Monkeys, crochet, tatting, sewing, triumph and failure

April 15, 2012 DW10 Comments

Yes, this post has something for everyone. Or at least something for everyone who likes a bit of craft – otherwise, look away now.

I was of course making a pig, last time I posted. It’s still at the head stage, because the Ipad refuses to display the second page of the pattern, and I’ve not really been sitting at my other mac, which displays it perfectly. I will finish it, but over Easter as I was away visiting family, I grabbed two balls of yarn and a hook and decided I’d try out some yarn I bought for monkey making a while back.

(Look at her there – relaxing mid-photoshoot! Honestly. It was quite hard to get her to pay any attentional at all.)

The yarn was £2.00 a ball and is Rowan hand knit cotton. I must admit, I don’t love it for this kind of thing, I’ve decided. Two main reasons:
• I crochet really tightly anyway (which is actually very good for making toys) but it makes some yarns tough on the fingers – and this is one of them.
• The stitch definition is a bit too good! Its an odd negative, I know, but I think sometimes the fact it shouts ‘I’ve been crocheted!’ can really get in the way of the character of the toy. Something a little fuzzier is probably better.
While I was away, I made all the boring no-brainer bits: ears, mouth, hands, feet and I started on the rest of the head. I finished the head in the week and today I forced myself to make all the limbs and sew it together. Sewing of course, being the worst job of all.

Usually I put scarves on my monkeys, but today, with sore fingers, I couldn’t face crocheting anything else. Out of the blue I decided to make a dress instead. The monkey is actually an odd colour in real life, and just as I was about to chop up some linen, my head said ‘umm, you’re doing this in a rush, with no idea what you’re doing. Use something you don’t care about’. For once I listened and used a bit of old sheet instead. I must admit, I’ve done a dreadful job on the dress sewing! It’s appalling – and worse – the monkey is trapped inside. I had to sew her in, which is something I really don’t like (it’s sloppy, I think). Having said that – Look at her! She’s hilarious. As I sat down to sew her in, I spotted the crochet flower – it’s been knocking about on my desk for ages – I crocheted it in tatting thread a while back.

I makes a big difference I think. Without it, she looks like she’s in very drab school uniform. Having said all that, I quite like the overall effect, and so I’m going to ponder on it all and probably remake the dress, but better. I did a quick google search before hand incidentally, and found this tutorial. It’s not brilliant, but gave me enough confidence to have a go. I didn’t pin anything or measure anything… it shows. Next time.

If you wanted to crochet your own monkey, I used this pattern again, and just personalised it a bit as I went. So that’s the crochet – and the sort of triumph, on to the tatting / sewing / failure next.

Before Easter I thought I would try making a ‘lunch bag’ style bag, to put tatting on. Most of the tutorials I’ve seen have all been for bags in one colour, but I wanted side panels on mine.

Only thing is, I also lined it, and by the time I’d finished, it doesn’t really fold over properly, which is really annoying. I think it’s all too small for the thickness of the fabric.

I know it needs a button – but even with it, it’s a very clumsy looking thing – so back to the drawing board on that one.

Also, I’ve been trying out using tatting for a brooch – and I’m not keen on that either!

This is it 3/4 done – but I’m still thinking about whether to finish it or take it apart. I made the edging in the week (my own pattern, for once) – but it’s really there to hide the fact the circle isn’t perfect. So… how do people make and hem circular brooches? Actually, even as I typed that I think I probably know the answer to that one. They’re better at sewing than me 🙂

Never mind. You don’t know these things till you try ’em.

In other more exciting news – I’m learning to knit! I asked specifically for no chocolate this Easter, and so instead of an egg, my mum gave me a massive ball of practise yarn, a pair of needles and some of her time in teaching me. She’s a brilliant knitter, but doesn’t enjoy it, so it was very sweet of her to put herself through it. What a lovely present. I’ve been forcing myself to get that monkey finished all week, so I can get on with trying to knit a scarf! I’ve got the basics of knit and perl, and I can just about cast on and off (with a bit of prompting). Needless to say I have grand ambitions but like all these things, *trying* to take it one step at a time.

Phew.

Doing something (else) with my tatting

March 28, 2012 DW12 Comments

(side note – clicking any of these photos will make ’em bigger.)

Last year, when I decided I was producing a lot of tatting and it was about time to do something with it, I made some lavender bags. A complete sewing novice I thought they’d be a good place to start. Actually, they were… Tiny practice pieces, all a bit wonky, none of them with the motif actually in the middle. Luckily lavender smells lovely and if you squint a bit the wonkiness fades, so they do the job quite nicely.

After my quilting adventures, and an earlier attempt at a drawstring bag, I decided it was time to try something new with my tatting. Still all straight lines of course, but, you know – no point rushing in to curves!

I’m quite pleased with this. Made a few mistakes but learnt a bit too. I did have to unpick the sewing that holds in the drawstring about 5 times – it’s actually very tricky at that size on the machine. Next time I might do it by hand. I’ll also plan to sew on the tatting in advance rather than in the middle of everything, because I got so impatient with it!

I mentioned in my previous post that I finally sewed in the ends of a few pieces of tatting I’d had sitting about, including the Mary Konior pattern made in Valdini thread . I must admit, I really wasn’t that keen on the colours of it at all, but after blocking and sewing, I’ve changed my mind.

In the end, I just wanted to use it for something – anything really, and so I bashed out another lavender bag. I think I overstuff them usually, but this time I was a bit more sparing, and it makes it look a lot more professional! I think the linen knocks a bit of the garishness out of the colours – generally mutes it a bit. Now I’ve actually gone from not liking it much at all, to loving it!

So, all good. Room for improvement, but ok for a Sunday afternoon.

Back to the tatting chat

March 25, 2012 DW7 Comments

What with all the quilt euphoria, you might think I’ve not been tatting, but I’m still clicking along in the background. When I can get a seat on the train I always tat – it’s a bit like meditation for me. Stops me getting angry that the trains are always late, and gives me time to mull over the day ahead or just gone. Sadly, the above Storm Trooper refused to sew in the ends, and so I had to finish this off alone. The pattern is from here, and I must admit, does benefit from some beads or other embellishment. It’s a bit plain as it is. (The Storm Trooper helps.) I’m tempted to make it in green though, with red beads, as it does make a nice little holly wreath. Perhaps nearer Christmas.

While we’re talking sewing in ends, this is the pile I’ve forced myself to deal with this week. The beaded one on the right I only made a week or so ago, but the others have been lurking about for ages. In the end, I left them on the kitchen table, and forced myself to do a tiny bit of sewing when I was waiting for a kettle to boil or something to cook. Bit by bit it wasn’t too bad. As a person who crochets, I’m always reading about the chore of sewing in crochet threads – but seriously! Wait till you have to deal with size 100 tatting thread!

This is 4/5’s of a Susanne Schwenke snowflake. I love this pattern when it’s complete – while it’s a single section on repeat, theres something about it that feels a bit erratic, reminds me of sparks flying off a sparkler.To be honest there’s absolutely no way you’d see that from the above, but trust me, it’s nice. Anyway, This was the first attempt, but I wasn’t thrilled with it. It’s a tricksy pattern, and there’s the tiniest bit of bloc tatting in there, which I’ve never done before.

That’s me learning block tatting. It’s almost like you tat a chain on one side of the thread, and the next chain on the opposite side. Also, I finally learnt how to make a lock join – tatters, isn’t it hard *not* to flip the thread? Seriously, it felt like I was defying the laws of physics. All that time you spend learning to flip it correctly, and suddenly you have to unlearn it. Anyway…

This is the second attempt, and I remain unimpressed. The block tatting in it is only three passes, and in size 80 thread, it just looks like a bit of a mistake. Also, I’m thinking that the 4 rings at the end of each ‘arm’ would be much better as SCMRs. As it is, they’re standard chains, attached with a normal join, and it does look a bit messy. So I’m going to tackle it again, with a few alterations… Has anyone out there made this – and if so, any thoughts?

And finally, I’m making a bigger version of the Little Piglet! I love this pattern, the shape of the head is so cute. I hope I manage to make his body live up to it.

And that’s all for now.

Except, one last thing – look at this brilliant woven bookmark made by a friend of mine! Such a great idea, and I love the thought of a bookmark created for a specific book.

Tatting & crochet update

February 12, 2012February 12, 2012 DW8 Comments

I’ve had a busy week in terms of train projects. I started the week with the above — it’s the middle part of a wreath. It’s the wreath at the bottom of this post, in fact. Once I’d finished it, it wasn’t in any way flat. It was like a 3d circle – rather than a flat ring – if that makes any sense? So I quickly blocked it before I raced in to work and hoped that it could be cured. Luckily, it could, so the Storm Trooper up there is providing not only a sense of scale, but acting as a security guard until I get a chance to do the next round. (I’m also hoping he’ll take it upon himself to sew in the ends, but I’m not holding my breath).

While the wreath-middle was blocking, I needed something else to do on the train. I’ve had this sitting about *forever*. It’s tatted in Valdini thread, and it was probably one of the first tatting threads I ever bought; it’s between size 80-100 I think. This is the Mary Konior pattern (again), but I only ever got round to tatting 3 squares, because I just wasn’t that sure about it. This thread is an odd one. I don’t like the way the colour variations work up, it’s a bit busy, and there are white patches occasionally which make it look really messy. I actually bought it because it looks like autumn leaves, and the weird thing is, it feels like them when it’s tatted up. It’s quite dull (no sheen, not boring!) and feels almost dry and papery – like leaves do.

So I forced myself to tat the last square on the train. I finished it on a Friday night on the way home from after-work drinks. I did question the idea of doing this with thin/breakable thread after several g&t’s but luckily it all worked out fine. Does need blocking though, as you can see.

And finally, there’s this. Do you ever get that thing where you have to make something IMMEDIATELY? I had that with this. I bought someone a cowl (from Accessorise) last weekend as a last minute birthday present. It was really nice, and I suddenly decided all I really need in life is a cowl. I had to have one, literally how on earth have a been living without one? HOW? I decided I should make the Calm Cowl – (a ravelry link) and I should use up the 4 balls of yarn I had left over from my mum’s scarf. Not sure how I overbought by 4, but my gain is… my gain. I have a feeling this might really need 5 balls, but I’m not concentrating on that right now…
—-

PS – anyone know if there’s something up with Blogger? I’ve tried to comment on a few people’s blogs and it keeps saying the captcha word is incorrect. ie – the word you type in to validate the post. no matter how many words it gives me to type, they’re always incorrect… Just wondered)

New year, new-ish tatting and crochet

January 8, 2012 DW12 Comments

Hello, happy new year! I can’t believe new year was only last weekend. It seems like a lifetime ago already. It’s been a tricksy week this one… Two steps forward, and while not quite two steps back, not really the four steps forward I was hoping for.

I snapped this little pile while I was packing up. Look at the colour of the ecru thread on the white cotton! It looks so yellow. I know it sounds odd, but I love looking at little piles of tatting like this. I still can’t believe that my fingers can make something this delicate. I’m not a delicate person. I’m a jeans n’ trainers girl through and through – about as delicate as a herd of elephants.

Anyway. I digress.

I was hoping to be able to be able to present a finished baby blanket this weekend, but sadly I need a bit more yarn:

All I need is half a ball to finish the shells on two sides, but sadly, despite ordering from Texere on Tuesday and paying extra for first class post (and the fact that it’s listed as in stock) I’ve yet to receive a even a dispatch notice, let alone any yarn, which is really frustrating. I’m hoping it comes this week, as I need to give it to my friend next Saturday. Tempted to order another ball from someone else as a fall back…

That aside, the blanket came with me to my parents for the Christmas holidays and to friends for new year. With all the travelling, I put my billions of lavender bags to good use, and stuffed them in with the blanket each time I packed it in a bag. It smells great!

These are two I made but never blogged. They’re made from an old sheet, and I gave them an extra seam around the edges. I put less stuffing in than some of the previous ones, and they look quite different I think. (Still not that straight though, which is why I didn’t give them to anyone!)

I finished the other beaded posy I was making – just need to sew in the ends and block it:

These beads are TINY. I thought the red ones I’d used for the other one were small, but these are about half the size of those. They’re bronze, and actually only show up against certain backgrounds, but I really like them.

I’ve been back to work this week, and so back to commuter tatting. As ever, I didn’t have a pattern ready, so I thought I would make use of my ingenious pre-planned project.

Yeah. Not so ingenious when it’s in size 100 thread and you’re working in size 80! So I might have two ingenious pre-planned projects to carry with me in different sizes.

Incase you’re wondering, the ingenious part was that whenever I got stuck on a journey, I could work on a new square if I hadn’t had time to look up a new pattern. I know this pattern off by heart, and it’s a good travelling project. Foolproof, even. Or not, as it turns out.

Anyway. Onwards! I’ve just ordered a new tatting book from Susan Schwenke. There’s a snowflake in it that a lot of people have made recently, and I love it. I had a plan to make a load of snowflakes *now* so I don’t have a panic next Christmas. Will that actually work? Who knows. (It wont, will it?)

We shall see…

Threadbare

September 22, 2011 DW2 Comments

Look! I actually managed to make a flat one this time. It’s not finished, there’s another round to go, but I was rather pleased with getting this far.

As always, I made it on the bus & train to work – a few different journeys. It’s size 100 thread. It still needs blocking and the ends sewing in, but I thought I’d post it now incase I manage to wreck it in round two.

Lets hear it for small creative triumphs for the commuter! It kept me calm while the bus was being diverted.

New tools

August 30, 2011 DWLeave a comment

Still here! And still making a few little things… Actually I would post more, but every time I take a picture of the things I’ve been doing, it never comes out quite the way I want.

Anyway. Just imagine all these photos are wonderful, and we’ll be alright.

I made these little roses a while back:

They’re crocheted in Perlé size 12. This thread isn’t bad for crochet actually, but I don’t like it for tatting. That’s a hairslide I made potentially as a little gift for someone, but I keep forgetting to give it to her. Not sure what to do with the others, they’re in a tiny jam jar at the moment, and I can’t help but get them out and look at them now and again. They’re really pretty in real life – even if I do say so myself.

This is actually a very delicate looking scarf in real life. It’s been impossible to photograph so far though! I’m probably about 1/3 of the way through. It’s ‘angel hair’ weight yarn – very thin, basically, and I’m using a 1.75mm hook. Why on earth I decided to make such a dense looking scarf with such a light thread, we’ll never know – but the different tones of green are really beautiful; it looks like dark moss. I did actually crochet quite a few rows on the train, which is a first for me, as that time is usually reserved for tatting. Usually i think crochet projects are too big to carry around, but in the beginning this packed up really small.

I’m also working on another broomstick lace scarf. It’s in the same bamboo yarn as the previous one, but in blue. No photos of that yet.

I had a few friends’ birthdays recently, so made some more lavender bags. Three in fact – one of which is above.

Then I made another one the same as that – and yet another the same as the one in the post before this. I know. I should mix it up a bit, but when under pressure on the train or bus, it’s easier to tat what you know!

I also got some new toys! A Hera marker (the white thing, above), which is for marking cloth by putting in a visible crease, and a rotary cutter. They’re both great actually and, well, given time, I might actually be able to make my lavender bags square, or at least straight. Ahem. No point rushing into it though. Both of these tools came from Quiltessential in Derbyshire, where a very nice lady let me try out two different types of rotary cutter before I made my choice. I also bought some lovely fabric, but more of that another time. If you’re anywhere near Derbyshire, it’s worth a visit.

And finally, this was another little experiment. Its supposed to be flat, but it’s so pretty as it is. It’s size 100 thread, and I made it on the bus. Sometimes it amazes me that I can make such delicate things. Not because I’m amazing personally – but you know. I just need to make one flat, and then I can get on with the next round. Believe it or not though, I have yet ANOTHER Mary Konior posy on the shuttles to finish first. I’m such an idiot.

Bye!

Doing something with my tatting

May 8, 2011 DW5 Comments

So, last week (the week before?) I mentioned I’d been tatting and chatting a bit, making some Mary Konior posy designs. I’ve also finished the pieces I was doing on my commute, so I thought for once i should do something with them.

At the end of last year, I was given a 1930s Singer sewing machine. It’s hand cranked, very gentle, and to be honest, all you really need to do is turn the handle – it’ll guide the fabric through pretty straight on it’s own. I’m scared of sewing machines on the whole, but I do love this one. It was given to me on the death of a neighbour of mine – she’d been a neighbour for about 30 years. Also, my parents went to a great deal of trouble to get it all fixed up and working again, so I love it because it’s simple, beautiful and sentimental.

As you can see, I’m taking it pretty slowly! I decided to make some lavender bags…

The top ones are smaller, so they have little hang tags to go on a hanger. The ones directly above are slightly larger and I finished these off with ‘piping’ – which is actually just a crocheted linen chain. I hand-stitched that and I think it was worth it – does finish them off quite nicely. I’m half tempted to tat a border for them, but they’re quite small, and I have a feeling a border might overwhelm them. They’re just to slip in a drawer to make your clothes smell nice.

How big are they? We’ll here’s a little helper for scale:

And finally, the whole lot. They smell amazing – I bought the lavender, as it’s too early to pick in the uk. I have some left too, so I’ll get tatting and make some more.

The good thing about these, is that at least they have a use… Even if you give them to people and they don’t really like the look of them, they can still chuck ’em in a drawer and they’ll do what they’re meant to (make things smell nice). Otherwise I have a terrible habit of just chucking the tatting in the drawer as it is, and that’s not a lot of use to anyone…

Now I just have to ween myself off the posy pattern. As I do most of my tatting in transit, it has to be *the* ideal pattern. I know I’ve said that before, but actually, the more I do it, the more I love it.

Commuter tatting

April 25, 2011 DW3 Comments

I’ve been tatting a lot on the bus and train recently. I decided to work on something that had the possibility of becoming a larger piece, while still being portable and easy to memorise. I have a terrible habit otherwise of not having a pattern in mind to start, and then faffing about – taking forever to find one, and in the meantime sitting bored, on the train…

If you’re a tatter – and you’re familiar with Mary Konior, you’ll recognise this design as one of hers, from Tatting with Visual Patterns…

I really like this pattern – interesting enough, without becoming boring and… you do need to pay some attention too:

If you don’t, you might end up switching from the train to the bus, and find yourself impatient to start- only to find you’ve made a wrong join, and need to adapt it into something new… (It’s pretty hard to unpick a ring in size 80 thread on a bus on London’s bumpy streets, so if I go wrong, I consider it lost). And thus we have Mary Konior’s little known triangle design right there.

All of which makes it fun when you finish up the very last bit. It’s like Russian roulette – the thought of going wrong right at the last minute is occasionally too much to bare.

In the end, I decided to make the group of four twice. I didn’t love the first version – wasn’t as neat as it could’ve been. Second time was much neater – although after blocking maybe you can’t tell? I think you probably can though, and besides, it was nice to just tat a pattern with out a big decision as to what to make next.

(Sorry for the dodgy colours on these photos, by the way).

I do have a plan for these. Now i have a sewing machine (Singer, handcranked, reconditioned from the 1930’s – an inheritance from a kindly neighbour), I’m going to… well. Make a few odds and ends. They will only be things that need simple stitching in straight lines, as that’s all I can do, and all the machine can do, but it and I will have fun together. I hope.

In the meantime, what to tat on the train? Same again but bigger? We shall see.

A wandering mind tats no joins

September 30, 2010 DW1 Comment

Lots going on at the moment. My brain feels like a ball of thread too tightly wound – but pull one end and the whole lot will unravel in a heap on the floor. Lazy analogy, but you know what I mean.

I was tatting around a plastic ring and screwed it up, so with a full shuttle and no ball attached I thought it might be nice to try Mary Konior’s Posy pattern. It’s just made of rings, so a total joy to tat on the train. Also – it’s really pretty! I’ve been meaning to make it for ages.

Only bad thing is that I wasn’t really concentrating on the last group of 5 petals. I missed the joins – and so now I have a quite neatly tatted (even if I do say so myself) crescent of tatted flowers.

Were I a human of pocket-sized proportions, I’d probably be quite pleased. Would look quite nice as a miniature collar.

There are several upsides though. The first – I’ve found out l like tatting this pattern. It’s nice n’ easy for the train and it’s a good one for those times you find yourself with a shuttle full of thread and nothing to do with it. (I have a habit of winding on too much thread). Also, I’ve made my mistake now on thread I’m not that bothered about – which means this is the perfect project for some HDT I’ve just ordered from Yarnplayer, as hopefully I wont make the same mistake again. We shall see…

Occasional Crafter

Crafting, occasionally.

Tag: commutercraft