Knitted vest

It's turned pretty chilly here in Umbria so luckily I've just finished this cosy cardigan to keep my wee one warm. The pattern is 'Plain Vest' from Pickles. It was really easy and quick to knit and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It's the first time I've knitted an actual garment (apart from scarves!) so I'm quite proud of myself!

I think Alba likes it!

Hand-knitted jumper from mum x x

One of my favourite presents I received this Christmas was a beautiful hand-knitted jumper from my mum. It's made from a Rowan pattern in their 100% pure wool Scottish Tweed yearn. It's soooo cosy! Thank you mummy!! x x

Getting Knitty

The days are getting colder and the nights are drawing in, it's time to get my knitting needles out again. I like nothing more than knitting by the fire with a steaming mug of my aunt-in-laws homemade laurel tea.

I learned how to knit when I was about 8 years old and my skills haven't really progressed since then! I've only ever managed to knit things like this simple cowl..........

........or these very basic fingerless gloves.

I've never actually followed a knitting pattern, all those abbreviations scare me a bit (k2tog, psso, sk2p - what do they all mean???) However, if I'm going to succeed in my Challenge of the Utmost Kind, I decided that I need to work on improving my knitting skills so I can make myself something a bit more useful than gloves with no fingers!

So, I searched online to come up with an easy pattern I could follow. I thought I'd start with something really simple and work my way up. I came up with a dead easy pattern for slipper socks and at the weekend I completed the first one using wool which some friends gave me for my birthday almost a year ago.

It's a bit of a funny shape as I didn't have the right kind of wool or the right size of needles. However, it's cosy and comfy and I think very 'chic' in the granny way. Now, I just have to knit the other one..........

A Crafty Family (comes in handy when planning a wedding!)

While I was back in Scotland during the Easter holidays I spent some lovely time crafting with my mum and my little sister. I enjoy nothing more than sitting with them by the fire, drinking cups of tea (or g&t!), each of us busy with some little project or other. My mum always has several projects on the go and recently quite a few of these have been wedding related. She's busy making yards and yards of bunting and she's also making my little flower girl's dress. She even managed to whip me up these pretty hand knitted dish cloths. I don't know where she finds the time! They're far too pretty to use for washing dishes so at the moment they're carefully stored away in my 'bottom drawer' ready for when we have a kitchen to use them in!

My little sister, Loulou is a design student studying constructed textiles at Heriot Watt Uni so she gets to spend her time crafting and calls it work! I love looking through all of her sketch books and seeing all the things that she makes. I've got her working on a couple of things for the wedding too.

The only thing missing from these crafty sessions is my big sister who lives with her family in Perth, Australia. However, she'll be back in Scotland for 6 weeks before the wedding so plenty of time for her to get involved in the wedding craftiness. She makes lovely hand-made gift cards so I have her lined up for making programmes, place cards, menus etc. It's handy having such a crafty family!

Have a happy weekend everyone xx

Spending Hiatus Conclusion

My 7 week spending hiatus ended on the first day of the Easter holidays. I fully intended to go on a mad shopping spree while I was in Scotland as a reward for my efforts. However, once I actually got to the shops I realised I didn't really want to buy anything. There was nothing in particular that I needed and although I saw lots of things that I liked I didn't feel like parting with the cash that I'd been forbidding myself to spend for weeks. In the end I bought a couple of balls of wool and I saw a cardigan I liked in White Stuff which I'm going to try and copy by customising an old cardigan I already own. I also decided that instead of wasting my money buying clothes that I don't really need I'm going to save up for the next few weeks and splash out on a really expensive dress in a simple, classic style that I'll wear for years.

So overall the spending hiatus was a huge success. I didn't actually save that much money as we've had quite a few other necessary expenses these past few months (i.e. large solicitor's fees!). However, the more important outcome is that I've completely changed my shopping habits. I now think more carefully about what I'm buying and ask myself if I really need it or if there's a way I could make something similar myself. I'll definately be repeating the exercise in the future.

Here's a picture of my first unnecessary purchase in 7 weeks. I'm making myself a scarf which is about as much as my limited knitting skills can cope with!