KnitYoga

Typepad Trial

2011-12-26T12:49:00.004Z

I have a new Typepad blog here that I am giving a free 14 day trial. I may stay there or continue with Blogger. Not sure yet.

Salt & Pepper Pot Snow People

2011-12-12T23:55:00.006Z

I was inspired by this blog post and made these.

Autumn Projects and More Quilt Blocks

2011-11-12T22:02:00.012Z

Some autumn mail art for a swap. This is the first time I've altered envelopes.

Here is what the backs of the envelopes look like.

Staying with the autumn theme, here's an ATC that uses a wax crayon resist technique for the background. The elf is etched onto parchment paper, cut out and coloured from the back.

Lastly, here are three more blocks to go towards my sampler quilt. I'm loving making these blocks. First, grandmother's fan.

Then, stained glass tulip.

Finally, Dresden plate.

Update

2011-10-07T20:18:00.009+01:00

Here's what I've been up to since I last updated. I made some more fabric paper. This one has skeleton leaves embedded into it.

And this one has lace incorporated into it.

A bead embroidered heart following a Doodling with Beads class with Christen Brown.

A few weeks ago, I started a hand quilting class locally (well, twenty minutes drive away) and have made three quilt blocks so far. The pic below shows the Shoo Fly and Honey Bee blocks that I've made.

This one is the Celtic Knot block.

When I have around fifteen blocks made, I'll use them in a sampler quilt for the single bed in our spare room. I'm really enjoying it and the tutor is so helpful and encouraging. The other ladies who attend are friendly with a great sense of humour so we have a bit of a laugh, too.

Lastly, for now, an autumn themed fabric postcard that I made for a swap.

We had family from Wales visiting recently and we explored some of the local attractions so I'll post about that next time. Plus I think it's about time to show some of the stuff that other people have sent me in swaps over the last several months. Back soon!

Another Art Quilt and Drunken Scotch Leaves

2011-09-08T13:03:00.007+01:00

Here is a pic of my second art quilt.

The purple and green fabrics are both hand painted. The central motif is a piece of fused angelina fibres. The heart in the centre of the angelina piece was made by using a stencil and embossing powder and then I made a sort of stitch sampler out of the whole piece by sewing all over it with decorative stitches and various threads on my sewing machine. Below is a photo of the angelina motif before it was added to the quilt.

I made this motif some time ago and just put it to one side as I didn't know what to do with it until now. After I'd added the central motif, I quilted around it following the design of the motif's shape. Then I beaded around and within the frame of the motif and also around the central heart to make it a focal point.

Afterwards, I added some bead embroidered motifs around the central piece and I changed these and repositioned some as I went to make it work better for me. From top left working clockwise they are bead embroidered motif, silver face charm beaded around, button with bead embroidery over the top of it, shisha mirror with curtain ring embroidered over with embroidery thread placed over the top and then the whole thing bead embroidered around, oya motif with silver sequin underneath, polymer clay heart face with bead embroidery around, another button with bead embroidery over the top of it, a dorset button that I made and then beaded which also has a heart rhinestone in the middle of it, a heart oya motif, a silver filigree charm that I have used the holes to bead embroider through and then I've bead embroidered around the whole shape.

After that, I added the bead embroidered fringe. The quilt is much more colourful and textural in real life and, although at first, I felt I had spent a lot of time on it and it didn't feel like it had turned out as well as I would have liked, it's beginning to grow on me. :-D

Today, I'm making autumn leaves using the Drunken Scotch technique. Here are the first four I've finished.

As they are made from grunge paper which can be stitched through, I may use them in another art quilt.

Bead Embroidery and Art Quilt

2011-08-30T16:54:00.005+01:00

Here is a pic of my first art quilt.

A bead embroidered butterfly.

And some bead embroidered motifs on felt.

Finished Tandletons and some Cards

2011-08-07T23:03:00.008+01:00

Here are all eight tandletons finished.

And here is a necklace made out of seven of them. Making the tandletons was fun!

I made some Xmas cards at the end of July! Has to be a first for me. The snowmen, penguins and holly are stamps that I stamped out and then coloured in. The lantern and globe shapes I cut from templates.

I also had a first go at parchment craft and made these two cards.

More Projects

2011-07-31T15:24:00.016+01:00

A pincushion cuff I made for a swap recently.

Here it is modelled by "Thing", which is a really creepy dummy hand that I use to take pics of mitts, gloves, etc, and now it's obliging me with cuff modelling. Thank you, Thing! Remember tha Adams Family?

Another foiling project. This is a pen tub that I made out of a piece of cardboard mailing tube. The base is a circle of card with a thin bangle glued around the edge to hold it in place.

Birdhouse embroidery on paper

A couple of summer bracelets. I sent one of them for a swap and kept the other but I can't say which one as the recipient hasn't received it yet!

And I got to know my Bernina Embroidery Module a little better. I love it. One of the things it can do is to make lace motifs. You just have to thread it with some pretty thread. I used this one.

Hoop up with some soluble stabiliser and fit the hoop. Program the machine to stitch out a design that will work for lace (I chose a butterfly) and I programmed it to stitch in a couple of sizes and pressed start. Then I went and had a cup of tea and came back to find my butterflies all sewn out. I took it out of the hoop, tore away the excess stabiliser and then held the motifs under cold running water for a while. Tada, lace butterflies! I think I might make a choker type necklace with one of them.

Lastly, I've been making Tandletons - TA (Tatted), NDLE (Needle Lace), TONS (buttons). First, you make the bases with Hanah Silk Bias ribbon.

Then you decorate them. You can use traditional embroidery stitches, ribbon embroidery, needle lace, tatting, beading, etc. I've finished four up to now.

Printing on Fabric and Image Transfers

2011-07-29T12:58:00.006+01:00

I often find an interesting image that I would like to either put onto fabric or use on paper or card without either just printing it directly onto the paper or collaging it. In the first case, I've used those special fabric sheets that you can buy to go through your inkjet printer but those work out very expensive so I've also used my own fabric ironed onto freezer paper and put that through my printer in an effort to economise. With this more economical method, I've found that the results are very much affected by the quality and type of fabric used. One obvious example is, if you use a fabric with a very open weave, you will not get a very good image. I used the printing on fabric method for my Pink Lady and Sepia Lady fabric postcards which you can see here.

Recently, I've been experimenting a bit with transfers. There are many ways of transferring and, depending on the medium used, you get a different result but, generally, the transer images will not be as sharp as those printed directly through a printer. You can, however, get a more 'arty' look with transfers. It all depends on what sort of effect you want to create.

Some examples of various mediums that can be used to transfer images onto paper or fabric are gel medium, Citra Solv and Pinesol. I had tried transferring with gel medium onto Lutrudur for this project but had not tried the Citra Solv or Pinesol. A search for a Citra Solv UK stockist unearthed this supplier but they don't have the Citra Solv concentrate which appears to be the product used for transfers. As I haven't been able to find a UK stockist for Pinesol either and the thing that these two products seemed to have in common was that they had a high concentration of citrus in them, I decided to see if the general purpose lemon cleaner that I use in my kitchen would work. So, a little while ago, I tried transferring some images for ATCs onto card with my general purpose lemon cleaner and it worked! These are the results I got.

I did try on fabric too and got a more blurry image. I like the effect of the general purpose lemon cleaner transfer on card. It gives a sort of grainy, aged look.

What I've Been Up To

2011-07-16T18:53:00.036+01:00

It's so easy to get behind with blogging but, because I've kept this blog going for so long, I feel it's a shame not to keep it up. I find that the longer I leave it, the more onerous a task it seems to be so I'm just going to get on with it, Please expect a long and photo heavy post and, if you make it to the end, you deserve a trophy! LOL

This is a bird's nest necklace made from wire and beads that I was inspired to make by a charm I received in a swap a while ago. I didn't have the right gauge wire so it turned out a bit bigger than the one I got in the swap and I would have preferred to do it in copper rather than silver but didn't have copper. Oh, well, at least I had a go at wire wrapping the nest.

A Marilyn button fairy.

I've been experimenting with different fairy wings.

The top ones are made from fantasy film that has been stamped and then ironed. The middle ones are vellum with butterfly wing peel offs stuck on and then cut around and the bottom ones are printed with an inkjet printer on transparency.

The bottom wings in the photo above are just cut out of glittery paper. There are loads of different ways of making fairy wings and these are just a few of them.

More ATCs. This one features grungeboard letters on foiled and painted Vilene.

I made this set of seven teabag folding ATCs below for a swap I'm taking part in. I decided to try teabag folding and it seemed a good idea to make some of them into ATCs. I stamped a script stamp with Versamark and then embossed with tinsel gold embossing powder and then I used joss papers at the sides. Six were for the swap and I kept one for my personal collection.

Then I made some more and used them on greetings cards.

This one uses the pentagon fold.

Finally, some more that haven't found their way onto ATCs or cards yet.

Now for general greetings cards that I've made. The first one is a fox side stacker easel card.

A squirrel twisted pyramage.

A layered card on acetate.

And a card that I made using one of the captured flowers ATCs I did and a polymer clay butterfly.

Then I had a go at making some Kanzashi flowers. A Ravelry friend of mine bought me the book "Kanzashi in Bloom" a while ago and I've been meaning to try them for ages. They were fun and satisfying to make.

Then it was back to the cardmaking with a butterfly easel card.

And my first try at decoupage.

A couple of ATCs on which I tried a new (for me) background technique using embossed wax paper as a resist. On the first one, I also overlapped some mica tiles to resemble cracked ice.

After that I wanted to try foiling so I went into foiling mode and, first, made this journal cover.

Then I used the foiling to alter an altoids tin.

This is what it looks like inside.

I decided not to make it into one of those really arty shrine type tins as I actually want to use this one to hold things.

I also made a journal page with the foiling. This is for a swap.

Lastly, here's another journal page in which I photoshopped a pic that I took on Deal pier last year and a custom image of a girl with a balloon from Deviant Art. I like the contrast of the two images and the surreal feel of it.

Well, I think that's me for now! Phew!

Book Page Blooms Tutorial

2011-07-02T14:45:00.031+01:00

I've been making flowers out of book pages lately. Here are some pics of some of them.

They are all made from book pages except the bottom one in the second pic on which I used the same method but with scrapbook paper. As a couple of people over on Ravelry asked about them, I thought I'd post a tutorial.

First, cut 10 to 20 squares from book pages.

They don't need to be absolutely perfect squares but get them as close to squares as you possibly can. The size of your square is obviously going to dictate the size of your flower. I suggest you start with about three inch squares for your first flower until you get what you're doing, then do whatever size you like.

Take a square and fold it in half diagonally. Fold it diagonally again. Then take the flap of the triangle on the right side and fold it over to the left so it looks like this.

Turn the piece over and fold the left layer over to the right. Let it open up and you'll have a piece that looks like this.

Close it up again. Find the point that has no open edges because this is the tip that you will sew through and which will hold the whole thing together. Hold that tip (this is shown at the bottom of the piece in the following photo) and cut a curve across the top. You can do this by eye but I've marked with a pen in the photo below approximately where you need to cut for ease of reference. Please note that you need to cut through all the layers.

Once you've cut it, mark your piece with a cross as you're not going to use this one as an actual petal but rather as a guide to where to cut all the other petals.

Now, start to make your petals proper. Take a square, fold it into a triangle, etc, etc, as above and when you come to the cutting part, just place the first one you did with the cross on over the top of the petal you're working on, line it up and use it as a guide to cut the curve so that they will all look the same.

I've been using eighteen to twenty petals on my book page blooms but, for this one, I'm just going to use twelve petals and see how it looks. Once you have the number of petals you've decided to use, thread a needle with some strong thread. I used six-stranded embroidery thread and just separated out two strands of it and used that. Make a knot in your thread and start threading on the petals by going through the tip of each petal like this.

It's important to make sure that you actually pass the needle through all layers when you sew through the tip.

You don't need to thread the petals right down to the knot. That's just there to make sure if you do, the petals you've already threaded don't come off. Here I have about five or six petals threaded. You can see how it's beginning to fan out into a nice round flower shape.

Now, I've threaded on all twelve of my petals.

At this point, remove the needle and make sure that the petals are all lined up and none have got caught inside the other, then pull both ends of the thread until the flower is as tight as you would like it in the centre. Next tie a surgeon's knot. That's just an overhand knot but you pass the thread through the middle a second time before pulling tight. I then usually do a reef knot on top of that just to make sure it stays secure. Trim the ends.

Decide which is the top and which is the bottom. Have the bottom facing upwards as now you need something to stick on the bottom to stabilise it. I used some round wooden toy parts that I normally use as button blanks but you could use a circle of sturdy cardboard or chipboard or whatever. Glue your circle onto the bottom of your flower.

Once the glue is dry, turn the flower over so the top is facing you as it's now time to decide what to put in the middle on top of your flower. How tight you pulled the threads will dictate how big the hole is in the middle of your flower and hence whether you use a bead or a button in the centre. In this flower, I have quite a small hole so I will use a bead. Tada, another book page flower!

Try them with recycled newspaper, recycled gift wrap, recycled magazines, several layers of tissue, crepe paper, oddments of scrapbook paper, whatever. Note, that if the paper is relatively heavy, it's a bit difficult to keep the petals aligned. This happened with the one I made with scrapbook paper so I ended up gluing the petals together across the whole edge of each one rather than sewing them at the points. I only used ten petals for the one I made with scrapbook paper as that's all it really needed with the thick paper. You can also use fabric but you have the raw edges showing where you've cut the curve and, although you can singe the ends to stop any further fraying, I, personally, don't like this look.

If you let the petals go all higgledy piggledy when you pull rather than lining them up, you will end up with a ruffle flower. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Let me know if you have any questions!

Boredom

2011-06-20T18:01:00.016+01:00

Here's one side of a little treasure pocket I made recently.

And here's what it looks like from the other side.

I haven't decided which is the front and which is the back or even if it needs a front or a back. I made it as practice for a swap I was thinking of joining in on. I made it as practice because I wasn't sure how well I would do as I'm not that confident with my sewing skills and, when I'd decided it was probably okay, the swap sign up deadline had gone by.

I've also been trying painted lace cuffs. Here's one of them.

A few more ATCS. These three are embroidery on paper.

This set is captured flowers.

This is more embroidery on paper in the form of a birthday card. The dragon is quite appropriate as the person it is going to lives in Wales.

This is some of what I have been doing. For the last few days I've been in a state of such complete and utter tedium and haven't found anything to inspire me whatsoever. In short, I am BORED RIGID! :-(

ATCs

2011-06-09T18:07:00.028+01:00

A bunch of us have been doing ATCs lately and we're having a swap in which we have to make twelve each so that we can send two to each person in the swap. I started to make them and now I don't know where to stop! I keep thinking of techniques I've wanted to try for a while and even made one or two up along the way. The beauty is that, with the small size of the ATC, they're so quick to do and nothing much is lost in the way of time or money if you mess up so you can afford to experiment a bit.

I have, of course, experimented a bit with ATCs in the past but haven't made many. I made a couple using Crazy Quilting for a swap. These can be seen here and here. I also made one using a paper background, a Norman Rockwell image of Cinderella and some Beads and Flowersoft here and, lastly, one with Angelina and Stitching here. That was about it until now!

So, with my latest ones, the first set I did I used Collage.

Then I had my first try at Needlefelting and made a felted cupcake ATC and a cross between an elephant and a lamb.

After my altered bottle class with Carol Murphy in which I learnt quite a few techniques involving texture and also after watching some videos on YouTube, I experimented with Colour and Texture and made three or four ATCs by basically embedding lace, torn up scraps of muslin, sequins, etc, into mod podge and then painting it. An example of one of these backgrounds is here. With a couple of them I added a butterfly made from angelina fusible film with white angelina fused on top. I made a sheet of this and then stuck butterfly peel offs on top, cut around and then coloured the angelina with pens.

Next I made backgrounds using one of Beryl Taylor's techniques, Foiled Brown Paper. This involves crumpling up a brown paper bag, colouring and foiling it. I then adapted it somewhat by including some embossing in the form of one of Tim Holtz' Texture Fades and I added some decorative stitching to the finished ATCs. Afterwards, I played around with the paper placement. For instance, with one of them (top right in the pic below), I cut the paper into strips and wove it.

The next one incorporates some Napkin Art with a bird cutout on top and I used some glossy accents in the centre of the flower to add dimension and added beads the same colour as the centre before it dried.

Then I tried an experiment with some paper flowers and a sheet of acetate which I suppose I could call Capturing Objects.

This is what I did. I trapped the flowers behind the acetate and added some sparkle mod podge to make the flowers look shimmery. I suppose this is a bit like the captured fresh flowers that I've done in the past except here acetate is used instead of organza and mod podge fixes the whole thing together instead of Bondaweb and an iron! I can see myself trying this with fresh flowers that are flat enough to be trapped and that will hold their colour well and autumn leaves would be nice aswell. It works with skeleton leaves, too.

Basically, I think it will work with anything that is flat and thin enough to be trapped without causing any bulging beneath the acetate.

Then I got in the mood for a bit of recycling/repurposing and made the following two ATCs using Dryer Sheets as backgrounds.

Since I started my interest in mixed media, I've become a bit like a baglady. I don't throw anything away that I can see a use for and so, still in recycling mode, I used up some of my pretty Chewing Gum Wrappers for a background for this cherub ATC.

I used a mould for the cherub and some Flexplast which is a kind of very light modelling paste that is air-drying. When it was dry, I painted it with halo pink gold Lumiere paint. The decorative corners are rub-ons.

I had plans for an ATC using Flowersoft as I have that in several colours and this, coupled with my experiments with acetate, got me thinking that I could make a 3D ATC by using the acetate as a window and make a scene where the observer was looking through a window and seeing a vase of flowers on the window sill.

I drew the window on the acetate with a peel off pen. The acetate window is raised up from the background with 3D double sided tape but I'm pleased to say, despite the fact that it's raised, it still fits into an ATC pocket which can only be a good thing.

What can I say? I just can't stop! I have tons more ideas! The last time I got like this was with the Dorset buttons and, as some of you who have been reading my blog for a good while will know, those buttons even turned into turkeys, penny farthing bicycles and goodness what else!

Silly Mood

2011-06-03T18:26:00.003+01:00

I felt in quite a silly mood today and so decided to have another go at needlefelting to make a comical character. May I present to you Dumbo Lambykins!

The Winner!

2011-06-03T18:12:00.004+01:00

Okay, the name that came out of the hat was Georgina. Congratulations!

For the prize, I decided that I would purchase a £25 gift voucher from an online store of the winner's choice to be sent to the winner. So, please, Georgina, get in touch with me and let me know the store of your choice and your address details. As you are a Ravelry member, you can get in touch with me via pm on Ravelry. Thanks! :-)

Update on Competition

2011-06-02T15:44:00.006+01:00

Thanks so much to everyone who has suggested a new name for my blog. I seem to be in extreme indecisive mode at the moment not just about my blog name but about life in general! Hopefully, this will change in the next couple of weeks as this blog definitely needs a makeover.

Anyway, you all came up with such great suggestions, I can't decide on which one I like best so I thought the best way around it would be to pick a name out of the hat only I'm going to get DH to do that this evening. So, sorry for the slight delay in announcing the winner and keep your eyes peeled for the results this evening or tomorrow! Thanks again!

Arianwen, concerning your comment about needing to change my provider if I change the blog name, my understanding is that I can change my blog name but would not be able to change the URL.

I'll leave you all with a pic of one of the ATCs I've been creating recently with colour and texture in mind . . .

. . . and another on which I had a go at needlefelting a cupcake. This is my first attempt at needlefelting.

Blog Makeover and Prize Competition

2011-05-19T11:58:00.005+01:00

I'm planning to have a blog makeover. When I first started blogging about seven years ago now I think, all I really did craftwise was knitting. Now, I dabble in all sorts of arty crafty stuff but don't do much knitting! So, KnitYoga as a title is no longer appropriate. It doesn't fit any more. Also, I've been tired of the plain old blogger template for quite a while and now want something more personalised in the way of a background, banner, etc. In short, my blog needs a new lease of life. I probably do, too, but unfortunately templates for that are hard to come by! ;-)

The competition is to help me find a name for my blog that fits better. After I've decided on a name, I'll have my blog makeover done. Can't wait! If you want to enter the competition, please leave a comment, suggesting a name for my blog. Remember, I'm looking for a name that 'fits' my blog. Uniqueness, too, would be a bonus. You can make as many suggestions as you like. A prize will be awarded to the person who suggests the one I like best whether I choose to use it in the end or not. I'm in the UK but am happy to post a prize internationally so, wherever you are in the world, please leave your suggestions. I will pick a winner on the last day of this month. I have no idea what the prize will be yet but I promise it will be worth it!

Springtime Button Fairies Ready to Fly

2011-05-12T16:48:00.000+01:00

My springtime button fairies are now ready to fly. Most are going to the US and one to Singapore. A couple are for people who aren't in the swap and who aren't expecting them but a little fairy to bring some magic to one's life never goes amiss, does it?

Click on any image to see a humongous version!

ATCs and Altered Box Swap

2011-05-11T19:01:00.009+01:00

We've been making ATCs in one of the Ravelry groups I belong to. These are the ones I made.

The postman brought a lovely package yesterday all the way from the US. I organised an altered box swap and I received mine from Lisa. The idea was that we recycled an empty chocolate box or similar and altered it with a theme, colour, etc, that we thought our partner would like and then filled it with art and craft supplies that our partner could use. Lisa certainly went to town on the one I received. The theme was travel.

And it was filled to the brim with gorgeous arty crafty booty!

Spring Button Fairies

2011-05-09T11:43:00.005+01:00

I've made these for a swap.

Here's a close up of one of them.

Coaster Mini Book

2011-04-27T17:03:00.009+01:00

Mini books made out of coasters are,
apparently, "the thing" at the moment.
I say this because they were the project of the month
in two of the groups I belong to. Here's mine.
I used beer mats as that's what I had on hand.
Click on any pic to see more detail if you wish.

Altered Box

2011-04-16T20:43:00.009+01:00

Recently I organised an altered box swap.
The idea was that we took an empty chocolate box or similar, altered it
and then filled it with embellishments and other art and craft paraphernalia
that we thought our partners would be able to use in their work.
This is the box I made.

I painted it wedgewood blue on the outside and antique copper inside.
I then collaged it with reproduction vintage labels and a sepia lady image
and embellished it with vintage buttons and lace, a cameo,
lock and key, old stamps, tissue tape and an adage ticket.

Then I filled both layers and sent it off across the pond!

I had a lot of fun making this box and deciding what to put inside!

More Fleurs, Mixed Media, Repurposing and some Sewing

2011-04-03T13:11:00.012+01:00

Some more lace and ribbon flowers.
I love making these.
I'm still using the lace that I got from Kerri
as part of a swap and she, in turn, got it from goodwill.
It tickles me that all that white lace
That was cast off by someone
has now become so colourful and wanted again.
I still have enough to make two more flowers!

I made this piece some time ago and wasn't very happy with it
but I did learn from doing it.

It's made with Lutradur.
The Lutradur was painted with fabric paint
and then the bird image was printed onto a transparency
and transferred onto the Lutrudur with gel medium.
The page is from an old materia medica.
Did I ever tell you I used to be a homoeopath?
I still have my full library of books.
The image was sewn on to the background
and what's nice about it is that the Lutradur is semi-transparent,
so it allows the text from the page behind to show through
giving a layered look.
Another piece of text was inserted just behind the bird's breast
adding to the layered look.
The whole lot was then attached to a background
of stained and distressed watercolour paper.
Although I'm not really happy with it,
it was good practice and, the transfer itself,
came out well for a first attempt.
The instructions for this piece are in the book,
"Fabulous Fabric Art with Lutradur".
The book includes two sample sheets of Lutradur
and I've used both now.

A few days ago, I decided to repurpose an empty cotton bud container.
I layered different colours of angelina on top of it
to give it a marbled effect
and filled it with buttons.

Then, yesterday I delved into my bag of silk scraps
and sewed this bookmark.

That's it for now. I'm off to do some pressing, but boring, chores. :-(

Creative Overdrive

2011-03-29T14:20:00.022+01:00

I seem to be in creative overdrive at the moment.
More so than usual.
I made this little blessings doll which was inspired
by a class with Carol Murphy.

These are wrapped dolls and the base wrap
is made up of fabric that I handpainted.
It is then written all over
in the way of positive words and affirmations

and then torn into strips ready for wrapping.

Little messages can also be wrapped inside the doll
which are focused on the person who you plan to gift it to.
I loved making her.

I've also been altering boxes.
I'm taking part in an altered box swap
and couldn't help doing an extra one.
This is before.

And this is after.

I made the flower on top from materials
including vintage white lace
that I got from a friend as part of a swap.
I had two copies of a book on ATCs
and wanted some mixed media ephemera in return
She sent me this,

Thanks again, Kerri!

I had plans straight away for the lace
which I spritzed with several colours of cosmic shimmer.

Combining it with a sample sheet of Lutradur
that I handpainted and cut into flower shapes
made for some colourful blooms.

What else? Yes, I was part of a candle mat swap
and received this beauty from Ashlee.

Cherry blossom tealight holder.
A quick, ten minute napkin art project.

And last but not least, I have to show these.

I love the grunged up, shabby look of the tins themselves and the images.
They were only 99p each from Nauticalia's bargain bin.
They are also a decent size, not tiny little things
and I think they may be just too pretty to alter.

Stylish!

2011-03-29T08:28:00.007+01:00

Apparently, I am a stylish blogger! Well, at least, according to Agi!

The rules of the award are:

a) Thank the person that awarded you:

Thank you, Agi! xx

(b) List 7 things about myself:

1. I'm addicted to learning. I suppose you could say I'm a perpetual student. In the last few years I've been addicted to learning arts and crafts and my ambition is to try as many as I can during my lifetime.

2. I'm a bit like a butterfly. I flit from one thing to another.

3. I love vintage, grunged up, shabby chic, steampunk.

4. I try to look for the exceptional in the ordinary.

5. One of my favourite things is a walk in the countryside (autumn is the best time for me) followed by a cream tea in an olde worlde tea shop.

6. I left home aged 16 so I grew up quickly.

7. Earl grey is the only tea I will drink.

(c) Pass the award to 15 other stylish bloggers:

In no particular order, my choices are:

1. Anni's Art
2. Daisychains
3. Ink Spiller's Attic
4. KnitNana
5. Shirley's Twisted Threads
6. Kerri's Crafts
7. Singtatter's Corner
8. Thoughts from an Eclectic Goth Mind
9. Crazy by Design
10. Older Rose
11. Say it with Roses
12. Stitch4Stitch Textiles
13. Wilma Goes Crazy
14.Nicki Lee's Raviolee Dreams
15. Rose Coloured World

Rose Napkin Art Candle

2011-03-16T18:48:00.002Z

A Diva and a Spring Ensemble

2011-03-13T19:59:00.011Z

The altered bottle is now finished
and transmogrified into a diva
before my very eyes!

For close up views, you can click on any of the images.

The old postage stamp with the bee on it was a great find
and so fitting for a queen bee type of diva!

I knitted this lace doily for a spring candle mat swap.
For the candles, I used napkin art
and burned the daffodil image from a paper napkin
into the candles with a heat gun.

Altered Bottle

2011-03-10T18:47:00.002Z

Altered bottle in progress.
Click on any of the images for close ups.

More Baking!

2011-03-06T11:37:00.003Z

More baking of polymer clay with particular projects in mind.
It's nice to have them to hand when needed.

Baking Day

2011-02-24T23:09:00.006Z

I wanted a couple of embellishments for a planned project
so I used up a block of polymer clay to do some quickies.

Much more fun than baking cake but not as tasty.

Napkin Art

2011-02-22T17:27:00.011Z

Some cards made with napkins.

A fabric paper postcard with an image of a stag taken from a paper napkin.
The background uses a technique known as blended papers
which I read about in the current issue of the Craft Stamper.
The buttons are chipboard ones from Jenni Bowlin.

And a candle that has had images
from a paper napkin burnt into it.

Still Catching Up!

2011-02-19T20:57:00.010Z

More projects to post about, some from a while ago

At ATC made with hand textured and spritzed paper
I can't quite remember how I got the texture
for this background but I do remember
masking with sequin waste followed by lace
and spritzing with candy pink and sunlight mist.

A couple of scrapbook pages where
I've used pics of my son when he was small

Fabric Paper Journals

Multicrafting

2011-02-18T18:01:00.011Z

Some small people that started off as basic cardboard shapes.
Given clothes, hair and faces and little personalities.
These were made back in October last year as decorations for a party
and provided some lighthearted fun for an afternoon.

A vintage style scrapbook page.
Ivy was a bit of a thespian
as can be seen here.

Ivy again, this time as a bride.

This card has a background paper
that has been decorated with cosmic shimmer mist.
A vintage image has been printed on silk,
then placed in an aperture with some batting behind
to give some extra dimension

My second Coquille shawl.
This one's a smaller version
of the one I made previously.
I love the colours in this one.

Valentine Tussie Mussies

2011-02-11T21:13:00.007Z

I've been busy making tussie mussies.
These are embellished paper cones.
They can be filled with treats
and hung on door handles for decoration.
They can be decorated for Xmas,
for Easter, Halloween, and so on
but these are Valentine themed ones.

A soft, pretty, fluffy one. From the front:

From the back:

And a manly one:

Playing with Angelina

2011-01-10T17:58:00.008Z

I'm still trying to catch up on some of the stuff I did during my blog break. Experimenting with angelina was one phase I went through.

Angelina greeting card.

A pink girly angelina postcard. I added some cut up novelty yarn and some feathers to the mix along with the angelina.

Bringing You Sunshine ATC. Some waste machine threads were sprinkled on top of the angelina and then some decorative stitching added.

Angelina reef postcard. Eyelash and ribbon yarns plus some hand-dyed lace motifs from Nicki Lee, some shell beads and a mother of pearl fish help to bring the angelina reef to life.

Snowflakes in Fusible Film. I added snowflake motifs to some of the angelina fusible film.

Seasonal Projects - Ornaments & Wrapping

2011-01-03T20:16:00.032Z

Today we took the decorations down and the place seems kind of empty and far less jolly without them. I really enjoyed my decorations this year - much more than other years - and I think this was because, apart from my usual ornaments, tree, etc, I'd also amassed such a collection of handmade ones that I was able to make a whole display of them on this glittery branchy thing that I bought specifically for the purpose.

Included are ornaments that I've made over the past three years such as some of the dotee dolls (close ups here and here although the ones in the first link went to swapees last year) and some dorset button projects such as the elf, the turkey and the goth angel that I also made in 2009. A couple of the dotee dolls I acquired through a swap last year. This year, I got quite industrious and made the angel below which is my version of a crazy quilted flat doll angel based on this pattern (scroll down).

I also designed and made a Xmas gingerbread girl carrying a candy cane.

I cut some paper snowflakes.

And strung some of them together with beads at the end to hang at the window.

I made some paper stars

A German bell

Some paper baubles

Some fairy slippers

An angelina snowman

Some origami stars and snowflakes (pictured in one of my posts below)

An angel and a knitted lace snowflake for Xmas ornie swaps on MA.

I received a lovely felted star/snowflake in the same MA swap and that went on display with the other handmades.

I also folded origami angels

And last but not least I was a bit more creative with my gift wrapping this year by decorating plain brown paper bags.

I think, by now, you get the idea.

And now everything is up in the loft waiting for December again before it comes out of wraps and I miss it already.

Seasonal Projects - Cards

2010-12-21T19:26:00.019Z

Over the last few weeks I've been busying myself with lots of seasonal projects. Today, I'm going to upload photos of some of the cards I've made.

I had a go at doing a couple of cards with distress inks, torn papers, etc, to try to make them appear vintage looking and these were the result.

Then I used one of the Tim Holtz masks against a background of cosmic shimmer mists and made this card.

Another one using some Xmas flowers I made.

I attended a workshop on distress inking with Lisa B and made this card.

Versacolour Wild Berries multicoloured ink pad was used to stamp an image which I thought resembled a snowflake for the one below. The papers I used are Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby.

An origami snowflake card.

A knitted lace snowflake card.

A shaker card with glittery flowersoft inside.
And a couple more.

Origami

2010-12-07T12:05:00.002Z

Origami is my new interest. It started with me making some non-origami paper baubles and stars, etc, and I thought that playing with paper in that way was so much fun that maybe I'd enjoy origami. So I tried some simple stars and a more complicated snowflake which was designed by Dennis Walker and I'm hooked.

One of the stars is made from ordinary everyday copy paper, then sprayed with gold cosmic shimmer and the other is made from white origami paper. I found the snowflakes a bit challenging for a complete beginner so they're not perfect. One is made from copy paper and the other from tracing paper which, due to its transparency allowing the different layers to be visible, is meant to give it a translucent quality. I now have origami books and paper on my Xmas wish list so we'll have to see what Santa brings.

Funny how closely related events sometimes occur simultaneously in such a way as to appear to be much more than could be explained by mere coincidence. I think Jung referred to this as synchronicity. Just around the time my interest in origami developed, I opened the Times magazine and saw this.

It's an advert for wrapping paper and the origami was done by Rea Kim. I'd love to know the name of the model used for this and where I can find the instructions.

Resurrection

2010-12-06T13:23:00.010Z

Time to resurrect this blog methinks.

Life happened and I didn't have time to keep up but, as the initial intention of starting this blog was to more or less keep a record of my creations, it would seem a pity not to continue. So, here goes. In the next few days, I'm going to try to get up-to-date mainly with pics so that it won't seem too daunting a task! I've been branching out quite a bit into crafts other than knitting but, given the title of this blog, I will start with what I've knitted since I last updated which isn't a lot.

Firstly, I got really interested in the lace knitting of Herbert Niebling and had a go at this Nieblingesque project. Here's a close up of the detail.

It's the Niebling Inspired Bag and still needs to have the drawstrings and lining added.

Then I moved on to Niebling's Frosted Ferns.

And, presently, I have Niebling's Campanile on the needles and it's not far off complete. Othet than Niebling projects, I knitted Coquille.

I have a smaller version in another colourway on the needles.

That's it with regards to knitting. Most of the crafting I seem to be doing these days involves crafting with paper. Currently, I'm making a lot of holiday decorations. I'll add some more projects that I've completed tomorrow.

Sorted and Learning to Tat

2010-05-17T14:24:00.004+01:00

Thank you friends for your kind comments. The thing that needed sorting has now been sorted thankfully.

Now, turning to arts and crafts, do you ever think that you'd like to learn something one day but that day never seems to come? I've had a long list of such arts and crafts for quite some time but, lately, have been trying to tick a few off. It's about the fact that, unless you believe in reincarnation and, even if you do, there's no proof that it actually exists, we have a limited time within which to do and achieve all that we would like. So, having a list and not ticking them off suddenly seemed the wrong thing and I determined to try at least a few. This is the reason why you've seen only a limited amount of knitting on this blog lately.

I do have several knitting projects which are almost finished, two need grafting and one needs the provisionsl cast on removed and grafting and, as I currently appear to be averse to grafting, they continue, for the moment, to be placed at the back of the queue.

As some of you may know, I have an interest in learning crazy quilting but have very little experience in any of the skills that go towards making a CQ. Nevertheless, I have started with a few small projects and learned a few embroidery stitches and a few weeks ago started to learn tatting as tatted motifs are great for adding to CQ blocks. Here is my second motif.

It's from a free pattern for a baby card which you can find here.

This is worked in Floretta 20 thread which I couldn't work with in the beginning. Starting with thicker thread and moving onto thinner definitely helped. I wasn't really sure, as a beginner, from the pattern instructions how to do the hearts on the outside so I'm hoping I did them right.

Pink Lady

2010-05-05T12:59:00.004+01:00

I like the idea of the beautiful lady CQ fabric postcards so much I decided to do a series of them. Here's number two in the series, the Pink Lady!

Every time I think of Pink Lady I remember a drink called Pink Lady that used to be around quite a few years ago a bit along the lines of Babycham style but pink.

My blog posts are very brief at the moment as, along with the other little problems to solve that life inevitably brings, there is one that we are trying to sort which is taking up a huge amount of time. So, for now, back to the drawing board on that one. See you later!

Blogiversary Giveaway

2010-05-04T00:11:00.006+01:00

There is a wonderful Blogiversary Giveaway at Ink Spiller's Attic. Check it out here.

Sepia Lady

2010-04-30T11:51:00.005+01:00

Fabric postcard made CQ style with scraps of embroidered silk and other material.

The sepia lady image was in a CQ goody bag that I've had for quite some time,

Crafting Medley

2010-04-28T12:35:00.013+01:00

More hats for Becca's Chemo Hat project. Now I have a fair few, I'm ready to package them up and send them off to France so that Becca can add them to the hat basket in the hospital where she works so that the chemo patients can have a sort through and pick one that they like.

Latest hats are another Evangeline cloche and two lace edged women's hats all made from the Rosarios4 Biobamboo that I bought when I went to Olympia and an April hat made from Sirdar Juicy DK which is a bamboo/cotton mix.

More braidmaking.

The top one is a mixture of threads, ribbons and beads. The second one down has had a glittery yarn added to it and the bottom one is actually not a braid but finger cord made with no tools but only with the fingers. This is great to use as a trim and also for couching in embroidery.

I made some greetings cards using flowersoft.

An applique fabric postcard.

And my first paper ATC.

I think I've caught up now!

CQ Giveaway

2010-04-18T10:19:00.004+01:00

There is a great giveaway at Cathy's Crazy by Design. Cathy is celebrating her 200th blog post with some fabulous CQ prizes to be won! If you're interested in crazy quilting, don't miss this opportunity and check out her blog here.

Crafting Away

2010-04-06T21:26:00.016+01:00

The captured flowers are still holding my attention and I keep trying new types of flower to see what is possible. When I saw the daffs peeping their shy little heads up above the earth heralding the coming of spring, I couldn't resist seeing what I could do with a couple of them.

By removing a few of the petals and rearranging them and turning the trumpet to the side, it was possible to make a couple of passable greetings cards.

I made my first ATC (artist's trading card) recently and also made my first attempts at CQ (crazy quilting) simultaneously by making a fabric one. This was for a swap and the themes to choose from were Spring or Bling so I made Spring Bling.

I learned from this one, not to place beads too close to the edge as, when sewing the edge on the machine after completing the hand embroidery, you have to veer away from the beads when you come to the parts where they are too close.

I found some lovely little purplish blue flowers next to the daffs which someone said they thought were chinodoxia. Of course, I felt obliged to capture a couple of them.

I decided to incorporate these into my second CQ ATC.

With this one I learned that I should pay more attention to exactly where I am seaming as I wanted the flowers more centred.

I joined another swap which involved putting together an Easter themed package. I sent a felted bag with a pocket for two sewn bunnies, lots of chocolate goodies plus a miniature Easter cake and a nest full of candy eggs. There was also a recipe for decorated chocolate eggs along with the moulds to make them and some edible decorations for them plus a handmade card.

I especially enjoyed making the little bunnies.

I knitted another bookmark. This one is String of Hearts by Judy Gibson.

Inspired by the recent article on Knitting Daily which featured how to make checkerboard buttons with the Flashback Coat Dress in mind, I decided to make some. Knitting Daily have adapted their instructions from Nancy Nehrings book, 50 Heirloom Buttons to Make, a copy of which I have.

In my opinion, the adapted instructions will make a button that will not function very well. Firstly, they recommend to use cardboard for the button form which would not only make for a weak button but also it would make laundering the item they’ve been attached to impossible without removing the buttons first.

Secondly, they don’t emphasise the importance of weaving the thread to secure, other than the weaving that is done to make the pattern and also omit to mention that a self shank should be formed both of which would stop the wraps coming undone. I tried several times to make the buttons the way Knitting Daily describe and the wraps always came undone.

Doing them the way Nancy Nehring’s book describes, and using wooden forms available as toy parts from hobby shops, overcomes these problems. This is what I did and the resulting buttons are pictured below.

They are all done in Rowan 4ply cotton and I have quite a few other colours in this so I may end up with a rainbow of buttons.

Busy, Busy

2010-03-23T22:07:00.011Z

I've been carrying on with creating projects to use some of the captured flowers that I did.

First a panel to incorporate into a project at some point though I know not when or what. I captured a bunch of flowers together for this and then cut a stylistic vase shape from some fabric to which I added some Strass stones. The whole was then fused onto a background of black silk.

I made a trinket box out of an empty salmon tin and decorated the lid with one of the flowers which had been stitched around with gold metallic thread, cut out and attached via some Swarovski crystals at its centre.

The captured flowers are also good for greetings cards.

So, these are very versatile. Fabric postcards, bookmarks, panels, trinket boxes, greetings cards and there must be loads more projects these could be incorporated into not to mention that they are great fun!

I made my second fabric postcard but this time not with the captured flowers.

I got this idea from the Beginners' Guide to Machine Embroidery. Basically, you zigzag stitch slighly wavy lines in a grid on muslin. This pulls and distorts the fabric to create an interesting effect. You can then colour in the 'squares' with fabric paints. I took it a stage further and went over the wavy lines again with one of the decorative stitches, called patchwork, on my sewing machine (oh, yes, my sewing machine and I are becoming quite good friends now after 20 years of me being scared to death of it).

Lastly, I made a couple of hats. The first continues my fascination for seeing interesting effects come out of variegated yarn with relatively long distances between colour changes such as in the entrelac shawl in a previous post. This is the Fake Isle Hat by Amy King and, although it looks as if lots of different balls of yarn were used, only two are used and the myriad of colours comes from one with long colour runs together with a solid one. The variegated one I used this time is Rico Designs Creative Poems Aran.

The other hat is Evangeline, a '20s style cloche hat by Just Call Me Ruby.

This is knitted in Adriafil Primula, a gorgeous squishy soft merino, and is another hat for Becca's Chemo Hat project.

I've also decided to knit a few lace bookmarks as they are such quick projects and are great for little extras and small gifts. This is the first one and is Heartstrings' Oak Leaf Bookmark.

Raviolee Dreams' Giveaway

2010-03-18T16:49:00.005Z

Today in the post I received a sea themed crazy quilting kit from Nicki Lee of Raviolee Dreams.

I've been wanting to try CQing for ages and have been collecting Nicki Lee's hand-dyed laces with this in mind for some time. Being a bit of a magpie, I'm just as attracted to these pretties as I am to beads and baubles and other shiny beckoning objects.

I am delighted with the kit. The fabrics are beautiful and the laces, beads and baubles more than met my expectations. She even included some extra beads and baubles which, in my excitement, I added to my sea-themed bead collection before taking the pic.

Anyway, if you want to win some of these beautiful laces plus a wonderful book on Crazy Quilting, you will need to hurry over to Nicki Lee's blog without delay (the draw will take place on Saturday March 20th) where she is having a giveaway to celebrate the opening of her Etsy shop. Good luck!

Captured Flowers, Goddesses and a Lovely Purchase

2010-03-12T11:15:00.012Z

This last week or so has seen me make my first fabric postcard. I combined this with my first attempts at capturing real flowers between fabric and organza. This was the result.

This is the back thanks to a kind friend from the US who sent me a special rubber stamp for the purpose.

I also made a bookmark using the same technique.

I have a load of flowers that I prepared at the same time ready to go into projects so have a few more in the pipeline that I hope to work on this weekend.

Recently, a dear online friend and I agreed to swap goddesses. Here is what Purr sent me. She's called Diversity and reflects amongst other things my love of lace and cryptic crosswords! Isn't she fab!

And here is Lavender Goddess who I have just finished and is now ready to go.

She's a closet goddess which is not to say that she tries to hide the fact that she’s a goddess but that she is useful for hanging in a closet or a wardrobe to add fragrance. She's also very glad to hang in a cupboard full of fibery goodness to protect against pesky moths.

Her arms are made from a plastic bangle (about 65-70mm diameter) blanket stitched around with Valdani hand-dyed variegated thread. Being such a large ring, I had to join on thread a good few times and I stitched the ends into the seam before turning the seam into the inside of the ring when it was finished.

Her body is made from a piece of silk strengthened with iron-on stabiliser and the two sides put together and blanket stitched around with two strands of embroidery thread. The bottom bit of her is blanket stitched singly rather than together and press studs (aka poppers I believe) have been added to the inside so that she can be opened to replace the lavender when needed. Inside there is a muslin sachet cut to the same shape as the bottom bit of her and this fastens with a velcro strip so it is easy to replace the lavender and rezip the velcro. The silk has been machine embroidered on both sides with lines of machine embroidered stars in gold metallic thread.

I've saved the piece de resistance until last. This felted bag is not made by me but by George at Rose Coloured World.

I saw it on her blog and couldn't resist so asked if it was for sale. It's even more lovely in reality. A gorgeous turquoise little number lined with Kaffe Fassett fabric and with two handy little pockets inside. I love it!

Autumn Kaleidoscope

2010-02-26T16:30:00.006Z

Fresh off the needles and just wet blocked, pinned and dried.

I'm calling it my Autumn Kaleidoscope because of the subtle fall colour changes and leaves tumbling this way and that but its real name is Dianna by Mawelucky.

3-Dimensional Embroidery Practice

2010-02-24T13:34:00.006Z

These are some stitches I've been practicing from Pat Trott's Three-Dimensional Embroidery Stitches book.

The lupins are formed by one row of raised chain band. The flowers that look like the insides of Dorset buttons are whipped spider's web. The purple rose is a woven rose and the pink and white rose is a Banksia Rose which is made up of loops of varying lengths. The yellow daffodil like flower's leaves and petals are woven picots which actually stand proud of the fabric and the trumpet part is raised cup stitch.

The multi-coloured flower at the bottom is formed by bullion knots and the leaves are raised leaves. Raised leaves is a really neat method of making leaves by stitching over a strip of card and then removing the card. All of the stems are stem stitch except for the multi coloured bullion knots flower which has a Palestrina knot stitch stem.

I'm still working on this and will keep it just as a sampler page of my stitch practice of the various stitches in this book. I can see loads of different uses for these stitches in the future to create 3-D effects.

Aeolian Shawl

2010-02-19T15:48:00.010Z

Well, the yarn of silken loveliness got twisted this way and that meandering it's way around my needles until it became this. If you want to see more detail, please click on the pic and it will enlarge.

I am so pleased with how it turned out. It's a nice size - a shoulderette - and will be great for someone to drape around their shoulders on summer evenings. It's not for me. I wonder where it will end up??

The clear, silver lined beads show up really well against the topaz blue. For those of you in the UK who have been used to getting your Rowan/Jaeger beads from John Lewis, Rowan are no longer doing them, hence John Lewis are unable to stock them. However, Debbie Abrahams is now stocking them and she has them in sizes 06 and 08 in lots of lovely colours. I had already started knitting when I ran out of beads. I had some clear, silver lined beads in my stash but I knew I would need more and was getting a bit worried when I found JL didn't do them any more but, after discovering Debbie had them, I rang her to make sure I got the exact ones. She was so helpful and they arrived really quickly so I will definitely be shopping at her website again. Get Knitted also have them but I think they only have them in size 06 which, personally, I think are too big for laceweight although they work great on thicker yarn.

In other creative endeavours, I was taught how to make flowers from old coloured tights and wire and here are my efforts.

They are very easy, if a bit fiddly, to make and I can think of tons of uses for them including extra embellishment to gift wrapping, jewellery, etc.

I was also secretly beavering away on knitting 20 feet of lace edging to be sewn on to a baby afghan. Here it is wet blocking on towels.

And here's a close up when it was ready to send.

The afghan itself was a group effort and was for a lady in the MA group who is shortly to have a baby. All of us who were contributing made blocks and I sent the edging to the US so that dear Purr could sew it on. The following photo is courtesy of Purr.

It came out really nice, don't you think? Amazing to think that so many hands from all over the world have contributed to it and Mum-to-be was thrilled with it!

I like to try new things and, as I hadn't done entrelac before, I thought I'd have a go at an entrelac lace shawl. Here it is in progress.

The design is called Dianna and is by MaweLucky. The yarn, Jojoland Melody, is from stash and the colour changes in it are just perfect for this design. Not only is it entrelac but it's entrelac lace and I love the way the colours are panning out and the way the construction causes the leaves to face different directions. At the moment, it has that 'egg crate' look which knits sometimes have before blocking so I can't wait to finish and wet block to see it open up and 'bloom'.

Silken Loveliness

2010-02-02T12:34:00.005Z

This came in the post today.

I love it's topaz blue splendour and it's ocean-like shimmeriness. I love the fact that it's silk and so soft and luxurious and I love that, all being well, it will become this.

Love & Peace

2010-01-31T11:30:00.010Z

Well, my goddess now has arms plus a little revision. Out went the fruit and the heavy worsted weight embroidery and in came lots of practice at bullion knot roses.

So, instead of being a goddess of plenty, she's now a flower power goddess. She's a real 60's wild child witnessed by the symbols on her back. Love and peace, man! ;-)

What else? Well, I made Jared Flood's Habitat hat for Becca's Chemo Hats project.

I didn't think I liked knitting cables but I really enjoyed knitting this!

Much to my surprise I gathered the confidence to join this project. Basically, you choose a theme and do one beaded project a month within this theme for the whole year and then decide how to display them. Well, I thought it would motivate me to try this out after dabbling my feet in the water with the beaded dotees but no way can I compare my feeble efforts with that of a lot of the really talented people that are taking part in this project. However, everyone has to start somewhere and this is where I'm starting. I've commenced January's effort but it's not finished yet as there is so much else going on. I will have to catch up, hopefully, in February. The theme I've chosen is 'Women of Myth' and my first is entitled 'Sea Siren'.

Unfinished

2010-01-20T12:48:00.006Z

I'm trying to lose the U from my UFOs as I'm very fond of starting projects and then getting carried away with something else. The grass always seems to be greener on the other side!

For a start, this goddess of plenty needs some arms. The basic goddess shape is from a pattern by Michelle Simkins and then you embellish to your heart's content. I started off embellishing her with flowers but then got carried away and added leaves, fruit, veg, bees and bugs, etc, so she became a goddess of plenty. I still have the back to embellish and her arms, of course! I put a muslin bag of rice in her base to add weight to enable her to stand up by herself and added a few drops of geranium, rose, lavender and orange essential oils.

This lace tunic design I started a few months ago and then it got left in the flurry of Xmas giftmaking.

I must try to find the time to finish it.

Then, there's my first embroidery project which I hadn't touched for ages. I had a good go at it yesterday and I think it's finished except that I'm not happy with the semi-precious stones that I've used so have ordered a selection of different ones to see which might work best. Here is my semi-precious rockery as it is at the moment (semi-precious chips not sewn on yet).

Not much else to report for the time being except that I've spent quite a bit of time over the last couple of weeks working on a secret project which is now finished but can't be shown yet so that's it for today!

7-Strand Braid

2010-01-05T19:47:00.011Z

This is for Carrie-Anne who asked how to make 7-strand braid. Just cut yourself a piece of cardboard the shape as in the pic below. Make a hole in the middle of it and make eight slits or notches as shown.

Take about a metre of each of seven different yarns. Cotton yarn is probably better but I just used whatever was available. A metre of 7 different yarns should make about 20" of braid. Tie a knot at the end of the seven different yarns held together and put this one side of the hole at the centre of your cardboard disc. Then fix a strand of each of your seven different yarns in seven different slits. That will leave one slit free. The following instructions are if you are right handed and will need to be reversed for lefties. You hold the disc in your left hand and, with your right hand, take the strand that is third to the right of the vacant slit and place it in the vacant slit, repeat this over and over, just taking the third strand to the right of the empty slit and placing it in the vacant slit whilst turning the disc clockwise. At the same time, make sure that you have some amount of tension on your strands so that your braid doesn't end up loose. Voila, you have seven strand braid.

Another New Year

2010-01-03T15:51:00.015Z

Well, here we are - another new year - and I don't normally make resolutions but this year I did. One of them was to spend more time learning other crafts and not to spend so much time knitting. Don't get me wrong, I love knitting but one can have too much of a good thing and I feel that I'm missing out on other stuff.

Christmas was quietish but fun - relatives on Xmas day and Boxing Day and friends on the 27th. I didn't bother with a real tree but just used our fibre optic one which gives instant effect without any of the bother. I did, however, add some lovely decorations that I had received in swaps to the tree later on so some effort was made.

DS bought me lovely Xmas roses so they graced our hall table and were a welcome sight to all entering.

I finished all of my Xmas crafting in time. Luckily, the recipient of this New York hat and scarf didn't visit until 27th so it didn't matter that the last bits of finishing got done on Boxing Day.

Here's a pic of a washcloth I made along with some handmade soaps which I bought from eBay.

These have now been gifted so I'm adding blog pics.

A final beaded Snow Queen dotee was made which I was going to gift but, in the end, I decided to keep her.

I thought, after all that beading, I deserved to keep at least one. That's not so bad, is it?

To start the year the way I mean to carry on, I learned two new techniques yesterday. The first was cathedral windows. For those who haven't tried this, it's very fiddly, measurements need to be absolutely precise as it involves corners folding in to the centre a couple of times and it's a bit like origami.

I also had a go at making braid from 7 different strands of leftover yarn.

This was the complete opposite of the cathedral windows - easy-peasy! I think I'm now ready to have a go at some more complicated braidmaking using the Hamanaka Kumihimo Disk Kit that I bought at Ally Pally.

Almost Finished

2009-12-17T10:01:00.013Z

I've almost finished my Xmas crafting. All, that is, except the hat and scarf I'm making for a good friend. I've hit a hiatus with that one all because, out of the seemingly hundreds of circular needles I have in almost every length and diameter, I seem to be short of a 40cm in 4mm. So, it has been duly ordered online and I await its arrival hopefully in good time.

For that same good friend, who is an Elvis Presley fan, I've made an extra little something mainly because, having got into making dotee dolls, I had an idea that I could give him something that he would never expect and will hopefully afford him a bit of a giggle.

I also finished the Lily of the Valley scarf which is another Xmas gift.

And found a frame for the Dorset button penny farthing I stitched.

Here are my first attempts at cardmaking.

I used Stickles on the Xmas tree card and it took ages to dry. As a result some of the Stickles came off onto the Xmas pudd card. Since then, I've also made some embroidered cards and some cross stitch cards - pics to come.

Last but not least, look who got to appear in the Knitting & Crochet Guild's magazine, Slipknot.

Happy Xmas to everyone and may the coming year bring you everything you wish for.

More Snow Queens and Xmas Knitting

2009-12-06T19:21:00.016Z

More Snow Queens. Three of these are all over beaded. Four of the eight I did were for a swap and the others will perhaps adorn friends' Xmas trees as unusual Xmas ornaments. Nice to have something a little bit different methinks.

And some Xmas knitting finished. First an Advent Stocking which was done as part of another swap and filled with 24 gifts.

I was brave and got my sewing machine out to line it.

This Japanese Mystery Scarf was a fun knit.

Finally, this Leafy Neckwarmer is a gift to a friend in appreciation of her kindness.

Snowflakes and Snow Queens

2009-10-30T13:52:00.014Z

I seem to be in the mood for wintry things as I've incorporated snowflakes or something else of the winter season into almost everything I've created recently. I've also got into sewing a bit more and recently made a set of four Snow Queen dolls (pictured below in their boxes) for a swap I'm taking part in.

And I designed some snowflake wristers, too, which I'll be offering as a free pattern as soon as I have time to write it up.

In other news, I had a great time at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally and bought quite a few things but only one small item involved knitting! I'll post pics of what I bought in the next few days for those of you who may be interested.

There was a Morsbag stand at Ally Pally. It was great to see people taking their pick of the free fabric and making their own bags on the sewing machines provided for that purpose. There was a real buzz as bags were finished and the triumphant new bag owner was then able to perform the honour of banging the gong and notching another bag up on the scoreboard as everyone cheered. I chose some sea-themed fabric and decorated it with sequined sea-themed motifs when I got home.

Some stuff I'm working on I can't show at the moment as they're for gifts and I've also taken up embroidery but more on that later . . .

Buttons Again!

2009-09-21T18:21:00.008+01:00

Okay, more buttony projects! I have been knitting, too, but all of my knitting projects at the moment are under wraps either because they're for surprise gifts or new designs I'm working on.

So, without further ado, I present to you more of my Dorset button madness. First meet my little friend, the Christmas Elf.

Next, a Xmas wreath made by only doing the first stage of making the Dorset button as in wrapping the yarn around the ring. As you can see, I used eyelash yarn for this and added the beads later.

The last one was done for a joke as a couple of my friends on MA, after seeing the multitude of buttony Xmas ornies I was producing, jibed that they were waiting for the turkey.

There, that'll teach them!

Oh, and I did make this but I'm not sure this could be really called knitting.

It's Pompon Print and I was seduced into buying the yarn by the autumnal shades and the sheer fun of knitting loads of pompons! This is so quick to 'knit'. I completed this scarf in one evening while watching TV so if anyone has a giftee who doesn't mind novelty yarn, this could be an option for a last minute gift.

Blogiversary Draw Winner

2009-09-10T21:43:00.005+01:00

Well, today is the day to draw the winner of my fourth blogiversary draw! Thanks all who left comments and, although I'd like each and every one of you to win the prize, unfortunately, there can be only one who wins it. So, without further ado, I can now announce that the winner is . . .

R E B E C C A

Congratulations, Rebecca! Please get in touch with details of your address so that I can get the goodies posted off to you. Thanks to all for their interest!

Button Angels

2009-09-07T14:02:00.007+01:00

Yes, you read that right! The Dorset buttons are still providing me with a good excuse to find ways of making something other than buttons out of them! I decided to have a go at some angels. The first one I suppose you could describe as 'cute'.

The next one I made, Goth Angel, I like better but the photo doesn't really do her justice because of the dark clothing.

I raided my vintage supplies for this one. Her skirt is made from vintage lace and is edged with a vintage trim. She is carrying a vintage Gothic bell & tassels charm and I knitted her a sparkly shawl from Kidsilk Night.

More Dorset Button Madness

2009-09-04T15:18:00.008+01:00

The madness continues. First, we have . . . dare I call it an embroidery???? My first ever piece of stitching anyway so don't look too closely! I had the idea to make a penny farthing out of the Dorset Buttons. Two Dorset buttons with only a bit of the centres filled in are the wheels and I stitched beads in for the seat, pedals, cogs and handlebar.

Next, a Halloween ornie.

Then one for the tree. This is almost 3" in diameter.

And one more Xmas ornie. Another snowflake but, this time, a Swarovski crystal one.

Blogiversary Draw

2009-09-02T17:30:00.011+01:00

Okay, regular readers will remember that my fourth blogiversary draw was delayed but we're now ready to celebrate. Here's what's up for grabs.

A 100g skein of Handmaiden Seasilk in Lily Pond. This is enough to make the Stormwater Shawl, the pattern of which is included.

Another possibility is the Forest Canopy Shawl. I made one with this same colourway and had enough in one skein to do a few extra repeats which made for a nice generous sized shawl.

Also included in the prize are a Knitter's Notebook with Knitter Glitter pencil. The glitter is on the outside of the pencil and the pencil itself is a normal HB pencil.

A set of Sock Knitters' stitchmarkers.

And a Cartesian Knitter's Italian Charm Bracelet.

All you have to do is to leave a comment before midnight next Wednesday (9th September) and you'll be entered into the draw! The winner will be announced on 10th September. Good luck!

Whimsies

2009-08-28T22:24:00.013+01:00

The last month or so has seen me veering away from the serious toward the more whimsical. I don't know why but it seemed to start with the box of chocolates and cupcakes wall hanging blocks and then I made this. Meet Knitty Norah peg doll!

Then the Monthly Adventures group over on Ravelry decided to have a Dorset Button Along so I learned how to make them and a few of us have become literally hooked. I started off by making a few buttons.

Then I made some jewellery from the buttons.

Then came the holiday ornies made from the buttons.

And my imagination is still running riot! So, another obsession. I suppose I'll just have to go with it until it burns itself out.

Aside from all this fun and IT IS FUN, I knitted this baby dress for a friend's baby.

And finished the Woman's Journal Vintage Jumper for the KCG's Period Garment Scheme.

I did knit the box pleat sleeves too but the instructions on how to sew them in didn't make much sense and, after various attempts, I decided it was probably best to post the jumper back with the sleeves for someone else with a bit more sewing savvy than I to insert.

Haapsalu Sali Draw

2009-08-07T09:19:00.003+01:00

Okay, the names were all put in the hat (or rather a strong paper bag in this case) and DH picked one out, unfolded the bit of paper and written on it was this name.

C A R O L A

Please get in touch, Carola, so that we can arrange to get the book to you. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone for their interest.

Haapsalu Sali

2009-07-30T19:06:00.009+01:00

One of the latest additions to my library is this book.

Not surprising as I'm mad keen on knitting Estonian lace! The fourth anniversary of keeping my blog is coming up soon and I bought two copies of this book thinking I would offer one as a Blogiversary prize. Unfortunately, the shipping company who handled one of the copies did a bad job and that one has a very creased and slightly bent cover as you can see here.

So it cannot in all decency be offered up as a Blogiversary prise!

The company who sold me the book are able to claim for the damage from the shipping company and are happy for me to either keep the book or recycle it. As copies of this book are very scarce on the ground at the moment, I thought someone (not a person who can't bear having a book on their shelves that isn't perfect, please) might be glad of it. The pages are all intact and uncreased. It's just the cover that was affected.

If anyone wants to offer it a home, please leave a comment to say that you would like it. If there is more than one person that would like it, I will do a draw in a week's time to see who gets it. The only thing I ask is that you are prepared to pay for shipping.

The book is in Estonian but it is full of charts of the most beautiful Estonian lace patterns and there are English translations of the chart symbols at the front. You can find a review of the book here.

The Blogiversary Celebration Draw will therefore be postponed whilst I think of a new prize to offer so watch this space!

The Invasion of the Ladybug Buttons

2009-07-28T09:49:00.003+01:00

Cupcakes!

2009-07-22T19:27:00.013+01:00

Thanks to all who commented on my last post. I was really surprised and pleased to see that I hadn't been completely forgotten about! LOL

I've just completed another block for my blue afghan which is, in fact, probably going to end up as a wall hanging. The doily and cupcakes have been positioned ready on the knitted hearts block but I still need to sew it all on. However, you get the idea!

I originally tried knitted cups and fabric yoyos for the icing but it didn't work well so I had another go with some fabric oddments and fusible interfacing. I think the result is better. Flashed out photos above as it's dark now.

I'm still catching up on stuff I've done and haven't shown yet so thought I'd post a pic of an Estonian lace swatch I knitted some time ago.

The motifs are all from the Estonian lace book - 'Pitsilised Koekirjad'.

Er, Hello Again!

2009-07-17T10:29:00.021+01:00

A bit of a hiatus there as life called me in other directions for a while so I expect I'll be talking to myself now. It seems a shame to let the blog go after keeping it up for so long and it's a great log of what's been happening in my creative life to look back on so here goes. As there's quite a bit to catch up on, I think I'll update on what projects I've been working on mostly with pics this time around and, if any of my past readers are loyal enough not to have disappeared into the sunset and actually read this, 'hello'! :-)

Shetland Lace Patterned Faroese Shawl

I decided to make an afghan as I thought the blocks would fit in well with my need for manageable knitting whilst providing instant gratification at the same time. I wanted to personalise and make it meaningful and thematic. I started with the Enchanted Cottage for the centre because home is where the heart is.

Enchanted Cottage

This block is to be surrounded by the four seasons of which I've done three at present.

Spring

Autumn

Winter

Then I thought I'd add some blocks for things that I love and the first one is, guess what? shhhh chocolate!

Box of Chocolates

A great way of displaying some of my vintage buttons, don't you think? Here are a couple of shots to show how the whole thing's shaping up although the blocks are not positioned where they will be eventually.

Each of these blocks measures 13" square and I plan to make 30. The finished item will either be a bed cover for a single bed or I'll back it with canvas and have it as a wall hanging.

Lastly, I've been working on the Woman's Journal Vintage Lace Jumper with donated vintage yarn for the KCG Period Garment Scheme. There were several errors in the pattern which I managed to get my head around only to be finally defeated by running out of useable yarn. I think there'd been some serious moth chomping going on at some point with two of the balls of yarn! Anyway, here's a pic of the front and back pinned together on my dress form.

I have enough decent yarn left to knit the collar and to edge the armholes even though the sleeve length is meant to be a few inches above the elbow. A shame but better than nothing, I suppose.

Starflower and Icarus

2009-03-10T08:58:00.002Z

Being very mindful of the economic situation at the moment, I'm still chipping away at my stash though I do confess that I probably won't use anywhere near all of it in my lifetime!

Off my needles this time has come my new design; Starflower Estonian Lace Baby Blanket knitted in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. (If you wish to see more detail, click on any of the pics to zoom in).

I fell in love with the Estonian lace stitch used in the main part of the blanket as soon as I clapped eyes on it. The petals are formed by use of the Estonian star stitch technique. In this case, a 3-into-9 star is afterwards split into three groups of stitches which are then gradually decreased to form petals.

As usual the pattern, in PDF format, is available from Ravelry and Etsy.

Also, hot off my needles is Miriam Felton's Icarus Shawl which I knitted in Yarn Place Graceful. This is the Penny Candy colourway and I love the way that this pattern works well in a yarn with long colour changes.

Presently, on the needles are Max from Elsebeth Lavold's "The Walk in the Park Collection" in EL's Silky Tweed for DH.

This photo is from the pattern book and DH is pleased to know that, according to the pattern writer, “an athletic build and access to a nearby Greek statue are optional”!

I'm also well on the way to completing the Heartstrings Shetland Lace Patterned Faroese Shawl in Rowan 4 ply Soft.

Knitting bookwise, as I've celebrated a birthday recently, some books and a very sought after vintage magazine have been added to my knitting library but more on those later . . .

Shawl Crazy

2009-01-20T11:41:00.009Z

I'm in stashbusting mood at the moment and what better way to use it up than by knitting shawls . . . and shawls . . . and did I mention shawls?

The first one is the Six Petal Half Circle Shawl for which I used 5 skeins of wine coloured Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino from a lot I bought in the John Lewis sale at half price a few years ago.

Next, is a Forest Canopy Shawl

I used a skein of Handmaiden Seasilk in Lily Pond colourway for this which I've had in stash since my 2007 Blogiversary competition when I treated myself as well as the winner!

Last but not least, shawlwise, is the start of Sharon Winsauer's Dragonfly in jade coloured Fiddlesticks Zephyr laceweight.

I'm almost half way through the border now on this one.

Just to prove that I do knit other stuff, too, here's a cocoon stitch washcloth in Rowan Handknit Cotton.

This is a charity knit to send to Julie aka Fibers who is collecting them for the Native Elders

Frost Flowers - Longer Version

2008-12-22T13:52:00.007Z

Thanks to all for the comments on the Frost Flowers Froufrou design. As promised, here are a couple of pics of the longer length version. This time it's knitted in Fiddlesticks Zephyr laceweight so it doesn't have the halo.

Personally, I prefer the standard length/fuzzy mohair mix yarn version but each to their own.

Frost Flowers Froufrou

2008-12-20T17:53:00.000Z

Another new design! I've found that I'm just as bad with startitis in my designing as I was before when I was knitting other people's designs. This means that I have lots of projects that are at the ideas stage, plus those I've swatched for, plus those in progress, etc, etc. My mind gets so busy with ideas that sometimes I can't wait to finish one before I get the urge to start another! I expect this is par for the course, though. Anyway, here's one that I have finished!

It's a bit of frippery which I've chosen to call a froufrou that you can drape around your shoulders to keep the chill off without completely enveloping and hiding what you have on underneath. Great to complement that little black dress and, perhaps, also for wedding wear. It fastens at the neck with two lightweight clear plastic snap fasteners as I've found in the past it can be a bit annoying having to concentrate on stopping a shawl or wrap around your shoulders from slipping off.

Here's a back view.

And a view of the whole thing laid flat.

As usual, the pattern which is in PDF format is available from Ravelry and Etsy.

The froufrou pictured above has been knitted in Kidsilk Night on 4mm and 4.5mm needles but works equally well in Kidsilk Haze or Kidsilk Spray or, indeed, any 2ply laceweight that can achieve gauge such as Fiddlesticks Zephyr laceweight. There are instructions for two lengths - standard length (13.5" from point to point) as is the one pictured above and longer length which is 17.5"-18.5" from point to point.

I've just finished a longer length froufrou in Fiddlesticks Zephyr which I'll photograph when there is enough light to do so, hopefully, tomorrow.

Charity Knitting

2008-11-27T19:58:00.004Z

The trouble with not blogging regularly is that, when you finally do get around to it, you have so much to blog about, it seems a bit intimidating! So, I'm going to let the pics do most of the talking. As usual, click on any of the pics to see more detail.

There has been a fair bit of charity knitting going on lately. The Monthly Adventurers at Ravelry elect a different charity every month to which members can contribute if they wish. In November, I had mentioned that I was knitting for a charity event in our village hall at which I had a stand in support of carers of people with Alzheimer's and, consequently, this became the cause of the month. As a lot of the members are in the US, it didn't leave a lot of time for the knitting of large projects, so I suggested that the knitting should be of Korknissar or cork elves which make lovely Xmas decorations. Now, if you don't know of the Monthly Adventurers, you won't know that not only are they a very generous and talented bunch of people but they also have very fertile imaginations and are not afraid to use a bit of poetic licence when the occasion calls. This was the result!

Apart from the rank and file elves, the final assemblage included a bride and groom, spies with wobbly eyes, pirates, Santas, baby elvinos, glitzy types, and blonde korkettes! They went down a treat on the day as you can see from the pics below which are not the best due to bad lighting.

Check out my display stand with the Christening Shawl pinned to it? I'm really chuffed with this! I'd seen Sue's version (scroll down) and, after her very kindly blogging about how she did it (scroll down again), DH made a similar one. Thanks, Sue! Neat, isn't it!

The christening shawl was for display only as I couldn't bear to part with it but it generated lots of interest and, as a few of us are thinking of getting a craft group up and running in our village, that's a good thing.

Apart from the above, I've almost finished my second Snow Forest Yuletide Table Runner.

I made a Fishtail Hat from the 2008 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar for the Ravelry' Caps for Connor group.

I knitted an Ice Queen for the charity morning which was snapped up. Thanks to Rosemary, the designer, for allowing me to sell this at the event.

And I've been making some of Norah's Snowflakes except I'm using a much finer yarn than the recommended Berroco Pure Merino and I added some Swarovski crystals to this one.

The yarn I'm using is Twilleys Southern Comfort which is a count 10 crochet cotton. This means that they come out at 5" across which is a nice size for tree hanging. I couldn't get any fabric stiffener spray locally so I've been using a mixture of 50/50 white glue and water to stiffen them and it's working well.

Next month's Monthly Adventurers' good cause is hats for preemies.

So, some of these, which were knitted by my dear MIL, will be winging their way over to the US!

Test Knitter Wanted

2008-11-26T19:13:00.010Z

I've been really busy of late doing mostly charity stuff. I've got lots to tell and some photos to show but, for now, I need a test knitter. Is anyone interested? It needs to be someone who is a fast, experienced knitter and who is not afraid of nupps. Any takers please click on 'View my complete profile' in the sidebar. You will then find a link to contact me via email. Thanks!

ETA - Hooray! I'm happy to say I now have my test knitter! :-)

Snow Forest Now Available!

2008-11-16T00:23:00.006Z

Snow Forest (see post below) is now available here at Ravelry or here at Etsy.

Snow Forest

2008-11-11T18:45:00.004Z

Imagine you're walking through the forest and, in the distance, you can hear the bells of Yuletide ringing out to celebrate the season.

Pealing Bells Lace

Bell Edging

The chevron shapes of the conifers all around you are blanketed in a pure white cloak of snow as you make your way towards the clearing where you know a warm welcome awaits you in the homely looking log cabin that now comes into view.

Christmas Chevron

Snow Forest

The night is still and there are stars to light your way as well as a lighted window in the cabin as you approach.

The Star

Little flurries of snowflakes are all around and you remember how, as a small child, you would dance in the snow and try to capture just one snowflake thinking that you would be able to see more closely what it looked like only to find it melted to nothing more than water in your small warm hands. Nevertheless, you still marvel at the seasons and the snowflakes have never lost their magic for you.

The Star & Beaded & Sequinned Snowflakes

Beaded & Sequinned Snowflakes

You now enter the cabin and take off your coat and boots before going into the room from which you have seen the welcoming candlelight at the window. You know that in that room will be the people that you love and that they have been awaiting your arrival eagerly. What a sight greets you when you open the door! The table is set for Yule, there is mulled wine and mince pies and a log fire blazing in the hearth. You are home . . .

Snow Forest is a knitted lace Yuletide Table Runner and Napkin Rings set embellished with beaded and sequinned snowflakes that are knitted in. It has been specially designed for the Winter Solstice with traditional stitches and motifs relating to Yule. Watch out for the pattern in the next day or two when I will be making it available as a Ravelry and Etsy download. Although it is a lace and beaded/sequinned project, there should still be time to knit it before the holidays. It's a relatively quick knit as it's knitted in Twilley's No 5 Lyscordet Crochet Cotton which is equivalent to 3ply.

I made the set in the photos for sale at a charity event I'm involved in at the moment in aid of carers of people with Alzheimers. I will be deciding which of my lace I can part with for sale and making as much as I can before the big day.

As usual click on any of the photos to see more detail!

Estonian Lace Stole

2008-10-28T14:35:00.015Z

Hi, folks. I'm back! Still lots going on but I feel I'm coping better now.

My Estonian Lace Stole design is now complete. Some people were interested in a stole version of the Estonian Lace Christening Shawl and this is the result. As usual, click on the any of the pics if you want to enlarge.

And, to save drawer space, it makes a great table runner when it's not being worn!

The pattern is now available as a PDF here at Ravelry and here at Etsy.

Some Space

2008-09-29T12:08:00.007+01:00

I've decided to take a bit of space to get my head sorted out. Everything seems to have caught up with me a bit after the events of last year. That, and all sorts of nasty stuff to sort out that has recently happened, has knocked me back a bit. Shame, because I was just getting into the swing of doing more knitting design but that will have to go on hold for the moment as I know that I really need to look after myself right now and I can't keep ignoring the signs and plodding on regardless.

Thank you, to teeweewonders, for yet another wonderful award below.

I'm chuffed to bits and it's nice to know that my efforts at blogging don't go unappreciated. I have to nominate at least seven people but I've decided instead to nominate everyone in my blog reading list in the sidebar of my blog as you're all fantastic!

Kathryn has just finished test knitting my new design, the Estonian Lace Stole, which you can see on her blog. Some people got in touch with me to say that they would love a stole design using some of the stitches that were incorporated into my Estonian Lace Christening Shawl design and this is the result. The pattern will be available soon.

I have three or four other designs that I had also been working on before things started to go pear shaped. Here's a sneak peek at one of them.

Until later . . .

Blog Award

2008-09-04T17:04:00.007+01:00

Sorry I'm a bit late with this but look below! I got a blog award from gjabouri! Thank you, gjabouri! I'm going through a bit of a rough time at the moment so it really cheered me up! :-)

Here are the rules that come with the award:

1. post this award on your blog;
2. add a link to the person who sent you the award;
3. nominate at least 4 other bloggers, and add their links as well; and
4. leave a comment at the new recipients' blogs, so they know they got an award.

As for my nominations, well, I read lots of blogs and enjoy all of them so it's really difficult for me to choose just a few but, as I'm mad on lace knitting, I tend to find other blogs whose owners are just as mad on lace knitting extremely fascinating. gjabouri likes lace knitting but she's already been nominated. So, here are my nominations in no particular order.

Kathryn's Knitting,
Knit the Knits,
Miss Alice Faye, and
Wye Sue.

Of course, there are more than four that I could equally nominate but those were the four that came instantly to mind!

Estonian Lace Christening Shawl PDF now Ready!

2008-07-31T08:35:00.005+01:00

Crack open the champagne! At last, my very first self-published pattern, the Estonian Lace Christening Shawl, is ready and available as a download from Ravelry and Etsy.

I fathomed out how to get it onto Ravelry late yesterday evening and already people have been buying. There was a minor problem in that, for some reason or other, my Paypal settings had changed so that any currency other than GBP had to be either accepted or refused manually by me before the transaction could be completed but that has all now been fixed.

I meant it about the champagne! It's just after 11am. Is it too early for a drink, do you think?? ;-)

In the Loop

2008-07-25T21:12:00.007+01:00

Look what came in the post this morning.

Norah Gaughan's Pattern Books Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Best of all I didn't have to wait for them to come from the US or pay tons for shipping or get fleeced by customs because they have them at Loop in London! See here!

Raspberry Lemonade Flower Basket Shawl

2008-07-18T09:29:00.011+01:00

This was a really quick knit as it was done in worsted weight mohair mix yarn (Cascade Bollicine Etoile in raspberry lemonade shade) which was given to me in a yarn swap that I took part in recently. The idea was that we swapped yarn and pattern and all made a shawl with what we received. Knitting a lace shawl in worsted weight yarn was a first for me but it was a really quick knit (took only five evenings) and I enjoyed the pattern.

I had a few enquiries about the chocolate in the post below. it's made by Bloomsberry & Co and, yes, gjabouri, it is available in the US. If you go into their website, here, and click on your country, then click on enter site and then chocolate, you can scan the full range which includes emergency chocolate, magic fairy chocolate, oral pleasure, dark secrets, Dr Chocolate, etc, etc. The US has a much wider range than we have here in the UK. We only have the core range. :-( Bloomsberry chocolate is described as "delicious chocolate infused with a delectable sense of humour" and I think we could all do with some of that now and again (more again, really!)

. . . is he trying to tell me something . . .

2008-07-15T17:01:00.005+01:00

. . . and, if so, what . . . ??? Click on the pic if you want to enlarge so that you can read what's on the wrapper! It makes for interesting reading!

Thanks for all your comments on the Estonian Lace Christening Shawl. The PDF will be ready in the next couple of weeks and I will update my blog with the link when it is.

Estonian Lace Christening Shawl Finished

2008-07-09T13:47:00.014+01:00

I've now finished the full-sized version of the Estonian Lace Christening Shawl. Its post blocking size is 54" square which I was pleased about because that was what I had hoped for from my calculations. However, how does one get decent pics of a thing that size?!! Taking pics of the prototype to show it in its full glory wasn't so difficult. Being smaller, it was placed on top of the dining table and I stood on some step ups to get some height in order to show the whole thing laid flat. That way, all the detail is shown at the same time. Now, with this one, I suppose I could lay it out on the carpet and swing from the chandelier whilst juggling my camera if I was (a) of acrobatic inclination, and (b) not heavy enough to bring said chandelier crashing down and me with it not to mention the fact that I might break my much treasured camera! Perhaps, a step ladder is the answer. Anyway, apart from that, the weather is dismal and dark and we're promised continuous rain for the next few days, so the pics below are the best I can do for the moment. All of the pics can be clicked on individually to enlarge them if you want to zoom in.

Originally, I had intended to just follow the prototype adjusting for size by making the centre larger but I decided against this as I wanted the full sized version to keep that 'frame within a frame' look of the prototype. So, I opted for a repeat of one of the borders and an addition of another border incorporating a different motif.

The shawl was worked on 2.75mm Knitpicks metal needles of varying lengths as it grew and I had 1476 stitches to cast off on the final round. It takes 6 skeins of Jaggerspun Zephyr wool/silk laceweight or at least six are needed (I used about 25%-30% of the sixth skein, I think).

A few close ups. (Click on each pic to enlarge further).

I'm delighted to say that I have a whole list of people interested in the pattern (if the substantial wait hasn't caused them to change their minds by now!) mainly from the Yahoo laceknitters group but also some from Ravelry and elsewhere so I've been working on creating a PDF. All of the charts are complete and all of the notes of everything I did to complete the shawl from start to finish scribbled down in my trusty knitnotes book. All, I now need to do is to the put the whole thing together.

Flower Baskets

2008-06-23T16:15:00.004+01:00

Handcrafted flower buttons which I'm going to use in my new hobby of crazy quilting. I've placed them on a card with a flower basket pic in the background and am about to sew them on as these eleven are a gift for someone and I thought that they'd look better like this than just sewn on a plain piece of card.

Miniature flower basket shawl knitted for the competition part of a Ravelry swap.

Fits this little bear perfectly!

ETA - Couldn't resist adding this one.

This is a motif cut from Venise lace, then hand-dyed and embellished with beads. A gift from my new friend, Nicki. Isn't it lovely!

Quick Update

2008-06-09T18:46:00.010+01:00

Life continues to be uber busy but I feel I really ought to try to update the blog now and again even if it's just a quicky!

So, the Estonian Lace Christening Shawl is almost complete. In the end, I decided rather than keeping it the same as the prototype except for a much larger centre, I'd try to keep the 'frame within a frame' look of the original which would have been lost with the larger centre. I think I've achieved this without it becoming too much of a mish mash by adding another (different) motif border and a repeat of the inner border. The centre is larger than the original but not so large that it looks mainly centre. I have so many stitches on now that it's all bunched up (even though it's on a 120cm long needle) so, for what it's worth, here's how it looks at the moment.

To have a break from the knitting, I've also taken up a new hobby in my crafting time. This was brought about by a swap I took part in recently where my partner liked anything celestial. I cross stitched a sun and moon from this book and I also did myself a unicorn from the same book. Here they are:

And somehow I found time to make some interesting purchases but they'll wait for another time. For now, I'll just show the latest addition to my button collection. These were described as antique bakelite buttons but I think they're more likely to be vintage.

I really like the oriental look of them.

Meme

2008-06-03T16:58:00.005+01:00

Life's been super busy which is why I've had another long gap without a post. Thanks to all for your complimentary remarks on the Estonian Lace Christening Shawl. There will be some pics of the real thing soon as it's almost finished. I've been writing the pattern and charting it as I go, so the pattern should also be ready at the same time.

Now for the meme. Modelwidow kindly tagged me for the Peeps I Want To Know More About meme which I've been meaning to do for the past few days and now I've finally got around to it.

The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Here are my responses.

1) What was I doing ten years ago?
I was working as a homoeopath in various clinics as well as doing allergy testing and Reiki and a part time foundation course in chemistry at the School of Optimum Nutrition.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
1.Continue knitting my shawl design.
2.Read my new novel by Doris Lessing
3.Ring up a friend who has been feeling a bit low lately
4.Relax with a pack of Nobby's Nuts.
5.Go to a friend's this evening to pick up some knitting books (she's having a clear out and what better home for knitting books! ;-))

3) Snacks I enjoy:
My all time favourite snack at the moment is a packet of sweet chili flavour Nobby's Nuts. I'm actually addicted to the things and, what's more, every person up to now that I've introduced to them has become addicted too. So, beware!

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Give up my job and add a studio to my home where I would work and play every day doing all stuff creative. The studio would contain my spinning wheel (and I would actually find time to learn how to use the thing), a loom for weaving, my sewing machine on a proper table as well as a special table for cutting fabric, and my many and varied craft supplies including, of course, my yarn stash. I would share this space with others and we could all be creative together.

5) Places I have lived:
Co Durham where I was born and raised and various parts of the country including London and the home counties.

6) Jobs I have had:
Secretary/personal assistant, homoeopath, waitress, cook, working for the College of Homoepathy as a part time tutor as well as being involved in the moderating process by doing the first markings of dissertations, computer archivist.

7) Peeps I want to know more about:
It's been some time since I checked blogs so I'm not sure who's done/hasn't done this meme. If you're reading this and haven't done it, I invite you to participate and, as I'm very nosy, if you do, please leave a comment so that I can come and have a look! :-)

Estonian Lace Christening Swatch Shawl Blocked!

2008-04-15T17:02:00.016+01:00

After blocking, the swatch shawl turned out to be a whopping 3ft by 3ft! I guess I got a bit carried away with my swatching! To see more detail, click on the photos to enlarge images.

Close up of the centre

Inner border

Outer border

Outer border and edging

Corner

Draped

The swatch shawl was knitted in Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight in white on 2.75mm circs. So, now I'll start the full sized version with a few minor changes!

I Won!!! I Won!!!

2008-04-14T21:53:00.006+01:00

Forgive my manic excitement but I can't help it as I actually won a blog competition which is such a rare event in that it's never happened before though not for lack of trying! Modelwidow had a blogiversary competition in which she had a photo of the pieces of her Babette blanket and we had to guess which square her daughter had crocheted. Well, apparently, I guessed right and won the fabulous prize pictured below!

Well, to be truthful, this is not all that was contained in the parcel. There were actually two bars of chocolate when I first opened it but one mysteriously disappeared! I love the cheery red gingham bag and little pouch containing a sewing needle, two pretty little stitchmarkers and even some folding scissors!

How neat are they! Everything is so well made and I'm absolutely delighted with my prize! Thank you, Modelwidow! I don't really do socks but I do intend to make some of the Latvian and Selbu mittens so the bag will be just the right size for carrying around my mitten projects.

The Estonian Lace Christening Swatch Shawl has been blocked and I think I can safely say that it no longer resembles a dishrag. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow!

The Estonian Lace Dishrag

2008-04-12T14:28:00.009+01:00

Fresh off the needles and that's what it looks like presently - a bit like a lace dishrag!

However, let's see what a good wet blocking will do! This is the swatch shawl for my Estonian Lace Christening Shawl and it's quite a large swatch measuring, in it's unblocked state, 27 inches x 27 inches. The proportions will not be the same for the real thing, e.g. the centre will be larger in comparison with the borders and I'll be making other changes, too, but making the sample shawl was a very useful process. Having never knitted a shawl with a centre, borders and edging before in one piece, it was a bit audacious as a first attempt to design one but that's me all over! I also got used to using my new charting software and learnt a few more things on the way that will, hopefully, ensure that the final full sized version is better than it would have been had I not done the sample first.

The home clear out still continues and, as weekends are the only time we can get together to do it, today is allocated for continuing on the garage which will, hopefully, by the end of today, be purged of everything that is just clutter. The rule is if the item in question has not been needed/used for a substantial amount of time and is not likely to be needed/used for a substantial amount of time, then it goes. One is allowed to use some discretion as to what constitutes 'substantial' and this is where the arguments or should I say, debates, begin! So, it's back to work.

Tonight, however, after dinner I know what I'll be doing. Getting a backache from contorting myself in an effort to get the pins in just right the place to try to make something that resembles a sample shawl from the dishrag!

Getting Organised!

2008-03-27T23:51:00.004Z

WARNING - PHOTO HEAVY POST!!!

Well, I haven't blogged for a while but that's because I've been busy. I have managed to do some knitting though. It’s all bunched up on circular needles at the moment so it’s difficult to appreciate how it will look when finished and blocked but this is the swatch shawl or prototype of the Estonian Lace Christening shawl I’m in process of designing using traditional Estonian lace stitches.

The centre is worked in a stitch pattern containing lots of nupps. . .

. . . and is surrounded by an inner and outer border. I’ve yet to decide on the edging but I’ll be making a PDF pattern available in both written and charted forms for this shawl when it's finished in the near future (she says optimistically).

I also crocheted another wire choker for a friend who liked the first one I made. I glued Swarovski crystals in the medallion of this one.

I got a bee in my bonnet about getting organised. Believe me, this was a necessity. A clear out was definitely needed at Chez KnitYoga's! I couldn't believe the amount of stuff that we'd hoarded over the years and the loft and the garage produced an old Hewlett Packard computer and an Apple-Mac computer and printer that I used to use for my homoeopathic software package amongst other things. As I've also just got myself a brand new 'puter, there's another one spare which, thankfully, is needed by a friend's daughter. There were tons of board games a lot of which went to either Freecycle members or charity shops and quite a few which I still can't bear to part with like my vintage Pacman for one! Then there was china and glasses and kitchenware as well as a camping stove and tent and much more. It feels good to have got rid of all those things that we no longer use but which others can put to use and nothing has been dumped which makes me feel even better about it!

Then I got around to thinking about my button and crafts stash which was all over the place, hence not only making the place look messy but causing difficulty in locating any particular thing when needed. So, I found this tallboy in IKEA which exactly matches the chest of drawers and bedside cabinet in our spare room which doubles as a craft room. DH located some fabulous felt trays which fit into the drawers really snugly (also at IKEA) and these have been filled with buttons and polymer clay embellishments, etc. My buttons have now been organised by colour and material as far as possible. The following photos are a taster and if you want to see more, click here. Also, if you click on each photo, you'll be able to enlarge them and really see the detail of the buttons.

Now, to visit some blogs and see what people have been up to! ;-)

Vintage Treasures

2008-02-26T17:26:00.007Z

Birthday money comes in useful sometimes!

A selection of vintage and antique buttons

Vintage knitting mags and booklets

Catching up!

2008-02-21T15:38:00.002Z

Thanks so much to all who left comments on my last post. I thought, in this one, I'd better catch up with what I've been doing. Knitting has taken place! First, the 'Counting Sheep' Baby Blanket knitted in Jaeger Matchmaker DK from the Vogue Baby Blankets book. Can you see the blackberry stitch sheep with 3D ears?

I decided to line the blanket with some cotton fabric and was delighted to find this gorgeous, high quality landscape fabric on eBay featuring a field of wild flowers with sheep, a sheep dog and farmer.

I washed the fabric to preshrink it before stitching it to the back of the blanket and also added some hidden stitches here and there to stop the middle from bagging.

Baba's mum has given it her approval and I hope baba will like it, too!

I also made a start on Odette from the Rowan Kidsilk Aura book . . .

. . . and used two skeins of Noro Aurora from stash to make a scarf for a friend's birthday.

The scarf was knitted in two halves which were then grafted together so that the ends would match and I used the Celtic Waves ripple stitch pattern from Jan Eaton's '200 Ripple Stitch Patterns' book.

And I have some buttons and beads to show! A friend who is familiar with my penchant for interesting buttons acquired these little beauties for me a couple of months ago which she found in an antique shop. What a great find!

She also gave me some lovely fibres and yarn she had spun but my camera has been unable to do justice to them due to the dismal weather.

As for beads, these were my two most treasured buys at the Bead Show at Sandown Park back in November.

Botswana Agate and highly polished Lapis Lazuli.

At present, I'm working on designing a christening shawl (as much as one can design such a thing when using traditional stitch patterns such as Shetland or, in this case, Estonian stitch patterns). To get an idea of how the stitch patterns will look together and to familiarise myself with the construction and the charting, I'm initially knitting a swatch shawl, i.e. a small version of the real thing! I got this idea from the Gossamer Webs Design Collection Book which gives directions for several sample Orenberg shawls to knit so that one gets used to the techniques. Hopefully, the shawl I'm making will become an heirloom in our family and I think it will be really nice to have the teeny version to go along with it to show the design and swatching process. It makes it more individual and special, don't you think. I just hope that my descendants in years to come will appreciate lace knitting otherwise both normal and teeny sized shawls might one day end up in a charity shop or, worse, the bin! Well, one can only hope . . . I should have some pics of the swatch/sample shawl to show in a day or two providing it doesn't all go terribly wrong! LOL

Wedding Anniversary

2008-02-03T13:52:00.000Z

A dozen red roses . . .

. . . a Swarovski bear . . .

. . . some vintage buttons . . .

. . . from thix box . . .

. . . cast from original antique buttons in 40% cocoa chocolate from Hotel Chocolat. Yum!

Some very relaxing knitting that doesn't take too much concentration . . .

. . . and my lovely man to cuddle up with! Today is about as perfect as it can get.

Thank You

2008-01-28T18:05:00.000Z

Not ready to properly blog quite yet but I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all your kind thoughts and comments which are very much appreciated.

In Shock

2007-12-20T15:15:00.000Z

Yesterday evening my father died suddenly and unexpectedly. I hadn't seen him for some time and I was looking forward to visiting him again between Xmas and the New Year. He was also very much looking forward to spending Xmas day at my brother's house. Today a post mortem was carried out and it was discovered that the cause of death was COPD(Coronary Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder). It wasn't as if he was young (he was 82) but we had no idea that he was suffering from COPD and were given to understand that, physically, he was relatively fit for his age. However, apparently his breathing was stopped by fluid accumulating in his lungs and he passed very quickly. I'm gutted . . .

Cirkeltroje Finished!

2007-12-03T20:48:00.000Z

I haven't actually checked and compared patterns but, from a visual comparison, the 'doily' part of this cardi appears to be very similar, if not identical, to the Hemlock Ring vintage doily which Brooklyn Tweed's Hemlock Ring Blanket is based on.

SPECS:

Pattern: Cirkeltroje from Feminin Strik
Yarn: Kidsilk Haze in Elegance colourway (4 x 25g)
Needles: 5.5mm circs 40, 60, 80cm