Postcards from Sweden: crochet version

I am so excited to show you my latest creation!

YAAAAAAAY!!!  When I saw the Postcards from Sweden quilt pattern from Jeliquilts here, it was love at first sight.  However, I couldn't afford to quilt it, because this would tie me in to making 2 quilts plus a crochet blanket.  You see, one boy has a crochet blanket so the other was clearly owed one.  I didn't dare add quilting debts to this.  So I had to make the Postcards from Sweden as a crochet blanket for the smallest boy.

Because I cannot step away from the day job, I matched the yarn colours to the original Kona fabrics by writing a python script.  What else would you do?!

The very lovely Kelly has kindly agreed that I can share my colour list with you so you can recreate her work in yarn too!  You'll need to head on over here to download her free pattern, but really you only need to print pages 6 and 7 which describe her layout.  From there, you can write in the yarn colours in to her handy chart and then it's a crochet-by-numbers exercise, and a very lovely one it is too.

Here's the yarn colours I used, numbered to match the original quilt scheme:

1. Tomato
2. Matador
3. Lulk *
4. Pomegranate
5. Sage
6. Green
7. Pistachio
8. Leuven *
9. Citron
10. Apricot
11. Saffron
12. Spice
13. Pistachio
14. Kelly Green
15. Aspen
16. Cloud Blue
17. Denim
18. Turquoise
19. Empire
20. Lapis
21. Sherbet
22. Wisteria
23. Magenta
24. Amstelveen *
25. Amstelveen *
26. Lavender
27. Lipstick
28. Amersfoort *
29. Lulk *
30. Clematis
31. Fondant
32. Fondant
33. Knokke *
34. Spice
35. Sunshine
36. Spring Green

All colours are Stylecraft Special DK, except those marked with an asterisk which are Scheepjes Colour Crafter.  That's 31 distinct colours, I used less than 100g of each colour.

The border is made up of three additional Stylecraft colours:

1. Grey
2. Graphite
3. Cream

In terms of the blocks, they're a solid granny square of UK treble crochet worked in two colours at once, which is achieved by reversing the work direction.  I bring you a diagram:

I worked 6 rounds for each block.  The only non-standard bit is where you reverse direction - after 2 ch, slst into the start of the round, then turn the work and slst back over the ch and then get ready to ch 3 to act as your first tr and you're away again.

Don't worry if the diagram is opaque - I made some video tutorials, so hopefully the diagram will be a good reminder once you have watched them.

There are three parts to the videos:

1. Round 1
2. Round 2
3. Round 3

For the border, I used 5 rounds of linen stitch from the Attic24 blog here.  The colour order is Grey, Cream, Graphite, Cream, Grey.  Again, I was just trying to mimic my favourite quilt binding I've seen on the postcards quilt!

I found it important to keep track of all the squares by storing them on stitch markers as I made them to keep them in order.  Scrap yarn through a square corner would do just as well.

It's like a rainbow slug on my floor.

My squares curled, as you can see in the image above.  It was necessary to block them to 5"x5".  The most painless way is a blocking board - slip them over the pegs and shoot steam at them from above with a hot steam iron - it's enough to relax the synthetic fibres. 

There's no need to fork out for a posh blocking board as long as you've got access to an electric drill and some MDF.  I've heard some people suggest 3mm DPNs as good blocking pegs, but you can save your pennies - 3mm stainless steel rod is widely used in remote control hobby aircraft, so grab yourself some cheap on eBay.  I bought mine too long and owe thanks to my Dad who chopped them up with his grinder.  Sorry Dad.  Then just drill yourself some holes and pop the pegs in.

The blocks are whip-stitched together (I didn't want a visible seam - I wanted to match the quilt look as close as I could).

My little boy now has his own blanket which will doubtless get trashed in den building (as it should be, of course).  If you have kids and are not sure if the blanket is needed - it always is.  Did I mention they look as good as new after a machine wash and tumble dry?!

In my gauge the blocks are 5" square and the blanket comes out approximately double bed sided.  For scale, a real human on the blanket:

Once again, huge thanks to Jeliquilts for offering her quilt pattern to us all for free.  I can honestly say I enjoyed every single stitch I made to re-create her work in yarn.

You might be interested to know that I have started a crochet blanket for me now.  There's no pulling the wool over the kid's eyes (no matter how rainbow coloured) and they've spotted I already made myself a quilt, so have placed their own quilt orders accordingly.  I'd have got away with it if it weren't for those pesky kids...

Socksssss

Going back in time a little bit here, because I never posted the BEST SOCKS EVAR (capslock totally necessary).  Knitted toe-up, two at a time with Trailing Clouds Nimbus Self Striping Sock, in colourway "Mind the Gap".  Ravelry project page here.

There is nothing better than socks in the colour of the London Tube lines.  This yarn is the BEST.

Advent Calendars in March

Patting myself on the back for this one - I finished the second Advent Calendar (see here for the first one), even though I totally didn't want to.  But I wouldn't want to do it any the more for leaving it until November so YAY me - made room in the diary for more Christmas Crafting later in 2016!

Last on the list

I cast on for this little jumper the night before my planned C-section for Baby B.  Since I was scheduled last on the list, I figured I'd have lots of knitting time while waiting my turn and potentially being bumped for emergencies.  I needed something to distract me from my rumbling hungry tummy!

Anyway, I did get lots of knitting done before and after the birth, because Baby was an easy and sleepy little mite on the postnatal ward.

The yarn is WI branded (for what that's worth) and is a acrylic 4 ply and wonderfully soft.  There aren't too many acrylics I'm prepared to knit with and this is one of them.  I suspect it's a cousin of Patons Smoothie?

The pattern is "Beyond Puerperium" and my notes are here.  It ended up as a baby gift for my little niece.  Hope she likes it!

I crocheted the saturn V and I'm ambivalent about the result

For our WI's annual entry into the craft competition at the Fenland Fair, I was persuaded to crochet the Saturn V.  The pattern is pretty cool and so is the subject, but nevertheless I had a bad attitude to this project, probably because of the cheap acrylic yarn in my stash that had to be used.  My white yarn was so cheap that it showed the darker stranding inside it.  Also, crochet stitches don't align on top of each other like knitting ones do, rather they are shifted about 1/4st to the right.  Therefore, the vertical black blocks look like they are twisting clockwise around the rocket (they are).  No idea how the designer avoided this fate - vigorous blocking perhaps?

Anyway, it made it back to be stuffed wonkily into Baby B's toy bucket, to look comically bent at me whenever I see it.  Banana rocket.  At least that bit makes me smile.

I knitted a jumper very quickly

This jumper was finished in November last year, I'm behind on my posting!

In the search for yarn that's (a) cheap (b) soft (c) wears well, I recalled the Patons Smoothie DK that I remembered doing a baby jumper in.  Turns out the only reason it didn't pill was that baby grew out of it before it had been washed too much.  This jumper in the same yarn pilled pretty much straight away.  Boo hoo.

See my ravelry notes here, the pattern is the child's placket neck pullover, changed to be knitted top-down (instead of bottom up) and with a stripe pattern and colour based on someone else's project knitted to a different sweater pattern.

I should always do a tension swatch and this jumper is why.  Gah.  At least toddler big boy likes it, and the actual knitting went quite fast (at least, when it wasn't languishing on a shelf).  It's my third time to knit this jumper pattern, I still love it.  It's so easy to knit and wear.

Advent calendar, what was I thinking?

I was looking at the first advent calendars to hit the shops in October which were all merchandised to the max, and probably Toddler was going on for the billionth time how he'd prefer a blue Thomas the Tank Engine cake from Tesco for his birthday like last year, even though (a) He doesn't even like Thomas and he won't let me read any of the books to him and (b) The cake wasn't that nice either.  I probably thought "Argh, if I buy a Peppa chocolate calendar this year, we'll always have to have Peppa calendars until eternity."  I must have had low blood sugar and probably a blow to the head, because in my addled state I thought the solution to this was to make a fabric advent calendar.

I copied the idea from Purl Soho here, but I stitched all the felt squares onto a woven fabric because honestly, even given super quality felt, how long will their calendar last before its stretched out of shape?  Even when used by a careful adult and not a marauding toddler?  So I bought 8 colours of felt and some cream polycotton and some other weird polycotton with fused batting on the back for the main hanging.

For scale, the larger of the felt squares is 3" across.  The woven fabric for the pockets has a rolled hem along the top, and the sides are zig-zagged before being turned under.  The actual shape of the polycotton is an isoceles trapezium, but it's been stitched onto a square shape on the backing so that there is some fullness at the top of the pocket to put presents in.  So that's an intentional gape, not stretched felt, woo!

I transferred the digits for embroidery by the old skool method of pricking a paper stencil and brushing powdered chalk through the tiny holes.

The blue/brown colour scheme was suggested by Mr B.  I wanted the red-pink-green Purl Soho combination, but Mr B rightly suggested that a second exciting colour scheme which for the other calendar might be hard to think up.  The second calendar is not finished yet (baby won't notice the absence this year) so you'll have to wait to see what colours we picked for that one!  I put names on the tops to stop arguments about who has which colour calendar.

I've already sewn the pockets up for the second calendar, but they don't have embroidery numbers on yet and they're not stitched to the backing yet.  I'll admit I was cursing myself as I edge-stitched my 100th felt square and I'll probably swear some more as I embroider my 50th number.

Anyway, Toddler is enjoying opening a new pocket each day and discovering the treasures from poundland or magicked from my fabric stash.  This is going to be a rod for my own back, probably worse than Peppa and her daily dairy milk.

WHY.

Quick trick to make shirts smaller

I bring you one cunning trick to make adult shirts smaller for children!

Here's what to do:

1.  Find suitable 100% cotton adult shirt.  I used a men's work shirt with a 15" collar pilfered from Mr B.

2.  Wash on it's own in the washing machine on a 90degC cycle with bicarb and vinegar.  I used 3 tbsp of bicarb, which I put in the drum with the shirt, and 1 cup of spirit vinegar which I put in the soap drawer.  This should cause the shirt to shrink a little.

3.  Tumble dry on the hottest setting to make the shrinkage permanent.

4.  Repeat steps 2 and 3 again until you have reached the desired size.  I did about 5 repeats to make the shirt small enough for toddler - about a size 104cm (age 4-5).

After this, when you come to launder the shirt normally, just use non-bio soap powder and wash at 40degC with the rest of your laundry.  Magic!

Only joking.  Of course I didn't.  I used this.

Purple trousers CAPSLOCK MOMENTS

I made my first pair of proper trousers!  I'm not counting the self-drafted trousers here and their many shorts variation friends.

I made the "Elvis" trousers from the 1/2015 issue of Ottobre magazine, whose model displays them in turquoise thusly:

I had to make these because I love me a good pair of brightly coloured trousers on a little man, and toddler likes them too.  I scored some purple twill for £2/m from St Ives bank holiday market.  Although it has an inexplicable fire-retardant backing, this has softened completely in the wash.  Nevertheless, these pants will only ever be metaphorically on fire.

A red bowl of conkers was just lying around, so I kept it in shot.  I'll admit it doesn't look as arty as I thought.

Sadly the notions cost me more than £2, even when I skipped the zippers on the back pockets.  I'm not going to count the £15 I splurged on 32 sewing machine feet from China, or the cost of the top-stitch needles, or the spotty cotton pocket facings and button from my stash.  However, I ought to count the fly zipper and the red top-stitch thread (of which I used an entire spool).  So maybe the trousers cost me £6 all in.

BOOM!  Spotty cotton!  Also, eagle-eyed viewers will note my top-stitch tension issues, even after unpicking 4 times... ARGH.

I have a thing about red and purple together.  I had SO MUCH FUN making these trousers.  Fabric that doesn't fray. lustrous red thread, new machine feet... ahhhh the good times.

The pattern is lovely, although Mr B takes issue with the style detail where the side seam twists onto the front leg.  Pah!  I love it.  They're also slim enough for Toddler B, although I am waiting on a red belt from eBay to keep them up so he can wear them now and make them last longer.  That's why the bottom of the belt-loops are not stitched down yet (just in case the belt is wider than expected).  Also, I ran out of topstitch thread, so you don't get red bar-tacks at the top and bottom of every belt loop.  I ain't buying another spool for that malarky.

I skipped the exposed metal zippers on the back pockets to save money and my furniture.

I did have a few issues with the top-stitching - my machine wouldn't get the tension right sometimes and made loops of top-stitch thread underneath the fabric, usually when sewing right on the edge of 3+ thicknesses of twill.  I think because the presser-foot had uneven pressure over the bulky seam allowances and the fabric got pulled up and down by the needle.  I managed to partly solve it by using a pad of rolled up twill beside the seam to make the foot press evenly.

Sometimes my machine skipped stitches when trying to top-stitch over e.g. 6 thicknesses of twill in a seam intersection.  Tbh who can blame it?

Ok, so now I fess up to the mistakes.  I don't know what possessed me but I didn't take into account the diagonal twill weave when I cut out.  I just folded the fabric and cut double.  I think.  Or something.  It was dark in my windowless sewing space in the evening.  Anyway, the weave is not doing what I would like across the back seam (or indeed the front).  Don't look too closely.   Also, my top-stitching could be more even, but I'm going to allow myself some leeway on that as it's my first attempt.

My top stitching is not the best, but toddler will move too fast in real life for this to cause anyone visual pain.

I'll be making these again!  IN EVERY COLOUR ST IVES WILL SELL ME.  Did you hear that, man on St Ives market stall?  I WILL BUY ALL YOUR WACKY TWO QUID TWILL.  I will look for new audacious colours of top-stitch thread.  MAD LEGS AHOY!

Note that the shirt is looking a bit small - not to worry, a new one is in the works.

In less capslock-inducing news, I have cut up one of Mr B's old work-shirts and am in the process of transforming it into a toddler sized shirt.  This is quite exciting to me (and toddler).

Doctor, Doctor, I feel like a pair of curtains!

So, I finally finished the last pair of curtains which I was cutting out the two days before baby arrived.

Of course, taking photos toward the window in the daytime in a room that is painted in a dark-ish colour does not yield good results with my camera in idiot mode.

Behold!  The curtains with the irritatingly large pattern repeat are done!  A further 3m of fabric from a different bolt (so slightly different colour) were found and purchased, but I don't think you can tell that one drop is slightly different.

Also: I bring you another top tip of the blindingly obvious variety.  Cheap material is... cheap.  Okay, the feel and print of this fabric are fine, but the fabric had a badly wonky grain and off-grain pattern.  When cutting out I had to choose between cutting perpendicular to the selvedges, cutting along the grain-line, or cutting along the pattern repeat (we chose to take an average of all three, so hopefully it would hang fine and the pattern not be too wonky).  Add to this the 24" pattern repeat and you've got a headache.

Anyways, not much to say here that I didn't already say about these previous curtains of the same design.  They're interlined with blackout lining, and lined with polycotton.  I still love the metal eyelets and you shouldn't mess around with those shonky plastic ones in the highstreet shops.  Just go straight to Hanolex and buy the biggest hammer you'll ever own.

Mr B:  "This hammer is awesome.  It looks like a Thor Hammer, you know?  Like the god Thor?"
Me:  "Yes, that's why it's called a Thor Hammer."
Mr B:  "Oh."

If you're interested, the wall colour is "Soft Cinnebar 3" by Dulux.  For the first time in my life, I copied a "Get the Look!" article in the National Trust Magazine.  Except it's cheaper to get a Dulux colour mixed than go to Fired Wallet or wherever they were suggesting.

I am finally rid of the horrid brown and tan pairs of suede-effect unlined curtains that came with the house!  But, bad news:  Mr B wants them to be re-sewn into covers for his mower and his vice (to protect them from belt sander dust).  I don't know if I can bear to touch them... eugh.

Little gifts for a little girl

I have lots of pink quilting fabric left over, so sorry if you're having a little girl!

Baby Isla gets three dribble bibs with fleece backing (design as road-tested on the current Baby Button).  She also gets a taggy blanket, where the design (incorporating crinkly noises) has been shamefully ripped off from my lovely friend who made one for Baby Button.  He adores his!  Sorry for copying, lovely friend... :-)

Toddler Button cut the ribbons for me.  There's a long ribbon with velcro on, so baby Isla can have it on her pram or car-seat or whatever.

Baby Isla's name is a felt appliqué, using double-sided fusible and top-stitching.

This was lots of fun to make!  It felt like such a treat to ignore the curtains and make baby things.  Awwwwh babies...

Cushions, three years late

While waiting for my first little tyrant baby to arrive, I made a lot of cushions.  I also bought the fabric, piping cord, sponge etc. for several more which never got done.  Until now, because Mr B made encouraged me finish them.

For baby Button's room (which is now occupied by a different baby than the original), there is a big square cushion.

Check out the awesome piping made from leftover fabric from this dress.  I am very excited to say that I can now wear it again (the dress, not the cushion, ha ha), because DIET.

There is a button back, so I can wash the baby sick out.   If the cushion was not so plump and bulging, I'll have you know that the bunting pattern actually matches perfectly!  If you want to know the pattern for this cover, you can find my tutorials here.

I also made a foam seat pad for the Lloyd loom chair in baby's room, with a box cover.  Mr B cut the foam with a kitchen knife because I'm too chicken.

There is a lapped zipper, again for baby sick washing purposes.  I went back and forward about how to place the pattern around the pad edges, and ended up going for a bunting string at the top, with the tips of boat masts pointing into it.

I have to show you this shot of the edge, because you HAVE to know how well the pattern matching went across the zip insertion!  LOOK I BISECTED THE WIND-VANE ON THE LIGHTHOUSE PERFECTLY!  LOOK!  It totally calls for capslock because, let's be honest, this pattern win doesn't happen much.  Mostly my pattern matching is poor on a good day, even when I'm trying super hard.  This happened when I wasn't even caring too much!  Maybe that is the key?!

There's also another seat cushion for the downstairs Lloyd loom chair, which would look more lovely if the chair was not usually covered in blanket-fort blankets and used to prop up 200 plastic play balls and a lurid play pit.  Don't look too close at the stripe matching at the front edge of the seat because the fabric crept and now it doesn't-quite-match which I think we can all agree is the worst sort of matching.  Now you can understand why I needed capslock about the above wind-vane.

I'll be honest, I had a pretty bad attitude about doing these, but I'm pretty happy with my job in the end.  Too bad I didn't do them 3 years ago.

Pretty cardigans for meeee!

I knitted a pretty cardigan for meeeee!

The pattern is Hetty, a super-duper all-over lace cardigan, knitted in the round with set-in sleeves in a cropped length.  I've been admiring the pattern for a while and finally bought it.  Because I am my mother's daughter, I used the same colour yarn as the designer.  You can't improve on perfection!

The yarn I bought from that stall at the London Knitting and Stitching Show.  You know, the one where they just have a big old pile of yarn packets on the floor and you literally just wade in and pull out a bargain.  If you've been, you'll know the one I mean.  Black Sheep Yarns, I think.

It's Rowan Softknit Cotton Aran, which is a braided yarn.  It was such a pleasure to knit with as it can't split at all.  I probably have half the packet yet, so if you're expecting a baby, also expect to receive a green knitted item... ha ha.

It's not supposed to go with this spotty dress, but it's the best I can do for now.  The cardigan is so snuggly and warm and soft in the thick aran yarn.  I had to take it off right after the photos because it's August and not actually raining today.

Look at the buttons on that!

Eugh you can see what I meant about the neckline on the dress - bad bad bad.  It would also look better lower, but for now I can't because sad nursing bra peep-age.  But enough about the crappy dress, CHECK OUT THE CARDIE.

I procrastinated for too long about the buttons but then I hit the jackpot on Ebay - £2 for 10 painted wooden buttons that look like little clocks!  In 5 different designs!  I have died and gone to cardigan heaven.

I think I need:
(a)  More of these cardigans in every colour
(b)  More novelty wooden buttons in my life (There are bicycle ones!  Bicycles!)
(c)  More of these dresses in darker and less obnoxious fabrics, with a nicer neckline

I also need another entire lifetime to make all these things.

Never leave a project un-finished to too long

I have learned that leaving a project incomplete for too long does affect your satisfaction on completing it.  Or maybe it's because this garment has too many niggley errors.  Or maybe the errors crept in because of all the start-stop and distractions, and by the end I was all "Who cares, gerrit DONE."

A few months ago, I started this blue and white spotty dress.  The fabric was bought on my honeymoon, which was before I got a job/house/two children (so clearly a looooong time ago).  The pattern is self-drafted and closely related to my ruffle dress, but I couldn't be bothered to do much more than remove the ruffle and centre-front pleat.  I wanted my new dress FAST.  (Although, not so fast that it took less than almost 3 months, it turns out.)

I got most of the major seams done quite fast, and then my overlocker failed.  The clonking noise became unbearable, the tension went ape and I couldn't get a seam to look half decent.  Maddening!  I just wanted to finish that dress!

I fixed the overlocker.  Then the 2015 outfit-along started (see this post) and I started knitting.  Needless to say the outfit-along was not completed by the deadline, because I later decided to stop knitting and make the baby carrier.  Then I went back to my knitting, which had started to take me 3 nights to do a 12-row sleeve cuff because the children would not sleep with the light evenings and heat.  And I started a crochet space-rocket for a WI competition.

Whatevs, I had to finish the dress which by now only needed the lining hand-stitching around the zip, and a hem.  I finished up, and wore it for a morning before the gape at the neckline irritated me so much I took it off before lunch.  It then languished for a few more weeks (plus family holiday) before I unpicked and re-inserted the zipper.  I finally made it!!!

It's fully lined, except the sleeves which just have a tiny rolled hem.  There is a concealed zipper in the centre-front (breastfeeding necessity), and in-seam side pockets!  Yay pockets!

Bad things:

The neckline still does not sit flat against my chest.  Maybe this is a pattern error disguised by the floppy fabric and ruffles the last time I made this pattern, or maybe I over-stretched it when putting the zip in (I ought to have stay-stitched, hands up.)

Toddler channelling my dress-hate for this make.

One bust dart is inexplicably higher than the other by almost an inch, and I only just noticed (now I can't get to it to unpick).  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!  I swear gnomes came and did this error, I am usually so careful and this has never happened before.

The bust darts in general finish a little bit too high and close to my bust point.  I ought to change the pattern.  It's entirely possible my anatomy has changed ;-)

Is the bodice over-fitted?  I read in my new fitting book that this is a thing.  Should it be less fitted?  Or is it just that ready-to-wear are not correctly made for my bust size?  (Hee hee, busts!)

I forgot to stabilise around the neckline, zipper and especially pockets with fusible interfacing, so soon these areas may be as saggy as I am.  ;-)  I forgot to overlock the pocket edges and side-seams before I inserted them.  The bodge is not pretty so don't look too closely inside.

Most irritatingly, while it was hanging on my dress form waiting for the bias to drop before hemming, I realised that I don't like my grain/pattern positioning.  Not at all.  I tried to have central dots running up/down the centre-front and back, and matching the pattern over the seams here but but didn't work very well in my rush.   And it also looks rubbish.  I should have the straight grain running down the centre of each panel in the 4-gore skirt.  This is going to annoy me forever.

Finally, the lining rolled hem got mangled by overlocker which was up to it's old knocking-noise tricks for some inexplicable reason.  (I think it was a combination of bent needle needle, fine fabric and poor quality thread or something.)  I also couldn't be bothered to do make bias binding to try a nicer hem on the outside fabric than the old fold-fold-machine stitch.  Even though a faced hem would have been better.

"More photos mummy!  Mummy I want to see!"

On the plus side, sash!  It's the selvedge of my (still-not-finished) curtain lining in white polyester.  Excited about having a sash to cover my post-baby tummy and poor pattern matching.  Also makes a cheap rubbishy dress look a bit too posh for playgroup.  But it was for free.  So there's that.

Sorry 'bout the naff kitchen photos.  I have to use a self-timer on the worktop because I am too cheap to buy a camera tripod, and my toddler HAS to be in the photos shouting stuff.  Ahhh.

Henry the Hoover

Toddler Button is obsessed with Henry the Hoover, the Numatic Vacuum cleaner.  No, he doesn't have his own TV show, but we do have an example in our garage.  We also have to peruse the range for sale in the supermarket each visit, and it's important to be familiar with the whole range of names and colours of this device.

To keep him quiet on a super long car journey, I made a cuddly Henry.  If you've found this page by googling for "Henry Hoover Sewing Pattern", then welcome!  I googled that too!  I couldn't find a pattern, so I made up the pattern myself using the magic of geometry.  I think I used this image as a basis.

Henry is made from felt (because that's what I had to hand).  He's about 6" diameter.

Check me wheels.

Henry's cheeky face is more felt appliquéd to the front.  I correctly predicted that Toddler would immediately enquire about where Henry's tube nose was, but too bad because (a) I couldn't think of a way to make one look good and (b) I ran out of black felt.

I secretly made him in the evenings and I totally had to hide his iconic little face during the day so Toddler didn't clock him.

Fiddly letters are such a pain.

Henry's front wheels turned out to be such a fiddle that they had to be stitched entirely by hand, and I'm not a fan of hand-stitching.  Also, I ran out of time before we left for the journey so they were attached during a traffic jam on the M4 when the road was closed and toddler happened to nod off.

Henry also has an appliquéd top winder wheel and hand-sewn knob thing.  But no on-off switches because I didn't have any green felt to hand.  Shame.

I'm pleased to note that Henry has been promoted to bed-time companion alongside Doggy and Ted.