Author Archives: atelieroursonne

just a little something

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just a little something

just a little something

Last Wednesday was the last day of the summer term in nursery and therefore my first last day as a mum and I had no idea how to thank the teachers.

Chocolate? The key worker has allergies and can’t have chocolate, a few of the others were fasting.

Flowers? It had over 30C so they would have been withered before even getting there.

So, I needed to knit something…  just a little something as I didn’t want to overdo it.

The pressure was on, just a few days to go and all of a sudden I had plenty of ideas. So I made

IMG_0587

a bookmark

a book mark for the teacher who is in charge of the library. She was really touched as it was so “thoughtful”. I found it a bit too bulky to be actually useful to be honest and would have already better ideas… I guess for next year.

a phone case

a phone case

a phone case for the one who is really strict about the no-phones-in-the-classroom-rule. She was really pleased as apparently she keeps dropping her own phone.

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hairband with little arrows

a hairband for the key worker who has just really nice long hair and has often some kind of elaborate hair styling. And she was actually wearing a dress in a matching colour on that last day. And maybe I can make a matching scarf next year as it will be the final one for my daughter.

a small bag with i-cord and buttons

a small bag with i-cord and buttons

and a small bag for the head teacher as she doing her rounds with a small shoulder bag and I had already thought in the past that I should knit one for her. It is about the same size as her usual one, so it should really suit her needs.

In fact, I am really pleased how all these little somethings turned out. They are the perfect size for these kind of occasions and can be really personalized.

In fact I made a few other hairbands, both for girls and women.

trio of lace hairbands
narrow lace hairband
cotton lace
ear covering

I will definitely continue to experiment with hairbands, so far I did a few narrow cotton ones with a bit of lace to make them more interesting, a very simple red one with a knot and a similar but more girly one with a proper bow (I will try a flower version too), a few wide cotton ones with lace and a woolen one that should cover the ears as well. I guess that one could actually be even wider.

The other thing that keeps me busy knitwise these days is the fact that I will be giving knitting lessons for beginners starting from September. I am currently preparing samples and hand-outs. My students will be people who use the services of the Children Centers in the Borough, so I guess mainly mothers of young children like me.

Hairbands and little bags for their children will actually be the perfect projects for them. But I am still thinking of something a bit more suitable for little boys…. they all like bags but it would be nice to have something more boyish too. So any ideas of very simple and quick knits for little  boys are welcome.

 

 

bags, bags, bags

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As it has mainly been about my children knits so far, I would like to finally talk a bit about my bags.

But before I do so, I want to show you my last “custom order”. After finishing a hooded vest for the shop I asked my daughter if I should make one for her as well or rather a dress and she said: Both. I then made the second mistake of letting her choose the colours out of my stash…. and she chose all of them. Some of them really don’t go together so I first wanted to ignore it but then  I shouldn’t have asked her if I am not prepared to follow her wishes. And actually it turned out to be really great. It was only a matter of how to order the stripes.

I want them all

I want them all

I also love her strawberry skirt… I made it because she is just so thin that the ones that fit around her waist are too short.

And here the two vests together, they are both the same size except that the models wearing them aren’t

big and small…
left of 2 sleeveless cotton Little Rascal

But now back to the actual subject: bags

I have been knitting a few bags in the past, they are easy and quick and ideal presents for more normal occasions where you do not want to overdo it.

But I haven’t knitted a bag for myself yet, I have to admit. I always have to think practical, I have a huge bag (in fact, apparently not huge enough and therefore completely broken) in which I have to carry half of the household. And as I live in the UK, I also have to have a waterproof one. I have a few really nice bags but in the end, I always use the same for my everyday life. I have always been like that and I guess I will never really change… So no cute knitted bags for me but it doesn’t stop me from producing them.

So here are a few examples of what I have done in the past.

I made these sets of bags for children a long time ago. The shoulder bags were just an excuse to use up some left over yarn and both my children loved them.  They are tiny so only really to play with.

The bedside bags (with the intarsia) have open end strings so you can tie them to your bed and keep important little things in there.  You could also tie the strings together and use them as a shoulder bag. I think if I made them again, I might make them with a cotton lining.

shoulder bags for children
bedside bags

For the following water bottle bag I have used the  Bishi – pattern by Georgie Hallam. It is really nice and I like the whole combination with the dress (also made by me)

I have also made a few really small gifts for grown ups like a smart phone or a passport holder. Apparently the smart phone holder is also ideal to keep a dummy safe over day time.

smart phone holder
pass port holder

Bags are also a great way of personalising the present. I made the following one for my mum who uses quite often cotton bags. I have actually made a mistake in the pattern repeats which I only discovered once I had all ends woven in and cut. So it became “the design”.

cotton bag

cotton bag

I have sewn the whole bag using greenish- turquoise heavy cotton and added one knitted side with a bit of a lace pattern so the green could shine through.

I have used this design of one knitted lace side also in the following folder-holder for my sister. The back of the holder is a heavy burgundy cotton and the front has actually three layers: burgundy fabric, yellow fabric and knitted red-orange-yellow with a few eyelets to let the yellow fabric come through. I have decided on a middle layer as the yellow background looks much nicer than the burgundy.

folder holder

folder holder

Happy birthday!

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matching outfits

matching outfits

It’s my niece’s birthday today so the right day to post about the cardigans that I have knitted for her and her doll. The girl’s cardigan is custom made after a few emails back and forth with my sister in law. And as my daughter quite likes it when I make something matching for her and her doll (like the pictured strawberry skirt, which I find rather cute myself) I thought my niece might enjoy dressing her doll in a matching cardigan.

I really like the design and the colour combination of this “final” version but I had something completely different in mind just after agreeing on the colours. In fact, I was convinced enough to just knit another cardigan which I will put in my etsy shop.

same input - different output

same input – different output

So I have used the same colours but I chose the light beige (linen) as a kind of background colour with wide stripes in pink, blue and green (or raspberry, atlantic and gooseberry). So none of the colours really sticks out, whereas the cardigan for my niece is clearly a pink one with thin stripes in other colours. I find both really nice and can’t really tell which one I would prefer. So up to you to choose your favourite.

For the shop version I have also made a matching doll cardigan and a tiny bag. As far as I know toddlers can not have enough little bags to take their little treasures on a trip or just to play with them at home.

coordinated set 1
coordinated set 2

I find those little supplements make hand knitted items for children even more special. You certainly don’t get that on the high-street.

Sleeping like a baby or Do people really like that kind of cushion?

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sleeping beauty

sleeping beauty

Hearing the soft snoring of two snotty noses through the baby monitor just reminded me of the picture I took of my daughter last weekend with the intention to post something about cushions.  After an exhausting day playing with the visiting grandparents she just fell asleep on one of my knitted cushions. This particular one is really soft, I had used Sirdar Snuggly Stripes with 80% bamboo and 20% wool. When I took the picture I thought about “Sleeping like a baby” as a title for a cushion related post but it might be a bit cheesy.

So how about my mother’s comment when she saw me working on a cushion cover and in fact the pattern for it: “Do people really like that kind of cushion?

flowers

flowers

Well, yes some do indeed. But I guess tastes are different. And to be fair, it seems to be a bit of a cultural thing as well and I am  often  overwhelmed by the amount of cushions in some B&B’s or when watching some of those home improvement shows. Can you really increase the value of the house simply by adding cushions? Well, I hope mine have this magic 🙂 I guess I shouldn’t be making fun of cushion obsessed people as after five years in the UK I’ve got apparently infected and I have created a few cushion covers for our couch in the living room as well as for the children’s cosy corner.

I think knitted cushions are actually quite nice gifts as they will most likely really stand out from the cushion crowd and be very special. So a cushion will be very personal but still relatively simple in contrast to a knitted piece of clothing

So far I have been unable to actually produce one with two alike sides. I just like the idea of contrasting sides and being able to turn the cushion depending on my mood.

The first few I made where really simple and it was the self striping yarn which did the trick. But I have to say, as I only used very soft and stretchy garter stitch pieces sewn together, they actually lost shape very quickly. Now I prefer much more to use pieces of contrasting cotton underneath the knitted coat and as back of the cushion. That keeps not only the shape much better, it also enhances the contrast of both sides.

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waves of dropped stitches

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strong contrasts

I’ve seen a similar cushion in a magazine once and I really liked the contrasting colours. This one is knitted from top to bottom rather than starting in one corner which I started doing with the next ones.  It is just easier to adjust the pattern to whatever yarn you want to use and to whatever cushion size you want to knit.

Ok, now I have been talking so much about  cushions, I will have to start knitting another one.