Tuesday 12 August 2008

On Board

A little over a year ago I found that I was listening more and more to Zane Lowe's 'new music' programme on Radio 1 - particularly when I settled in for an evening knitting sess. For reasons that probably made no more sense at the time than they do now, I began a one woman campaign to get Zane to say 'knit' on the air by texting in response to his "who's on board" show opener. I was successful, and have even managed to be immortalised as knitting socks for rappers on the Radio 1 website.

So somehow Zane has sort of become linked to knitting in my mind. (I expect that news would thrill him.) A couple of weeks ago he became a father for the second time and it seemed obvious that it was time for me to put my knitting where my mouth (errrr...mobile phone) was.

I considered bootees or a hat but finally settled on the idea of a hoodie. I used a pattern from Chic Knits for Stylish Babies , knit it up in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and added a few embellishments -- specifically a row of colourful beads around the bottom spelling out 'on board' and some specially constructed buttons.

When I came up with the 'on board' hoodie idea I thought sourcing buttons with letters on them would be easy. I'd be tripping over letter buttons - I'd be spoiled for choice.

Ha! How naive I was about the world of letter buttons. Turns out that buttons with letters on them are a rarity. I found 1 style of buttons in the UK - but they were kind of ugly and they were out of stock on 3 or 4 crucial letters. I found 1 style in the US - but they weren't great and I was too impatient to wait in any event.

Not put off by the great letter button shortage of 2008 I came up with the idea of using beads (letter beads being a little easier to source) and creating my own buttons.

I made the buttons by tieing the beads into the centre of plain 4 hole buttons - and I'm quite pleased with the effect. The biggest revelation was that with a lot of determination and a teeny weeny crochet hook you can get aran weight yarn through an itsy bitsy bead hole.

Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to take cool close up pictures of the beads before I sent the hoodie off -- so these fuzzy pictures of the detailing will have to do.









I will confess that I was thinking I'd not post about this -- there is something sort of embarassing about knitting a hoodie for a Radio 1 DJ's baby when you aren't 14. But when I read yesterday that Kate Moss made the news by trying (and failing) to get into the DJ booth with him in Ibiza I decided a handknit baby hoodie wasn't so bad.

15 comments:

Gale Bulkley said...

Love your buttons, and the hoodie.

Crescendo said...

Your digital camera should have a flower button, or a macro or flower setting. Use that to take close ups!

Anonymous said...

never too late to become a teenage girl---again. very kind of you.

The Caked Crusader said...

and yet you persist in mocking me for my totally healthy and in no way obsessive interest in David Tennant?

Kate said...

I think that's the cutest baby hoodie ever. :-) If he mentions it on air, do let us know so we can listen again!

florencemary said...

That's just too sweet, Soo! I'm expecting an update from you when Zane mentions it! I'm afraid I don't listen to his radio show, but I do watch him on MTV sometimes... I may be, ahem, 52, but I can still be young at heart!

Lothlorian said...

I listen to Zane, I bet that the hoodie is a big hit with him! Its very nice.

Just realised...no pun intended with big hit and radio dj ;)

Unknown said...

What a fantastic idea for the buttons!!

fleegle said...

The hoodie and the buttons are adorable! Yeah, you should have a macro setting for your camera--even the oldest ones have some way of taking close-ups.

Opal said...

What a rockin' hoodie! ;-)

Yarndancer said...

Cute hoodie! And I love the bead-buttons!

Anonymous said...

It's brilliant!

picperfic said...

gorgeous hoodie, love the beads and buttons!

Viknits said...

Oooh you saddo! :p only messing, it's a cool idea, hope he appreciates it and you get a mention on air! Well done for having the patience to get aran yarn through those tiny beads!! I'm not a Radio 1 listener (I'm an avid radio 2 fan), but let us know if he mentions it then I can do the listne again thing!

Batty said...

Fabulous hoodie, lucky kid! There are definite advantages to being a radio personality, and getting gifts like this is one of them.