Inspiration
Let the Merry Making Begin
Dear readers,
Today is U.S. Thanksgiving, so we’re hunkering down in New York and Nashville, with plentiful pie and our families. We’re grateful for what we have. We’re also grateful for what we’ve had.
One of the things we’ve shared is the friendship of knitting enthusiasts and bon vivants all over the world, thanks to the internet.
One of those friends was Belinda Boaden. Recently we went looking for Belinda’s patterns (with her partner in True Brit Knits, Wendy Baker), on Ravelry, as you do when you’re missing somebody. Our lower lips began to wobble when we realized that these patterns are no longer available.
There was one in particular that we were looking for in this season of gratitude and warmth:
Belinda and Wendy published this pattern in 2012. At that time, in the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy, they donated all proceeds to a charity that delivers meals to the elderly in New York City. It was a loving gesture from two Londoners.
The Hampstead Wreath is a cool, quick, project, using fat yarn and chewy cables, with lots of embellishment options. People really had fun with it. The pattern led non-plumbers on this side of the Atlantic to ponder what “pipe lagging” possibly could be, and sent us scurrying to Michael’s for U.S. American styrofoam wreath forms instead. (It took days to get the Yankee Candle smells out of my nostrils!)
Recently we got in touch with Wendy, and asked if we could bring back the Hampstead Wreath pattern. She said yes!
(One of the best doors on Tudor Road, known for its good doors.)
So, here, for your holiday decorating and merry making, is a link for a free download of the Hampstead Wreath pattern. Thank you so much, Wendy.
Here’s the one I made back in 2012:
No false modesty here: it was pretty dang awesome. (Think how many more pom poms it would have had on it if I’d had a Loome Tool back then!)
If you’re doing handmade holiday decorations this year, you might also take a look at the following:
Christmas Jumper Wreaths, by Zoe Michel. A brand-new pattern. Bereft of pom poms, but so beautiful.
Our very own New Ancestral Christmas Stocking. This is your chance to become The Stocking Maker of your generation. There’s still time!
A wreath with no knitting whatsoever. We spied this beaut on the Loome Tool’s Instagram feed. They say you can make one using a wire or styrofoam wreath form, and either tie or hot-glue approximately one million pom poms to it. Isn’t it something? If I had one I’d leave it up all year.
Here’s wishing everyone in the United States a happy Thanksgiving, and a helper to make a production out of checking the turkey while you toss a salad in your lap.
Love,
Kay and Ann
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving! I’ll wear my Belinda Wrap today (and head to Michael’s tomorrow for a wreath form with the wrap pulled up over my nose). xoc
Thanks for the wreath ideas! I made one years ago that I just love, but I’ve been thinking I need a new one. Here’s a link to the one I made – no knitting required. http://www.yarnista.com/blog/2011/1/20/yarn-wreath-tutorial.html
Happy Thanksgiving. And thanks for sharing.
Good morning, Happy Thanksgiving and thank you. I’m grateful for MDK!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I found this pattern last weekend, buried in a folder knitting PFDs. So sweet to see it here. Happy Thanks everyone!
I must confess that mention of Belinda brought tears to my eyes. I only knew her from the comments section here on MDK, but truly miss her presence.
Happy Thanksgiving! That wreath is very beautiful.
Happy Thanksgiving to you guys. I made a Hampstead Wreath when the pattern first came out and have gifted a few in the years since. I asked Mark where ours is first thing this am before I saw this post. It is fitting to remember her on a day when I am thankful for all the wonderful creative people that have crossed my path. I am thankful today for all the remind me of the good in this crazy world. Knitters are high on that list
I knit one, in plain stockinette, and attached a whole slew of crochet flowers onto it. So mayhaps mine is a bit more ecumenical.
One holiday season I made a ton of crocheted roses and sewed pins on them to give to my mother’s nurses and aides at the nursing home. The leftovers (they were like crack to make) were put on the wreath.
I ate Thanksgiving luncheon there for years … and today I am making a Thanksgiving chicken. Preferable to the husband and my boys.
Happy Thanksgiving, to one and all.
Way cool wreath! That just moved to the top of my to-do list. Thanks for the pattern. Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Is it just me, or is the “Helper” not only checking a turkey roasted breast side down, (one of many alternative methods of roasting the bird), he’s got the meat thermometer checking the giblet packet he forgot to remove from the secret hiding place? Perhaps he wants to make sure that the breast meat is completely flavored with roasted liver and gizzard essences? May all your birds, tofurkeys, and such be delightfully edible!
So many questions raised by this image. The caption should be “Can this marriage be saved?” Or maybe they’re made for each other!
The first thing I noticed in that photo is the woman tossing the salad in her lap. What??!! No one does that! And I bet that man put on the chef’s hat just so he could check the turkey, hoping that the guests would arrive while he was still wearing it so that he could give them the mistaken assumption that he was responsible for the dinner.
(I should talk. My husband is a fabulous cook and he adores Thanksgiving, so we always eat well. This year it’s a turkey with a smoked tea rub; among the side dishes will be sweet potatoes baked with a glaze of maple syrup, whiskey, and pepper. This is a grown-ups meal.)
I’d let him wear the hat, Judy!
Every one of these wreaths made me smile.
I started making Fair Isle Christmas stockings for my four children back in 2003. Had I known that I would have six more children in the following twelve years, I might have picked a different style. Lucky for me, the oldest two moved out and let me reuse their old stockings for their youngest two sibs. But eight Fair Isle stockings…Second Sock Syndrome has nothing on that.
They will always be remembered and treasured.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Thank you for this. I just went to London for the second time. The first time was about 6 months before Belinda’s death and we had a long and wonderful email correspondence about what I should do in London. After a lot of back and forth she told me she had cancer but that treatment (at the time) seemed to be working. I didn’t get to meet her because she was on holiday while I was there. For this recent trip I pulled up those old emails and cried, but while there, did several of the things I hadn’t gotten to the first time in her memory. If she had this effect on me, I can’t imagine what her loss feels like to friends and family.
Wonderful!
I’ve knitted 4 (count them) Hampstead Wreaths for myself and my 3 daughters-in-law. All of them were fabulous additions tour seasonal decor. I’m looking around for the next likely recipient….hmmm. Best wishes to all of you at MDK.
Edit: “to our”. I really hate bad grammar and typos.
Love the pattern for the Christmas Jumper Wreath….but not so much the message the designer chose as an option for the back. Perhaps it was an attempt at humour, but it’s profanity doesn’t seem in the Christmas spirit, or in the spirit of MDK.
My yarn has just landed to make this glorious wreath! Will knit along and think of Belinda – miss her and her True Britishness so much. Thanks Wendy for making the pattern available to download