Another vintage-inspired garment, albeit much larger than the originals at the time!  I have just completed a short-sleeved square-necked jumperderived from various 1940s patterns in a very fine 2-3 ply yarn.  This yarn was found in someone's loft and given to me.  The original colour was a very bland greige, but was hand painted for me by Juliet at Artists Palette Yarns in shades of rich browns.  I hope to adapt my pattern for a range of sizes and issue it later this year.



Thanks to my trip to the Festival of Vintage at York Racecourse I have a new talk

WARTIME WOOLIES

It incorporates a collection of memories from my family of growing up and working in WW2, skills of Make do and Mend which have been passed down our family and some modern interpretations of vintage knitting patterns.  As you would expect, it includes handbags and accessories as well as some stylish knits which can be used for outifts for vintage-inspired occasions. 

I've finished a garment for myself!  A lovely 1936 pattern adapted in 1982 and knitted in 2012. 
I'm hoping to wear it next weekend at the Festival of Vintage at York Racecourse  http://www.facebook.com/festivalofvintage.
I am going to be there knitting and crocheting with my daughter Lesley Holmes.  Hope to see you there.

Here I start again, I may not like it alone, but I shall get used to it.  I've decorated the store room where we put all our craft materials and weeded it drastically.  What I have left is a workroom, with lots of lovely stuff to play with!  Now all I have to do is find the time to do it. 

Hi Guys

My good intentions to get back to normal were foiled by a nasty cold/cough picked up at Christmas.  Here I am at the start of 2012, and my priorities are to decorate my 'workroom' and knit something for myself (as in Selfish Knitting month, see Cast-on with Brenda Dayne).

Progress is slow in the workroom although ebay is working to sell some of the surplus materials and kit, and the neighbours are lined up to help move furniture.  It's amazing what I've found underneath...maybe I'll find my sewing machine soon!

The knitting for me is therapy, as always, but also testing some ideas for a vintage style collection of patterns, including bags.  My first effort is a neat short-sleeved jumper from some 2ply yarn found in someone's loft.  It is very fine but is knitting up quite quickly in a lace stitch pattern I found on a bolster design.  The yarn was originally 'greige' but was hand painted in shades of brown by Juliet from Artists Palette Yarns - very subtle.  More photos on Ravelry/ledburylady. I hope to have enough yarn for a short puffy sleeve and a square neck with vintage corner clips.  I'll keep you posted.

Hi Everyone

Just to wish you all a peaceful holiday season, and lots of nice presents!

Looking forward to next year, with ideas about using vintage patterns to make up to date accessories.  Watch this space

Just a quick update to say that Mike Holmes died on 20th September after illness.  Margaret Holmes promises to be back with the handicrafts in 2012, hopefully with some new ideas and some vintage crafts.

After a long time in hospital Mike is coming home!  It will take us a while to get the house organised, but watch out for new ideas for next year.  Thanks to those who commiserated, and look forward to seeing you when we finally get back on the road.

So sorry that I have not been able to keep in touch.  Mike Holmes has had a major health problem and will be the focus of my attention for a few more months.  If you spot anything you would like to buy, then I can send it with no trouble, just not much time for knitting for a while. 


When I can get him home from hospital I will be posting again, I hope.  Love from us both for now

Margaret

Nearly ready for the first event of the year.  Forest of Dean Craft Guild event at the Parish Rooms, Tewkesbury Abbey on Easter Monday.  Hope to see you there.  Lots of new bags, and, with luck, some new patterns. 

We have a new look for our Homepage, kindly composed and applied by Mark Lenthall.  Please bear with us while we edit and match the other pages to our slick new persona, but you can still contact us on mail@ledburysbaglady.com to tell us what you think of it.

There will now be a short break....


I love the bit about Christmas when all the shops are shut and we can just sit down with a hot drink, something NICE on the tv and a little bit of knitting.   The last thing I do when preparing for the Christmas  is to find some delicious yarn and knit or crochet a little something just for me.  This year it may be the Sweet Treat fingerless gloves of which I have made lots of pairs for sale, but haven't had a pair for me.  I made them in 100% alpaca yarn, and everyone loved the warm and soft feel of them.  Must order some yarn ....


There will also be a bit of a break on the website, as I plan to work on some alterations to make it look a little smarter.  I will be ably assisted by Mark Lenthall, who did the original design.  So watch this space and see if we can make it look whizzy for 2011. 


A Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year to you all.

Many thanks to all of you who have come to see us at the events this last few months.  We have 2 more to do, the Memorial Hall at Newent on Saturday 27th November as part of the Lights switch on, and the same occasion next weekend, Saturday 4th December, at Malvern. 

Good sales have meant that the website has thin pickings at the moment, for which I apologise, but soon I will have a little time to get down to some new bag designs, some new patterns, a review of the website with a possible rebranding (woo-hoo!) and a trip into my workroom to see if my sewing machine is still there, under all the bags of yarn.....

Check out the Mike Holmes Goods page for new stock.

The Working Canal Boat rug kit is now launched, as from last weekend at the Inland Waterways Association National Festival at Beale Park near Reading.  Available in two versions, the wool yarn at £100.00 each or the acrylic yarn at £80.00, it represents a colourful image of a working canal boat. 

The design by Mike Holmes was inspired by two canal boats currently being restored by the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust (www. h-g-canal.org), the "Alder" and the "Renton", and for each kit sold we will donate to the boat restoration fund. 

About to gather up my stuff for the Castle Green Midsummer Fayre and Festival 2010.  This takes place on Saturday 3rd July, on the Castle Green from 10am until late....Hope to see you all there.

Be sure to check out the new pages with online shops, Patterns for sale and Mike Holmes goods.  We now have Paypal available for you to use with security. 

The Acacia shoulder purse is a nice little project pattern for which I used some hand dyed Artist's Palette Yarn, available from Juliet's website www.artistspaletteyarns.co.uk 

The Manos silk blend scarf has a gorgeous sheen on the kettle dyed yarn, each skein is signed by the artisan who made it. 

Seeing as how we are being exhorted to spend our money! to save the world, perhaps it is a good time to be connecting to Paypal to make your purchasing easier.  I hope I can get all the tech stuff done well enough for you to shop online.  Fingers crossed and watch this space.