a few days, more about that later, then back into the children's social whirl; friends round, days out at the trampolining place in Acton, Brent Cross, IKEA (the glamour), sewing, all sorts.  I'm exhausted and I've still got another 3 days to go.  Ah well, the house is quiet, my daughters are asleep and there's two half full bottles of vodka to drink, so it's not all bad.

I did some hand sewing the other day.  I saw this jumper on the internet:

and being a covetous so and so, my first thought was that I NEEDED it in my life.  Of course, there are no more of them to be had anywhere, so my next thought was that I could quite easily make one.  Of course.

I bought six colours of sequin tape on ebay, and searched the charity shops until I found something suitable.  I found a really nice black jumper before the sequins arrived, and I was very tempted to use that, but I wore it with my tartan Delphine skirt, and liked the way they looked together, so that was out.  I then found a superb magenta jumper, but it looked utterly hideous with the red sequins, so that was out too.  A trip around West Ealing the other day, and I found a grey ex-Primark scoop necked jumper, in the right size and absolutely perfect. 

I spent the whole of Friday night alternatively sewing sequins, swearing and drinking, because I know how to live it up.  

By 1:30 am (no word of a lie), I had this.

That took three episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" and a Sherlock.  Also, the best part of a bottle of vodka.

I wore it the next day.  Have a crappy dressing table mirror selfie.

Hurrah for the shiniest boobs in the whole of London. 

It is amazing, and I love it to bits and back. although if I pull the sleeves up, the sequins make my arms itch, and I can't wear it to work as the children will make (even more) grabs at my boobs but details, details.  

Hurrah for upcycling, hurrah for sewing skills, hurrah for everything, basically.  

I have lots and lots of finished things to blog, so brace yourselves, including a progress report on the RAINBOW RAGLAN.

Oh, I don't think I'm a lot dumber than you think that I thought that I thought I was once

What a terribly busy weekend and couple of days that.  My nephew turned one, I went to Bristol for a day trip to see a friend and spend money at the Outlaw Craft Fair (great), and we spent Monday walking around London, looking for more Shaun the Sheep statues.  So a fine time has been had by all.  There's even been knitting happening.  

• Nicholas' POP blanket - Finished and done and given to the birthday boy, who was predictably unimpressed by it, but my sister in law loves it, which is the main thing really.   30 circles, 30 squares, the blue border made from the remains of my Elsa jumper.  I've only had the kit for 18 months, so that's a pretty good rate of progress for me.  

• Hexipuff Quilt - It's something like 180 out of 250.  Which is great. STILL.  

• Lucy Attic24 Ripple Blanket - Nearly done.  I need to finish this now, although I honestly need more wool for it; some more orange is needed as it's her favourite colour. 

• Wisteria jumper -  Still the same.  It's too warm to work on this.

• Burton Bear Cowl for Hattie. I'm going to move this to next year I think; it's really too warm for this too.

• The Weather in the Streets 

Still 98 to go, so no photo.  I'm still pretty happy about it, although I'm thinking that I should really just get on and finish it.

• Yellow squares - 109/143 done - 34 to go
• Blue squares - 56/72 done - 16 to go
• Grey squares - 69/102 - 33 to go
• Turquoise squares - 2/11 done
• Orange squares - ALL DONE
• Pink square - DONE
• Purple squares - DONE
• Red squares - 7/10 done
• Dark Green squares - DONE
• Pale Blue square - DONE
• Pale Yellow square - DONE
• Dark Blue square - DONE
• Pinky-Red squares - 7/10 done

• Hattie's 4th birthday blanket.  This is going really well.  I've made and sewn together 20, and there are another 3 to sew on at some point.  I can finish 4 more of them, but then I have to wait for the wool fairy to bring me some more wool to finish it. I've been putting empty ball bands under my pillow every night, but nothing. 

• NEW: A Miette cardigan.   I've seen lots of these on the internet, and thought it would be just the thing to make myself to go with my soon to be finished skirt.  The skirt is gorgeous; red roses, Liberty print, salvaged from something my mum was getting rid of, which makes it super amazing: vintage, upcycling and handmade.

• Owl Obsession for one of my godsons - it's for his second birthday.  Next up. 
• Peacock Mitten - I'm almost a quarter of the way through the second mitten.  Still.
• Coraline cardigan - I've wound the wool for this, but I need to finish the Wisteria jumper first.
• Petrie top - I should probably start this one soon.    
• Knitted Coco -see above.
• Socks for me - I have no suitable sock wool that I like.
• Rainbow jumper - still depressed about losing jumper 1, and in mourning.  
• A Little Birds jumper with no steeks - still planning.  I need to sort the stash to see what I've got of this.  I might even need to sort out whether I've got the wool.  I think I bought some, but I don't remember.  How awful.    
• Reknit an unwearably large jumper for Simon - Oh Lord, I keep putting this off.

Done:

Myrna Cardigan

Hattie's cardigan.

A pair of simple socks for the children

Garter Yoke Cardigan

An Owlet for Lucy

Lucy's Cowl

Hattie's Cowl

A Burton Bear Cowl for Lucy

Simon's socks

Boreal

A tiny jumper for Nicholas

Sparkly Owlet for Hattie

Ringo mittens

Aiken

Striped jumper for Lucy

So that's your lot.  There's been sewing happening, but no photos.  Too busy and important these days.  

I won't push you, unless you have a net

Some things are just too sugary sweet for me.  I can't really cope with the title of this challenge "me made it" "me done it" "me talk pretty some day"; but I am completely behind the sentiment.  I try really, really hard to wear my beloved handmade clothes, and am expanding my wardrobe to include useful tops as well as pretty dresses.  I have a huge amount of woolly jumpers and woolly socks, and quite a few skirts, but not much that I can pull on over a pair of jeans; which is where the delightful Coco pattern comes in.  I made a new one last week; honestly, it took me just under two hours from fabric to garment.  I didn't bother with pockets because I don't think that they add to my look, but the funnel neck is in place, and I didn't need any adjustments.

You can even have a bonus selfie with a silly expression and gorgeous new hair.  I take no credit for my hair; my hairdresser gives it a shear every couple of months, and the rest of the time it grows out at right angles to my head.  I have finally accepted that I can't have long hair, it just looks silly, and I shouldn't even try.

This is my "Me-Made-May" "pledge". Very formal, but I suppose that writing it down will keep me on track.

I, Julia (juliacroyden.blogspot.co.uk) sign up as a participant of Me-Made May '14. I will endeavour to wear at least one garment that I've made everyday during May 2014. The challenge bit is to photograph myself and put it on Instagram - I hate being in photographs. I'm also going to make one dress and finish one jumper in May.

It should be do-able. I will put some pictures up here, but you can follow me on Instagram if you are so inclined, as sljuls. How exciting.

I was going to give up booze for a bit too, but with all these selfies, I don't think I'll be able to.

Handmade Monday

I am a terrible magpie.  When I see something nice, I have to have it.  If it's something handmade, I have to have a go at making it, so when I saw this, I thought that that was something I would very much like to do.  A red coat is not very me, and I don't want to be too much of a social sheep, so I decided to make mine a different colour.

I found an old coat on ebay before Christmas and let it sit in the cupboard for a few weeks while I thought about colours.  I bought two packs of lovely purple Dylon dyes, and had a go on Saturday.

Apart from time, this was easy to do.  It takes a preliminary wash, then a 2 hour wash with the dye, then another 2 hour wash to get the excess dye out, then a short wash to clean out the machine.  It's come out very well, if I say so myself, and I'm very pleased with it.  I wore it to Nursery today, and it was gorgeous and warm.

I think the finishing touches won't be crocheted squares, although they look gorgeous, as everything Lucy touches does, but some lazy daisies on the pockets. 

Unfortunately, the washing did SOMETHING to the zip, so it didn't catch properly, and then didn't open properly, and I was stuck in it, looking after the children at Nursery.  I managed to fix the stupid thing, thanks to a pair of pliers and a bit of quiet swearing.  It really is a thing of beauty, and I'm very pleased with my first bash at upcycling - horrid word, but it describes this quite well.

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