Renewed, refreshed, recycled... and kind of new.

I may be a little quiet over here in blog-land lately, but I'm still alive... tinkering away at a few new ideas, following up a few conversations, sleeping a bit, knitting, revamping a few patterns to make them downloadable pdfs...

 

 The Belle was originally written in 2005.  Unlike most of my other patterns, it hadn't been tweaked since it was released.  

Although it was heartening to see how much my pattern-writing skills have improved since then, and how much I've improved my methods, it was a can of worms, once I opened it up and started fixing things. There were mutterings about whose idea it was to go poking around in old patterns, anyway.

I pretty-much rewrote the whole thing.  I took new photos.  I made it better, faster, stronger....

 

I had some fabulous pattern-testers test it for me.  You can see the results of Anna's pattern-testing here.

I'm thinking the Belle would make a really good carry-bag for crochet or circular-knitting projects. (This is possibly because I'm a bit obsessed with all things yarn right now, and I seem to look at everything with a view to its ability to carry crochet or circular-knitting projects....)
 

In other revamping news, Melbourne has turned cold, cold, cold.... and the girleen and I are rarely seen outdoors without a beret.   Both the adults and kids berets are available as a pdf or as a paper pattern now.  I love making berets - instant-gratification sewing for instant-glamour and snuggly warmth.  Satisfaction all 'round.

The girleen hasn't stood still long enough for me to photograph her in the current favourite (which is the blue wool one I made when I revamped the pattern instructions), so I dug out some of the original photos ....awwww......my little pre-school girl.... 

 

 And in between there are edits and rewrites, and plans for new patterns....

 

There are also a few new dates scheduled for classes in my Northcote studio, and a few dates in Addicted to Fabric in Canberra.  Do come!

 

And in between that, I'm knitting.

 

 

 

 

 

Kid Stuff

Oh, the cuteness of this Aunt Lindy's Paper Dolls fabric.... I'm in lurve.It inspires all manner of cutesy-wutsey bags and hats for littlies. I made my Small Tote and Kids Hats patterns up in a patchworky mix-and-match style. Tonight, I was trying to beat the fading daylight to finish and photograph these (no time for a final press)....but the light beat me.

Yes, things look better with a bit of a press and proper lighting.... see? (I'll have to press and re-shoot this one).Earlier in the week, I'd made the winter kiddie set, using the Kids Beret and the shorter version of the Small Tote (a variation included in the Small Tote pattern) in pinwale corduroy. And I discovered a new page-load craft.... Kanzashi flowers! (Previously, they'd only been TV craft).

Kids' Berets....and...errr.. photographing kids.

A spot of quiet button-sorting looked like an opportunity too good to miss.
ACTION TRIPOD!..... and VOILA! Photos for my new Kids' Beret pattern!

Like the adult version, the kid's beret comes in three sizes (to fit headsize 50cm-56cm) and three crown depths.

They can be jazzed-up with all manner of simple embellishments and are super-quick to make.
Unfortunately the photo shoot was short-lived before it became necessary (?) to sit on the table and poke silly faces anytime a camera was pointed in that direction.

Luckily, I'd previously borrowed other people's children for a fitting and crown-proportion check.

...and taken a few quick snaps before I gave the berets to the kids.
So it's here and ready to order.

And I heartily endorse the wisdom in that old saying about animals and children.