Knitted Rabbit

Giant Bunny!
This lovely rabbit, who I've somewhat unoriginally christened Rusty, is a project from First Knits by Luise Roberts and Kate Haxell. It was my stocking stitch practise piece, although the ears are in fact all garter stitch.

The recommended yarn is Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran, but the book was published in 2005 and Rowan no longer make that yarn. So, I bought some Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran, which sounded like it should amount to about the same thing. I also bought twice as much as I needed, being unable to detect the difference between 50g and 100g per ball. I'm sure it will come in for something.

The original project was on 6.5mm needles, but I decided to use the 5.5mm recommended with the Scottish Tweed yarn. I knit three wedge-shaped body pieces and then two long ears. By the time I had knitted the body pieces I had started to panic slightly. The book said the rabbit should be 9 inches nose to tail. Mine was heading for a good 50-70% bigger. My needles were smaller than in the book and my knitted fabric didn't look excessively loose or holey. What I had done wrong?

In a bid to reduce the bunny's size, I sewed the body right sides together rather than using mattress stitch to lose some of the excess in the seams. I left a gap for stuffing and attached the ears. I then decided to send bunny for a swim in the washing machine at 60 degrees for a bit of a felting diet. I decided not to risk more than one round of felting (there's no mention of felting in the book) and bunny did look at bit smaller and was also a lovely texture.

I stuffed the bunny with toy filling and inserted some safety eyes (they tend to look neater than my embroidered eyes). I did the nose with embroidery thread and then made the pom pom tail. I have a set of Clover pom pom makers, which are absolutely fab for doing pom poms quickly. I always fasten pom poms off with embroidery thread rather than knitting yarn as I find you get a much more secure result.

And there you have him. Bunny is still at least 13 inches nose to tail. The only comfort I have is that having consulted Flossy Blossy, who has also made this rabbit, I discovered her version was also bigger than in the book.

He's very cute and cuddly though...

Melx

Knitting Needle Roll

In a Flap....

With the non-stop knitting that's been going on recently, I have now acquired quite an array of different knitting needles and they could do with a proper home.So, I decided I could make it up to my neglected sewing machine whilst still advancing my latest obsession by making myself a knitting needle case.

Filled with confidence, I decided I could do this without a pattern using the same basic techniques as my Handmade Correspondence Case. On my last shopping visit to SeamStar, I bought some gorgeous owl fabric from Sprout Design, which I thought would be great for the cover. I used some red and white stars fabric for the lining and some spotted fabric for the pockets, both from stash.

As I already have a lovely case for my shorter needles from Injabulo, I decided just to make a very simple design for my long needles (12-14"). To make the inner part of the case, I ironed some interfacing onto the lining fabric (poorly, I have to say - I never seem to get it to stick properly all the way across the fabric). I then folded the top of the spotted pocket material over twice and then top stitched it to secure the raw edge and take it down to the right height. Next, I layered the pocket piece, the lining and some sew-in interfacing and then drew vertical lines with my Pym trick marker pen for the pockets. I varied the width of the pockets a bit, but didn't plan exactly. I then sewed through all the layers along the vertical lines to make the pockets.

To join the inner part of the case to the owl fabric cover, I simply put the right sides together and sewed all the way round, leaving a gap for turning. I wasn't sure how to attach the ribbon so you could secure the roll correctly, but my husband kindly nipped upstairs to check on the internet. It transpires that you need to attach a single piece of ribbon from the middle of the ribbon to the centre of one side. I then turned the case right side out and top stitched it all the way round, closing the gap.

Well, this seemed all very satisfactory until the next day when I decided to look at some other needle rolls online. You might argue it would have been more useful to do this before I started my own attempt, but hey. The key thing I noticed is that many of them had a flap over the top to stop the needles escaping when the roll was tipped. To be fair, some of them had no flap and I wasn't planning to tip the roll upside down on a regular basis, but now I felt that my little design was somehow lacking.

Anyway, having put a variety of needles in the case, it looked like I had room for a small flap after all. However, as the flap was quite narrow, I had to secure it down by handstitching the flap down at the edges of the case and then putting a few stitches  above each pocket. Now I can tip my needle roll up with impunity.

There may be some sort of lesson here, but I got there in the end...

Melx

Knitted Elephant Kit

The great ear debate..


So, this is my first attempt at knitting a soft toy. This is Melanie Nykamps's Easy Peasy Elephant kit. Melanie has a shop over at Folksy and specialises in Steiner Waldorf-style knitted toys, patterns and kits.


The wool that came with the kit was lovely (another shedder though and I'd just hoovered the living room!). The kit is made on 5.5mm needles and all in garter stitch. The body is a single piece and then you knit two ears and add a plaited or crocheted tail (you don't get a prize for guessing which I did).


The making up took a little care and prodding to get a reasonable shape. In line with the simple style of the toy, it doesn't come with eyes, but I added a couple of buttons from my stash. I made the whole thing in an evening and was quite pleased it was recognisible as an elephant when I'd finished with it.


I got my husband to photograph the finished elephant with his camera as I was doing my necklace at the same time and his camera is better for small things. He thinks the elephant's ears should be back (as they are in the picture), but I like them forward. Any thoughts?


I'm now on with a knitted rabbit, which at the moment seems terrifyingly big, perhaps due to an unwise yarn substitution. I'll let you know after the weekend...


Melx

Seed Bead and Lampwork Glass Necklace

Stupid Seed Beads!


This necklace is this month's tribute to Make Jewellery Magazine. In the August issue, I was very taken with Claire Nigeon's Shoots and Leaves project. The focus of the project in the mag was, I think, to make polymer clay leaves with a plunger cutter. You might notice that my neck is actually completely leaf-free. Polymer Clay is not wthin my current range of skills.


What I thought I could do is the necklace construction itself, which is seed beads double threaded on beading nylon with jump rings trapped between the two threads at strategic intervals. Ha! This was actually way harder than it looked and may well be a case of not actually having the right tools. Starting with good intentions, I bought some cream no.4 beading nylon and some beading needles. I have tons of Gutterman seed beads in my sewing stash and made a pretty mix of colours.


The snag was that the beading nylon wouldn't fit through the beading needle once let alone twice as required. So, I resorted to an ordinary embroidery needle. This was fine but not all the seed beads would fit over the eye of the needle. This was literally at random within the mix (some of all the colours were big enough but not all of any colour) so I spent over two hours test fitting endless seed beads until I eventually had about 60 cm with 7 closed sterling silver jump rings securely fixed and a lobster clasp.


The second part of the necklcae was much more enjoyable to make. Minus any leaves, I needed some beads to mount on my jump rings. I had recently purchased a set of handmade lampwork beads from SRA Janey Hill at Lemon Kitten Beads. The set is called Country Garden and each bead is different. I thought it was fate that there should be exactly seven of them.

I attached the beads to the jump rings with sterling silver eye pins and wrapped loops, making good use of my recent course on the subject. This was significantly quicker  and more rewarding than threading seed beads.


I really love the result - I think the seed beads make a perfect backdrop for Janey's gorgeous lampwork pieces. It makes the number of times I stabbed myself with the needle threading the seed beads worth it....


Melx

Knitted Bags

Hanks A Lot...


Well, the knitting frenzy continues unabated. I've just finished two bags, which are in fact the same bag!? The pattern comes from a fab book, Funky Chunky Knitted Accessories by Jan Eaton. The book has basic patterns for a hat, bag, scarf, mittens and capelet and then loads of ways to customise each.


The pink bag is the knitted and felted Violet bag (except obviously I didn't do the violet bit). I used Rico Creative Filz in Rose from Hulu Crafts with 8mm needles. As with previous felted items, I was worried the whole thing looked too big and shapeless when I'd finished knitted but two goes at 60 degrees in the washing machine and all was well.


My finished product was a bit bumpy to appy fabric binding as the book suggested, so I settled for some wool felt flowers from Blooming Felt embellished with some pink seed beads and a ceramic button.

Bag #2 is the Honey version of the bag with tortoiseshell handles. Again, complete deviation in colour as I went for some Rowan Colourscape Chunky in Northern Lights from The Black Sheep. This was my first encounter with a hank rather than a ball of wool.


Innocently, I unfastened the thing and started knitting. Absolute mess. I had to cut and rejoin the wool about 20 times on the first hank, no doubt destroying the whole pattern of the wool. Having realised my technique was likely at fault, I used the interweb to search for advice. I found this excellent tutorial on hank winding and was able to convert the second hank into something usable, albeit inelegant. I am now contemplating purchasing a ball winder, although my husband says I just need practise...


I found both projects great fun with very pretty outcomes. However, I already have a mountain of handbags, so I need to move on to something else. I have a couple of knitted soft toy projects lined up so watch this space for malformed creatures...


Melx

Soft File Cover

Sew Hip Issue 19


I was very excited by the August issue of Sew Hip as my Owl Doorstop is featured on the letters page. Nonetheless, I had the sterner duty of picking out a project to make before the next issue arrives on the doormat (trying to be disciplined is a terrible thing).


As I'm still not feeling up to making my own wedding dress (plus I'm already married so less useful than it might be), I settled on the soft file cover. I love all things to do with files and filling, so it was perfect. However, I also thought it looked hard. I'm never seduced by that whole Difficulty level: beginner thing....


The first challenge was what file had designer Jane Egan-Cresswell used? It just said A4 plastic. I can appreciate that you are meant to use your own file, so it doesn't matter, but suppose you don't have an unadorned file handy and want to make the project just like the mag? After staring at the photo a while and a trip to WH Smith, I settled on a A4 black plastic hardback display book, which had 20 plastic pockets inside and was in the sale at £2.99.


File in hand, on with the sewing.The first shortcut was the front. Instead of making a patchwork panel, I decide to use just one fabric - some lovely Alexander Henry Willow Shroom that I bought from Seamstar a while ago. I just quilted it simply using a vertical line of sewing on the front and back of the folder. For the lining, I used Tweet Tweet by Keiki, also purchased from Seamstar.


Next, I decided to skip making the flowers for the tab myself and used pre-cut felt flowers I already had in stash. I did make a cover button from the lining though, using my easy US cover button kit.


Now, I had intended to make my own binding as per the project, but unfortunately, I miscut the lining fabric, so I didn't have strips that were long enough. A quick raid of my sewing supplies revealed some ready-made bias binding that I used instead, although I'm not convinced I applied it correctly. A tiny bit of the front fabric escaped from the binding and, rather slovenly, I glued the binding over the edge with fabric glue.


I had to hand sew the edges of the folder over as it was getting too thick for my machine. I also left gluing the velcro circles for the tab closure until the very last thing as it seemed dicey to make a commitment any sooner. Happily it does seem to fasten properly.


I think the finished result is rather sweet, although I need to find something to put in the file now...


Melx

Knitted and Felted Pencil Case

Sheepish... 

This is my finished knitted and felted Herdwick pencil case kit from Sheepfold. I had already tried their super Easy Peasy Purse kit but I love the pencil case even more.

The pencil case was knitted from British Wool on 5.5mm needles in simple garter stitch. The wool was fairly coarse and also shed quite a bit (made a change from being covered in cat hair). When I'd finished the knitted part, I was mildly pannicky that it seemed awfully big for a pencil case, especially as I'd seen the size of the zip.

Mercifully, once I'd sewn the side seams and given it two washes in the machine at 60 degrees, it was just the right size and beautifully felted. Upon seeing the felted finish, my husband remarked that you couldn't tell it had been knitted (cue talk on the nature of felting...).

I finished off by sewing three pencil buttons from the kit on each side (I resisted the urge I had with the Easy Peasy Purse Kit to add every spare button I could find) and then sewed in the zip. The felted fabric is really thick, so it was a bit tricky but it ended up relatively neat for me. As a final flourish, I added a lampwork glass sheep as a zipper pull from my bead stash.

It's obviously far too nice to put any pencils in though....

Melx

Take Flight Neckace

Wrapped Loops Course

I've been spending the weekend trying to improve my crafting skills again with another course. This was a jewellery-making session organised by the Bead Shop Manchester. I was attracted by both the design of the necklace and a chance to visit the venue, which is in Afflecks. Known as Afflecks Palace in my youth, this is a one-stop-shop for all things vintage, indie, goth and kawaii. It also happens to house a great bead shop, although I always worry about being the oldest person in there, especially on a weekend when it's packed with teenage goths...

The course was on Saturday 11am-1pm and cost £25, including all materials. Our instructor was the lovely Rebecca, a Scot who was a professional singer and singing teacher when not making jewellery.

The key technique taught at the course was wrapped loops. Despite having made my own jewellery for years, I'd never wrapped a loop so I was pleased to be learning something new. Rebecca took the class through the technique step-by-step several times until we got the hang of it, which was great.

The original ncecklace was made with plated black findings. Rebecca mentioned that she normally used 0.6mm jewellery wire for wrapping but only had headpins in the black plate. She warned us that these were shorter and the metal harder, so it made the wrapping more tricky. I wanted to make the necklace as per the sample, so persevered with the headpins, which were indeed challenging. Time flew and I got less than half way through the necklace, but was given all the materials to finish it at my leisure.

Armed with my 10% class discount, I bought some of the recommended 0.6mm wire and matching silver jump rings (plus a whole bunch of other stuff naturally). On Sunday at home, I decided to try the loop wrapping with the wire instead. Loads easier. I could use as much wire for each bead as I wanted (I was positively prolifrigate with it in fact) and it was a lot softer to wrap. With that revelation, I cut apart what I had already done and re-made the entire necklace in less than two hours with the silver findings.

The back of the necklace is made from organza ribbon. Rebecca showed us a simple technique to attach it to the jump rings by wrapping thin wire around it. Finishing up at home, I decided to use ribbon clamps instead as I think they are a bit neater and more secure. I could see why you wouldn't use them in a class though - they are really difficult to crimp neatly or indeed at all with pliers. My husband kindly crimped these two using his mini vice.

So, in summary, a very useful course with a new life skill and a very pretty necklace. I only wish I'd started with the silver wire...

Melx