King Winter

I'm most pleased to introduce 'King Winter' to you.

 

I made this little regal fellow at a workshop run by the ever talented Miriam www.juulsbellybutton.blogspot.com which I attended last weekend.  Made from 100% natural materials, the head is sewn in a similar way to a small Waldorf doll, the body needlefelted from wool roving.  His clothing is made from wool felt, and his flamboyant facial hair from unspun sheeps wool .  I love the 'icy' dye of the wool cloak, I didn't do it, but Miriam said that you could do it yourself by applying dye with scrunched up flypaper.  Sounds fun, I must try it sometime.

And here he is making our winter nature table look rather more impressive.

It's all rather ironic, having a winter nature table centred around snow and ice, when its been the mildest, wettest of winters here.  

We are far more accustomed to this of late (view of Lions Gate Bridge if you can just about glimpse it through the mist)

 
 
 
  

People will always need Plates

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday that the designer of the fab VW camper van dungarees is a company called 'People will always need Plates'.

http://www.peoplewillalwaysneedplates.co.uk/index.html

They do some great stuff with London architecture, like the 'Trellick Tower' designs.

Almost makes me homesick for London....

We Heart Clothkits

I'm so relieved.  After a week of thinking my camera was kaput, I finally figured out how to restore the settings and its all fine.  No more yellow, overexposed pics.  Note to self: read the manual and get to know my camera better. 

 Today I am loving these new dungarees, or 'overalls' as they say in these parts, which I made for Beth from a kit from Clothkits, complete with VW camper van and London taxi!  I've made a few things from Clothkits but these are my fave so far.  In the pipeline is a padded 'farm jacket' which is reprinted from the original 70's pattern, which I'm going to try to get finished for Boo's birthday. 

 

 

 

 

This morning we headed downtown to Dressew, a crazy sewing shop which is just so exciting to look around.  I'd have been in there hours if I hadn't have had Boo with me, though to give the girl credit, she is a haberdashery-lover after my own heart.

Boo always loves the jaunt across the sea on the Seabus.  

 

 

All a bit grey today but still beautiful.
 
 
  
 
 
 
 

Down on the farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maplewood Farm, North Vancouover  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Head Honcho Poncho

Finally, here she is, in her 'Head Honcho Poncho' (from Zoe Mellor's 'Nursery Knits' book)

 

It's not quite as big as I was hoping (and the lady's going through a growth spurt) but I hope she'll be wearing it for a good while yet, until it starts to look a bit silly!

For those of you that might be interested, I knitted it using Cascades 220 Yarn, 5 different coloured skeins.  It was a heavier weight than the pattern called for but I used the same size needles so it just knitted up a bit denser... and warmer.  My mum gets the credit for the neck as I went into panic mode when the pattern didn't match the picture.

 

 

The hat was a 50c thrift store find. 
 
 
  
 

... and Poppy too

Today, I wanted to show you a picture of my sweet little lady in her new mama-made poncho.  Took so long because I got stuck when the pattern didn't appear to match the picture, and so held onto finishing it until my mama could help out during our English christmas.  Then I had to buy the buttons.  All in all its been a good while, and I'm excited it's finally finished.  But would she keep it on?  Sadly, not.  I'm hoping she might agree to love it tomorrow, but for now, I'll have to be satisfied with showing you a picture of Poppy, Boo's waldorf doll that I made last year, in her new winter outfit.

 

I went for it and just knitted up the jumper in 4 rectangles, trying to get the right measurements for Poppy.  So I'm pretty chuffed it fits so well, and I think I'm pretty pleased as it's the first thing I've ever made without using a pattern.  I'm glad I made the neck so wide because she has a big old head!

I'm currently being inspired by a book called Knit2together by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark. Yes, that Tracey Ullmann, known to us Brits for her early days on the beeb in 'Four of a Kind' (think that's the right title...) before she disappeared off our screens to the states.  She's funny and she's a big knitter.  I'm inspired mostly because she relates her tale of never being able to get beyond a scarf for many years, until she decided to really 'take on' knitting (she did get lessons) and became, as she puts it, an 'intrepid' knitter.  I am beyond the scarf stage, but I have definitely had 'the fear' of 'difficult patterns' and have been holding myself back.  Well, Tracey has encouraged me to let go of that fear, go for it and have fun. So I've just used circular and double pointed needles for the first time (easy peasy lemon squeezy)(not showing the results as its a present.. shhh!) and I'm looking for a fancy pattern to knit next. 
 

This year we have mostly been...

...expressing our thanks

 

...catching up on some zzs

...doing a spot of making

 

this is the first yarn doll I've made, using the very simple instructions found on wikihow.  Some other instructions involve making felt heads/clothing, but I wanted to keep it simple.  I'll make some more and perhaps explore this, however.

...admiring the cutest granny-knitted hat and gloves

 

...dishing up some dinners for our feathered friends

 

...surveying the garden in the respite between days of rain 

 

 

... and hosting walnut tea parties

 

 My main focus for this new year is to establish more of a rhythm to our days and weeks, as both Boo and I have found it hard to come back to a life with little structure after our busy England trip.  And I have become frustrated of late, seemingly never having time to work on my children's book writing/illustration, which is what I keep saying I want to do.  So herewith you will find me getting organised and disciplined with my precious time.
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 

Early rising, 2010

Good morning and happy 2010!  We hit the sack at 7.30pm last night, overwhelmed by jetlag and exhaustion following our trip.  We all awoke at midnight as the fireworks went off in Vancouver, then settled back to sleep until 4am.  Now I am watching the first daylight of 2010 appear as the rain drums down upon our kitchen skylight.  

 

 

 

 

 

The pics are from this year's 'Bright Nights' in Stanley Park.

May you have a healthy, playful and creative 2010!