Natural dyeing in the Basque Country.

To ease on back into blogging I thought I would post some photos from a market we happened upon in the Basque country near Bilbao in Spain. I previously showed a photo or two on instagram of a stall of naturally dyed yarn and socks. They were dyeing at the market in these gorgeous massive copper pots. Our language barrier means that I know nothing about them except what you can see from the pictures. Enjoy and I'll see you in this space as normal later in the week. 

Felicia x

That pile of white wool was wet and ready to go.

Nettles one side and onions the other.

And just because they were so pretty, here are some photos of the mushroom stall from the same market.

Waistboob and whatnot.

I was lucky enough to get to the wonderful Squam this year, and even luckier to do two great classes. The first was with Amy Herzog (Fit to Flatter) and the second with Bristol Ivy (Knitting Outside the Box). Things were learnt, and as with all good classes, they were not necessarily the things I expected to learn. 

You see, I have been making things for a long time, and with that has come some confidence that I know what I’m doing. Confidence is a useful thing in making – and it’s been hard won with a lot of practice - so I’m a little attached to it and glad I have it. However, after doing Amy’s class, I’ve realised that that same confidence has lead me to be a little closed-minded.

I went to the Fit to Flatter class  - which was all about how to get your knitted garments to fit properly – with the belief that I already knew how to get sweaters to fit. I had a fair bit of sweater knitting experience up my sleeve (Ha!) and I’ve even written a few (great :)) posts in the past about fit like “How to choose the perfect sweater pattern” and “Getting bottom up sweaters to fit beautifully”. And they are still really useful and relevant, but ……well you get the picture. I’d heard Amy was a great teacher so I was really interested in going, but I really did think I knew most of it.

How wrong I was!!

There were many parts of the Fit to Flatter class that were total genius like “How to swatch”. I mean, if you had of asked me before the class about swatching and whether I could do it, I would have almost chuckled in a dismissive way. “Of course” I would have answered. Turns out that I only kinda knew…..

And there was another 10 of those moments scattered through the class.

Some of these lightbulb moments I think I understood intuitively, but I didn’t understand the reasons behind the decisions I was making. And because this is hard to explain without giving you an example, I’m going to give you an example.

Let’s talk about waist-boob.

What is waist-boob I hear you ask? I’m sure there is a definition on Wikipedia or something, but a simple definition is where your boobs look like they are part of your waist rather than your chest. The class lead me to understand waistboob in a whole new way – a way that already has changed how I make.  Amy covered how and when waistboob occurs for different body types and then how to avoid it.

Let’s look at a specific example, shall we? I’ve always loved the Brooklyn Tweed sweater Stasis – and it’s the kind of love that is lasting and true. It’s been in my queue forever and I have the yarn in stash ready to go. I haven’t made it though – and during the class I started thinking about why. So I went to Ravelry to have a look.

Many of the Stasis projects on Ravelry, while beautiful, clearly demonstrate waistboob. The pattern looks sensational on a hanger but on a person => waistboob. Even the gorgeous Brooklyn Tweed model has waistboob in one of the pictures. And I think that was one of the reasons I’ve been avoiding knitting it.  It doesn’t look great on that many people. 

Amy explained the reason why* – it has to do with where the colourwork finishes. You need to have the colourwork finish somewhere closer to the nipple line, if you have a particular bust size AND high neck like Stasis does, in order to avoid waistboob. Changing the position of where the colourwork starts would elevate your boobs to join your neck region. How ace is that!

James II with the higher neckline and more noticeable waistboob. I've searched for a better picture but can't find you one tonight to show you how this effect is amplified in version II - hopefully you can see it. In the case of this sweater it is because of the neckline.

Amy’s class talked swatching, shape, ease, darts, how to choose a size, how to take your measurements and proportions of sweaters, in a different way to what I knew. And it has given me tools to fix what is unflattering.  Amy told me why I don’t like the things I don’t like – intuition is one thing but there is real joy in understanding my friends.

Then there were the many things in the class that I was convinced I didn’t need due to the style of sweaters I like (which are different to Amy’s – many of her sweater patterns are quite fitted) – but by the end of it I was totally convinced would work for me in various patterns (like back darts).

I was one of the lucky ones I think as it turns out that I was kind-of on track already. Many of the sweaters I’ve made already follow her fit rules. In the past that was based on intuition of what looked best on me. Now it will be based on some understanding which makes me truly thrilled.

Now you are probably wondering why I’m telling you about a class for a retreat, that has already happened, that you can’t take? Well you can!! The point of the post was to suggest that you try either her book Knit to Flatter or her online Craftsy class Knit to Flatter. She also has a HEAP of great info on her blog that will keep you happy with a cup of tea for a good long while.

Finally, I’m pretty sure you guys know this already, but just in case – I wanted to be clear that this blog is totally unsponsored and I am not getting any kickback from anything. I just tell you about stuff I’ve loved, and think you might too. I got so much out of this class that I think I might be a little bit in love with her for how she has changed my knitting. 

Felicia x

*Amy wasn’t specifically talking about Stasis.

Around the traps - Simple Sewing 101

Alrighty then Simple Sewers. I haven't had enough wifi or computer time to do the next alterations post but I did want to show you some pretty pictures from a few weeks ago that I took of my friend Christine wearing a couple of her Simple Sewing 101 - Tops. In the photo above she is wearing her Alice Top which is Step 4 in the post and then in the photo below she is wearing a gorgeous version of the Califaye Basics Tank which is an alternative to the Wiksten Tank which was Step 2. You can get all the details (and loads more gorgeous photos) from the post on her blog about them. 

What is winding me up as I'm writing this is that I really want to try the Cali Faye Tank - and rather than buying the pattern, piecing it together, cutting it out and then trying it on, I could have just tried Christine's on..... rid-ic-ulous that I'm only realising this now. We had the whole weekend together!

Other Simple Sewing 101 superstars you should check out are my lovely friend Karen on Instagram who has been sewing up a storm - a few weeks ago she made the Cali Faye Tank as well as some gorgeous Nani Iro and Linen numbers I know you lot will love.

And while you are wandering the halls of instagram you could also have a look at the other tops with the instagram hastag #simplesewing101. There are so many alterations popping up like this gorgeous number! Or this. Or this.

Hopefully they have inspired you to whip out your scissors and get sewing? 

Felicia x

Aragon Wildflowers

We spent a few days camping recently in the hills of Aragon in northern Spain, near a little village called La Fresneda. La Fresneda was the kind of sleepy town where old men play cards in the main square for the afternoon, pulling their chairs and table onto the road to find the shade from the late afternoon sun. 

It felt a little like the desert at home. It had the same scruffy beauty, the sun-bleached colours, the same style of scrubby trees, and soil that didn't look like it could grow anything. At all. But, like in the deserts at home, there was so much life. Almond trees and thousands of olives. Stray figs growing randomly out of stone walls. So many varieties of wildflowers - and so many beautiful soft colours. 

Travelling as we do, with three small children, we often have limited time to do the things we really would love to do. And so I only got to go for a walk once during our time there - my middle kid and I walked from the campsite into town. Unfortunately it was in the middle of the day (and it was hot!) so the colours are even more bleached out. But it almost gave the colours more beauty. 

Imagine these photos taken at dusk….

Hope you liked them. 

Felicia x

The Chambray Cult has left the building.

So I’ve dropped off the planet temporarily and it’s because we are away again, and as always, time and wifi are patchy. I always have grand plans about posting like nothing different is going on. I’m either an optimist or a fool. Take your pick.

Like last year, we are in Europe, and again we are camping (hence the patchy wifi). My fella is from the UK and so we visit nearly every year to see his family - and just so we don’t feel we have spent our entire holiday on the M25 trying to see friends, we thought we would head off camping again. 

This time I was lucky enough to sneak in a sneaky trip to Squam before I met him and the kids in London. I'll post some photos of the wonderful Squam soon, but one of the best bits for me was that I was lucky enough to get to spend the weekend with some lovely friends I only get to see when I'm in the US.

Anyhow during the weekend one of them mentioned she was a little "sad" that I didn’t share photos of our trips on the blog. In the past I haven’t shared that much as I figure this is a craft blog, so I try to keep it not too personal, and mainly craft focused. Her point was that travel is often somewhere we humans draw our inspiration from, and the photos I’m taking probably reflect that. And so I thought I might try some out over the next few weeks to see if you like them.

The photo above is a rare one as I am actually in it – I’m normally the photo taker and not the takee. It was taken in Bilbao last week where the aforementioned fella stated that we look like we are in some kind of chambray cult. It’s probably true – who doesn’t love chambray?

I'll keep posting when I can.

Felicia x

*For those of you not from the UK it is a often excruciatingly slow moving ring-road that encircles London.