Out with the Old.

My real life friends know that we've bought a new house, conveniently just around the corner.  Not only are we moving within the same suburb, but we're not even leaving the neighbourhood!  The kids can walk the same way to and from school, they'll just get there a couple of minutes quicker :-).

More about the new house when we're moved in (it's bigger, on the flat and has lots of storage), but for today a few random things I'll miss about my home of the last ten years.

1. Pink tiled fireplace.  Who else has a pink fireplace?

2. Red in the kitchen.  I guess I can repeat that anywhere, but it goes so well with the white windows and cream tiles.  I'll miss my kitchen full stop - everything is in just the right place, I never really thought about it until I realised in our new kitchen the dishwasher is on the opposite side of the room from the sink, and the stove top at the far end of the room from the oven.  What were they thinking?

3.  Delusions of grandeur.  I love the way these modest little bungalows have quirky touches that really belong in a much bigger and flashier house.

4.  Modest Arts and Crafts detailing.  Just to contrast with the silly domed ceiling.  The builders were a little confused in 1926, throwing in a bit of this and a bit of that...

5. Morning glory vine? 

6.  The square bay windows that make me think of an Elizabethan ship.  I love lying on the sofa and looking out this window at the trees and the sky.

7.  The sunporch that makes me feel I'm at the beach even the midst of a winter storm.  And it's great for watching the waves in a storm!

8.  The view from my bedroom window.

9.  Wood panelling in the hall way.

10.  Original clawfoot bath.  This bath makes me rediculously happy.  It's 5'6" long inside - how convenient that I'm 5'5" long and can lie full length in it :-).  You can bath four kids in one go as well.

as you can see, a great house for someone obsessed with all things old and quirky.  But eventually the need for a bit of space, a built in wardrobe or two, some flat land for the kids to run around, a warm, well insulated home and other such practicalities over took the need for quirky style.  and luckily the place has its own fair share of quirkiness!

oops, I was wrong!

I think I said it never snows where I live.  Oops, I was wrong - seems it does snow once every 50 years or so, turns out I just hadn't lived long enough ;-)

Yesterday we had real, proper snow for over an hour, and then flurries on and off for the rest of the day. More is forecast for tonight! While Wellington does occasionally get a little snow in the higher hill suburbs, down at sea level where I live it's very, very rare.

The children were at school, but it sounds like they didn't spend much time in the classrooms.  Bet they were glad I made them wear their jackets and gloves.

A confession, before yesterday I'd only once in my life been in falling snow (and that was at age 34).  So when the flakes started falling thick and fast I was out there playing too, amazed and delighted.  Just like these people:

Snow on Cuba Mall in central Wellington (HD) from Ro Tierney on Vimeo.

Sweet.

Later in the day the weather deteriorated into a terrible storm with gales and thunder and hail and sleet and even more snow.  I think it might just be the spirit of the Antarctic come for Happy Feet - our very own chilly ET.

I'll leave you with a snowy cabbage tree, Dr Suess craziness as a friend commented:

Busy, distracted, cold!

Don't often get one of these on the weather for Wellington!  No snow at our house sadly, just cold wind and sleety rain.  Luckily it's school holidays so we can stay in and keep warm.  Ryan is having an Angry Birds marathon and Zoe is practising being a teenager by staying in bed as long as possible.

Anyway, I haven't blogged for ages.  I will be back soon with news and knitting :-)

Are you a change-daily girl?

Some mindless fun after my last horribly technical knitting post.  Imagine the risk the personal daintiness! 

Love it.

Dolman

 I've been playing around with the idea of a 1950s dolman sleeved sweater lately, and ta da, here is my version, knit in Misti Alpaca Suri and Silk DK. 

I've made mine pretty much the same shape and size as the genuine 50s versions below (I based my measurements on a pattern for a 32-34" bust, and seeing as I have  33" bust the sizing is pretty spot on).  I added a wider cowl neck to made it a bit more modern, and I think the dolman shape needs something up top to make it look balanced.  I've kept the 3/4 length sleeves, but I think it would also look good if you continued the ribbed cuff down to the wrist.  My cuffs are actually 4" but folded back.

The sleeve seams were a fun challenge.  I didn't want a sewn top seam as I thought it would be too bulky in double knit, and I wanted it as invisible as possible.  Kitchener stitch was the obvious solution, but as the sleeves are a triangular shape the top of them needs to be progressively shaped.  I improvised a method involving putting stitches on spare needles, but it was clumsy, and I have little uneven bits where I turned the rows.  In hindsight I think I could have used short rows to shape the top of the sleeves - next time!  The end result is pretty good all the same, you can just see the seam on my left arm,  It's less visible now after a wash and block.

 This is my inspiration in it's purest form - Stitchcraft 1950.  Do you see what I mean about this shape needing some balance?  I find that really tight neckline unflattering (not to mention uncomfortable).

The obligatory dolman sweater pose!  This one is interesting because they've got around the top of the arm seam problem by adding in a crochet panel.  Needle and Thread magazine, also around 1950.

The pose again - I'm going to have to get another pic of mine in the correct pose!  This one is from a Modella booklet, I'm going to have to guess 1950 because 1950 seems to have been the year of the dolman.  For a brief time the knitting booklets and magazines were full of dolman cardigans and sweaters, several in any given issue.   The shape shows up again around 1960, and in a wider "batwing" form in the 70s and again in the early 80s, but never seems to stay in fashion for long.  So I figured I'd better knit mine quickly before I tired of the style ;-)

Life, being what happens while you're waiting for something interesting to blog about....

Pretty china, irresistable wool, mustering wool sheep, cycling, football, basking seals in the sparkling winter sunshine.

What a fabulous New Idea!

 

A grapevine sweater?  Oh YES please!  Can't you just imagine it knit in a rich burgundy, and worn (with full ironic self-awareness) while sipping a glass or two in a vineyard cafe on a crisp autumn day?

I do like New Idea knitwear books.  I feel another blog post coming on.