Another first...

And away from clothing and jewellery in to the world of knitting this time...a few friends have been suggesting that I should write up some of the knitting patterns I improvise so that others can get the opportunity to enjoy them. But, as is often the case, time and other things get in the way so it never gets started.

While I was knitting myself a new headband the other day (partly because I needed one, partly to use up some left-over sock yarn) I decided to test write up the pattern and see how it went. After all, it is quite pretty, and is probably a good length pattern to start with.

The design? A neat 2 stitch cable running up between two seed stitch columns. The edge deliberately doesn't have slipped stitches as I like the neat bumps the seed stitch gives, but anyone wanting a smooth edge could easily slip first stitch of each row instead.

 And where can you get the pattern? Ravelry of course, available for free download here

Leaf it out

In a break from posts about clothing, it's time to showcase some of the new jewellery designs that I've been working on. I've been trying to bring a touch of nature in to my work with metal, along with a bit of the gothic-ness that I love. The result is a series of cuffs and pendants featuring handmade brass buttons with leaf imprints (each one different, of course!) on leather and suede.

The cuffs feature three buttons, along a suede or leather strip which in turn runs through a larger backing piece of leather. The fastening is simple and adjustable - the loose end threads through the loop and then will either stay in place of it's own accord or can be knotted if desired.

The pendants feature just the one button plus a leather/sueded strip threaded through a contrasting square of leather. These will sit on black rubber necklets which not only look far better than a leather thong or silver chain for something like this but are also very comfortable to wear.

The only problem now is that I want one for myself, but I also have a show coming up this weekend that they're supposed to be on sale for...will I resist or will I have to make myself one before then?

And if I'm making myself one, which colour do I want?

An exciting week...

I managed to have a very exciting last week. Not only did a childhood friend get married in a truly wonderful celebration (which I won't go on about here, but it was a lovely day with lovely happy people) but I also managed to get a shop local to me to take a trial stock of my Handmade House Shoes.

After much thinking about sizes and possible fabrics, I decided to take 6 pairs in (I didn't want to overload her small shop with much more than that) - 1 size 5, 2 size 6's, 2 size 7's and 1 size 8.

Because quite a bit of the fabric I use to make the House Shoes, especially the linings, is either offcuts or individually bought "fat quarts" each pair is unique and unlikely to be repeated but when I laid them out there did seem to be a little bit of a theme going on at least:

Each pair has leather soles to give more grip on the floor than plain fabric (I didn't want to go down the route of buying in specially made rubber soles).


I'm hoping to find time to make a few more pairs up to have on my stall at future Craft Fairs, but in the meantime they're exclusive to Bolsita, Micklegate, York!