Tag Archives: knitting

This Old Thing – Vintage Patterns

Posted on by Abi

this-old-thingIf you’ve been watching Channel 4 recently then chances are that you caught a bit of Dawn O’Porter’s new show ‘This Old Thing’. In it Dawn tries to convince vintaphobes (my new word, do you like it?) to swap their brand new mass produced clothing for the unique wonders of vintage. She’s mostly successful and is certainly introducing a whole new group to second-hand (excuse me vintage) clothing.dawnoporter_2954682b

As for myself I’ve always had a bit of a love hate relationship with ‘vintage’. I love historical fashions (I’d be dressed in a bonnet everyday if I could!) and I love being unique so vintage definitely appeals. However I don’t always love vintage stores, I’ve visited several which were cramped, badly lit, musty smelling and generally uninviting. However all of that would be nothing if I bagged a real vintage treasure, unfortunately many are now overpriced and underwhelming and their idea of good quality clearly differs from my own.

On the flip side when vintage is done well, enticing stores with bright colours and enthusiastic staff, it can be incredibly exciting. Only the other day I was bouncing about my house with glee having found a 1970s Clothkits dress in perfect condition and it cost me the princely sum of £8!

However I have an unwavering passion for vintage patterns! With them I can create wonders from the past with my own two hands, I could even use vintage fabric if I wish. The end result is just as unique, and even better, I can tailor things to my own choice and size. I could even make them again!

patternRecent acquisitions include a wonderful collection of knitting patterns. I can actually remember many of these sitting about the houses of my relatives. The best creation by far though is a wonderful Teddy pattern that my Granny knitted for my brother when he was a baby.snidneys2

The Teddy was named Sidney and was dearly loved. Unfortunately my brother (being a baby and all) had the audacity to throw up on him and thanks to a trip in the washing machine he stretched and never looked the same. Despite this Sidney became something of a phenomenon in my little village and before we knew it Sidneys (all named after the original) were popping up everywhere, knitted loosely to resemble our stretched one. Of course what none of those knitting Mommas knew was that Sidney was named by my Father after Sid Snot who was one of Kenny Everett’s many characters!snidneys2-crop

I picked up my needles recently and knitted my bro a brand new bear. However what I hadn’t expected was the size difference between the new bear and the original, it goes to show what a washing machine can do to hand knitting. If it hadn’t been for this gorgeous vintage pattern Sidney would have spent the rest of his days alone but now he has a significantly smaller brother to keep him company.

So I guess Dawn is right, there’s still life in This Old Thing. 🙂

 

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Yarn Bombing for Six Streets Derby

Posted on by Abi

Six Streets is an area of Derby not very far from the city centre. This year it celebrated it’s second Art Trail over the weekend of June 22nd and 23rd. Residents opened up their homes and local artists and makers were exhibiting their work. As part of the trail, trees on Wheeldon Avenue were decorated by individuals and local groups, the theme was the natural world . We at the Angel Eden Blog have been solely responsible for two of the trees and have also been involved with a number of the group efforts. Two of the trees have been decorated by local schools and each tree has a label to advise who has done the work.

I think there were twenty trees decorated in total and the road really did look good. The Art Trail was open for just the one weekend but the Yarn creations will stay up for a couple of weeks.

I have not included pictures of all the trees as they are far too many but here are just a selection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yarn Bombing at Acorn Bank

Posted on by Abi

Acorn Bank is a National Trust property very near to Penrith and the Lake District. Having read on the UK Hand Knitting website about a community project located there I was eager to visit. People had been asked to knit natural things to decorate the trees! Unfortunately there is not a lot to see in the house itself although there are hopes for some restoration work in the future.

Acorn Bank has lovely gardens and a working water mill that grinds flour. Unfortunately the day I visited was very wet so I didn’t spend too long looking around, instead venturing into the woods to find the knitted creatures and plants.

The bluebells were all out and as they are one of my favourite flowers I had to get a quick picture 🙂

Knitted pieces had been created by lots of different people, the name of the contributers could be found in a book inside the house. If I had more time I would have loved to have joined in, but we have our own Yarn Bombing project set to go up at the end of this month so needed to concentrate on that! Here are some pictures of the things we saw.

At first I wondered why there were playing cards hanging up but then I realised that this is an Alice in Wonderland Tree and from a previous post you will know how we love Alice in Wonderland!

After getting rather damp in the woodland we rushed into the cafe for tea and cake (any excuse!) and this I can thoroughly recommend. I had a truly delicious slice of gluten free almond cake.

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