Helen's Far East Dress

Much like for our French holiday, I decided I needed to have some kind of character for a recent holiday to China and Japan. Again, I only managed to make one dress but this is it. I used this pattern, which is my new favourite thing and some fabric from the £1 place. This is me post-afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.

Helen's Wedding Draught Excluder

Just what every newly-wed couple wants - a hand-knitted draught excluder! I actually think this is a much more romantic present than it first appears. No-one wants a chilly marital bedroom after all.....

Crafter Baby Shower

I have been ridiculously bad at posting lately so am playing catch-up now.

Back in August we held a special crafternoon crafter-shower to celebrate the imminent birth of the first crafter-baby (the lovely baby, Kit, was born on August 22nd all healthy and happy). We all made a bird from this pattern which I then put together to make a mobile. I'd like to say constructing it was done in a serene and capable manner but, in fact, it involved much stressing, wire hangers, embroidery hoops, superglue and cursing. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and I'm sure Kit will love it when he can focus properly and appreciate all the hard work.

Helen's Apron Dress

I went on holiday to France at the end of June and decided I needed some kind of French persona..... I thought this persona would wear apron dresses so I made this. It's actually a wrap skirt and then a separate top. My sewing machine properly gave up the ghost while I was making it (the stitching should not be scrutinised) and is now being repaired by a nice man in Deptford (highly recommended). After all that, I only wore the dress once and my French persona mainly wore skirts and t-shirts..... Must try harder next time.

Helen's Bookmarks

I'm taking part in Bookmarks VIII, organised by Sarah Bodman at the Centre for Fine Print Research at UWE. I spent most of May furiously drawing these, which will be distributed in various bookshops and galleries around Europe in the autumn.

I am slightly obsessed with maps so it seemed appropriate that I based my designs around them. Each one depicts a celebrated literary romance with a route through London streets from one character to the other.

Helen's Bag for Jessica

My lovely cousin, Jess, is moving back to Canada so I made her this bag as part of her leaving present. I took this photo at Crafternoon 12 at Kim's house yesterday although, ironically, I made the bag at home before I went, thus making myself really quite late. Go figure. Incidentally, the bag is modelled by our other Jess who is currently expecting the first Crafternoon baby. Expect a lot of baby related crafts in the future (baby neckerchiefs).

Helen's Neckerchief for Kim

This pattern is my new favourite thing. I knitted a version in wool first, following the pattern exactly. I then made this one for Kim's birthday using cotton and adjusting the pattern by narrowing the overall width and lengthening the tails. Everyone can expect one of these for their birthday for the foreseeable future.

Helen's Pencil Skirts

Seeing as I'm now a proper librarian (well kind-of), I thought I needed an appropriate wardrobe. So now I just wear pencils skirts (with tops and cardigans from Uniqlo). I makes getting dressed in the morning much easier! All of them are from this pattern which is officially ace.

Crafternoon 10

Helen's Socks for Dad

I knitted these socks for my dad for Christmas. Originally, I was going to knit a pair for my mum too but I don't knit very fast and I ran out of time. I knitted them from this pattern which was meant for much smaller needles than the ones I used. As a consequence my socks were MASSIVE but, as he has been given crap homemade presents for approximately 27 years now, dad is used to this and professed to love them.

Helen's Jumpsuit

I made this jumpsuit for my ballroom class's Christmas party. I was going for a kind of Ginger Rogers / Rita Hayworth kind of thing.... Shame my hair refuses to behave in a way more befitting a Hollywood starlet!

Helen's Cardigan for Eilee

I am in a bit of a knitting frenzy at the moment. This was my first attempt at actually knitting an item of clothing (scarves don't count). I was convinced the pattern for this was wrong so made quite a lot of it up as I went along. I have subsequently knitted it again for another friend's baby and it turns out it was me who was wrong..... You live and learn. I am now knitting socks which is a whole new bundle of fun!

Kath's Mobile

This is the gorgeous mobile that Kath started at Crafternoon in March. I am totally inspired to make one myself even though she said that putting it all together involved shaving twigs with a stanley knife and covering her hands with super glue......

Sarah's Bib and Booties

Sarah wins the prize for most productive at the garden craft with these adorable booties and bib for little George.

Happy 2nd Birthday Crafternoon!

The August bank holiday marked Crafternoon's 2nd birthday and we celebrated by having a garden craft at Clare and Sarah's house. It was lovely.

Helen's Amelia Earhart Hat

This is my other project that I finished a month or so ago. I unravelled the enormous beret I knitted at the first ever Crafternoon and used this pattern - it terrified me to start with but actually it was pretty easy once I got going. Now I just have five months or so until it's cold enough to wear it....

Helen's Dress

I have been really lazy at posting things on here but I have actually been crafting! I made this dress a few weeks ago, adapting a bandeau dress pattern I've had for about 10 years. I self-lined the bodice and added pockets too. This is me wearing it on the Brooklyn bridge last week. It's super comfy and light but it's a shame the same couldn't be said for my flip-flops......

Clare's Chair

A super-impressive craft from Clare and Carl. I think maybe another crafternoon-in-the-garden might be needed so we can all try it out!

Helen's Make-up Bag

This was what I intended to make at Crafternoon but instead I faffed and made myself sick on sugar. Anyway, I've made it now and it only took about half an hour. I should've adjusted the stitch tension but couldn't be bothered (bad crafter!). However I did do french seams so it's all lovely and neat inside. Alex said it looked like one of those collection tins for the RNLI, hence the floating voter badge.

Crafternoon 8

So many people, so much craft!