Pully Woolly

One thing I am loving about having a little person living under our roof is being able to make him clothes knit, sew, doesn't matter and the best part? He LOVES them!!! I kid you not! He gets super excited when I make him something - shorts, t-shirts, anything. Every time I knit something he asks if it is for him (even if it is the same pair of socks I was knitting yesterday for my lovely lady lol). So you can imagine his joy when I cast off this awesome top, named pully woolly by my partner, which is more a test knit for a future project but turned out pretty spunky anyway!

This kid has spunk that's for sure! I dream of the day I can show you the awesome facial expressions that go with these pics. He smiled away and thought he was the bees knees, in what was the 2nd photoshoot I have done with him!

So the knitting details!

Pattern: ♥ zagal by Rosa Pomar

Yarn: 1 ball of Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4 ply and 1 ball of Moda Vera Noir  (sock wool)

Needles: 6mm and 7mm circular 

Variations: Using the yarn held double I reduced the number of cast on stitches to 84 but kept the neck opening the same leaving 10 stitches for each shoulder. I picked up 36 stitches for each arm hole (including the 1 stitch held).

This was a very quick knit and fits fantastic. The only variation I will make next time is adding 10 stitches to the body purely because I want it to fit longer and hang a bit more.With the variations as is I would say the fit would suit anywhere from 18months to 4 years. The little dude is 3 but on the small size but the top has plenty of stretch.

For a wee one

Nothing brings a smile to someones face more than the arrival of a wee little one. We have definitely reached that time in life where the weddings are slowing down and parenthood is taking off. Four weeks ago close friends welcomed their first little one into the world and though I know they have a cupboard exploding with everything baby and beyond, I couldn't help clicking away to make just one more thing for the gorgeous little girl.

It is the peak of summer here so a wintery knit was never going to suffice. I wanted to go with something cool, soft and snuggly that will certainly be able to have an extended autumn life too with a long sleeved top underneath once the weather cooled down. Using the awesome plain vest pattern from Pickles as a base I made this gorgeous (if I do say so myself) round neck vest/singlet, which turned out even better than I envisaged.

So how did I do it?
Using 8ply cotton yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills and 4mm circular needle I cast on 80 stitches (as per pattern) and knitted in the round (see note) till it was the guesstimated right length (yep I just guess these things).

Note: after the garter ridges I TURNED my work as I prefer the cast on edge to roll under and be at the back on the work. This leaves a small hole where I added the side tag.

Ok here is where things changed.
On the next round bind off 3 stitches, knit 34,  bind off 6 stitches, knit 34, bind off 3 stitches.
Turn. Cast on 16 stitches on right needle, knit 34, cast on 16 stitches, knit 34, cast on 4 stitches. Turn.

Now I just knitted back and forth as follows (from memory my maths was slightly out but I will share with you what I wrote down at the time and used as a guide which should get you well on the way to making an awesome top too!)
Row 1 - K2 YO K2tog K to end of row
Row 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 - knit all stitches
Row 3 - K5 K2tog *K4 K2tog* repeat between * 17 times K5
Row 7 - K8 K2tog *K4 K2tog* repeat between * 13 times K8
Row 8 - Knit till last 4 stitches K2tog YO K2
Row 11 - K7 K2tog *K4 K2tog* repeat between * 11 times K7
Row 15 - K2 YO K2tog K2 K2tog *K6 K2tog* repeat between * ending with K6
Row 18 - Bind off very loosely. Sew in ends. Sew on buttons!

This was a really quick knit and definitely one I would knit again (when I do I will fix the maths lol)!

Leggings aren’t just for girls

These days this title definitely rings true, especially for toddlers. Little boys everywhere are running around in leggings and why not I say, they are comfy, cosy and warm all at once and fabric choices are only limited by your imagination if you feel the urge to whip a few pairs up – which I think you should! They are dead easy and super quick and really only require basic sewing skills. Like seriously how cute are they?

 

 

This isn’t a tutorial because why invent the wheel just google “toddler leggings tutorial” and there is an abundance of options for you to choose from. That been said I will give you are couple of pointers about what I did.

• First up I made my pattern by tracing a pair of leggings I borrowed from Master B’s closet (which most tutorials will show you). I made the front crotch shorter and lower (just like most pants patterns) giving them a distinctive front and back as opposed to making the front and back the same. I tend to find this leads to a better overall fit.
• I had just one pattern piece eliminating the side seams.
• I detest hemming knits. I can do it and usually with pretty good results but if I can avoid it I will and so for both pairs I used t-shirts I scored on clearance for like $1 each. By using the existing hem there was only 2 seams to sew and the casing! Wohoooooo!
• I used 1/2” elastic for the waistband if people were curious.
• I used a double needle to sew the casing down so it has a bit of give though a small zig zag works just as well (In fact you can’t see it in these pics but the back of the orange pair are sewn exactly like that after I cracked it with the double needle lol shhhhhh no one will notice)

So why make your own when they are pretty darn cheap? For me the reason is 3 fold – 1) I love making stuff, 2) Store bought are so same same, time to live out the individuality dream (or something crazy like that lol) and 3) Custom fit. This last one is the big one for Master B with his teeny 000 waist! By sewing him some up they fit both in the leg and the waist!

I think he looks pretty spunky and definitely cozy though next time I think Aunty Nomi will change his socks and make more of an effort to tuck in his singlet bahahaha!

 

Low Calorie Lasagne

After my last rather depressing post I wanted to do a post that would bring a smile to your face and what better than an awesome spin on the Italian classic – Lasagne! Now I promise it really does taste pretty much as good as a full fat, calorie overload version. I say pretty much because lets face it, nothing really beats full fat mozzarella with its stringyness and a heavy flavoursome béchamel, but this is a definite close second and from my waistline’s perspective a clear winner! I am not kidding we are talking about 300 calories per serve and it tastes so good you won’t even be thinking of the absent mozzarella and béchamel!

There is a couple of secrets to this being so low in calories, besides the obvious low fat cheese, there is the “pasta” – wonton wrappers! Who knew they were so low in calories? They work perfectly for this as they are after all a kinda pasta! The next secret is the ‘béchamel’ – a slight spin on Pinch of Yum’s Creamy Cauliflower Sauce! This stuff is amazing and will change your life, no seriously Lindsay (from Pinch of Yum) is right “it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!” There is also a few added veggies but that is pretty much the secret to keeping the calories down! Nothing complicated I promise – trust me this is easier than making that béchamel anyway! Lets get to it!

 

First up the ingredients. I have broken this down into the bolognese, the “béchamel” and then the lasagne. There is no reason why you can’t make a double batch of the bolognese and have a delicious spaghetti the night before now is there?

 

1st up get the bolognese started. Heat up 1tbs of olive oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat and add the carrots, onion and garlic. Sauté till the carrot has softened and the onion is transparent then throw in the mince. Stir till the mince is browned. Add the mushrooms and zucchini and give it a good stir. Next add the beef stock powder and tomato puree and about 1/3 of the empty tomato puree tin of water. Stir. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 30mins (shorter or longer won’t hurt it either. 30mins always feels like the right time to me). Stir through parsley.

While the bolognese is simmering away make the “béchamel'” sauce. Combine the vegetable stock powder with 3 cups of water and bring to the boil in a medium sized saucepan. Add the cauliflower and simmer for about 8mins or so, till tender. Melt the butter in a small fry pan over low heat and then sauté the garlic till soft and smelling awesome (don’t let it brown as it will make it bitter. Lindsay offer’s this warning and I second it. Who wants a bitter sauce?) Drain the cauliflower reserving 1/2 a cup of the cooking liquid. In a blender add the cooked cauliflower, reserved liquid, sautéed garlic, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, milk and a good grating a nutmeg (I use fresh nutmeg but if using ground a scant 1/4tsp should suffice) and blitz away till silky smooth. It looks like cheese sauce right?*

Ok, lets assemble this lasagne. First preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F) then in a 20cm square oven proof dish evenly spread 1/4 cup of the “béchamel” on the bottom. Add 4 wonton wrappers in a single layer on top of the “béchamel”. Next evenly spread 1/3 of the bolognese on top of the wonton wrappers. Add another 4 wonton wrappers, then a 1/4 cup of “béchamel” and another 1/3 of the bolongnese on top. Repeat once more. Finally add the final 4 wonton wrappers, 1/4 cup of “béchamel” and sprinkle over the grated cheese. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for 15mins. Remove foil and bake for another 15-20mins or until the cheese is nice and bubbly and golden. (I bet the house smells awesome!) Serve with a side salad of mixed leaves. (4 serves).

 

 

It’s pretty simple huh? And tastes oh so yummy, with 4 perfectly measured out serves for you. No guessing serving sizes the wonton wrappers make that a piece of cake……hmmmm cake……

 

Low Calorie Lasagne (Serves 4)

BOLOGNESE 300g lean beef mince 1 clove of garlic minced 1 brown onion finely diced 1 medium carrot finely diced 200g mushrooms finely sliced 1 medium zucchini grated 1 400g tin tomato puree 1/2 tsp beef stock powder 1 tbs parsley finely chopped

“BECHAMEL”* 300g cauliflower roughly chopped 4 cloves garlic minced 1 tbs butter 1/4 cup milk 1 heaped tsp vegetable stock powder 2 tbs parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper Nutmeg

LASAGNE 16 Wonton wrappers 1/2 cup 50% reduced fat cheddar cheese

 

Heat up 1tbs of olive oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat and add the carrots, onion and garlic. Sauté till the carrot has softened and the onion is transparent. Add mince and brown. Add mushrooms and zucchini. Stir. Add beef stock powder, tomato puree and about 1/3 of the empty tomato puree tin of water. Stir. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 30mins. Stir through parsley.

 

Combine vegetable stock powder with 3 cups of water and bring to the boil in a medium sized saucepan. Add the cauliflower and simmer for about 8mins or so, till tender. Melt the butter in a small fry pan over low heat and sauté the garlic till soft and fragrent (don’t let it brown as it will make it bitter) Drain the cauliflower reserving 1/2 of the cooking liquid. In a blender add the cooked cauliflower, reserved liquid, sautéed garlic, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, milk and a good grating a nutmeg (I use fresh nutmeg but if using ground a scant 1/4tsp should suffice) and blitz till silky smooth.

 

Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F).

 

To assemble lasagne in a 20cm square oven proof dish evenly spread 1/4 cup of the “béchamel” on the bottom. Add 4 wonton wrappers in a single layer. Evenly spread 1/3 of the bolognese on top of the wonton wrappers. Add another 4 wonton wrappers, a 1/4 cup of “béchamel” and another 1/3 of the bolongnese on top. Repeat once more. Finally, add the last 4 wonton wrappers, 1/4 cup of “béchamel” and sprinkle over the grated cheese. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 15mins. Remove foil and bake for another 15-20mins or until the cheese is bubbly and golden. Serve with a side salad of mixed leaves.

 

Oh I almost forgot, you will have left over “béchamel”, it freezes really, really well to save for next time or head over to Pinch of Yum and test out one of Lindsay’s dishes that use the sauce! (I promise she is not affiliated with this post – the sauce is just that good).

The lasagne reheats really well – in fact I think it tastes even better the next day! It also freezes really well which is always a bonus!

 

 

* The “béchamel” is not my recipe nor do I claim it to be so. All I have done is halve it and added a few things, but the recipe is entirely Lindsay’s at Pinch of Yum – it is just toooooooo good not to use and share!!!!

Finally!

Oui, oui oui  il est enfin là!

Yes, yes, yes it’s finally here – how to make your very own Paris skirt in any size! I know it has taken awhile but here it is. Now before I get started I want to apologise for the lack-lustre photos, you see it is winter here and I have a finite time period with good light to get pretty good photos and to be honest it is about an hour not really enough time to write a tutorial, sew the skirt and take photos so I decided the photos would just have to suffer a bit. Also the weather wasn’t particular kind on the day I dedicated to this project, one minute the sun was out the next minute it was pitch black, but I figure you will all forgive me because the tutorial is finally here! (Oh no comment on our lovely ironing board cover lol)

 

Ok, lets get started! First up some maths (it’s easy I promise).

 

Grab a tape measure and take the waist measurement of the person the skirt is for. Record it as A = ?. [For example I’m making a size 3 so A = 54cm]

Divide the waist measurement by 2. [eg 54cm / 2 = 27cm]. Record is at B = ? and D = ? [eg B = 27cm and D = 27cm]

Add 2cm to your A & B measurements for your seam allowance. These are now your A & B measurements [eg. A = 56cm, B = 29cm]

You still with me? Ok.

Measure the from the waist to where you want the skirt to sit when finished and add 15cm to allow for the pleats and hem (only add 7cm if you don’t want the pleats). [eg. My skirt is going to sit on the knee with pleats so 28cm + 15cm = 43cm]  Record it as C = ? [eg. C = 43cm]

 

That is pretty much the maths all sorted. Time to work out how much fabric you need and get cutting.

You are going to have 4 pieces of fabric in total and 1 piece of iron on lightweight interfacing so here is what to cut:

WAISTBAND – Back – 1 piece of fabric 10cm x A [eg. 10cm x 56cm]

WAISTBAND – Front – 1 piece of fabric 10cm x B [eg. 10cm x 29cm]

SKIRT – 2 pieces of fabric A x C [eg. 56cm x 43cm]

INTERFACING – 1 piece measuring 8cm x D [eg. 8cm x 27cm]

 

So what fabric should you use? Anything really. For this tutorial I am using oxford and for the previous one blogged about HERE I used a lightweight cotton. I’m a cotton fabric fan but I am sure rayon’s and blends will work a treat.

 

You are also going to need matching thread and 25mm wide elastic approximately D – 2cm long (DON’T cut it yet but if this is all you have then you will get away with it!)

This is what you should have ready to go.

Ready? Let’s get sewing!

 

STEP 1 – Heat up your iron and iron everything. Iron the interfacing to the WRONG SIDE of the front waistband fabric piece making sure you centre it (and the shiny glue side is touchy the fabric). Fold front and back waistband pieces in half wrong sides together and give them a really good press. Unfold.

 

STEP 2 – Pin, right sides together, the back waistband piece with the top of one of the skirt panels. Stitch across. (I am using an overlocker but sewing on a normal machine will work no problems at all, just sew the seam 1cm from the edge). Put aside.

 

STEP 3 – We are now going to gather the top of the other skirt panel. To do this sew 3 (yes 3, trust me) rows of stitching evenly apart (I use the edge of the presser foot as a guide) on the longest stitch possible your machine does, leaving long tails of thread at each end. Don’t do any reversing or locking off stitches because we remove these rows of stitching later. By slowly pulling on the tails, at one end only, gather the fabric so it is as wide as the front waistband and pin. Sew together.

   

STEP 4 – Remove the gather stitching. Iron the seams of both the front and back waistbands up. (When you fold the waistbands back down you shouldn’t be able to see the seams)

 

STEP 5 – Pin the front and back pieces right sides together and sew all the way to the top of the waistband (make sure it isn’t folded over). Overlock the waistband and hem edges (or zigzag if just using a sewing machine). Look it is resembling a skirt!

STEP 6 – Iron down the waistband hem edge the width of the overlocking (or about 1cm if zigzagged) and iron up the bottom hem the same distance.

STEP 7 – For the hem with the wrong side of the skirt facing out fold up the skirt bottom 4cm from the pressed edge and press. (If you are lucky like me to have something that is 4cm wide keep it handy we are about to do a fair bit of 4cm pressing.) Sew hem about 3mm from top of the hem or 3.75cm from skirt bottom.

   

STEP 8 – Time for the pleats. Now don’t get scared they are actually quite easy and here’s hoping I do a pretty good job of explaining them (not sewing the pleats skip to STEP 10). With the wrong side of the skirt facing out fold the bottom of the skirt up 4 cm from hem stitching and press. Put a mark 2cm from the pressed edge. (This is your stitch mark. Also I really should have used contrasting thread!)

 

Line your needle up with the mark and find something on your sewing machine to follow. It should be close to the 3/4” mark on the machine. Stitch all the way around. Turn right side out and press down. 1st pleat down.

 

STEP 9 – For the 2nd pleat you do exactly the same as STEP 8 except you want to fold the skirt up 4cm from the stitch line of the 1st pleat. Press and stitch. Press 2nd pleat down.

Pleats are done. See they weren’t too hard were they? Nearly finished!

STEP 10 – Since the iron is already out and hot, give the waistband another good press for good measure. Pin the BACK waistband only down, oh make sure the skirt is now wrong side out. Stitch the bottom of the BACK waistband down as close as you can to the bottom of the waistband (promise this is being stitched on the wrong side).

STEP 11 – Turn the skirt right way out and measure the distance from the bottom of the waistband to your stitching line (mine was 3mm). Turn the skirt back to wrong side out and measure the same distance from the top of the waistband (3mm in my case) and make a little mark on the side seam. Stitch ALL THE WAY around the top of the waist band.

STEP 12 – Thread the elastic through the back casing you have just sewn. (Use a safety pin to make it easier.)Pin the elastic at the end where it pops out of the casing about 2cm past the side seam. Turn the skirt right side out and stitch the elastic in place along the side seam. Make sure you go back and forth a few times.

   

STEP 13 – Try the skirt on the recipient and gather skirt along the elastic till the fit is right. If you are just going by measurements, measurement D – 2cm usually works. Pin in place about 2cm past the side seam. Make sure the skirt is right side out and stitch the elastic in place along the side seam. Make sure you go back and forth a few times. Trim the end of the elastic till about 0.5cm from the side seams.

STEP 14 – Pin and sew down the bottom of the front waist band. Remember to line up with the back waistband stitching. And guess what???? YOU”RE FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Throw the skirt on if it’s for you, or put on it’s recipient and admire your handiwork!!! Great job!!!

 

A few notes –

• This tutorial was made for a child’s size skirt. If making an adult skirt you may want to reduce the amount of fabric in the back panel if you find it is bulky. I haven’t made this particular skirt for me (yet) but I have made a number of standard full elastic waisted skirts and tend to use about 1.75 x waist measurement as a guide. Just a thought.
• You can vary the width of the waistband thicker, thinner. Play around find what you like.
• Why 3 gather lines when the standard is 2? Well, 3 simply gives neater gathers. When you use 3 the pleats are tighter and line up better. I promise once you try this you wont go back!

Make sure you share with me your creations I would love to see them!