Thursday 16 February 2012

Tutorial - knitted hairband


Hi all! Today, I'm going to show you how to make a knitted hairband with corsage. The skills required for this project are casting on, knitting, purling, Kf&b (knit into the front and the back), K2tog (knit two together) and casting off.
 
Hairband
Using 4mm needles and pretty much any wool you like (although I wouldn't recommend anything overly chunky), cast on 76 stitches.

First row - knit in rib K2 p2
Next row - P2 k2 - repeat these two rows twice more until you have 6 rows 
 
Knit in straight stitch for 8 rows (knit one row, purl one row)

Knit in rib - K2 P2 for 6 rows
cast off in rib (I forgot to, that's why the top looks strange), then sew up the seam.


Corsage
Small [medium:large] petals - make two of each size
cast on 3 [3:4] stitches and purl one row.
Kf&b 1[2:2] times, k2 [1:2], then purl 1 row
Kf&b twice, k2[3:4]
work 9[11:13] rows in straight stitch, starting with a purl row
K2tog 1[2:2] times, knit 2[3:4], purl one row
K2tog 1[2:2] times, k2[1:2], purl one row
Bind off, leave a long end for sewing up.

Take a small petal, thread the long yarn end onto a large needle and use it to gather the straight edge with a running stitch. Curl the petal around itself with the straight stitch side facing inwards and secure with a few stitches. Gather the second small petal in the same way, curl around the first petal and sew them together at the base. Continue to build up the rose with the two medium and the two large petals, overlapping them. Sew onto the side of the hairband.

The pattern for the corsage is from Knitted accessories by Claire Crompton, which I use regularly for scarf, hat, and mitten patterns, as they are very easy to alter. I made up the hairband pattern myself.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Pretty things

Pretty 1920s vintage wedding dress

Pretty cool breakfast club print!

Pretty bunny ring-dish

Pretty print

Pretty awesome rabbit teapot

Loving all things "His and hers" at the moment


Pretty french bar

Pretty tasty tea-chart

Pretty wedding sampler

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Happy Valentine's day!

Valentine's greetings to all - with Lorne sausage (or as Will has dubbed it, squasage)! With other loveliness to follow...
My Valentine's day present from Will :)



Mostly eaten chocolates
The theme to Jeeves and Wooster is wonderful! So jazzy 
We are heading to the Forth for the evening meal - they serve the most wonderful food! And lovely warm cider in the winter months.
What are you doing today?

Wednesday 8 February 2012

New beginnings

So my lovely chum and ex-flatmate Ellie came to visit today in order to interview for a job, which she has been offered! Very excited, as it means she'll be moving back to Newcastle - huzzah! We went for anticipatory lunch...


At this really cute place just round the corner called "Teasy does it" - their credit crunch menu is awesome, they do cup o soup and sandwich for £3 and egg with toast soldiers for £1.50! I think I know where I'll be going over the next few months...

Then when the job was actually offered we had celebratory red velvet whoopie pies - first time I've ever tried making them... they turned out pretty well but a bit giant!
So congrats again to Ellie for interviewing so well and getting an awesome-sounding job :)

Also, check out her very excellent comic which features yours truly at some points!

Monday 6 February 2012

Weekend of delights

Had the most lovely time this weekend - basically spent the whole of Saturday in bed, followed by yummy brunch...
Salmon, leeks and eggs on a toasted muffin with a big mug o' tea



Sunday consisted of a visit to Tynemouth Market, hot chocolate at my friend Gareth's shop and a walk on the beach...











Here are some of the things I got at the market...

Good biscuit tin perhaps?

The innards of said tin
If anyone could tell me what any of these are, it would be interesting to know!

The highly medical "poking-stick"

Leather pouch of illness!
Will made an awesome curry for tea :)



What did you guys do this weekend?

Thursday 2 February 2012

Ballet!

Went to my first-ever ballet class with Rhona today (after several cups of tea and a couple of scones) and it was so lovely! I've never done anything like ballet before, although nearly everyone I spoke to about it said something along the lines of "Oh I did it when I was little. For about 10 years actually. But I was rubbish!" - not the most encouraging thing to hear. But it was very relaxed and elegant - I don't think my own hands have ever looked so graceful! Coming back home, I was inspired to look into the multitude of ballet-themed art and beautiful photography...




Degas' work in particular is very good at illustrating how beautiful dancers are - and look at this wonderful dress on 1920s dancer Cynthia Gregory...
I really enjoyed Black Swan when it came out last year, but I suspect it was for all the wrong reasons - I found the dancing extremely beautiful, and the way the lives of the ballerinas were portrayed was fascinating - if not particularly healthy. And the beautiful costumes - especially the two swans that Natalie Portman wears at the end - just make it an outstanding visual piece of work. I found this poster for it...


Which I thought was rather interesting.

Another aspect of this interest in ballet is it makes me want to dress up in big poofy skirts and ballet flats and the like. But I couldn't want anything more than this skirt. Too lovely for words.