A happily creative 2008 to all!

I hope you have all had a creative start to this new year.

The orchid shown above was given to me as a Christmas present by one of my pupils. A truly delightful, and much appreciated thought. I love flowers.

This holiday from school has been a very creative one for me. I've been very busy with the Band-Robin. The stitching is now getting close to completion. I started the Ice Queen cowl, but have now ripped that back since I really wasn't happy with the way I had knit the pattern. It really wasn't quite right. So I shall start that again once I have got the stitching completed for the Band-Robin. (Photos for this will have to wait until after the sampler has found its way on to the next participant.)

I have also ripped back the Naive socks which I had also started knitting. The wool I was using, although wonderful to knit with, was really too dark to show off the subtle cabling of the design. The yarn will be great for a plainer pair of socks.

The other day I bought myself three huge balls of aran weight yarn (400g x 3!). Its not such an expensive purchase since the yarn is a mix of acrylic and wool. I needed some bright colours to lift my mood. The red is destined for a cardigan and the blue for a warm cowl to go with my blue jacket on windy days. Yes, I do have a scarf. But this is such a nuisance when it is windy, since I really can't keep it warmly and comfortably round my neck.

Amongst all this activity, I completed Hazel. Yes, it is too cold here in the Northern Hemisphere, to wear it just now. I really enjoyed making it though. The cables are such fun to do. I have plans for a cardigan/jacket to go with it.

I also decided this week, to sort out my fabric stash. I'd had to live with such a lot of it blocking access to a cupboard for rather too many months. The cupboard housed my collection of books and a number of other textile bits and pieces. So I spent a useful day sorting it all out. The books now reside in a bookcase in my workroom, just where I can use them. Wonderful! The pile of fabric has also gone, it is now sitting inside a large box in my cupboard and the fancier fabrics also sorted into the relevant drawers and shelves in my workroom. All my stash of fleecy fabric is together at last, sitting on the shelf under my sewing table. I have plans for a couple of new jackets.............

Amongst it all I found this

An unfinished aran jumper that I had completely forgotten all about. I must have left it partly because I was using metal needles at the time. I find I can no longer use these - they make my wrist and fingers ache far too much. Nowadays I use the reinforced plastic needles or bamboo. So much nicer. Now, I am not certain whether to rip this back and use the yarn for something else, or to finish it. I shall wait for a few days. I don't wear jumpers very often, so I could turn the design into a cardigan...................... but a jumper is so cosy when going out on a walk...........

Have fun!

Knitting, stitching and such.

Its been rather a long time since I last posted to my Blog. Work got in the way, and my much-loved sewing machine decided to break down, but I still managed to get rather a lot of knitting done.

I've started two pairs of socks - useful mobile knitting. The first design is "Firestarter" by Yarnissima. This interesting design can be found at http://www.yarnissima.com/.

The second design is "Naive Socks" by Spillyjane. This is a delightful cabled sock design and can be found at http://spillyjane.blogspot.com/.

The third project is using up the Jaeger Trinity yarn I have had in my stash for some time. This poor yarn has been used for two previous projects which I really did not enjoy knitting and so ripped them back. This seems to be third time lucky. The design is Hazel from the Jaeger book JB34. This is another beautifully cabled design which I really enjoy knitting. This is getting on far faster than the socks at the moment. I have already finished the back and have started the front.

Here is the promised photo of the Mocassin Socks. Coco wanted to have her photo taken, so we compromised I took a photo as she posed with my socks. This was not an Elizabeth's Year project I really enjoyed, but I shall use these socks. I think what puts me off is the seam underneath the foot - something that I personally find uncomfortable to walk in. They will prove useful as house socks on chilly days.

The last project waiting to be started is the beautiful "Ice Queen" from Knitty.com. I have managed to get myself involved in yet another knittalong to knit this.The group calls itself Ice_Queen and is a Yahoo group.

As well as all this, I have now finished the design work on the Band Robin. This will be shown after I know it has arrived with the next person on the list. The design was based on a wonderful carved stone design from the 12th Century which I found in a gorgeous book. I shall tell you more another time, but I can tell you that the book was a lucky find. I found it in a Charity shop!

Happy Christmas everyone!

For those who don't share Christmas, may I wish you some very happy, uninterrupted time with your own textile projects.

Hello again.

Still busy, but managing to get some knitting done. I completed the back of my tunic yesterday.

I have just started the front, and was starting the first lace row after the garter stitch border. whilst waiting for Blogger to upload my photos. The tunic is sitting on the top of my shirt quilt.

Since I last posted I have made another piece of felt. This was made using bubble-wrap rather than the more traditional rolling. This was because I used a range of bits and pieces, not all of which were wool.

The following photo is a close-up of the "top". It shows some of the bits and pieces I used - some really curly Wensleydale fleece (amazing stuff!), metallic rayon yarn scraps, and some threads.

The last photo shows the "back".

This was the last piece I made at the Textiles course. I am not sure what I shall do with next. We are supposed to be adding stitching, but I still haven't made up my mind. The felt now hangs from the message board, waiting for inspiration.

I must completely mad, but I have joined up with the "Elizabeth's-year" group started by Kelley of the Knit Picks podcast. This should be an interesting challenge, since we shall all be knitting pieces designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I must admit that before I heard Kelley's podcast I had never heard of Elizabeth Zimmermann. We are starting with a shawl. I have to wait a little longer since I have ordered the books I need from Amazon.com and they will not get here until later this month. Then I shall have the fun of sorting out suitable yarns.

Still here

Its been a while since the last posting - its been a busy, but not terribly creative time!


Firstly, this is a photograph of the Band Robin which I completed for my friend Ktj:



Its just arrived, I'm relieved to say. Its always a heart-stopping moment when a piece of work is passed on to Bob at the Post Office. He is very kind, but it is nerve-wracking especially when it usually takes around two weeks to get to the USA from here.
The next photo shows a detail of the section I did - its the lowest one on the photo. Here is a close-up.



The section above mine is the most enchanting design I've ever seen. Its based on a knot garden. This was stitched by Margaret.
I was blown away by Margaret's design when I received this. It took me some time to catch my breath and explore ideas. Luckily, the cherry blossom was just coming into flower in the gardens around my house..,. Hence the design. I kept it simple. The sketch below is the one I used for the Band Robin.






The other photos are ones I took as references. First, the flowers:



Now the bark:



I really love the texture of the bark, so used french knots and bullion knots to try to imitate this.
At present everything else is continuing quite slowly. I still have not finished the shopping bag. It is sitting next to me, the side seams are all stitched, with the bindings pinned. These need to be handstitched in place.
Why is it that I always prevaricate with the last bits of anything I work on? It seems to happen with everything I make. Whatever it is, it sits there for at least a couple of days before I get around to finishing off the last touches. How silly..........
Oh yes, the new piece of knitting is carrying on. I have ripped it back three times so far. I kept on misreading the instructions! Its been far too many years since I last knitted lace.

Making repairs - creatively.

Well, my cardigan got finished this week - Aggie is acting as the model here. The Rowan Tapestry yarn that I used is just so soft and comfortable to wear. The design is "Heath" by Sarah Hatton from the "Tapestry Collection" book.




Sadly, the weather is getting a little warm for wearing this just now, but it will be just right for a cooler evening. I can see myself sitting out in the garden, knitting............ Ooh yes!



This is the start of my new knitting project. I have already ripped this back twice when I got the lace design all scrambled. I resorted to underlining all the instructions I should be reading to make sure I wasn't following the wrong details. The yarn is Jaegar Trinity, which is really soft to knit with. The design is also from the Jaegar book, JB 25 which gives 15 designs by Martin Storey. As you might recall this started out originally as a cardigan.

The rebuilding of my shopping bag has been continuing too. Not sure what Coco is thinking here - probably wondering what these are doing next to her bed. (Well, it was her brother's sleeping place, but now she has claimed it for her own! She does let him share......... sometimes.)

Each of the four sides started off looking a bit like this - a mix of oddments of furnishing fabric and remnants of the jute from the original bag.

Then I added some lettering, first writing it out on some stitch and tear. Then pinning this over the top of some satiny upholstery fabric I found in the stash. Yes, my stash is embarrassing large.

Some free machine embroidery and tearing off the paper later and it turned out like this.

I enjoyed myself messing around with slogans. The 3Rs refer to the recycling mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle. The +1 just refers to my addition of the term "repair". Sometimes needed if you are going to reuse something..... I added the cats and Snoopy, just as a bit of fun. They had been intended for a handbag - but I can always go and get some more.......
A dangerous thought, venturing into my local yarn shop. I seriously doubt if I will be able to come out again with just the replacement motifs...........

Feltmaking and carding.

Two posts so close together? Just feeling so excited, just had to share..........

I had loads of fun last night at the Textile Course. The little bowl got completed, it was first soaked to remove the water soluble fabric, then, whilst still wet, soaked in a solution (half water, half stiffening liquid) of Stiffy.

But then Ruth, our Tutor, surprised me with a give-away comment. "Now what about some beads." She was right, it does need something. Ruth, you have started me thinking. Beads......... now which colours............sparkly or plain.......... Its dangerous, thinking............

Now, not only did we finish those little bowls, we got to do some more feltmaking. This time we were introduced to the pleasures of carding. For me this was a first. I wasn't too keen on the carding itself, but loved the mixtures of colours which could be achieved. Magic...........

This was some of the range of wool colours I had started with. We were asked to find a collection of light, middle and darks.

The piece of prefelt (lightly felted wool) below is the result of felting my carded dark colours. The next stage with this is to introduce some handstitching.

I have some homework to do this week - to get my light and middle collections of carded wool to the prefelt stage. This will be great fun to do, however............... its such a messy process that I might have to set up a table out in the garden and get the work done there. The tiled floor of my kitchen is definitely not the safest place to get any felting done. I'm sure its probably me, but I get water splashed everywhere!

Knitting.

So sorry it has taken me such a time to add another post to my Blog. Since my last post, I have been busily knitting my cardigan. To start with, I ended up unravelling the back - I'd found a really silly mistake! Typical!! I had not started the back as instructed. It should have had four rows of garter stitch, but I had knitted four rows of stocking stitch. So now I have got the back completed once more, finished the left front and started the right front.
The photo shows where I have got to on the right front. The pattern beneath is the cardigan I am making. The design is called "Heath". A rather different style for me, but I am looking forward to being able to wear it.



Getting all this done, I made the decision to rip back all the part-knitted cardigan. It makes far more sense to do this since I cannot see myself actually wearing that cardigan should I ever get round to finishing it. There is a rather nice tunic-style summer top in the Jaegar book, so I shall

start that garment after finishing "Heath".

My knitting bag - a Vogue pattern - V7887, it has been made out of an odd piece of upholstery fabric from my stash. The lining is an offcut of curtain lining again from my fabric stash.The pattern is for a gardeners bag, but it makes for a wonderful knitters bag too! Eight pockets round the outside and oodles of space inside. You can just see the part-knitted cardigan which I still have to rip back. The still unfinished Black, White and Red quilt adorns the back of the chair my bag is sitting on.

Tomorrow evening I shall be able to get on with completing my little bowl. It currently sits on this desk with me. I can barely wait to try adding the stiffening liquid. It will be so interesting to see what happens next..........

Knitting

I must be mad, but I've started knitting again..........

I found myself listening to a really interesting podcast by a male knitter from Australia:

http://www.sticksandstring.com.au/

Its well worth a listen.

Unfortunately, I have now got back into knitting once more. For me knitting is addictive, once I start I cannot stop until I run out of wool or finish the project.

I do have one knitting UFO (UnFinished Object). This was started a couple of years ago. Its a Jaegar pattern called "Hattie" and should have been a cardigan rather a long time ago. The yarn is Jaegar Trinity in a shade I would call light jade.

I got bored, so didn't finish it. I got to half way up the right front, having completed the back and left front. One day I shall get back to it.

I don't know what I am knitting at the moment, at present it is a collection of 4" squares which I shall probably knit or crotchet together to make either a scarf or a shawl. I'm making it up as I go along......... The yarn is the polyester yarn shown at the top, alongside some of the completed squares.

One thing that has got me really thinking is the idea of going green - using more ecologically sensitive yarns, threads and the like. This was the topic of one part of David's podcast (http://www.sticksandstring.com.au/) today. Neither of the yarns I have could be called green. One is polyester and the Jaegar Trinity uses silk, cotton and polyamide! I think I have rather a long way to go before I can consider myself truly green.