High Tea: Eclair + Free Pattern

It's time to sit at an outdoor cafe and eat an eclair, or maybe sew one! I've included a pattern and directions to make your own, life-size, eclair. You'll just need some scraps of 3 different fabrics, threads to match, and about a quarter yard of fusible interfacing.

Just click on these 2 images below. One is the directions, the other the pattern pieces. Format the jpgs to legal size paper (US) or A3 (UK) and print!


I've tried to be as clear as I can in the directions, but if you have any problems making it, I'm happy to answer your questions. Enjoy!

Love 4 London: Part 1

I often get asked why I love London. My 97 year-old grandmother always asks me, "What do they have that we don't have?" and countless Brits ask "Why do you want to live here?". It's the little things you love about a city that make it wonderful to live there, isn't it? I've decided to do a few sequences, 4 snaps each, of things I love about the cities in which I find myself.

These are the canals of North London that span the city East to West. They're filled with birds and barges (on which people live) and lined with pavements where many people walk, bicycle, and picnic.

The houses and apartment buildings along the canals aren't like others in London, often incredibly modern, but still with a maritime feeling...

The canals lead all the way to beautiful Regent's Park, to an area on the water called "Little Venice", and to the London Zoo!

Whenever I see a staircase from the street like this one, I skip the subway or bus and love to "take" the canal.

Queen Bee

A Spring Bee Dress, for a special 1 year-old far away!

Knitted in alpaca yarn, from the same book as the last.

For buzzing around town, on the first weekend of Spring!

Mr. Furly Has Arrived!

From darkest New York, and with a marmalade sandwich under his hat, Mr. Furly has finally arrived in London!

It's a good thing I had an inclination that he might arrive soon. With this tag any family, including the Browns, could have taken him home!

I've told Furl the news: it's never foggy here, women AND men love to drink tea, and they're still driving on the wrong side of the road!

We're happily reunited, after the long journey he insisted on taking alone.

On a side note, when we were both packing a couple months ago, my mom commented, "Mr. Furly, being Mr. Furly, should have Louis Vuitton luggage!"
You know, she's got a point...and has known him as long as I have.

Look Like Your Dog

Afghan inspiration from the recent Crufts Dog Show here in London.
Photograph by Darren Staples/Reuters.

Sweater for the Unborn

We're being introduced to lots of friend's tiny offspring in coming months, so I've been knitting ahead. This sweater is from this book, the colors bought to complement these vintage buttons I loved.

I hope the sweater is unisex enough, since we don't know who we'll be meeting...exactly.

Biscuits, On the Side

We all know that English people say "biscuits" for cookies. When I first moved here, I got all the small differences in language wrong. In addition, I would notice expressions that made no real sense. For instance, I used to hear "on the side" constantly, but never as Americans use it, for side dishes and such. "Where's my football kit (soccer equipment)?" a boy on TV would ask his mom. "On the side," she would answer. The side of WHAT?!

A "side", I later found out, was a spoken abbreviation for a sideboard, which I've always grown up with, but to which, I'm quite sure, I've never referred directly.

Last week I made these "linzer" cookies from this book, though they're not true linzer, as she describes, since they contain no nuts.

I used this proper English jam, which is amazing, and available everywhere, I'm sure. It's a real treat on my (daily) peanut butter.

We also purchased our first sideboard! My guess is it's 1960s, though tell me if you know otherwise. So now, my friends, I can refer to this piece of furniture with great abandon, and as I see fit!

By the end of the day there were only two biscuits left, on the side.

I Have A New Website

HollyKlein.com has been updated! There's a new showreel, a new bio, a link to this blog and my email, and a shop with nothing in it! I do plan to have things for sale soon, but the making has been slowed by the moving. Anyway, have a poke around there, if you please.

Graceful

This is Grace. I made her for a short film pitch. Grace lives alone in a small cabin on a large cliff. One day, while collecting flowers, a moth lands on Grace. Because she is made of wool, things begin to quickly go awry (click to enlarge):

"Moth" was going to be a film about when things in life are completely out of your control. The pitch wasn't accepted, and I didn't get the funding. Maybe the point was proven anyway?

Hoo Hoo is 1?

This owl sweater is the first piece of clothing I've knitted in a long time. I made a size 2, though I gave it to a special (leap year) 1 year-old this past week, so she could grow into it in coming months.

I love owls, and when I saw this pattern on the "free" table at a yarn shop, I knew I'd be making it right away! It was really fun, and I'm going to make it again, perhaps in a charcoal gray color. I like the idea that the owls are peaking through a dark night sky.

If you like the sweater, and want to make one for yourself in an adult size, I found a really nice one with a free pattern download. Make one for yourself and one for your child!! You know how I love coordinated outfits...