Knitted picnic

The only type of picnic we can have at the moment (rain, rain, go away). All the dolls, teddies and toys come out to eat at "Lily's Cafe".....on the menu are knitted cupcakes, ice-creams, pizza, fish & chips, pie, fried egg, cheese sandwich, donuts, and lots of fruit - all lovingly hand-knitted by Lily's amazing Nanna. From this, this and this book.

Wool and thread

The final designer I'm featuring from the Dulwich Artists' Open House event is Sally Nencini, whose products (and house) I completely fell in love with. Her knitted toys, blankets and cushions in 100% lambswool feature graphical patterns and distinctive London-inspired repeats of buses, taxis and soldiers. Her 'Draw' bags with integrated crayon holders are pure genius!

Besides the knitted collection, Sally also collaborates with her husband Peter to create the most beautiful upholstered furniture in linear embroidered patterns. I love this description from her website: "Each of Sally's bespoke upholstered pieces is a unique response to the vintage chair and its character; the story of its use and its user".

Top image taken from Sally's blog. Other posts on the Artist's Open House here and here.

Nannas knits

Nanna has started knitting adult sized cardigans too...yey!!

Hello baby Jake!

We made the long journey up to north-west London yesterday to meet baby Jake (already nearly 8 months old!). He loved his knitted hand puppet (from Julie's Handmade World) and we loved his little lion socks! We had a nosey around his home and found some very quirky and eclectic things....a brightly coloured crochet blanket, denim toys (his Mum is a very cool denim consultant), a 3-in-1 wooden horse rocker/high chair/table found on eBay, fabric dinosaur bunting from Antwerp, beautifully illustrated books, cute footprint cast and scan pics, and Pinocchio hanging up in the kitchen!

Finger puppets!

Fast becoming one of the favourite toys in our house, finger puppets are brilliant for just stuffing in your bag or pocket when you're going out for the day or have a long train ride - they weigh next to nothing and are much more fun than bulky big plastic toys.....use your imagination, make up stories or sing songs that feature the animal character.

We have quite a collection now, many were given as presents and had been sitting in the bottom of the toy bucket until recently. Some of ours are by Jellycat, some bought at Broadway market and the colourful cockerel came from Julie's Handmade World...just opposite our flat!

Bee buttons

A family hand-me-down knit with three cute bee buttons.

Cute or kitsch?

I bought this Ralph Lauren intarsia knit from the recent Sell It Mama! event for £1.....something drew me to it, I can't work out if it is super cute or just really kitsch. Not sure it works with the polka dot pj's either way!

Kate and Wills gloves

Ha Ha! The first Royal Wedding memorabilia I've seen that has brought a smile to my face. Well done Donna Wilson....love them (image from her website).

AMS Knitwear

Another little plug for a friend - this time its Danny Sangra, who has teamed up with knitwear designer Lynnda Needles to create 'wearable illustrations' under the brand AMS (aminutesilence). He also shot this trailer during the look book photoshoot (is there anything he can't do?!).

Vintage knit patterns

Possibly more retro than vintage (and great for the 80s comeback!), I found a huge bag of knit patterns in my Mums cupboard as we were searching for the instruction book to her old sewing machine (that I'm hoping will become mine). I love the styling, the folds and creases, the yarn shop stamps and the titles, particularly for the baby - 'warm-as-toast baby', 'lovely & lacy baby', 'high-fashion baby'.

I also loved the fact that as we went through the patterns, my Mum commented..."oh yes I remember you in that one, I have that one still in the wardrobe, this one your brother wore after it was passed down from you....." It would be great to get them all out and do a photo shoot alongside the original patterns.