A Vintage Dinner Party in Manchester

Despite my fatigue, I didn't want to miss my trip to Manchester this weekend for anything. So here I am, nestled cosily in the back bedroom at a friend's house with her cat Lula wandering in and out looking for someone to make a fuss of her. Having visited local pub the Pack Horse on Friday night, yesterday I woke up to the pleasant sound of birds singing in the trees outside.

Introducing... Lula and her pet human, Nellie

Didsbury bound, we attended a vintage dinner party last night. Hosted at a friend of a friend's, the evening was complemented with a full cocktail service, handmade sushi rolls and dancing. The gentlemen arrived in debonair 'The Talented Mr Ripley' style blazers, cravats and boating shoes, whilst the ladies resembled starlets from the '40s and '50s. Mancunians certainly rise to the occasion!

With my feet firmly back in the present, I can now look forward to a four day working week next week and being reunited with all my home comforts.


Vintage inspired shenanigans in Didsbury, Manchester

Checking-in: Perth, Scotland

Been in bonny wee Scotland this week, I did a speedy one day return trip for a meeting in sunny Perth. Catching a glimpse of the rolling hills, wild horses and deep blue lochs between Edinburgh and Perth was really uplifting. I also managed to rustle up two more crocheted granny squares on the flight home.

Have you ever noticed that many Scots have surnames that are colours such as White, Black, Green etc? These originate from the coloured fabrics produced by the local textiles industry there many years ago. Of course Scottish designers continue to send ripples through the fashion and textile worlds today, with Louise Gray's collection creating a stir at London fashion week in February.

Here's a piccie of my deluxe airport lunch taken in Giraffe at Heathrow's glossy terminal five. It's granola with yoghurt, honey and fruit - what a great way to start the day!

The day I saw the Queen

We all slog away at work, minding our own business. We keep our head down, smile, show willing and try not to complain too much when things aren't so great.

Well you wouldn't believe my surprise when I was taken into a room at work last week and was informed that 'the Palace' had been in touch and had asked: could we organise some transport for the Queen, Prince Phillip and Kate so that they could get to the next destination on their UK Jubilee Tour?

The mood in the room instantly brightened and after exchanging a few animated exchanges with my colleague, we got to work, planning the brief but momentous occasion.

Fast forward to 10.10 this morning. I'm standing by a customer information desk, waiting pensively. The sky is clear and bright but my feet are very cold from standing outside for an hour.

I glance over, I see the Queen emerging on an escalator. She is quite dinky and is wearing a vibrant fuchsia skirt suit and a tall, wide hat. Small but mighty is our Majesty, I think to myself. I am ecstatic. I start gasping, this is brilliant!

I scurry off to signal to my colleagues that she's coming. They're all beaming.

Flanked by two plain clothes policemen, she approaches, with Prince Phillip, Kate and a small entourage in tow. I'm just standing out of the way, grinning.

Kate is even taller than I imagined and is as striking as any top model. Today she is impeccably dressed in a slim fitting teal two piece (L.K. Bennett), black heels and a hat. Must wear hats more often me thinks. She's very slim and as you'd expect, well groomed. It would be impossible to ignore this lady in any room or setting.

And Prince Phillip? He just looks like he's really enjoying himself. They all go inside and sit down ready to depart and so sadly for me it's all over.

How do I feel now? Well I'm completely hooked on them! As I live in London I've met quite a few celebrities but the Royal Family are on another level entirely. I'd love to have spoken to them today but everything happened in the space of five minutes and also I had to behave professionally.

We know very little about the Queen's interests and personality. Does the Queen ever knit I wonder? What does she like on the telly?

Today's encounter has renewed my love of crown motifs and my fondness of the English sense of humour, our eccentricity and individuality. For this reason I will forge on with my knitting and crochet ramblings. It's a bit mad, but somehow, I think I've found my calling.

The Queen and the Duchess of Cambridge pictured later on today.

London Fashion Week 17-22 February

I couldn't let London Fashion Week pass me by without so much as a mention! Why? Well, because whether we want to admit it or not, what's on the catwalk will filter down to the high street and influence what we wear and make to a greater or lesser extent. Having just excitedly scoured coverage on the collections, I am able to bring you my snapshot of Autumn/Winter 2012 knitwear highlights. Visions in wool, these garments are by established fashion houses and headline grabbing newcomers alike. A guaranteed mood lifter, there was quite a lot of fiery burnt orange around, particularly from Matthew Williamson.

Here's my quick and dirty...

Acne

Holly Fulton

Pringle of Scotland

If you followed the London Fashion Week coverage yourself and spotted something worthy of a mention, leave a comment including a link to the picture and I'll publish it.

Baby Blanket Goes Under Cover

My second ever knitting project, you may have caught sight of this in my finished object coffee cosy post last week. As I created this zigzag baby blanket before I started the blog, I felt it was a shame not to give it a mention. Although due to its size it took me a while to knit, I was pretty pleased with the result at the time, so much so, I couldn't face giving it away. The purple, cream, grey and light blue colourway really works, don't you think?

Missoni Resort 2012 collection, image from thriftfab.com

I've also always been a fan of the distinctive zigzag pattern Italian fashion house Missoni so often incorporates into its range. Even as a super novice at the time, I got on ok with this pattern and would definitely knit another one.
Special thanks to Debbie Orr for providing such a lovely free knitting pattern via Ravelry. I used Debbie Bliss double knitting yarns for the blanket, the sea grass chest is from John Lewis and I picked up the cowhide rug many years ago in Sydney, Australia.

Rowan Laze Knitting Pattern

Oh my god! The Rowan 'Laze' pattern is so long; even my mother groans and leaves the room when I ask her to look at it for me.

"It’s a 25 row pattern!" she cries. However, it is certainly worth persevering as I really love the dogtooth check pattern and contemporary shape of this two colour knitted cardigan. The Rowan Studio 20 booklet also contains a whole raft of other patterns for young fashionistas – the diamond patterned 'Sun' dress has a certain ikat look about it and is a firm favourite. There's also 'Shine', a chic summer shift dress with a twisted cut out back detail that is both elegant and understated. Pictured top to bottom: Laze, Sun and Shine Rowan knitting patterns.

Night at the Museum

Yesterday I was scouring London's famous Victoria & Albert (V & A) museum looking for 'knitspiration' with my old school friend Catherine. Probably my favourite museum in London, the V & A is jam-packed with art, ceramics and jewellery from around the world and also occasionally hosts must-see fashion exhibitions.

The jewellery-through-the-ages space capsule room and neon Japanese kimonos provided some interest but, alas, there was not a stitch of knitwear in sight! Unfortunately our visit didn't coincide with a touring fashion exhibition so sadly the only crafty curiosities to catch my eye were some jumbo crochet hooks and spools of shredded T-shirt yarn for crocheting in the gift shop. These reels of candy coloured cotton loveliness presented me with pleasing visions of a chunky handmade textured top in pastel colours for the spring...

In summary, the V & A is great museum if you're an art and craft enthusiast, but to get the best out of your trip you'd be well advised to plan your visit around the programme of touring exhibitions.

Gotta Love Croydon

For years, Croydon in south London has been the subject of much ridicule. Despite incubating the talent of two world famous supermodels in the '90s, and hosting an efficient transport interchange and an IKEA superstore; the densely populated metropolis is more widely associated with featureless concrete commercial buildings and teen mums. To its credit and to my surprise, I discovered today that Croydon has a crochet square named after it! And here it is, papped nonchalantly on its creator's fair laminate flooring. Gotta love Croydon.

Mustering all my patience and courage, I plan to have a stab at a similar afghan granny square soon. Will keep you posted.

Before I go, here's a snap of mum's hat. It turned out lovely, don't you think? She's more of an old skool knitter so I don't think her pattern came from cyberspace. However, I'm sure if readers were keen to replicate it, someone is bound to have added a similar pattern to Ravelry's patterns section.

Following the paper trail

And now for something totally different! Last week I realised I don't have enough hanging Christmas decorations for the festive season so I thought, why not make some? When I was nine years-old I had a Japanese friend called Yuko who introduced me to the creative art of Origami. I remember being tantalised by the richly coloured patterned paper she used as she demonstrated how to transform a simple square of paper into a swan, a dog's face or a familiar object.

I haven't dabbled in the paper arts since, that is until yesterday when I made a paper ski boot! I plan to create a few more little folded clothes and then progress to constructing some larger scale hanging shapes to decorate the apartment at Christmas.

One more thing before I go, I've always admired the contemporary look of clothing with intricately folded material and came across this fabulous example. Wow! So modern and unique. I must admit I feel a tinge of craft envy that I didn't design it myself, but it's certainly something to aspire to
nonetheless.

The Sample Life

French purveyors of costume jewellery and welcome addition to Covent Garden, Les Nereides has a sample sale of up to 80 per cent off from 2-6 November. I overheard the shopping assistant advising another shopper to turn up early on the first day to get the best deals, to which the shopper replied that she was definitely going to go and intended to excuse herself from work, telling her boss that she "Had to go to the chemist". Love it! Les Nereides's quirky little adornments will look perfect juxaposed with your chunky knits this season.