The Colour Purple - Old Age Or Eccentricity?

Be eccentric now.  Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

                                                                                             Regina Brett

Last Thursday I was teaching a class at The City Quilter and one of the students raised the question of why woman over the age of 65 fall in love with the colour purple?  Well I have no answers, and neither did the women in the class, all I know is that my own Mum adores the colour purple, she can't get enough of it so when I saw this cowl on the Black Sheep and Ewe stand at Vogue Knitting Live in Manhattan back in January and spotted that they had it in purple I just knew I had to make it for her.

This 'Flower Cowl' pattern and yarn are available to purchase online at Black Sheep And Ewe.

Today, Sunday, 30 March is Mothering Sunday in England 

- we celebrate our Mother's Day on the 4th Sunday in Lent dating back to the 16th Century.  The rest of the world celebrate Mother's Day on several dates but the majority on the second Sunday in May as introduced by Anna Jarvis of West Virginia, USA in 1908 -

so it was a perfect gift to send off to Mum.  Fortunately Flicky was around last week to model the finished cowl for me.

 

a close up with the 'flowers' included in the yarn.

To be honest I'm disappointed with the finished shawl.  It doesn't look as good on Flicky as it did on the model at Vogue Knitting Live, maybe a different colour or outfit underneath would do it more justice and, now looking at the model I can see we haven't hung it quite the same way, it could look better with the twist off to one side.  Not one of my better projects :(

I guess what matters is whether or not Mum likes it.  I spoke with her tonight and she told me that it's her favourite colour - well who'd have known?!!!  

Something to do with her being over 65 maybe - we still haven't got to the bottom of that one ... thoughts anyone?

Update at 7.11 pm, 31 March 2014

Mum went out in her cowl tonight - she wore it over a three quarter length sleeve round neck purple top and a full length purple skirt.  People stopped her to say how glamourous she looked, friends have tried the cowl on too and now they're keen to get hold of the wool and the pattern now over the pond!  When she got home Mum skyped me so I could see how she looked, she'd read my blog post and knew I was disappointed with the cowl and wanted to tell me how much she loves it.

I asked her if she could take a selfie and send it to me and here it is

She's never taken a selfie before and quickly realised she couldn't stand far enough back from her iPad to get the whole outfit in - she even tried using a spatula to take the pic but to no avail.  After giving us both lots of giggles and scaring me with how much she's looking like my Grandma (her Mum) these days, she's gone to bed now and I've told her to check back here in the morning to see this update.

Enjoy Mum, you look fabulous and I love you so much, Happy Mother's Day xxx

A Knitter's Dream Basket

So in the run up to Christmas my daughter, Flicky totally shocked me by announcing that not only was she knitting a scarf but that she'd joined a knitting group and taught some of the other girls at uni to knit too.  If you read my Lion Brand Yarn Studio post back in August you'll remember that she wasn't interested in knitting!

Well, I'm thrilled; some of my craftiness is finally rubbing off!!!

So for Christmas, I decided to surprise her with all the knitting and crochet goodies she could need to develop and continue her new hobby.   I figured she'd need a basket to keep everything tidy and to match her uni room so I made her her very own Knitter's Dream Basket using the Divided Basket pattern by Noodlehead.

The fabrics are Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie for Moda

The basket was really easy and fast to put together and Anna's (Noodlehead) instructions are excellent and very clear.

I made a matching yarn bag so Flicky can knit on the plane without the ball running away down the aisle - it's just a regular pouch with a grommet on one side to feed the wool through.

 

Then I made her a matching tea cosy - can't think of anything better than knitting with a cuppa.

Tea Cosy and lots of new wool

So the Christmas pressie was a huge success and we've been back to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio twice since stocking up on extra wool and more needles.  

Current 'Zodiac' Window Display

Flicky's turned her hand to cabling and made a cabled headband and even Tatty's got involved eating her way through two sets of Flicky's bamboo needles (I did warn her that bamboo was a mistake as I'd had a similar Tatty experience with my own bamboo crochet hook which I wrote about here!).  

It's hard to knit with a Tatty dog on your knee!

I've been busy knitting myself - a really simple and quick Spice Berry shawl from Black Sheep & Ewe, had it finished in a day and I've received lots of compliments from CQ staffers and customers alike which is very welcome and makes you feel great.

Heading off to Vogue Knitting Live in Manhattan next weekend and guess who's coming with me???  Yep, Flicky - someone pinch me - maybe one day she'll even make a quilt!!!


Click the images below to read more about other Divided Baskets I've made.




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