Tag: Paul

Paul Smith – Kraken Hunter

Paul Smith - Kraken Hunter

This is Paul at Chepstow Castle, part of Waltz on the Wye 2012. Despite being May, the weather was absolutely freezing, so he hijacked my new Clapotis for most of the weekend.

Paul Smith - Kraken Hunter

But what was he hunting with his camera, high up in the remains of the castle?

Kraken at the Castle

Why, the Kraken, of course!

Paul Smith - Kraken Hunter

When he wasn’t off adventuring, he dressed smartly for an evening’s entertainment at the Drill Hall.

Paul Smith - Kraken Hunter

Both waistcoats are from the Harlots and Angels Sweeney Todd pattern. The brown one is moleskin, the grey is pinstriped denim. They’re a little bit big, but they pull in nicely with a little corset-style lace-up belt at the back.

I had a bit of trouble with the pattern (the amount of interfacing needed wasn’t clear, and the construction method seemed unnecessarily complicated), but once I’d decided to ignore the instructions and just sew, they were easy enough to put together. Because my sewing machine refuses to make buttonholes and I didn’t have time to do them by hand, each waistcoat is fastened with poppers and the buttons are sewn on top.

Thankfully I took a sewing kit with me, because I made the grey waistcoat in such a hurry that I’d sewn half the poppers in the wrong place! That was easily fixed, and the sewing kit came in handy a few times over the course of the weekend.

Paul’s usually extremely averse to dressing up, but he was so comfortable in these waistcoats that he’s thinking of wearing the grey one to business meetings instead of a suit jacket. I call that a sewing success!

Milly’s Monkey Hat

Now that we’re into the New Year, I think it’s safe to reveal some of the things I made as Christmas gifts.

I don’t have photos of all the knitting because I wrapped and posted it as soon as it was finished. But I made a pair of socks and a pair of wristbands and a cowl and a pair of fingerless gloves. And a hat and mittens.

I do have a picture of Milly’s Monkey Hat and Matching Mittens:

Milly's Monkey Hat and Mittens

The pattern was one of Ann Budd’s basic hats, and I made up the ears as I was going along. The mittens are from a Ravelry pattern by Anke Klempner, designed for newborns. The pattern calls for 3.5mm needles, so I used 4mm to make the mittens slightly larger. I managed to get the hat and mittens out of one 50g ball of Sirdar Snuggly, and I used the leftovers to make the mitten string. The cream parts on the monkey’s face and ears are made from fleece, blanket stitched into place, and the eyes, nose and mouth are simply embroidered on.

I made the string for the mittens on my knitting nancy, and I think it’s probably long enough to last Milly until she’s at least eight. I was a bit worried that the hat would be too small, but it seems to be okay:

Milly's Monkey Hat

The ears do make it ridiculously easy for Milly to grab the hat and chuck it across the room, but apparently that happens to all hats at the moment – and she was far more interested in the crinkly wrapping paper anyway!