Lucky Me!

The warm and fuzzies have descended upon me as I have been awarded my second Leibster Blog award! The lovely Chloe from Clobell has passed on the award to me and I am honoured.

I received this award in March last year, you can see my blog recommendations, which I still stand by, here.

But I have to add one blogger that I just love to read every time she posts. Yes I Like That is such a funny, thoughtful and interesting blog. It is a wonderful collection of sewing, days out, knitting and general stuff. Go read it!

In other news the 100^th issue of Knitting came out a few weeks ago and I felt very proud to be still on the back page after so long. I really feel that the magazine has come on leaps and bounds in recent years (and not just because I’m in it). It’s lovely to be a part of it. The story I wrote about was a particularly awkward and funny moment in my knitting life and it was really fun to write. Now I just need to keep reading all of these lovely blogs for more inspiration!

Productive

Today has been a productive day knitting wise. I managed to rip back an old project that had been lingering in the stash for, oh a couple of years now, and use it to cast on a new and fabulous top. Just thought I'd share:

I came...

I saw...

I ripped...

Freshly ripped yarn...

... and I made.

I thank you!

Wood Street Indoor Market - GO!

This weekend I went down to the relaunch of the Wood Street indoor market in Walthamstow. This little treasure is well worth the trip and you could easily spend an hour or two sifting through the quirky little shops filled to the brim with inspiring goodies old and new.

When you walk in it's bit like stepping back into the Victorian times. The little window pains that make up the shop fronts and doors are truly quaint and it gives the market an atmosphere of the old Portobello Road from the film Beadknobs and Broomsticks. From antique furniture, vintage and second hand clothing, bric a brac, videos and records you never know what you might find when you start rummaging. These older vendors are now interspersed with new-comers such as East London Craft Guerilla and cute illustration collective Animaux Circus. These fresh new talents are sure to update the market and encourage more customers to pass through the doors.

It was great to pop into the Craft Guerilla workshop to see how they've managed to turn a shell of a unit into a cute a cosy space to sell their local hand made goods and ready for their new classes. I've been watching the progress of the hand painted wall of the shop on facebook so it was great to see it in person and commend the hard work that's gone into it. Word has it that a knitting group may also be popping up there soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that. They are open: Tues./Wed./Fri./Sat. From 10 am to 5.30 pm
And from March: Wed./Thurs./Fri./Sat. From 10 am to 5.30 pm.

If you're into cake decorating then Lilac Domino's Cake decorating supplies is like a dream come true! Everything you could need to bake the perfect birthday, christening, wedding or anyother sort of cake you can think of is in there. I was so excited I bought myself a cake board, sugar paste and a piping nozzel for Flo's upcoming birthday cake. They are open every day from 10am - 5.30pm except Thursdays and Sundays.

Significant Seams also had a unit and it was great to learn about all the amazing community work they do centred around crafts. They run therapeutic craft programmes for pregnant women and new mums, as well as a sewing circle for the vulnerable and isolated, especially people suffering from depression or anxiety and survivors of domestic and/or sexual abuse. What a great idea! Being creative is such a good way of working through your troubles and learning to be proud of yourself as you create something tangible. They also provide sewing machines for hire by the hour, a variety of craft classes for everyone including after school classes, upcycling and daytime Childrens craft workshops. Pop in and pick up a class schedule. They are open Tues - Sat. (Tues 10am - 2pm, Weds 2pm - 5pm, Thurs 2pm - 9pm, Fri 10am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 2pm)

I'll certainly be going back to the market in future and urge you to check it out too. Perfect for a Saturday pre-lunch/ post-lunch wander.

Snow with the Flo

It snowed the other day, but you probably didn’t know that because no one was talking about it… much.

It was the perfect day for snow, being a Sunday it meant that everyone could either go out and play or stay snuggled up in warm and watch movies.  I do not envy anyone that had to actually get somewhere.

When Flo woke up in the morning I said “Want to see something?” Opened her curtains and she actually gasped and said ‘WOW, SNOW!!!” So cute, but a bit scary considering she’s only 23 months; the kid knows everything!

Why does she look so suspicious?

After realising that her wellies were at Nanny and Granddads I dug out my old sling wrap and The Mr. helped wrestle her onto my back for the walk down the road. Once the wellies were on we explored Nanny and Granddad’s back garden, where granddad kicked the trees to make the snow fall on Flo’s head and the green out the front of the house where quite a few enormous snowmen has been built. Flo was a little 50/50 about the snow and decided that it was time to go back in after a little while. What a different story it will be next year!

On the way home the contented and tired Flo fell asleep on my back in a comedy fashion.

I got to try out my new wellies too which luckily arrived just two days before the snow had fallen. I found them on Amazon and they have a short of knitted fair-isle pattern printed on them, which I obviously love.  I thought about knitting special welly socks for them, but now the snow is pretty much gone and the they have been put away again. But it was a lovely snow day – thanks Flo!

Kat in the Hat

The title of this blog is a little misleading because although I have finished Kat’s second 30th Birthday present of the vintage bobble hat I have not yet given it to her and it is indeed me modelling the hat!

I mostly crochet this item on the way to and from work on the train. It’s brilliant ‘dead’ time to use up doing something productive. It works out well with crochet in particular as you need even less elbow room than knitting requires which makes it a perfect project for commuting.

Crocheting whilst standing up on the DLR - also possible

I had to modify the pattern slightly as using the original number of stitches gave me a hat that sat somewhere on my shoulders. So I reduced the number of stitches and thankfully it has worked out and as shown in the original picture from the 1940’s pattern it perches nicely atop my head.

My Mum bought me some personalised clothing labels for Christmas so I have added a little ‘Made by Purl Princess’ label into the back of the hat. I’m planning to put these in more of my finished items from now on as I think it’s nice finishing touch and really marks how proud I am of each creation I add one to. Therefore beware of creations without a label – they may not have been well loved!

I have now moved onto something else… can you guess what it is yet?