New in my Etsy Shop!

If you follow me on social media, this week you will have seen a sneak peek of some new pieces I've been working on lately. I'm delighted to reveal them now- I've just added them to my Etsy Shop!

Meet my new Fair Isle necklaces with pom poms! 

I'd been wanting to add to my Fair Isle jewellery range and create some really bright, fun pieces. Adding a pom pom in a contrasting colour to the bottom of each necklace has added a happy quirkiness to the range.

I certainly had fun making them and I hope people have fun wearing them too. The world needs more pom poms!

There are currently three colour ways to choose from, all hand knitted to my own patterns using Shetland Wool. Which one is your favourite?

I will be adding more colours and I am always happy to make custom orders if you would like one in a particular colour combo, just let me know! 

Thank you for letting me share these with you today. I hope you have a lovely week.

Louise xx

Knitting Project- Tiny Clanger

The Clangers are back and my three year old niece loves them, and this inspired my latest knitting project! I bought the Clangers book which shows you how to make all of the characters (I'd love to make the Soup Dragon next!) and how to make their planet (they live on a moon like planet far away in space, in case you were wondering!) and I've knitted her Tiny Clanger, as she is her favourite character.

Although I haven't made many toys and I found the sewing up the hardest part, I really enjoyed working on something a bit different- ooh and knitting in lovely King Cole Baby Alpaca DK. The pattern is very clever too, it's all worked in one piece apart from the arms and ears. I hope my niece loves her- I think they are so sweet I'd quite like to make one for myself!

What are you knitting at the moment? Share your projects in the comments, I'd love to see what you are working on!

New In My Etsy Shop- Hand Knitted Fair Isle Brooches!

I've just added some new hand knitted Fair Isle brooches to my Etsy shop! I love working with British materials so I have hand knitted each piece in beautiful British wool to a Fair Isle pattern of my own design.They are a lovely way to wear British wool and are the ideal Autumn/Winter accessory to brighten up your coat or cardigan, Take a look at these and my other Fair Isle brooches and necklaces in my Etsy shop here

Each brooch is aprox. 4cm x 4cm and very light weight to wear. They are backed with greyfelt and a round, gold toned brooch back

Fair Isle brooch hand knitted in pink, grey, blue, mustard and cream British wool

Fair Isle brooch hand knitted in pink, blues, mustard and cream British wool

Fair Isle brooch hand knitted in pink, blue, mustard and cream British wool

All my jewellery pieces arrive presented in a hand decorated box, making them ideal gifts

I've just launched my Fair Isle Jewellery Collection!

I'm very happy to tell you that I've just added my new Fair Isle knitted jewellery collection to my Etsy Shop! I have used Shetland wool to hand knit each brooch and necklace as this was traditionally used for Fair Isle knitting and I love to use British made materials.

The pieces are very easy to wear- I've been wearing mine with my favourite Tweed jacket. Each piece comes packaged in a beautifully hand decorated gift box too, making them the ideal Christmas gift. I've really enjoyed making them so I'm so excited to finally be able to share them with you!

New rings in my Etsy shop!

I've just added a selection of new handmade knitted, Harris Tweed and felt rings to my Etsy shop- check them out here! 

The rings come beautifully presented in a hand branded gift box, making them a lovely gift

Today I'm also debuting a new design inspired by my flower hair slides (also available in my Etsy shop)- over sized flower rings embellished with Swarovski Crystals or a vintage button! If you would like a ring in a particular colour you can't see featured in my shop, I'm always happy to make a custom order, just ask!

Christmas Fair festivities!

I can't believe there are only two weeks left until Christmas day! I've been getting in the spirit and had a very festive weekend! On Saturday I had a thoroughly enjoyable (and unseasonably warm) day taking part in The Minories Christmas Art and Design Fair in Colchester. I enjoyed chatting to lots of new people as well as catching up with some familiar faces! There was such a lovely atmosphere and The Minories is a beautiful building for events like this- my table was in the Ballroom.

My Bookmarks 

 My neighbor at The Minories fair was the lovely Lindsay from Slumbermonkey Designs. check out her lovely handbag mirrors- they feature Lindsay's own designs. I also loved her shrink plastic jewellery created using her own illustrations- check out her Etsy Shop here

Clare Sams quirky knitted pieces are right up my street! What a talented lady, check out her website to see more of her brilliantly subversive knitted pieces

Mary Lu had taken over the Garden Room with their vintage clothing and homewares- all very tempting! Both Mary and Lucy taught me at college so it was nice to chat to them

On Sunday, I wrapped up warm and traveled to London to share a stand at Spitalfields with my frien Louisa Dash who makes beautiful accessories.

A Christmassy Spitalfields Market

Louisa makes these beautiful statement leather flower brooches, i-pad cases,  key chains and bags. We had a lovely busy day and we did treat ourselves to some nice food from the market- it's very hard to resist!

Thank you if you came to say hi over the weekend. I'm happy to think that Louise Dawson Design pieces will be wrapped under some Christmas Trees :o) Merry Christmas to you all!

New Brooches!

Some new pieces I've made in the studio today today... Harris Tweed brooches and also knitted brooches, embellished with recycled fabric pieces. Each one is unique and perfect for accessorizing in the cold with big knits and a winter jacket! I like to wear a big cluster of them together for a hit of colour.

These ones are heading to an event I've got coming up (more on this soon!) but you can check out similar ones in my Etsy shop.

New additions!

Some new additions- cover button Bookmarks! These are a quirky take on the traditional Bookmark, handmade using small cover buttons with a giant paper clip base. They are made using Harris Tweed off-cuts and knitted pieces, embellished with recycled fabric "sequins."

These will be available to buy at Open Studios and I will be adding them to my Etsy shop soon!

Back to my roots

I'm currently looking through images of my work right through from when I graduated nearly five years ago, up to today (can't believe it's been five years!). I want to create a photo timeline with them for the Open Studios weekend to show the journey of my work so far. To be honest it's as much for my own reference as my visitors- I want to look back to my roots and re-affirm the philosophies of my work!

So this is where it all started! For my graduate collection I made three knitted hangings (each about three metres long) based on the theme of Make Do and Mend, combining knit with unexpected recycled materials, including glass, meat hooks, plastic food packaging and household paint, to name just a few. My aim was to utilise these unwanted materials and re-purpose them into something beautiful, and this is a philosophy I still work to now.

Knitted hanging embellished with recycled materials

This may look familiar- I embellished one hanging with strings of knit covered beads
embellished with recycled materials. I took this idea forward and developed my first collection of necklaces!

I collected glass bowls, jugs etc from charity shops and broke them into pieces with a hammer 

(very therapeutic!) I attached washers and wool and then hooked these onto my knitting machine, actually knitting them into the piece 

I'll share more images from my creative journey with you as I continue in my retrospective endeavor! 

Pieces I've finished today

Here are some new knitted brooches I've finished this afternoon, between taking photos of Cuckoo Farm Studios in the sun (I'll share these with you later in the week) and drinking tea on the bench outside my studio (it's so lovely it has to be done!) Remember all of my pieces are available to buy, please get in touch!

Latest work

Just a little update- thank you everyone who has liked my Facebook page so far. On Tuesday I drew a name at random to win one of my handmade necklaces- please like my page for more competitions and offers coming soon!

The new collection is gradually coming together and I'm hoping to have another photo shoot soon and then an update of my online shop. Tomorrow I'm going to start work on the knitted brooches and I'm hoping it's going to be another lovely sunny day- sun shining into the studio always helps me work!

New coloured Tweed brooches in progress!

I'm also hoping to get the chance tomorrow to have a bit of an experiment with some old papers (more on those soon) and varnish, with the hope that I can incorporate the results into some future work

The Selvedge Winter Fair

On Saturday 10th November I will be taking part in the Selvedge Magazine Winter Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall, King's Road, London. It's on from 10am-4pm, do come along and pop in if you're in the area. There will be over 60 exhibitors and I'll have a range of brooches, rings and necklaces on sale-it's a great opportunity to buy some lovely handmade gifts for Christmas, or just to treat yourself! Find out more at selvedge.org

A selection of knitted and felted necklaces I'm working on, embellished with found objects and broken jewellery

Detail of knitted necklace embellished with beads taken from broken jewellery

Hope to see you there!