Dorothy Bohm - more inspiration!

Radio 4's Front Row programme last Friday included a feature on photographer Dorothy Bohm. I love art - and particularly photography - but am more than a touch ignorant about it. Anyway, Dorothy Bohm's life story and the way she spoke about observing the world around her was fascinating. I've just had a chance to look up some of her pictures and I'm hooked! I love the kind of photography that builds a picture of the world by capturing the fleeting, seemingly insignificant moments of life. And of course, being a fan of all things vintage, I love her early pictures - did everyone in the 50s and 60s look this cool going about their daily life?


There's an exhibition of her work at the Manchester Art Gallery at the moment, but hopefully it will be touring later in the year.

Right, I'm now off to sit in windows and stand in doorways until someone takes a picture of me!

A change is as good as a rest

We're now all settled back in after our lovely holiday - 2 weeks of no phone signal or Internet access was pretty special, but it's been good to catch up with the world again and especially great to come back to such nice comments about my knitting needle tutorial! Lovely Larissa from UK Handmade posted about the tutorial on the Made in the UK blog on Thursday so I feel proud that I'm maybe helping to bring a little more order to the lives of some UK knitters!!!

The last fortnight has been such a lovely 2 weeks spent with the people I love the best that I thought I'd go off-topic a bit and very briefly share (okay... gloat) about what we've been up to. I know, this is supposed to be a craft blog, but I've decided that time spent in beautiful places with beautiful people comes under the heading of "inspiration"!

Week 1 saw the return of the Warne family to the North Norfolk coast after a sojourn of at least 10 years. I have really happy childhood memories of the area due to massive chunks of the summers spent at my grandparents caravan in West Runton. We had a hectic week spent with Mum, Dad, my brother, sister -in-law and their 2 little ones. Freya was fascinated by her cousins and it was so lovely to see how much they like spending time together. Watching the big boys really bought Freya along and she had a few firsts: first sitting up, first proper chuckle and the not so developmentally significant first chip!

Our troupe of entertainers/terrors

Being back in Norfolk was wonderful. The beauty and unique-ness of the coast and its villages had become a quiet background note for my vivid memories of hours spent teasing every last bit of white meat out of Cromer crabs, reading ancient copies of Readers' Digest in Grandma's caravan on rainy days, taking sneaky sips of Dad's beer on sunny afternoons in the Village Inn. So it was great to be reminded quite how stunning the area is.

Cromer beach

On the craft front it was pretty productive considering the company of 3 mini-people. I worked on 2 more tops for Freya - finishing a stripey sleeved crew neck and made significance progress on an Angel top (my first foray into crocheting garments).

Week 2 was a completely different, but equally wonderful visit to the Isle of Mull with 6 friends. We stayed in a converted fisherman's cottage in the tiny village of Kintra, on the Ross of Mull with the most perfect view of the beach. The weather was on our side all week and we spent our days making the most of the stunning landscape.

Beautiful Mull

Laura, the writer and soon-to-be triathelete amongst us has a much better account of the week on her blog, but for me the
highlights included:

• walks across beautiful heathland to deserted tropical-looking beaches
• a trip to Iona and the most surreal golf game ever played
• an early morning cycle ride along the Ross
• evenings spent talking hilarious rubbish to wonderful friends with the feel of fresh air in the lungs and the warm glow of exercised limbs

Freya turned 6 months while we were there and again this week was full of firsts: first roll from back to front (and once she started, she couldn't stop!), first time in a high chair, first whole banana, first taste of ice-cream and - here's a good one - first night spent sleeping in a bath (in her moses basket I hasten to add!!).

Craft-wise, there was much activity - you can get a lot done in 11 hours of car journey! I finished Freya's crocheted top, and very proud I am of it too. I also made good in-roads into a simple cardi for a friend's imminent baby - I'd forgotten how tiny clothes for new borns are! Julia (creator of Mr Bunny) was my partner-in-craft and she finished the parts for Bunny #3 and then quickly mastered the art of "increasing" with the sleeves of a boat-neck jumper destined for Freya.

Freya's Crocheted Angel top

Julia's Bunny legs

But the craft-related highlight of the week for me was a visit to Ardalanish Isle of Mull Weavers. The others had embarked on a mountain climb which was a little too serious for taking Freya along. We made a little trip to the Ardalanish farm instead and I was massively inspired by the story of this organic farm who started weaving the undyed wool from their Hebridean sheep almost as a side-line. Freya and I were the only visitors to the farm at that time and had a wonderful half hour running our hands over bolts of the most magnificent tweed and admiring the stunning clothing line they have developed - unfortunately, all out of my price range, but I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit and admire the ethos of the farm, summarised by this quote from their website:

"For us the production of Hebridean and other Native Breed Tweeds is a step towards revitalising the traditional industry of weaving whose end product pays tribute to the sheep and the energy used to grow their lustrous wool."

I love the philosophy that we should pay tribute to the natural world with the things we craft from it and the people we craft for.

How to: make a knitting needle roll

Now, I'm not the most tidy of people - particularly when I'm in the middle of a project, but all the knitting I've been doing lately has reminded me how useful it is to have all my needles and other bits and pieces easily accessible and neatly ordered instead of in a Jenga-style jumble at the bottom of a bag. One of the most useful things I have crafted for myself is a knitting needle roll - it helped to make me feel the part when I first started knitting and it's great to be in control and organised of at least a tiny bit of life! I've been meaning to write a how-to for ages. So, here goes - I hope it's easy to follow and helps make you feel like a knitting expert too!

What you need:

• Plain fabric for outside and lining (I used a linen canvas): 1/2 yard /46cm
• Fleece interfacing: 1/2 yard /46cm
• Large patterned fabric (I used vintage barkcloth) for small inner pocket, needle guard and contrast strip on outside: 1/2 yard /46cm
• Contrasting small patterned fabric for large inner pocket: 10"/25cm should be plenty
• Double fold bias binding: 65"/165cm
• Ribbon: 51"/130cm
• Thread to match

Step 1: Cut out the following:

Plain fabric:

• Cut two pieces 16" tall x 15" wide (40.5cm x 38cm) for outside and inside.

Fleece interfacing:

• Cut one piece 16 inches/40.5cm tall and 15 inches/38cm wide

Large patterned fabric:

• Cut one piece 4 1/2 inches/11.5cm tall and 15 inches/38cm wide for small inner pocket
• Cut one piece 4 inches/10cm tall and 15 inches/38cm wide for outside contrast strip
• Cut one piece 3 inches/7.5cm tall and 15 inches/38cm wide for upper needle guard
  

Contrasting small patterned fabric:

• Cut one piece 8 1/2 inches/21.5cm tall and 15 inches/38cm wide for large inner pocket

Now all the pieces are ready, we can get on with the construction. (If you are anything like me, you will have them all laid out in front of you in neat little piles and will be talking to yourself in a Blue Peter fashion... no? Just me then!)

Step 2: Pin the bias binding to the top long edge of the small and large inner pocket pieces and to the bottom edge of the upper needle guard.

Then top stitch the binding in place, using a matching thread.


Step 3: Pin the fleece interlining to the wrong side of the inside piece.


Step 4: Place the large inner pocket on the right side of the inside, making sure the bottom edges line up neatly. Pin around the outside edges to keep pocket in place.

Measure and mark out the lines for stitching the needle pockets using the following intervals:

in inches: | 2 1/2" | 1" | 1 1/2" | 1 1/2" | 1 1/2" | 1 1/2" | 1 1/2" | 1 1/2" | 2 1/2" |
in cm: | 64mm | 25mm | 38mm | 38mm | 38mm | 38mm | 38mm | 38mm | 64mm |


You could use pins to mark out the dividing lines or draw directly onto the fleece on the wrong side.

Carefully stitch along the lines you have marked out, using a contrasting or matching thread. Make sure you reinforce the stitching at the top end of the pocket a couple of times for added strength.

Step 5: Place the small inner pocket on top of the large inner pocket making sure the bottom edges line up neatly. Pin around the outside edges to keep pocket in place.

Measure and mark out the lines for stitching the needle pockets using the following intervals:

in inches: | 3" | 1" | 3" | 1 1/2" | 3" | 1 1/2" | 2 1/2" |
in cm: |76mm | 25mm | 76mm | 38mm | 76mm | 38mm | 64mm |


Carefully stitch along the lines you have marked out, using a contrasting or matching thread, as before.


Step 6: Place the upper needle guard at the top of the inside piece making sure the top edges line up neatly. Pin around the outside edges to keep in place.

Step 7: Turn under and press 1/4" / 6mm along both long edges of the outside contrast strip.

Pin the outside contrast strip to the centre of the right side of the outside piece. Carefully top stitch along the long edges of the outside contrast strip in a contrasting or matching thread to secure in place. To add further decoration, position a strip of ribbon along the centre of the outside contrast strip and top stitch in place using a contrasting thread.



Step 8: Fold the remaining strip of ribbon in half. Position the folded edge of the ribbon against one edge of the outside piece, making sure it lines up with the ribbon on the outside contrast strip, and pin in place.


Step 9: Place the outside and inside pieces on top of each other with right sides facing, and pin together. If you would prefer the corners of your needle roll to be slightly curved, as mine is, I suggest you draw the curve you want on each of the 4 corners as a stitching guide . I used a cotton reel as my template.


Sew along all edges using a 1/2" / 13mm seam allowance, but make sure you leave a sufficient gap in the stitching along one edge for turning.

Trim the seam allowance, clip the corners then turn through the gap in the stitching. Press flat for a nice finish, slip stitch the gap in the edge and voila! - you should now have a gorgeous new needle holder!

Now, place your needles inside and marvel at the wonder of your organised new life!!

New style available - Patricia Overnighter

Finally, I've managed to complete my latest style and am really pleased to be able to reveal... Patricia the Overnight Bag. I'm pretty proud of how she turned out! Featuring a simple patchwork design, I've focused on using a combination of vintage and vintage-style modern fabrics with bold and unusual prints and a variety of textures.

To check out the Patricias and other styles, visit www.madebyloulabelle.folksy.com (prices in UK£) or www.madebyloulabelle.etsy.com (prices in US$).

Knitting latest - the highs and lows!

Last night was the 4th installment of knitting night - aka Knit and Natter (we decided "stitch and bitch" was far too bad-girl for us nice young ladies!). Anyway, I realised I've been making pretty good progress over all and thought I'd share my latest knitting projects.

The matinee jacket is all done and dusted - I'm still not sure why they are called matinee jackets - it's not yet been sported at any matinees but has been worn by Freya with a certain amount of style. I've also finished this cute little short-sleeved lacy cardigan which I'm really pleased with. It looks great on Freya with her turqoise and brown polka-dot leggings - although she was described by someone as looking very "mint choc chip"! Mmmm ice-cream flavoured baby - sounds delicious!!! Here they are displayed in all their glory against the background of one of 4 fabulous vintage pillowcases that my splendid other half found for me on a charity shop hunt.


My current project is now the giant bolero from my earlier post. It's a really simple pattern, but either something to do with the extraordinarily large needles (look at them - it's like knitting with small trees!) or the inordinately expensive wool has meant I've had a few false starts and last night ended in disaster - the natter got in the way of the knitting and I ended up having to undo the whole evening's work. At least with wool this chunky and needles this big it won't take too long to catch up again!

Where did February go?? I wish I could say it disappeared in a blur of romantic Valentine related activities but unfortunately the aroma of baby sick tends to get in the way of romance!

Anyway, I've got a couple of tutorials and a few other posts high up on my to do list, so will be back with a vengeance soon - in the meantime, I wanted to share the good news that my Vintage floral Grace handbag was included in this blog post from Sunday Seamstress.


I'm so flattered as I think her Etsy shop - SewnSunday - is fab too - I particularly love these two purses:

Erin Clutch in Flowering Butterfly

Courtney Clutch in Daisy Dot

Some good news!

We've had a rubbish weekend! I spent all Friday night being sick with a 12 hour stomach bug which scuppered our plans for a special day out to London, Freya has had a cold and to top it all our cars were broken into last night and today was spent negotiating with insurance brokers, police and garages. So, after all the poo, imagine how wonderful it was to find out that my Esther laughing leaf clutches have been included in a Luxury Purchases feature on the Found on Folksy Blog. I feel like I've had a great big hug!! Thank you for cheering me up!