Crafting update

It seems like I haven't blogged here for AGES! I'm having trouble uploading pics cos my bf's using all the bandwidth, and I almost forgot that I could make a post without pictures, which is what this is going to be.

I have been busy though. I used some of the cotton I was given, and a pattern, and crocheted (is that even a word?) a table cover doily thingy. The pattern says it's a table cover/chair back, but since the only person I know who has chair backs is my gran, and I haven't seen a picture with one that dates after the seventies, it's definitely not going to become one of those. It's really cool, the cotton is variegated shades of orange, and it's a sort of spiral shape. I had to adapt it cos I was running out of cotton, but I think it's pretty cool. That needs pinned out and blocked or something anyway before I put pics of it up.

I've also been knitting jellyfish from Magknits. I changed the specified yarn to the cotton aran I bought a while ago, instead of mohair, cos all the mohair I had was either too hairy to see the lace, of self striping, and I didn't want vertical stripes. I think I will make a shrug with the self striping mohair, but it'll be horizontal stripes. I just need to find a patten for it. Jellyfish is coming along really well now, knitting up very fast, and is lots of fun, but I had lots of problems at the beginning with the lace pattern. The only way I could get round it was by casting on one less stitch - either the stitch count for the middle size is wrong, or I'm just completely inept. I'm not sure, cos it looked like it was working sometimes with the 60 stitches. But now it seems to work with 59. So I'm going with that. I'm actually 3/4 of the way through knitting it, and I'm enjoying it. I think it'll look quite nice when it's done, with the cotton instead of the mohair. The cotton seems to have a nice drape to it. I want to knit another one after this, but with beads. But since I'm on a totally strict budget just now, that'll have to wait till I can afford suitable beads. I know, they'd only be a few pounds, but right now I can't even afford that. I'm on an enforced stash-busting exercise right now, going through all the stuff I have already. It hasn't stopped me looking though old posts on craftzine.com and being totally inspired to do a whole load of other things though!

Finished Rogue!

Yay! Rogue is finished! And I love it!


I love the waist shaping. I've never made anything with any shaping before, so didn't quite know what it was going to turn out like. But I like it.


Two photos of the hood, one for the detail, and one for the colour. The bottom picture has the colour more accurately, but the cables aren't so visible.


I'll definitely make this pattern again. Just need to use up the yarn in the stash before I can buy more aran suitable for it. The pattern was very well written, with every step clearly spelled out (I need that in a pattern!) and I really like how it turned out. I like the pocket too, and how it involved no sewing! In fact, the whole thing had very little sewing, another thing I like in a pattern! So I'm off to use up more yarn so I can buy more eventually to make another one! :)

Wee Mee!

I was bored.



I was also in a bit of a mood when I made it, lol! (www.weeworld.com)

Instanst Stash Enhancement Part 2

A basket full of crochet cotton. There's also a couple of balls that are left out of this picture, cos I have a plan for them already.


There were some crochet shapes that she had already made - they're gorgeous! The cotton is so thin, and variegated, and there's more of it in the basket! Yay!


Crochet patterns.


Knitting patterns. I know, the photo is like a bad job lot photo from ebay, but there's so many, and I didn't want to spend too much time arranging them all out. Here's more of them:


Some of the patterns are a bit old and dated, but I'll keep them anyway, cos I'm a hoarder! And my tastes might change someday. After all, I never thought I'd make the blackcurrant/blueberry top. Some of them are fantastic though, and some of them are just so kitsch!


It's a bit blurry but you should be able to see the little cap - isn't it just brilliant!? I might never make it in my life, but I'm so glad just to have seen this picture - it definitely brought a smile to my face.

I was just totally stunned when I opened the bags and found all this loot! She's so generous, and every time I look at it all, I'm just like - wow! yay! I sooo need to get to those sewing classes though, and I also need to tidy it away before the dog lies on it all, and gets his hair all over it - I have a moulty dog, who is lovely, but quite hairy. But I'm having fun just now looking at it all.

Instant Stash Enhancement - Part 1

This post is going to be a bit picture intensive, so I'll split it over two posts, I think.

My bf's mum's friend is moving house soon, and busy packing her stuff, and clearing some of it out. And she gave me some of her craft stuff!!! Yay! I now have an instant fabric stash! Not that I'm confident with sewing yet, but I'm going to a class in August/September, and I now have a bunch of cool fabrics to make stuff from!

Now for the pictures:


Some felt - along with cute bunny ears and feet! She must have been going to make some sort of stuffed toy - wonder what I can incorporate them into?


Shiny fabrics! The top picture has all lilac shades - I don't know if they're properly visible in the picture. I definitely need to improve my camera skills! Neither of these pictures does the fabric justice.


Various net-type fabrics.


And some heavier fabrics, and curtains. I put the black fabrics in this picture too, even though some are heavy and some are shiny. It's hard to photograph black fabrics as it is, so I just lumped them all together.

I can't wait for my sewing class to start now. I just don't have enough confidence in my sewing yet to dive in, I want to get comfortable with the machine first before I cut into any of the lovely fabrics.

Baaa!

Still working on the hip scarf. I never thought it would take this long to make a rectangle. Although even my bf pointed out that with such thin wool it would take a long time and did I not realise this when I started? What can I say, I was blinded by the lure and excitement of a new knitting project. I'm going to fold it in half, I think, a rectangle that wide over my hips will not be flattering, I think. Then I'm going to bead it and fringe it. After I've crocheted the fringe out of the tiny thin wool. And I've decided on the method of closure round the hips. I thought about just tying it round, but that didn't feel right. Too messy on the part of the hips where it needs tied. I want a clean line all around. I thought of making a hole in it to pull the other end through. Not so messy, but still a bit messy. So I've decided to link it together with little hooks that can be linked onto eyes on the other end. I'm just hoping it won't stretch with use! That's why I chose moss stitch, so it would be fairly inelastic, and firm. I'm just worried about the 'fairly' part.

I've also been looking at the new Magknits. I like most of the patterns in this one, in fact I think I would make them all apart from the bag with the bird on it, and only because I'm not that into knitted bags. If I was, then I guess I would make it. Jellyfish, Stargazer and Devon, are all calling my name right now. Nereides too, but to a lesser extent.

And I've put my name in to sign up for Ravelry. I've seen it on soooo many blogs, and didn't really think I would be interested, but it's peer pressure, ok! It's not my fault! I'm still not sure if it'll be for me, but I figure, how will I know unless I try it? I feel kinda like I'm being a total follower, a sheep even, following the latest craze. But is being a sheep such a bad thing in the knitting world???

Work on the Tribal Scarf

I haven't posted for a few days due to a number of reasons. I've had a horrible cold, so haven't had much concentration power, and there's also this:




What feels like miles and miles of moss stitch. For some reason I thought this would grow quickly. I obviously hadn't realised that 2 ply on 2mm needles DOES NOT grow quickly. That's about a week's work there, and I've still got ages to go. It's going to be a tribal hip scarf, either the size it is, or folded in half, I'll have to finish and look at the fabric to decide. It'll be fringed all round the bottom, and the bottom will have seed beads on it. I'm thinking I'm going to have to crochet the fringe, cos the yarn is so thin. I don't want to breaking as I tug it around my hips. Ugh, I thought this was going to be an easy project, that would just speed along. Still, it'll be nice when it's finished, and I can show it off to all the people in my tribal class when we go back in September. It might be finished then. :)

Oh, I almost forgot! My latest charity shop find!


Teeny tiny crochet hooks! There's so small, you can hardly see the hooky bit at all! I saw them sitting there in a cup beside all the dpns, and thought they looked a bit weird, so I picked one up. If I hadn't been listening to old Cast On episodes, and the one where Quirky Nomad talks about minature crochet, I don't know if I'd have known what they were. As it was, I looked at the tiny ends, and thought Ah, that's what she was talking about! They range in size from 1.5 mm to only 0.75 mm. I usually crochet on a 4mm, so they seem really small. I don't know if I'll ever do much minature crochet, my eyes hurt enough looking at this tiny moss stitch I'm doing, but I just had to have them. I'm thinkning maybe I'll use one of them to crochet the fringe for the scarf, then I can crochet the beads in and they'll be more secure when I'm dancing. This scarf is going to take so long, I just know it, but I'm sure it will be worth it. I haven't felt the urge to just rip it all out anyway, and that's got to be good.