Mollie Makes issue 32

Ta Dah !  Heres the issue of Mollie Makes that I am in. 
In this months issue you can see why I collect Dala Horses and also make your own in felt. Can you see that banner to the right, ok, click on that and it will take you directly to where you can order the magazine, either a subscription or just the latest issue, which looks like this ...

I made these mini Dala Horses from felt but in the magazine you can see how to make a larger one and it also shows you how to do the embroidery stitches.

Nearer to Christmas I will show you how I plan to use these mini ones as decorations, I may attach them to a garland for the fireplace or hang them on the tree. They are fun to make and you could really just stitch whatever pattern appeals to you most. 

In the article I explain what they mean to me and the history and symbolism behind them.  

At some places in Sweden they have giant ones that you can sit on. I haven't made it to the factory or the museum yet and hope that on my next trip I won't bore my friend Rachel too much with these treks.

Perhaps I should  tell her they have an amazing cake shop next door :)

My thanks go to Gunilla and Hans-Olof who helped me with this collection and who cook me the most amazing Swedish food whenever I visit. The last trip was for Midsummer Festival and thats when this photo was taken of me wearing a flower head garland. I really want to visit at Christmas but need to find a cat sitter.

Scarlet Gunilla Rachel and Isabel with me all ready for maypole dancing, Swedish style.

Don't forget folks, a Dala Horse isn't just for Christmas its for life !

People I Admire II - Kaffe Fassett

I have just now watched a great programme about knitting on BBC Four, and it reinforced quite a few things that I have for a long while thought, plus it was a jolly good history of knitting in the UK.

As a nation our love affair with hand knits became really tweaked when in 1922 the Price Of Wales wore a fishermans fairisle jumper on the golf course. Only a painting of him wearing it remains as a colour reminder and you can see that on fellow blogspotter Tweed And The Gentlemans Club. 

It was Coco Chanels approach to comfort that revolutionised womens clothing, and it was to the UK that she came to source soft Jersey knitted fabric.


Since the minute I took up knitting, which actually was only just over two years ago, I wanted to knit fairisle, plain knitting seemed just too boring and whilst I don't mind the odd cable, its not the the fancy stitches that interests me but the way to bring lots of colour together.  This, I discovered, is exactly the same reasons which started a life long career for Kaffe Fassett.


My awareness of Kaffe and his work has come and gone over the years. He first came to recognition when in the 1970's he worked with Bill Gibb. Some pictures of his work can be seen on The Womens Room blog, I can remember buying some lovely things with his designs on in the 80s, like a tea tray and some tapestry kits. Just recently I fell in love with some patterns in a Rowan pattern book, only to discover that Kaffe had designed the range, inspired by Russian Matryoshka dolls. He seems to regularly quote the same inspirational colour pallet as I love too.

Kaffe Fassett treats knitting like his canvas to create colour, an exquisite textile artist, working not only in knitting but also tapestry and patchwork. 

In the documentary it is described beautifully as a bohemian romance of complex colour patterns, a poem of colour. 

When asked "why is colour important" Kaffe answers "this question is as if colour were some strange freaky thing, it astounds me, like asking why is breath so important. To me its air, the air of my soul".

My personal constant musings are regarding colour and hand crafting. I nearly laughed out loud when in this documentary they said that many a woman had been bought a knitting machine by her husband for it to only stay in the box. For my own other half, looks at me knitting or hand sewing and says "Im sure you could get a machine to do that". And like many husbands before him, he is totally missing the point. I own three sewing machines and prefer to hand sew even on large quilts. And as the lovely ladies on the tv show can qualify, there is something so satisfying about the repetition and growth of a hand made piece. Turning a ball of yarn into a garment, made to measure in colours of ones own choice.  

The scarf above is a design from that Rowan book by Kaffe and the socks are an adaptation of that.

I love this Rowan yarn called Felted Tweed because the colour range is so beautifully reflective of the colours of heathers, heathland, autumn leaves, some muted and some jewel like.

this was my first fairisle jumper, I can see loads of mistakes, but who cares, not me.
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

 You can google up scientific studies on the health benefits of knitting and heres a quote to explain why we love it
(you won't understand until you have a go) and no, dear hubbies everywhere, doing it on a machine is just not the same.

"The main reasons for knitting commonly related to it’s rhythmic, repetitive nature and its ability to relieve stress, induce relaxation and manage emotions, particularly for unwinding after work. It also helped people who had anxiety disorders. Some occasionally found knitting stressful, but this related to trying to tackle a project which was beyond their means or having a tight deadline to reach. It was felt that knitting had meditative and ‘zen-like’ qualities – it was described as ‘soothing’ ‘restful’ or ‘spiritual’. 72% of respondents knitted more than three times a week and there was a significant relationship between the frequency of knitting and feeling calm, happy and confident.
Of those respondents who suffered from depression, 81.5% stated that they felt happier after knitting with 54% of those saying they felt happy or very happy after knitting. Compare this with comments made about antidepressants – “Knitting makes me feel happy – antidepressants just numb all my senses”– and you get an idea as to just how powerful and effective knitting can be as a tool for wellness. Colour and texture also impacted on mood with texture having more of an affect – 24% indicated the colour of the yarn affected mood and 46% stating texture did. Touching something good makes you feel good. 


Mental health problems are often developed by people who think too much, over analysing, anxiety, not being able to stop certain thought processes.  I can verify that the concentration in knitting takes you out and away from that head space and whatever your reason for taking up this great hobby, it doesn't matter. Once you start you will be hooked. 

Autumn arrives.

This week I have been taking a LOT of photographs, even more than usual, of things made from wool for a little catalogue - and that is all I can reveal.

It was fabulous timing as I had just started to look at doing a bit more knitting again and planning out my colder weather projects, the ones you do under a blanket with a roaring fire next to you. Several times since moving to the countryside we have actually been 'snowed in' as the gritting lorries fail to get out to us. It's probably not as bad as I'm making out but when they tell you on the news to only do "essential journeys" then, nothing seems essential unless you are starving or needing a hospital. I digress. 

So with the nip in the air and the cats starting their usual trail of muddy footprints all over the house, I thought I should change the house over from its summer style. The light delicate rugs changed, the eiderdowns got out of storage, the fireplace ready and some nice warm and orange tones in foliage to arrange. 

And these just happen to be all the things I needed to decorate my photographs. It was also an excuse to buy some lovely heathers and interesting vegetables. 

Im sure when most people bring home pumpkins and such, they intend to do more than carve a face in it, in this house neither of us can cook so more often than not the buying of gnarly gourd shaped edibles is due to the needing of a prop in a photo. 
I shall try and put these in some sort of soup perhaps.

Just in time some conkers and acorns could be found on the ground.

My mood references were natural history. 

If anyone can suggest what to do with the pumpkins that doesn't involve much skill in the kitchen, do let me know. I can update this post with the results. Until then, they shall stay in a rustic basket looking nice and decorative.

Sunday Prop Shop

I love to see what others like myself do, bloggers are great at linking up and sharing ideas and information. Capture by Lucy has told me about Sunday Prop Shop so I will have a go at making a blog about things I use as props that have been very handy.
Lucy seems to be very organised in storing her props, mine however are just all over the house and in the loft. 

When styling with The Dandelion House we had a saying "when in doubt style with food" for the more challenging tasks.


Let me dig through my library of photos and see what things have been the most useful.

my workroom storage area. the mannequin head was bought
on ebay, the bird cage in Margate, pampas grass and
peacock feathers wait for a purpose

baskets, I have loads of them, all different shapes and sizes

old musical instruments, throws and furry rugs.

tea and coffee sets in interesting colours which evoke a decade.

enamel coffee pots, food and flowers

childs school chair found on a skip and painted.

my antique screen gets used to hide the bits you dont want to see
this was mid-styling for the Mediaeval Baebes Huntress album cover

So as I look through these I see that my sheepskin rugs have made it into quite a few shoots, and they will soon be dug out again no doubt. 

It doesn't hurt to have a collection of tea and coffee pots, some from charity shops and some from fairs. A small chair can be easily transported, painted up in different colours to suit and used to drape things over. 

Whilst not a bargain, my antique screen (the gold one top left) was an invaluable buy. On the reverse side its dark and hand painted. It is particularly good for hiding things like radiators which you can't move. 

another enamel coffee pot this time used as a vase.

Happy Sunday Prop Shop everyone xxx

The above photos were taken for the following reasons: Caravan 70s photos for Vintage Life magazine, I styled and supplied props. Dandelion House pics for the website. Van Asch cushions for whom I do a lot of pics. Annie Sloan paint for myself and Making The Best. Mediaeval Baebes album shoot not by me but I helped find a few props and am doing some other stuff for them soon. 

Tales from Tommy The Tail

Hello my name is Tommy, I am a very handsome boy. Let me take you for a walk down the bottom of the garden I want to show you something. Oh bring a pot or pan you will need it.

Over this fence .....

Theres nothing in it, we have to go a bit further .... oh and by the way, did you notice how magnificent my tail is.

Here comes Ziggy, he wants to come too.

No time to stand and gaze there is serious foraging to be done. 

Nearly there ....

You never know who you might meet on the way.

Look, blackberries, I told you.

Thats our sister Coco, she is blind so she waits for us at the bottom of the garden and we get a kiss when we return safe and sound.

We have two apple trees and one plum in our garden, the apple trees are great for climbing.
The lady of the house with the red hair hates cooking but feels obliged to make something with all this free fruit.
She has tried chutney but it made the whole house full of fumes that made our eyes sting.




There is still a lot of chutney left in the cupboard.


She weighed the apples and blackberries but not on the same scales she uses to weigh baby animals. 2lb of apples and 1lb of blackberries, 6oz sugar. 

Peel and chop the apples and put in an ovenproof dish with the blackberries and sugar. Some clever mummies would make their own crumble mixture but ours just tipped over a ready made one (see I told you she hates cooking). 


To make the crumble a bit more interesting she put a bit of meusli in it. 

When it came out of the oven it was sticky and she didn't even have any cream for it. Fancy not having any cream in the house, we love cream but the vets said it makes us fat. 

This blog post has been a poor excuse to show you how beautiful
I am. She who cannot cook takes all her own photos and I, well I just have to look handsome.   Head bonks, Tommy The Tail.

skip diving and other freebies.

I was walking back from the shops one day when I lived in London and I noticed some "rubbish" dumped underneath a sign saying "the dumping of rubbish is strictly prohibited". It actually was a pile of old books and amongst it this little picture. I initially thought it was a print and took it home. On closer inspection I discovered it to be an original watercolour, signed and framed by a famous dealers in Kensington. I marvel at the skill in this painting and it has a hidden past to which I know nothing.

We don't tend to go out of our way to rummage through other peoples junk and skips, sometimes we are just driving somewhere and we see something.

A couple of our much loved pieces have come from skips. Recently we saw this Ercol Sofa frame just lying amongst the rubble of a refurbished office, the frame was in very good condition, a testament to how well made it was in the late seventies. I have blogged about this on the DIY page showing how I made the cushions from foam. 

Another great find was this Indian coffee table. It was broken and covered in wax stains. We managed to mend the wonky leg and I painted it with white and pink chalk paints.

For a while we had it out in the garden, hence why the paint peeled off a bit, but as we like the distressed look I left it that way.

Incidentally two items featured in these photos came from the same old lady at a car boot fair. One being the glass lamp in front of the painting, and the white crochet throw on the sofa behind the coffee table. They were both under £5.

Whatever way you come about finding treasures, it doesn't matter. A trained eye can find fabulous things that are all the better for costing nothing. If unsure just take it home and play with it. Nothing ventured nothing gained.