Welcome


Hello, my name is Dionne and I have been crafting for a very long time. As a very young child my mother tried to teach me to knit, it was a disaster. However, it must have sparked an interest in making things and, partly to prove that I was not totally useless and partly because I really wanted to make things, I taught myself to crochet. Over the years I have developed a love of cross stitch and all types of paper craft ..... I eventually even taught myself to knit.


I am married to a very understanding man, thank goodness, because I spend all my time either crafting, thinking about crafting or talking about crafting. I am hopeless at housework and dinner is often late!


Thank you for visiting my blog.


Dionne

Friday 1 November 2019

Seeing Red!

A pinch and a punch, it's the first of the month!

A few weeks ago I posted that I was not going to be blogging for a few weeks, I wanted to reassure my friends that there was nothing wrong, I was just going to be very busy for a while.  I now have a brief time, between finishing that project and starting all those Christmas ones that I really need to get on with, to tell you what I have been up to.

First, a very little background.  Regular visitors will know that I have a small niece who I often talk about.  This time last year her mum received a letter offering her a place at the local pre-school, we were quite surprized about this because she had only recently had her second birthday.  However, her mum was reassured that it was not an error and, after a conference, everyone involved agreed that my little niece was ready for pre-school and she joined the class at the start of the New Year ... and she loved it.

The pre-school does not have a compulsory uniform policy and no one in the class my niece joined wore the uniform.  After the summer break her class mates went up, but, because of her age, my little niece was kept back.  To her mum's horror all of the new class arrived on the first day wearing the uniform.  That afternoon she rushed to the shops but, unfortunately, the local shops had already sold out of the uniform in my nieces size.  Whilst her mum set about altering the dresses she had managed to find, she contacted me to asked if I could make her some red cardigans.

I was worried that the weather was already turning quite cold but I did not know how many cardigans she would need so I asked around and most people thought that five cardigans would be a good number - taking into account how messy three year olds tend to be and the problems of washing and drying woolies at this time of year.  Here are the first two.


For quickness, I chose a plain patterned cardigan and made one of both the round necked design and the 'V' neck cardigan.  The pattern is a vintage Stylecraft one, number 4909.


This pattern has an option for pockets, so I added pockets to the 'V' neck cardigan.  (When I gave these two cardigans to my niece, I suggested that she could keep her hankie in her pockets but she insisted that she was going to keep rocks in them!)  I finished this cardigan with five fish eye red buttons.


I kept the round necked cardigan plain - no rocks for this one.  Both cardigans were made in double knit and this one was finished with half a dozen shank buttons.

It's been quite a marathon making all of these red cardigans in just over a month, and not everything went exactly as planned.  But more about that another day.


Dionne

7 comments:

  1. That was quite a mission and how great for your niece that you are such a demon knitter! You'll be pleased to know that I can manage without a red cardigan in my collection!!! X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank goodness, I am a little redded out at the moment, five cardigans and two jumpers are enough for the time being. I have moved on to royal blue, which are destined for my other little nieces.

      Dionne xx

      Delete
  2. I like the bright red and such pretty buttons! I wish I could learn this but I don't have the patience.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never had the patience to knit either and did not learn how to do it until I retired, so there is time for you yet. You never know, you could be knitting for your grandchildren!

      Dionne xx

      Delete
  3. Beautiful cardigans and love the red -can quite imagine our grandaughter Holly(10yrs) keeping rocks in her pockets I have found conkers before now lol
    Carol x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I put the bit in about the rocks because I had a feeling that you would appreciate it. This little one is a bit of a Tom Boy, so the rocks did not surprize me, and that is why I thought she would need more that two red cardigans. The last time I saw her she got through two outfits in as many hours. The first she soaked floating ducks in the sink and the next, she went into the garden, and came back looking like she had been rolling in the bushes. She was only out there five minutes!

      Dionne xx

      Dionne xx

      Delete
    2. oh she definitely sounds like Holly lol
      Carol x

      Delete

Thank you for visiting my blog, I look forward to reading your feedback on my work. I hope you will visit again.

Dionne