Summertime AND Folksy Friday? We're so spoilt...

Summer's here! Ah, the great British summer - strawberries, wasps, Wimbledon, surprise when it (shock, horror) rains, grumbling when there's a heatwave, Glasto, hayfever, barbeques, flipflops and sunburn. Man, do we know how to do summer.

Don't mind my acerbic tone - there's a lot I love about summer really, especially when you can properly kick back and enjoy the sunshine and lovely vitamins. :) The thing about summer, as with any season, is knowing how to dress to get the best out of it. Course summer's miserable when you're swaddled in workaday attire, suits and button up shirts and the like. But when you've got a beautiful breezy dress to keep cool in, like Recycled Junkie's Summer Maxi dress, below, what's to worry about?





I have to admit, I'm all about the accessories. You can make two outfits out of one with some clever accessorizing - in fact, I often look at my wardrobe and marvel how relatively little there is in it compared with my overflowing baskets full of belts, scarves and neckerchiefs, costume jewellery, hairpieces and
shoes. It's sort of like having a pantry full of herbs and condiments and no actual food to put them on - which is also what my pantry looks like. Anyway, digression aside, I've found a rather genius way to get accessories and knitting into a summer post, and I'm hugely jealous that the next item isn't one of mine - courtesy of Silky Prudence here is the brilliant Summer Betty Scarflette in Peach Melba.







*bow* I'm not worthy...



Finally, where would any outfit for any season be without a little bit of bling? I'll be honest, there aren't many shades of green that don't catch my magpie eye (except maybe lime) and this Summer Leaf Necklace by Swirls and Squiggles is a perfect example of rich colour and delicate silverwork complementing each other for a real showoff piece...





As usual, my trawl through the Folksy vaults throws up so much talented craftwork and original designs that I think a) why did I EVER go through the doors of a Primark?! and b) that sites like Folksy, Etsy and Artfire are criminally underexposed. I can't count the number of people I've recommended these sites to with literally no more promotional spiel than spelling out the domain name; the quality of work speaks for itself. So if you've seen something here you like, pass it on; if you see one of the millions of items who didn't make it onto my post for no better reason than lack of room, pass it on; if you uncover a diamond in the rough, pass it on. That's what Folksy Friday's all about.


Love and knitties,
KD x

IN-GER-LUUUUND! First of the Folksy Friday's...

OK OK, I know I've been rubbish after I specifically promised I wouldn't be... In my defence, I've got a new job keeping me good and busy, a gala to help organise (details of which can be found here), and to top it all off the England team are playing in some kind of sporting event or something. :) So to make amends, I thought it was about time I did my first Folksy Friday blog, and what better way to support our boys with the Three Lions on their shirts?

I consider myself one of those rare things - a girl who likes football, understands the offside rule, but still likes to feel like a girl when cheering on ma boys. And let's face it, football shirts are not designed to flatter the more, erm, voluptuous figures. So how do you stay chic and patriotic at the same time? I give you:

England for Girls by The Jewellery Angel

A feminine and delicate way to show your national pride!

Of course, if you're not looking for pearls and butterflies, you might want to take a gander at the fantastic Wife of Brian's shop - you should anyway - where you can become the proud wearer of the Knitted Loopy England Beard and make Brian Blessed look like Billy Bunter. AWESOME.

Last but not least is one of those gorgeous and subtle items that shows off simple ideas executed with very skilled handiwork (if you've ever wrestled with unruly tendrils of ribbon you'll know what I mean) - this is the St George's Cross Corsage from Lottie Loves.

Well, I hope I've inspired you all to root for our boys - drop us a comment and show us what you've been up to too! More news and items coming up over the weekend - watch this space :)

love and knitties as ever

KD x

The Best of British

Hi again! After taking so long to do the last post I've given myself a sharp rap on the knuckles - and having the last week off has given me a chance to give Knitted Duck a proper spring clean, which was long overdue. The other thing I've been able to finally do (she says, BURSTING with excitement) is get KD's own little piece of cyber real estate up and running - and here it is!

http://www.theknittedduck.co.uk/

Isn't it beautiful? I keep gazing over it like a newborn baby and fretting everytime it coughs...

The package I got was a surprisingly cheap and easy to use one from Mr Site - http://www.mrsite.co.uk/ - one among the many recommendations I got after asking around (thanks everyone for your suggestions!). The package is all inclusive (i.e. domain name, hosting, templates etc all in one) rather than forcing you to buy all the elements separately, and I've got to say the selection of templates is pretty respectable, rather than your standard cringeworthy outdated clip art riddled affairs. I have to say I'm also pretty pleased with the amount of freedom it gives you without blinding you with science - I myself am pretty computer literate and know my HTML from my hexadecimal, but I would have lost interest pretty quickly if I'd had to build the whole thing from scratch. If a website is something you're looking into, but you're not so interested in controlling evert 'bit' of data, then I recommend it - the basic option which I have is only £19.99 for the year with no hidden extras. Bargain.

With that finally up and running and no commissions lined up, I also managed to finish a long outstanding knit just yesterday - as part of my celebration of our sceptred isle, I give you my trilogy of Blighty themed mini-cushions!



I decided to invert the Union Jack to give it a bit of a twist and also to make the darker blue and red stand out more vibrantly against a white background - which incidentally, I think we should do to the real flag, but that's just me :) - and although I had a go at doing it intarsia first, it just lacked a sort of charm, so the crosses are knitted in red and crocheted in blue, and sewn on. The two smaller cushions have a quintessentially English houndstooth pattern knitted into them, which is my little nod to my design hero, the most groundbreaking and important designer Britain has ever had, Dame Vivienne Westwood. The cushions themselves are 24cm x 18cm (Union Jack) and 20cm x 14cm (Houndstooth) and come as a set for £25/$36. You can find them on Folksy for £ and Etsy for $ as usual!

All this patriotism is not just about cushions though - with the World Cup on the horizon, everything that isn't red white and blue is out of the wardrobe until the end of July, and I for one will be praying more for the robust health of Wayne Rooney than I ever have for my own. I was actually pretty chuffed to be tagged for the first time in a fellow Folksy-er's blog recently - that of offbeat greetings card makers Konnie Kapow which was on the very subject of the beautiful game. If you're stuck for something spesh for Father's Day on 20th June I recommend you look up their rather fab Folksy shop.

On that note, as I listen to my compilation of late 70s/early 80s UK scene punk and new wave for inspiration and drink my pot-brewed tea, I bid you ta-ra. IN-GER-LUUUUUND!

KD x