hilkat

I’ve always got a lot of different projects on the go at once, sewing, crocheting, painting, furniture renovation…. but I’ve finally got round to actually finishing two, which means this post is solely dedicated to the showing off my wares.

I proudly present, my first two finished crochet projects…..

The hat was a massive case of trial and error, and actually involved a lot of pattern adjustment - the instructions meant the hat turned out more like a beret than a beanie, and although that would be fine, I actually wanted a much smaller style hat.
The bird cushion started life as a table mat, but for some reason I ended up with far too many stitches, which meant that the edges curled - rather than unpick it, I folded it in half and was inspired by the shape to create a bird shaped cushion. The beak is just two triangles sewn on either side of the crochet piece that makes up the body, and the wing is a circle with increases at one end to create the pointed shape - the wing was the most difficult part to work out, as so far all I’ve ever done is follow patterns! I got there in the end though, and have to say I’m pretty pleased with both of them.

I now have visions of combining my love of fashion and crochet to make beaded, crocheted, woven jewellery and waistcoats. Now I just need to find a pattern….!

I’m terrible with projects, really I am. I’ve got about ten half-finished things on the go at the moment, from clay bead making to knitting, several crochet ventures and a little dressmaking (note: I’ve never made anything clothes-wise before in my life…) thrown in for good measure. The two most predominant are my crochet blanket, which is technically a gigantic granny square, and my knitted scarf, which is turning into a multi-coloured wonder. Neither are anywhere near finished, but here are some more current pictures anyway…

I’ve also added to my button collection with these gorgeous little beauties - the reason behind my rapidly expanding collection is that I was going to add buttons onto the purl sections of one end of the scarf. The majority is knitted in garter stitch, so the two purl stripes create two indentations, perfect for sewing buttons into. Surprise surprise, I haven’t actually managed to sew anything on yet, but am justifying this by deciding that it should be done last, after the knitting is complete. Ahem.

I’m like a magpie when it comes to shopping - anything coloured, patterned or slightly eclectic draws me in and usually ends up coming home with me. My latest purchases are no different - and I love that since I’ve expanded the content rules for the blog, I can now post wonderful pictures of them as well, hurrah! - and have absolutely nothing to link them all together, apart from the fact that I just had to have them…

I was browsing through Whittard during my lunch break last week, searching through for any mugs or plates that caught my eye for our new flat, when I stumbled across this tea towel. The teapots featured in the design are the exact style of china I love, and am aiming to start collecting, so of course it ended up in the basket (along with some tea bags and two bags of chocolate coins!).

Another lunch break (maybe I should just stay in the staffroom and read?!) led to the finding of (and this was actually written on the label, it’s not one of my awful jokes…) Lorraine Deer in Paperchase. She’s made up of such a lovely fabric, that I thought it would be something nice to keep with the Christmas decorations. The owl tissue paper was collected on the same shopping trip, and the intention is to wrap my Mums birthday presents in it in January, as she loves owls and I thought it would make a nice change from the usual ‘Happy Birthday’ rolls from Asda.

Lastly, and by no means least, a trip to Hobbycraft resulted in the gorgeous wool pictured below (on the ironing board - what a great cover!) and a French knitting dolly. The fingerless mittens are from Asda, and are to keep my hands warm while I labour over my own pair - although keen, I’m pretty new to crocheting and knitting, and projects tend to be slow and rather laborious.

I haven’t done French knitting for a while, and had to do a search on Google Images to see what could actually come out of it, and I was quite pleasantly surprised. Although the only thing you end up with is a long piece of knitted cord (which could obviously be used as a…cord…), there are plenty of things it can be transformed into, and I have an overload of ideas of using it for words and phrases, as well as weaving several together into a scarf. And not forgetting the rather obvious rug option, of course.

What further evidence could you possibly need that knitting is officially cool? If it’s an acceptable hobby for two of the most iconic women in the entertainment business, it’s certainly good enough for me….

Since getting the new camera, I’ve been rather more taken with photographing the landscapes than my outfits (that and the fact that I haven’t bought anything new in absolutely aaaaages - if that’s not an excuse to go shopping, I don’t know what is….), particularly since Autumn is now well underway, and has covered the outdoors in a multitude of colours and hues. I enjoyed making the Autumn mosaics so much last time that I’ve decided this is a rather effective way to show all of my own images, and so I give you my latest attempts…

As well as photography, I’ve been pondering on the true reason for the existence of this blog. While I love, adore and will always be preoccupied with clothes and fashion, my tastes have changed somewhat over the last few months, and I find as I grow older I’m drawn more to well cut, made-to-last, quality garments, rather than the disposable fashion of Primark and suchlike (I suppose this could have something to do with working for Paul Smith…). I’ve also been spending rather a lot of time on Etsy and Folksy, and have been really inspired to get out the paints and canvas, fabric and sewing machine, and attempt to bring to life the designs that I had intended would make up the Hilkat label. I’ve even learned to crochet over the last few days….

This blog was intended to be a platform to sell well-made, home-crafted and designed products such as paintings, knick-knacks and homewares, and somehow they’ve never appeared…. until now. Rather than spending all my blogging time posting the latest offerings from Topshop (although I am still looking, let it be known), I’ll be showing photographs and my latest crafty achievements, and general tit-bits from everyday life. (We’re moving house in January, so expect lots of interiors and homewares posts!) And I’m sure the odd dress will pop up here and there as well…

When the colder weather begins to appear, my thoughts automatically turn to knitwear. I can’t help it. As soon as I can see my breath in the mornings, I’m scouring the shops for the most deliciously snuggly woolens I can find. Scarves, jumpers, gloves (or my latest obsession - fingerless mittens), homewares…. a bit like this little lot really:

I’m also a sucker for a good crafty project, and despite being one of those people with half-finished garments all over the house, I’m knitting myself a chunky scarf for this winter.

The wool is a gorgeous fair-isle effect, and leaves a wonderful stripey pattern running through it. I’m particularly pleased with this as it makes me look like I’m a far more proficient knitter than I actually am. Although to be fair, I have done two purl panels at the end, and I’m planning on adding some tassel-y bits once it’s finished. I also want to learn to crochet after discovering the amazing creations by Lucy over at Attic 24, and am looking into getting an allotment since it looks very much like we’ll be in a flat for the foreseeable future. Ooohh, projects!

Hello, my name’s Vicky and I’m a stud-aholic. By now you’ll know that I’m pretty much addicted to adding studs to things (so far a denim vest, bag, boots and tie-dye vest), and so far I’ve only worked with usual cone studs bought from a marvelous little shop on eBay. But the other day, while wandering around the temporary market where I work, I came across something a little bit different. All I need now is to find something to attach them to…

Ever since I saw the studded boots on the Topshop website (not to mention the numerous designers that used them in their AW09 collections), I have been coveting a pair like mad. Sadly I am a) broke as a broke thing and b) a tightwad that refuses to pay £80 for a pair of boots. I just physically can’t hand over that much cash for one item (even though technically boots count as two, I suppose) and I don’t believe in credit cards since I had a little bit of trouble back in my teenage years, that involved a long period of grovelling to the parents.

So once again, I am left to the power of the DIY. After the success of the home-studded bag, I decided to recycle a pair of battered old brown boots that frankly, have been looking a little less than on-trend lately. I’m pretty pleased with the outcome, and even more pleased that I’ve now got yet another pair of ‘new’ shoes.

As you’ll know from previous posts, I’ve been experimenting with different ways of making jewellery - well, I say ‘jewellery’, at the moment it’s just necklaces and pendants really - and I’ve been trying to think of a way to make my own larger pendants from scratch. I wanted to try metalwork, but since I’m lacking both the skill, the tools and the time, it was a bit of a non-starter, so instead I plumped for clay. I started out with plain off-white, intending to paint it, but instead hit on the idea of using pre-coloured clay in different hues moulded together, and then shaped accordingly.

I haven’t actually got round to making any of them into jewellery yet, but you’ll get the gist from the photograph below. I was really pleased with the way they turned out, and am now having fantastical visions of bead and clay neckwear extravaganzas….

I’m rather excited about this post, and have been waiting in anticipation of seeing the pictures after spending a ridiculous amount of time pinning and re-pinning fabric to make the join in my DIY dress sit properly. At last, I achieved it, stitched it, posted a picture of it on a hanger…. and now here it is in real life.

It performed excellently, was everything a tunic dress should be - colourful, floaty, billow-y and light - and would have looked even better with my cherry red Docs. Had I broken them in yet. Darn. Never-the-less, here it is - I got rather over-excited and took quite a few pictures of it on it’s first outing just in case it fell apart halfway down the road or something. (It didn’t, by the way).