A mixed bag (may not contain bags)

May 13, 2012May 13, 2012 DW15 Comments

This little piggy has been a bit frustrating. I’m not sure what to do with him/her, but I think it’s not over yet. This is body number two – I actually finished the whole thing once, lived with it for a week or two and then took it apart. This is the body as written in the pattern, but I think it’s a bit messy. Too many decreases, which just don’t look good. It’s a shame as the head is such a great shape and so nicely written up, but I just think the body doesn’t do it justice. It also doesn’t suit a scarf – or anything else I can think of as yet – to distract you from the not-very nice shape. Will think on. Any suggestions appreciated! Poor little piggy!

I’m a fan of the yarn though – it’s lovely! It’s the Sidar Simply Recycled, and is lovely and soft. The colours are also really nice, quite muted – a bit more natural looking. I’d definitely use it for making toys again. This little chap is much bigger than the last one.

This is an experiment, made the other week. It’s tatted in size 40 thread, and is actually the pattern for a bracelet. The thread is much thicker than I would normally use – but probably a bit more of an appropriate size for jewellery – that said, as a bracelet I think it would drive you nuts! I love the idea of tatted daisy chains, but maybe just not this one. Rather than waste it I made yet another lavender bag. (I think I underfilled it too – after all my months of overfilling I’ve tipped back too far in the other direction!)

But look at this – it’s knitting! A waffle scarf (ravelry link), and it seems to be going ok (she says, touching wood, with crossed fingers). Now I’ve got the hang of it, I’m really enjoying it. It’s a very simple pattern of course, but nice for a beginner, and a great TV project. I’ve already planned my next project – bought the pattern and the yarn, but I’m going to be good and finish this first. Very exciting!

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.

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)

The final episode: a new life for a baby blanket

January 15, 2012January 15, 2012 DW7 Comments

Previously, on Baby Blanket: The Occasional Crafter was in a panic. What could be the final visit to her pregnant friend before her friend gives birth was fast approaching. The Baby Blanket needed more yarn, but the forces of evil were conspiring against the Occasional Crafter and the yarn shop was failing to deliver. Could this be the end of the line for Baby Blanket? Would Occasional Crafter finally admit she should leave more time to finish things? Only the postman could tell, and you know what they’re like. Hope was fading fast…

The final Episode: A swift email was sent to Texere customer support. They didn’t see fit to reply. In desperation our ‘heroine’ orders another ball of yarn from Purple Linda, which is dispatched immediately. The Occasional Crafter wonders why she didn’t order it from there in the first place. Both balls of yarn mysteriously arrive within a day of each other, despite being ordered a week apart.

Picking up one ball, she sets to work. It’s quite a big blanket, really.

She adds shell stitch to the final two sides and thinks to herself ‘This yarn is a bit splitty. Even after all this time I’m not 100% sure I like it’. Banishing such pointless thoughts she wonders again about blocking. ‘Can you really wet this kind of yarn and block it? Will it dry in time? What on earth am I going to block it *on*’. She remembers the wise words of the Ravelry group and decides to iron it into submission instead. It’s not bad. She’s seen worse.

With a swift glace at the clock, the she spots its fast approaching midnight. ‘I’ll just thread this ribbon through before I go to bed, wont take long’. It’s clear at this point the Occasional Crafter has no idea what she’s talking about. It takes ages. she gets there in the end as the clock makes its weary way to 1am. It’s finished though, and if she didn’t have such a bad back, she’d probably sleep soundly.

Saturday morning arrives, the day of the hand over. She gets up early and wanders downstairs, eyeing the weather. Its neither good nor bad — it’s not really decided yet, and standing in her pj’s she couldn’t really blame it. She takes a bunch of Baby Blanket photos in the less than perfect light and hopes for the best. She wraps the parcel, congratulating herself on the previous purchase of some pale purple tissue, matching ribbon and brown paper.

Annnnd… there is a happy ending! I gave it to my friend (on time) who loved it. For some insane reason she’d not bought a baby blanket yet, and it was also the only handmade gift for the baby she’s received. I thought it was the law that you had to have something slightly terrible knitted or crocheted by a mad female relative? I’m happy to be a substitute on this occasion. My friend is gigantic. She’s at the stage where it looks like she’s got a perfectly round ball stuffed up her jumper. But she also looks brilliant.

A relief all round. One day I might mention to people I know that I have a blog. Only problem about that is that I wont be able to talk about them when they’re not looking 🙂

—
If you want to make one too, I used:
• This pattern by Alicia Paulson
• 11 balls of this yarn, Kool Kotton
• A 5.5 crochet hook

Now – just incase, You’ll need more than one ball of yarn to do the border! That was my mistake – please don’t make it yours too. Also, there seemed to be a shortage of cream Kool Kotton. No idea why but everyone was out of stock, so I ended up with white.

The pattern is super easy. It’s the ideal chatting or TV crochet project. Question is, what on earth do i make now?

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…

Broomstick lace scarf no: 2

December 22, 2011 DW2 Comments

So, a while back, a Ravelry friend happened to mention that Kemps had a big sale on baby bamboo yarn. I have to admit, until that point, I’d remain blissfully aware of Kemps – but if you’re in the UK, and you don’t know them, keep an eye on their newsletters, as they have great deals for all kinds of yarn.

I bought 12 balls of blue baby bamboo and decided I’d make a broomstick lace scarf for my mum for Christmas. It’s been an ongoing project for a while – it’s a good TV making project, really. I’ve made one before – if you haven’t and you’re looking for a tutorial, I used this video – it was the first one I found when I searched!

Like the previous scarf I made, I decided to edge this, as I worry about the bare threads catching. (It’s unblocked in all the photos, incidentally). For this, I did one row of single crochet, one row of double, and finished off with a picot every 4 stitches. It’s a really chunky scarf – which I like, but actually, now I’m worried it’s too chunky for my Mum…

I really like the raised rows you get on one side of the scarf. I usually do the row of looped stitches, and then two rows of single crochet above that. I know some people don’t do the rows in between but I like the texture. Overall, this kind of crochet is great – it looks really clever, without being too over the top, and it’s very easy to do (and quite forgiving if you miss a stitch or two here and there).

In the meantime, I’ve also been making a scarf with laceweight yarn. Actually, it’s a bit thinner than lace weight. Stupidly, I decided to make quite a dense scarf:

Having said that, it looks really nice. For some reason the colour is really hard to get with my camera, but take it from me, it’s a beautiful mossy green – hand dyed, so different tones. It took forever to make this – to the point where I ended up sacrificing tatting on the train for a while to get it done. (I really missed the tatting, way more than I’d expected).

Frustratingly, the scarf looks so nice and delicate in real life and just rubbish in pictures. But anyway, after all this, I think this one will be the gift for my mum, with the option of swapping it for the other one. I have a feeling she’ll like the green one more… We shall see.

A pig called Sunday

October 24, 2011 DW2 Comments

After the tatting in the previous post, I’ve been crocheting a lot this week. I still need to finish the green scarf I mentioned a few posts ago—mainly because it’s getting cold and I’d like to wear it! So I’ve been taking that on the commute instead recently. Being such thin yarn it’s still really light and portable.

Then, on Wednesday I saw such a cute little pattern I decided I should drop everything and make that instead. I had to wait until the weekend though, and so yesterday was spent making this wee chap:

Believe it or not, I actually forced myself to start with the ears – usually I sew ears on to heads as I go, so it does make sense. As it happens, this was so small it was easier to sew them to the completed head..

The pattern is amazing actually—the head is all one piece (ie, the nose is crocheted as part of the head, not sewn on). It was great to watch it take shape, and for once in my life I counted every stitch very carefully.

The body is made from the feet up. Personally, I think if I made it again, I’d do it from the neck down, as it feels like it might be neater. Instead of the waist being decreases they’d be increases and I think it could look better, also I’m used to working that way for the sock monkeys.

I did also sew little chain stitch rings around the arms and waist for the edges of the jumper. I was quite impressed with myself for remembering how to do it after all these years! The head was so difficult to attach at that size that I did sit there for 5 minutes having a panic about whether it was even possible, but I got there in the end!

Everything at once

September 18, 2011 DW5 Comments

I should be doing the garden. I’ve been saying that since around 11am, and it’s just gone 4pm. I started making a pinwheel quilt this morning, and I must admit, I’ve been having a lovely time. Doesn’t mean I haven’t gone wrong and unpicked things, or that all my edges match up the way they should, but never mind.

I mentioned before that I treated myself to a rotary blade and a Hera marker – I also bought some fabric at the same time. I’m *very* new to sewing machines, so thought a pinwheel quilt would be a nice place to start. All straight lines, and if it ends up a bit wonky, well it’s not the end of the world.

I’ve made about 9 pieces so far (with breaks for a bacon sarnie, a quick watch of instructional Youtube video and a phone call). I’m using my hand-cranked Singer – and today I actually managed to work out how to get it to wind thread on to the bobbin too! Very exciting. Such a lovely machine – and it makes the most beautiful sound as you sew.

I’ve also been crocheting in the last week or so. I finished a scarf I was making – the pattern is on Ravelry.

In the end I added 2 rows of single crochet and a round of picots, as it felt a bit unfinished without. It’s very warm – the yarn is Debbie Bliss Andes – which is baby alpaca and silk. Had I realised I’d need 6 skeins I’d’ve chosen something a bit cheaper! (Luckily Kemps has a sale right on time.)

(The above shot is the scarf unblocked – I don’t think I’ll block it…)

I actually made it long enough to wrap around my neck twice. I had an internal battle over wanting to get it finished and wanting to make it long enough to wear the way I’d rather wear scarves. In the end, it took a little longer but I’m looking forward to wearing it.

I never took finished photos of the broomstick lace scarf either. For some reason, it doesn’t photograph well – but this is a shot of the edging. I added picots to that too – for a couple of reasons actually. Again, it felt more finished to me (less like a stitch swatch), but also, there are longish single bare threads on the edges, due to the nature of the stitch. I was worried that I’d end up catching them, so this was partly for protection too.

I love this scarf (my first) but I should’ve forced myself to make it longer. It’s a wee bit short.

Anyway – the garden calls. First though, I just need to cut some fabric for another tatted lavender bag, before I put stuff away… Lets hope it’s not started getting dark before the time I step outside.

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!

Occasional Crafter

Crafting, occasionally.

Tag: crochet