Author Archives: atelieroursonne

quick gifting update

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A couple of days ago I was talking about my worries to give gifts without offending anybody.

So, I have decided to knit for those mums (to be) who have actually been in one of my knitting classes but (so far) not for the third one who might not even know who I am.

They are both having / expecting girls so I made a little Rainbow Dress by Georgie Hallam – one of my favourite little girls dresses.

IMG_2435I have used Lana Grossa  Elastico, a cotton with 4% Polyester, for the bodice. It is very light and stretchy which is important for that part of the dress.

And to make it a bit more special occasiony I have used some of my Rowan Pure Life Revive, a recycled blend of cotton, silk and rayon. It is meant to be hand washed only (not great for a baby dress) but I did machine wash a swatch and not only did it turn out fine, it was actually softer than the unwashed version (which also has a bit of a funny smell to it).

I have added a lacy hem, a flower and picot cast off for the armholes.

IMG_2438 IMG_2440I am more than happy with the result and I hope the future owners will be too (when it fits in about 8 months time 🙂 –  Clearly you need to be able to stand to show off a dress )

 

Scrap sunday – The challenge

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One of my new years resolutions was to stop buying yarn without any reason and to try using up my stash instead and so far I have done fairly well. I did buy a few balls here and there but they were for specific projects and and are more or less used up. Unfortunately, I did not apply this to fabric buying and so I ended up with quite a bit a lot of fabric. If I really like a fabric, I tend to buy more than required, just in case…. and as I don’t even throw away the smallest bits, I ended up with boxes full of fabric.

Anyway, I have decided to step up a gear and to set myself a challenge, well actually a double challenge:

I will use my friday sewing class to not only use up some of those little bits and pieces but also to think of new ideas (I mean new to me not to the world, “thinking” includes stealing “finding online”) of how to use up all that scrap fabric and yarn.

To put a little bit of pressure on myself, I am now introducing Scrap Sunday where I will post about it. We will see how long this challenge lasts and how easily I will remember to write a post to a certain deadline. I do work better with deadlines, but the joy of motherhood did make me a tiny bit forgetful….

But back to the actual topic…

what was that again? Oh yes, Scrap Sunday.

So I will post every Sunday. Something about Scrap. Might be the recent project (I made in my Friday Sewing class). Might be something knitted. Might be just a link to a brilliant tip I found online.

So this friday, I took tiny pieces of the fabric that I had left from this skirt to make a little birthday gift for a friend who’s birthday was in June (I said, I am good with deadlines)…. and I failed spectacularly (too busy chatting discussing design ideas if you really need to know)

So let’s talk about that next Sunday and let’s get that series started with … tadaa

The knitted bow

It is probably a well deserved beginner for this series as I have really done many of these. You can use them to decorate children clothes or put them on a hairpin, Alice band or crochet chain and they look super cute. This is also why I encourage people in my knitting classes to knit one of these as their first project. They give you a quick sense of achievement 🙂

I mainly use DK yarn and cast on 20 stitches for my “standard” size. I knit in garter stitch (occasionally moss stitch) for about 20 to 24 rows, cast off, weave in the ends, wrap some yarn tightly around the middle and voilà.

 

 

 

 

back to school

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After my rather successful attempts of making these shirts for my children at the beginning of the summer, I wanted to practice more with my lovely shiny overlocker and made shirts for my nephew and nieces from fabrics that they had chosen themselves. For me, the start into a new school year is still linked with new clothes and so I thought it would be a good excuse to make all of them one with no birthday in sight.

I have used the same pattydoo pattern, with a little variation on the biggest shirt as my nephew didn’t want a hood. Goodness, a normal neckline is actually more difficult than sewing a hood on.

IMG_2331IMG_2335IMG_2334IMG_2333IMG_2332I wanted to wait with this post until they had received the parcel and tried the shirts on but as it seems they are delivered via snail mail and haven’t arrived at their destination yet.

I only hope that parcel didn’t get lost, that would be rather …ahem … disappointing.

I really love all the fabrics that they had chosen and I am thinking hard what to do with the rather little pieces that I have left….

You deserve it – choosing the right gift

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As all crafters, I often give people handmade (mainly knitted) items. But I find it hard to choose what to make, especially as I have started to knit for almost random people to fulfil my knitting needs 🙂

So, I would be happily knit a lot for lots of people but I also don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable because they might consider it too much or too big (or because they wonder who on earth I actually am). And then they will make me feel uncomfortable because I really don’t like it if people admire my things too much, give me even compliments or are too thankful…. which happens about every single time when a person from the cold Austrian region of Vorarlberg moves to a polite and thank you – obsessed England 🙂

And what about local customs? I always feel very unsure about that. Do teachers in nursery and primary school get gifts at the end of the year as they would in Austria (well, as far as I remember)? At the end of each term? Christmas? What if they don’t celebrate Christmas? And who? Just the key worker? And maybe the class teacher? What about the head teacher? And actually the child is really fond of those other two teachers, so I really would want to give them something. But that might upset others. As they would be on the same level of hierarchy.

And not to forget the time issue, obviously. So I have become a big fan of small gifts. You can make them in a reasonable time and no one will get hurt.

After just a few smallish gifts for the main people in nursery in the first year and having offended at least one who didn’t get anything (receptionist, in my defence),

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I have decided to make a tiny thing for each and every single one last year. The care taker seemed rather pleased with his knitted butterfly badge I have to say (He does have a small daughter, so it will get used) 🙂

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I feel really confident with the appropriateness of those tiny gifts for the end of year occasion but I guess I will have to step up a gear for the final gifts when child No1 is leaving nursery.

On another very recent occasion I might have gone a bit over the top. I forgot to pay a friend of my sister a bread delivery worth a couple of euros. She might not even remember, but I am not happy about it, especially as I keep forgetting it since many many months. So I guess, an apology on a fancy glittery English card and the money would do it but on the other side, it is a really lovely person and I wanted to knit a Camino Bubbles by Kieran Foley since over a year and also finally make something out of a Zauberball as I had seen so many lovely projects on ravelry. So an apology scarf seemed to tick all the boxes.

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I am a big fan of dropping stitches – after years of worrying to accidentally drop one, it is just so much fun to let them drop on purpose and even pull and stretch to open up those bubbles.

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I love the airiness and fluffiness of this scarf – I made a small version for appropriateness reasons 😉 but I think now that this pattern really calls for something big to show those bubbles off rather than hiding them in a wrapped – around – your – neck – mess.

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On my current gifts to make – list, there is a dress for a newborn baby of another mum in nursery. Should I now make something for the two other pregnant mothers too? One of them might actually not even know my name, she might get a bit scared of the weird lady following her around with her knitting needles 🙂

How do you decide on what to make for whom? How do you decide? Any advice? I clearly need help.