Lambretta

I love seeing projects made from my patterns, and this one is special as Wendy has made a this lambretta for her husband using my vespa pattern. It is not an easy pattern, as there are a lot of little pieces to attach, and an insert to keep it rigid. She has done a great job!

Lambretta Wedding Anniversary

I had an enquiry on Etsy from Ally, who wondered if I could make a lambretta scooter, as a gift for her husband on their first wedding anniversary. I hope she doesn't mind me mentioning that they went on their first date when they were 12, went their separate ways, but met up again 35 years later. How cute it that? She sent me a photograph, and I thought I could give it a go ...

I actually love this sort of order, when I am following my own pattern, but having to personalise it. The lambretta is different to a vespa in quite a few ways. The back section is longer and doesn't have the wheel hubs, and the seat has a very distinctive kink at the back. The front and hub caps are slightly different in shape, and the wheels smaller.

So I am wishing Ally and Col at very Happy Wedding Anniversary celebration on Monday.

Just a reminder that there is still time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for June. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Pink Vespa

I have been busy making a Pink Vespa from my own Vespa pattern for a customer on Etsy. I will make these to order in any colour, or you can make your own. The pattern is available in all the usual places.

What was really nice with this order was that it came from a customer who has shopped with me previously. Quite a few years ago. And it was really nice to hear that she now has a new granddaughter who is now getting old enough to play with some of the knitted toys that she bought back then.
 

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for June. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Red Vespa

I have a new item in my Etsy shop, which is my Vespa Scooter. Up until now I have only had the pattern for sale, but I had a request from someone in New York to make a Red Vespa, as a birthday gift for a friend. I'm not sure why I hadn't listed it before, but it is quite fun to have a break from the pattern writing, (or trying to pattern write as it is not going very well at the minute), to knit a customised item. I also like to returning to my own patterns, and on reknitting I decided to slightly reduce the size of the wheels, as I think it looks more realistic like this.  

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for March. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Vespa

Ta dah! At long last I have finished my latest pattern. No one guessed that what I have been making is a Vespa scooter. Iconic, and I think those who are into them really, really love them. 

It was also one of my patterns where I was spurred on by being told I could not possibly knit one. You might say pig-headed, I would say determined.

So for Vespa-lovers, I would call this knit an ornament, and definitely not a toy. (I would quite like to display my knitted scooters under glass domes.) There are a huge number of different models of Vespa, and I have spent a long time looking at them. They have slight variations, but I would call this classic Vespa. I have a Pinterest board where I have saved loads of pictures of Vespas old and new, and also started saving celebrities on their Vespas, (also old and new). 

What I love is all the colours that Vespa scooters come in. You really could knit this in any colour and not be wrong. I thought I would need to insert wire in the handlebars, but by using thickish wool and small needles, the icord is rigid enough without.

The structure of the body is made by using a bit of card in the the front panel and base. There is a template for this in the pattern. The pattern is 14 pages long, and jam packed with photos to help with the construction.

One of the main problems I had writing up the pattern is that I don't really know the correct names for parts of the scooter. (After all, I am a knitter, not a mechanic.)  The knitting of the parts is not hard, but the sewing together is quite fiddly.

The pattern is available on ravelry, Etsy, and LoveKnitting.

And here is a photo of my daughter, sitting on someone else's Vespa at Goodwood this year.  I would love to be able to nip around on a Vespa.