more bolero

A friend said she couldn’t work out how to make the bolero from the tutorial I used the other day, so I’ve put a few pics together for her. Not my most professional work, please note — this has been a very hasty exercise!

And that’s it, folks!!! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!! Here are a couple of pics of one of my colleagues, Delene, wearing the one I made for the tutorial. As you can see, the length gives it a drapey, shawl-y sort of look. If you don’t want it to be like this, you’d probably use a rectangle measuring approx 100 x 80cm.

Here’s a different one.  The fabric has a lovely stretch to it, so it’s still comfy to wear even though it’s smaller than the other two.

  

My recommendation would be to do a test run using an old bit of sheeting or some very cheap fabric, just to make sure you get the look you want, before you go using anything expensive.

Back soon x

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sewing up a storm

I’ve become totally manic about sewing lately, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon. It started with the newsboys (here) and here….

      

     

and now I’ve moved on, largely inspired by the receipt of a whole bunch of fabric samples from an awesome guy who runs a textile agency down the road from me …. thanks, Peter. Again.

So, I found a brilliant tutorial on how to make a simple shrug-type bolero here, and that’s what I did last night.

I used a much thinner and silkier type of fabric to the woolly one, and I also fiddled with the measurements a bit (my first effort was too tight over the bust).  But I’ve ended up with something that perfectly satisfies my three basic sewing requirements:  1. user-friendly 2. cheap and cheerful; 3. pretty damn quick to put together.

And yes, it IS very hot and sunshine-y in Cape Town again today.

Back soon x

 

 

Perfect autumn weather

I seem to remember doing a hell of a lot of moaning and groaning about the impossibly hot weather we had at the end of summer, so now that it’s autumn and perfect and sunny yet mild and the leaves are all copper, I’m making a point of noticing and saying so.

Here’s the view from my lounge, 5 minutes ago:

and I realise there isn’t much copper, so I walked further down the garden and found this:

See?  – copper!

Okay, enough of the nature stuff.  On Friday I met up with the woman who is doing up her daughter’s bedroom, her colours are aubergine and lime (yep, purple and green!)
  

With the help of Edie Eckman’s wonderful book of crochet edgings,

      

and the flower aghan in Simply Crochet Issue 3,

     

I’ve already finished the two strips (each 2.30 metres long) that will be used to edge two purple aubergine cushions, and have a nice lilac flower on a slate grey background to start off the third cushion.

I don’t usually buy crochet magazines but the cover of this one caught my eye recently (as one reader will know all too well).  I’m making the bolero on the front, in camel cotton with a 4mm hook.  I’ve just got to the arm shaping bit, but it’s been a lovely easy pattern so far.  Size medium. I figure that since I’m still following the Weigh-Less diet, I might not always have to make the very biggest size in everything from now on.

Time will tell, I suppose. Yesterday I went to Lyndall’s 23rd birthday tea where it would simply have been unforgivably rude of me not to join in the feast (devil’s on horseback, nutella muffins, lemon meringue).

I have to run some errands later. Perhaps the exercise will help burn off the extra kilojoules (get it?) (sorry!)

Back soon x

Bolero – check.

I’ve been blaming my current lack of energy on the heat and humidity of a Cape Town summer. And whether that is the case or not, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I have finished knitting the bolero for John’s niece:

I like the way the two blues worked together, and it’s also nice to knit with larger needles for a change (I used 7mm). Goes more quickly, too.

I have other things on my list for the day, but now that I can tick off the bolero, I’m allowing myself to be diverted by Janette’s coasters (here). Just have to make one.

To be continued…

knit one purl one

Got my knitting needles out this weekend, for the first time in ages. I made this bolero last year and it was almost the very first thing that got sold when Jam Tarts had its first Open Day.

It was an ex-colleague who bought it for his 10-yr old niece, and he reported that she loved it so much that she practically slept in it. He has been asked to give her another one this year, in blues, so that’s what I’m busy with. I couldn’t find a variegated yarn with the right combination of blues that I wanted, so I’m mixing two strands together. It’s turning out a lovely rich denim colour, which I think any normal pre-teen will approve of.

It’s a great pattern, actually, designed by Dawn Leeseman, and it was a free download from I-can’t-remember-which-site, but I could probably track it if anyone else is interested. For once, I’m going to tackle this task as professionally as possible and actually Make Notes about how much yarn I use, any improvisations I make to the original pattern, and how long it takes to knit. Yeah right.

In other news, Alex made us a lovely lunch on Saturday. Sometimes, when she does something that clearly I regard as hilarious/stupid/original, she glares menacingly at me and says, ‘You’d better not put this in your blog.’ And other times, she’ll say sweetly, ‘Don’t you want to blog about this, cher maman?’. And so we have the Goldberg summer special: a variety of baby letttuce leaves, fresh orange segments, a sprinkling of quinoa and rice, slivers of smoked salmon, coriander, and a perfect dressing.

Rob was going to join us for lunch but he couldn’t because he had to wait for his new bed to be delivered, but Nathan was here. Nathan has completed a year at the prestigious Silwood School of cooking, so when he says something is good, then you’d better believe it.

To be continued…