Addison Embroidery
at the
Vicarage

Fair Isle band on jumper for 6-9 month little girl

Sometimes I am very fickle, even though I try hard not to be and usually it’s the colour of something that elicits a visceral reaction which can change from love to not-quite-sure -I-even-like-it in an embarrassingly short period of time, The main body of this jumper is ‘mink’ (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino) which I bought for that very bad reason that I thought it wold be ‘useful’. I then took an intense dislike to the colour and, having 3 balls, rushed to get something knitted up and out of my sight.

Jumper for 6-9 month baby

Curiously, somewhere half way through the knitting I became more mellow, warmed to its gentle fur like quality and by the end of the garment, quite overcome I positively felt the need to stroke it. Relief washed over me – I love it once more.

Jumper for 6-9 month baby: collar up

A simple band of Fair Isle  in a couple of my favourite colours, coral and baby blue, (the design found in Mary Jane Mucklestone’s directory of 200 Fair Isle designs) made knitting more interesting. Bands of both colours were necessary for the collar as by this time mink was vanishing fast. Ah, now the collar… Daughter No 1 has put in an order for more polo shirts (the knitted versions seen here) which she finds useful as the collar can be turned up around the baby’s face when she has her in the baby carrier and it gets a bit breezy. So, in experimental mood I attempted to marry the polo neck collar from one Debbie Bliss pattern to the neck of her simple raglan sleeve jumper, short rows and all. I could perhaps have added another couple of short rows,  but to be fair, the collar does fold down, even if it does need a bit of help.  The real proof of the pudding will be in the eating. We shall see. When all was finished I added a yellow centre to the Fair Isle to give the whole thing a bit of a lift. Now I wouldn’t even be surprised if the jumper becomes a bit of a favourite!

Jumper for baby 6-9 moths: detail of collar

Embroidered tiger lily and sunflower (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Rejection should never be a dead end and this applies as much to patchwork pieces as to people. I began the Ipsden altar frontal thinking to embroider intermittent flowers on backgrounds of varied colour. It gradually became clear that pale backgrounds didn’t work but that those done on black had a real impact. Those on cream were put to one side.

Embroidered tiger lily (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Tucked away at the bottom of a tin the rejects embroidered on cream eventually wormed their way to the surface and into my head. I could think of nothing to do with them as a group but, in want of a birthday present for daughter No 1, thought a few would look nice framed in black and hanging on the bright pink walls of her newly created loo.

As luck would have it I had only one frame that, like baby bear’s porridge, was just right. So I framed a honeysuckle and gave that as the birthday present, with a promise a couple more would follow. Happily daughter No 1 liked it a lot, said it was far too nice for a loo and stood it on the shelves in her bedroom. (I’m not sure anything can be too nice for a loo which tiny room usually finds you more alone with your thoughts than anywhere else in the house, but there you go!)

Embroidered sunflower (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

My favourite box frames had come from Debenhams. These were solid oak (or painted MDF for black and white ones), they came in various sizes and were incredibly cheap. Well of course, this perfect product was reviewed. First the solid oak was replaced by MDF covered in oak printed paper  and then, just when I needed more square frames, the square was discontinued. Months passed as nothing I saw seemed right. Eventually I compromised, settling for a smaller frame in solid wood which I attacked with the spray can (first a coat of gold and then matt black, but  it could just have been matt black). I am quite pleased with the result though I would have preferred more of the ones I originally had.

When next I go to London I shall reframe the honeysuckle I so they can be hung as a group. Meanwhile more knitting and monogram planning.

For previous posts:

on the sunflower (cream ground) see here and (black ground) see here

on the tiger lily  (cream ground) see here  and (black ground) see here

on honeysuckle (black background) here