Now I live in a “pretty cold for Australia” climate I’ve started to appreciate a type of knitwear that I’ve never been a fan of in the past – the “chunky” jumper. I usually like my jumpers to be made out of 4ply, 5ply or 8ply yarn. I’ve been known to go as far as…
Retro Monday – Some beautiful menswear
Today’s Retro Monday features a pattern booklet from the 1950s. This is probably my favourite booklet of menswear in my collection – every pattern is just beautiful. I think this one is from the early to mid 50s based on the fonts used on the front cover, the slightly quiffy haircuts on the man in…
Retro Monday – Accessories from the 1940s
Now I’m living a town that sees snow every Winter, I’ve become very interested in hats, scarves and gloves. I haven’t knit any gloves with fingers before – only mittens and fingerless mitts. I get the feeling that it might be a good idea to start knitting “real” gloves, with full length…
Strawberry jam
I hoped to get some quinces this weekend so I could make quince jelly. I usually get them from an unloved tree in the yard of an abandoned house in Bacchus March. Because it’s a four day weekend I want to spend as much time at home as possible, so I decided to skip my usual grocery…
Cosy Koalas
It was fifteen months ago that I first posted about a 1936 pattern for a koala tea cosy. Although he looks nothing like the picture on the pattern, he turned out quite well. I decided to make him a little branch of flowering gum to hold onto and stitch it to his paws….
Not Quite Christmas Stockings
Over the past six months I made six pairs of socks. I get a bit obsessed with socks for a few months each year, and this year the obsession lasted longer than usual. My sock binges always start the same way – I teach a series of sock knitting classes and think “socks are awesome…