Almost a Kilo of Sari Silk!

I've been acquiring stuff lately without paying for it! No, I haven't been shoplifting! One of the items was as a result of a swap (or cowp as my mam would have said - has anyone else heard of this word for swap - I think it's of northern origin?). I gave my 1000 Great Motifs book (of which I had acquired two) to Claire but the deal ended up being a swap as she sent the items below in return. Thanks again, Claire!


Two balls of lovely RYC Cashsoft 4 ply and the Seaton Collection. As Claire says, the patterns in the Seaton Collection are a bit dated but there are some amazing colour charts in there which have taken as their inspiration the likes of, for instance, woven carpets of Turkestan, mediaeval French tapestries, Italian Renaissance frescoes, Moghul embroideries, Afghani needlework, illustrations in Old English herbals and so on.

On Saturday, I was surprised to receive a parcel containing just a few grams short of a kilo of gorgeous sari silk yarn which has been most generously donated by Hipknits to the November Cancer Charities Craft Fair. Thanks once again, Kerrie, for such a kind and generous donation!


When asked, Kerrie said she didn't mind if it was knitted up for items to sell at the fair or sold as it was. I decided to knit up one of the smaller skeins to make a hat and used the free pattern on the Hipknits site. My reasoning is that I'm almost certain that not many, if any at all, people locally will have seen sari silk yarn before so it would be good for them to see how it knits up to encourage them to buy it. I thought I might also print out some of the free sari silk online patterns to take to the Craft Fair for further customer encouragement! Anyway, here's a photo of the hat.


It's knitted from the top down and the pattern says to do it on two needles (straights). Well, I decided I wanted to do it in the round and took it to Maidstone Knitters with me but found it most awkward trying to get the first row done which involved casting on eight stitches spread over relatively long DPNs and immediately increasing to 16 stitches on the first row whilst at the same time making sure it wasn't twisted. This was made extra difficult as the yarn is quite hairy so you need to really look to see what you're doing. After several attempts I gave up and decided to do it at home where I could concentrate on it better. I was glad I persevered because I love the way the colour changes have worked out in the round.

It was great to see Jan again at Maidstone Knitters after such a long time and she brought with her loads of yarn as she'd been destashing. We shared it between us but I was very good and only accepted this three balls of Patons Pablo below which I'm going to make into hats for the Charity Craft Fair.


Sue, Maidstone Knitters textiles artist 'in residence', showed us how to make one of her fantastic wire bracelets which looks like it's knitted but which is actually made by using a wire wrapping technique. I took some photos during the demo and I'll put these up on the Maidstone Knitters blog later along with instructions on how to make it. I had a go myself today but the wire I used was too thick and I need to have another go with thinner wire.

Remember the crocheted wire chokers I've been making. Below front is one in process.


Well, the medallions I've been using for these have little holes in them which are just crying out to have gems stuck in them to fill them up. However, despite searching high and low for several weeks now I've not been successful in finding the pointed back cabochons that they need. Well, it came to me today that I could use Swarovski Crystal bicones (bicones being two cones end to end as it were have two pointed ends, right?) I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I had some amethyst Swarovski Crystal bicones which were just the right size and the right colour for the purple one I'd crocheted. This is how it looks close up now it's been studded with the Swarovski Crystals.


They haven't been stuck in yet but I have the glue, etc, ready for the job and I think I'll place them in the holes with tweezers to make sure that they go in straight when I do the job properly! I've got some more Swarovski Crystals to make a beaded button loop and a matching amethyst Swarovski Crystal button is planned for fastening.