Arts and Crafts

These are miniature scratch mittens which fit the tiny hands of the latest arrival.  The 10p coin is for scale.  The pattern was on a preemie site as I had no concept how small to aim for, although the baby is not unusually small, just new-born.

This is not all the knitting I have done since finishing my shawl, but it feels like it.  I am itching to start a big project, or possibly more than one, so that I have something challenging  and something soothing. 

Here is another Eleanor Cowl pre-blocking.  It certainly became quicker to knit on the second and third times, when the logic of the pattern became more evident.  I cast off before the last half-pattern on this one.

This is my husband's most ambitious project to date.  We use it as a sideboard, hence the drinks.  It was designed to echo the other significant piece of furniture in our dining-room, an Arts and Crafts sideboard.

We bought this some years ago as a dresser - the glazed top acts as a china cabinet in another room.  We understood it to have been in a conventWhich was closing down in a neighbouring village.  the convent building was in the Arts and Crafts style so the dresser may well have been in there since it opened.  It has no maker's mark, but shows the distinctive features one would expect of the period.

Below, the dresser , and above, my husband's work, with that distinctive curve.  The shape of the panels, the profile of the beading and the routing on the edge pieces all echo the original.

Below, the original metalwork handles, and, above, the handles I sourced in Homebase - a remarkable find.

The inside of the cabinet, showing its real purpose.  It is lined with green baize and contains some of my husband's collection of 78rpm records, alongside some more later LPs.