Very occasionally crafting

April 19, 2018 Occasional Crafter1 Comment

elephant

Wow. I didn’t expect it to be April before I got around to posting here. I also didn’t expect to have so little to show! Looking back at the very few photos I’ve taken, this wee elephant got her face on 4th January, and then her trousers on the 18th. I finished her jumper on 12th April, and gifted her on 13th. So it’s been quite slow in terms of making anything around here.

I made her for my Physio. (I have a bad back, my Physio is amazing. She got me from not being able to stand to actually walking when I slipped 2 discs at the same time a few years ago.) I almost didn’t hand her over, because while my Physio is wonderful she’s also kinda no-nonsense. I thought she might think it was a bit weird — although we had been discussing knitting previously. But then I thought, well, she has a niece, she could always regift.

Anyway. I’m so glad I did. She was so pleased – and hilariously said she wasn’t even going to show her niece incase she wanted the the elephant for herself!

So that was lovely. And her happiness made my week. (It didn’t make her go easy on my back though. Goddamn that woman has fingers of steel.)

So anyway, work has rather taken over. By the time I’ve had a free evening or Saturday I’ve either been too tired, or there’s been something else that needed dealing with. I’m really hoping that this will calm down soon.

The plan now is also to try and make time for myself. Although I said that a week ago and there’s been no luck so far. Next week I’m travelling for work, so it’s out then too. But sometime soon.

So fingers crossed. Now I’ve posted hopefully I’ll be back soon with something more than backache to show for myself!

A Christmas elf

December 29, 2017December 29, 2017 Occasional Crafter1 Comment

merry_xmas

In the end, I did manage to fit in a tiny bit of Christmas knitting! This is a little elf ornament, mercifully knitted flat and then stitched up at the back. He’s relatively quick to make – as always the thing that takes the longest time is the finishing off. I do like the little collar though and the fact you can use the cast on yarn to crochet into a chain to hang him with.

The pattern is called Little Pixies and is by Amanda Berry. I kind of wonder if he should have legs actually, but when he’s hung up, he looks fine. He’s knitted on 2.75mm needles, and works out at a really nice size. Might make more. (Maybe I should do them right now, and then they’ll be done for next Christmas? I still can’t find my tatting bag so we’re still snowflake free).

In the meantime, the yarn I thought I had, which I was going to use to knit a baby hat over Christmas, I didn’t have at all. Seems I’ve used it all up. I started another hat, keeping fingers crossed that I had enough yarn to complete it, then went wrong while TV knitting and so am down from about 25 rows in, to 5. Ah well. This is why I don’t get paid to knit.

Onwards! Happy new year!

A bear (left) behind

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017 Occasional Crafter1 Comment

How on earth is it December? What a weird year. I can hardly remember… well, the summer even. It feels like so long ago. This year feels like it’s been 5 years in 12 months, without time to catch a breath. A never-ending stream of things that needed to be done. I’m not sure why, but it’s been a restless year. There’s been no rhyme or rhythm to it.

no_nose_bear

I haven’t had a lot of time to make anything, so the things I have made have happened a bit sporadically. I had a huge panic about the yarn I have just sitting around in boxes, so I made this wee bear, but she never got her own blog post.

Made from Lorna’s Laces sock yarn, she’s actually a really nice size. I think sock yarn could be a good weight for toys. I don’t love the stripes (bit busy), but they’re not as bad as they could be. The pattern (as is often the case) is from Little Cotton Rabbits. In this photo she has no nose (how does she smell?! etc). I ummed-‘n’-ahhed a lot about whether or not to give her a nose, and seeing this photo I’m still not sure it was the right thing. I think she looks quite cute without it.

with_nose

Here she is with a nose, and with my favourite elephant for a size comparison. And here she is larking around with the rest of the gang…

gang

The dress was another random make to try and get rid of some cotton I don’t really like! To be honest it doesn’t really fit her – and nor does this pink jumper. Both a bit too big.

pink

I really did think about buying more yarn to make her some clothes, even though the whole point of making her was to use up yarn in the first place. As I type there are 2 arms, 2 legs, a body, 2 ears and an almost finished elephant’s head in the kitchen, using up more of the yarn stash. I think I started that in August maybe, but I just haven’t had any time to finish it off.

markers

I did finally make a human sized jumper though! But it was for a very small human. A friend had a baby, and it seemed like a sensible, and hopefully nice thing to make a little jumper. There were a lot of stitch markers involved which almost gave me a nervous breakdown in the beginning, but once I got going, really helped.

progress

There’s a small cable down the front, which made it a bit more interesting to knit. The sleeves were a horror though – I just could not get nice purled cuffs when I was knitting in the round. I was on DPNs (ie, not using the magic loop on circulars) and I’m not sure if it’s just harder on DPNs or I was doing something really wrong, but after 3 attempts, I decided to go for ribbed cuffs. (You don’t even want to know about the language that got me through this phase.) After a severe bit of blocking it turned out ok, I think. Not perfect, but just about ok enough to gift.

blocked

Actually the mother of the recipient wrote me an incredibly nice thank you note. The baby is still a bit small to wear this (it’s for 3-6 months I think) so we’ll all have to wait a bit longer to see if it’s actually functional at all!

I recently moved house. And I also recently had to go away for a week for work. Could I find my tatting bag? No I could not. It’s somewhere in the house purposefully placed so I can find it easily. WHERE THOUGH?! Where is it? I just can’t figure it out. This means I travelled with nothing but a book for entertainment, which must be the first time in years. Tatting is so small, you can always find room for it so I take it with me almost everywhere. It feels weird not having shuttles to hand even if I haven’t been tatting for a while. I’ll have to start yet another hunt. I haven’t made a single tatted snowflake this year.

And on that note, I should go. There are obviously, more Things That Need To Be Done. I hope that wherever you are, you have a good holiday season, and a great new year!

Busy/not busy

July 23, 2017 Occasional Crafter8 Comments

I’ve neglected this blog a little (ok, a lot) as I’m still in craft limbo. I talked before about not being able to settle into a project and it’s still the same. Starting and then not understanding a human-sized pattern hasn’t helped:

This was going to be my go-to project for a bit. ‘Go-to’ projects are good I think – you know what you’re working on, there’s no decision to be made you can just pick it up and carry on. You just relax into it and the process itself is relaxing. Getting stuck means that I kind of feel bad for not persevering, but then after a busy week at work I’m not sure I can face the perseverance. Then what do do? Not skilled enough to make what I’m supposed to be making, but still want to make something… so…

I made this chap recently:

And actually, he’s very badly knitted, but I am a bit in love with him. He started out with a pink embroidered nose, which I disliked, so I left him as just a head for ages. A visiting friend picked up the head and berated me for not giving him a body. Feeling bad I unpicked the pink nose and did as I was told. (Who knew you could also unpick a nose…)

I think he’s a really nice size. And also, maybe I’m really just a kid who hasn’t grown up… I really like making toys. That said, this Millennium Falcon belongs to the Mr:

Aside from that, I stitched up a few lavender bags from the tatting I had lying around:

This is kind of hilarious because honestly, that little ribbon is so off centre it’s a miracle it’s even in the shot at all. The power of photography, eh? I did get a bit impatient with the sewing machine. I always want to be better at things than I am.

Time this year has also been taken up in other ways. I’ve worked on our little garden a lot, and it’s been really lovely to watch it grow. On a work trip to Boston (USA) earlier in the year I had a spare Sunday afternoon and walked to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. There is a central garden inside the house, and many of the balconies had window boxes full of beautiful trailing nasturtiums.

The lighting was a little tricky, but hopefully you get the idea. (And yes, it does look very Italian, despite being in the USA). I came home and immediately planted a packet of mixed nasturtium seeds, all of which dutifully sprang forth.

People talk about ‘splashes of colour’ – I’m not sure there’s a more apt description. This photo was taken a week or so ago. They look a bit battered today as the rain has been so heavy this weekend. I’ve also been baking a fair bit.

These are ridiculously easy ginger biscuits. A little darker than usual as I ran out of sugar and added some black treacle. (Good move). Baking has all the joy of craft I think, with the massive added bonus that you can eat it at the end…

As predicted…

March 19, 2017March 26, 2017 Occasional Crafter5 Comments

bunny_1

I’m really not feeling that great. I’ve been waking up around 4am every night for the last seven days with coughing fits. It’s getting really wearing. I’m kind of ok in the day, just this ridiculous chest cough at night. It’s steadfastly refusing to turn into something more, (like a proper cold) and just wearing me down bit by bit. Really tedious.

Anyway. That coupled with general ‘fear of starting a proper project’ and ‘oh my god, how did you end up with so much yarn?’ made me think I should take it easy yesterday and use up some more of the orange.

bunny_2

Actually when you pair this orange with white, it’s nowhere near as horrible. If you pair it with anything else it’s either too milky (It’s Rowan Wool Cotton – they’re all kind of milky) or just too… orange. Perils of buying yarn online I think.

I made this bunny’s head last year but wasn’t thrilled with it. Yesterday I thought ‘use up more yarn! Do something easy, lazy and finish-able!’ And so I decided to finish this off. It is, of course, a Little Cotton Rabbits pattern. I have a feeling it might be one of the first ones that Julie (the designer) made available.

While I was knitting it, I thought many things, mostly:
• Oh my god, what have you become? You’re knitting an egg cosy. Are you like, 90?
• Umm, are you sure this is going to actually fit an egg? You know you knit really tightly,right?
• Friend [X] keeps chickens and has 2 which produce tiny eggs. You can give this to her! It’ll be O.K.
• Damn it! How is it even possible we have no eggs in the fridge?

bunny_3

At 4.45am this morning I thought I should just get up, because lying down really wasn’t cutting it. As I made some honey and lemon what did I see in the fridge?! We did have eggs after all!

I did a little photoshoot there and then. It does it fit, just about – and you know what? I love it. It’s ridiculous, but I love it. I might even make another one. It’s really cheered me up.

Fidgeting

March 16, 2017March 16, 2017 Occasional Crafter7 Comments

I can’t think of a better word to describe my current crafting status. After a year of knitting lots of toys from Little Cotton Rabbits patterns, I’ve free fallen (is that a phrase?) into a few months of not being sure what to make next.

I decided I should sew some of the pieces of tatting I have lying around on to fabric – an example of which is shown above.The creases in the fabric are a rather desperate attempt to sew this on straight. Honestly, sewing really is not one of my main skills. (I think my main one is eating, to be frank.) This actually looks better in real life – it’s almost perfectly monochrome, which I really like.

This is wonkier. It’s ok – but I think I would be happier if it were a little more regular. One exciting thing though, I had to travel for work the other week and had a free Sunday in a foreign town. I took my jet-lagged self off for a long walk to a craft shop and bought myself some beading needles! The one in the photo is a regular needle, and it only fits through 40% of the beads. I have higher hopes for the beading needles!

This is actually a project I took on the plane for the trip. In the end I slept (badly) and only got 10 minutes to work on this in the hotel one morning. It’s finished (not in this photo) but I’ve not done anything with it yet. If you’re the tatting type, the overlapping rings were made alternately, (back ring / front ring / back ring etc). Previously I’ve made the back rings first and tatted the top rings second. It’s neater doing them alternately, but much tighter in the centre if you make the back rings first/ front rings second (is this making any sense?). It’s not a major revelation but… thought I’d share it anyway.

I’m in the middle of remaking this in red thread. It’s a fantastic colour and looks great on black, but my phone camera has no idea what to do with such intense colours. I’ll work out how to take a photo if it ends up looking ok when it’s finished.

I did finish this chap’s trousers. He’d been waiting a long time as I made him when I was living in Athens! The jumper was made at new year. He’s quite nice, even if I do say so myself. Trying to work out where he should live.

This one was a bit of an experiment, combining bits from different patterns really. I want to make a small rabbit and felt it (just in the washing machine). I’ve not felted this as it was made from old stash yarn and I can’t completely remember what it’s made of. The head was made on DPNs and I *think* I made the body flat and stitched it. I say ‘think’ because the join is so good, I sort of can’t see it – and seriously, I don’t think I’m that good at mattress stitch. It possible pixies came in over night and sewed this one up for me.

A confession: I hate this orange cotton.
A fact: so does this grey rabbit.

I tried so hard to work out a jumper that might fit him, but I have no idea how jumpers really work. Eventually I managed to make this dress, and the grey rabbit absolutely refused to wear it. After all that effort, someone had to wear it, so the other one finally got some clothes.

But what next? Well, tatting, but that’s just small odds and ends at a time. The next project is going to be a human sized jumper. I don’t have high hopes actually but I will try. This one is top down (ages ago I tried something which was bottom up, and didn’t finish it). I’m hoping that being able to try it as I go might mean I can make something human-wearable. We shall see. I needed to buy a new length circular needle which I’m hoping might arrive in time for the weekend. If not… maybe another Little Cotton Rabbit?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Another catch up!

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 Occasional Crafter12 Comments

Sooooo… it’s been ages. I keep wanting to write something and then also wanting to spend my spare time as far away from the computer as possible. But I decided to bite the bullet – which also means on 23 Jan 2017 (which is my time zone, but clearly not WordPresses!), I get to wish anyone who is still out there a very happy new year!

This is a whirlwind tour of general stuff to get me back into the habit of posting again. Above is a little motif I made just before Christmas. I had some red thread already on a shuttle waiting to be used up. I didn’t like this thread originally (the pink really is pink) but it’s grown on me at last.

This is a Scandinavian Santa (Ravelry link) that I made before Christmas. Actually, for me personally he’s harder than he looks! I’m not great at intarsia, but I really like him. I made a tiny alteration to the pattern in that I continued the top of his head as an icord and carried it over to make a hook. I like it. I did not like the one I made in red acrylic and ironed though. Especially not after he melted. Ahem.

After Christmas some friends and I went away for New Year. It’s become a tradition to get together, watch films, eat nice food and play board games for a few days. To get away from the world, relax and not worry about the horror that is new years eve and have to work out where on earth we’re supposed to go for the best time EVER. There’s a weird pressure for NYE and this takes it all away.

I think I really needed the break this year. I really relaxed and enjoyed every minute of it. I can’t say I didn’t check work emails, but I left the responses that were longer than a few lines until I got home.

The place we rented was amazing. It had its own private cinema! Above is a picture of the bar and above that the entrance to the cinema. It’s actually open to the public as a not-for-profit cinema at certain times of the year, but when it’s not in use, guests at the house can use it.

And this is a slight panoramic view of the library. It’s actually not original – all put in by the current owners, but it was such a lovely room. A proper mix of old and new books (which looked like they’d been bought to be read, not for show) and a comfy sofa and chairs. I snuck in there late at night for a bit of quiet time on my own and did a little knitting…

Little being the operative word. I made this jumper (above) as I have one bunny that is still waiting to be clothed. (Ravelry link for the pattern.)

And FINALLY this one has been gifted. I finished her late last year but only got to give her to her rightful owner last week. She’s a wedding gift to an old school friend. She got married last summer, with dyed blue hair, wearing a studded leather jacket and carrying a Lulu Guinness disco ball handbag. Admittedly her handbag was a little more sophisticated than the bunny’s but you can’t have everything. She has a little skull bead on the front go her dress as my friend’s engagement ring has a skull either side. She was very well received and I believe is happy in her new home! (Incase you don’t know the bunny pattern is Little Cotton Rabbits.)

I received Norah Gaughan‘s Knitted Cable Sourcebook for Christmas (it’s really nice). This is my first attempt at a scarf using one of the cable patterns. As it happens, the cable was fine – it’s really not a hard repeat even though it looks a little complicated. I hate the edges though. Also this isn’t wool so I don’t think any sense can be blocked/knocked into it. It’s half frogged as I type. I’ll come up with a better plan for the edges, and do a basic panel either side, I think. Just needs 10 minutes of concentration to come up with a proper plan.

I took this photo over new year, because I really like the colours. It’s one of the first times I’ve had a photo in the back of my mind when deciding what to do with my tatting:

I know – not the same but sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got! The photo inspired me to pick the black beads for the centre, and actually I think they work quite well… even if I do say so myself.

So there we are. All caught up… Ah, except for one thing. Remember my first Little Cotton Rabbit? The one I couldn’t quite part with? He’s finally found a new home. Gone to live with a little girl who needed a bit of friendly company. He’s been named. She’s called him Starlight 🙂

Happy new year. I think we’re all in for a bumpy ride, but we can get through it together, right?

Occasional Crafter

Crafting, occasionally.

Author: Occasional Crafter