As I sat looking up at the Guinness Ad, I could never figure out how your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout

Hello everyone! How's it going, there? Everything is grand here - Nic and I are just back from a lovely long weekend at home in Northern Ireland. It was brilliant. I had been feeling ill all last week with an annoying sinus infection that just wouldn't shift, but being at home made me feel better. I slept well and of course it helped that I had my parents to look after me, but whatever it was, it was great!

We arrived on Thursday evening and came back yesterday. The thing that prompted the visit home on this particular weekend is that I had bought Nic and I tickets to see Christy Moore, who was playing with the Máirtín O'Connor band in Dungannon Leisure Centre. I've seen Christy live before, at Warwick Arts Centre in 2006, and it's something I have wanted to do with Nic ever since we've been together. Christy Moore is an artist who means a lot to me, and he is absolutely brilliant live. When my cousin's husband told us he'd seen Christy live in the leisure centre, Nic declared that this would be the only way to see him. Luckily for us, this declaration coincided with Christy Moore touring and so, on Friday night, Nic and I joined my cousin and her husband on the basketball court at the leisure centre for an absolutely brilliant gig.

It was quite strange to be back in the leisure centre: the place where I tried (and failed) to learn to swim, where my friend Davina and I ate chips while we waited for the bus home after school, and where I (very occasionally) went to basketball matches on a Friday night. That said, it really was an excellent venue. The audience was small and engaged, and the sound was brilliant. It was a very emotional gig and thoroughly wonderful to see this living legend in an Irish crowd. Thankfully, Nic loved the gig as much as I did, and we had a splendid evening also. Before the gig, all four of us had dinner together in Cano's and we saw the night out in The Square Bar. A great Dungannon night out, even if Nic has never really managed to get over the disappointment that the bar itself is not actually square (it's in The Square.)

It was one of those holidays that felt longer than it was because we managed to fit so much in - mainly spending time with family and eating, but we also made it to the Armagh Show in Gosford Forest, which was every bit as much like an episode of Father Ted as I hoped it would be.

There's one out-and-out winner and rather than waste time with a speech I'll get on with the job of announcing the winner who, today, has come first in this competition to see who the winner is in the King of the Sheep competition that we have all come to today wondering who indeed will it be, who wins the prize of King of the Sheep.

We were very lucky to be able to spend so much time with our gorgeous nephews, who change so much every time I see them. My mum is always telling me that Joe reminds her of what I was like as a baby and I must say that I'm beginning to see the resemblance myself...

His shoes have giraffes on them and mine have birds, but I think we can all agree that Joe's footwear is totally awesome.

We were also very lucky with the weather. In a shocking turn of events, we were even able to sit outside in the sunshine at my sister Colleen's house! I brought home summer dresses and wasn't even cold. High summer indeed in Northern Ireland! The weather was so beautiful that I was able to take the opportunity to photograph a couple of finished projects.

As I've mentioned before, I decided to take part in the Outfit Along organised by Andi Satterlund and Lauren Lladybird. The idea is that you make complete outfit by sewing a dress (or a skirt or whatever, I guess) and knitting a cardigan or sweater to wear with it. There are suggested patterns but it's really up to you what to do. Anyway, the suggested cardigan is Andi's newest pattern, the Vianne. I'd been hanging out dying for this to be released ever since I saw Andi's completed one on instagram. I loved the lace pattern insert on either side of the button band. I didn't even know at that stage about the lovely lace work across the back. 

The pattern is designed to be knit with DK weight yarn. I bought a few balls of Cascade 220 Superwash in a colourway called 'flamingo' which I hoped would be a really shocking pink. It turned out to be a bit more subdued than I hoped for - and pretty close in colour to the pink of my Dilly Miette cardigan - I still need to find the perfect shocking pink yarn. Still, this colour is lovely and I have already worn this cardigan a lot:

Andi Satterlund Vianne cardigan, Doralee dress (Simplicity 2591) and Swedish hasbeens Mimmi sandals

This photo is such a goofy one of me, but it's the best one of the cardigan! I cast the Vianne on in the car when we were on our way down to Kent with my parents and it knit up really quickly. Actually, after that weekend I frogged what I had done - I can't remember why, but I did - so I think this was only really on my needles for a few weeks. I was a little bit hesitant with this pattern and enjoyed it less than I have done other projects but this was nothing at all to do with the pattern and everything to do with the fact that the Marion cardigan fit me so badly. Vianne is a similar shape to Marion, so I was a little bit worried, but I decided that it was worth trying anyway. I'm pretty happy with the outcome but, as ever, there are a few things I would change...

Here's a a close-up so that you can see the lace pattern around the neckline more clearly. I really love this stitch pattern, even though you can't see it especially well in this photo.

I knit the smallest size, which I think is a really good fit around the shoulders and a pretty good fit across my bust. I think I could stand to go up a size at the waist, maybe. I'm not really at my fighting weight in these photos - something about the food at home (potatoes) makes me a bit (potatoes) bloated (potatoes) and I think that a few days back on my regular diet will make the fit around the stomach a little more forgiving! I like wearing the cardigan open, anyway:

Nic caught me mid-reaction to a giant bluebottle dive-bombing my face, and this photo keeps making me laugh!

This pattern was very easy to follow. The back looks very complicated, but actually the stitch pattern was easy to memorise and so knitted very quickly:

I panicked about the cardigan a bit when I joined the back to the front, because the armholes seemed absolutely massive. I tried the cardigan on after knitting a few more rows of the body and the armholes just seemed impossibly long, and it looked like the cardigan itself was going to end up being much longer than I would like if I continued to follow the pattern to the letter. So I busked it a bit at this stage. I looked ahead to see what the stitch count should be on the last row before the waistband ribbing started and took a stab at how many more rows I'd need knit to get to my desired length, and then I worked the decreases closer together over that number of rows. It didn't work out perfectly - I should have had fewer rows and more ribbing - but I was pleased to have cobbled together a solution. Once I picked up the first sleeve, I was hugely reassured that the finished cardigan would be a decent fit. I powered through the sleeves and am happy with those, too. They're a much better fit than the ones on Marion.

I love how the pattern around the neckline is mirrored on either side of the mesh on the back, and I think that I'd like to knit this cardigan again with those details and a stockinette back. Andi has written a post on how to knit the back plain, which I will have to try to modify to my own ends at some point!

So, I don't totally love this cardigan but I am very pleased with it, and it's definitely a worthwhile addition to my massive collection of cardigans. Judging by how often I wear my Dilly cardigan, I know another pink cardigan will see lots of wear and I'm pretty happy with how this one looks.

I wasn't keen on the suggested dress pattern in the OAL - after my last Belladone dress, I decided that open backs on dresses isn't for me - so I was a little bit lost as to what to sew to match my pink cardigan. Then, weirdly, inspiration just hit, late at night. When I was trying to fall asleep I decided to try revisiting Simplicity 2591, which was one of the first dress patterns I sewed from, and I even knew the stash fabric to make it from. Isn't it funny when that happens?!

So, Simplicity 2591 is now out of print, but it was one of the first patterns I sewed from when I started sewing four or five years ago. I've changed size and shape a little bit since then, and after checking out all the measurements, I decided I'd try going a size down. I didn't toile this - but as my fabric had only cost me £4.99 per metre, I thought it worth the risk.

Doralee dress - Simplicity 2591 in rose-print cotton poplin from Birmingham market

I don't think I made any alterations to this one, so this is basically straight out of the packet. Man, I think I even hemmed it to the suggested length! I bought the rose print cotton poplin from a stall in Birmingham market when I had a shopping trip there with some sewing friends in March (I think a few of them might have bought some too - I can't completely remember) and I had 2 metres in my stash, which was the perfect amount for what I needed. This was a completely no-fuss project, which I sewed on a sunny morning on my week off a few weeks ago.

As with the cardigan, I'm pretty happy with this dress, even if I don't completely love it, and if I sew another 2591 there are a few fitting tweaks I'd like to make, such as lowering the armholes very slightly and reducing some of the bulk there, and also giving myself a bit more space in the bust. These are only minor things though, and not enough to prevent me from wearing this particular dress.

It's a shame this pattern is out of print now, because it really is cute and unusual. I no longer have any of the ones I sewed when I first started out, so there probably is room in my wardrobe for another 2591. I like the gentle gathering at the waist and the usual design of the pockets. My mum was delighted with the pockets and pointed them out to my granny when we visited her on Sunday, which is when I wore this dress. My auntie Jeanette liked my shoes, which was also pleasing:

Yeah, that's right. And I got another pair of clogs in the post today. Insert Ron Swanson Don't Even Care gif.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday and I was able to put this whole outfit through its paces by wearing it to play in the park with my nephews, visit my granny, eat lots of sandwiches and sit outside in the sunshine with my sister, brother-in-law, parents and Nic, watching the dogs play and catching up on local gossip. This dress is already full of happy memories, and I ended that day full of noodles. You can't beat holidays, lads.

Anyway - you've had to tolerate seven million photographs of me, and also it's getting pretty late here and I have stuff I need to do before I go to bed. Before I go, here are some photos of the dogs of the weekend...

My sister Colleen had a difficult start to the year, but Lola joining the family has helped put a smile back onto her face. She's a shih tzu, apparently, but I think she's actually an Ewok. She's ridiculously cute, at any rate.

...and who can forget our Mini?! My parents were trying to work out how old she is, and we came to the conclusion that she must be seven, because we've had Nic for longer than we've had her. Certainly, she's finding it more difficult now to jump up onto the sofa and she's become tolerant in her old age. I saw her allowing Joe to stroke her and she even tolerated Lola in the house. She still barks at the postman who, more than once, has threatened to stop delivering to our house. It would take far more than her being cheeky to the postman to knock her from her pedestal in our house, however. She's top dog by some long way...

Pupstagram

I only hate sunburn and hangovers. This is just business.

Hey everyone, happy Friday! It has rolled around more quickly than I expected it would, given that I was back at work this week. It was helped by the fact that Nic and I booked a holiday to Paris for later in the summer. YEAH BOI. We're going to have ten days in Paris and we're staying in a beautiful apartment in Montmartre, although it is a different one to the place where we have stayed for the last few years. Maybe we'll grow tired of Paris eventually, but we're not tired of it yet. In any case, it's really good to have a holiday to look forward to.

It's been a decent week, all in all. Work is in a quieter spot at the moment, which is nice. There are a few important activities coming up over the next couple of months, but it's much less frantic a pace than it is throughout the rest of the year. The office itself is horrible in the summer months - it's one of those modern buildings that's all glass and steel and where the windows only open by decree from estate management, who are based on another site. Luckily, I'm able to work at home, and that's what I've been doing this week.

One of the really good things about working from home is being able to use my commuting time for other things. Often that's sleeping, but this morning it was a little bit of sewing. Although my commute is short, it can be very draining all the same (you know, the public) so not having to do it also usually leaves me with more energy in evenings. Nic was out on Tuesday evening and I made a dress - a nautical Cambie/Belladone combination that I will try to photograph over the weekend - and this week I also finished my Andi Satterlund Vianne cardigan. It's blocking away as I speak. So, it's all been very productive!

I've been sewing away but recently I've bought or been given a few lovely RTW dresses. Last month, Tom from Carousel Clothing in Dublin got in touch with me and asked me if I would be interested in learning about his own brand, Circus, and choosing a dress to try out. I don't often accept these sorts of requests but I was interested by the brand. Their patterns are cut in Dublin, and their fabrics are printed in India, where their clothes are made. I had a look through the catalogue and chose the Brigitte dress, which is €65.

Circus clothing Brigitte dress*, worn with Swedish hasbeens Frederica sandals

I used to buy a lot of dresses. A lot. Nowadays I don't, and when I do, it's usually because it's a fabric or a cut that I either wouldn't able to replicate or just wouldn't replicate. This is the latter. I've only rarely seen a striped fabric that I would want to buy, and even if I did - well, my attention span is genuinely not sufficient to faff around with stripe matching. So this dress is kind of perfect for me!

I'm uncomfortable with ragging on the quality of RTW clothing - after all, ALL clothing is hand-made - but I don't like buying or wearing cheaply made clothing. I was pretty impressed with the quality of this dress. It's made from a good quality, medium weight slubby cotton. It isn't lined, but this isn't an issue for me with a summer dress. The neck and armholes are finished with self-fabric binding and the dress fastens with a side lapped zip. The zip is really lovely, actually, if you can believe that - it's a very high-quality metal zip. Thumbs up all around for quality. The dress comes with a self-fabric sash belt which - well, look, I guess other people can make those work, but I can't. I always end up looking like a sack of potatoes that has been badly tied around the middle. I think this dress looks grand without it, but I will be looking out for a nice shiny patent red or navy belt.

I went full-on nautical when I wore this the other day, pairing it with another Lobster-themed garment...

Collectif Lucy Lobster cardigan

I bought this cardigan as soon as Char pointed it out to me and I am pleased to find it will work with dresses other than my lobster dress. I bought the Punky Pins necklace over the weekend from a shop in Leamington... and I'm very tempted to go back in and buy the lighthouse one as well. I also have the matching earrings. I'm a sucker for anything nautical, basically, because I am lame.

Hold Fast! You can see the dress fabric in more detail in this photo

The Brigitte dress has the sort of silhouette that I gravitate towards - a fitted bodice with a gathered skirt - and it fits true to the size chart on the website. I asked for a size 8 and I think it fits very nicely for an off-the rack dress. It's very lovely all round and it's a dress I'll wear lots in the hot weather - it's breezy and cool and cute.

This awesome vintage handbag was a gift from my friend Louise, and I bought the red hasbeens on deep sale over the winter

Thanks to Tom from Carousel for sending me this lovely dress. I like it so much I have my eye on the gingham Ava dress... which seems to be in the perfect large-scale 100% cotton gingham that is basically impossible to find:

Right-o, lads. My uncharacteristic burst of energy this morning has me seriously flagging now, so I'm away here to brew up a massive pot of coffee and get my head back into checking spreadsheets. WOO YEAH.

Disclosure: I was sent the dress featured in this post for free for a review. I was not otherwise compensated for this post and none of the links in this post are sponsored. My opinions are my own.

I know I look square, but I'm like my father's tractor. I take a while to warm up, but once I get going I can turn your topsoil till the cows come home.

Hellllooo! Actually no I should say, "howdy y'all" because Nic and I have been watching Nashville again.

That's how finding out that S3 is online made me feel

Anyway. I was back at work today after a pretty blissful week off and, all things considered, it wasn't too bad. I sweetened the deal for myself a little bit by making sure that I would have a shoe delivery waiting for me when I got home from work. I also made sure that I had some carrot cake waiting for me when I got home (my friend Amy baked some for us over the weekend) so I'm basically winning right now, right?

Having a week off work was really good. After we got back from the coast and my parents went back to Northern Ireland, Nic and I decided to really rest and relax. It was brilliant. We didn't really go anywhere and mainly spent a lot of time dandering around in the sunshine, watching stupid films and chilling out. I spent some time knitting and sewing, and we were able to hang out with friends as well. I hadn't really realised until I wasn't at work how much I needed the break - I slept well for the first time in months and all the tension that I've been carrying around in my neck and shoulders suddenly lifted. It was very valuable and a good reminder of how important it is to prioritise life over work. I went back to work today feeling totally refreshed, which is excellent! Of course, it helps that I have a long weekend coming up next weekend - Nic and I are going back to Northern Ireland for a few days to go to a gig and to spend some time with family, which is going to be lovely.

I'm looking forward to seeing Daddy's cheeky face again next week. Nic took this photo of us on the beach at Sandgate last weekend - Daddy isn't as serious as he looks here though!

I'm hoping that I can keep carrying this good mood and positive attitude towards work with me over the next few months, but I'm sure that I can. Life is really very good right now, with lots of very exciting things on the horizon.

So, as I mentioned, I spent a little bit of time sewing this week. My desire to sew has really been subject to ebb and flow this year, but last week inspiration struck. I decided to take part in the Outfit Along being hosted by Lauren Lladybird and Andi Satterlund and the other night I was hit with inspiration as to which dress pattern to use: an old favourite, Simplicity 2591. I don't have any photos of that to show you yet, but I so enjoyed sewing it that it prompted me to revisit another favourite Simplicity pattern - this time, Simplicity 2444.

18th Arrondissement dress: Simplicity 2444 in Michael Miller 'Gay Paree' fabric, worn with my Hetty cardigan and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

Sewing this was honestly sort of weird to me - you know, another Simplicity 2444 in a Paris-themed fabric - and, I must admit that immediately after I finished it, I berated myself for stepping in the same stream twice. But of course, you never really do step in the same stream twice.

In any case, very few of my Paris-themed dresses fit me now, and similarly few Simplicity 2444s, so it really was high time to revisit this lovely pattern. What I should do with this fabric, which I had bought on impulse back in January, had been bugging me for a while. Going old-school Dolly Clackett on it seemed to work!

There isn't a great deal to say about sewing this. I sewed a size 8 basically straight out of the packet - the only alteration I made was to use a larger seam allowance at the shoulder seams, because this is an alteration I always make, and I omitted the pockets. I hardly ever sew pockets in dresses now, especially not if they're side-seam pockets. I didn't look at the instructions but I sewed pretty much to them - I really like the way the instructions have you sew the front, then the back, then sew them together (rather than sew the bodice and then sew it to the skirt).  I used white bias binding for the armholes and a white concealed zip, both of which I had in my stash.

This fabric had hung around in my stash for a while because I wasn't sure whether the white background would suit my intensely Irish skin but, as I've taken a bit of sun recently and my skin is less blue than usual, I think it's okay. Obviously, I was charmed by the print also...

Nic actually picked this fabric out. I bought it on impulse, but mainly because he liked it so much - probably because it reminded us both so much of one of our favourite places in the world, Montmartre. We didn't exchange gifts for our first wedding anniversary but we have been talking about going back to Paris at some point this year. We might not make it as there are other travel opportunities that might take priority, but in case we do, I'm happy to have another Paris dress in my wardrobe. Even if it does mean that I'm increasingly becoming a pastiche of my blog personality.

Mainly it felt good to sit down at my sewing machine again, you know? So much so that I have another two dresses cut out to sew in the near future. As always, I have more plans than I have time, but I'm getting better at making that time for myself.

I wore this dress on Saturday afternoon - we had been out on Friday night, so Saturday morning consisted of pyjamas and nothing else - to have ice-cream in the park with Nic, drinks in the pub with friends, and dinner round at the house of different friends. It was a very lovely day. On Sunday, Nic and I went to Coventry with Rick and Lauren to a record fair and I found further evidence that I am becoming a parody of myself:

Yes, that IS in fact a 12inch record featuring the Cagney & Lacey theme tune and "other American television themes". Actually, the version that they have of the Cagney & Lacey theme is not that which is used on the show, but it's still totally amazing that such a thing exists. What's even better is that side B is just Mike Post incidental music from cop shows. My love of Mike Post is well-documented, so this was a completely awesome find. I mean, he's my favourite composer. Nic laughed when I told him that, but I'm totally serious. You tell me the man who wrote the theme to Murder One isn't a stone cold genius.

Right, anyway, that's enough of that. I'd need to slide on here because I'm tired, and the rest of that carrot cake is calling to me. I'LL BE RIGHT THERE CARROT CAKE.

Did I hear you say cake?

Malcolm McDowell is trapped in the future. He's being pursued by a cyberpunk from the past, played by Rutger Hauer. Erm, terrible idea. No one will watch that. I've not thought it through, Lynn. I'll call you back.

Hola pups! How's everyone doing? I've just had a lovely, fun-filled weekend with family and I have the rest of this week off to recover, thankfully. For their Christmas present this year, rather than try to buy something for my parents, Nic and I decided we'd treat them to a little mini-break by the seaside, and we all agreed that arranging it to coincide with our first wedding anniversary would be a good way to do it. They arrived on Thursday evening and on Friday morning we drove down to Folkestone so that we could all spend a few days by the seaside with Nic's family. It was a very busy few days and we managed to fit a lot in. We stopped for lunch and an explore around Windsor and Eton on the way down - we had chips next to the castle and Nic had his photo taken outside Frank Marker's office on Eton High Street. On Saturday we spent the morning with Nic's grandparents in Dover and the afternoon strolling around Folkestone and on Sunday we all got a little bit sunburned on Sandgate seafront. After wanting one for years, last week my dad bought himself a Canon 5D MkIII camera and, understandably enough, he wanted to really experiment with it. I was happy to oblige, as I had a new handmade item to photograph! Good old Daddy really got into the spirit of the shoot, bless him!

The item in question is another cardigan - this time, Andi Satterlund's Marion cardigan. I was keen to learn how to knit cables - mainly so that I would know how to do them, to be honest, and I had the Marion pattern in my stash as I won it as part of Andi and Lauren's Outfit Along last year. It's a lovely pattern, almost completely knit in stockinette, with some inset cabling at the neckline to add interest. I knitted this very quickly - I think it took under two weeks, all in all - but sadly, the finished item just doesn't work on me at all.

Andi Satterlund Marion cardigan, worn with the Together Alone dress (By Hand London Kim dress) and green Swedish hasbeens peep-toe super high sandals

So you know the way some projects look better in real life than how they photograph? This cardigan is totally the opposite of that. It looks pretty cute in the photos - hell, I almost like it in this photo, but it's a mess in real life. This isn't due to the pattern, I should add. This is me. Here are the things I did wrong with this cardigan:

• I knitted it too long. It's not cropped and it's not full length and it looks sort of odd, and the ribbing at the waistband flips up in an annoying way
• I used a very stretchy cast-off technique for the waistband and the cuffs, and it makes them both sit funny
• My buttonband is a total mess and is much tighter on one side than the other, so the neckline pulls in a funny way
• I'm not sure I knitted the right size. I think a size down would give me a fit closer to the fit that I like in cardigans - which is to say, very fitted.

The other issue I have is a fitting issue, and one I have noticed on all of Andi Satterlund's patterns on me, which is that they are a little wide across the shoulders and the shoulder seam is at the top of my arm, rather than on my shoulder. This is especially pronounced on this cardigan and it's something I'm not sure how to fix. I bought a knitting book but I'd be really grateful if any of you knitters could point me in the direction of good resources for fitting in knitting?

Side view! This is why I think I would like to knit a smaller size - or at least to grade down to a smaller size around the waist decreases - as I think the fit on this is a bit on the frumpy side.

WINDSWEPT. Here's where Daddy decided he wanted to get a bit experimental with the photos! You can see more clearly in this photo the issue that I am describing with the fit across the shoulders.

Initially, I had asked Nic to take some photos as I didn't want to bother Daddy, but I ended up with two photographers shooting me. It's a pity this was for a garment that I don't even like, but these photos do make me smile. We had a lot of fun and I know Daddy really enjoyed playing with his new camera.

I would say this is the least flattering photo of me ever (except it isn't - there are worse photos*), but this is such a happy memory it doesn't matter!

I love this photo. Also now I want a DSLR...

As for the cardigan... well, I have it on time out at the moment. I wore it for most of Sunday but I didn't feel good in it. Well, you know, I felt good because I was having such a lovely day, but I didn't enjoy wearing the cardigan. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth frogging it and re-knitting it with some modification or just chalking it up to lessons learned and moving on. I did enjoy knitting it though, and I am very happy to have learned how to do cables, so even if I do just relegate it to the island of unloved handmades for it to become the Mandy Hampton of knitwear, it was still worth knitting.

I've moved on for the moment and, in the car on the way down to Kent, I cast on my next knitting project - Andi Satterlund's newest pattern, the Vianne cardigan.  I'm going to take part in this year's Outfit Along and pair it with a dress I'm planning to make from some fabric I bought in Birmingham earlier this year. I've been making an effort to wear my hand knitted cardigans as part of my unofficial participation in Me Made May, and I've been enjoying it - even with the odd bum note like this cardigan, I'm certainly finding knitting a worthwhile pursuit.

We left Folkestone on Sunday afternoon a little bit tired and sunburned after our adventures on the beach, and drove back up to Leamington. We had planned to stop at High Wycombe on the way up but a diversion instead took us to West Wycombe, and we had the chance to climb the hill to the Dashwood Mausoleum.  The mausoleum is visible from the train on the journey between Leamington and London and it's a landmark I always look out for - I've been throughly curious to visit it ever since I first noticed it. We didn't have time to visit the Hellfire Caves, sadly, but the amazing views over the Chilterns more than made up for it.

I love this photo... for some reason it reminds me of Clip Art, and that really makes me laugh!

My parents went home yesterday afternoon, but not before they took us to the shops to buy us a new television set. Nic and I have very little interest in having access to live TV, so we had been holding out on replacing our very old CRT TV. I didn't want the hassle! However, as a belated wedding present/first anniversary present, my parents wanted to upgrade our technology and bought us a lovely 32 inch smart TV. We still don't get live TV to it but we are able to watch DVDs and whatever we would have been watching online on it, so that's fancy. It makes the flat feel very posh! We've been celebrating by watching episodes of the original series of Star Trek - which I am thoroughly enjoying trash-talking my way through. Like seriously what the fuck is Bones's problem? What a miserable bastard. Lighten the fuck up, dude. YOU'RE IN SPACE.

Anyway I'm away here to watch that and crack on with a bit more knitting. Hurrah for holidays!

*So the photo above really isn't the least flattering photo ever taken of me. THIS one is. I've cropped everyone else out of the photo to preserve their dignity but I think that I was expressing sympathetic dismay over the sad state of Dover High Street. Whatever I was doing, this photo really made me laugh because I look so much like Lynn Benfield.

Here's me, watching Poirot on UK Gold. I'm dead to the world.

Charlie, tell the president he will eat his salad, and if he doesn't like it, he knows where he can put his salad.

Hello! What's the craic, boys and girls? I'm grand - I'm just back from a few days working in London, which were pretty good days, all in all. Although, man, TIRING. I was staying in Bloomsbury, and walked everywhere, and I have the legs walked off myself. Nic joined me so that he could get in some research time at the British Library, and we managed to replenish our energy with pizza from Homeslice and pastries from Maison Bertaux. I'm a country mouse through and through so, all things considered, I was glad to get on the train back to Leamington this afternoon.

So that's the craic with me. Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and get in touch about my last post. Since then, I have been feeling a lot less stressed about work, which is a good thing! It helps that I only have a few days before I have a whole week off, but in general I am feeling much more in control of my work-life balance. I could have ended up working over the weekend on a project that isn't going well (to put it mildly) but, instead, I recognised that I had done everything that was within my power to do and I put my work laptop away. Nic was out during the day on Saturday, and I spent the morning cleaning and the afternoon sewing. It was a sunny afternoon, I put Silk on autoplay on my laptop (that show is such, such balls, but I love a bit of Rupert Henry-Penry) and I got cracking on a sewing project that has been bubbling away in my brain for a few months.

Mostly, I think pinterest is kind of pointless, but a few months ago someone I follow pinned this dress  from Lena Hoschek's 'Hot Mama Africa' collection:

Lena Hoschek Nairobi dress

It's gorgeous, isn't it? It has a beautiful v-shaped back and a midi skirt. Lush. It's way, way beyond what I would be willing to pay for a dress but then, that's the beauty of being able to sew. I pinned this image to my sewing inspiration board and then I kind of forgot about it until I saw it on Liebling Vintage's instagram, and it went right to the top of my list.

The fabric is one of the things that makes this dress so beautiful and, unfortunately, I didn't have that fabric. But I did have some lovely lengths of wax cotton sitting in my stash, because I find it very difficult to resist when I come across it. Now I really want some in this gorgeous shade of yellow, and I will be hunting for it, but I did have this unusual brown and orange print...

Filthy Names dress - modified By Hand London Flora dress in wax cotton, worn with Swedish hasbeens Suzanne sandals

So, given the shape of the neckline of my inspiration dress, the bodice of the Flora dress was an obvious contender for this dress. I also liked it for this print, as the high neckline would allow me to show off maximum print. It wasn't very difficult to alter the back of the pattern to give this dress a v-shaped back - I just retraced it, drawing a diagonal line down from 5/8 away from where the straps go to the height where I wanted the zip to start. It was very easy, but I stabilised that diagonal edge with some cotton seam tape.

The v on the back of my dress comes down lower than the one on the inspiration dress and I like it, but I don't love it - I think I will experiment with this shape a bit further to get it just how I like it. But this will definitely do for now!

I bought the fabric in January or February from Shepherd's Bush Market. I bought two lengths from one seller and the other one was completely un-usable because it was so badly off-grain, so I was a little bit worried that this would be the same. Thankfully it wasn't - it was slightly off-grain, but as it was only £10 for 5 metres, I think that's fair enough! At the time I bought it kind of because the salesman talked me into it, but now I am very glad that I did, because it's so vibrant and bold.

Here's a close-up of the print. Actually, I think that the brown is more of a very dark purple, but that orange is very definitely orange. I'm having a bit of an orange thing this year - since January, I have bought an orange sofa, orange lamps, orange sandals (the lobster ones!) orange yarn, and an orange satchel. I blame Nic - he bought me an orange anglepoise lamp for Christmas. I do want to get some orange clogs now, because I am predictable.

The Lena Hoschek dress has a matching belt and, based on the close-up photos, it looks like it's one of those where it's a length of elastic in a fabric tube, with a metal clasp on the end. Like the kind that come with those puffer coats? Anyway, those belts give me the creeps... no, I don't know why, so obviously I didn't make one. I don't really do belts, especially not superfluous ones, but maybe this would benefit from a belt. What do you think?

I wore this on Sunday with my orange Myrna cardigan...

I'm still not totally convinced by the sleeves on this cardigan. Maybe I need to knit another orange cardigan with sleeves I like a bit better?!

So, all in all, I'm really happy with how my experiment turned out. I wore this dress for a very long day on Sunday and felt great in it. I'm tempted to make another one from some more of the wax cotton that's lurking in my stash. I'm also going to start lurking the Lena Hoschek shop for more sewing inspiration. I mean, I need to make something inspired by this, right?

Lena Hoschek Makeba Sunflower dress

Anyway, I'm going to head off here. I have a potato to eat and a cardigan to finish. I told you I was a country mouse.

I'm a panhandle hick and my wedding will be just another panel on my mother's family history back tattoo.

Hello! How's the form? I'm mostly very well, although I have a bit of a sore throat that is annoying me. I mean, really, throat? Again?

I had a very stressful and annoying week last week at work. I was let down very badly by the senior leadership in my team and, after all the hard work I have put in over the last few years in my job, it was a massive disappointment. Having been told that I had met the criteria for a (small) bonus and a small (not even at the level of inflation because I work in the public sector and we're in a pay freeze) pay increase, this was then withdrawn on the basis of issues in one project that I am responsible for. It was extremely frustrating because, despite the issues, the project was signed off on time, and it was signed off on time because I put in a huge amount of work to rectify the issues. It made me very angry that, rather than considering my good work and my many achievements throughout the year, I was punished for fixable errors in one project.

It was very upsetting on the day I found out, but since then I have been able to take a bit of a step back. I'm constantly stressed about work. This is, in large part, because I work in a stressful job, but it's also because I have been putting myself under huge pressure to be basically perfect at all times. To do this, I have worked long hours and made myself ill by pushing myself to the point of exhaustion. It's made me suffer physically and the anxiety has, at times, been crippling. And it's stupid, and it's still clearly not enough. So, in a weird way, although it was incredibly discouraging to see the evidence of that first-hand, it's also curiously freeing. I'm not going to stop trying hard to do a good job, and to do my job to the best of my ability, but I do feel now like I no longer have an impossibly high standard to live up to - because I know that the standard is totally bogus.

There are still so many things that I genuinely enjoy about my job - my colleagues and my line manager are fantastic and I find the job challenging and interesting. But I'm not going to let it dominate my life in quite the same way. So that feels weirdly good. I sincerely hope that I'll have far fewer reasons to write here that I've had a stressful week or that I've been too busy to enjoy my life. I even have a week off coming up to look forward to, so that will be good!

Anyway - that's a non crafting or shoes-related digression, so let's bring on the crafting and the shoes, right?! Those are the much more fun things in life. Nic and I had a little day out in Birmingham on Saturday and I took the opportunity to get some photos of my most recent hand-knit - an Andi Satterlund Hetty cardigan. This cardigan seemed very daunting to me because of the all-over lace pattern. I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep track of the pattern while I was knitting the decreases at the side, and I really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to manage the sleeves. However, this was much less difficult than I had anticipated and Hetty turned out to be a really interesting and enjoyable cardigan to knit.

Andi Satterlund 'Hetty' cardigan, Frog Princess dress and Swedish hasbeens pearl braided sky high sandals

Purple cardigan! The yarn is Cascade 220 (obvs) and the colour is called Iris, although I think it has been discontinued. There are little flecks of blues and pinks in the yarn that make it very pretty, although it feels slightly scratchier than the other colours I have knitted with. It's grand to wear, though.

I knitted the size small and, as I said above, I largely found this to be a really enjoyable cardigan to knit. I had to rip it back to the armholes twice because I had made stupid mistakes but, by the time I had done that, the lace repeat was very firmly implanted into my head. This is a good thing - one of the reasons that I find knitting appealing is that my short-term memory for numbers isn't very good, and knitting is helping to improve that. My tip for knitting this cardigan is to memorise the lace repeat because, if you can read where you are in the pattern, it makes it much easier to keep the pattern straight and to know when to begin and end the lace repeat when you're knitting the short rows at the sleeve cap.

I have bought some pink yarn to knit another Hetty cardigan and I will make a few small changes. I really like the overall length but I would like the waistband to be deeper, so I will stop knitting the lace a few rows earlier and knit more ribbing instead. This will also allow me to fit another buttonhole and button in at the bottom! I'll also do as quite a few people have suggested for binding off the sleeves, and switch to a larger knitting needle for doing that. I did use a stretchy bind-off technique but the hem (is that the right word?) of the sleeves is a little bit tighter than I would like.

Those are only minor things though, and I've already worn this cardigan quite a lot since I finished it. I wasn't sure initially if the lower and wider neckline was going to be practical - so many of my dresses have higher necklines than this - but actually, I like how it looks. I love the shape of the neckline, and I think my ribbing there is really pretty and neat! I am very happy with how the cardigan fits - basically, I have learned to stop worrying about the button-bands pulling a bit because, as I gather, this is not unusual on cardigans that are designed to be worn with negative ease. Or maybe I'm just telling myself that. Whatever.

Here's the back! I'm standing awkwardly, I know, but this way you can see how lovely and straight my lace patterning is. Yay! I do think this would look better with a deeper waistband ribbing though, so I am definitely going to do that on the next Hetty cardigan.

And here's how it looks unbuttoned. Yay! So, although I have been broadly happy with the other cardigans I have knitted, this is the first time I have been straight-up totally delighted with one. It's partly because I feel like I learned so much with this project and it really built my confidence - it was genuinely very pleasing to realise that I understood where the pattern was going and what I needed to do to get the lace repeat to work evenly on the sleeves. That felt like a big breakthrough. I can understand why so many bloggers start out by knitting Andi Satterlund's patterns because, while the instructions don't hold your hands, the designs allow you to learn techniques in a very manageable way. I can knit a lace repeat! And, as I discovered at the end of last week, I can do cable knitting! Yes, I have already cast on my next project - a Marion cardigan in bright green yarn.

I didn't sign up officially for Me Made May 2015. I wear handmade clothes almost every day and I knew that I would have too many things going on this month to make taking daily outfit photos anything other than a chore. I do often instagram pictures of my handmade clothes though, and tag them as such, so I decided I would unofficially play along. It's felt good, on days like Saturday, when both my dress and my cardigan were handmade!

Also, I like to instagram things that make me laugh. So there's that, too.

Birmingham shops have a strong pun game. I like the honesty that Mother Cluckers bring to their marketing.

On that note, I'm off to eat dinner and then crack on a bit further with my next cardigan. Maybe I'll even start thinking about my next sewing project. I do still sew, you know! Catch you on the flippedy-flip, my friends!

No wonder he changed his name. You don't get many Nigel the Greats, do you?

Evening all! I've emerged, blinking, from a lovely bank holiday weekend to another week at work. Dramatic sigh. It was a very good weekend, in which I was able to find the time to do lots of my favourite things. I bought (and drank) some gin, made a dress, did some knitting and spent time with friends, laughing and eating tasty food. It's a hard job, but someone had to do it!

I had had a very long day on Thursday - a 12-hour work day followed by dinner in the pub with friends - so I sacked off work at lunchtime on Friday, the better to get the value out of my bank holiday weekend. It's a lovely feeling and I'm looking forward to having a proper break at the end of the month. It was really cold on Saturday - or at least, it felt really cold - so I spent the afternoon holed up indoors, sewing. It's been ages since I spent a whole day sewing and I really enjoyed myself.  I was feeling inspired because, when she was in Paris a few weeks ago, my friend Emily bought me some amazing fabric from Petit Pan. It was a complete surprise and typically thoughtful of Emily. the fabric came to me via her sister Amy (who I happened to see before I saw Em) with the message, "I hope you're not offended by this!" Errrr what. The fabric is awesome:

Grenadine Menthe fabric from Petit Pan

I did a little dance of happiness in my chair when I unwrapped this and immediately started plotting what to do with it. The print obviously called to mind a 60s-style shift dress, but I had 2.5 metres and I wanted to make something I would wear often. I wanted a full skirt, basically. So, on Friday I went and bought a bunch of yellow buttons and I made myself another McCall's 6696 shirt-dress.

Telescope dress and Swedish hasbeens peep-toe sandals

Holy bright sunshine, Batman! I was running late for a party at Amy's house when we took these photos, so we didn't have time to find a better location. In a way, though, the dazzling sunshine kind of works with the ridiculously loud print.

This is the fourth McCall's 6696 that I've made and I'm finally happy with the fit. It's still not perfect, but it's as close as I'm going to get, I think. I didn't get any photos of the back but it still blouses a bit more than I am strictly happy with - but, you know, I can't see it so I've decided I'm not going to fight that good fight any more. I have shortened the bodice by an inch and a half and, on this dress, I sewed the buttons on off-centre, and that helped. I also did my own button placement around the waistband, sewing three buttons close together to keep the fabric closed over my widest point - my stomach!

I bought the yellow plastic buttons in a local fabric shop. Green might have been a better choice, but all I wanted to do was accessorise this fabric with yellow and, indeed, I wore it with yellow button earrings (which I annoyingly forgot to get a photo of.) I think it also looks great - in a totally kitsch way - with my yellow Agatha cardigan:

You'll not lose me in a crowd

Annoyingly, this is one of those projects that doesn't photograph as well as it looks in real life. I really love this dress. The fabric is beautiful - it's a very high quality cotton lawn and it is really enjoyable to wear. Also, I think the shirt-dress shape shows it off really well - I like the fact that it's quite a demure shape and style in such a wild print. In any case, I hope to wear this a lot over the summer.

Here's a wee close-up of the bodice. I'm not entirely sure why I'm so dramatically not looking at the camera but I was honestly very hungry when these photos were being taken so my mind was elsewhere. The gaping there between the second and third buttons isn't there when I am standing straight, just so you know. I think having my hands on my hips was pulling the fabric a bit oddly.

I'm still not finished with McCall's 6696. I have another Liberty Carline one to make in purple, and I have plans to make one from the same wax cotton that I made the Bedelia dress from... and, no doubt, other fabrics will present themselves as being perfect for this lovely pattern. I'm really proud of the finish I achieved on this one, particularly the collar:

I found Andrea's tutorial at Four Square Walls to be particularly helpful, and following it made sewing this collar enjoyable. There's something very satisfying about the precision required, I think.

I spent most of Saturday sewing this dress, because I knew I'd be seeing Emily on Monday and I wanted to be able to wear the dress. Nic and I were out for most of Saturday - we went to Coventry with Amy and Barney to go to Ikea and the Coventry Transport Museum, and to go for a meal in Cosmo. I'm not usually one for all-you-can-eat places, because they're not usually too good for vegetarians, but the food is pretty good in Cosmo and the whole experience is charmingly insane. As our friends were driving, and were kind enough to park in Ikea, I finally succumbed to the siren call of the Tastrup rug and now our bedroom is approximately 300% more colourful:

After such an exciting day, I was in no state to do anything other than lie on the sofa and watch trashy TV, so it was just as well that I had finished the dress on Saturday. Also, after eating so much at Cosmo, I'm pretty certain I'd have had someone's eye out with flying buttons. HEALTH AND SAFETY FIRST, PEOPLE. 

Emily seemed delighted to see the fabric made up into a dress, and she even got to see a blog photoshoot in action, as Nic and I attempted to take some photographs that weren't completely sun-drenched:

Here it is in its natural state: drinking wine

This dress was perfect for drinking wine in the sunshine with friends. It's a very happy dress - I enjoyed making it, and I am so touched by what a thoughtful and kind gift it was. I'm already looking forward to wearing it again! Maybe next time, I will try accessorising it with green. In fact, I have some bright green yarn on its way to me for another cardigan, so that's a distinct possibility!

Right-o. I'm old these days, so right now I want nothing more than to go and put my pyjamas on and have a nice cup of tea. So that's what I'm going to do!