A Stitch in Time saves...

I am a big fan of vintage knitting and have several books on the subject which I lovingly drool over when looking for projects. Making these items does take a lot of time and dedication with the yarn and needles being so fine, but this gives lovely wearable results if you can face the knitting involved.

My past vintage knitting efforts have included an Evening Top, which I tweaked a little in the sizing and then a Evening Bolero which I wished I’d tweaked as it was still too big for me even when I was pregnant!

One of my favourite books is Jane Waller’s Knitting Fashions of the 1940s: Styles, Patterns, and History which the Bolero pattern was taken from. I love the bits of history and old photos that go with each pattern, but I think the translation of the patterns might have required a bit more attention, hence my giant bolero!

Thankfully lots of careful pattern attention was bought to another of my favourite books A Stitch In Time, Knitting and Crochet Patterns, 1920-1949 Vol. 1 in which Jane Waller teamed up with vintage knitter extraordinaire Susan Crawford. Each pattern is meticulously rewritten and tested before publication and errata for any pattern mistakes that have gone under the radar have been subsequently published. The photography is exquisite and really shows the knits off to their full potential, which is another reason why I use this as a beautiful coffee table book.

When I heard that there was to be A Stitch in Time Vol.2 I got totally over excited and pre ordered my copy the moment it was possible to do so. You can still pre order the book which is due out on the 30^th June and with your pre order you get a couple of goodies, including a project bag and discounts on the yarns used, so it’s well worth it.

Whilst waiting in anticipation for A Stitch in Time Vol.2 to come out I am also getting excited about Knit Nation which is happening from the 15^th to the 17^th July. I loved it last year and hope that it will be just as good again this year. I’ve booked tickets for Mum and I on the Saturday and have also booked us in for the Knit-Tea Salon which is basically a yummy afternoon tea to refresh us mid yarn shopping spree.

Knit update: My knitting has finally progressed beyond the mindless lace I was working on and I have now thankfully moved on to the bust increasing of my lacy blue top. This morning on the train I discovered that I had lost four stitches in the process, but managed to find them on my next row round. Note to self; don’t knit in bed moments before you’re going to sleep.

Fish Tickle

I’ve been hearing a lot about fish pedicures lately. They’re the latest craze in spa treatments where little flesh eating fish nibble at your toes to give you smooth tootsies. Whilst walking about in The Only Way Is Essex land (Loughton) this week I saw that a shop dedicated to the swimming nibblers had opened called Sole Sensation [http://www.solesensation.co.uk/]. My friend Nina and I decided that it would be worth a go, if only for the novelty factor and paid £10 for 10 minutes of the ‘treatment’.

After washing your feet you flip flop over to a sort of bench where you sit down and then lower your feet into your own private tank of Garra Rufa Fish. Now, the lowering down part took me a minute or two as each time your feet get anywhere near the surface of the water the little swimmers all come to the surface, mouths wide open, gagging for a taste of your flesh!

Fear not the ‘doctor fish’ are toothless and only nibble at the dead skin on your feet, not the healthy stuff, so you won’t be eaten alive. However it still took a while for me to pick up the courage to put my feet actually under the surface.

As soon as my feet were in I can only describe the sensation as tickle torture. I am a very ticklish person and so could barely contain the urge to squeal and screech as the fish went to town on my feet which must have been some kind of banquet of dead skin the way they were going for it.

Ten minutes felt like a very long time and once it was over we were given a towel and some lotion while we inspected our feet. I have to admit that I did not notice a lot of difference on first inspection but once I got home I realised that my skin was a lot smoother and not as hard in places. Perhaps a longer treatment would yield more noticeable results.

These were our faces during the last few minutes... says it all really.

I then suddenly started to worry how ethical the treatment was. Why were the little swimmers so hungry for feet? Do they get fed in between foot snacks or is that their only food source?

Having looked around on the internet I can’t find much on the subject. Some people suggest that the fish would have to be really hungry i.e. not fed to eat away at your feet the way that they do. But that their tanks and water filtration was pretty good. I have emailed the shop about it and will post again if they get back to me.

Most of the articles I found were about the treatment being banned in several states in America due to fear of a spread of infection. I thought that this was a little over-kill as everyone had to wash their feet and answer a questionnaire about their health and if they have any open wounds or infections before using the tanks, so I didn’t feel that infection would be an issue.

The craze is gathering pace with full body versions being made available where you lie in a floatation tank filled with the fish. Personally, I don’t think I’d last a second with an all over fish tickle session!

Happy Birthday to me!

It was my birthday on Monday and I was made to feel very special by all of my friends and family.

Brett took me out for a MASSIVE treat on Sunday to Atul Kochhar’s Michelin starred restaurant Benares. We had the five course Grazing menu with the pairing wines, which was a decadent as it sounds.

I have never been to a Michelin starred restaurant before so it was a bit daunting at first, but once the food and wine started flowing we relaxed into it. Although I think I might have scared the sommelier a little by getting over excited by wines that actually went with food for a change rather than just being chosen on price alone.

I got lots of lovely presents including the new Peyton & Byrne British Baking book and some cute measuring cups and spoons which I am itching to start using!

To top it all off I took some of my lovely friends out to Luck Voice in Soho on my birthday night and sang the night away (badly) while they plied me with glittered cocktails. Cheers guys!

Bank Holiday Fun

Another lovely weekend with the family. We celebrated the Royal wedding with a cream tea in the garden, a lot of flag waving and independent walking from Florence. Won’t be long until she’s running away from us I suspect.

I crudely made her a paper crown encrusted with wrapping paper jewels. She didn’t’ seem too impressed but did manage to keep it on for a few photos.

Films were like busses this weekend. I haven’t been to the cinema in ages and then went twice! I saw a preview of Water For Elephants with my film reviewing friend Coconutboots. I really enjoyed it and there was even a scene where Reese Witherspoon was working on some embroidery. Shame it wasn’t knitting. My favourite elements of the film were the animals, in particular the amazing elephant Rosie, and the fabulous sets and clothing which were beautiful. Witherspoon wears some lovely 30’s frocks and as always Pattinson looks pretty hot, especially when he’s a bit beaten up and bloody towards the end of the film wearing a brown leather jacket... yum.

I also went to see Thor which also has some Phwoar to it. The movie over all was a great bank holiday blockbuster with lots of action, lots of fun and a good few laughs too. Chris Hemsworth ticked all the boxes as the Nordic god of thunder although the romance between him and Natalie Portman was paper thin. Not that I really cared once he’d whipped his tee-shirt off a few times and stared into the camera with those baby blues.

I’ve been plodding on with the lacy blue top I’m making for the summer. It feels like it’s not growing much despite knitting row after row of the same lace. I now long for the end of this body section so I can get into the more interested parts of the pattern, but know that I have at least 10cm left to do. I just hope it will still be summer by the time I finish it.

Secret Stitching

A few months back one of the lovely ladies from my local mums knitting group, Zoe, gave me some yarn that she wasn’t going to use. It was Patons Fuzzy Wuzzy and it looked like it was from the 1950s from the design of the label, although that’s most likely a ridiculous over exaggeration. I had about a ball and ¾ of each colour in a grey and a white and no ideas what to do with it. They went straight into the stash.

Zoe was pregnant when she gifted the yarn to me and as she grew and grew and started coming to the group less often I decided that it would be a nice idea to make something for the baby using the yarn. I found pattern in Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight which is surprising as I never really liked the book much as I thought the patterns were too simple. The pattern I chose was the Vintage Cardigan, which is mean to have a velvet ribbon sewn round the edges, but I decided to jazz it up a bit with some subtle colour stripes instead. This made the simple pattern a little more interesting for me and soon I was knitting away happily.

I made sure I bought two projects along to our group meet-ups in case Zoe came along and a few times my second project came out of the bag instead of the secret cardigan. The yarn was so soft to work with but quite fluffy and I realised that it probably wasn’t terribly well suited to baby garments, but I figured that perhaps it would fit a doll or a bear if it posed a choking/ breathing/ general health hazard.

The cardigan was finished about a week prior to the birth of beautiful baby Inez. I handed over the finished article to Zoe, a gift from gifted yarn and she loved it. Baby Inez has managed to model it for us here despite the warm weather at the moment. You’ll be glad to hear it hasn’t seemed to impair her breathing at all.

Happy Easter!

We had a lovely few days which included a trip to Upshire where we saw a heard of deer, a trip to the seaside and Flo’s first taste of chocolate!

It was so lovely going to the beach in the super sunshine we had this weekend. It felt like a proper family outing with sticky sun cream all over, sand between the toes and 99 Flakes to finish off. Flo absolutely loved the beach. I sort of expected her to find it strange and maybe a bit scary at first but she couldn’t get enough of having her toes in the lapping waves and crawling around in the sand. She managed to eat just one mouthful of sand which I thought was pretty good.

On Easter Sunday Flo put on her Sunday best and went to Easter mass where all the kids got Cadbury’s Creme Eggs at the end of the service. Before we’d even managed to get back to our seat she’d managed to eat at bit of the egg through the foil wrapper.

On Bank holiday Monday my Mum went a bit baking crazy and made two amazing cakes/ deserts. There was a towering Victoria sponge with fresh cream and strawberries and a raspberry and chocolate tart. Mmmmmmm! For quality control I had to sample both of course.

Limbo days

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind mixed with limbo. We had to moved out of our rented accommodation and move in with my parents temporarily while the purchasing of our first flat hopefully goes through. Therefore there was a lot of activity with moving stuff into storage, cleaning our old flat from top to bottom and trying to get the family settled in. Now there’s a bit of a limbo where we don’t know when we’re moving into our new place but we know we’re not staying at my parents for long.

Despite the uncertainty it is nice being back at the house I grew up in, if not a bit odd being there with my husband and daughter. Flo absolutely loves all the attention and constant entertainment, plus with all the good weather she’s having the best time running up and down the garden with her trolley of bricks, stopping very now and again to eat some grass. And yes, that is a hand knitted cardi she's wearing! We also have built in babysitting so have reaped the benefits of being able to have a shower in the morning, getting the odd lie in and occasionally going out together a night! Who’d have thought it?

Crafting has been a little on hold during the move, although I have finished a mystery project which I will reveal hopefully next week once it has been received by its lucky(?) recipient.

I have been working on a lacy blue summer top, which is making progress but I haven’t taken any pictures of yet to share with you. I promise to do so soon.

Sadly my class at the Creative Biscuit got cancelled due to a low number of bookings. I think this may have been down to its half term slot, so hopefully we will be able to re-arrange for another more suitable date. In the mean time they do have Craft Month coming up which is run by East London Craft Guerrilla who will be doing a variety of workshops along with an exciting sounding Crafternoon Grand Finale on the 27^th May. I think I might try to go along to that one.