Festive Knits

I had a lot of fun over the Christmas holidays wearing knitwear every day - something which I've come to realise I do most of the time anyway without even thinking about it - and recording it on Instagram. So I thought to get the blog up and running for 2014 I would share with you some of the knits I wore. The photos are on the low quality side I'm afraid as I managed to forget to save the originals in my enthusiasm but nontheless I think they really show how your vintage handknits can be integral to your every day wardrobe. Some of the knits I made myself and others are vintage finds or even new knits purchased!

This first cardigan I bought about three years ago from Andersons of Lerwick. It is knitted in pure Shetland wool and is the quintessential round neck, yoked cardigan which has become synonomous with shetland knits of the 1960s. The cardigan is hand framed and then hand finished by the ladies who work at Andersons. Its one of my most favourite cardigans in the world and I must wear it at least once every week during the winter. Interestingly this garment is seamed as you can see on the yoke.

This second cardigan is my other go-to cardigan. This is the Bubble Stitch Yoke cardigan from A Stitch in Time volume 2. It has a very 1950s feel to it yet was created in the 1940s when the fashions of the period where on the cusp of change. War was over and materials were becoming more easily available hence the longer length sleeves and hip length of the body. Also note the high neck and ample buttons. My version is knitted in Excelana 4 ply in Saharan Sand. I can't tell you how many times I've worn this cardigan but it is a lot! What is particularly lovely about it is that mum knitted the lower parts of the body that didn't have any shaping or buttonholes and then my mother in law and I took over and finished it.

This jumper was my find of the year in 2012. A hand knit vintage Icelandic lopi knitted in a typically chunky but light lopi yarn in natural colours with this beautiful stylised leaf pattern on the yoke. It is knitted in one piece and is completely seamless. This jumper has a longer line finishing mid thigh. It is quite fitted which I prefer to oversized as 1) it still fits under a jacket and 2) it doesn't make me feel like Michelin woman. A simplified version of the yoke pattern is repeated just above the welt and cuffs. It is a very warm jumper so I tend to save it for outdoors but worn inside it does mean I can leave the heating off!

Another favourite from a Stitch in Time volume 2 now. This is Lady Georgiana's Jumper. It is knitted in Excelana DK and I've used French Rose here. The v neck and lace panels on both sleeves, front and back stop the jumper from being overly hot indoors and is a really easy knit to wear. Double knit weight yarn and all over single rib did have me worried that I could look a little 'bulky' in this jumper but actually it is a really flattering jumper.

 I was lucky enough this year to have a very lazy Christmas Day. Our daughter, Charlie very kindly made Christmas dinner and I was repeatedly told to go and sit down and chill. As you can see from this photo I didn't even do my hair but felt extremely relaxed in my Agutter cardigan, again knitted in Excelana DK but this time using Persian Grey. This cardigan is probably the most casual garment I have designed although equally it can look really smart with a 1980s collared dress underneath. For this occasion I wore it with a silky long sleeved jersey top underneath and my 1930s style wide legged palazzo pants - or my eating pants as I fondly call them. As they are very generously shaped they allow for huge numbers of roast potatoes to be eaten in any one sitting! The cardigan is knitted in separate flat pieces and seamed. For this longer line of slightly oversized garment I feel the side seams in particular help it keep its shape and stop it from dropping.

These two photos show me wearing the original Ena Sweater from A Stitch in Time volume 1. It is knitted in Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight Shetland wool and even 5 years of being used as a display garment or being worn, it looks like new. It was the very first garment I knitted for the Stitch in Time books so has a very special place in my heart. Again it has that marvellous balance of smart yet casual and effortless comfort that you want from knitwear. I also like and need my knits to have longevity and this garment is the perfect example of this. The vintage beads also appeared with this jumper in the photoshoot for this garment.

These two photos show both a vintage and a new piece combined. I bought this genuine Norwegian lice jumper about a year ago at a vintage sale for about £10 - an absolute bargain. It has slightly dropped shoulders but just about right for a garment of its bulk so that I can wear one or two lighter weight layers underneath. It is again pure wool and did need a little bit of a condition when I first bought it. I'll tell you more about how I rejuvinate my vintage knits in a week or two. Initially I did buy this for Gavin but its my jumper now!

And worn with my vintage jumper is a design I've been toying with for some time. Inspired by 1940s patterns, themselves inspired by Spanish Mantillas, this cowl is so light you barely notice you are wearing it. It is knitted in Fenella, my new 2 ply knits as 3 ply, 100% pure new British wool using a wonderfully 'frothy' lace stitch which I've used once before several years ago to make a curtain and I've always wanted to use it again for a scarf or cowl.  Both Fenella and the kit for the cowl will be available in just a couple of weeks time but I'll tell you more about that very soon.

Another old favourite is this cardigan from A Stitch in Time volume 1 - The Diagonal Rib Cardigan - my version is knitted in Excelana DK using Cornflower Blue. The original pattern has 7 or 8 buttons with buttonholes up to just below the collar bone. However I have found that my body shape doesn't suit the buttons stopping at this point. It seems to maximise my chest - and frankly it doesn't need much help in that area - so I only have the 4 buttonholes that you can see on my version. When these 4 buttons are all done up they help create a bit of an hour glass silhouette. I think button placement - particularly for those of us with more for the buttons to contain - is a vital part of customising a hand made garment to fit and suit you perfectly and this is another topic I'll be talking about on the blog this year.
   

Not the most flattering photos of me unfortunately, but here I am about to go out on New Year's eve in my Swagger Coat from A Stitch in Time volume 2. Gavin and I had been playing a wee drinking game involving Baileys Irish Cream and Game of Thrones before walking round to my in laws - I think you can probably see we were enjoying the game in my rosy cheeks. My Swagger Coat - or Miss Marple's coat as worn by Geraldine McKeown - is knitted in Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran weight. The coat has held its shape really well even though I have grown a little in the two years since I knitted it.

Here's a little detail of the vintage 1930s buttons I used for the fabulous cross over neck fastening. The pattern explains the correct way for fastening these and I'm sad to say that Miss Marple didn't read the pattern and is usually seen with her Swagger Coat buttoned up incorrectly.

Yet another vintage yoked jumper. I absolutely love them and have quite a few now. This one is an early 60s model, interestingly knitted completely in the round this time. It has the hallmark high neck of the period and you might be surprised to hear that is extremely comfy to wear. The ribbing at the neck is turned over creating a nice stretchy top edge to the neckband and no raw edges to irritate either. I have seen tighter, closer necks than this one though so be careful and check it will go over your head before you buy. If you can't resist buying even though the neck is tight or if you've bought off somewhere like ebay, I'll be sharing a tutorial on the blog showing how to lower the neckline and create a new neckband. The colours of the yoke are quite acidic and ordinarily aren't the tones I would normally go for but combined with the very dark brown background colour and the natural Moorit shade of the main body, the overall effect is spot on.

And finally, a post New Year photo for you of Gavin and me in our comfiest of comfy knits. Gavin is wearing his genuine Shetland jumper purchased at the Spider's Web in Lerwick on Shetland. Knitted in Shetland wool in autumnal shades of greens, golds and plums it is truly beautiful, warm and robust. I'm wearing my 1950s aran cardigan which I must wear almost every day. It still has its leather shank buttons and never shows any sign of wear. A lot of the cardigans of this style that you find in vintage shops are replicas and/or made of acrylic yarns from the late 70s, early 1980s. There would appear to be no difference in price if you manage to find a wool one, so I would suggest do so if you can. It will probably still be around well after us. You can also condition wool to make it softer again, not something you can do with acrylic yarns.  If you can't get one with leather buttons these are pretty easy to come by usually in mixed bags of random buttons in baskets in vintage shops. Buy them too and use them to replace the buttons on your aran cardigan.

And there you have it. My holiday in knit wear!

I'll be back very soon but
for now

Ruby xx

How to 'make' a Christmas tree

Gavin and I had determined that this year we would not be buying a Christmas tree. The cost and the waste don't sit comfortably with either of us but equally I'm not a big fan of artificial trees so we decided the time had arrived to come up with something else. As owners of a wood burner we both scavenge and accept offers of wood in return for us taking the said wood away and a couple of months ago Gavin went to an acquaintance's house to chop up and take away an old dead conifer for them. Whilst waiting for the wood to season I noticed that we had several ideally sized pieces to use as decoration and suggested we make these branches back into a tree of sorts!

So last weekend we began by positioning the first of these branches in the centre of a medium sized planter.

We then arranged two further branches of a similar size around the centre branch along with some smaller branches and twigs.

We discussed a few options on how to hold it all in place but ultimately we found a part bag of plaster buried in the shed that was out of date and going off. We mixed this to a very thick consistency in a bucket and then added it to the planter encasing the branches. Within thirty minutes the plaster had set.

At this point we carried the arrangement inside and put it in position on our sideboard. It fitted beautifully. Any stray branches were clipped away just like with a real tree.

Decorating began with a coat of white undercoat - again found in the shed. We covered the plaster in the paint to resemble snow along with the edge of the planter and sections of the branches.

I really like how the branches look with their light dusting of 'snow'.

I then rather belatedly decided I didn't like the colour of the planter so we set about painting it in some green shed paint and the whole thing really began to look very Christmassy.

Next came the lights.

We had a spare set of lights which we wrapped around the branches from within the planter to provide uplighting through the tree which I think works particularly well. And then came the decorations themselves. I already had all the decorations so there was no additional cost involved. Admittedly its not the easiest tree to decorate so its important to pick branches that aren't too smooth so that you have places to hang the baubles from.
 

I have to say I am absolutely delighted with the finished results. We already had the lights and the decorations so this year our tree has cost us not a penny and after Christmas we can chop down the branches and put it on the fire. But in the meantime though I'm going to enjoy looking at my unique tree for a little while longer.
 

Don't forget you can still get 15% off products on the website until the end of December by quoting CHRISTMAS13 and hopefully I'll get the chance to pop back to the blog before Christmas Day but if I don't I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and very best wishes for 2014.

for now
Ruby xx

A Christmas Thank You

 If this week is anything to go by, the next couple of months leading up to the move to our farm in the countryside, are going to be very, very busy. The great clear-out has begun to try to reduce the amount of stuff we have both hoarded before physically moving house. With this in mind, it may mean I forget to blog - I admit it doesn't take much to forget to do so - so wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone for reading and supporting me this year and by way of thanks I am offering £10 off the printed version of A Stitch in Time Volume 2 until the end of the year.

That means the hard back book will be only £25 (plus postage & packaging) until 31st December 2013. All you have to do is enter the code CHRISTMAS13 when purchasing through the shop.

BUY NOW

As mentioned above, the offer will run until the end of the year, but if you would like the book to reach you before Christmas, orders need to be placed by Thursday 19th December if you are in the UK, or by Friday 13th December if you are in Europe or the USA. Unfortunately the last guaranteed Christmas deliveries to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other countries not already mentioned have already passed but these orders usually take an average of two to three weeks to arrive.

If you've already got the book, or would like to purchase anything else from the shop I am also offering a huge 15% discount on all items in my shop (excluding A Stitch in Time volume 1 pre-orders) or on my ravelry page. Simply enter the code THANKYOU13 to get your discount on your order. The discount doesn't apply to postage and packaging but is available to all purchasers.

Visit my shop here

Visit my ravelry page here

Again I would like to thank everyone for their support throughout 2013 and here's to a simply fabulous 2014!

for now
Ruby xx

All Change!

As we freefall towards the end of what has been in many ways a turbulent year, with many good and some dreadfully bad things happening, Gavin and I find ourselves closing 2013 with the most dramatic and exciting news we could have hoped for.

For most of the year I have been receiving treatment and ultimately surgery for early stage uterine cancer. I have been extremely lucky and have been given the all-clear and, whilst never life threatening as it was detected in its very early stages, it still scares you and makes you look at much of your life in a different light. For us, it has helped motivate us in our determination to find a new home. Since our daughter went to university we have been planning a move to a rural location but with other family commitments there have been many other added considerations when looking for the perfect place. And somehow amongst the constant fray of everything else, we found it. Our ideal home, workplace and inspiration all rolled into one. It has been an agonizing three months of applications, business plans, discussions and interviews and finally, two days ago we were offered the tenancy. Nestled in the hills in the crossroads of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire is the tenant farm that is to be our home.

 

Here we will finally have room to run our business properly. To store and distribute our books and yarns, to potentially have an occasional yarn shop or open day, to have a design studio and significantly to have a classroom/workshop from where I can run classes and also invite other teachers as well. In addition to this we will be able to realise our dream of keeping our own sheep and pigs and to grow even more of our own fruit and veg. There are lots of other plans and much renovation to be done which I will share with you over time. See the roof of the big barn on the left of the photo? We have some amazing plans for that!

But for now,
Ruby xxx

Just in Time for Christmas - The Junior Christmas Cardigan

So after the Perfect Christmas Jumper and the Junior Christmas Jumper what else can you need? You need the Junior Christmas Cardigan! Designed for ages from one year to eight years this delightful little cardigan is worked in one piece, backwards and forwards, from the bottom up to the under arm. The sleeves are then knitted and then the body and sleeves are joined together to knit the yoke. This is where the fun starts and You get to knit six prancing reindeer around the yoke using stranded knitting. The moss stitch edges add a simple but effective decorative trim with neat set-in pockets finished off with the same finishing touch. The cardigan is fastened simply with press studs with ornamental buttons sewn over the top.

The cardigan is knitted in Excelana 4 ply making it both cozy and very soft for little ones to wear.
It being machine washable on a wool cycle is also an added bonus for toddlers clothes!

You could knit one in the very feminine colour palette as in the photos or you could go full on traditional and knit the cardigan in Ruby Red with reindeers and edgings in Alabaster. Alternatively a more contemporary combination of Cornflower Blue with Alabaster or Saharan Sand reindeer would make a fabulously casual version. Its up to you of course!

Here's the information you need to make the cardigan:

Materials

Excelana 4 ply Luxury Wool, 100% pure new British wool (159m/174yds per 50g ball)

3 (3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7) balls for main colour (MC) - I've used French Rose in the sample

1 (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2) balls for contrast colour (CC) - I used Ruby Red

1 2.75mm (US 2) circular needle (60 to 80cm long)

1 3mm (US 3) circular needle (60 to 80cm long)

A set of 2.75mm (US 2) double pointed needles

A set of 3mm (US 3) double pointed needles

Stitch markers

Stitch holders

Safety pins

2 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4) plastic press studs

2 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4) buttons

Sewing needle and thread

The pattern provides eight sizes as follows:

To fit ages: 1 yr (2 yrs; 3 yrs; 4 yrs; 5 yrs; 6 yrs; 7 yrs;  8 yrs)

Actual chest size in cm: 57.5 (57.5, 61.5, 64, 68, 70.5, 74.5, 74.5)

Actual chest size in inches: 22.5 (22.5, 24.5, 25.25, 26.75, 29.5, 29.5)

The sample in the photos is for an age 2 years.

You can buy the PDF pattern for £3.50 from my ravelry store
and
You can purchase the yarn in your choice of colours from my website

I do hope you enjoy knitting the Junior Christmas Cardigan

for now,
Ruby xx

Photographs Courtesy of the wonderful Verity Britton 2013

Victory Pattern & Yarn Discounts with bygumbygolly

Many of you may be familiar with the lovely Tasha Moss who writes the vintage blog bygumbygolly. Tasha both knits and sews the most amazing vintage garments and I'm honoured that she often chooses to knit from my patterns and is a great champion of my work. What you might not know is that Tasha has just released her first knitting pattern called Victory - a very stylish, vintage shaped beret, featuring the V for Victory symbol, and using 5 colours of Excelana 4 ply.

 Tasha's version uses Cornflower Blue, Ruby Red, Nile Green, Powdered Egg and Alabaster.

This couldn't have been a better timed release now that Excelana is now back in stock and Tasha and I have teamed up to offer all our readers a very special offer:

Readers can now purchase the Victory beret pattern from Tasha with 10% off by using the code VICTORY10 at the check out. This offer only runs until the 12th of December so don't wait too long.

And also, so that you can knit your Victory beret I am offering 10% off the purchase price of the Victory beret kit - which is 5 balls one of each of 5 different colours. If you want to change any of the colours all you need to do is type in the order comment box which colours you wish to swap. With the yarns comes a Susan Crawford Vintage project bag to keep your knitting in. Again to get your discount enter the code VICTORY10 when placing your order on my shop.

 
If you've not knitted a fair isle project before I have an introduction to stranded knitting video on my website and Tasha also has a great tutorial on her blog. And if you want to share the process of knitting the beret with others, why not join in the Knit for Victory knit a long hosted by Tasha?

 So, to purchase the Victory beret click here

and

to purchase your Victory beret kit click here

for now
Ruby xx

The Airlyne Rug Maker and the competition winners

Thank you everyone for taking the time to enter the mystery object competition. It is indeed a rug maker. In fact it is the "Airlyne" home rug maker.

I was a bit naughty and as some of you pointed out I photographed it turned upside down. When it is the right way up it is attached to a table and the strap is put around your foot and the rug maker is operated by pulling down with your foot. The needle comes up through the plate on which your canvas or other backing sits, drawing the tuft through. I rather unsuccessfully tried to take some photos of this but it didn't go too well I'm afraid. Trying to operate the rug maker and hold a camera steady at the same time isn't an easy task!

Here's a really bad photo of the needle coming through the plate. The tufts would be threaded through it.

The rug maker specifies that it is for use only with 'Airlyne' Axminster wool and I'm very fortunate to also have a skein of this yarn. Obviously I'll never be able to use the yarn but it is wonderful to have the full set of equipment and materials.

 The artwork on the skein band is simply beautiful 

There are further instructions on the reverse of the band explaining further the pile or tuft length required depending on whether you plan to make a rug or a full carpet and how much wool it takes.

What makes this a particularly neat and tidy story is that Axminster rugs and carpets are produced in the town of Axminster, which is situated in Devon, just like the John Arbon mill. Production was started back in 1755 by a gentleman called Thomas Whitty. Unfortunately a fire destroyed the factory and it was only 102 years later in 1857 that a carpet manufacturer happened to hear the story and finally in 1937, carpet manufacturing began again in Axminster. And whilst not all their carpets are 100% wool anymore, 90% of the wool that is used is sourced from British farms. So quite an appropriate story for this month of Wovember!

So back to the business at hand, will the following lucky winners please contact me as soon as possible on susan (at) susancrawfordvintage (dot) com with your name and mailing address:

Helen McIntosh
Judith
Sandp
Cottonon
TwoWednesdays
Mags
and as I mis-counted the number of tickets I had available, also Carol.

Well done everyone.

for now
Ruby xx

New limited edition colour in Excelana 4 ply

I've been working for some time on four new colours to add to the Excelana range and I'm delighted to reveal that the first of these new colours has now arrived and is absolutely beautiful.

This new shade is called 'Dark Mandarin' and is a gorgeous, rich burnt orange. I literally ooh'd out load when I opened the box and saw the packs of yarns. I had a very very specific shade of orange in my head when I sent the samples off to the dyers but there is always a certain amount of hope involved as water, temperature, even the batch of wool being dyed itself can impact on the final product. We have recently started using new dyers as well so there were very many variables which meant I was feeling nervous as I opened up the box. Fortunately my nerves were completely unnecessary and the finished yarn is exactly what I had in mind.

It was very important to me that the new colours both worked together and also worked well with the existing range and as you can see from this photo Cornflower Blue and Alabaster put with the Dark Mandarin make a beautiful combination - a design idea is already almost fully formed in my head.

I couldn't resist working a couple of samples this morning. Here it is in simple stocking stitch

and again using the stitch pattern for The Rose Jumper which was my original inspiration to find the perfect orange.

At the moment Dark Mandarin has limited availability and can only be purchased from mine and the John Arbon website as will the other new colours. It will also only initially be available in 4 ply. If the colours sell well they will then become part of the permanent palette.

To purchase this stunning colour simply go to the online shop here.

If you would like to know the full specification, here's the details:

Excelana 4 ply luxury wool 

100% pure new British wool

159m (174yds) per 50g ball

Standard tension: 28 sts + 36 rows = 10cm
 using 3mm needles over stocking stitch

Colour name: Dark Mandarin 

Knitting and Stitching Show Ticket Giveaway

October has been a somewhat strange month which I will hopefully be able to tell you more about sometime soon, and now November is already with us and in only a couple of weeks time I will be setting up my stand at The Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. The show runs from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th November. I've exhibited here several times before but for the first time my stand will be in the modern part of the complex in the Textile Gallery. If you're coming to the show you can find me on stand number TG103.

I've got lots and lots of yarn and patterns and books and kits, with quite a few new products launching at the show and I've also got 6 tickets to give away to 6 lucky readers of the blog. The tickets are valid for any one of the four days of the show but can only be used once and gives you free entry to the show. Because of the nature of the giveaway this one is only open to UK readers and will close this Sunday the 10th November at midnight BST. You must include an email address in your entry and you must reply to me on Monday 11th November with your postal address as I will be sending the tickets out on Tuesday 12th November by first class post.

(No cash alternative is available. The tickets are non-refundable and the prize does not include cost of travel to or from Harrogate or any other associated expenses)

So to win a ticket what do you have to do? Simply tell me what you think this piece of equipment is for. If no one gets it right don't worry, I'll just pick the six most inventive answers! And I'll reveal just what it is next week. Need a clue? It uses wool!

  

And good luck! I look forward to reading your entries.

for now,

Ruby xxx

Torshavn - free pattern

I had so many patterns planned to be released, published, uploaded, introduced, you name it, before I head off to Shetland, however, as often seems to be the way the four page list of things to do grew and grew and grew and before I knew it, I've almost run out of time and my case isn't even packed yet!

So instead I will simply introduce Torshavn.

This great little cowl takes only only ball each of two colours of Excelana DK, knits up extremely quickly and is a fabulous introduction to both traditional Faroese patterns and stranded colour work.

Torshavn is knitted from the bottom up in the round using an all-over 6 stitch/row pattern repeat. The intuitive pattern is adapted from one first recorded in the 1920s in the book "Foroysk Bindingarmynstur ". The pattern repeat cleverly ensures that no weaving of colours at the back is required as colours are never carried across more than a few stitches at a time.

I've deliberately made the cowl quite short to fit in with vintage styling more. I often wear a winter coat that has a decorative collar - quite widely cut and very 1950s in style and topped with a brooch - so rather than cover this up I have designed the cowl to sit inside one's collar to fill the gap above your coat and to keep you snug. No need to tuck in under your coat as you would a scarf and no hiding of your favourite coat.  However if you prefer a more contemporary look you can very easily make the cowl longer by increasing the number of stitches cast-on by 12 stitches at a time.

So, to celebrate that Shetland Wool Week is nearly here and that I am off to Shetland I am offering the pattern for FREE until the end of October. You can download the pattern on my ravelry page here.


Here is the information you need to know if you would like to knit Torshavn:

Materials Required

Excelana Luxury DK, 100% pure new British wool, 119m/130yds per 50g ball

1 ball each shades Persian Grey & Alabaster

1 4mm circular needle, 60cm long

Finished Size

Circumference: 52cm (20.5in)

Height: 15.5cm (6in)

You can purchase the yarn for the cowl here

If Faroese knitting and patterns interest you I am also running a Faroese knitting workshop on the 27th October with the lovely ladies from Purlesque. Expanding on the basic Torshavn cowl we will expand the techniques employed and the patterns used to create a cowl unique to you.

You can find all the details on the Purlesque website here.

Internet connection being what it is when you're in a beautiful cottage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean I may not get to blog properly until I return, but I will tweet and instagram as often as possible so please do take a look at my feeds on both of these for photos of Shetland.


So for now,
Ruby xxx