Wreath of Roses

A double post in one day? Well I suppose it makes up for leaving it 4 months between posts!

This time I thought I would post some details of a fresh wreath-making class I attended yesterday in Chiswick. The class was given by a new company called I Made It Myself, that runs crafty classes in West London and was held in a lovely airy venue just off Chiswick High Rd.

I went with my friend Alice, and we were each given a choice of red or white roses. (We both chose white, because of the colours of our front doors, but the red ones were equally beautiful).

When we arrived, we were each given a wreath frame filled with pre-soaked oasis. From there on, we had great fun learning how to cut and arrange the foliage into the frame before embellishing with our choice of roses and other decorations. We also learned about watering the wreath to keep it fresh until the New Year.

Those who chose red roses were given dark glossy foliage to play with, while the people using white roses were given beautifully-scented eucalyptus. There were also loads of embellishments available, including berries, ribbons, sparkly accents and even some robins and doves. But because of the simplicity of the white roses, Alice and I both chose natural accents of blue thistle and ivy berries. (For one time only, I think I may have embraced the concept of "less is more"!)

We both came out with beautiful wreaths, and mine is now hanging on my front door...

Here are a few pics taken during the class... and a pic of my final wreath hanging on my front door!

Flapper hat and iPhone Mitts

Hello knitty fiends, I thought I would pop in and show a couple of small FOs that I completed recently.

The first is a hat for my sister. Given the cold, snowy spell we've had, she asked if I could make her a winter hat. She wanted a 20s-ish beanie with a flower, and stipulated that it must not be too tight (a note for British people: she specifically asked not to look like Benny from Crossroads). In terms of colour, she was keen on dark grey, with a dark pink flower.

After searching ravelry for a bit, I decided on a free pattern by Marnie MacLean called Fun Flapper Hat. It is a quick knit in chunky yarn. I used Rowan Alpaca Cotton, which has a soft, fuzzy halo but turned out to be lovely and non-itchy, thanks to the cotton.

Because I am a "more is more" sort of girl, I added not one, but three flowers, using varying shades of Rowan Kidsilk Haze held together and a little bit of Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk. The rim of the hat is crocheted with several strands of yarn held together.

My ravelry bud Kittycrochet kindly agreed to model the hat for me before I posted it off to sis in Brighton. I think she did a great job of her photoshoot. (More details on ravelry)




The second FO is a pair of mitts for me. Much as I love my beautiful elbow-length leather gloves, every time I want to use my iPHone on the go I it causes hand freeze to have to pull them off completely. So wanted some gloves or mitts that would allow me to free up one or more fingers without the rest of the hand getting cold. (In truth I also wanted an excuse to use another ball of the Sirdar Crofter that I had in my stash, as it does such a lovely job of fake-isle.)

I found a great pattern on ravelry for Mobile Mittens that pretty much hit the spot. (I did make a few minor modifications, and have given full details on ravelry.) But here are a couple of pics...