There is a whole lot to choose from when it comes to knitted fashion and it can be a horror wondering where to start. So I have to take my handmade hat off to The Dark Knit and her ongoing cause to tell you pick out some of the finest examples.
The Dark Knit is a blogger from Oslo, Norway, who launched her Daily Knit in June 2010 and has been posting her knitted finds ever since.
Though she hasn't managed to keep to the daily part some of her finds are fabulous, such as a flamboyant flamenco dress, an overwhelmingly pink wedding dress, Milla Jovovich's knitwear for Escada, and a Mickey Mouse 80s classic.
She also designs, make and shares some inspiring stuff of her own involving all manner of crafts from beading to crochet.
Throw in some Oslo sunsets and it's definitely a blog worth watching.
Knitted furniture can sound all kinds of wrong as visions of baggy, badly sewn square-covered armchairs fill your head. That is until you see something simple, stitched and stylish and it completely changes your mind. This little knitting pattern does just that.
The Puff Daddy Stool from Pickles, a team of two Norwegian crafters, takes its inspiration from the rather more pricey Urchin Pouf from designer Christien Meindertsma.
It's a simpler, more affordable version that you can knit yourself holding three strands of yarn together for that chunky look.
The site also features a huge number of tutorial leading down paths of crochet, sewing and cupcakes.
Put your feet up on your knitted pouf and relax safe in the knowledge you are your own interior designer.
A swish set of vintage buttons can turn a simple piece of clothing into something rather fabulous in a few stitches. The trouble is that it's often tough to find the perfect buttons to make your item of clothing retro-chic.
One of my favourite 'hidden' vintage treasures, Nichols Buttons, have just dug out a new range of buttons from their seemingly endless supply. The buttons are made by Lionel Nichols who was a lone glass maker producing handmade couture buttons from 1946 to 1966 in London's Marylebone.
A 1958 article in 'British Buttons' called Lionel "one of the last British outposts of the glass button craft" and it's amazing that you can still buy his handmade treasures today.
Dixie Nichols, his daughter, runs special events and sells sets of his buttons, as well as some jaw-droppingly beautiful one-off buttons at their online shop.
According to those fashion-forward types the bib necklace is very in at the moment. The likes of Natalia Vodianova and Mischa Barton are sporting neck danglers that cost thousands of pounds from top designers. Spend your hard-earned on a bit of bling when you can craft your own? Pah!
The How to Make Your Own Bib Necklace tutorial from Pom Pom Emporium gallops to the rescue. Felt, ribbon, some lovely buttons and a bit of crafting and you've got a necklace that will beat the pants off the celeb versions with handcrafted style.
There's a massive variety of versions on the site too to help you on your way to finding a style of your own, along with a wealth of links to sites where you can find buttons and shinies to add to your art.
Affordable fabulousness.
When it comes down to it if you can craft with it you can probably find a way of wearing it. A point proven astoundingly well by the fashion folk at one of Fifth Avenue's trendiest New York stores.
These fabulous crafty fashion creations were found by our style reporters from OSOYOU and Catwalk Queen in the fashion fabulous heart of New York. They have been sent to hunt down style for the launch of the new Sex and the City 2 film thanks to the kind folks at HP.
The dresses feature in the Henri Bendel store and are all made out of everyday objects - cup cake wrappers, hair curlers, sugar crystal sticks, playing cards, marshmallows, sweetie papers and feathers.
Clearly fashion is hinting that if the apocalypse ever comes we're never going to run out of items to help us look crafty and chic.
Everyone should be encouraged to take their vote seriously in as many ways as possible. If you can't get the message across with words then how about a bit of encouragement to vote via the medium of cross stitch?
My Little Stitches has created a set of four election-themed cross stitch charts to aid people in their quest to get their fellows to vote. Featuring phrases like "Be seen. Be heard. Vote. Be counted." and "Bad politicians are given power by good people who don't vote" the cross stitch patterns have the potential to be used anywhere once they're stitched up.
You can also find out more about the patterns on Craftivist and see larger versions on their Flickr group.
Related posts: How to make a fabric rosette
Election Fever sweeps the nation as the UK gears up towards going to the polls on May 6th. All over the country, and the virtual UK on the net, they're fighting it out in glorious yellow, blue and red (with the occasional bit of green).
Election rosettes tend to err on the 'part of a clown's outfit' side of things so I hunted down these rather lovely rosettes to help show where you stand with a bit of style.
Preprodepot sell all manner of retro fabric fabulousness and also run a blog featuring ideas on what to do with your precious purchases. Their Little Rosette Ornaments tutorial takes scrap fabric and vintage buttons and turns them into something stylish.
To adapt the pattern to a simple stylish rosette you can stitch something in your colour of choice, then add a brooch pin of the back and a couple of ribbons.
Pledge your party allegiance with a bit of panache.
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