A cardigan for all shapes

This month has proven to be quite a traumatic one, with my mum and dad both suffering serious health scares and life once again having to adjust to accommodate the changing circumstances we find ourselves in. I don't want to dwell on these personal difficulties to be honest as how life chooses to unfold is quite frankly, completely out of my control, and I'm finding the best way of dealing with it is just to deal with each day as it unfolds.

Maybe these shifting circumstances though have made me think "what the hell" for example, when I have been reading a lot online about our perceptions of our own body image, and I realised how reluctant I have been to 'show' myself on my blog and that maybe it was time to face this issue head on. I am not as young or as slim as many of the very photogenic people who write blogs in either the knitting or the vintage worlds and therefore tend to avoid 'showing' myself very often on my blog, and certainly not in a 'what to wear' post, which is frankly, pathetic. So I'm coming out! I'm a little older and a little fatter than I would choose to be in an ideal scenario but on the whole, I like who I am and have no desire to be very much different so what am I scared of?

Why we criticise ourselves like this I really don't know. I am confident, articulate, educated etc., etc., yet I still go into freefall at the thought of going somewhere and having to get dressed for the occasion. I think for me it is because my clothes say so much about who I am. After being bullied at school for several years I found that expressing myself in what I wore gave me the confidence to enter a room full of strangers, to speak and to stand up for myself. As the years have passed, I no longer 'need' this help as much as I used to but just like putting on red lipstick makes me feel good, the right outfit gives me confidence. I have been a punk, a goth, a steam punk, a mod, a rockabilly, I have dressed head to toe in 40s or 50s clothes. Contrarily I have never been scared of standing out in what I wear. Yet I have to admit, maybe because of the bullying, other people's possible opinions and reactions still un-nerve me. Somehow though, clothes have helped me find a confidence that wasn't there when I was 16 or even 18 and for that I am very grateful.

I also have to think about what suits me a hell of a lot.  My shape is seriously hourglass - I measure 44-34-48. And even if those measurements each had 10 inches knocked off them I would still need to think about how best to dress to suit my shape.  So I believe the way to approach what I choose is thinking about shape rather than focusing on my size. If I wear clothes that suit my shape its just a question of them being the right fit for me.

I have been endeavouring therefore to knit more of the patterns from my books in my 'size' both so that I get to enjoy the garments myself but also so that I can model them for the blog - can't quite believe I'm saying that!

So the garment I have finished most recently is the Princess Twinset Cardigan from Coronation Knits. The Pattern is designed using Excelana 4ply pure wool and is shown in the book in both Cornflower Blue and Ruby Red. The pattern comes in 11 sizes from 30 to 50 inches (76 to 127 cm) and is designed to be worn with approximately 4 inches (10 cm) of positive ease at the bust.

from Coronation Knits - copyright Susan Crawford

I knitted it in Cornflower Blue Excelana 4ply as in the book and only made very minor tweeks to get the right fit for me. The cardigan is knitted in separate pieces with gradual increases worked on the side seams of the front and back pieces. These main body pieces end with a straight edge to allow for the saddle shoulder which is knitted on from the top of the sleeve heads. The front slopes of the cardigan are scooped quite wide to allow for the full pattern of the Princess Twinset Jumper to be seen when they are worn as a twinset.
 

I wanted a neat fit as opposed to a loose one, so followed the instructions for the 42 inch chest. I have a narrow back and even narrower shoulders so it always pays for me to go down a size. Often on shoulders I have to decrease stitches to a much smaller size to get the right width but with this cardigan having a saddle shoulder and set in sleeve the shoulder width was fine (more on the importance of shoulders soon).

Due to a bit of a tummy bump I decided to also knit the welt in the same needle size as the main body to make it a bit more of a relaxed fit more me around the middle. I also wanted to be able to wear the cardigan straight rather than pouched at the waist.

I have ridiculously short arms for my height so I also reduced the sleeve length so that the sleeves didn't start to get folds in them.

And finally when finishing off the garment I added extra press studs so that I didn't get any gaping.


I love how this cardigan looks. The back detail really creates a lovely shape and adds interest both to the finished garment and also to the knitting process. This clever little twisted stitch doesn't even require the use of a cable needle!

 The back detail is repeated on the turned back cuff and also one repeat of the pattern is worked around the fronts and back neck where the two ends are joined using three needle bind off. With the shortening of the sleeves I only used 9 balls rather than the 10 specified in the pattern. However if I had needed the sleeves any longer than 17 inches I would have broken into the 10th ball.

I teamed the cardigan with a dress I got from Cath Kidston last year or possibly the year before. The skirt has a really flattering cut with four vertical seams which really help how the skirt drapes and keeps its shape. This dress has been washed countless times and still looks as good as it did when I first got it.

I also managed to borrow my daughter's fab royal blue nail varnish which matches the cardigan exactly.

 However I did forget to put on my lipstick for which you must excuse me! In short it really is a cardigan fit for a princess and also for me! You can see all of the garments or purchase your own copy of Coronation Knits from my website and I'm now going to quickly publish this before I start doubting my judgement!

for now
Ruby xx

The Anniversary of the third battle of Ypres

 I was going to post a new blog post today but today is the 31st July which is the anniversary of the third battle of Ypres or Passchendaele, the day great uncle Herbert is thought to have died, so I just thought I would ask you all to remember all the young men who died on this dreadful day and also if you haven't downloaded it yet, do download a free copy of Herbert's Scarf so that you can make his scarf in remembrance. If you haven't read about Herbert's story you can read it on this post from April.

for now
Ruby xx

The Comforts Committee

Browsing through vintage knitting patterns this afternoon I found this beautiful illustration on the back cover of "Knitting for the R.A.F" published by the Royal Air Force Comforts Committee, based at 20 Berkeley Square, London.

Ration coupon-free wool could be obtained by 'Working Parties' of at least 10 people, on the understanding that all items made from the wool would be for the Royal Air Force and would be sent directly to the Comforts Committee. An official Registration Certificate would be issue to the group on receipt of a Form of Guarantee, which had to be signed to acknowledge the undertaking being given.

The Comforts Committee was established by the Air Council in 1939 with the following purposes:

1. To ascertain the requirements of the Royal Air Force in both patterns and quantities of comforts required.

2. To arrange for the collection and storage of gifts in kind made to the Royal Air Force and to use cash donations to their best advantage.

3. To supervise the distribution of comforts within the Royal Air Force so as to ensure fairness and economy.

The bit I really 'like' is this: "The Committee consists of representatives of the Departments of the Air Ministry directly concerned with the welfare of the Royal Air Force, 'assisted by two lady members'.
Now I am only guessing, but I would imagine the two lady members probably did a little more than assist the Committee and yet even in the pattern booklet itself the airwomen of the W.A.A.F. are portrayed in a rather stereotypical fashion.

Whilst there is no doubting this is a great sketch it seems somehow inappropriate to depict a member of the armed forces plumping up a pillow or possibly sewing something in a suggestive manner to illustrate the knitting pattern in question, or here, hopefully, playing leap frog?

To balance this though this airman is shown comically yet still manfully, endeavouring to darn his socks!

I love this booklet nonetheless and it certainly wouldn't be true to the period if there wasn't a little bit of condescension thrown in here and there.

To encourage participation and involvement the scheme provided an enamel badge to each 'Working Party' registered, with additional badges available at the cost of one shilling. Heads of working parties were encouraged to only allow party members to acquire a badge if they contributed around a 100 hours of their time to the Comforts Committee.

 Acknowledgement slips were attached to each knitted item so that the airman or airwoman receiving it could respond in person if they so wished. The whole scheme itself is incredibly practical and well organized, ensuring that the best use was made of limited resources and people's efforts and desire to help. Finally to spur knitters on further, there was a letter from the Secretary of State for Air no less entreating and thanking knitters for their efforts.

for now
Ruby xx

POST PROJECT COMPLETION FATIGUE

I'm aware the title to this post sounds somewhat dramatic, but I have become aware that whenever I have completed a major project, in this case, Coronation Knits, I suffer an emotional and physical crash. I usually come down with something, a bad cold or flu, am extremely tired, can't focus on tasks yet can't sleep and can't stop thinking. These 'symptoms' have now occurred after each book I have worked on or each major event that has taken place over the last few years. In one of the forthcoming interviews in the Coronation Knits blog tour, Woolly Wormhead asked me about the good and bad about being a self publisher and running my own business. And without a doubt 'PPCF' is one of the bad. Once a book is published the hard work continues with publicity, sales, marketing, distribution, more promotion, costings analysis, all sorts of less exciting tasks than designing but as a self publisher, all tasks that have to be performed and done by me. And this is were it gets so hard. How do you balance needing to take a break with what should be one of the busiest periods of a book project? Up to now I would say I basically haven't been very good at finding this balance and have either made myself more ill by trying to push through the physical and mental barriers or I haven't followed up the publication of a title in the best way to make the most out of things. Any one or two person small business with the sort of limited resources that many really small businesses have must surely experience the same problem. How do you get it all to balance? Is it even possible to do so? This blog tour has been a great aid to some self analysis and has given me a lot of food for thought about how I need to go about dealing with this whole process in a far more organised and planned way. I'm not saying I'll actually manage to make it happen but I'm going to give it a go. I can't afford a Project Manager unfortunately so I'm going to have to get better at it myself. And for me that seems to be the reality of being my own boss – at this point in time, I'm my own everything! And there isn't a way round that. I have been on business planning courses where they tell you to concentrate on the things you are good at and the unique benefits you bring to the business and get other people to do the things you can't do as well or don't feel are valuable ways to be spending your time. In an ideal world that is what I should do, but in the world that I live in, where finding the money for the mortgage each month is a real achievement, outsourcing any task is a major decision which may impact on being able to pay the electricity bill when it arrives.

I do hope this post isn't coming across as a feel sorry for me post as it certainly didn't set out to be that. But micro businesses in the UK make up a huge percentage of all businesses in this country, and many of them are run by women, trying to balance all sorts of work and family commitments and I'm sure many have the same issues as I do. And I would be really interested in any thoughts anyone has about how you may have made it work, made it easier, found more hours in the day, managed to grow a money tree in the back garden! Anything really. Because despite PPCF I really love what I do but I need to find better ways of doing it so that I can continue to do this for a long time to come.

Now I am going to go and knit without feeling guilty. And don't forget to keep following the Coronation Knits blog tour. I'm currently visiting the amazing Tasha's blog and will be stopping at Tom's next where there will also be a chance to win some beautiful Juno Fibres yarn to make the Diamond Stole from the book.

For now

Ruby xx

Wild and Windy at Woolfest and a vintage yarn haul

The heavens opened on us at Woolfest this year but try as it might it didn't stop it being a great show. Gavin had worked really hard prior to the show creating a 'structure' for our stand featuring Royal Route 'wallpaper' on one side of the stand and pretty vintage patterns on the others. It looked great and attracted lots of attention.

the royal route - photo copyright Gavin Crawford

me on the stand wearing Fair Isle twinset cardigan from A Stitch in Time 2

We 'divided' the stand into Coronation Knits and A Stitch in Time 2 at either side with the full Excelana range of 4 ply and DK along with single patterns in the middle.

copyright Gavin Crawford

 Coronation Knits went down a storm with the Princess Twinset 

Copyright Susan Crawford

seeming to be the most popular first knit out of the book followed by Crowning Glory.

Copyright Susan Crawford

The other most popular design on the stand was the lovely Frances who went home with an awful lot of people.

Copyright Susan Crawford

 I didn't get to look round the show a whole lot but I made sure I visited the stand of the amazing Eliza (who doesn't have a website) who collects all sorts of vintage bric a brac and who I can't resist buying from whenever I see her at a show. And on this occasion I was lucky enough to purchase three lots of yarn from her:

copyright Susan Crawford

copyright Susan Crawford

 The first is this lovely deep rose pink 3 ply shrink resist all wool 'Polynit' from Golden Eagle. I have used Golden Eagle patterns in both volumes 1 and 2 of A Stitch in Time but have never actually been lucky enough to find any actual 'Polynit' before. I need to do some more research but I believe that 'All Wool' was a bit of a catch all phrase that meant the wool could be of varying types and grades including recycled - once upon a time this was considered a negative rather than a positive selling point!

copyright Susan Crawford

The next yarn is Patons Beehive 2 ply Fingering with shrink resist Patonised finish which from the label design looks a little more recent than the Golden Eagle yarn but I'm not too sure as yet.

copyright Susan Crawford

And the final yarn is this lovely soft pink 3 ply wool from Lavenda with this fabulous logo on the label. The Lavenda and Patons yarns are both from around the 1950s I think, but I believe the Golden Eagle yarn is a little earlier but I have found evidence that Golden Eagle were still trading until early in the 1950s so I need to do some more digging!

copyright Susan Crawford

 What I am particularly thrilled about is the similarity between my Excelana Nile Green and the Patons Beehive yarn and my Excelana French Rose and the Lavenda 3 ply. Neither look out of place with the vintage yarns.

Our stand at Woolfest was next door to the lovely Arbon's who I work with on Excelana, and in a little down time at the end of the show we agreed that there will be FOUR new colours added to the Excelana range this winter! My job is now to work on getting exactly the right four colours to work with the existing palette and also extend the variety available. I already have three of the four colours pretty much decided but would love to know your thoughts on this whilst I agonise over the fourth colour.

The next stop on the Coronation Knits blog tour happens to be with the amazing Felix who 'quizzed' me on colour usage in the book. This interview should be going live tomorrow so do stop by and have a read - it might help with that important fourth colour choice!

Here's the tour list once more to save you scrolling back through my posts:

12th June 2012 - More Yarn Will Do The Trick - Jean Moss
16th June 2012 - JenACKnitwear  - Jen Arnall Culliford
18th June 2012 - The Icelandic Knitter - Helene Magnusson
20th June 2012 - Knitting Institute - Knitting Magazine
24th June 2012 - Ingrid Murnane Investigates - Ingrid Murnane
28th June 2012 - Domestic Soundscape -Felicity Ford
29th June 2012 - Sheep To Shawl - Donna Druchunas
2nd July 2012  - The Making Spot - Simply Knitting 
7th July 2012   - Fourth Edition - Karie

6th July 2012   - rock+purl - Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
10th July 2012 - By gum, by golly! - Tasha
14th July 2012 - tomofholland - Tom Van Deijnen
18th July 2012 - Woolly Wormhead - Woolly
22nd July 2012 - Crinoline Robot - Mim
25 July 2012     - Sexyknitter.com - Sarah Wilson

so for now,
I'm off to think about colours
Ruby xxx

its Woolfest time again!

Time flies so quickly. It really only feels like a couple of months since I was last at Woolfest - admittedly its only just over 12 hours since I was in Cumbria  - but it is actually a year and its time to hit the road again.

On the stand at Woolfest in 2011 - copyright Woolclip

ETA: Knitted items from left to right - all from A Stitch in Time vol 2 are - Simple but Attractive; Sunday Pictorial Beret and Fair Isle Twinset Jumper.

This year I have a slightly bigger stand as it did get a bit crowded last year and you can find me at D80-81 - the same aisle as last year I think but a slightly different position. All the designs from Coronation Knits will be on display with a large selection from A Stitch in Time Vol 2 and we will have both books available to purchase along with the last couple of hundred copies of A Stitch in Time Vol 1 before it goes out of print (not for ever, but for a little while). I'll be signing all books purchased from the stand.

Exciting news is that Excelana DK is now available in all 8 colours and will be in stock at the show too along with Excelana 4 Ply.

This is the first show where I will be completely 'Susan Crawford Vintage' - if you look on the back of Coronation Knits you will see the new publishing imprint:

With Excelana DK now available and the switch to the name Susan Crawford Vintage I will also be having a small clearance sale of some patterns which still have the old branding on them. The patterns will be remaining in print but these particular ones need to be cleared so will all be available at only £1 per pattern. So a real chance to pick up a bargain too!

There is a 10% discount available on any yarn purchase if a book or pattern is purchased at the same time and finally, we have our own chip and pin machine for the first time so can now take cash or cards on the stand.

I do hope to see you if you're visiting the show,

so for now,
Ruby xx

Behind the camera at Coronation Knits part I

I had lots of fun at the photo shoot for Coronation Knits and for once we actually managed to get a few photos of me taking photos! So I thought I would share just a few of them with you.

Charlie getting into character in Crowning Glory

Action

and from another angle

here I am at work

you can just see the image in the camera view finder

Crowning Glory in all its glory as seen in Coronation Knits

Diamond Stole and Charlie both looking every inch the lady!

Holding the pose

and got it!

Diamond Stole sparkling in the finished pattern

Denis in Retro Jubilee Socks, just taking a rest?

But no, there's still work to be done!

and from another angle...

and you would never know from the final photo!

I hoped you enjoyed the first 'behind the camera' post. I hope to have a lot more behind the scenes to share over the next few weeks. In the meantime I'm delighted to be able to say that the print copies of Coronation Knits are on their way to me today and will be arriving tomorrow for signing and then despatch. If you are yet to purchase and would like to do so, you can do this on my website here.

Tomorrow the blog tour makes its second visit, this time to my amazing technical editor, Jen Arnall-Culliford, and I believe Jen will be talking about some of the techniques I used in a number of the  patterns, including the Retro Jubilee Socks. Jen is also hosting a giveaway on her blog so it is another chance to win a copy of the book.

for now,
Ruby xx

Coronation Knits is Launched!

Da, da, da, da, da, daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (Imagine this as a fanfare playing)!

So without further ado, I am delighted to announce the launch of Coronation Knits.

Here's the front cover which I've shown before

This book has been hard work as it had to be completed in a relatively short period of time, but it has been an absolute delight at the same time. As a designer, putting together a collection is always the ideal but something which one rarely gets to do. However the concept of Coronation Knits was just that; to design a complete collection around the theme of the Coronation/Jubilee, Royalty and the personal style of a young Elizabeth from around 1947 to 1953. I have always enjoyed working to a brief or interpreting a storyboard. I guess it was the way I was trained, and as I always like to create a story in my head as I design, the brief becomes the framework around which I build my ideas.

This is the back cover - you can just see the new publishing imprint I'm using - Susan Crawford Vintage

Over the years I have collected a lot of memorabilia from this period, some incidentally containing images of the Royals, others specifically about them. As I was going through all this material, I began to ask myself why had I actually collected it. I don’t think I ever collect things randomly, even though I do collect a lot of things, I feel there is usually a reason, a connection, that initially starts me off.  Then the penny dropped. All the threads led back to the same point - my mum! Mum was 12 when Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952 and was already a collector of all things related to her. But particularly about Elizabeth, and her sister Margaret’s, personal style. Mum had kept a scrapbook about Elizabeth during the late 1940s and early 1950s that resided at my nan and granddad’s house and which I used to study on wet Sunday afternoons when I would go and visit. Unfortunately the scrapbook no longer exists. At some point my granddad had thrown it out without our knowledge and it was lost. But mum and I both remember it clearly and it without doubt it has been a huge influence to me when designing the collection. so, I hear you ask, just what is in the collection? Here the the 14 designs that make up Coronation Knits:

Coronation Knits by Susan Crawford

You'll see and hear a lot more about each of the individual designs over the next few weeks but for today I am very excited to be announcing the Coronation Knits Blog Tour. This is the first time I've done a blog tour so am quite nervous but thrilled that my book is in the hands of some of my favourite designers, textile artists, knitters and bloggers. So here is the list of where we will be visiting: Doing interviews, questions and answers, technical behind the scenes info, reviews and giveaways. It should be a lot of fun:

12th June 2012 - More Yarn Will Do The Trick - Jean Moss
16th June 2012 - JenACKnitwear  - Jen Arnall Culliford
18th June 2012 - The Icelandic Knitter - Helene Magnusson
20th June 2012 - Knitting Institute - Knitting Magazine
24th June 2012 - Ingrid Murnane Investigates - Ingrid Murnane
28th June 2012 - Domestic Soundscape -Felicity Ford
29th June 2012 - Sheep To Shawl - Donna Druchunas
2nd July 2012  - The Making Spot - Simply Knitting 
7th July 2012   - Fourth Edition - Karie

6th July 2012   - rock+purl - Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
10th July 2012 - By gum, by golly! - Tasha
14th July 2012 - tomofholland - Tom Van Deijnen
18th July 2012 - Woolly Wormhead - Woolly
22nd July 2012 - Crinoline Robot - Mim
25 July 2012     - Sexyknitter.com - Sarah Wilson


Each post will feature the book in a different way that will really help you to get to grips with what makes this book so special. The variety of bloggers also means that you can learn about the book from many different points of view. Many of the posts will also include an opportunity to win your own copy of ‘Coronation Knits’ so be sure to visit each blog if you can.

If you cannot wait to get your hands on a copy of Coronation Knits however, you can see more details and place your order on my website, here.

There are three options for your purchase: Print book only which is £12.99; E-book only which is £9.99; and a Print and E-book joint purchase at £17.99. We're also adding a 'bolt-on' option this week which will allow print only purchasers to add the e-book to their order for £5.00.  There will be more details on this to follow. The print books will be available for us to despatch at the end of this week. And finally, the e-book will be available to purchase directly from ravelry later this week.

for now
Ruby xx

And the Shetland Prize winner is...

... using the the random number generator on random.org, comment number 75 of 78 was chosen as the winner, who is Susie Hewer! So Susie I don't have an email contact for you so if you could email me on susan (at) susancrawfordvintage [dot] com with your address and I will send you out your Shetland goodies.

Well done!

Susan xx
 

Coronation Knits available to pre order now!

I am so happy to be able to share with you the cover image of Coronation Knits! 

Copyright ©2012 Susan Crawford

It features my beautiful, patient daughter Charlie who kindly travelled down from Edinburgh so that I could torment her all day by making her pose for the camera.

The cover also features the Diamond Stole, knitted in Juno Belle which is a described as a lightweight fingering yarn. Its composition is 70% superfine British Alpaca and 30% Blue Faced Leicester spun in Devon by a very good friend of mine! This stunning stole was knitted by my friend Tom, who is the most incredible lace knitter I have ever met. His ability to remember patterns is too amazing to comprehend. Tom also managed to knit this stole in three and a half days.

Copyright ©2012 Susan Crawford

 The stole is one of 14 designs all working around the theme of the Coronation, the late 1940s-early 1950s fashions, diamonds and red, white and blue. The stole is one of a selection of designs for women in the collection which also includes jumpers, hats, cardigans, twinsets and head scarves. There are also two men's designs - a fabulous fair isle sleeveless pullover and a retro pair of socks - and also two children's designs - one for girls and one for boys.  The book is approximately 100 pages in length, full colour and also contains a chapter all about this pivotal period in British history, where I set the scene for the collection.

Copyright ©2012 Susan Crawford

This design is part of the Princess Twinset and is knitted in Excelana 4 ply. Here's a little peek at the matching cardigan which is knitted in Cornflower Blue, Excelana 4 ply.

Copyright ©2012 Susan Crawford

One of my particular favourites from the book is Diamonds are Forever.

Copyright ©2012 Susan Crawford

This jumper is knitted in the round from the bottom up and has gentle waist shaping to create that 1950s silhouette. The yoke is picked up around both sleeves and the body and then the diamond pattern is worked before decreases are worked for the neckline. The sleeves are bracelet length which again was a very popular design feature in the period. This garment is knitted in Renaissance Dyeing Dorset Poll 4 ply which was an absolute delight to knit with, and thoughtfully had several coordinating blues in the palette which made particularly perfect for this design.

I'll share more designs with you over the next few weeks (there are also some additional images on the website) but the most exciting news is that due to demand the book is going to be available in print as well as an e-book. There will be three options to purchase, either just the print book or the print and e-book as a joint purchase or finally the e-book on its own.  The publication date is June 8th which just happens to be the Jubilee weekend.

I'm also delighted to be able to offer a pre-order package for both the print and the digital versions of the book which are:

Print Only

Your pre order package includes a signed copy of this beautiful book, 

project bag, commemorative gift card and discount vouchers.  

Price £12.99 (+p&p)

Print and E-book package

As print package above. 

Special combination price of £17.99 (+p&p for the print book)

E-book only

Your pre order package includes discount vouchers and a 

free bonus pattern PDF from the Susan Crawford Vintage online shop.  

Price £9.99

Please note that all parts of these offers will be sent at the same time as your book.

You can see more preview pictures and read more about the book and place your pre order if you so desire on my website.

Also do look out for details of my forthcoming first ever, all singing, all dancing, blog tour! Exciting stuff. 

but for now,

Ruby xx