january essentials: knitted socks!

'Tis definitely the season for hand knitted woollen socks. Recently I came across one of the socks I had knitted for Easy Kids Knits and found that it just about fit me, despite being designed for a ten year old child...I have small feet and the yarn is very stretchy! This, with the added incentive that my feet haven't thawed since December, spurred me on to knit its twin and now I am glad to report that I'm warm and cosy in my lovely socks. The yarn is the splendid and very reasonable Regia Silk sock yarn, which I purchased from Liberty (any excuse for a visit!)

After finishing the second sock, I realised I had enough left over to make the 'negative' pair, so now I am starting on a fuschia pair with sugar pink contrast. Soon I will have a drawer full because, as any sock knitter worth their salt will know, it is an addiction and once you start, you cannot stop! I have already got some Misti Alpaca sock ready in the wings to begin when I have thought of a suitable pattern.


The socks are so cosy, it has led me to want to throw out all my useless old black cotton socks and begin again. The resulting empty drawer has become quite dangerous, as on entering the divine Brora store, I was drawn to these ultra cosy cashmere ribbed socks. Now, I have been promising for months to make myself a pair exactly the same as these, even down to the colour, so I just gave in and bought them instead. They were in the sale, after all...

birthday celebrations

As you all well know, I have been very busy recently, and after celebrating my book launch and birthday with lots of lovely knitters on Thursday, I then spent my actual birthday weekend doing lots of lovely indulgent things!

On Friday, I had a look at the freaky exhibits in the Wellcome Collection's Exquisite Bodies exhibition, then went shopping in Liberty of London and Carnaby street. It was here that I came across the Sorry you missed the 60's exhibition in the Newburgh Quarter. The show could have been speaking to me specifically, as I am sorry I missed parts of the sixties, especially Mary Quant's first designs, Biba and the music scene. It was a small but perfectly formed exhibition of Phillip Townsend prints and I left a business card for the draw to win one, but no success there I am afraid; I had to make to with a few greetings cards.

While shopping, I managed to buy a fantastically comfy pair of Melissa shoes in the sales and this adorable lucky charm fashioned in the shape of a spinning wheel from an antiques stall....

...I hope I don't prink my finger on its spindle and fall asleep for one hundred years, even though after last week I feel like I could easily do so!

The final treat over my long, lazy birthday weekend was yet another trip to my favourite shop, Liberty, for the private view of their lovely exhibition Prints Charming. Six artists: Grayson Perry, Paul Morrison, Mike McInnerney, Michael Angove, Anj Smith and Simon Hart, have drawn from the Liberty heritage for inspiration and designed their own wonderfully inventive prints for the collection. Original one-off pieces of furniture, interior products and artworks have been produced for the show and there are also some great archive images and information on how Liberty prints have been utilised by past artists and fashion designers. Grayson Perry was there, dressed as his alter-ego, who is, of course, also called Claire! She was a wonderful sight to behold dressed in a custom made Liberty print dress, and I thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely stroll round the fourth floor sipping on a yummy Tom Collins cocktail.

In celebration of the exhibition, the folk at Liberty have covered the Carnaby Street entrance of the shop in their own Betsey print which looks fabulous. I think I shall be purchasing some of the Grayson Perry Cranford Tana Lawn fabric, although I have promised myself that I will finish off some of my planned projects using my last bumper lot of Liberty print first, so perhaps this will be the motivation I need to finally pull out the sewing machine...

pretty pins

After coveting these lovely tights from the wonderful Liberty I finally laid my hands on a pair today and couldn't wait to take them for a test run.

They are screenprinted by hand in Scotland by a lovely company called Bebaroque, who also use embroidery on their hosiery, as well as entire leg patterning. I chose the simple Dorothy pattern as I don't think any gal can wear enough bows, even a quite un-girly one like me! I was torn between the tights and the little pastel socks, but the gold foil on these swung it for me - very glitzy eveningwear without being too 'bling'. I also thought I would get loads of wear from them as they are quite subtle compared to some of Bebaroque's other fabulous designs.

The branding on the packaging is great; lovely illustrations in the style of the swirly Bebaroque prints, and a sweet description of the company's ethos, all laid out simply and beautifully.

I am on a personal quest to buy less fast fashion, but instead invest in fewer pieces of more beautifully crafted, durable garments, preferably where possible buying handmade and/or British, with a view to supporting small businesses and craftspeople like myself at the same time as the dwindling British textiles industry. Bebaroque certainly tick all the boxes, and are even British textiles graduates like myself, so I am already feeling less hypocritcal in my fashion choices. Plus, all of this is a great excuse to spend money on gorgeous things!

I think I shall be looking for more small designer makers to support and showcase here...all purely in the name of research of course, so please let me know of others you think I may like.

Now all I have to do is make sure I don't ladder my Dorothys...