Made for Moot

Where I join the in-crowd

2008-02-19T15:08:00.002Z

Debbie Bliss matinee coat, size 9-12 months, from Baby Cashmerino 2. Grey grosgrain ribbon.

A mere inch or so of yarn left at the end. Started months and months ago, but still big enough to fit a titchy 20-month-old - so she does design for giant babies - except said 20-month-old refuses wear it. Also, it's quite wide in the back, and/or Moot is quite narrow, so the neck opening is a bit floppy, so I might seam it shut by a few centimetres on each side.

I had a long-overdue haircut over the weekend. I thought I would bite the bullet and get a fringe/bangs. As I sat in the chair at the hairdressers, I remembered quite suddenly why I had avoided fringes for close to two decades - I had a fringe for most of my childhood, and it was too short and I looked terrible and I had glasses and I was a geek and none of the boys liked me.

Oh well. I really like it now. Except on leaving the salon, I seem to have walked into a parallel world where almost everyone has a fringe. The teenage girls on the street, half-a-dozen other mothers at playgroup today, the woman who shares my childminder. It's the other side of the haircut looking glass.

The poster on the wall in the background is a composite of drawings from Penguin Dreams, a book illustrated by J Otto Walsh. He's pretty unheard of in the UK, I think, but when we first looked at our house when it came up for sale, the then-owners had the same poster in that spot. So when we moved in, the first thing we did was hang our copy there.

Finally, I leave you with a nice window in a house a couple of streets over. I know lace curtains have had their day in the trend sun, but I like the idea of using a whole tablecloth.

Fever pitch

2008-02-18T13:49:00.004Z

Fever pitch of excitement that is, over the Clothkits revival. Pathetic, but true.

A few pictures are on the website. They also say they are using old designs, and even asking for people to submit pictures of any old designs they might have.

And not only that, but they've got Mister Rob aka Rob Ryan doing designs for the adult clothing.

I can't wait. It's gonna be a Clothkits summer.

Fabric hunt

2008-02-08T15:04:00.001Z

For the past few months, I've been searching for a nice upholstery fabric with which to recover a small armchair for Moot. I was given this task by my mother-in-law, who plans on doing the recovering in her upholstery class.

My main problem has been not wanting to travel into central London to look at fabric samples - I'm usually too tired after work, and I don't feel the need to attempt an hour's browsing with Moot in tow and that after an hour on public transport.

At first, I had in my mind a deep raspberry red linen, then I decided that it was too girly, and bid on some short lengths on ebay, but got outbid every time.

Then I remembered a nice fabric company I'd seen, Elanbach, based in Wales. Some of the prints are drab, some are lovely. I was particularly keen on this one.

But after paying for a fist-full of samples, I found out that it wasn't heavy enough.

Then I decided to try finding some funky fabric from GP & J Baker. I had a chair an old chair of my mother's covered in some of their fabric, bought on eBay.

Bid on some, lost.

Then I thought, why not try Marimekko? They have nice, modern prints that will contrast nicely with the dark wood and classic shape of the chair. My heart skipped a beat when I saw this fabric on their website, sold online here.

It's fresh and graphic, with a hand-drawn quality that I love. But not upholstery weight.

Then I read an article about Celia Birtwell in a paper, and remembered that I'd looked up her fabrics when hunting for fabric for the armchair. There are some lovely fabrics on her website, but the only ones that are suitable are from her Jacobean collection, and even they are not particularly hard-wearing, according to the woman who answered the phone in the shop. And they are not my favourites.

Last time I was in Liberty, oh, about a year ago it feels, they were still stocking some fantastic and fantastically expensive Svenskt Tenn fabric - about 70 quid a metre and up, and we need two metres. And the scale is wrong on some of them, the designs are too big.

These are great, among many others.

And do you recognise this? I bought some Japanese fabric just like it from kitty craft last year.

I think this is my favourite. A steal at about 55 quid a metre. Ha.

So, besides sharing my so-called fabric woes, the point of this is to ask if any of you have some top upholstery fabric ideas up your sleeves!

Catch-up

2008-02-04T21:37:00.001Z

Some crafted items made a couple of months ago finally got to meet their new owner. Much wanted, and much admired for her cuteness, baby Dora was born last week, and has a nifty baby hat, a booties and mittens set, and a nappy changing mat which will eventually replace the travel nappy changing mat her parents have which will, eventually, inevitably, crack and tear.

Here I have to say that her parents thought the mittens were booties (if you are confused, too, the mittens are on the left in the picture). Once, I knit my sister some fingerless mittens/cuffs and she thought they were legwarmers but was too polite to say that she couldn't get them over her feet.

The change mat pattern is this one from Amy Butler. I've made the change bag, but there's nothing that will ever, ever convince me to make a separate drawstring bag for a changing mat.

The mits and booties are from Claire Montgomery's Easy Baby Knits. I like how the booties have tight ribbing. They don't look as dainty as booties with straps, but at least they will stay on baby feet. There's a pattern for a knitted mobile in that book, how cool is that?

Also knitted a few months ago, a chic beret for Moot.

It's the pompom beret from Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby. I've read people complaining about Debbie Bliss's "giant baby sizing", but I found this hat came out rather small. Or Moot has a giant head. Possible, considering what a genius she is. (That's a joke.) Maybe I should consider swatching.

With my knitting spark firmly relighted, thanks to Ravelry, I'm making good progress towards finishing a sweater for Moot which has been on the needles for months and months. Can I say again how much I love Ravelry? I love seeing what other people have knitted from pattern books I have. And I'm thinking about thinking about knitting socks.

I have have two more projects waiting to cast on. The first will be a wedding present for my cousin's wife-to-be, Rowan's Birch, from fall/winter 2003, using some Blue Sky alpaca. I tried knitting it a few years ago, but didn't get on with the prescribed Rowan Kidsilk Haze.

The second project is another Debbie Bliss cardigan for Moot. I'll spare you which one for now, I think you should be Debbie Bliss-ed out by now.

Finally, a thank-you to Fanja from Le Train Fantome for making my week the other day, by mentioning that Clothkits is relaunching this month.

I've blogged about some Clothkit overalls my mother-in-law passed down to us. She's got a girl's hat and a dress, too, from the 1970s, but she's holding onto those for her daughter. It spurred me on to eBay, where the Clothkit pickings are slim, but a few months ago I won this, a fantastic changing bag.

I particularly like the missed register. Moot likes the cat.

I used it as a change bag for about, oh, an hour before deciding it was too precious, and it's now waiting for me to get my act together to hang on the wall in Moot's room (away from direct light, away from direct light!).

Catharsis

2008-01-16T21:11:00.000Z

Well, maybe not quite catharsis, but I have finished off a couple of long-term WIPs.

First off was a baby hat I started for one of twins who are now three. Ahem. It will now go to a baby due in a couple of weeks. It looks complicated, but it's very easy to knit and the pattern is free. I've uploaded the photo to my Ravelry account - yes, Raverly... it's bliss... and has been a huge knitting inspiration for me recently.

And if you are hesistating about putting your name on the list for an invitation, you should know that mine came in just a couple of weeks.

The other project was one of Moot's Christmas present, a doll adapted from a Ragedy Ann pattern.

I tried to make the apron and dress less fussy, but I need to try again. I would like to make something like this outfit of Lyra's from the film of The Golden Compass. Loved the book, loathed the film, by the way, except for the knitwear and costumes. I have not wanted to walk out of a film before the end so badly since... Con Air? Yeah, it was bad.

It's the first doll I've ever made, and I made up the hair as I went along, with some old Rowan Magpie.

She's called Nancy, apparently, or so my mother-in-law says.

Why not.

Please excuse me, I have to make join Moot's dad and mock a Steven Segal movie on TV.

From my family to yours

2007-12-26T11:26:00.000Z

Reluctantly acknowledging Christmas

2007-11-30T14:47:00.001Z

I was looking for some easy crafting satisfaction a couple of nights ago, at which point I remembered something I had told myself I would definitely, absolutely do this year.

A giant hankie for everyone in my family! Ha! No, not really.

It's a furoshiki. I don't want to sound Japan-obsessed, but it's a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth. I first read about them on a blog a couple of years ago, so apologies if you've seen them before.

I think they're a lovely way of avoiding using wrapping paper while simultaneously ridding yourself of quantities of fabric you don't know what to do with and don't like so much anymore. That said, I do like the fabric I used for this one, from Rowan, bought at a Liberty sale.

I made it 27"x27", sort of. It's a bit wonky because I wasn't too precise in my measuring or sewing, but that doesn't make much difference to the wrapping. They traditionally come in two sizes, but I think you could make them any size you wanted.

You can see some of the different ways of folding them here, which would also make a lovely poster, I think.

Cheer yourself up with chiri-men!

2007-11-28T09:40:00.001Z

I posted ages ago about the Chiri-men Craft Museum in Kyoto. I couldn't find the website for it then, but have finally stumbled upon it.

These are the hanging mobiles I fell in love with, but in a fit of misguided restraint, decided not to buy. Each of the strands is a string of little animals and shapes made of chiri-men silk - a traditional fabric to Kyoto, which is textured like crepe. I think they are for babies, but I'm not sure.

You can explore the website to see what else they do, but I was particularly taken by this autumnal scene with the king of the cute fall animals, the squirrel.

I'm not a huge fan of seasonal decorations, but this is irresistible, and I am excited to see what they have for Christmas.

There are lots of pictures of chiri-men objects from the store on flickr, here. A lot of Japanese "cute" stuff feels a bit old these days, but I can't get enough of these.

In other excited news, I have the day off work and the baby's at the childminder's, so I plan to spend the day planning what crafting to do next. I might even post twice in one day...

2007-11-12T22:11:00.000Z

I recently made this hat, from Amy Karol's Bend-The-Rules Sewing. I had a purple sweater, which I had felted, neatly folded away, and it was perfect for the job - and matches the hat in the book.

The pattern calls for a flower embellishment made out of felt, but I opted instead for a fabric flower with a pair of green buttons in the middle.

As for the finished item... it's lovely, but I'm having trouble convincing Moot that it's suitable as a piece of clothing. To get these pictures, I had to let her play in spice drawer in the kitchen.

Two seconds later, the hat was on the floor.

Music to work to

2007-11-11T19:23:00.000Z

Am I the last one to have heard of Alela Diane or am I ahead of the crowd? Not sure about the video, but it's a fantastic song.

Omigod I'm blogging!

2007-11-10T20:04:00.001Z

While I have maintained radio silence for a very long time, I have not been idle.

The most recent bit of crafting has been a top for Moot, pattern L from this book. It's too big for now, but should be just fine by the spring. I think I copied the pattern slightly wrong, but managed to make something presentable after

The fabric and Nani Iro bias tape are my only-ever superbuzzy purchases. The heart button, which is sewed wrong-side up, was a gift from my mother but has a check pattern on the right side.

The crochet cherries come from Le Bon Marche in Paris, which has a branch of La Droguerie on the top floor.

La Droguerie operates a mind-bogglingly ancient style of customer service, whereby you write your name down in a book, and when the mood takes her, a shop assistant will call your name (always prefixed with Madame) and then stroppily take you round the shop, putting what you want in a tray - no touching! - wrapping it up and then passing it on to another grumpy woman who then tells you how much you have to pay. It's too Parisian for words. I dared to ask whether they had safety pins with a rounded end, and I was left in no doubt that it was the stupidest question I could have ever asked.

On the plus side, La Droguerie have nice buttons, four of which were used to perk up this cardigan I found in a charity shop for 50P, discarded because it had been shrunk and felted in the wash. It fits Moot perfectly.

And I got to scan their Citronille catalogue. I saw a book in a Fnac which has Citronille patterns, but I was too well behaved to use a nail to slit open the plastic wrapping and peek inside.

It's 8.54pm, the dishes haven't been done and I haven't had dinner, so I will leave for next time the story of the amazing bag of patterns I found on the street...

for anne

2007-11-05T21:24:00.000Z

Apologies if you did not grow up in North America.

The Yip-yips:

My personal favourite:

Pictures of some proper crafting soon.

One word for you...

2007-05-25T10:17:00.000+01:00

Isn't the weather glorious? I can't believe it's supposed to get cold again, we've been having such a lovely time in the garden, tidying it up, sowing tomatoes and introducing Moot to her paddling pool. Don't let The Pout fool you, she likes it.

It's been a really, really busy month. Lots of travelling - France, Canada and Italy - and trying to sort out things in the house while simultaneously doing lots of fretting about going back to work next month. Yup, the party comes to an end mid-June, but frankly I'm an ungrateful sod to be complaining. I'll be doing just two (albeit very long) days a week, and Moot with be with a great childminder who lives literally across the road.

All this has left little time for crafting. My sister's dress is cut out but otherwise untouched. I've started knitting a red sweater for Moot, but I'm not even half-way through the back, and other knitting projects have been abandoned.

Now for the 'one word' of the post title... Gocco! Yes, Gocco. Since we have no room for a table-top letterpress, my sweetie got me a Gocco for my birthday. Sigh. It's lovely. I have a gazillion card ideas stewing in my head, waiting for... the rest of the kit to turn up. The bulbs, screens and inks haven't arrived yet.

So, another word: patience.

An explained absence, and more baby-ness

2007-04-09T20:55:00.000+01:00

Oh my, it has been another long, long time. The past month has passed in a flash, with more illness (me), travel (France for Moot and me, Africa for her dad) and general busy-ness.

There has been some crafting, however. Mostly cutting up bits of fabric for various projects.

The wip that needs to be transformed into a finished item is a baby quilt and ball set for my step-brother's newest daughter, born last night! No name yet, and worst of all, no pictures. They live in North America, so I need pictures.

Back to the quilt. It's my first, and it's made from old linen napkins, bought as a lot from eBay and cheap as chips. I love the way the white squares bounce off each other, with damask shinyness and cotton crispiness. I wish it was easier to get that across in a picture. The backing fabric is an old Amy Butler print. I am at the point of sewing the binding, which is really just the backing fabric folder over and slipstitched in place. When her parents come up with a name, I'd like to embroider it on the top somewhere.

The ball was great fun to make. The fabrics are a mix of my stash and my grandmother's stash. They were pieced together using the English method, with thick paper. I really enjoyed the hand sewing, making careful tiny stitches.

Then I stuffed it with wool and - a bell. Both were from Myriad. I can't recommend the stuffing wool enough, it came in a huge fluffy bushell, and I had to rip bits off to poke into the ball. The ball isn't exactly round, but it tinkles so I don't think this new baby will mind.

Next on the list are summer clothes for Moot from this book, a dress for me, and first in line, a Girlie Dress for my sister out of this fabric.

Oh, and another thing that has been making us fidgety is my regular fantasy of selling up and moving to the Gulf Islands in western Canada. Not helped by bad habit of browsing estate agents and finding this little piece of paradise. One day, one day...

Nursery pictures, and a birthday present

2007-03-11T11:29:00.000Z

Some more shots of Moot's room, on a beautifully sunny, spring-like morning.

The rabbits on a string in the top picture come from possibly my favourite store in the whole world, the Chiri-men Craft Museum in Kyoto. No website proper, but you can read about it here. Seriously, it is one of my greatest shopping regrets that we didn't buy one of the large red hoops with hanging hina dolls.

The curtain fabric is 2D-Zoo, from Reprodepot. I though it was a Robert Kaufman, but I can't find it on their website.

There's been some crafting, but not a lot of picture taking. The baby blanket has been finished, wrapped and is ready to post, along with some appliqued onesies - a bunny shape, a bear shape and a pea pod. No pictures of those, but I have to make some more, and will photograph them.

We are going to a first birthday party this afternoon, so last night saw some hurried sewing and embroidery. I'm really pleased with the top, just don't look too closely at some of the sloppy sewing...

It's for a sweet little girl called Willow. I embroidered her name into the inside of the neckline, because she probably needs her clothes labelled at nursery, and there's a loop of fabric on the outside of the neck, handy for hanging it up.

I really want to make one for Moot, now. I look the ecolier look of the fabric. I think it might be perfect for some mother-daughter matchy-ness.

Swap goodies

2007-02-26T21:18:00.000Z

I owe a huge thank-you and apology to Rebecca at An Irish Craftworker's Good Life. She sent me some lovely fabric as part of Flib's January swap, and I am very, very late in posting about it.

Along with the fabric, she sent me a sweet print from a linocut she blogged about, and a delicate felt star. Thanks Rebecca!

Current obsessions

2007-02-21T15:27:00.000Z

Thanks for your kind comments on my bad-mood post. I'm still in my own little blargh-world, but at least outside the sun is shining, right?

This week's excuses for avoiding blogging are:

:: Some much needed home decorating.

We finally painted the baby's room and moved her in early last week. We are all sleeping much better, now that I'm not waking her up with my hacking cough, and she's not keeping us awake with her sleepy mutterings. It's thoroughly predictable, but I had to make her some bunting. It was one of the many projects earmarked for the two weeks after her due date, when I was to be impatient for her to arrive, as all first babies are late, and would need to keep busy. Like so many things involving parenthood and babies, the plan didn't go according to plan. Anyway, I'm very pleased with the bunting, which was super-easy to make, and I look at it obsessively during nursing sessions.

The hen mobile - christened the "dream hen" by her father, she lays eggs that help Moot have sweet dreams - is from Danish Design. We also bought her the swallows mobile, which hangs over her changing table. She has a lot of mobiles.

The bumper around the cot, which I made last year, is still bare. I am procrastinating on that project - I want to applique egg shapes on it, and maybe a hen or two. I need to get some of that double-sided fusible interfacing stuff.

Her room is quite bare at the moment, and while we have some pictures to put up, and a lovely embroidered panel I bought in Mexico a few years ago, I am enjoying the sparseness.

:: More sickness, only this time worse. Moot had a bad cold and a fever. It's the first time she's really been ill, and it was quite sad to see. We were in hospital earlier this week (see next item on the list) and apparently it's a bug that's been doing the rounds.

:: More useless fretting about the baby's weight. She is probably what is considered underweight, and we have regular check-ups in hospital for the purpose of monitoring her, and driving me mad. It's incredibly frustrating - she just doesn't have a big appetite. No matter how much milk or food she is offered, she only takes what she wants, and that seems to be not very much. And she is a perfectly healthy baby. Just small. I hate these appointments, because they turn her weight and food into an "issue", which I really want to avoid. And I worry about her being so small, like any mother would. Anyway, it usually takes about a week, and then I get over it.

:: Stash re-arranging, from a messy corner of the living room to an ottoman and chest of drawers in the bedroom. Now I can read pattern books and finger fabrics from the comfort of my bed. Is that worse than reading cookbooks in bed?

Another obsession of the post title.

I made this dress for her a while ago, her father drew the outline of the duck so I guess it was a collaboration, really. I try not to make her wear it every day, but really, I want her to.

I'm still working on the baby blanket and more cushion covers, but I want to make something for myself next. I am quite obsessed by this pattern from Built By Wendy, and I have the perfect, cheap, fabric in mind, a white cotton with a thin blue check.

Because I am obsessed by tunics. I rarely go into central London these days, so my Top Shop browsing is online - have you noticed that they have a tunic category on their website? Fantastic. That said, I do worry that it isn't reasonable to want to dress like a pregnant woman when you aren't pregnant.

Not meaning to, but being ungrateful nonetheless

2007-02-11T20:52:00.000Z

I had a bit of a difficult morning the other week, one of a few things that have contributed to a bout of insularity. The baby has been waking up in the night for the past month or so, which has been shocking because she's slept through for the past six months. So I'd had a rough night, I was past my prime on the cleanliness front - no shower for three days, pyjamas getting on a bit.

As I blankly stared into the garden while fumbling with last night's dishes, I noticed a woman in the garden next door. I've never seen her before, so I decided she must be someone's girlfriend. For some reason, that struck me as quite glamorous. Illicit. Was she going to work in yesterday's clothes? How naughty. She was wearing a vidid green mac, tightly belted, and her hair was swept up, and she was smoking a cigarette. She was elegant, I haven't shaved my legs in months. Then when I turned on the computer, I found a change of address email from a friend who's just moved to New York for a glamourous job, bloated salary, and year-round access to Purl Soho and Grand Sichuan.

I don't mean to be ungrateful for what I have, and I don't think I sound terribly coherent, but these two unconnected incidents touched a nerve, and underlined some weariness I have felt lately over how all-consuming parenthood is. I feel as though I have blinkers on, and can't shake them off. I feel disconnected from the rest of the world, and fearful about going back this summer to a job I sometimes love, but often find frustrating. It annoys me that I feel this way, though, because it's such a cliche. And it's not as if I was glamourous before the baby, or that we had such a scintillating social life, or that my "career" was on a rocket.

In another development, I've been tagged by Rebecca. My first tag. In blogland, does that mean I've arrived? I feel all bashful.

1. I speak French, and went to a French school in London. One day, while on the tube home with some kids from my school, one of them, a particularly homornal teenage boy, made a lewd comment about a couple travelling opposite us. It turned out they were French, and it all got a bit embarrassing. Ever since, whenever I hear French people while out and about, I have to prepare in my head what I will say to them if they say something rude about me.

2. I choose where to go on holiday on the basis of what kind of food I will be able to eat there. I like visiting museums and doing "cultural things", but mostly I want to wander around local supermarkets and then go have lunch. I also have to take pictures of what I eat, to my own considerable embarrassment. We stayed at a fancy ryokan in Japan on honeymoon, where we served an elaborate meal in our room. After each course arrived, I had to wait until the waitress left the room to take pictures. (If you want to fantasise about some spectacular ryokans, take a look here.)

3. I am mysteriously attracted to glasses put on the floor, and will always manage to knock them over, wherever they are. As a result, all of our glasses are made out of toughened glass.

4. I often go through phases of wanting to wear make-up, and will buy a lipstick, or an eyeshadow, but I only use them once before I decide that I can't wear make-up because it makes me look... weird.

5. I still like Kraft Dinner, an appalling combination of macaroni and radio-active orange cheese. I think it's because I left home - Canada - before I could grow out of it. It's a bit of a family joke, I always bring some back when I visit, and my cousin sometimes indulges me by sending me a packet for Christmas. I get very angry when Moot's dad has some, because he adulterates it with pepper and Thai chili sauce. He just does not get it.

6. I have never knowingly discarded a letter. Only the advent of email has saved me from living in a six foot square space tunnelled out of towers of paper.

Excuses for not blogging

2007-02-07T12:21:00.000Z

Erm, so, like, it's been a while. I have lots of things I want to blog about, but I also have many excuses as to why I haven't. A nasty bout of flu, visits from in-laws, sorting out childcare for return to work this summer, feeling blah and frumpy and the need for a bit of a break.

Not that I haven't been sewing, or reading your blogs, or dreaming up more things to make.

I've made another cushion cover, with some Amy Butler fabric from my stash. And I slipped some browny-aubergine fabric behind the cotton lace on the small cushion cover, thrifted from Value Village, to bring out the detail.

With some dotty flannel and jumbo rickrack, I'm making a baby blanket for a friend whose baby is due at the end of the month. I think I first saw the ricrac used that way on etsy, but my bookmark to the shop's page isn't working. I got the rickrack from Ribbon Mad.

Unfortunately, the trimming isn't straight, so it's waiting on my WIP pile, to be ripped and resewn.

To make up for the loss of stash fabric, I've had two new arrivals. One is the first of my swaps from Flibbertygibbet's swap, from Carole, who doesn't have a blog.

The strips are very sweet, and will find their way into a project for another baby, due in April. My second swap parcel has been delayed and is due soon! You can see what other people got - and what I sent - here.

I'm quite broke, but stretched to five pounds for some Liberty fabric strips from ebay, for a quilt project I'm mulling over.

Inspirational books

2007-01-19T15:24:00.000Z

Things have slowed down a bit on the crafting front, to make time for socialising and playing, and some inspiration.

I found a great book in a second-hand bookshop near us, called Creating Fashion by Betty Foster. It's a kind of pattern cutting course in book format, with lots of historical pattern blocks, and while the diagrams look confusion now, I'm hoping that soon it will all make sense.

We're going to a wedding in March, with Moot, and I've been having fun dreaming up an outfit for her to wear. I'm taking as starting points a pattern from old needlework book and a scrap of Liberty fabric I got at the sale.

Can't show you the print, because someone is getting a bit of it as part of Flib's January Strip swap.

And I made some more trousers for Moot, my first fully reversible ones.

Oh, and I found this site, Caramel Baby and Child, through Port2Port . So very, very inspiring... and so very, very expensive.

Now it's sunny, and I'm off to do some very overdue gardening.

Smock top

2007-01-14T10:44:00.000Z

Ah, yesterday was a bit of a sewing frenzy, for me. Which might not equate to a sewing frenzy for you, but hey. No sooner had I finished my second cushion cover, then the post arrived with a parcel from one of my aunts, in Canada. Inside was a lovely sock doll made by her daughter, a cute little bear outfit from her other daughter, and a small bundle of fabric.

I have been encouraged to make bloomers - thanks, Rebecca - and their time will come, but really I have been yearning for Moot to reach the 12-month size for the smock top pictured in this post. I figure she's not far off being that big, so I traced the pattern, cut it out, cut the fabric and made the top. All in a couple of hours. For me, a frenzy.

It's a bit big, still, so not action shots, but I'm really pleased with it.

In other news, the night out on Thursday was a success. We saw Emma Tricca, and the pub was great, although it's been so long since I've been in a smoky environment, that I found the cigarette smoke quite overwhelming.

Also, I've discovered this woman, Ellie Curtis, is teaching the t-shirt printing class I will be attending at the East London Printmakers later this month. Isn't this animal print amazing?

Etsuko, my love

2007-01-13T10:21:00.000Z

Second cushion pad cover: done. I love, love, love it.

Pillow talk

2007-01-11T16:28:00.000Z

A good afternoon. First up, I finally got round to making some covers for two cushions we've had for years. We've had them for so long - and coverless all that time - that I don't remember where they came from. So I broke out the Etsuko, found some yellow fabric for the piping, and in one evening and one morning, the first one was done.

The fabric is cut and the bias tape made for the second one. I've still got some Etsuko, and other fabrics that I've been hoarding for cushion covers, and I'm so very pleased with this one, I might have to go buy some more cushions.

Two other goods things. I've booked a place on a t-shirt screenprinting class here, one evening in a couple of weeks. I went through a screenprinting phase, and made some screens at home which I used to print a couple of t-shirts, but it's a bit of a faff at home, and I'm hoping that doing this course will give me the skills to use their workshop. If anyone else is interested, they have two more free spaces.

Finally, we are going out tonight. Yay! A friend is babysitting for the few hours between bedtime and the night feed, and I'm taking my husband here, as a sort of belated birthday present. There's a chicken casserole in the oven and a DVD of How to Marry a Millionaire for our friend. For us, there will be music and beer, and I think we will all have a nice time.

Japanese crafty goodness

2007-01-07T19:35:00.000Z

So finally, the very, very, very simple dress I made for Moot from one of my Japanese craft books. It's crumpled because this is an after-she-wore-it picture. I know it's a stupidly simple pattern, but they are so hard to find.

I went for snaps instead of buttons, because the buttonhole function on my machine is rubbish, and I dispensed with the frill that supposed to go around the hem, as in this shot.

It's the six month size, which I thought would be ample for her petite seven-month frame, but it's more like a tunic. Just as well, because I made a mess of the bias edging. I still have some of the purple corduroy left, so I am going to make the 12 month size, but this time I will line it with some shirting cotton, and therefore avoid the whole bias tape issue all together.

The pattern comes from this book, which was bought from amazon.co.jp. ISBN 4-579-10996-1.

Here's some other images from the book. I love almost everything in it, and am panicking slightly that she will outgrow the patterns before I have time to make everything I want to make for her.

A few words of tribute to Japanese craft books: they are what brought me into the world of crafty blogging. You see, we honeymooned in Japan, and while wandering through a book store, I found the craft section and was completely and utterly blown away. When I got home, I googled "japanese craft books", and it was like stepping through the back of the wardrobe into another world.

Sweater with a smile

2007-01-06T00:08:00.000Z

I'm back from two weeks in Cornwall for Christmas and New Year. It's the longest we've ever stayed with my husband's parents, and it felt like a real break from daily life. And it was a bonus to see them spend time with the baby.

My Christmas crafting was all finished in time. I made another apron and glove set - me and the rest of crafty blogland - for my mother-in-law.

There were also some elephant-shaped lavender sachets, which I didn't photograph.

And I capped off my hard work with a mad sewing frenzy while my husband was sent out of the house on a long errand. What was I making? Angry Chicken's fantastic earflap hats. I haven't managed a proper group shot yet, but here's one my father-in-law took which gives you an idea.

Has to be a new family tradition, i reckon. The giraffe jersey fabric I used is an all-time favourite, from that old faithful, Reprodepot. Which reminds me, I've just discovered this place, and they stock a bit of Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett online. Yay!

With all that out of the way, I finally managed to finish a sweater I started knitting for the baby - gulp - before she was born. She was such a titch, I remember holding the back piece against her and it was long enough to have been a dress. I finished it just in time, she's almost busting loose.

I've started another sweater for her, from a Tiboodoo kit, which I also got before she was born, hence the gender-neutral greens.

Not that I would have got it in pink if I had known. I've knit one of their sweaters before, from a pattern badly translated from French into English, which flustered and confused me, and turned us into mortal enemies. This time I'm knitting from the French pattern, and it seems we've kissed and made up. And you can get quite a lot of knitting done during a five-hour drive. (It helps if you've never managed to get round to getting a driver's licence, and therefore someone else has to do all the driving. Thanks honey.)

Also, I've just a few finishing touches to a dress for Moot, made from a Japanese craft book pattern. Pics when I'm done. It's well past my bedtime, and the baby has been waking up earlier than usual, so I must power down and go to sleep.

Panic, don't panic

2006-12-20T09:17:00.000Z

After an early morning blast at the sewing machine, I finished the last present - another matching apron and oven glove for my mother-in-law. No pics, we're in the middle of a packing frenzy as we are leaving for Cornwall for a fortnight as soon as the post arrives with the last of the Yuletide gifts. Or so we hope, otherwise my father-in-law is out of a present.

I've really enjoyed sitting down at the sewing machine every night to plough through my list, and I'm looking forward to tackling some more sewing when I get back. I've already cut out the pieces for a dress for Moot, and made the covered buttons to match. I looooovvve self-cover buttons.

As a holiday present to you, I'm offering up a bunch of old Martha Stewart mags, with some Gourmets and Gardens Illustrated thrown in. First come, first serve.

I haven't made a note of what the issue numbers are, but if you are after one in particular, I can have a look. Otherwise, just email me at madeformoot at google mail, and I'll mail you a couple in the new year. Or if you live in or near east London, we can arrange for you to pick them up.

And in case I don't manage to post again before Christmas, my family wishes you a happy pudding!

Present presents

2006-12-12T10:12:00.000Z

Some more Christmas sewing. It's hard to not get distracted, but I'm slowly making progress.

I've haven't quite decided who is getting what, but here's what's on offer.

A Denyse Schmidt-inspired lavender and flaxseed eye pillow, and with the cut-offs, I made a lavender-filled thing, which I've decided should be a key-chain. These two items are a pair.

The fabrics are odds and sods - some old Cath Kidston, some Amy Butler, some mystery fabric from my aunt, a Japanese print from Reprodepot.

Then, more Schmidtery. An oven glove - like others, I think the thumb turn is a bit weird, but I've tested it, and it doesn't stop it "working".

I added a loop to hang it from, and a fabric covered button cos I felt like it. I'm making an apron to go with it. The brown fabric is an old Alexander Henry print - I love most of their stuff, if I wasn't broke I'd buy and buy and buy it - and the red fabric is treasured Schmidt Flea Market Fancy. I want to cover my life with it.

I'm also working on some elephant lavender sachets.

Yeah, there's a theme: I got a big bag of cheap lavender in a market in Paris in the fall.

Picking up speed

2006-12-06T19:34:00.000Z

So I finished the bumper yesterday. Only had too rip out a couple of times, but I now officially hate polyester wadding/batting, which gets all tangled up in the foot of the sewing machine. If I had to do it again, I'd fork out for the expensive cotton quilt batting.

No pictures, though, because it's not really finished, even though it's on the crib and there's a baby sleeping there. I decided to make it from unbleached calico and to then embellish it, and I haven't got round to that bit because I decided that being on maternity leave without pay is not compatible with buying lots of Christmas presents, and so I'm trying to forge on ahead with making as many Christmas presents as possible.

First on the list was my sister, as she lives in Canada and I have to finish her present in time to post it so that she has it at Christmas, rather than my usual three weeks later. She has a favourite chair, which was crying for something nice to put on it to sit, so that's what she is getting.

Sorry for the oddly rotated picture, I can't seem to get Blogger to accept it any other way.

I got the fabric in New York last summer, and I know she likes it because I made her a Betsy RossGirlie dress with it for her birthday.

I'm reasonably pleased with the way the cushion has turned out. It was good luck that I had just learned to make piping while doing the bumper, which makes it look smart. It just needs a bit of slip-stitching at the back, which I will do in front of the TV tonight.

Next, I have to cut out the pieces for at least three quilted lavender/flaxseed eye-pillows, and a Denyse Schmidt over glove. Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Posh coffee and £1.40 avocados

2006-12-02T21:14:00.000Z

The baby's bumper is coming along, fuelled by repeated, quasi-obsessive, playing of Oh Sister by Bob Dylan.

On Saturday, we went to Broadway Market, a 20 minute walk from where I live in Hackney, in east London. A stroll down this relatively new, busy market, always unsettles me, for a number of reasons.

1. I've lived in Hackney for seven years, and parts of it have changed a lot, Broadway Market being a prime example. Seven years ago, it was run-down and had at least a half-dozen, if not a dozen empty shops. The Saturday market now has stalls selling organic food, artisanal breads, crafts, etc. It got going a couple of years ago, and the street is a much livelier place as a result. There are coffee shops, a couple of gift shops, and even a crafty shop, Fabrications. I enjoy an expensive cup of coffee as much as the next person, but I feel the market, which attracts people with comfortable amounts of disposable income, sits uneasily with the rest of the borough, which is one of the most deprived in the city, if not the country.

2. Where did all these babies/children come from?! The place is positively heaving with them. It's enough to make me feel slightly embarrassed for having had one, too - I mean, how unoriginal can you get?

3. I always look at the crafty stalls and dust off old fantasies of having my own stall to sell screenprinted t-shirts/knitted things/collected things/cookies. There are lovely stalls there, with people doing those things much better than I ever could, but I still get the nagging, itchy feeling that I should/could get my act together and do something.

I made two small purchases: an iron-on apple patch to go on something for the baby, a hefty 40 pence, and a delicate little brooch made by a sweet-looking woman (can I call her a girl? She was born in 1983) under the name Buddug. Apparently, it's Welsh for Victoria. Her website says she does buttons, which I will definitely look out for next time.

183 days

2006-12-01T22:59:00.000Z

Today is the baby's half-birthday. A mere 183 days ago, she slithered out, wet and blue, a mere slip of a girl at 5lbs 11oz. Happiest, most joyful day of my life, closely followed by every day since. Tonight was also my first real night out, having dinner in a pub with women from my antenatal group.

Cue lots of reflection on the past six months, on how much we've learned, and on how damn hard it is, to keep our little bundle of loveliness happy. I never thought it would be easy, but I never thought we would have the problems we have had, that we would still be struggling with her feeding and weight gain this "far" down the road. But I suppose it a good lesson for parenthood as a whole: control is an illusion.

Anyway, I will leave you with a recent favourite picture, taken when we were in Canada.

Labour of love

2006-11-29T20:22:00.000Z

More than 200 hours of work went into making this quilt, most of it my grandmother's. She's been a member of the same quilting group for 20 years, and they all help each other make quilts for family members and for charity.

Can you believe it, although I chose this pattern, a Dresden plate, I was disappointed with it when I first got it. In my defense, I was 16 - what did I know? I thought it was a bit boring. But I soon realised how fabulous it is. For years, I've been too scared to have it on the bed, in case it got damaged, and to my shame, it's been carefully stored away rather than displayed for all to admire. Many of the fabrics are scraps from clothes I wore, or my parents wore.

Yesterday, we got some dowelling, and as soon as I sew loops on the back of it, it's going up on the wall.

Some close-ups.

When bad pictures happen to good quilts

2006-11-25T22:21:00.000Z

For the wife of a photographer, it's pretty embarrassing. While we were at my grandparents in Canada, I only managed a few seconds on the morning of our departure to take pictures of a couple of quilts, and the light in them is bad, as the room is lit like a dentist's office. I'm still a secret blogger as far as my extended family goes, and so was taking pictures on the sly.

The first is my grandfather's sock quilt. For years, my grandmother collected my grandfather's odd or torn socks, then finally sewed them together as quilt squares, backed them with pink flannel (why pink? I will have to ask) and secured it with French knots in red wool. Voila, your perfect, hard-wearing, economical quilt. Do other people make these? I don't know. We used it a lot for picnics on the beach.

The next is a quilt not actually made by my grandmother, but given to her by the daughter of a friend, who was obviously crazy because she didn't want it. My granny took it to a quilt shop one day when they was a some quilt version of the Antiques Roadshow, but they couldn't date it, other than say it is very old.

My mother isn't as actively crafty as my grandmother, but she made a quilt for the baby before she was born.

She was hedging her bets by making it blue and pink, but I think the lace applique is such a girly touch, it gives her preference away. The flowery fabric is from an old shirt of hers, and the image of Notre Dame is from one of her old t-shirts. (She lives in Paris.)

Flicking through a photo album of the quilts my grandmother made during 20 years with her quilting group, I happened upon my quilt, a Dresden plate, with a caption saying it took over 200 hours of hand quilting. That made me feel slightly queasy, as the quilt is folded up in a corner, not being admired, waiting for me to get round to fixing loops on it to hang it up. I'll post pictures soon.

Onwards and upwards

2006-11-23T20:37:00.000Z

Hmmm, Blogger Beta. Anyone else changed over to it? It looks like it will incorporate lots of features Typepad seems to offer, which is good, and it seems to have shortcut for Safari. Yay! If only next they would sort out loading pictures - it takes forever, and often seems to fail - and shortcuts for links.

Yesterday, I got round to finishing a 0-6 months sweater for Moot. Who will be six months old on 1 December. Oh well. It's the one advantage to her being such a teeny tiny babe: her clothes last longer, and it doesn't matter if her mother is a lazy knitter.

The pattern is Dumpling from Rowan Babies, in Big Wool. Can't remember the name of the colour, but I think it's the one in the picture in the pattern book. It was relatively easy, although I hadn't knit two rows together before, and it doesn't look very neat. The big plus was that Big Wool knits up so quickly, leaving plenty of time to try to take pictures of her wearing it.

Next up is finishing a Debbie Bliss cardigan for her, which I started before she was born. Then it's on to her bumper and Christmas presents.

One of the presents I want to make is a pair of matching eye-pillows for my sister-in-law and her boyfriend, filled with lavender and flaxseed. Does anyone know for sure that flaxseed and linseed are the same thing?

Thrift heaven

2006-11-21T19:35:00.000Z

Blogger ate my post! I had prepared a lovely post about all my thrift loot, and it went down the tubes. Boo!

Here it goes again. So... Value Village was great. For those of you not familiar with it, it's like a thrift supermarket. Moot was a dream, so I had about two hours to trawl through stuff with my aunt.

First up, a sweet dress for the babe to grow into. It has a label on the inside saying it was hand-made for me by a Clair McKinnes. Thank you Clair.

Next, a couple of cute tops for next summer.

Then, a green hand-knitted jacket.

I had real trouble in the sweater aisle. It was packed with beautifully knitted jumpers and cardigans, in pristine condition, all of them knitted in hideous polyester yarns in colours of questionable suitability. Fluorescent canary yellow, sparkly baby blue... Even the one I bought is borderline, it's a rather virulent green. Why why why? All those hours of work, all that knitting skill, to end up with something nobody wants to put on their baby, and so they give it to Val's and these well-meaning gifts end up languishing there until the staff get bored of looking at them and they disappear. Sigh. I wanted to buy them all to give them good homes.

Moving on to linens, I got this lovely tablecloth. At first, I wanted it for the fabric, which reminds me of a Kaffe Fasset print, but I have since thought better of it, and a tablecloth it shall remain.

Some linen hankies with beautifully delicate hand embroidery.

A couple of placemats with crochet edges. (As if we used placemats...)

A lace pillow case and a doilly-type thing with crochet edges which I might make into a pillow case.

Some great books - a Christmas story with lovely illustrations, a how-to on gingerbread houses (after just boring my husband with how great it was as a kid when my mother made them) - and a pattern for Ragedy Ann and Ragedy Andy dolls.

And a Christmas apron, probably for my mother-in-law, who's bravely taking on my mother and step-father for the holiday.

I made a brief visit to the Salvation Army thrift store, but only had the energy to nose around the craft section, and I picked up some rickrack, bias tape and lots of fabric self-cover buttons, which I am stoked about as I have wanted some for ages.

Finally, I got to trawl through my grandmother's craft room, and steal whichever bits of fabric scraps I wanted. So I did.

I've got a list of craft projects so long I can't remember them all. I want to get round to making a cot bumper for Moot, so we can move her into the cot, as her crib is a bit tight for her. Also, since I'm not working, I'm going to make lots of Christmas presents out of bits and pieces I have. Better get cracking.

But all I really want to do is eat cake. And sleep.

A boy and his goat

2006-11-18T21:11:00.000Z

Also on this trip, my grand-father showed me some family pictures his niece has scanned from family albums. Included in them were a couple of corkers.

First - and favourite - is my grand-father, his younger brother and their pet goat. My great-grand-father bought the goat at auction for 50 cents. One day, as my gramps tells it, he told his father that he had been examining the goat and that he thought it was ready to produce milk. A quick lesson on the birds and the bees ensued, and the goat was swiftly sold on.

The next best one is of my maternal great-great-grand-father, who was something in the Liverpool Police, but was also an enthusiastic runner.

Neither of my parents talk much about their parents, and I don't think I really used to listen much to my grand-parents talking about their families. My dad doesn't really have any family, either, and all his family photos were lost about 30 years ago. I think I have this notion that we don't know much about our ancestors, but I guess that's not strictly true.

Finally, a different kind of picture. I was chatting about sewing with my granny, and she went to her sewing table and pulled out an old cigar box. Inside were a dozen or so wooden spools of silk thread in rich, lustrous colours.

They are the threads my great-grand-mother used to repair silk stockings, she said.

Rosa and her husband left England for Canada in search of a better life, but things were not easier for them there. They struggled to support five children - they lost their first son when he was still an infant - and Rosa took in extra work to help make ends meet. Still, they were poor. I often wonder at how hard they worked, and whether they believed that they had made the right decision to leave their home and families.

Bye-bye British Columbia

2006-11-18T20:47:00.000Z

We are back in London, after a lovely trip. I love BC, for the landscape, the people - and the thrifting. We were short on time and managed only one trip to Value Village and a rushed visit to the nearby Salvation Army. But that doesn't mean the pickings were meager. Oh no. I got some goooooood stuff. Three bags full.

I will share my treasures with you as soon as I can manage to take some decent pictures.

Back in the home country

2006-11-12T18:43:00.000Z

We are still in Canada, introducing the babe to her mother's home and native land.

Contrary to appearances, she is enjoying it and is not always asleep.

We did Montreal, and now we are in Victoria, at my grand-parents' home. My grandmother quilts, knits and sews, and taught me all three. I've been snooping around her sewing room, rummaging for scraps, and will post about them, and her magnificent quilts, later.

Also on the cards is a thrifting spree. Yay!

Do you remember the first time?

2006-10-31T17:05:00.000Z

I've mailed off my first internet swap!

It was a fun, but not quite as fun as I had hoped, for reasons that are entirely my own fault. Having assembled a rather fine collection of three vintage bird-like objects, I neglected to double-check the posting date, and realised this afternoon that everything needed to be in the mail in, oh, 20 minutes. And this, on a day when the baby does not want to be put down not-even-for-a-minute-how-did-you-think-you-could-get-away-with-that-you-silly-woman.

So I had semi-grand plans, but in the end the wrapping was basic.

No pics of the goodies themselves until the package has safely arrived. I hope my swap partner is not disappointed. I feel embarrassed about the presentation, but I hope she likes the goodies inside.

I've also just realised that I forgot to include a card. Sheesh. What a crappy swapper I've turned out to be.

I have been tempted to join a holiday ornament swap, but we are leaving tomorrow for a three-week Canadian tour to introduce the baby to her grandad, aunt, second cousins and great grand-parents, and I don't think that leaves me enough time to come up with a brilliant idea and replicate it 8-10 times.

Handsome hand-me-downs

2006-10-30T10:24:00.000Z

I love hand-me-downs. The gentle wear and tear. The old-school charm of 1970s baby clothes. The passing on of much-loved favourites. Some of Moot's most beautiful clothes are hand-me-downs, from fancy Petit Bateau tops to bobbly old sweaters. I get a kick from feeling thrifty, too.

We were recently given some baby clothes worn by Moot's dad and his sister.

First off is a cute barboteuse - I know what it is called in French, but not in English, but I like the French word for this kind of outfit, because it makes me think of babies puttering around with their toys.

Then there is this beautiful romper, with smocking and delicate hand-embroidered mushrooms.

Finally, a pair of overalls made from a cloth kit. I grew up in Canada, and had never heard of cloth kits before, although my mother used to make clothes for my sister and me. I love, love, love the print.

And the apple patch on the bum is irresistible.

Why don't they make these any more?

One day I'll post about the baby clothes my sister and I wore, that I have carefully packed away for Moot - among them, the outfit we wore on our first birthdays, the Israeli party dress and the Spanish lederhosen... No, really, it's super-cute.

A life's work

2006-10-30T10:10:00.000Z

Moot's great-aunt and second cousin are bookbinders, and have made beautiful portfolios for her dad. After she was born, we commissioned them to make her a baby book, with some fabric from my stash. There have been some family upheavals recently, so it's taken a while, but we finally got it yesterday, and it was worth the wait.

Now, I just have to fill it.

Collective slump

2006-10-23T22:30:00.000+01:00

A bad case of the blahs. Every project I pick up at the moment, I put down again after a few minutes. Nothing grabs my attention. Maybe it's the rain, maybe it's the days drawing in. Whatever it is, I hope it passes soon.

It's some consolation to find that I am not alone. She is feeling blah. So is she. A half-dozen more feel the same way, too. I hope it passes soon.

In a muddle

2006-10-18T09:37:00.000+01:00

My task for today had been to work out my to-do list. But oh my - check this out at Etsy. Isn't it cute?

I've been mulling over making a crib bumper for Moot from some of this Etsuko fabric, backed with some polkadots, but now I'm torn - I've got some of that leaf print, from Denyse Schmidt, in red, and it would look soo cute, backed with something plain.

The weird thing is that I also have some of this spotty fabric from Reprodepot.

I'm also loving the apple print, I wonder where it comes from?

So my to-do list is up in the air, again. Whichever fabric I don't use for the bumper will go to make a nappy bag - another project I meant to tackle before the baby was born, but somehow didn't materialise (was it because I was too lazy maybe?).

Food for thought

2006-10-17T14:31:00.000+01:00

Thanks for the thrifting tips. I've also done some searches on eBay, too, so I feel a bit calmer.

I don't mean for this suddenly to become a food blog, because I am definitely more interested in crafting at the moment, but as I was stuck on the sofa for an unusually long breastfeeding session, I got to staring at our cookbooks and picking out my favourites. With a self-satisfied sigh, I thought how terrible it was that not everybody knew about them, and decided there and then to share them with you.

I thought I might roll them out slowly, starting with some Asian humdingers.

The first is Irene Kuo's The Key to Chinese Cooking, which as far as I can tell is out of print, but well worth tracking down on Abebooks, or wherever you buy your hard-to-find books.

I love Chinese cooking, but find most Chinese restaurant food a bit... snotty. I can't remember exactly how I came upon this book, except that it must have been reading some mention of it on the web. I bought it when I was in a particularly boring job, which allowed for much internet surfing and daydreaming, and left me with enough pent-up energy in the evenings to want to cook something a bit more elaborate than pasta with tomato sauce.

Why is this book so brilliant? Kuo is a great teacher, explaining the whys and wherefores of the techniques. I've not been to China, but the recipes call for enough authentic ingredients to provoke a trip to Chinatown, yet are still straightforward enough so that cooking them doesn't seem too daunting a prospect. Everything I've made, I've loved and wanted to make again and again, from her simple rice recipe, to the meaty, morish pork buns, of which I can never eat enough.

A region of China I am particularly interested in visiting is Sichuan, and that is entirely Fuchsia Dunlop's fault, because she wrote Sichuan Cookery and it's brilliant, too.

Like Kuo, she communicates her passion very well, the recipes are enticing and the results are a revelation. I've made quite a few of the chicken and chilli dishes, an aubergine dish and a green bean dish, and they were all delicious. The late Alan Davidson, a towering figure in the UK food writing scene, wrote a quote for the cover that sums up my feelings, too: "It is a very long time since I saw a new book which is so patently an absolute 'must'."

I once had call to speak to Dunlop for work, and was embarrassingly gushy about the book, and she was suitably embarrassed for me. I think I muttered something about having bought a meat hook to make her bacon recipe. When the weather gets properly cold, I want to make her hotpot, which is like a chilli fondue. My love of this book also led me to Grand Sichuan in New York City, and it was one of the nicest meals I've ever had.

And it also lead us to one of the few Sichuan restaurants in London, Bar Shu, which we will always remember because we went there on my birthday and I ended up in hospital at 3am that night with a high blood pressure induced headache while 38 weeks' pregnant, which lead to two weeks of hospital visits that finally ended when I was induced and our daughter was born.

Last but not least - are you still there? - is Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji. I have weighed this book, and it's 1.3kg, so I think that the title is a bit off the mark.

Also, while I bought this before travelling to Japan on honeymoon last year, I ate when we were there, as you do, and having re-read parts of this since then, I would say that I probably only really understand half of what he is on about. But it's great escapism reading, it's scholarly without being too intimidating, and the recipe for rice really works. One day, when I live closer to an Asian supermarket, I will cook more from it. In the meantime, who could resist a book with the drawings that illustrate the best techniques for gutting fish, and how best to chop a carrot? I can't.

So, that's enough for today. But what about you? Which are your favourites and why?

A slice of life

2006-10-16T10:17:00.000+01:00

Since the bloghead mentions eating, I thought I better share some recent cooking.

We have had a cube of fresh yeast in the fridge for ages, waiting for someone to get round to making bread. I got inspired yesterday evening, after noticing that the 'best before' date was last week.

I've got about 200 cookery books, but only a few on bread. One of them is Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery.

I decided to try her basic bread recipe - one of the few I could find that used fresh yeast. It came out pretty good, and as you can see, there's not much left after this morning's breakfast of bacon sandwiches.

It was very straightforward recipe, with minimal kneading and raising time. It does call for a lot of salt, which David acknowledges, so next time I will probably halve the salt quantity. I will also try it with rye and wholewheat flour instead of strong white flour.

In the past, I've found breadmaking quite hard work, but that's probably my own fault. I used our own sourdough starter, which I "created" in 1999 out of water, organic raisins and flour. It finally died this summer, after going solid and cheesy. I was never fully happy with the bread I made with it, and it took ages to knead and rise. That said, I always enjoyed the fact that I didn't use "artificial" yeast. Ha. Anyway, I'm converted - it's fresh yeast all the way.

First time nerves

2006-10-15T08:54:00.000+01:00

I've just joined my first internet swap.

Vintage bird swap

I love birds, but oh my god, what if I don't find anything?! I've only got two weeks, and the charity shops around here are pretty rubbish. Oh for a Value Village.

WIP RIP II

2006-10-14T08:51:00.000+01:00

It was fun while it lasted.

The knitted booties are a pair no more. One of them decided to stay in Dalston rather than come home with us. I'm a bit concerned, as it's a bit of a rough area. Anyway, I hope it finds what it is looking for. As for Debbie Bliss bootie patterns... When they say 3-12 months, I guess that's a sign that they are going to be big on a four-month-old, and prone to slipping off kicky feet.

I guess I have to knit another one, but my mind has already moved on to other projects.

Oh, and the John Lewis trip didn't quite happen as planned. Public transport and a hungry babe conspired against me, and I returned home empty handed - but at least with a belly full of prawn and chive dumplings and chili sauce.

Yuck

2006-10-13T09:53:00.000+01:00

Moot and I have colds, and the weather is revolting...

There's only one thing for it. Dimsum and plenty of chili sauce with a dear friend here.

It will be only our second trip into town together. Let's hope it goes more smoothly than the first - which involved Moot crying all the way home on the bus - and that I get the chance to nip into John Lewis' fabric department on the way. I have a great idea for a Christmas present that could spark off a whole new family tradition.

It's right-side up for her

2006-10-11T22:27:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, I managed to conquer my post-natal inertia long enough to make Moot - that's her nickname, by the way, not her actual name - a tunic top, a t-shirt and a pair of trousers from some Japanese craft book patterns.

Actually, the tunic isn't quite finished, I'm still working on the button loop, but that's fine because it's still a bit too bit for her. The material came from Cia's Palette, but I can't see it on the website anymore. The button, which I'm now thinking might make the top a bit too matchy-matchy, I've been hoarding for ages and comes from Uplifting Arts.

The pattern is from this book, which I first saw on Six and a half stitches. I can't seem to find the original post, but if you have a look around, she's made some lovely thing from it. It's a great book, and I pretty much want to make her everything in it.

The top and trouser jersey fabric came from that old favourite, Reprodepot. The pattern is from this book. It's not a great a book, actually, and has freakish blonde children modelling the clothes. I will post some pics from it soon.

Yes, the giraffes on the trousers are upside down, but hey, the pattern is in JAPANESE so I think I did pretty good. The neckline on the t-shirt isn't quite right, it needs to be taken in, but I can't be bothered as she's about to grow out of it and I've got a Simplicity pattern for a long-sleved t-shirt which is more suited to winter.

WIP RIP

2006-10-10T20:03:00.000+01:00

So I finished the booties this morning. I hate finishing. Sewing in the ends is hugely frustrating, because it never really works, I probably do it all wrong, so there's always a yarn end that pokes out of the garment to taunt me. And when there are these many ends to work in...

Was it worth it? Yup. They are cute, and anyway she needs some warm booties now that the weather is colder. And they will help keep her socks on.

Here's the money shot:

And here's what the other 16 shots on my camera looked like:

Whoops

2006-10-10T10:15:00.000+01:00

I seem to have started a blog... After months of drooling over other people's blogs, I think it is time I joined in.

Many reasons why, but mostly to motivate me to finish all my crafty projects, and give me a space to show them off.

Today, I'm finishing off some booties for the baby, the Moot of the title, from a Debbie Bliss pattern, and with some vintage buttons I might have nicked from my mother. Actions shots to come.