Intarsia-tastic...
Following my modest triumph with cable stitch, I decided to go for broke and try a spot of intarsia. I was doing one of my regular trawls of Folksy for knitting goodies when I spied this delightful kit for a knitted and felted pencil case from Knitting Sundae.
I've made a felted pencil case before, but the challenge here was that the Neapolitan ice cream cone motif was done using intarsia. It was perfect because, although five colours was challenging, the design was quite small and all the mistakes would be covered over by the magic of felting.
I should say that the kit was a real bargain at £6 as it included a whole ball of Sirdar Peru plus small quantities of the four other colours of yarn required to make the design. It came beautifully packaged in cellophane wrapped with some fab ice cream cone ribbon.
The pencil case was knitted on 7mm needles and the colour pattern booklet was nice and easy to follow. The stupidest thing I did was to attempt to use all five colours directly from the yarn balls. I wouldn't care but I had even purchased some knitting bobbins expressly for the purpose of keeping things tidy when doing intarsia.After some severe untangling, I got the four small sets of yarn tidily hung on yarn bobbins and used the Sirdar direct from each end of the ball.
I did try hard to twist my yarns when changing colours but I did have to fix a few holes with a needle and yarn at the end before felting. The pencil case was knitted as two pieces, which I sewed together with mattress stitch. I then felted the piece three times at 40 degrees in the washing machine to get it to a reasonable pencil case size.
The kit even included the zip, which I sewed to the sides of the pencil case using ordinary pink sewing thread. With knitted things, I do think it's nice to add a cotton lining for a bit of extra fanciness and structural integrity. I used some lovely pink spotty fabric from Fabric Rehab to whip up a simple lining on my sewing machine.
I sewed the lining into the pencil case by hand using the method from Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol where you sew the lining to the zipper tape and not worry too much about the inner recesses of the corners.
To finish, I added a sweet little polymer clay ice cream cone charm from my stash as a zipper puller.
I really enjoyed this kit and I now feel like I could tackle some intarsia soon without the safety net of knowing I can hide all my mistakes in the washing machine...
Melx
Cable girl...
Having been knitting diligently for over six months now, I really want to start extending my skills this year. My goals for 2011 include cables, intarsia and knitting in the round. The easiest of that list seemed like cable stitch, so I decided to give that a go first.
Conveniently, I got an Easy Guide to Cable Knitting and a couple of cable needles free with Issue 55 of Knit Today magazine. The guide included a pattern for a mug hug with a cable forward pattern. After a couple of attempts, I was able to produce this handsome jacket for my cup in Rowan Pure Wool DK.
My husband was most amused - he seemed unconvinced that mugs need woollen outfits to keep them warm. I can't wait to see his face when I make the apple (the fruit not the IT company) cosy featured in the next issue of Knit Today.
My second cabling adventure was this owl from a PDF pattern by Julia Marsh of Hand Knitted Things. I have a black cat that Julia knitted and it's just beautiful. I was therefore very keen to try this pattern but had been procrastinating because it contained cables.
So, following my fairly successful mug hug, I printed out the pattern and gave it a go. The owl is knitted on 12mm needles using two strands of Rowan Big Wool that I got for the absolute bargain price of £1.49 in the HobbyCraft sale. There are three sets of back and then front cables that are used to make the shape of the owl.
I pulled the knitting back at last three times, but fortunately it was quick to knit. I'm still not entirely sure if the back cables are correct but I I think it does look fairly owl-like? The thick knitted fabric is really luxurious too.
The pattern is called Wide Awake/Sleepy Owls as you are supposed to put a face on each side of the body. I opted to stick with wide awake only. I tried button eyes first but found them a bit starey so substituted some orange toy safety eyes.
As I was still a bit doubtful, I did what I always do in moments of uncertainty and reached for the embellishments. I sewed a pretty pink bow on owl's head and glued on a felt flower embellishment from Paper and String. I looked at her again this morning and I now pronounce the result to be "quite cute".
I'm not sure I can say I've mastered cables just yet, but I don't think that's a bad start...
Melx
Sew Hip Issue 25
Lots to love in February 2011's Sew Hip magazine once you had hastily thumbed past the hideous beige cape (apologies to beige cape lovers - not my thing and not just because I couldn't have made it if I wanted to).
I just couldn't resist this supercute squirrel cosy by Helen Dickson. The only snag was that it was meant to be a hot water bottle cover and I don't possess such a thing. However, it occurred to be that it would make an equally fab journal cosy. Let me explain...
I have an enormous stash of beautiful notebooks and journals but they are all so nice I don't like to write in them. As a 2011 resolution, I decided to bite the bullet and get out my beautiful handmade leather owl journal by Moxie And Oliver. However, I was a wee bit worried about getting it dirty when I took it out and about, so a journal cosy seemed like just the ticket.
The squirrel applique pieces were provided in the Sew Hip pattern. However, I do wish they would splash out and provide a separate body, tail and tummy piece, though, as there was just the whole squirrel piece and it was a bit fiddly separating the bits. I just used ordinary craft felt for the squirrel body and tail and a scrap of Moda Freebird for the tummy.
I embroidered the features onto the squirrel's face and body first. Not my best skill but I don't think it looks too wonky? I then appliqued the tummy piece in place. The project suggested doing this after attaching the squirrel to the cosy but I thought it would be tidier this way round. I then sewed the squirrel's tail and body to the cosy.
For the outer of the journal cosy, I used some cream 100% wool felt I had in stash, cut it to the size of the journal (a bit tricky as the journal is quite thick) and then machine sewed up the sides.
To finish off, I sewed a large press stud to the underside of the flap to fasten the cosy. I covered that over with a gorgeous handmade wooden button from Fiona Macneil, who was also featured in February's Sew Hip.
So, I'm super-pleased with my journal cosy, only now I'm worried about that getting dirty. I need a cover for my cosy...
Melx
Sew Magazine Issue 19
I have to confess to having been slightly neglectful about making at least one thing out of each issue of the craft magazines I subscribe to. However, I made up for it a little bit by doing two small projects out of January's Sew Magazine.
The first make was this pincushion embellishment jar. As I've mentioned previously, I like making fancy jars for my crafting bits and I've always been fascinated about how you get the pincushion part to work. For this project, you made a cone of fabric for the pincushion, glued it round the jar lid and then snipped the top off to stuff the pincushion through the top. Nifty.
As it was December, clearly a Halloween theme was in order. I used a lovely pumpkin fabric I had in stash for the pincushion and then trimmed the jar with sparkly orange ribbon from HobbyCraft and a pumpkin button. As recommended by the magazine, I topped the pincushion with a pom pom to hide the stitching where the pincushion had been stuffed. I made this with a small Clover pom pom maker (they are brilliant) and superwash King Cole merino wool.
The only think I would say is that I think my jar lid was a bit small to use for a really nicely shaped pincushion. I do like using Hartley's jam jars for my stuff but a jar with a larger circumference might have been more effective. I'm working my way through a jar of Wild Strawberry Bonne Maman so I can give this technique another try.
My second project from the magazine was this purse. The finished product is really itty bitty - only a couple of inches wide and I'm using it to house my Whitby jet silver necklace.
The template in the magazine actually had the purse being made from a single piece of fabric with the seams kind of folded down. I dispensed with the seams and sewed on the line of the template through outer fabric, lining and sew-in interfacing to make a more substantial purse. I then trimmed round the purse outline, turned the fabric right side out and sewed up the sides.
I finished the purse off with a small press stud and a little white rabbit button to cover.
I don't know if I missed an enlarging instruction on the pattern or if it's because I changed the methodology that the purse is so teeny.I have actually enlarged the pattern now and plan to make a larger version to use as a normal purse. I do like the shape though.
So, two not-quite-perfect but fun makes...
Melx
Happy New Year!
One of my favourite things about the Christmas break is that I get the opportunity to get lots of crafting done. Indeed, I'm finding that returning to work this week has seriously impacted my knitting and sewing productivity :0
This delightful black cat was one of my favourite seasonal projects. It is my second kit from The Little Knit Kit Company in Wales and was a Christmas gift from my good friends, Nic and Ian.
Like the Seaside Cottage Kit I knitted previously, the kit came complete with yarn, stuffing, thread and all the bits and bobs to make the kitty. It also came in a brown paper bag, which I just love!
The kit is intended for children and the cat's body is made from two simple garter stitch rectangles. The ears are made from two knitted squares and a further rectangle completes the tail. I was super-impressed by the quality of the yarn, which was nice and thick and made a great, firm knitted fabric. The texture of the finished cat is just wonderful.
Although you get some needles with the kit, I used my brand new 4mm Signature Arts stilleto tipped knitting needles that I bought from Yarn Box.
If you are wondering if it's worth paying £35 for a pair of knitting needles, my answer would be a definite yes in this case. The Signature Arts needles look and feel beautiful and are really easy to knit with. If only you didn't need them in so many sizes...
Having knitted kitty from rectangles and squares, the trick with the sewing up and stuffing was to get some roundness in there. The two end pieces of the rectangles are gathered to make a head shape. The kit suggested pulling the collar ribbon tight to make the neck, but I actually used a piece of yarn to do that and then covered it over with the ribbon and of course a little bell. The tail sewed up nice and thick without any stuffing and then I sewed on the ears.
This kit was a delight to make and the finished cat is supercute. Best of all, Nic and Ian bought me another kit, this time to make little knitted critters, so I've got that to look forward to as well.
All the best for 2011
Melx
