Pom tiddly om pom, pom pom

Ah, so much has gone unblogged or almost blogged. 

And in case that sounds dramatic, let me assure you, it's not at all. In fact it's been entirely humdrum, everyday unblogged. I have indeed been sewing, but I've shared things for me over at The Drapery blog so don't want to double up. Ah, might throw in a photo or two at the end here.

But down to business - oh and sorry, it's more dog business. Ew, not that kind.

I made a pompom for Skylar today. It was such a success I wanted to share, and it seemed like a quick and likely way to get back into the blogging habit.

Skylar loves fuzzy things, and had taken a particular liking to a woollen pompom that I made with the boys some years ago, that's been hanging about the house ever since. We throw it for her out the back, she races at it, snaps it up, flips it in the air and basically goes crazy for the thing. It's looking the worse for wear.

 

 I do rather like the traditional method of pompom making, with two cardboard rings, poking the wool through and around, through and around. However, it's time-consuming. And I came across an adapted method that doesn't really feel like cheating, but is a whole load quicker. Yep, found it on Pinterest.

 I think it made a very satisfactory pompom! I tied it as tightly as I could, knowing now the kind of treatment it was in for. (Those are shreds of the earlier pompom around on the lawn.)

 I didn't manage to capture Skylar doing her full flip-out, which she generally reserves for 7am or earlier. Later in the day she prefers a quick trot and lie down. It's easy to see why racing never suited her. Most of the races are at night. Silly races.

 Your move, pompom.

Below are the cardboard pieces I used for pompom construction, after removal. I think these may be bigger than the templates provided in the Pinterest link. When I printed out the largest one, it looked pretty small so I made up my own. I may have buggered up the printing, or I may just prefer a giant pompom.

And the pompom pieces are sitting on the laptop on which I type my blog posts - grubby old thing! Complete with 'bread tag elves' courtesy of Jasper.

Now, on with random recent photo grabs!

Here's a t-shirt I made for Clem with some awesome cotton/spandex knit with NINJAS!! from Crafty Mamas. I have come to the conclusion that as the sizes get bigger in this, my favourite Ottobre 'Best t-shirts' pattern, the neck bands get a bit tighter, especially if you use spandex knit, and I've ended up with a bit of scrunching up around the neckline. So I should make them a bit longer in future.

 

 

 I blogged about my Grainline Alder dress at The Drapery, but suffice to say I love, love love it and am wearing it again right now, which is at least the 3rd day in the last week (less than?) since I finished it. Yes, it has been washed :)

Lastly, lest this end up in unfinished-draft-land, here are some photos from a weekend that Andy and I had in Melbourne, without children. Yes. I tagged along on a work thing he was there for. We ate a lot, walked a lot, saw some children's theatre (work) and saw this utterly gorgeous 'Golden Mirror Carousel' at the National Gallery of Victoria. It turns super-slowly and silently and the seats gently sway and the whole thing was quite magical.

So there. That's a bit of stuff from lately! If you have read this far, may your week be filled with golden mirror-ness :)

- Jane x

Hats!

A while ago I bought Nicole Mallalieu's 'Flat Cap' pdf pattern. This style of hat is rather popular in our house and my success with the Sew Liberated Huck Fin Cap, which is basically the same thing, gave me confidence I could tackle an adult-sized cap in a really nice fabric.

First I made the brown cap in 100% wool tweed, which I will probably need to pinch back from Clem to use as a shop sample. Let's see if he's happy about that, hmm. This was a size M, and I was thinking it could be for Jasper but it was a bit small. We're a family of generous noggins, we are.

Then I remembered a pair of suit pants Andy had bought a couple of years ago that was irretrievably large. (He was in Glasgow for work and bought a jacket and waistcoat, plus the only matching pair of pants which he hoped could be re-tailored to fit, but alas not.) Anyhow, there was a large volume of extremely beautiful dark wool tweed just waiting to be harvested, and miracle of miracles (for our house), the moths hadn't got it. So I am now in production of a set of matching hats for Jasper, Charlie and Andy. Here Jasper wears a size L and I will go right up to the XL for Charlie and Andy.

The pattern is a lovely one and as I found with my previous experience of Nicole Mallalieu's USB Fob pattern, the instructions are very clear, with useful photographs, and care in the detail that makes for a very satisfying result.

The outer cap fabric is meant to be used to make the inner band, which I chose not to do because I thought the wool could be a little irritating against the forehead. On the brown cap I used twill tape covered on the outside with voile, however this was narrower than the band ought to have been... it's fine, but not quite what it should be. On the second cap I used some black corduroy, cut and attached exactly as per instructions, which I am really happy with. The hats are both lined in Anna Maria Horner voiles which are smooth, light and breathable, not to mention pretty!

Okay... I have some more caps to sew! Including - if I am not totally 'capped-out' by then - one for myself, what do you think?

- Jane x