Shaping The Way....

I think I've touched on this topic before....designing hats, not my favourite part of the job at all, but it is a necessary part. 

Apart from around 5 hats most of my patterns have derived from vintage patterns, with minor adjustments for todays yarn and todays baby sizes...a touch bigger!  As time has gone on, I am slowly letting those patterns go in favour of my own designs.....thus that is where the hard work comes in.

I have 4 new hats on paper but now comes the slow laborious part of knitting every size that I want to make and then making the adjustments to the pattern as I go along, & then trying to make sense of my notes at the end of the job.

Anyway one of my little hats is well on the way, I've started spending a little time each day working on the first size......here is a little look at what I've been up to this week.

One of my favourite colours, daffodil yellow.

Enjoy

vicki x

In The Pink

Last week was one of those weeks were most of the things I made ended up pink, it was really the way the orders fell.  I knit all items in order of purchasing so a succession of pink things happened!.....testing of some new hats next week, will see the run of pinkish things vanish. 

I do love pink, but my imagination stretches a lot further than pink for girls....here are a few pinkish things that where cast on and off my needles last week.

Enjoy Vicki x

I've Got My Knitting Groove Back.....

I'm feeling ever so revived....the CASH hat which is the original hat that I started with at dover & madden, and has been replicated by many knitters around the traps....yes I do have some other knitters around these parts that I inspire greatly, whether it be my style or my colour choices!!

Anyway I had a couple of orders for these hats just lately and my love of mixing colour has been revived....not that these hats are way out colours, but I've sort of fallen back in love with what I do again....I was ready for a divorce a month or so back.

Anyway I have 4 new hats on the boil, just getting ready to do all the testing of sizes for those....but here is what I've been up to in the last week or so.

Enjoy Vicki

These Are A Few Of My Favourite June Things....

I thought I'd start doing this post every month.....I had some fun doing it last month so I'm thinking....why not!   So I'm going to share with you the things I like every month.

Some months there might be more things, some less, some old, some new.....but anyway here is June. 

1.  I'm listening to Boys Don't Cry by Rumer.  Her beautiful cover version of Sara Smile by Hall & Oates is the bomb.

2.  I'm using loads of Rosehip Seed Lip Cream by Aesop.  I keep one of these tubes in the car and one in my handbag....it really does keep dry lips at bay, and freakishly with all those essential oils it doesn't taste half bad....although I don't think it's meant for tasting!!

3.  I'm wearing my navy corduroy Stitch Detail Dress I purchased at Boden last season.  I love this dress, it is the most versatile item in my wardrobe.  I wear it down with a long sleeve T under it and a pair of ballet flats or Converse runners, or dress it up with a great bowed silk shirt. and a cute little pair of ankle boots.  Navy is such a versatile colour and does me more favours than black these days.

4.  Eating at Chez Dre in South Melbourne.  It has great coffee and I dream about the Caramalised Onion and Goats Cheese Tart with rocket.  One of my favourite little places.

5. I'm watching Stella.  I'm a huge fan of Ruth Jones, aka Nessa from Gavin & Stacey.  This series was shown in the UK earlier this year, but yet to hit Australian TV.  It's all about a quirky Welsh family living in a quirky little Welsh village....and I laughed and laughed and laughed.  Highly recommend and more than happy that a second series has been commissioned....they could not have possibly left the ending the way it was!!

6.  I'm dying for one of these necklaces from  JCrew, although they are a bit pricey for me....There is an Australian girl that does make similar items on Etsy, you can view her work here.

7.  I'm cooking from The Thrifty Kitchen by Suzanne & Kate Gibbs, mother and grand daughter of Margaret Fulton.  I was given this book as a gift a few years ago.  It's a useful resource in the kitchen although it maybe getting a little hard to find, but if you can, it's worth purchasing....The best ever meatloaf recipe is a winner.


Enjoy Vicki x

In Full Bloom

Love love love the colour of my little Cymbidium surprise.  I was secretly hoping for a darker colour and as luck would have it.  Happy days.

Photo added Monday morning 9.52am

 Added 4.30pm Wed 20th June.





Vic x

Order in the House....

Well more to the point....Orders in the house, and there has been lots of them.  I did say I would take no knitting orders this Winter, but alas I failed....it has only taken me two Winters to learn my lesson, but with dover & madden only being a toddler, we live and learn by our mistakes.

Anyway I've been knitting like a mad woman for the last 6 weeks and battling the most dastardly cold for the last 2 weeks as well, knitting when you're ill is not my type of fun!.  Anyway I've estimated close to 100 hats have left this abode since March, so I'm finally getting to the end of a big big big pile.

Once the last of these little knitted beauties leave here next week, I'm going to breathe a big sigh of relief....so for now I'll just knit on.......and put the kettle on again!

Vicki x

Ready To Burst.....

It's been nearly 3 weeks since I posted this particular blog post....my little orchid is just about ready to burst into bloom.  We've had beautiful but very cold sunny days here in Melbourne, so the orchid is getting all the lovely Winter sun which just floods the bedroom of my little apartment.

Talking about bursting, my little creative lull has now ceased, and I have around 4 new dover & madden hat designs just waiting to be tried and tested on the needles....but all good things must wait, a few more orders to get through and then the creativity can really start.

Hope you're all well, and considering there has been a major lack of content here, I am still amazed at the number of readers, so thank you one and all.

Vicki x

Grace Kelly

Whizzed up to Bendigo today to finally see the Grace Kelly Exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery before it finishes next weekend.

Bendigo turned on the most beautiful sunny day, and now officially more visitors have viewed the Grace Kelly exhibition than residents of Bendigo. It has been the most successful exhibition ever, even out doing the much famed White Wedding Dress Exhibition of last year.

I must say I loved Grace Kelly, my Mum and I used to watch "To Catch A Thief" over and over again for the beautiful gowns she wore in this movie, so I knew I had to see this exhibition and I wasn't disappointed.  She was one of the most beautiful women in the world, with undoubtedly the most stylish wardrobe in the world.

Her style was timeless and a lot of the outfits on display  would not be out of place today. Some of the dresses from the 1970's were some of my favourites.  Clothing that was so exquisitely made and jaw droppingly beautiful.  The detail, the fabrics, the accessories, the colour the design, all just magical.  I think the one thing that surprised me was how tiny she was....not in height because she was around 5ft 7", but the tiniest of waists, and wrists, dresses that I would not have even got my hand through the sleeve!!

Of course it was a no camera  exhibition but I did manage to find some shots on the web, with some of the beautiful outfits that were featured.....and also a beautiful sunny half hour spent wandering through the park, so those photos are mine....Enjoy.

And no trip is complete without coffee and cake on a cold day.

and one dress that I won't forget, was the dress that Grace Kelly wore when she first met a young Lady Diana Spencer in March 1981.  Grace was to die the following year and Diana, 15 years later.

If you are in Victoria, the exhibition ends this coming weekend, I know tickets are in short supply, but if you can get one, you won't be disappointed.

Vic x

A Little Blog Recognition

Hi There....Something that made me cheerful this morning.  Thanks to Maryanne from Handmade Kids who let me know this morning that this little blog that I started has been featured in Peekaboo Magazine.  It's a free magazine that is distributed around Australia....How nice that is.

Hope you're all well

vicki x