Spontaneous Lace Pattern Top

A reversable garment, with an irregular pattern.

I started with a simple, square, shape.

Then created lace holes at whim in front of my knitting machine.

Just a bit of fun I had testing out my skills after being away from a knitting machine for a few years.

I enjoyed it.

I want to do more.

MY KNITWEAR IS A FINALIST FOR GRANNIES INC - Please Vote!

I recently designed & knitted a vest for a competition that was being run by eco knitwear label Grannies Inc and have been so lucky to have been selected as one of the ten finalists!

All the chosen designs are currently online for the public to vote on;

you can see mine & vote for it here 

and view the other contestants here

I am absolutely elated to have been chosen as a finalist! It really is a wonderful feeling.  There are some great other designs on the website; so let's see what happens!

All the vests will be appearing in two pop-up catwalks next week (details below).  

However; possibly the most exciting part of the competition is that once the winner has been chosen, Grannies Inc are going to be attending a meeting to pitch the design to

the buyers of London's famous Liberty's store!

Here are some photographs I took myself of the vest before I entered it.  They don't show the shade of the top off to it's true potential which is a shame; however the image on Grannies Inc website is perfect and they will also be adding some higer-quality photography of all the finalists' vests very soon!

 So please; if you can spare a minute to rate my knitting; you never know where you may be seeing it for sale in the future...!

 

For now though, come along to the catwalks on Thursday 30th June, Brixton Village from 7pm (catwalks at 7.30 & 9pm) and also on Sunday 3rd July, London Fields from noon (catwalk shows on the hour, every hour).

Many thanks from a very, very, ecstatic Laura!

Buy Bike Chain Earrings Online

Mechanical & beautiful.

All of these and a few more, are finally available to purchase on my Etsy store:

All the earrings are handmade by me, all from genuinely recycled bicycle chains I gather from the bins of local bike shops and spend the time cleaning and disecting to recreate them into lovely little designs for cyclists & civilians alike to enjoy!
There are a lot more designs which I make and sell; these shall be appearing online over the next few weeks. Please bear with me on this; I am currently under a pile of knitting and present making.

Go buy some here

More Crochet Progress

Here is a little something I knocked up in my lunch break last week: See the resemeblence to the one in the book? I think I'm starting to really like this crochet malarky!

Skully Potholder

This is a potholder I knitted as a house warming present for a friend of mine; I adapted a free knitting pattern for a dishcloth I found on Ravelry that created the skull shape by simply switching between knit and purl at the right time. Instead of changing stitch I changed colour; then reversed the row and colours on the flip side.

To finish I crocheted a hoop so it could be hung. I find double knitting projects really satisfying not only whilst working on but also the chunkier feel to the fabric when they are complete.
Many thanks to Dee Brown for listing this pattern for free on Ravelry!

Machine Knit Bows

My first attempt at using the hold function of my knitting machine to create a simple bow.

...Shortly followed by my second attempt.
...And a few more! I think they look great as a sequence and bring enough detail to a simple and therefore quick knitted garment.

Simple Eats

Flour + Water = Base

Courgettes + Soy cream x herbs = Topping

Bake & top with homemade salsa.... Nice

Charity Shop 'Cat' Wool

I popped over to my local Salvation Army charity shop today and managed to bag myself 5 (100g) balls of this beautiful, chunky, rusty brown wool for only £4 - that's 80p a ball!

For some reason I only took half of what the shop had... I will return tomorrow and right this wrong of mine as I know I need it all. Seriously.

The wool is called 'Lana Gatto' and it has THE BEST BALLBAND EVER! Check out the crazed cat (I wondered for a minute what type of yarn it was when I saw that). It's obviously an Italian brand, however the lambswool content is English,(well, 'Old English' to quote the label) and is combined with acrylic, 50/50, so the best of both worlds (warmth + washable woolies). I would love to know what this label/name is all about!

Unfortunately my photographs are not doing the colour of this wool justice, but when some new knits are made of it I will of course post them up for all to see. I'm extremely happy with my new stash, I'm thinking up a nice knitted rusty jumper. I hope the cat approves...