Put to good use

I received some wonderful gifts this Christmas, including a great little book on handbags, and a wonderful selection of buttons and beads. So I put both to good use, to make a dinky little handbag shaped purse for a friend who shares the same birthday as me.


The purse is knitted in stocking stitch from hand dyed linen, and the handle is plaited wool and linen. I made the pattern up, and it is fairly basic, but if anyone is interested: cast on 20 stitches, work stocking stitch for approx 50 rows (or until the piece is twice the depth of the desired purse).


Continue in stocking stitch, knitting two together at the beginning and end of every knit row. Continue until the closing flap is narrow enough for your chosen fastening, cast off.


Cut a rectangle of linen to form the lining for the body of the purse (I left the flap unlined).

Sew the side seams of both the knitted purse and the lining, insert the lining and stitch around the top to fasten it to the purse. Use the tail of the yarn from casting off to make a loop for closing the purse. Attach a bead or button for the closure. Use buttons to attach the plaited handle to the purse.

Super heroes abound!

There is nothing quite so much fun as making fancy-dress costumes for children. I don't mean the kind from patterns published in books or magazines. I mean taking items you have and turning them into costumes, and all the fun of researching and deciding the details with your little one.

We did just this at the weekend, to come up with a fancy dress costume for my little boy's birthday party.

So from one old negligee, a pair of tights, some gold ribbon, yellow craft foam, an off-cut of black leatherette and an old pair of pants... batman was born...

Ignore the red socks and cuffs - on the day they will not be making an appearance. Do you think Bruce Wayne would have been proud? My little chap was unsure about wearing his pants over his trousers, but even he had to admit, that when we consulted the comic book, that was how the man (bat?) himself did it.

Q: What's brown and sticky?

A: A stick, of course! (sorry - that is one of my favourite jokes!)

My sister came across stitch and bitch sessions recently (one is just starting in Towcester - if any one wants the details let me know). She was shocked by the title and then intrigued, but reticent to join in as she is not really a knitter, although became quite fluent in finger knitting. So I told her about weaving sticks.

Stick weaving (see picture below) is a very simple and highly portable way of weaving. All that is needed is an odd number of sticks ( as many as can be comfortably held in the palm of one hand ) with a hole in the end of each one. The weaver would thread each stick, as they would a needle, with a desired length of wool, and knot each thread in place to make the warp. The weaver would then tie the loose ends of the threads together. Next, taking a ball of thread they would tie the end around one stick and begin to weave over and under the warp. The work was then pushed off the sticks onto the warp threads. When the work was completed the weaver would carefully cut the threads going through the sticks and tie them off securely. For more details see: http://www.history.uk.com/clothing

Above is a picture of a choker that I made a couple of years ago on weaving sticks. I have had many nice comments about it, and have been very pleased with the way it can be used to mix a number of fibres. And here is a picture of the weaving sticks with some weaving on them...

It's very simple, good fun, and most of all quick!

Straps, bracelets, chokers and belts are all easily made, and sections of weaving can be sewn together to make larger or more complicated shapes.

A diversion

To start the new year, I am being brave and showing a watercolour painting I did over the Christmas holidays. It was from a photograph in a book.

I took up water colour painting 2 years ago, but have not done any in the last 12 months for one reason and another (mainly my boy starting school and a number of small work projects).

Anyway I liked this one - this is actually just the part of it that my scanner could fit - but I am pleased with the enforced cropping, and shall try playing around with the rest of the picture (there is some moody sky which the scanner chose to ignore, and some more of the hills) until it all comes together. I am also thinking of doing another version with poppies in the fields (a bit like the old Cadbury's flake advert! - can you remember it?).

There is a funny story about my first painting lesson and Dahlias. I mention it to make those in the know laugh...

Networking - that must be the secret

So I wondered why it is I could not think of 6 people to tag for the recent meme. I thought I would consult the masters, so I checked out how good kharma bunny got tagged, that led me to Leigh, and then to Cheryl, and then I realised - I just am not very good at networking!

So sorry to be the weakest link in the meme...

But it's good to follow other people's networks - Leigh and Cheryl both have some great things on their blogs. It's great how many talented people are just a click away.

Winter Solstice

So, today is the shortest day of the year - and what is the view from my kitchen window?

Rockpool

So what's with the daily posts? Well: sick child, work deadlines met, main Christmas activities on schedule - it's a weird time, so I am making the most of it.


When I went to Harrogate in October, I discovered Shibori. To most people this means a dye resist technique. But before the dying is the pleating and stitching - and this is the part that captured the hearts of my mum and I. She is doing stitching on beautiful, ivory silk. I decided to try felted shibori.

So I knitted a rectangle in pure wool. Then pleated and clamped and also tied in glass pebbles. Then I did hot and cold hand felting. The result was a lovely textured piece with lumps, bumps and ripples. The colours inspired me, so I couched threads, added some metallic fibres, and beaded away to produce this...






I am going to call it rockpool, and intend to mount it on a board (but what colour background do you think? Cream? Or painted sea blues and greens?). I am really pleased with it. It's quite unstructured, and for me, uses a nice variety of materials in unusal ways.


Here is a picture of the whole thing... as you can see, it is an uneven shape, but that suits the idea of a rockpool I think.

24-60 hours

That is the estimated period from 1st sign of symptoms to recovery for winter vomiting bug, which landed in our household at 3:00am this morning! So we had all last week off school with fevers and coughs, and this week we managed 2 days at school before sickness and the dreaded 'd' word (all Mums will know what I mean).

So I am glued to the settee as my little chap won't let me out of his sight, while he moans and tosses and turns, and periodically "chucks".

Still, the time can be put to good use. So I have started on NEXT years Christmas cards!!! I am exploring a holly motif and seeing how many different ways I can do it. I did glass paints on acetate this morning, and will try that textured fabric paint that you make bubble up with a heat gun tonight. I have also got some embossing powder that I had long forgotten about, a holly punch, and lots of green and red fabrics and threads - so it could be fun.

I promised to show the citrus filled organza bag from a couple of posts back, so here it is...

Also here is a Christmas table decoration that my little boy made while off sick last week. It's a cheese spread carton covered with glitter, with Christmas cake decorations stuck in, and snow made from dessicated coconut. The coconut looks really good, and smells nice too!

It's all about me!

Good kharma bunny invited me to do her tagged meme. She also asked what a meme was. So I did some investigation... in blogs it tends to be a list of questions you have seen somewhere, and decide to answer and post. However, apparently, the high-brow explanation is "a unit of cultural information that represents an idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and is subject to mutation and adaptation" (that sounds like Chinese Whispers to me).

However, the way I think of it, is that these lists always seem to be things to reveal about yourself, so I think a meme is really a me-me, as in the title: "It's all about me!".

Anyway this one is six weird things about yourself... so here goes...

1. I often dream about celebrity chefs, especially Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.

2. I skipped school only once in my life: to go and see the opera La Traviata. Not even my Mum knows that.

3. I like potato waffles and the skin off roast chicken, both covered in salt. I think it is because overall I have a low fat, low salt diet, so every now and then my body just screams at me "go on... do it!"

4. I studied psychology at university, yet I am a sucker for self improvement books.

5. I once went to a fancy dress party as Clint Eastwood. My husband said "you're brave!".

6. My husband and I met when we were joint presenters on a 5 day training programme. Does that make me the teacher's pet? There was some good chemistry on the course.

Actually, not sure that these are weird things. But they are not things I tend to tell people every day!

Oh, and I am now supposed to tag 6 other people. Afraid I can only think of one who has not been tagged already so here you go In The Pink

Does it count?

Well, not exactly a making moment... but we had our family Christmas party yesterday. There were 12 of us and I did a huge spread of all home cooked food - even the bread was home made. My spinach and rice balls also made a re-appearance on the menu after 10 years absence (well, they are VERY fiddly to make!).

It was a lovely do, and thankyou to all who came along. It felt like a sort of milestone for me, as it marked the end of three weeks' work, one of which was spent with a little chap off school sick.

Anyway... I was asked for my recipe for the glaze I put on the turkey so here it is:

1/2 jar crab apple jelly (or you could use cranberry)
Grated zest of one orange
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Heat and reduce slightly in a pan, pour over the turkey for the last 20 minutes of roasting. Yummy!

Small boy is back at school today...

Merry Christmas to everyone.

PS What is black and blue and yellow all over? Answer: Me falling down the cellar stairs while holding a bowl of custard.

Iridescence

I have just completed my final home made Christmas present! (Actually this completes all my Christmas presents, except for the one that Amazon worryingly keeps informing me has been further delayed. I ordered it at the beginnng of November, and the delivery estimate is now 21st Dec... do you think it will come in time?)

Anyay, back to the home made one. This is a decorated organza bag which will be filled with a selection of clove studded citrus fruits. My little helper is in charge of decorating the fruits, and I have had fun using some of my purchases from the Harrogate exhibition. I took some fusible (peacock green) and non-fusible (bronze) angelina fibres, and heated them over a rubber stamp to fuse them and imprint them at the same time. I then cut out the leaf shape, stitched it onto the organza bag, and then had some fun adding some beads and tiny bells. I am not very experienced with beads, but am quite pleased with this attempt.

Hopefully the sight and scent combination of this present will go down well.

Christmas Traditions

The good kharma bunny recently asked about people's Christmas Traditions. It seemed like a good thing to muse upon for a few minutes.

As kids we were allowed to have chocolate digestives for breakfast on Christmas day, and a glass of "Rise and Shine" (do you remember that powdered orange juice drink...).

The traditions we have now for my family are to go to church on Christmas Eve for the Christingle service. However, disappointingly, this year the service is set for Dec 10th (too early for me!!! but we will still go).

Also, to chase out in the garden looking for a glimpse of santa leaving his last parcel of Christmas morning before he goes off for some sleep. Last year my husband excelled himself by leaving a lump of horse manure and half a carrot on our flat roof, and taking my little boy up a ladder to see the evidence that Rudolph had been by!!!!

Also having the only little boy on the planet who adores brussel sprouts makes our food traditions very interesting! I try to make our focus exciting vegetable dishes... and we always have something unusual like guinea fowl rather than turkey.

We have yet to manage the local tradition of pork pie for Christmas breakfast!

Do you believe in angels?

Small boy let loose with digital camera... 'nuff said!

What would an arborist keep in a pouch?

I have made this pouch/wallet as a Christmas gift for by brother in law (shhh!!).

I am very pleased with it as I had no pattern, and so had to plan and design it all from scratch. It is made from knitted hand dyed linen in a nice muted acid green. It is lined with plain linen cloth and the pocket is made from a nice oak-leaf patterned fabric. The colours and pattern seemed appropriate given his profession.

I am very smug to be able to announce that this completes my Christmas present list, and so now I can lean back and relax until the big day. Oh, except for the piece of consultancy work that I just won this morning. (Hoorah!).

Silk baubles

Earlier this year I fell in love with recycled sari silk, and have knitted with it to create a hat and bag, and also to use as embellishments in other projects. I love its chaotic structure and myriad of colours. It looks fantastic when washed and wound into balls...

I wanted to do something with this image, and finally struck on the idea of sari silk baubles as an image for Christmas cards. Here is one of the first batch. I am playing with alternative versions...

Harrogate Stash

At the beginning of last month, I attended my first proper hobby exhibition - the Embroidery and Fashion show at Harrogate. It was great - so much to see and try So many people happy to talk and tell you their inspirations, techniques and materials. I don't know what to say about it, so here is a picture of my purchases. I also bought lots of dissolvable fabrics and texturising products... so there is much fun to be had.

I have not managed to try any of them out so far, but am looking forward to playing with all my goodies.

Funky stripes

I have made another journal cover as a gift.

This one was knitted, but I found I had to line it with fabric otherwise it curled at the edges.

Next time I'd knit it wider although with it being quite tight it makes the stripes curve nicely. It is a mixture of hand dyed linen and sari silk. The colours are all very acid - it makes the whole thing look quite fresh I think.



I have also had a "refresher course" on sewing machine basics from a very good friend of mine. So the darning plate has been fitted, the foot removed, and freeform machine stitching here we come. We've still not addressed the frustrations of sewing with metallic thread - but it never hurts to leave some bits to be done by hand.

Operation Christmas Child

This year, my family is supporting the Samaritan's Purse charity by taking part in "Operation Christmas Child". This sends a small Christmas box to victims of war, poverty and natural disaster throughout the world. http://www.samaritanspurse.uk.com. Last year Samaritan's Purse in the UK sent out over 1.18 million gifts to children across Eastern Europe and Africa.

We have packed a box for a boy and a box for a girl. There is advice on the website about what to pack and it is very humbling to see what items will bring so much benefit and joy, for example:
A cuddly toy,
A toothbrush, toothpaste
A wrapped bar of soap and flannel
A notepad, colouring book
Picture books
Pencils and pencil sharpener, pens and paper
A set of crayons or felt pens
A hat, cap, gloves, scarf
A small ball or tennis ball
A puzzle e.g. small jigsaw
For boys: a toy car, truck, passenger plane or similar item
For girls: jewellery (e.g. pair of clip earrings, make-up or hair accessories)
A greetings card or a photo of yourself
Sweets
Small musical instrument

There is also a video showing children receiving the parcels last year. It is so little to do and amazing to see it can bring such happiness. My little boy has helped me choose and pack the items, so he can understand what it is to give something to someone who has so little.

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

Viva Bob the Builder!

I bought what I thought was a fun and interesting yarn back in the summer. Patons Splash ("fun and fresh").

I knitted it into a wraparound belt with wooden bead fastening using the pattern: k1, *yf, k2tog, *repeat to last stitch, k1 - simple I know, but a nice little project. The pattern is nice enough and vaguely lacey...

But on completion, all parties agree that knitted up it looks like knotted string woven through with old tights. So technically OK but aesthetically a disaster! Infact so bad that I cannot bring myself to even sew on the beads!

Looks like an inspired bit of recycling! A big disappointment! Let's hope the next project works out better!

So on an uncharacteristally personal note, here is my little boy dressed up as a puppy in an old blanket and my slippers.... aaahhhhh!!!

Progress

This week I have progressed a knitted wallet I am making for my brother in law, made a knitted outer layer for a new journal cover that will be another Christmas gift, started a knitted beaded belt for myself, and painted our back door. (spot a theme?)

Pictures will follow...

I am adjusting (slowly) to life without my little boy at home... now he has started school full time the house seems so empty, and it is hard to see just how much he has replaced me with his school experiences. Many thanks to good kharma bunny for being so... well she knows.... such a good friend...

My sister has joined me in blog land (http://twoknightsandmaidens.blogspot.com), and my fav. big cousin has been reading my posts! He promises/threatens to leave comments. That's a bit scary!