woven wonder

During my big tidy up, I found a few little things that sparked joy that I put up on our wall and they are starting to look really nice. In our sitting room corner my crochet wall hanging hangs alone still, but I was not feeling very inspired to do any crochet and I decided this was the time to have a go at some weaving! I have seen so many of these amazing hangings, and love them so much but it felt like a bit of a leap to have a go myself.

When I was little I used to make little cardboard looms to make little weavings – so decided to go down this tried and tested route again! I found a really nice stiff piece of cardboard and cut out a rectangle. Then I added some notches to each end. My box very handily had a dot design on it so I didn’t have to do any measuring but usually you would need to put mark along the edge so that your top notches and bottom notches match up.



Then I wrapped my wool around into the notches to give me all of my warp threads. Lovely!



Next I started my weaving. My first plan was to keep it simple and do coloured stripes, but after doing a few rows of plain weaving I decided that I really wanted to try some of the techniques I have seen on the amazing weavings I have seen, making patterns with colours, and some textured parts. I really like the tassels! I found a wonderful online resource called the weaving loom which I recommend if you are a beginner like me - it has lots of interesting things to learn there. I had a little play around and settled into a bit of colour work. I think next time I will try some loops though.



It was quite hard to take some work in progress pictures because it looked very messy until then end when I sewed in my ends. But then it looked really really great!



I really enjoyed this little project, something new for me.

a little crochet wall hanging

One of my new years resolutions was to do a few more crafts to help brighten up our home.  I moved around a lot in my twenties and I developed a bit of a phobia of owning unnecessary things. And for me purely decorative items were definitely in the category of unnecessary. But now we are settled in our home and able to hammer nails into the wall, I am feeling much more like I want to cosy up  our home a little and there is good reason to have decorative and unnecessary bits and bops.

Recently I have seen some wonderful ideas using textiles to brighten up walls. Not just tapestry and embroidery, but also weavings and applique banners, and crochet hangings.



This week I had a little go myself at a crochet wall hanging. I found a lovely free pattern online for this square motif - the flower power granny square. I thought this was a pretty design and a good one to introduce different colour combinations to. I'd like to use this pattern again changing the number of colours used to see how it effects the way the pattern is picked out.

To turn my square into a hanging for the wall, I just added some pom poms to give it a bit of weight to hang (and I like pom poms. Although I have not spaced them very well so might need to revisit those!) and a little chain stitch handle to the top. I've got it taped up at the moment until I have made it a partner.

Lovely stuff!

wicker and wool

Last week I was mainly making pom poms - I love them so much, and their bright woolly fluffiness. I saw Lucy's lovely baskets and after that couldn't look at our wicker washing basket in the same way again.



Poor plain basket (poor dirty mirror) (poor mum lots of laundry!)

I loved the look of Lucy's Pom poms, a sort of salt and pepper effect, so made my Pom poms with a coloured wool and a cream wool together to achieve that grand look. I used four different colours, a hot pink, sky blue, pistachio green and golden yellow.

I counted the upright sticks on the basket to work out my spacing and how many pom poms to make. I had 39 sticks so that divided nicely by 3 so decided to space them at every third stick - (I like logical). This meant 13 pom poms, which didn't divide so well between my colour scheme so I currently have a bit of a gap in my pom poms. Rich helpfully pointed out that this side could just face the wall so that's my current solution!



(Much better! Clean mirror too. And laundry done. A happy day!)

My pom poms are a bit more spaced out than Lucy's which wasn't intentional, and I need to go back to trim them a little more evenly I think, but really I am very pleased with my little pom pom basket now. That wasn't such a hard job but look at the transformation my little fluffy puffs made. It has really brightened up this corner of our bedroom too. Although I am not sure how long Rose will resist trying to pull them off... so far she doesn't seem to have noticed (dare I say it?)

Lucy also made tassel baskets, you really should have a look.

Mouse stop

My friend debbie (quite) recently crocheted this amazing doorstop. A mouse! I love it so much. 

All of our doors need doorstops, and i really love mice so i thought this would be a good addition to our home too. 

And i wasn't wrong - a lovely face he has: 

Here is my version. he looks quite different from debbie's (even though i copied her blue ear design) and from the one in the pattern. I like all the varieties.

He looks so lovely next to our door, but unfortunately he is not heavy enough to hold it:

Debbie used a kilo of rice in hers. mine just has 500g of pearl barley which i fear is not enough.

You can make a mouse using the pattern - it's a free one from Lion Brand and you can click here for that.

And this was a good project for me as i fear i have knitters block! More on this serious condition in my next installment.

That's all for now from me and mouse,
Dora x

squares

Although i did find my last quilting project a little bit of a chore, i have decided that i am going to have another go to make some cushion pads for our wooden dining chairs. I just love the finished effect - even if i don't find the production quite so much fun.

I got this beautiful fabric from my friends Marian and Hellen for my birthday last year. Marian is a quilting guru so i am trying my best to make her proud with this project.

I am really pleased with progress so far.

First i cut the fabric into small squares:

And then i layed them out into the four cushion squares. This picture looks like quite a big mess, but hopefully soon you will see some order appear...

I have done really well sewing the squares together - here you can see they are in slightly different stages of development.

I am enjoying this project much more than i expected. I think now i have a good method of production, and i think because the fabric is nice and crisp and the cushions are all quite small, this has been a nice pastime for the evening.

I think soon i'll be finished!

Yours patchily,

Emilia. xx

Pouffed out ... Feet up!

It was aaaages ago now that Rich and I decided we needed a new pouffe.

We just had a little one my mum made but it's not really big enough for 2 sets of feet. Mum had some foam though and said i could use it to make another one.

Here you can see photos of the progress.

1. The foam (cut a bit crooked with a breadknife!)

2. I cut some calico squares to make a cube

3. Here is the calico cover with the foam stuffed in! It's a bit lumpy bumpy though (due to rough cutting) i tried to even it out a bit with some soft toy stuffing but it only really made things worse.

4. To disguise the lumps and bumps i knitted a cover. I am really pleased because this also used up a massing ball of super chunky wool from my stash - much more space in there now. I put it together so that 2 sides are stocking stich and 2 sides reverse stocking stitch, and the top is a woven effect of the two.

5. ready to put the feet on. Here you can also see i was on a bit of a roll and covered our little brown cushion with the leftover fabric from our curtains.

Yours pouffed out,

Emilia. xx

Quilty pleasure

Now I have finished my squares, my chair, my blanket, and my skirts, the next big thing on my list was my quilt (last seen in May)

Here she is - complete and lovely:

it looks nice on the bed

Although I am quite pleased with myself, I have decided that quilting is not really the craft for me. I really enjoyed working out the pattern and seeing it come together, and i am pleased by it now it's done, but it was hard work to keep motivated with it and I think I was a little slapdash. It was probably quite a lazy attempt, but I really like the design and think i will be pleased of it in the summer for picnics and beach days. And for a first go perhaps i have learnt some good lessons.

I do have another project up my sleeve so watch this space for at least one more attempt at quilting success! But not until next year...

And today is the last day of 2011! There are still a couple of items left on my list to do - those are a handbag i still haven't got round to making (but as I haven't actually started that yet, I don't think it counts), and my cardigan (but news on this soon) The big thing really is that I have not picked up my sampler for a very long time. There is a new years resolution in that for sure! But I am pleased to have whittled that list right down and to have my blanket and quilt finished and in use.

And tomorrow is another year and plenty more time for making.

Yours wishing a happy new year to you all,

Emilia. xx

Pig in blanket

Hello everyone - what a long time i was away for - but now i am back - and despite my silence, and much time christmas shopping, i have been productive with my time too and have a little bit of show and tell.

The main triumph of the past week has been finishing my blanket which i started earlier in the year and last shared progress of in May!

sorry about the shadows - today is a very bad lighting day!

I am really really really pleased with it. Because of all the lovely woollens it is SO warm. So very very warm. And also because of the loose knit and feather and fans, very stretchy so a little blanket goes a long way.

I still have a nice amount of wool left to make tassels for the ends, but i am thinking that they might get in my way a bit, and perhaps i will save those wools for some other little projects.

Another thing to tick off my list - and a real joy to behold!

And another joy is this pig in blanket i knitted in pre blog days. it was for rich because he had never heard of pigs in blankets. he is vegetarian though.

And now time for another hot strawberry ribena and a nap!

but back soon!

lots of love,
emilia. xxxx

Crochet Items for your home

This morning i have been busy listing some more items in my shop. I was overjoyed last week because I sold my first item - the lovely gloves. They are going to be a christmas present - wonderful!

I was very happy about it, but my shop was looking very bare, so i thought it was time to put some more things there. I had done some crochet a little while ago, but hadn't got around to taking some photos and writing some descriptions. I am finding it hard now the evenings are dark - I don't like to use the flash.

But here I just want to share some of the pictures of the finished items:

I love them all as they're so bright. The items are a set of greek cross square coasters, a set of granny square coasters and a popcorn stitch teacosy. The teacosy is so wonderful! I will be happy if no one buys it so i can keep it myself. Such a bobbly delight (but i will happy if they do as well as it is nice to share)

And here is another thing to tick off of my list. Now i just want to go back to crocheting squares, but i think i should wait until the new year before making more shop items as there is still much to do. I have started making some little christmas gifts too as inspired by this blog the Crafty Christmas Club blog. It's lovely to see all the handmade presents!

Yours busily,
Emilia. xxx

upholstering

Last week we were given this chair which my dad rescued from his friend's garage.

well - you might be asking why - but it is really a lovely retro design - little swivel egg chair. it just had got covered in oil and paint and holes.

But i like a challenge and decided to try a spot of reupholstering. 

(this might be a picture of the wrong side of the fabric!)

i got a very large piece of this fabric, which i hoped was in the spirit of the original and was suitable for the task (and because rich wanted it blue and nothing flamboyant. although i had fun imagining all the possibilities) and set about tucking and pinning.

Here it is in an early stage to try to demonstrate what i did. the fabric had a really good drape and a slightly loose weave so moulded really well over the curves of the chair. I just pinned it in place and set about hand stitching all the seams.

And here is the finished chair! Perfect for guitar playing and knitting alike.

I am so proud of this chair. i have never tried any upholstering before so am feeling very triumphant. And feel like this was a good job of recycling and saving a nice old chair.

and one thing ticked off my list

Yours sitting comfortably,

Emilia. xx

Minted

I am very pleased to announce the completion of my mint green cable beaut...

 

complete

The cabling is also on the back of the shoulders - here is a close up.

I am really pleased with this one as I had drawn the pattern using my measurements and instructions from my knit design book (as well as a little inspiration from topshop) and it has worked out really so well! Such a good fit - although perhaps a little long in the arm.

 pleased! thank you Deb for these sweet birthday hairslides.

I had quite a lot of trouble towards the end of this project because the button bands proved quite an ordeal. Because I had used reverse stocking stitch, it was really impossible to pick up stitches to knit the band horizontally - although I did have a few attempts. In the end though I decided to cable some bands and sew them on. They are curling back a bit at the moment, but hopefully with wear this will sort itself out. and with the buttons done up i am really pleased! I think Kirchhoff would be proud!

Also I am pleased because today we have some blue sky. I am on holiday from work at the moment so it's not so good to have rain - although it has meant I have managed some home improvements on indoor days. Now we have curtains in our bedroom (very floral curtains! but Rich says he doesn't mind. at least it's what he says)

And you can see from the picture that the sky today is blue - so now we are going out for a picnic and beach afternoon. That's much more like it! Good excuse to wear my new sunglasses....

silly

Hopefully there will be lots more show and tell from these few weeks off. 

Yours restfully,

Minty. xxxx

blankety blank

Now i have been a little bit bad and have been keeping a rather big secret. despite already having a knitting project on the go. and as well with a quilt in progress and some embroidery. and some dressmaking. i still decided that i wanted to knit a blanket.

It all started just before i moved house and i wanted to make lots of things for the home. And this one was a little reward for the time i spent on costume making and a little moving present to myself.

I was inspired mainly by some  pictures of a colinette design which uses feather and fan pattern and really big needles (especially when I saw this one on kathyrnivy.com - there are a great deal of gems in her knitted collection - look at the pile up pups!)

There are so many colours from colinette and i did spend a lot of time mixing and matching. I know though that sometimes the colours on screen are not all that accurate and often vary from lot to lot. Also it was a bit overwhelming to try to match them not knowing how they would kint, so i decided to play it safe and use the colours that i had seen. That combination is called Sedona.

 i searched online for Sedona and found out it is a place in the arizona desert with brilliant blue skies and red rocks and golden sand.

The wool arrived in no time. It looked a bit different to the picture but this is often the way. I used my mum's swift and winder to make these balls which knit nicely from the centre!

Although i knew the lace pattern, there were other things i had to think hard about without the official pattern, such as how to order the colours, how many rows to do before changing, and weather to use garter rows and how often. I used the kathrynivy pictures and some other pictures i found online as a guide to begin with but soon decided that i was happy with a regular texture and it is nice to pick up a colour as i choose.

Although it is quite big, the needles are 8mm and so it is growing at a satisfactory rate. I don't think it looks quite the same as the original one I saw, but i really love the way it's turning out.

strange photos

Yours knowing she really needs to stop starting new things and finish something soon.

Emily