Crafting With Mel

Toft Alpaca Pom Pom Scarf Kit

2012-02-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

Who said garter stitch is boring?

This creation is my birthday gift from my husband, which I knitted within exactly one week and two days of receiving it. The kit came from Toft Alpaca and was fairly dear for a scarf at £69 (not that I should be looking as it was a present).

The kit comprised three 100g balls of alpaca aran from the range of natural shades Toft stock. I chose silver, which is not the same as grey, honest. The kit comes with four alpaca fur pom poms, which are unbelievably soft. Now, I never thought I would have any clothing featuring real fur. However, according to the Toft website, the fur comes from young alpacas who have died from natural causes in Peru, so the poms poms are both ethically sourced and fair trade.

Knitting the scarf was actually a real joy. It was made on 4.5mm needles all in garter stitch. You start with some simple increasing, then work straight (for a long time!) and finally knit three prongs of 10 stitches separately. The yarn was lovely to knit with and the whole thing was very zen. Some people find excessive garter stitch dull, but I found it rather relaxing.

After weaving in the ends, the final stage was to attach the pom poms. They come with a sort of string that I sewed and then knotted through the starting end of the scarf and then through each prong.

The scarf is almost too nice to wear. I caught my youngest cat, Dexter, eyeing up the poms poms, so perhaps I should make good use of it before he does!

Melx

Rowan Moss Stitch Purse & Heart Cushion

2012-02-03T01:08:00.000-08:00

Making friends with moss stitch

I can't help noticing that quite a lot of my knitting has been recently has been, well, grey. There were my grey bunny slippers last week and my grey cat the week before. This week, we have a grey purse and a grey cushion. I could argue that technically they are not grey but rather "pigeon", which is the cute name given to this particular shade of Rowan Alpaca Chunky.

The patterns come from the Rowan Winter Warmers book. I always feel terribly grown when I knit Rowan patterns, even though I'm not keen on them as I find them rather stilted and inaccessible as a fairly newbie knitter.

Anyway, first up was the purse. For some reason, I've never quite got to grips with moss stitch even though knit one, purl one doesn't see that hard. Anyway, this time I managed to produce a 17 stitch rectangle on 10mm needles. The pattern used a loop closure, which I wasn't keen on so I made a proper button hole between a few rows of garter stitch instead.

I mattress stitched the sides of the purse and then sewed on a nice wooden button to make up the purse. The pattern suggested making a lining for the entire inside of the purse, including the flap. I don't think this works too well (fabric too floppy) and besides you only really need to line the bit where you are going to put things. So, I made a lining excluding the flap from a Cath Kidston fat quarter and some interfacing on my sewing machine. I then slip stitched it by hand into the purse.

The second moss stitch make in the same yarn was this cushion. I followed the chart to make the moss stitch heart on the front. It's very subtle but you can see it in the right light (but possibly not in this terrible photograph!). I had to pull some rows back when I forgot to change stitches for the centre of the heart as well the edges. Doh!

The pattern used a fabric backing for the cushion but I had (by the absolute skin of my teeth and I had to weigh the yarn to check) enough pigeon left to knit a stocking stitch back for the cushion.

I back stitched three sides of the front and back of the cushion together, stuffed it with toy filler and then mattress stitched the final edge. In retrospect, I wish I had made a cushion pad instead as you can sometimes see the stuffing though the heart if you plump the cushion the wrong way. I now obsessively reshape it every five minutes so you can't see the filling.

So, I feel like I've got to grips with moss stitch at least a smidge. I'm now knitting an alpaca scarf. Can you guess what colour it is?

Melx

Hopsalot Felted Bunny Slippers

2012-01-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Acts of faith...

I think felting projects require a peculiar combination of faith, imagination and courage, as what you are knitting bears pretty much zero resemblance to the finished article until the magic trip around the washing machine.

Happily, my faith was eventually rewarded with these supercute felted bunny slippers that I made from a PDF pattern from Tiny Owl Knits' Etsy Shop.

The pattern suggested using Sirdar Eco Wool DK. Eco Wool is actually discontinued but I picked up four balls from Ebay and for half price too. I was a bit dubious about the shade ("shale") when it arrived in the post but again the magic of felting seems to have made it into a nice grey.

I knitted the slippers on 8mm needles with the yarn held double. Each slipper is made in one piece, with a garter stitch sole and toe and stocking stitch sides. To form the slipper, I simply had to whip stitch the heel and toe into place. The pattern kindly emphasized that all the stitches would be hidden so there was no need to do it neatly (just as well).

The bunny ears are knitted separately in stocking stitch with some simple shaping. So, at the end of my knitting, this is what I had:

I have to bless the designer, Stephanie Dosen, for including a picture of the pre-felted knitting in her pattern so I didn't throw the whole lot in the skip right there and then.

Stephanie recommended hand felting the slippers, but I've felted successfully in my washing machine many times, including with Eco Wool, so I popped the slippers on a 60 degree rapid wash with a little detergent.

Once the slippers were out, I put them on (a trifle soggy but necessary) to shape them to my feet. Once dry, I followed the making up instructions and sewed the bunny ears to the slippers. I used some leftover pink DK to make the noses and black to embroider the eyes. Finally. I used my smallest Clover pom pom maker and some white DK to produce two small pom poms, which I sewed to the heels.

At that point, I erm, decided the slippers were too big (I blame hubby for trying them on). So (and this is the courageous part), I gave them another cycle in the washing machine in their finished form.

After holding my breath for an hour, I got the slippers back out of the washer and put them back on my feet - much snugger this time. I reshaped the ears and also found the face had felted rather nicely. Unfortunately, the pom poms were in a bit of a state, so I lopped them off and made two more, thanking my lucky stars that I had mostly got away with it.

And there you have it - a triumph of hope over what the hell was I thinking...

Melx

Greta the Captivating Cat

2012-01-19T04:18:00.000-08:00

Beyond the comfort zone...

After last week's easy-to-knit-but-pig-to sew-up project, I thought I'd try it the other way round. This is Greta the Captivating Cat, a PDF pattern from Rebecca Danger's Etsy shop. I love Rebecca's patterns, but having knitted one before, I also know they involve knitting almost exclusively in the round with picked up stitches and the like. The patterns are supposed to knitted with a combination of double pointed needles and magic loop, but given I still can't use DPNs, I knew I would have to do the whole lot with magic loop. The reward, though, would be minimal sewing up and a pleasingly seamless effect.

For the project, I chose Twilleys Freedom Purity Chunky in grey. The yarn is 85% wool and 15% alpaca and very good value at £3.79 per 50g ball (I ended up using two out of the three balls I purchased). The pattern allows you to use any weight of yarn with needles a couple of sizes smaller than recommended so I worked with 5mm needles and a 100cm cable from my brilliant Knit Pro rosewood interchangeable needles set.

To start with, I knitted each leg individually on the circular needles, which went pretty well. Then the tough part. You have to arrange both legs and four additional stitches onto the circular needles so you can pick the whole lot up to made a seamless join between the legs and the body. This took two attempts and a little botching but I got there in the end. The first few rounds of the body feel a bit tricky as you bring together the legs, but once I got going I couldn't stop and finished the body in record time.

The pattern suggested you should leave the seam at the top of the legs open for stuffing and close the head with three needle bind off, but I opted to close my bottom seam early as the yarn ends were bugging me and the gap wasn't that large for stuffing and inserting the safety eyes and nose. So, I stuffed the body and created the cat's face from the top of the head and then closed it with mattress stitch. The final step for the body was to sew on the little belly button, which is such a cute touch.

By this stage, all the hard work was really done, with just the appendages to go. I made the two ears on the circular needles and sewed them on (probably the messiest bit of the whole thing). I then produced two arms and, as per Rebecca's instructions, stuffed just the paws before attaching them. Unlike for the ears, I mattress stitched the arms closed at the top first, then sewed them on, which seemed neater than sewing them on open.

Finally, I made a circular tail. It's a bit shorter than the pattern as I was getting to the end of my second ball and didn't want to start a third for the sake of a few rounds. I think the tail looks long enough though?

The final flourish was to raid my considerable ribbon stash for kitty's neck bow. I finally settled on a cute paw print ribbon. Greta is also a tall cat, standing about 15 inches high.

I'm not sure this is a very girly cat but I'm mighty impressed with her and a little bit impressed with myself for managing to knit it. More Rebecca to come I think...

Melx

Knitted Cat and Mouse Kit

2012-01-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

How hard can it be?

Regular readers will know that I do love a knitting kit. None is sweeter than this Make Your Own Knitted Cat and Mouse Kit from Red Rose and Blue. The kit came with 100% wool to make the cat and the mouse, stuffing, knitting needles and a tapestry needle for making up. It all arrived in a cute little bag and cost £15.50.

Now, upon perusing the pattern, I observed that the knitting bit for the cat looked easy; one square for the tail and a rectangle each for the head and tail. However, a glance at the picture of the cat on the front of the kit suggested it was all a bit more 3D and therefore some effort would be required with the making up if I wanted it to bear any resemblance to the designer's vision.

Anyway, I set off in faith with the garter stitch knitting for the pink cat. The kit provides some intriguing knitting needles that are supposed to give the feel of ivory but I stuck with my own 3.25mm Signature Needles, which are ace for knitting small things.

I was just getting towards the end of rectangle for the cat's head when disaster struck. I ran out of yarn! This was a bit of a shock as I'd kept the tails short and not wasted any by starting again etc. Anyway, it was all sorted with a quick email to Tola at Red Rose and Blue and soon more yarn was on its way.

In the interim, I knitted the mouse, which was garter stitch with some simple shaping. I sewed it up using mattress stitch and then made the tail from a crochet chain rather than attempt the finger knitting suggested in the pattern.

Once my new supply of pink yarn arrived, I finished the cat's head and made its tail. The making up was indeed tough - the body and head need to be shaped quite a lot in the both the sewing and the stuffing.The yarn kept snapping whilst I was doing the sewing, which was hugely aggravating but not really uncommon. The wool looks really nice on the finished kit though.

Anyway, there you have it. A lovely Waldorf-style kitty and mousey. I have two other Red Rose and Blue kits; one for a bunny and one for a family of chickens. I'm looking forward to making them once I've had a little lie down...

Melx

Amigurumi Crochet Dust Bunny

2012-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

Idiot, moi?

When I learned to crochet last March, a major motivation was that I wanted to be able to make cute amigurumi critters. Although you can knit amigurumi too, I think the crochet style is more distinctive. To date, a fair number of attempts at amigurumi crochet have ended up in the bin, although the odd one has been acceptable.

Anyway, I decided I needed to swot up a bit more so I purchased June Gilbank's book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amigurumi and read it from cover to cover, which I hardly ever do with craft books.

Armed with my new knowledge, I set about this PDF pattern for dust bunnies I'd had for a while from Voodoo Maggie's Etsy Shop.

For my bunny, I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran with a size E (3.5mm) hook. This was one size smaller than the pattern suggested but June's book suggested that size E with worsted weight yarn was the best combination for amigurumi.

All the pieces of the bunny are crocheted in continuous spirals. I used a padlock stitch marker to make sure I didn't lose my place in each round. As I've found previously, the main challenge was keeping my tension tight and avoiding holes when increasing and decreasing. My decrease rounds at the top of the head are a bit holey but better than previous attempts.

When making the body, I applied a number of June's tips, including turning the crochet the other way out so the right side of the work is showing and putting a bag of plastic pellets in the foot of a pair of of tight to weight the body.

The ears, arms, eyes and tail of the bunny are crocheted separately and then sewn together.

I think this is my best amigurumi attempt to date, although I'm not out of the woods yet. After this, I had two unsuccessful attempts at making the hamster pattern from June's book so more practise is clearly called for...

Melx

Knitted Lavender Heart & Pussycat

2011-12-29T03:25:00.000-08:00

Stripey New Year

I hope everyone has been enjoying the festivities over the last few days. An important part of Christmas for me is getting some time to make things. This might include the challenges inherent in attempting to do this whilst mildly inebriated but I find a bit of sherry tends to improve my performance if anything.

Over Christmas, I've been working on a couple of makes from January's Knit Today magazine. First up was this lavender heart from Lynn Rowe's Sweet Hearts project.

The lavender bag used Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Now, on the plus side, I had some in stash. On the other hand, we haven't been getting on and the leftover balls had been earmarked for the charity shop. I originally bought the yarn to try some amigurumi crochet, which was a disaster (maybe not entirely the fault of the yarn though). Later, I used it to make a knitted elephant, which was abandoned three quarters through - on that occasion I'm fairly sure the yarn was at fault.

Anyway, I pressed on with the All Seasons Cotton and 3.75mm needles. The back of the heart is knitted plain and then the front in stripes. I stuck to two colours as I haven't done stripes for a while and didn't want to get my wool too tangled.

To make up, I back stitched the two hearts right sides together (I find mattress stitch on shaped pieces a bit of a nightmare) and then turned. I stuffed the heart with a combination of toy filling and lavender that was secured in a bag made from one foot of a pop sock. I used mattress stitch (poorly) to close the gap.

Finally, as per the project, I fastened some ribbon to the front and back of the heart with a pretty button. I used nice non-fraying felt ribbon and a couple of pretty heart shaped buttons I had in stash. I made a couple of stitches to secure the ribbon at the top.

This to my mind is a perfect magazine project - quick, simple and made entirely from stash.

Next up was this slightly less simple cat from Ann Franklin's The Owl and The Pussycat project in the same issue. You might at this stage be wondering what happened to the owl and indeed the pea green boat. Unfortunately, the owl was odd-looking and the boat looked time-consuming so I pared down the story a bit.

In the magazine, the cat is done in yellow and black stripes, which my husband said made it look more like a bee. He agreed that my effort in green and cream Bowland Wool Blue Faced Leicester looked much more realistic.

The project is a traditional toy knit, with all the pieces knitted flat on 3.25mm needles and then sewn together. Based on long experience, I did all my sewing up as I went along so I didn't get bored and just abandon it at the end. I also find it more encouraging as toy knits tend to look odd until they are made up (and sometimes afterwards too).

Once again, I back stitched the body and tail pieces, filled them with toy filling and then turned to mattress stitch the gap closed. I added a bag of plastic pellets to the cat's body for ballast, although they keep moving around inside.

I don't think I did a brilliant job of the face - the eyes are too low down, but I think the yarn looks really good in the striped pattern. To finish, I tied a grey silk bow around the cat's tail (which also hides the slightly dubious stitching of the tail onto the body).

So, stripey fun all round. I'm back on the amigurumi crochet now (minus the Rowan All Seasons cotton), so let's see how that turns out...

Happy New Year!

Melx

Knitted Christmas Stocking

2011-12-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays

I don't do a lot of Christmas knitting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I figure you don't get the wear. Secondly, I largely don't start in time for the project to be ready for Christmas. This stocking would be a case in point. I promised to make my husband a Christmas stocking for last Christmas and I only got it done for this year by the skin of my teeth.

I was looking around a few months ago for a suitable pattern or kit. I didn't want anything too tricky or that would take the rest of my life to knit. Hence, I was delighted to come across this Knit and Design Your Own Christmas Stocking Kit from The Little Knit Kit Company, which specialises in children's and beginner kits. I've made a few of their kits before, including most recently, my surf van bag.

The stocking is made in two identical pieces with chunky red yarn knitted entirely in garter stitch with some simple shaping. I used the 5mm sparkly Pony needles Julie kindly sent me with my kit as I already have several pairs of the ones that normally come with the kits.

The kit provides some white felt to make the top of the stocking, but I opted to make the top with some leftover Rowan Pure Life chunky and did a little section in stocking stitch finished with rib. One side has 1x1 rib and the other 2x2 rib because I forgot which I'd done, but it's not very noticeable.

The stocking is a fair size at 16 inches long, although I think that's good as hubby's presents are quite chunky and I don't want to stretch my precious knitting. It took a while to sew the two sides together though. I did it all in mattress stitch, which I don't find as traumatic for garter stitch as I do for stocking stitch.

Again, the kit provides felt to make some embellishments for your stocking. I went off-piste a little here too and made a couple of pom poms using the white yarn and my trusty Clover pom pom maker. I also sewed on a couple of bells to the heel for a satisfying jingle.

For the felt embellishment part, I opted to use my Cuttlebug to die cut two reindeer for each side using a Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz die and some green felt with silver sparkles. I glued the reindeer on with craft glue as they were a bit spindly to sew.

So, hubby is very pleased with his stocking and hasn't once commented about it being 12 months late.Now, if I could just motivate myself to make another one for myself. Maybe next year...

Merry Christmas

Melx

Knitted Diary Cover

2011-12-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

Keeping Hello Kitty Warm this Winter

One small pleasure of having a bit more experience with knitting is the ability, in a very small way, to design your own makes when you need to.

I purchased this delightful 2012 Hello Kitty diary from the fantastic Strapya of Japan and I was most concerned about keeping it in pristine condition as it bounced about my handbag. A diary cover was clearly called for.

For this endeavour, I decided to use some pink Debbie Bliss Glen that I bought on impulse when I was last in London and had the opportunity to visit the delightful Tricolette yarn shop.

For once, I used the tension advice (14 stitches to 10 cm) to calculate the number of stitches I would need by measuring the diary and compensating for the fact I planned to use 6mm rather than 6.5mm needles.

Although it's a bit of a faff, I have got quite addicted to knitting in the round using magic loop on circular needles with a long cable because it gives such a seamless result and saves tons of sewing up. I read an interview with Debbie Bliss recently saying she advised learning to love sewing up as you had to do such a lot of it, but I'm still in denial...

So, I cast on 32 stitches and did several rounds of 1x1 rib to ensure a flat top for my diary cover. I find rib surprisingly difficult as I find it's easy to forget whether you're supposed to be knitting or purling.

Anyway, once that challenge was out of the way, it was just round and round until the piece was long enough. Another advantage with doing it as a circular knit was that it was very easy to keep trying the diary inside the work in progress to ensure the size was perfect.

I used three needle bind off to make the bottom of the diary cover, so no sewing at all and just a measly two ends to weave in. Woo hoo!

To embellish my diary cover, I sewed on a pretty wooden button from my stash and then glued on a felt flower embellishment from my favour purveyor of felty things, paper and string.

So, a cute and cosy cover for Hello Kitty, custom made to fit with no dodgy making up. I feel quite proud...

Melx

Artesano Superchunky Heart Cushion

2011-11-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

Chunky love...

I started to covet Artesano superchunky when I saw it advertised in several of the knitting mags. 50% superfine alpaca and 50% Peruvian highland wool knitted on huge 12mm needles. What's not to love?

I duly sent for the pattern book promising "a collection of 20 fun projects and accessories" from Laughing Hens. Many of the projects required three 100g hanks, so I duly acquired three lots of Cerise, Damson and Cranberry.
I decided to start with the easiest project in the book, Sue Hanmore's heart cushion, for which I settled on the Cerise yarn.

The cushion was knitted flat on 12mm needles in two halves beginning at the bottom with one stitch and then working both sides separately for the top of the heart.

I particularly liked that you could see it was turning into the right thing before your eyes (I had just binned a three-quarter finished toy knit that took me a considerable amount of time to realise was turning into something that was likely to frighten children).

If at this point you're admiring my fab Babushka doll knitting needles, they came from Sail on Baby's Etsy shop and I also have a matching 8mm crochet hook.

Once I had my two sides knitted, I sewed them right sides together with one ply of yarn and a small overstitch as per the finishing instructions. I was a little skeptical about this joining technique but it does give a proper shape and finish. I left a small gap and then turned and stuffed the cushion, taking care to avoid lumps (stuffing can be surprisingly time consuming). I then sewed the gap closed.

The pattern had a fiddly embellishment made of i-cord with a bobble that I decided I couldn't be bothered with. Instead, I made Lisa Jane Bevan's poppy flower from the same pattern booklet with an 8mm crochet hook. The pattern said a size 8 crochet hook, but that's only 4mm and seemed much too small for superchunky yarn. Anyway, my 8mm version looked fine, so I popped a large pearlised button from my stash in the centre and sewed it onto the cushion.

I really love the cushion and the pattern looks pretty versatile for making heart cushions with other yarn and needle combinations (I'm just making my mum a smaller, felted version with Icelandic Lopi and 5.5mm needles).

I've also got two more superchunky projects to look forward to - I'm thinking I fancy the cabled bag and the bramble stitch hat, but watch this space...

Melx

Henrietta Turtle Pincushion

2011-11-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

Things I could stick pins in...

I came across Heather Bailey's supercute Henrietta Turtle pincushion in Mollie Makes magazine a while ago, but couldn't quite be bothered to send to the US for it. Then, when I was in holiday in York at the end of October I came across the pattern in Grace and Jacob and snapped it up.

Perusing the pattern, it seemed harder than I was ideally looking for (i.e. more than could be accomplished by a squirrel in a coma), but after two weeks of procrastination, I got down to it.

As usual for sewing makes, I glued the pattern pieces onto thick cardboard and cut them out to make templates.Sometimes, I photocopy the pattern so I have the original if I decide to make another, but I sensed I would never make two of these...

All the pieces other than the shell had to be reinforced with iron-on interfacing. The instructions suggested cutting each piece from fabric, then from interfacing and then ironing together. I thought it was less work to iron on the interfacing then cut the pieces out once (also less chance of mismatching).

The spotty fabric for the body and the patterned fabric from the shell both came from Seamstar and in fact are leftovers from a cushion I haven't quite finished making. Tut tut.

To make the body, you had to sew a panel using the two inner leg pieces and the belly piece. This was a bit of a head wobbler for me as they didn't seem to fit together terribly well, despite my husband trying to explain how they did. I was so unconfident, I tacked everything in place first. I then used the sewing machine with a quarter inch foot to do the stitching.

Next, it was a question of sewing the inner legs and belly to the main body pieces to make a 3D turtle shape. Again, I had reservations about the quality of the fit. I used pinking shears to clip and notch the curves, but it still doesn't look quite right at some of the joins (but happily only if you turn it upside down).

I stuffed the body really firmly, which took ages as I tried to get the turtle to stand up well. My back was a bit bumpy when I sewed up the gap, but fortunately the shell hides the worst of it.

Happily, the shell was much easier to make, although it did involve darts, which I always find confusing. After creating a dart in each half shell, it was a question of sewing the outer and lining pieces together and turning right side out through a small gap in the lining.

I decided to use a ready made flower embellishment from Paper and String rather than make one from the pattern. My version is at the back not the front due to poor planning about how the fabric pattern on the shell would be positioned.

Finally, I sewed the shell to the body with a few stitches at the head and tail and added two small black beads for eyes.

To top off my turtle, I made some handmade pins by gluing 5mm swarovski crystals onto dressmaking pins with Araldite.

I do think Henrietta looks fairly plausible, as long as you don't peak too closely. This is what she should have looked like if you're curious. I quite enjoyed throwing out the pattern templates and instructions when she was done though. Definitely, a once in a lifetime experience...

Melx

Injabulo Knitted Shoulder Shrug Kit

2011-10-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween....

Okay, so this isn't very spooky by my standards but I think it is a fitting tribute to the end of October. It's a shoulder shrug kit that I bought from Injabulo in the sale ages ago and finally dug out over the weekend.

The shrug is knitted in Colinette Point Five in a shade called, appropriately, Autumn Afternoon. If you've not come across it, Point Five is a beautiful 100% pure wool yarn, variegated in shade and also thickness.

The pattern uses larger-than-recommended 15mm needles to obtain a open weave for the shrug and uses just two 100g hanks.

To get started, I got out my very favourite knitting gadgets of my swift and ball winder. In no time at all, I transformed my hanks into neat cakes of wool. Next, out with the 15mm broom stick needles.

The knitting for this pattern couldn't have been easier - 30 rows of garter stitch with a little simple shaping. The only complication is watching your stitch count because the yarn varies so much in thickness.I got the whole thing finished in two sessions, although my arms ached a bit from using the giant needles.

To complete the kit and fasten your shrug, you get one of the lovely Injabulo ceramic heart buttons, which I sewed on with some green yarn. The pattern said there was no need to create a button hole and indeed I found a handy loop for fastening.

So, I have a lovely shrug to remind me of all the colours of Autumn as the winter months begin. Very much looking at hats and scarves as my next projects...

Melx

Headline News Necklace and Earrings

2011-10-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Make Jewellery Magazine Issue 31

What first attracted me to Helen Cant's Headline News project in November 2011's Make Jewellery Magazine is that I already had several of the focal beads. My stash already contained the acrylic telephone charm and the large news print beads. As I've done quite a few of Helen's project from the mag, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised we share the same taste in beads...

Anyway, to start the necklace, I threaded the newsprint beads onto headpins with a small hematite bead at each end. I then joined the
two beads with jump rings to some silver plated chain to form the back of the necklace. The necklace was going to be long enough to slip over my head, so I didn't both with a clasp.

Next, I joined the other end of the newsprint beads together with another length of chain for the front part of the necklace. I attached the telephone charm in the middle using a jump ring.

To decorate the rest of the necklace, I added a selection of red, black and silver beads from my stash, mounting the on headpins and joining them to the necklace with jump rings.

Now for the fiddly bit. I bought the antique brass cameo settings recommended by the project from Zap Creatives. Following Helen's instructions, I installed a typewriter font, Special Elite, onto my computer from Font Squirrel. I then used MS Word to create a small black circle with the words "Out Of Office" in white typewriter font. I printed out the circle and then cut it out with small sharp scissors. I glued the circle into the cameo using PVA and then sealed it with Diamond Glaze, adhesive varnish that dries to a glossy finish:

After a lengthy drying process, I attached the cameo to the necklace and then bravely repeated the whole process twice to make some matching earrings:

So, an excellent addition to the office punk look I like to cultivate at work using stuff (mostly) from my stash...

Melx

Crochet Clutch and Basket

2011-10-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

Crochet refresher...

I've been aware that, although I've made a few things since I learned to crochet back in March, I've been a bit neglectful of my hooking of late. So, I decided to brush up on my crochet with a couple of quick and simple projects.

First up, was this simple clutch from a free pattern on the Lion Brand Yarns website. I made it using Sirdar Click Chunky and a 6mm crochet hook.

Now, unfortunately, the one thing I didn't master on my crochet course was crocheting into the foundation chain. The instructor showed me how to make a chainless foundation row of double crochet. I reminded myself how to do it using this great video on YouTube.

Once I had my 18 stitches, it was just double crochet and then chain and turn until the piece was long enough. I made up the sides of the clutch using a crochet hook and slip stitch.

As the pattern suggested, I sewed on a button and used the natural gap in the crochet fabric as a button hole. In fact the button is rather fabulous. It's from a vintage-style range I bought from Loop Yarn Shop in London. Quite pricey at £27.95 for seven buttons, but very nice...

To finish off, I made a lining on my sewing machine using some pretty pink fawn fabric from Fabric Rehab and then slip stitched it into the clutch by hand.

The second project I tackled was this sweet crochet basket from I book I bought recently, Pots to Knit and Crochet by Gina Alton, which is a great resource for a container obsessive such as myself.

The basket is made in spirals in double crochet and uses chain to make the handle with a slip stitch finish. You can make it in any yarn/hook combination. I chose red Icelandic Lopi with a 5.5mm hook. I'm always terrified of my stitch marker falling off when crocheting in the round. I really should get one with a lobster clasp.

To finish the basket, I felted it in the washing machine on a single 60 degree cycle and left it to dry stuffed with tissue paper to maintain its shape. Now the basket is all fluffy yet quite robust.

So, having warmed up a bit, I'm going to tackle some amigurumi. I've just started a matryoska doll pattern from Amy Gaines and I'm leafing through Super Scary Crochet by Nicki Trench for something cool to make for Halloween.

Melx

Knitted Little Witches

2011-10-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

Double, double toil and trouble...

Okay, I'm probably exaggerating but these cutesy little witches were a little more fiddly that they might appear. I got the pattern as a PDF from This Cosy Life's Etsy shop, which specialises in Waldorf-inspired knitted toys.

The first challenge was that the witches in the pattern were made using wooden dolls from US store Hobby Lobby, which is kind of a long way from Lancashire. As a substitute, I ordered no less than three different types of wooden doll from Panduro Hobby. The 7cm high dolls with a 3cm diameter head turned out to be the best match.

The dress and hat are knitted on double-pointed needles, which regular readers will know, I still haven't mastered. Hence, I used the magic loop techniques with circular needles and a long cable. It worked pretty well, although you do end up with odd numbers of stitches on each needle.

The dresses and hats were made from scraps of aran weight yarn in my stash and were knitted on 4.5mm needles. I had to adapt the dress pattern a little as the shape of my doll was more tapered than the one the designer had used.

The trickiest part is the hat. It starts from one stitch, becomes i-cord and then moves into circular knitting. I'd almost got the hang of it by the third one.

The great thing about the pattern (and why I continue to persevere with knitting in the round) is that the making up was a breeze. For each dress, there was one end to weave in and then you use the cast off end to secure the dress around the doll's neck. The ends of the hat were equally easy to conceal and then I glued the hat to the doll's head using Bostik all purpose glue.

To finish, I added some small embellishments, starting with a star button on each hat - a different colour for each witch. For the dresses, one witch got three tiny Papermania spotty buttons, one got a pumpkin button and one got a bunny embellishment.

This is exactly the sort of project I like - quick, cute and a little bit spooky. Now, if I only I can think of something to do with those leftover wooden dolls....

Melx

Knitted Jewellery Bag, Purse & Pin Cushion

2011-09-29T23:57:00.000-07:00

Makes on the move...

I spent Monday-Friday in London for work last week so took a number of knitting projects to while away the train and hotel hours. Travel makes need to be chosen carefully in my opinion. You don't want anything that requires schlepping too much equipment and you need to avoid long needles in case you jab them into a fellow commuter by accident. I did end up taking three sizes of knitting needle though....

First up was the jewellery bag, which was a project for kids from Simply Knitting September 2011. I made in on 4mm needles using King Cole Galaxy. I'd never knitted with sequined yarn before and spent quite a long time pushing the sequins through to the right side of the work. The bag is knitted in one piece of stocking stitch with an eyelet row done with yarn forwards. I sewed the side and base of the bag together with mattress stitch. I did take along a tapestry needle so I could do making up as I went along.

I did the final finishing of the bag back home, adding some silver grey ribbon and two troll-style beads to fasten the bag. Quite stylish, I thought (and not at all like something a child could make).

The second project was a felted pin cushion from a free pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn website. For this, I used up the very last of my Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran from last week's bag. I made a simple stocking stitch rectangle on 5.5mm needles and then sewed up the sides.

As I couldn't really ask the hotel to felt my pin cushion, I did that when I got home - two 60 degree cycles. I then stuffed and sewed up the final edge. For decoration, I use a cute pumpkin button.

To make things extra complicated, I decided to make some pins to go with it (who does that?). These are Lucite flowers from The Bead Shop Manchester glued on to long dressmaker's pins with Araldite two part glue. Fiddly but quite effective.

Finally, I knitted this delightful felted purse, which was a kit from Sheepfold. I've made a couple of their kits before and they've always turned out really well.

This purse was made in pure wool DK on 4.5mm needles, mostly in stocking stitch. I just about managed to make the button hole, despite ending up with two holes at one stage. I felted the purse at home alongside the pin cushion and it came out beautifully.

The final step was to sew on the pretty floral button that came with the kit.

So, a productive week away. As well as my three projects I also got a chance to visit two awesome knitting shops in London - Loop and Tricolette. Purchased quite a few goodies and had trouble closing my suitcase for the journey home...

Melx

Knitted & Felted Pumpkin Shoulder Bag

2011-09-25T03:22:00.000-07:00

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitful Makes

I love Autumn and the run up to Halloween. There are lots of spooky projects to make and I look slightly less weird than when I do this stuff in July.

My first Autumn knitting project is this felted shoulder bag. It's from a PDF pattern I found on Etsy from Arly. PDF patterns are great as they take up no room at all until it's time to print it out and make your project.

For the bag, I used some Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran I had left over from my knitted rabbit back in the days when I didn't know the difference between a 50g and a 100g ball.

The bag is knitted in the round on 5.5mm circular needles with a 40cm cable, giving me a chance to get out my super Knit Pro Rosewood interchangeable needle set. I found the first couple of rounds hard going - the cable seemed too big for the piece, but then it settled down to a nice relaxing knit.

For the top of the bag, I opted for 2x2 rather than the 1x1 rib in the pattern just because I find it a bit easier to follow the knits and purls. After casting off, I just had the bottom of the bag to sew together using mattress stitch (I confess to becoming something of a convert to knitting in the round after arguing vociferously that it was a ridiculously complicated way of going about things).

The pattern uses braided yarn for the strap. I don't really understand braiding too well so I opted for a six stitch i-cord on 5mm double pointed needles. I then sewed the strap to the bag.

I knew this wool felted beautifully and my bag was a little bigger than it should have been so I sent it for a 60 degree felting trip around the washing machine to make it wonderful and soft (and hide any dodgy bits).

For some added structural integrity, I made a lining for the bag from a beautiful orange spider's web fat quarter I had in stash and some heavy weight sew-in interfacing. I machine sewed the sides of the lining and then slip stitched it by hand into place in the bag.

I did add a magnetic closure to the lining, but I have to confess that the two halves don't match up properly so the bag is slightly skew whiff if you use the closure. Magnetic clasps are terrifying to fit as you have to jab through the fabric with sharp scissors to make the hole for the legs of the claps and there's no going back once it's in.

For final decoration, I used a delightful ceramic pumpkin button from Injabulo and made a little tassel from three strands of yarn.

So, notwithstanding a slight hiccup with the magnetic closure, a good start to the season...

Melx

My Very Own Foxy Lady

2011-09-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

Mollie Makes Issue 2

I was initially a bit suspicious of Mollie Makes magazine as potentially a bit of style over substance, but now I'm in love with its cute projects and pages of crafty interiors and general loveliness. I even love the kind of paper it's printed on. However, I remain suspicious of the "thrifting" part of the "making, thrifting, collecting, crafting" strapline as I've spent a fortune on stuff I've seen featured in there...

Anyway, you know the rules. Subscribe to a magazine and you have to try and make at least one thing from it per issue. I'm a bit behind but last weekend I finally got around to Lori Marie's supercute Foxy Lady project from Issue 2. I do love felt makes due to the lack of fraying and the fact I can always make them from stash.

To get started, I enlarged the templates as directed on the photocopier at work, which took far too many attempts. I then glued the templates onto stiff cardboard and cut them out so I could draw around them more easily with my trusty disappearing pen.

The only colour of felt I changed from the magazine was the body. The project uses a rather odd mustard colour whereas I would say foxes should be orange. DH pointed out that real foxes aren't orange but a swift look around my collection of plush foxes (I have several) proved that orange was right.I used a square of Moda Freebird from a charm pack for the belly piece. The only really tricky bit to cut out was the eyelashes as the brown felt was too dark to see the pen. I cut them freehand eventually.

The magazine then suggested gluing all the features in place, which I did. You are then supposed to sew over the features with a small zig zag stitch. I started this with the glue still wet, realised it was a bad idea and went off for a bath whilst the glue dried properly.

I was quite nervy using my sewing machine on such small pieces so I confined my zig zags to the jowls and belly piece. I used a straight stitch over the tail tip. I then used two strands of embroidery thread to highlight the ears, eyelashes, nose and flower and fill in the flower stem as per the instructions.

I machine sewed the tail together first. Felt is all very well but the rights sides out part means your stitches show. I left myself a minuscule gap for stuffing, so that took quite a while. I was concentrating so hard when sewing the body pieces together that I totally forgot to sandwich in the tail and had to attach it later! I sewed up the gap at the bottom of the body after stuffing on the machine and then used scissors to trim any mismatch between front and back.

And there she is. A thoroughly cute, yet fairly easy project that I think gives quite a sophisticated result (would have been more sophisticated if I'd sewn the tail in correctly!). So more Mollie Makes makes in the future me thinks...

Melx

Resin Glitter Jewellery

2011-09-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

Make Jewellery Magazine August 2011

A break from the knitting this week for two reasons. Firstly, I am hideously behind with my jewellery projects. Secondly, I've been experiencing aching on the left side of my neck, going down my shoulder and arms, which my doctor tells me, shock, horror is the result of too much knitting! I need to take it easy until the symptoms go away and then improve my knitting posture.

So, banned from knitting, I decided to tackle Helen Cant's All That Glitters resin project from August's Make Jewellery Magazine.

I get my water cast resin from East Coast Fibreglass Supplies and its shelf life can be as little as three months. It's been a bit longer than that since I did any resin casting, so I had a quick, probably very unscientific, check and it seemed okay so I proceeded.

Helen's project involved encasing butterfly and flower sequins from Mei Flower in clear resin and then creating a glittery resin back. Quite a few pieces were illustrated in the magazine but I settled on the butterfly necklace, a ring and some earrings.

The butterfly mould I bought specially from Hobbycraft and I already had an assorted jewels mould from Metal Clay for the rest.

I have found that the trick with encasing things in resin is planning, so I played around with the sequins in the mould to work out a rough arrangement and how many I needed.

I wore my fetching full face mask to mix the clear resin and the accelerator to pour into the moulds. I then used a cocktail stick to add in the sequins and poke them into place. I then left the clear layer to set.

The next day, I mixed some more resin then added some purple transparent pigment and some purple glitter. I then poured the glittery layer onto the back of the clear resin and left it to set for a further 24 hours.

The resin set perfectly and I was pleased with the purple glitter effect. I had previously tried to used glitter with solid rather than transparent pigment and the effect had been rather mottled.

Now came my least favourite part, for which I roped in hubby. The sanding. We sanded the back of each piece wet with sandpaper starting at a 400 grade and work to a finer 1200 grade. Hubby also applied three grades of plastic polish to the clear side of the shapes (he has much more patience than me).

To get the shapes ready to make into jewellery, hubby kindly drilled holes in the top of the wings of the butterfly (a bit mean really) and then attached pegs to the earring shapes.

To finish the butterfly necklace, I attached a piece of the silver plated chain to each wing using large jump rings and added a jump ring and lobster clasp at the back to close. The ring cabochon was scored on the back and then glued to a ring base using Araldite two part glue. For the earrings, I added plastic star beads to make a longer drop earring and attached them to sterling silver hooks.

I think the pieces are very effective and haven't given me any sort of strain injury. I doubt I'll be able to keep way from my knitting needles for long though...

Melx

Knitted Alien Cushion

2011-08-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

It came (very slowly) from out of space...

I first saw this cushion on a preview advert for a new pattern book for Patons Fab DK. Before I got round to sending for the whole booklet, the cushion and its matching children's cardigan showed up in the Irresistible Gifts to Knit supplement to September's Simply Knitting magazine. Handy non?

I feel a bit guilty about it but I decided to eschew the Patons Fab DK yard for two reasons. One, I didn't have any and my stash is getting out of control. Two, Fab Dk is 100% acrylic and so doesn't meet my yarn snob 50% wool criterion.

Instead, I decided to use some Artesano Hummingbird DK in Woodpecker, which is 100% alpaca and variegates through red, orange, yellow and green. I got it as a magazine subscription gift and have been looking for something nice to use it for as there's no way I could make the sock pattern it came with. For the alien's plain red arms and legs I used some Rowan Pure Wool DK I had in stash.

The cushion is knitted flat on 3.25mm needles and hence has taken me about three weeks to complete, which is an eternity for me. You make two body pieces and four arms and legs. I had serious motivational issues making the second body piece, which is why I'm not sure I'll ever knit socks. The body was fairly straightforward with some simple shaping and division for the eye stalks.

The arms and legs were pretty quick to make. I sewed them up with mattress stitch and then stuffed them prior to sandwiching them between the body parts for the final making up. I opted to back stitch the two halves of the body together as I find mattress stitch on shaped pieces difficult, plus I needed to sew in the arms and legs firmly. I left a gap at the bottom and stuffed with what felt like endless amounts of toy filler, before mattress stitching the gap up neatly.

The pattern used felt for the eyes but the templates weren't included so I decided to give that a miss and use two large plastic buttons I had purchased recently. My husband agreed with me that the mouth design from the pattern didn't really work so I decided to add a felt heart applique instead. I appreciate this is not functionally the same but I thought it was more atheistically pleasing.I sewed the heart on with oordinary pink sewing thread, overcoming my lazy instinct to glue it on.

The finished cushion is cute if a little odd. The Artesano alpaca yarn is really lovely so I'm glad I trusted my instincts on that one. I'm off to knit something nice and chunky now...

Melx

Extreme Knitted Cushion Kit

2011-08-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Extremely easy

These two cushions come from Rachel John's Extreme Knitted Cushion Kit that I purchased from Create and Craft TV for £29.99. Rachel has had a lot of publicity in the magazines and she even popped up on Dragons Den the other week, although she unfortunately didn't get investment. Mostly, I was seduced by the idea of being able to produce a cushion in 1-2 hours.

The kit contained 15mm high quality wooden needles, seven sets of yarn and a 12 inch cushion pad, plus the pattern. Four of the yarns were 100% cotton ribbon and the rest were wool.

The pattern simply gave you a choice between garter stitch and stocking stitch and told you to cast on 14 stitches using all your yarns together and keep going until the cushion fit around the pad.

I was a bit surprised, there wasn't more by way of instruction on how to handle all your strands of yarn, but I set off in faith and garter stitch and, actually, it was easy. My top tip would be simply to keep a firm grasp on all the strands of yarn, as you can leave one behind if you're not careful. Other than that, you just need to knit cleanly through all seven strands on each stitch. I can't believe I used to be nervous about knitting with two stands together!

Once I'd knitted enough, I sewed up the sides and top of the cushion with mattress stitch and there it was. I didn't time myself but I certainly finished in an evening. As there seemed quite a lot of yarn left, I made a second cushion of the same size using stocking stitch, again with good results.

Now, for confession time. I don't actually like the cushions. The inclusion of all the ribbon yarn gives them quite a rag-rug texture. I like my knitting softer and more cuddly. So, although I'd definitely use the technique again (I'm thinking it would be good for a throw), shortly after the photo at the top was taken, the cushions were banished to the charity shop. Cushion space is at a premium in my house so only cushions I love get to stay. Harsh but true...

Melx

Sylvanian Families Woodland Camping Set

2011-08-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

Let's Knit Issue 45

I never had any Sylvanian family animals as a child. I was deeply aggrieved by this so, as an adult, I bought my own. I particularly love the babies, although my husband insists that, in real life, they would eat each other rather than play happily together whilst wearing cute little outfits.

Anyway, I was thrilled when I saw Val Pierce's Carry on Camping project in August's issue of Let's Knit magazine. I felt my assorted critters would really like a summer camping holiday.

You could use any double knit yarn for the project and my Sylvanian family were very lucky as they ended up with Bowland Wool Blue Faced Leicester in four delightful natural shades.

First up was the tent.

This was knitted in one large strip for the main part of the tent, done with two strands of different shades together using 5mm needles. I used to be nervous about knitting two strands together, but with one ball in each of my two yarn bowls, it was easy. The back is knitted as a triangle and then the two tent flaps were knitted on smaller needles in just one shade. I'm not confident I sewed the tent flaps on the right way round, but they look okay to me.

The hardest part of the tent was in fact making the frame from cardboard. I found some thick cardboard left over from bedding packaging and cut three triangles with a tab on each, glued them to together and then used some gaffer tape for extra strength. The knitted tent fit over the frame really well and is still standing so must be sufficiently robust.

The ground sheet is also knitted two strands together, with one colour combo for the edges and another for the middle and it lies nice and flat. The sleeping bags are made on 4mm needles in two colours - one for the pillow section and one for the bottom. I made two in different colour ways. You pad the pillow section slightly with toy filler when making up. I decorated my sleeping bags as the project suggested, using Papermania bows on the front of each.

The picnic blanket is made up of three garter stitch strips sewn together. I used slightly fewer colours than the magazine, but I think it looks nice:

You get no fewer than three patterns to use for the little cushions. One in moss stitch, one in garter stitch and one in stocking stitch stripes. These were a little fiddly to sew up but look sweet piled up on the picnic blanket.

The bunnies and their pals seem to approve of their new holiday lodgings, I had fun making all the bits and pieces, so a fab project all round...

Melx

Rosie the Knitted Elephant

2011-07-29T01:46:00.000-07:00

My elephant has no ears....

This is Rosie, a project from Knitwit: 20 Fun Projects for Beginners and Seasoned Knitters by Katie Boyette. There are some extremely cool patterns in here, but I would dispute the beginners part of the title as most of the knitting is in the round. I know some knitters will insist it's just as easy as knitting on straight needles, but I respectfully disagree.

As it is, Rosie is marked as an intermediate project rather than a beginner one and I chose to attempt her first, so difficulty probably is in the eye of the beholder.

The instructions in the book are for knitting with double pointed needles. I knitted Rosie using magic loop with circular needles with a long cable as DPNs remain beyond my grasp.

In many ways, Rosie is like lots of the toys I've knitted flat in terms of separate pieces for the body, head, arms and legs (there really aren't any ears). I have to admit that it's nice not to have to do quite so much sewing at the end though.

I used some beautiful pure wool aran in a variegated purple that I found in my stash, which I think looks rather nice. I used some plastic pellets in Rosie's body to help her sit up properly. The rest of her is stuffed with toy filler.

I cut Rosie's eyes free hand from felt as I hadn't photocopied the templates from the book by the time she needed to see. I glued the eyes together as they were a bit fiddly to sew. Rosie also has a a circle of purple felt on the end of her trunk.

Rosie's crown was cut freehand from felt by my husband as his attempt was better than mine.

My husband thinks Rosie looks oidd due to her lack of ears but I find her rather sweet. She doesn't come when called though...

Melx

Lois Pincushion and Sweet Lavender Bag Knitting Kits

2011-07-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

4 Ply Frenzy

On my recent and extremely enjoyable day out to Woolfest in Cumbria, I bought several knitting kits. I've just got two of them finished - both by Suzie Johnson of The Wool Sanctuary (it sounds a lovely idea doesn't it - a wool sanctuary?).

First up was the Lois Pincushion kit, which comprised the the pattern, a ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK and some small strands of yarn for the scarf.

Lois is knitted on 3.75mm needles in two pieces for the body and then the two ears. She's done in reverse stocking stitch, which I think essentially means you do stocking stitch and then sew it together wrong sides out. I added a button from my stash for one of her eyes and then embroidered the other one in yarn. I sewed the two body pieces together using back stitch and stuffed with a little toy filler.

Lois's scarf is knitted in garter stitch from a few oddments of yarn and then tied around her neck. I think she may be too cute to stick pins in though...

The second kit is a lavender bag, for which you get 18 colours of what I strongly suspect is 4-ply, a bag of sequins and beads, and a piece of organza to house the lavender.

The bag itself is knitted in one piece using intarsia to make the squares.This was actually quite fiddly with spindly 3mm needles and the finer yarn. I'm not sure I'm going to be a 4-ply fan in the longer term. Anyway, I put my Clover knitting bobbins to good use to keep the colours under control. I had to do a little sewing when weaving in the ends to cover the holes where the colours were first joined in.

I wasn't sure I followed the instructions for the top edges of the bag properly but decided to reverse the stocking stitch and then fold it back down so it faces right side out.

After knitting the squares, I sewed on the beads and sequins provided at the points where the squares meet with ordinary sewing thread. I sewed the bag up the sides with yarn using back stitch, right sides together.

To fill the bag, I put some lavender from my stash into the centre of the organza piece and then fastened into a bulb shape with an elastic band. I tied the organza further up for decoration with some pretty ribbon from Ribbon Circus in Hebden Bridge.

Finally, I popped the organza parcel in the bag. At that stage, I noticed that the organza was fraying quite a bit and, after considering a couple of options (my husband suggested trying to melt the edge with a flame - visions of an organza fireball), I trimmed round the organza with pinking shears.

Despite me not being keen on the 4-ply, I did really like Suzie's patterns and I've since bought a few more as PDFs to try later.

Melx

Surf Van Girly Bag Knitting Kit

2011-07-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Bobbins...

I showed this bag as a work in progress a few weeks ago and now it's finally done. The bag is a kit from one of my fave places The Little Knit Kit Company. Most of the kits are aimed at children and newbie knitters - indeed I have myself already made the Black Cat Knitting Kit and the Seaside Cottage. However, their new Surf Van bag kit is for the more experienced knitter, which I suppose now includes me.

The most difficult part of the kit is obviously the front of the bag with the surf van design on it and you need to do this part first as the back of the back is knitted to match the size of the front. The instructions say you can make the bag by stranding the yarn across the back or using intarsia. I opted for the latter.

This was where I discovered that knitting bobbins were my new best friends. I managed to have nine of them dangling off the work at once without too much of a hiccup. There are a couple of errors where I didn't change colour at quite the right time but I don't think it's very noticeable? I find you really have to focus when knitting from a chart as it's easy to get one bit right and then completely overlook another change.

I did end up with a few holes in the knitting where I had first joined in a colour but these were easily fixed when I weaved in all the ends.

After the excitement of the front (except the weaving in part, which went on a long, long time), the back of the bag is very straightforward - all garter stitch on 4mm needles until the back matches the length of the front (the front is stocking stitch so you can't just count the rows). I inexplicably ended up with a few pearl stitches in the back, which I hid on the inside.

The bag strap is just 11 stitches of garter stitch continuing as long as you want the strap (or until you get bored - I kept trying it on every 10 minutes towards the end to see if I'd got there yet). I reinforced my strap by slip stitching some blue grosgrain ribbon to the inside to prevent stretching.

I back stitched the two sides of the bag right sides together with yarn, turned and then sewed the strap a couple of centimeters inside.

As the project suggested, I made a lining for the bag from a beautiful floral fat quarter I found in my stash. I machine sewed the two halves of the lining along three sides and then turned over the top to the right length for the bag. I sometimes find that bags can gape a bit so I inserted a magnetic closure into the lining. This can be a bit scary as you have to poke through the fabric with sharp scissors to make the holes for the legs of the fastener to go through, but it looks okay.

Finally, I slip stitched the lining into the bag by hand, just under the top edge of the knitting.

I thought the kit was great value at £17, including all the yarn and some 4mm needles. You just need to supply the lining fabric. There was plenty of yarn left over, so no concerns about running out midway. I think the bag is really practical and usable and I'm looking forward to wearing it over the summer.

Melx

Stitched Elephant Bag

2011-07-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

Sew Hip Issue 31

Sew Hip time again already. Having mangled Helen Smithson's Mr Zigzag Dinosaur last month, Helen drew the short straw again this time as I settled on her Stitched Elephant Picture for my make from the August issue.

The observant amongst you will note that the photo to the right isn't of a picture but rather of a bag. I decided the elephant design would make a cure little shoulder bag so made a few alterations.

The first order of business was to cut the rectangular pieces, adding 1 cm all around for seam allowances for the bag. I actually hate cutting out despite the fact I have all the gear (large cutting mat, two rotary cutters and two types of quilter's rulers). I cut out the grass and sky pieces from a dotty fat quarter pack I got from HobbyCraft. For the back of the bag, I selected a pink dotty fabric from the same range. The project suggested using felt as a backing fabric, but I went for heavyweight sew-in interfacing for both the front and back of the bag. I also cut two lining pieces from some adorable fawn fabric I bought from Fabric Rehab. I did think the material was a bit too cute to use just for a lining, but a quick survey of my stash suggested I could afford it....

I managed to cut my grass piece 1cm too short, which is why the trim is positioned exactly on the line between the grass the and sky rather than a little lower.

I used the pattern template to cut out the elephant and her ear. I chose a pink jumper-type 100% felt from Blooming Felt for my elephant with a yellow ear from the same fabric. I used a tiny Papermania button for the elephant's eye and then hand appliqued the ear in place.

The project in the magazine uses Bondaweb to attach all the pieces to the picture. I've never had much success with Bondaweb myself so I made the bag entirely by stitching the pieces together.

To start with, due to my cutting mishap, I machine sewed the trim down both edges between the grass and sky pieces, attaching the sew-in interface and the bottom of the ribbon for the flower stalk at the same time.

I then hand appliqued the elephant all the way round onto the grass. This was tricky as the cat was sat on my knee and I couldn't access any pins.

Next, I machine sewed down the ribbon for the flower stalk on each edge. I see now this is at a bit of an angle but I didn't notice at the time. I used a pre-cut felt flower for the bloom and then made a cover button for the centre from the same fabric as the back of the bag.

To construct the bag, I machine sewed right sides together the decorated front of the bag, the pink fabric for the back and the other piece of interfacing around three sides. I then did the same with the two lining pieces. I turned the outer part of the bag the right way round and then ironed over a couple of centimeters at the top. I turned down the same amount around the top of the lining and popped it the bag.

For the strap, I used some pink cotton webbing I had in stash. I find webbing very useful for fat quarter projects where you don't have enough fabric to make a matching strap.

I sandwiched the webbing between the outer bag and the lining and pinned. Now, at this point I should tell you that this project was the first outing for my new sewing machine, a Singer Heavy Duty 4423. I'd found my previous lightweight Brother sewing machine struggled at time like this when you need to sew no less than seven thicknesses of fabric together. The Singer sailed through top stitching the bag brilliantly. I was very pleased.

There is a slight tuck in the lining as I think it was a smidgen too big, but the construction is really good compared with some of the bags I've made before.

So, thanks v much to Helen for her lovely design and one day I promise to follow a project properly...

Melx

Three Bunnies Knit Kit

2011-06-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

In Praise of Kits

There is something so satisfying about kits, whether for knitting or sewing. Everything comes in one neat little package and you know you have all the material to do the job.

I was at Woolfest in Cumbria on Saturday, which was an amazing day out featuring some cute alpacas and a very grumpy sheep (I never knew what a hacked off sheep sounded like - now I do). I was pleased to snare three new knitting kits and a felt brooch kit during my shopping spree, although you'll have to wait for a bit to see the finished results.

What I have for you today is the Three Bunnies Knit Kit from Gift Horse Knit Kits who sell via Not On The High Street.com. The kit cost £20 including free postage. For your kit, you choose two colours of wool from which you make three bunnies; one in each colour and then one striped.

I went for the humbug variegated yarn and plain tan. The kit is very comprehensive in terms of its contents: yarn, knitting needles, felt for the facial features, buttons, thread, stuffing, needle and of course the pattern. I liked it that the kit included some extra yarn in case you ran out.

The yarn is a chunky weight but knitted on 3mm needles. I didn't use the bamboo needles provided but turned to my trusty Signature needles. I did find that I had to watch my tension as you can make the knitting too tight with the yarn being so thick.

Each bunny is knitted as two pieces, with a separation for the ears. The ears are pretty easy though, even, for a beginner as you leave the one you're not working on on the needle.

I decided to use safety eyes rather than embroidered ones so I put the eyes in before making up. I also glued on the felt nose and, for the plain bunny, added the cute little heart button provided.

To make up the bunnies, you sewed wrong sides together apart from the base and then stuffed with toy filling before sewing up the gap. The instructions suggested tying a length of yarn around each ear for additional definition but liked the ears just as they were.

As a finishing touch, the kit provided beautiful wooden buttons to use as the bunny's tail. If you position these correctly, they enable the bunny to stand up without support, which is pretty cool.

My personal addition was to glue on a cute fabric bow on each bunny's ear.

I really loved this kit and, for once, was quite happy to knit three of the same thing. You may at this stage be wondering what happened to bunny number three? I actually gave that one to my mum as a gift so she's not available for photographs this week :)

Melx

Knitted Glasses Case

2011-06-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary

It's just over a year since I learned to knit. I've knitted dozens of items of assorted quality during that time, building up from simple garter stitch to this week where I find myself in the middle an intarsia bag with nine yarn bobbins dangling from it (you might have to wait a week ot two to see the final results of this one).

However, to celebrate my first year as a knitter, I decided to go back to basics with this super simple glasses case.

I saw the project in July 2011's edition of Knit Today magazine in an article by Nicki Trench about teaching children to knit. I am never put off by designs intended for children to make - it tends to make me think I have a better chance of getting it right! I also thought the button design was sweet.

The pattern is a simple garter stitch rectangle of 10 stitches on 8mm needles. I used some Bergere de France Galaxie I had bought a little while ago after seeing it in a magazine. At only 30% wool, it doesn't really pass my yarn snob test but I was attracted to the sparkles.

Having completed the knitting but before making up, I sewed on an assortment of buttons in purples and pinks using a matching embroidery thread. As ever, the project suggested adding the buttons after making up, but that's so much more fiddly!

I sewed the sides of the glasses case up using mattress stitch rather than the recommended oversewing. One thing I wish I'd known as a beginner was how much difference it makes if you know how to sew up your project properly. I finished my glasses case with a purple ribbon bow.

Although I could have made this glasses case a year ago, it would have involved much more time, effort and stress, so it does make me realise how far I've come.

Now, back to that intarsia...

Melx

Horse & Russian Doll Lavender Sachets

2011-06-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse...

Having successfully completed my dinosaur, I decided I'd go for broke with Issue 30 of Sew Hip and complete a couple of smaller projects too.

I was initially baffled by Philippa Harding's Horse Lavender Sachets project. I looked in vain for the horse-shaped template on the pattern page until I worked out that the horses were printed on the fabric. Doh!

The next challenge was to find some Kokka Dala Horse fabric. The recommended supplier in the magazine didn't have any and neither did any of the other places I know that stock Kokka. I know the project says you can use any animal print fabric but by this stage I had my heart set on horses!

Finally, I picked up a fat quarter on Ebay for, eek, £8.50 (it's "rare" now apparently). Having got that sorted, the technique was to roughly cut out a horse from the fabric and then cut a matching piece of backing fabric. I I used some dotty cotton I got in a fat quarter bundle from HobbyCraft. I attached the button on the front of each horse before machine sewing as it seemed easier than doing it at the end.

I put the right sides of the fabric together and then sandwiched a piece of ribbon for hanging inside. I then sewed carefully around the shape of the horse, which you could see clearly through the fabric, leaving a gap on the belly for turning.

I trimmed the horse shapes with pinking shears and then turned, which was no mean feat as you have to leave quite a small gap. On my first horse, I did exactly what it said not to in the project and caught my hanging ribbon in the machine sewing and had to rescue it with a seam ripper.

Stuffing the horses was quite time consuming as the shapes are quite small and I wanted to make sure I pushed the toy stuffing right into the corners. I did add some lavender but this was pretty challenging to get as the turning gap was so small. The project advises you to do the stuffing in a clear plastic bag and it's good advice!

Finally, I hand sewed the gap, but still felt there was a little something missing. A tail! My husband piped up with, "Do horses have tails?". He later alleged he meant carousel-type horses... Anyway, as a finishing touch I used some lengths of red yarn to make a little tail for each horse. Much better.

Cassie Ward's project in the same issue was Russian Doll Bunting, alternating little felt dolls with heart shapes. A whole string of bunting seemed like a lot of work, but whilst I was in the lavender-sachet-making-mood, I decided to make an individual doll.

The pattern was really easy and made entirely from stash. I used a yellow 100% wool felt from Blooming Felt for the body and various craft felts for the other pieces. I glued on the hair and cheeks as they were quite tiny but everything else was hand sewn with two strands of embroidery cotton.

I stuffed the doll with a combination of toy stuffing and lavender, which was much easier than with the horses as I had a nice big gap. I completely forgot to add a hanging ribbon when I sewed the front and back of the doll together, so used some felt ric rac, which wouldn't fray. Supercute and genuinely easy I thought.

So, a delightful smelling wardrobe awaits me...

Melx

Mr Zigzag the Dinosaur

2011-06-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Cheatersaurus....

I've been very slack in term of making things out of the last few issues of Sew Hip magazine. So, when Issue30 dropped through door at the end of May, I thought I should make a little effort.

Now, obviously I love soft toy projects so I was immediately drawn to Helen Smithson's Mr Zigzag the Dinosaur. However, I was slightly less drawn to the idea of making each of the spines on the dinosaur's back individually. I have another dinosaur pattern from A Bit of Whimsy Dolls that I haven't made yet that suggested using jumbo ric rac for dinosaur spikes and so a cheat was born...

For the main fabric of the dinosaur, woollen tweed fabric is suggested in the magazine. The only woollen tweed I had in stash was purple, which prompted a comment from my husband about whether there were any purple dinosaurs (apart from Barney). Having established that: (a) there might have been purple dinosaurs, (b) in any case, my version probably wasn't going to be used in any documentaries about the correct colour palette for dinosaurs, and (c) hubby didn't want to come shopping for green tweed fabric, I stuck with the purple.

The template for the dinosaur body was provided on the pull out pattern you always get with Sew Hip. I noticed in this issue that the patterns were all printed on one side and the quality of the paper has improved, which was a bonus.

I folded over the fabric and cut out both sides of the dinosaur body together to ensure a proper mirror match. As the fabric is pretty thick, I decided not to iron on any interfacing, but I did have to drown the edges of the fabic in Fray Check later on as tweed frays like nobody's business.

The next step was to sandwich the my mint jumbo ric rac (bought from Ebay) in between the two top parts of the body and machine sew the them together. After that, I inserted the black safety eyes before finishing sewing the body together, leaving a gap under the belly for turning.

Turning was fairly tough as the neck and tail are actually pretty narrow and I had to be careful not to poke through the seams with my turning chopstick. I stuffed the dinosaur firmly with toy filler and then hand sewed the gap.

I had also opted not to attempt to sandwich the tiny felt claws into the legs as part of the machine sewing, so I glued these on afterwards.

I decided at this point that my dinosaur needed a spot of decoration, so I glued a couple of felt hearts to each side of the body. I also chose on a whim to tie a cute pink bell around dino's neck with a ribbon. My husband also took issue with this, but had to accept he had no evidence whether dinosaurs might have worn little bells round their necks and what role, if any, this might have had in their eventual extinction.

So, in summary, a cute, girly, lazy dinosaur with a bell...

Melx

Penelope The Empathetic Monster

2011-05-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

Seamless...

I have been wanting to try one of Rebecca Danger's monster knitting patterns for a while. I was finally seduced by a PDF from her Etsy Shop of the delightful Penelope The Empathetic Monster. The slight snag was that I knew the pattern involved being able to knit in the round using magic loop on circular needles and three needle bind off, neither of which I knew how to do.

So, I headed to that font of all knowledge, YouTube and watched this video on magic loop and this one on three needle bind off about 20 times. For once, I decided to practice on something before heading into my big project. I proceeded to make a version of the gadget case in June 2011's issue of Knit Today magazine. I made it a little bigger than the magazine project and minus the beads using the leftover Rowan Handknit Cotton from my cupcake purse from the same issue.

A little while ago I bought a beautiful set of Knit Pro interchangeable rosewood circular needles and I used the 4mm needles with the longest cable to make the gadget case in the round using magic loop and I cast off using thee needle bind off (should really be four needle bind off as you need another needle to pass one stitch over the other on the third needle). It worked pretty well apart from a slight ladder on one side at the top before I got used to doing the first couple of stitches on each row really tight. I finished the case off with a lilac spotty button and a little crown embellishment.

Right, back to Penelope. I was so keen to start her, that I had to get the wool from my local market. I decided to work with chunky - the pattern allows for any wool weight with needles 2-3 times smaller than the norm you would use with that yarn. I ended up with some Sirdar Click Chunky in pink and a speckly green, which at 30% wool barely passes my wool snob test, but I think it looks okay. The yarn recommends 6.5mm needles so I settled on 5mm, again with the largest cable.

I made Penelope's body and all her extremities using magic loop. The only thing I couldn't manage was to make the rectangular base piece flat and then cast on all the extra stitches for the body in the round. I ended up knitting the base separately and stitching it to the body afterwards. The eye patch was a bit of a challenge, starting with only four stitches, but I'm pretty pleased with the result. I found the three needle bind off slightly fiddly on the ears and legs, but finally got it on the last leg.

I used safety eyes to complete Penelope's face and hand cut her mouth from white felt and glued it on. Obviously the techniques Rebecca uses minimises the sewing up anyway, but I finished up the ears, arms and legs with mattress stitch and attached them to the body.

As a finishing touch, Rebecca recommends tying a bow around Penelope's ear, which I just love.

I'm so pleased that I took the time to learn the new techniques to make this pattern. Not only do I love Penelope, but it's set me up to make loads of things I wouldn't have been able to do before. I've just bought Rebecca's Napoleon the Nervous Narwhal pattern, which I'm very much looking forward to trying.

Melx

Wool Felt & Fabric Mouse

2011-05-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Cute and fiddly...

I thought I would give the knitting a rest for five minutes and get some sewing done. I've been itching to get a project made from the fabulous new book by Amy Adams, Countryside Softies. The book came up in my recommendations on Amazon and I couldn't resist the cute fox on the front cover.

The book contains instructions and full sized templates for 28 little creatures, including an owl, a rabbit, a badger and a duck. I thought the style of the softies seemed familiar and indeed Amy also designed the Fancy Peacock I made last year from the Little Birds book.

All the countryside softies are made using a combination of printed fabric, craft felt and felted wool. The only flaw of the book is that it kind of assumes you have a ready supply of old woollen jumpers ready for felting, which I don't. I know I could do some knitting and then felt it, but that seems like a lot of work. Fortunately, Blooming Felt sells squares of felted wool that are just the right size for these projects.

After some deliberation, I decided to start with the mouse. The templates are provided full size so I simply photocopied the relevant page and stuck the pattern onto cardstock to cut out templates. I cut out the pieces in fabric and felted wool, trying to make sure I did the reverses correctly.

The body was the only part that could be machine sewn. I sewed the two body pieces right sides together with a gap for turning. The book recommends putting a pebble in the bottom of the body for ballast, but, not having any to hand, I used plastic pellets to stuff the bottom half of the body. I then hand sewed the base on. The book uses perle cotton 8 for the hand stitching, which I'd never encountered before, but someone recently gave me a huge bag of it, which was handy.

Having got the body sorted, I stitched on the tummy patch then made the ears. The ears and other extremities are made using blanket stitch. You get a bit of fraying with the raw edge of the cotton but I think that adds to its rustic nature. The book says you can use FrayCheck, but I don't like the finish on something this small.

The book uses tiny buttons for the eyes and nose, which I think are terribly cute. The whiskers were made from three knotted strands of perle cotton 5. I sewed the two tail pieces together and then attached them with a button to the back of the mouse.

As I'm rather idle, I used a ready-made Papermania bow for the mouse's head rather than making a felt flower. I sewed an additional rosebud to the tail to hide a dodgy bit of sewing. The book uses a felt heart on the body for personalisation, but, lazily, again I glued on a little apple motif.

I think my mouse is rather effective despite the fact my hand sewing is a bit rubbishy. I'm really looking forward to making the other creatures in the book - I have already cut out the pattern for the bumblebee...

Melx

Pink Knitted Cupcake Purse

2011-05-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

Knit Today Issue 60

I am seriously behind with my projects from the magazines I subscribe to. I'm supposed to do at least one project from each issue but I'm having trouble keeping up with my own aspirations on this one. I finally decided to get a grip with June 2011's issue of Knit Today.

This is Katina Killey's (hi Katina if you're reading) Pencil Perfect project. It looked fun, quick and easy and I was even encouraged to try it by Knit Today's Knitting Horoscope (I'm an Aquarian) that proclaimed, "it's time to take pleasure in simple things".

I decided to reduce the size slightly and make the pencil case into a coin purse by casting on 30 stitches rather than 45. Like Katina, I used Rowan Handknit Cotton, opting for a pretty shade of pink I had in stash. I haven't done much knitting with cotton but I like the crisply defined stitches you get, although I did have to watch my tension. The project is knitted on 4mm needles with a patterned front and a plain stocking stitch back.

Having completed my lovely knitting, I was then faced with the horror of the zip. Despite the fact I have been sewing for considerably longer than I've been knitting, I still loathe zip fitting. I decided in the end to sew the zipper on through the right side of the cast on edge for the front and back of the purse. If you use ordinary sewing thread and small stitches, it's not realIy visible, but it is easier to see what you're doing that working on the wrong side of the knitting.

I then needed to cut my pink zip down to fit the purse and, having cut off the stopper, managed to pull the zipper off and my poor husband had a fun 20 minute re-attaching it. Once that drama was out of the way, I mattress stitched the sides of the purse together and finally sewed together the cast off edges on the bottom of the purse. I then sewed on a cute little cupcake button.

Katina suggested adding a lining, which I made from some cute Beatrix Potter pink cotton fabric. For extra robustness, I added some sew-in interfacing and stitched three sides of the lining together using my sewing machine. I folded over the top of the lining and pushed it inside the purse. I slip stitched the lining by hand to the zipper tape as per the method I often use from Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. My purse feels really substantial now.

For a final luxurious flourish, I made a zipper puller using a beautiful glass strawberry shortcake cupcake bead from my favourite lampwork artist By Keiara. I mounted the bead onto a sterling silver eye pin between two red Swarovski crystals and then wrapped the loop. I used a jump ring to attach the cupcake to the zipper.

So, I feel much more on top of my knitting now, although there are another two projects I want to get done from the same issue. Sigh....

Melx

Mollymawk Fair Isle & Slip Stitch Bag

2011-05-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

I feel like a proper knitter now...

As part of my 2011 drive to extend my knitting skills, on April 17th I attended a course called Colourful Stitches at Purl & Jane in Skipton, a delightful new knitting shop about 40 minutes drive from my home.

The course covered intarsia, slip stitch technique (or to how cheat at Fair Isle as our teacher, Jane, put it) and Fair Isle proper. I got into trouble during the intarsia session for wanting to use my knitting bobbins rather than wind my own small skeins of yarn to use for each section of the piece. I also discovered that I have, for almost a year, I've been winding my yarn the wrong way round my needle for knit stitch. You would have think I'd have noticed, but no. Doh!

At the end of the 6 hour session, I had a sampler of each technique and slight cramp from too much knitting. The course was excellent value at £45, including a lunch at a lovely local cafe plus drinks and biscuits. I would definitely recommend both the course and the shop if you're passing Yorkshire.

After the course, I was looking round Jane's shop to find something to make with my new-found skills. I was delighted to discover that Jane of the shop was actually Jane Ellison, who designs for, amongst others, Mirasol. I duly purchased Jane's Mirasol Accessories Collection pattern book and bought the yarn for the Mollymawk bag (and for a couple of other things, but they're still in my backlog).

The bag is made with three shades of K'acha yarn on 4mm needles. The striped pattern is done using the slip stitch technique and the cute lamas are knitted using Fair Isle proper. I hope the reverse of my knitting doesn't look too messy:

Once I had knitted the main part of the bag, I decided to do the making up so it wouldn't be too overwhelming at the end. For the first time ever, I blocked my knitting as it was curling up quite a lot. I pinned the piece to my ironing board, sprayed it with water and left it to dry.

I thought my button hole was dodgy so I actually sewed it up around my fancy button (a czech glass one from The Bead Store). I think the flap is fine without a functioning fastener as the button is fairly heavy but I can add a press stud later if need be.

I lined the bag with a cotton print before I sewed it up. Lining knitting a pain because of the stretch. I slip stitched the lining to the wrong side of the knitting by hand but it's still not very neat. I mattress stitched the sides of the bag together, although one side is higher than the other if you look carefully.

Finally, I moved onto the strap, which continued in the striped pattern, and it seemed to take forever. My bag turned out a little smaller than the pattern said (perhaps my tension was tighter on the Fair Isle bit), so I got to shorten the strap a little, but it seemed to grow very slowly.

Eventually I got there and needed to sew in some ribbon to stop the strap from stretching. I have to confess, dear reader, that I sewed the ribbon to the wrong side of the strap using my sewing machine. It was about 20 times quicker than doing it by hand and the machine stitching hardly shows at all on the right side of the knitting.

Finally, I back-stitched the strap together, turned it the right way round (easier said than done) and sewed it to the bag.

This is my new hardest-ever project and, despite its many imperfections, I'm rather pleased with it. I'm also doing my knit stitches correctly the right way round now...

Melx

Mochimochi Land Tiny Baby Bunnies

2011-05-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

My own private bunny army...

I'm currently working on quite a complex knitted bag, which I hope to be showing on this blog in the next week. However, I've reached the strap and it's all starting to drag a bit. I did 48 more rows today and it still doesn't look any longer...

So, I allowed myself a little break to make myself one or two (ok, nine so far and counting) of these tiny knitted bunnies from a fabulous free pattern from Mochimochi Land.

I saw the pattern featured on favourite blog Supercute Kawaii and really, really wanted some tiny bunnies of my own. Now, I love Mochimochiland and I have Anna Hrachovec's book Knitting Mochimochi. Unfortunately, I've never felt up to knitting anything from it because the designs are mostly on spindly double pointed needles and often start with a very small number of stitches, which I'm not quite ready for (although I remain optimistic).

The bunny pattern was in the same style but I decided that their cuteness deserved a bit of ingenuity. The ones in the pattern were made with 2.25mm DPNs with fingering weight yarn. I went for 2.5mm needles and double knit. In fairness, I did use DPNs because I don't have any straight 2.5mm needles and the DPNs are nice and short. I knitted each bunny flat in stocking stitch. I had to alter the pattern a bit to get the increases and decreases all on the knit rows and I added an extra row for seaming. I joined the bunny with matress stitch on its underside whilst stuffing with a bit of toy filler. They came out at about 2cm long.

I made the ears as per the pattern with a two stitch icord that you simply thread through the body. The tail is embroidered with a few stitches in yarn. I made my eyes from small felt circles punched out with a Crop-A-Dile and glued to the bunny. If you look carefully, the zombie green bunny has embroidered crosses for eyes instead.

Once I made one, I couldn't stop and I can't usually bear to knit anything twice. I used some pastel Rooster Almerino DK for some of the bunnies and Rowan Pure Wool DK for some of the brighter bunnies. There are some scraps of variegated yarn and some King Cole in there too. The trick is not to let the stitches get too tight and to avoid splitting the yarn.

Assuming I can bear to part with any of them, I thought they would make cute gifts for friends. Endless fun for very little time and zero cost, so thank you Mochimochi Land.

Melx

Mr Fox Stole

2011-04-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yarn Forward Issue 35

This is only the second issue of Yarn Forward (renamed from Issue 36 as Knit magazine) I've ever bought. I've always found it to be rather garment-orientated and with little for the novice knitter. However, I was flicking through the contents page in my local WH Smith (yes I know it's not a library), when this unusual knitted stole caught my eye (who knew shopping could be so dangerous).

Stephanie Dosen's gorgeous fox is knitted from Rowan Cocoon in amber using 7mm needles. Stephanie recommends using two other yarns held double for the white and black bits of the fox. However, I find using yarn double to be a pain so I splashed out on more Cocoon (it's £8.50 for 100g) for the chin, ears, tail and legs. It's a beautiful yarn so having some left over for another project isn't a problem.

The body and tail of the fox is knitted flat in one long piece and the head is knitted separately. I sewed the head together with mattress stitch, inserted safety eyes and then embroidered the nose. I lightly stuffed the head with toy filler.

Now, for some reason the ears are knitted in the round on 6mm double pointed needles. Given that the rest of the piece is knitted flat, this seemed a bit unnecessary. I gave it a go but I'm still not quite there with my DPNs and it was taking ages so in the end I knitted the ears on straight needles and seamed them up the back. I don't think you can really tell?

The legs are added by picking up stitches from the body, knitting with the amber and then finishing with icord with the black. This was the bit I held my breath for, but I just about managed it.

In the magazine, you sew the head to the body, but it doesn't mention making up the rest of the legs, body and tail, so they are left open. I decided it would look neater to join the edges of the legs, body and tail so it was like an unstuffed toy.

And there you have it. This is probably one of the most complex but also one of the favourite things I have knitted. It's a shame the sunshine is here so I probably won't get the chance to wear it until next winter. In the meantime, Mr Fox is resting in style on the back of my rocking chair.

Melx

Crochet Grim Reaper

2011-04-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

What a cute scythe you have...

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been struggling a bit with my amigurumi crochet efforts. My first three attempts turned out a bit big and gappy, but I now finally have something I feel is fit to show in public.

This is my second attempt at the Grim Reaper from Christen Haden's fab book Creepy Cute Crochet. It's also my second attempt at buying the book. I first purchased the book in 2009 and, after I learned to crochet last month, I went looking for it, couldn't find it and had to get a second copy. Doh!

Anyway, the book contains crochet patterns for zombies, ninjas, vampires and similar based on the same basic body and head shape. I chose the Grim Reaper here, because it was one of the easiest ones (there's a surprise).

I made attempt #1 with Rowan All Seasons Cotton, which is an aran weight, but it just turned out too big and I ended up with holes on my increases and decreases. This time I used a double knit - Rowan Hand Knit Cotton with a 3.5mm (size E) hook and it seems much better after I made more effort to keep my tension tight. The finished size is about 3.5". I think it may be a little bigger than in the book, but not too bad.

The body and head are crocheted in the round in single crochet; the body in spirals and the head in individual rounds. You made the hood by crocheting around both sides of a foundation chain. I stuffed the body with plastic pellets to help Grim stand up and the head with toy filler. I think my body looks a little bit plump though. I've started the Ninja, which is quite similar, and altered the pattern a little bit to counter that.

In the book, Christen makes her eyes from polymer clay, which seemed very effective but rather hard work. I glued on a couple of felt circles from the centre of some felt flowers and then embroidered the mouth with yarn.

The crowning glory, though, is of course the scythe. I have to confess at this stage that I am not skilled at sculpting but I know a man who is. Hubby made my scythe using two-part epoxy over wire (or that least that's what he told me to say). He then painted the handle and blade with acrylic paint. Super cool, non?

So, I feel I'm at least on my way to amigurumi heaven and I'm looking forward to making many more of the cool creatures in the book.

Melx

Crochet Strawberry Drawstring Purse

2011-04-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling some tension...

I am bravely continuing with my crochet endeavours. Three attempted amigurumi creations (one elephant, one grim reaper and one cat) are in the bin. Everything seems to turn out too big and I'm ending up with gaps, especially when decreasing. I am still searching for the perfect hook-yarn-tension combination to get the firm, well-defined crochet fabric you need for toys. I'm trying Rowan hand knit cotton with a 3.5mm hook next. Watch this space...

In the meantime, I did manage to produce this lovely drawstring purse. One advantage with taking up crochet is that I can stalk Amy Gaines in a whole new media. This is a PDF pattern from her Etsy shop for three cute drawstring purses. I picked the strawberry as it looked like the easiest one to make.

I crocheted the body of the purse with Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran and a 4.25mm (size G hook). I actually bought three wonderful polymer clay crochet hooks from NK Designs so I have some proper US sizes now.

I am not doing badly with the crocheting in the round now, although I do seem to accidentally lose and gain stitches a fair bit. The stitch marker for the end of the round also occasionally falls off. I have been surprised by how yarn-greedy crochet is compared with knitting. I nearly ran out of a brand new 50g ball making this.

I found adding the eyelet row in green much easier than the equivalent in knitting. The drawstrings themselves are just two long crochet foundation chains tied at the ends.

Amazingly, given the size of my bead stash, I had to go out and buy the two irridescent green beads that are fastened to the ends of the drawstrings as well as the gold bugle beads that I sewed on for the strawberry seeds. I was very diligent and sewed each bugle bead on individually rather than trailing the thread across the back.

So, at least one fairly successful crochet project. Grim reaper attempt #2 is next, so we'll see how we go...

Melx

Pocket Watch Pendant

2011-04-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

Make Jewellery May 2011

The latest issue of Make Jewellery Magazine is a Steampunk special, which I thought was intriguing. There were several pieces I contemplated making, but I settled on Claire Humpherson's Turn Back Time project. I've bought a few pendant watches recently so I thought it would be fun to make my own.

All the materials for the pendant came from Beads Direct, which was handy and they even had most of the bits in stock (I had to choose a different chain and key charm but compared to many of my attempts to buy beads I've seen in magazines, it was a breeze). The whole lot cost £22.50 with a 20% discount voucher that was helpfully included in the magazine.

The pendant was fairly simple to construct. After removing the pocket watch chain, I built up the necklace from sections of Figaro chain interspersed with 6mm Swarovski crystals in rose pink that I mounted on eye pins. For extra interest, the project included a swallow connector and a couple of woven vintage effect connectors, as well as the key charm.

In the magazine, the design included a brass butterfly that you were supposed to attach to the front of the watch casing with a glue gun. I didn't fancy my chances of doing that neatly and I was a bit concerned about it obscuring the time. I therefore opted to dangle a small butterfly charm from the watch casing with a jump ring.

The project also called for three further chains with key charms dangling from the bottom of the watch, but that was just too fussy for my taste so I missed them out.

One thing I wasn't sure of was that the project mixed a bronze watch with antique gold chain and charms. I normally like everything to match but it does actually look fine in the flesh.

So, quite a statement piece that provides a practical function too...

Melx

Sweet Dreams Throw

2011-03-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

Patience is a virtue...

To avoid the house becoming overrun with little knitted purses and toys, I've resolved to attempt some more substantial knitting projects this year. This is my first one, a simple garter stitch knitted blanket.

The pattern was featured in my 2011 Knitting Calendar and comes from Knit Picks in the USA. As Knit Picks yarn is not readily available in the UK, I substituted three shades of Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed Chunky from Yarn Box. Although meant for the same 6.5mm needle size, I suspect my Debbie Bliss yarn was heavier than the recommended Knit Picks Suri Dream as I ended up needing 9 x 100g hanks, which at £7.95 a hank (and that's with 20% off) made this a relatively pricey project.

Knitting the throw was very zen as it's just simple 30 stitch wide strips of garter strip with either 16 or 26 rows of each of the three colours. It was moderately important to keep track of the number of rows so the strips would match up, so I used my Clover row counter and then checked the number of ridges too.

I reduced the size of the blanket slightly by taking out one block of the pattern on each strip and by making the centre strip of the five half as wide and completing it all in the pink shade.

There was a fair mount of weaving in to do on each strip as I broke off the colour for each rectangle. Joining the strips together was mildly painful as the yarn tended to break off when sewing. However, I was pleased with the neatness of the join I made by sewing under the ridges of the end rows of each strip from side to side. Happily all my strips turned out the same length so my counting must have been reasonable.

It has taken me a few weeks to get through this, partly because I've been breaking off for crochet and other projects. However, it's nice to finish something substantial. I've got a fox stole, a floor cushion and a castle lined up as major knits for later in the year too.

Melx

Crochet Owl and Felted Bowls

2011-03-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

Round and round....

Having finally cracked at least the basics of crochet (knowing how to hold the yarn and where to put the hook as my friend Brioni succinctly put it), I've been keen to try crocheting in the round.

Not feeling quite up to magic circle yet, I experimented with chaining two and then making six double crochets (single crochets for you American folks) into the second chain, which seemed to work quite well, although I could see you might need a stitch to close the circle fully afterwards.

I used this technique to make this delightful crochet owl from Ana Clerc's Owls Two Way pattern that was free on ravelry. I made the owl with 5.5mm hook and King Cole Merino Blend Chunky Superwash Wool as I'm still not quite ready for spindly hooks. The owl is crocheted in the round spiral style.

To finish, I made a cotton bag of plastic pellets to give the bottom of the owl some ballast and then filled the rest of the owl with toy stuffing. I sewed the owl closed with yarn and then pulled up the corners to form the ears. I sewed two small red buttons on top of two larger purple buttons and (lazily) glued them to the owl along with a felt beak.

Cute, non? I'm also looking forward to trying the second owl from Ana's pattern, which is knitted in the round.

For my other crochet-in-the-round starter project, I chose these felted bowls from a pattern I bought on Etsy from knot.sew.cute. The pattern was for four nested bowls and I made the smallest two using my ubiquitous 5.5mm hook and some Icelandic Lopi, which was larger scale than the pattern called for but seemed to work fine, The bowls were made spiral style again and I more less managed to maintain the correct number of stitches.

I felted the bowls in the washing machine with two short 60 degree cycles. I stuffed them with carrier bags to retain their shape whilst they dried and now I have somewhere to keep my new crocheting notions.

With luck, next stop, amigurumi toys ...

Melx

Cheshire Cat Crochet Purse

2011-03-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Completely hooked...

I am a step nearer my 2011 crafty goals as I started to learn to crochet this weekend. On Saturday, I attended a beginners course at Purl City Yarns in Manchester, about an hour's drive from where I live. The course cost £54.99 for five hours of tuition and included two balls of yarn and a crochet hook.

There were just three of us on the course, which meant we got plenty of attention. All of us were knitters but I had the least experience with crochet and was definitely the remedial pupil. Our instructor for the course was the delightful Katy Bromberg. Katy showed us how to make a slip knot, hold our yarn, make the foundation chain and complete double and treble crochet stitches as the basics. We then started to complete a sampler of stitches.

Katy also took us through how to read a crochet pattern and discussed finishing techniques, including blocking and joining two pieces of crochet together. We were also able to ask our own questions like how to increase and decrease and how to crochet in the round. Katy also teaches pilates and showed us some stretches and exercises to avoid getting too stiff when knitting and crocheting.

I have to confess that I was struggling a bit with my crochet, but things improved after lunch when I swapped my 4mm hook and double knit for a 6mm hook and some chunky yarn. I found it particularly difficult to get the right number of double crochets into the foundation chain. Katy showed me a great technique where you can create the foundation chain and the first row of double crochet in one go, which I found much easier to do.

I really enjoyed the class despite being a bit hamfisted and came away loaded with goodies from the shop, having put my 10% discount voucher from the course to good use.

I knew from learning to knit last year that the key to success was practise, practise, practise. So, despite my longish day on the course, I crocheted a couple more samples on Saturday evening. On Sunday, I decided to start my first project as I tend to get a bit bored just doing samplers and wanted to get on and make something. I decided to attempt a simplified version of Jackie Ebdon's Bag Puss project from April 2011's Let's Knit magazine.

The purse should be made with 4 ply cotton yarn on a 2.5mm hook. I made mine using a 5.5mm hook and King Cole Merino Blend Chunky Superwash Wool. I reduced the number of stitches from 28 to 12 to get roughly the right dimensions, but otherwise the pattern was the same - just double crochet and then a turning chain on each row until I had a rectangle long enough to make a purse with a flap. I had to be careful to ensure that I kept my 12 stitches in tact, but I think it looks broadly ok.

On this occasion, I decided just to oversew the the sides of the purse together rather than attempt a joining stitch. I then made the cat's tail using the combined foundation chain/first row of double crochet that Katy had taught me.

I used the template from the magazine to make the cat's face from two pieces of blue felt. I embroidered the facial features and then sewed the two sides of the face together and gently stuffed. I attached the face to the flap of the purse with a few stitches at each of four points on the cat's face. I sewed a press stud to the underside of the flap for actual closure.

To decorate, I opted to use a felt flower embellishment from The Bead Shop Scotland, which I think is rather cute. For a slightly more professional finish (to make up for the dodgy crochet), I made a lining from a cotton floral fabric from my stash. I cut two pieces of fabric and then sewed three sides together on my sewing machine. I folded the top of the lining pouch over and pressed and then hand sewed it into place in the purse using a slip stitch.

Not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself. I am now avidly studying patterns to work out what I can try next. I'm not sure whether I'll like crochet more than knitting but I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons....

Melx

Toft Alpaca Mini Bulb Bag Kit

2011-03-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Round in circles...

I have coveted one of these gorgeous bags since before I learned to knit as The Toft Alpaca Shop is a regular fixture at the big craft fairs. However, even after I learned to knit, I held back a bit as I discovered the bags were knitted on circular needles and you had to pick up stitches.

Finally at the February 2011 Stitch and Creative Crafts Show in Manchester, I bit the bullet and bought one of the kits in steel grey yarn. I went for the mini version because £33 seemed enough to spend when there seemed every chance I might muck it up.

The bottom of the bag was in fact really easy - a garter stitch rectangle on 10mm straight needs. On the last row, I transferred the work to my newly-acquired KnitPro10mm circular needles.

The hard part was then picking up stitches from the other three sides of the rectangle to make the rounded shape of the bag. Beforehand, I watched several You Tube videos on picking up stitches and slightly got the impression that there might be several ways of doing it. Anyway, remembering that the bag would be felted and thefore hide a multitude of knitting sins, I somehow got the full 96 stitches onto the circular needles.

The circular knitting part turned out to be quite easy. I'd gone for a 60cm cable rather than 80, which turned out to be a great size for keeping the work moving. I also got to use one of my cute glass kitty stitch markers from Atomic Knitting. I worked the flap on straight needles across 10 stitches then cast off the remaining stitches from the circular needles.

The bag handle was again knitted on straight needles and then sewn on in half to create the tube-shaped strap.

I used the leftover yarn to make a little purse, which in retrospect should have been slightly more square:

Felting the bag and the purse was a doddle. One trip around the washing machine at 40 degrees yielded an excellent results, although I had the clean the fluff from the washing machine afterwards.

As per the pattern instructions, I kept the bag stuffed with carrier bags whilst it dried and then sewed on the signature Toft button on the flap. For the purse, I added a large press stud for closure and a cute cat paw print silver button for the outside.

So, it turned out to be far easier to get my hands on one of these bags than I thought. The yarn does felt beautifully and I would definitely like to try the Toft alpaca with other patterns.

Melx

Resin Jewellery

2011-02-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

Look what I got for Christmas...

Whilst other wives got perfume or lingerie from their husbands for Christmas, mine settled on dangerous chemicals. Specifically, all the equipment to make my own resin jewellery.

I don't think I could manage lampwork glass or polymer clay because I'm not good at sculpting but resin is mould-based so we agreed that would be a great gift for a crafty wife. Here are a few samples of what I've made so far.

I've found Helen Cant's articles on resin in Make Jewellery magazine really helpful and my husband used her supplier recommendations when doing his Christmas shopping. The polyester water clear casting resin and colour pigments came from East Coast Fibre Glass Supplies and the moulds came from Metal Clay Ltd.

Making the resin is surprisingly easy, although you need a face mask and a well ventilated (aka kitchen door open) space as the fumes are quite bad for you. You measure out the resin and then add 1-2% catalyst. I used a syringe to add the catalyst as the quantities are quite small. You've then got about 15 minutes to add colour pigment if you like and get your resin into the mould ready to set.

I've been leaving my castings 24-48 hours before removing them from the mould. The small castings seem to come out easily but the bigger items like the bangles take a bit more effort. The hardest part is then the sanding. My husband made me wet sand each item with 6 grades of sandpaper and then polish each casting with three grades of plastic polish (he's a model maker and into that sort of thing).

The bangles pictured above are my favourite make so far. I started with the plain green and pink ones and then moved to encasing stuff in the resin. The star bangle is not a perfect success as the foil stars sort of sank towards the front of the mould but I'm quite proud of the buttons one where I got each button to stand perfectly on end.

Encasing is the other tricky part - getting whatever you want to clad in resin into the right place without any air bubbles. Following Helen's advice, I found that it's best to create a coloured layer at the back of an encased piece, although the button ring you see here is entirely clear. The resin bonds really well to itself so you can add a layers quite easily.

In terms of converting the resin castings to jewellery, for the rings and brooch, I scuffed the back of the resin and then glued on the jewellery findings with Araldite. My husband hand drilled the necklace and drop earring cabochons and inserted small pegs that I then attached using jump rings.

The sewing-relating pieces you see here are based on Helen's Stitch in Time project in January 2011 's Make Jewellery Magazine.

I'm now starting a three-layer bracelet and I've just bought some larger moulds to have a bash at paperweights. I wonder what I can encase in resin next...

Melx

Knickerbocker Glory Purse Kit

2011-02-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

Yummy felting....

This is my second kit from the delightful Knitting Sundae. Following the success of my felted Neapolitan pencil case, I had no hesitation in making a further purchase on an ice cream theme.

I felt the kit was once again a fantastic bargain at only £7. It included variegated 100% chunky wool in pink and green, a zip and an iron-on cherry motif. Best of all, the kit came complete with a handmade polymer clay ice cream cone charm for the zipper. The kit was presented in a lovely paper bag (I think everything should come in paper bags) fastened with ice cream design ribbon. It was a shame to break into it really.

Anyway, I reluctantly disturbed the packaging to knit the purse on 7mm needles in a single piece of stocking stitch. I soon worked out that I probably had enough yarn for two purses, so I made one in pink and one in green. I sewed each purse up the sides with mattress stitch ready for felting

The wool felted brilliantly - one trip around the washing machine at 40 degrees gave me two purses of just the right size (about 5" x 3.5"). I decided not to line the purses as it the fabric was so firm and smooth.

I hand-sewed the pink zip that came with the kit into the pink purse and a cream zip from my stash into the green one using ordinary sewing thread.

For the pink purse, I attached a Melody Ross felt flower embellishment I had in my stash to the outside of the purse and used the fabulous polymer clay ice cream cone charm from the kit for the zipper pull.

I used the cherry motif from the kit on the green purse and then added a silver cherry charm to the zipper (this was actually a little gift from Lucy at Knitting Sundae for buying a second kit).

So, two cute and handy purses for the price of one:) I also bought a Mint Choc Chip Gadget Case Kit. from Lucy that I am looking forward to making shortly.

Melx

Fluffy Stuffy Bunny

2011-02-16T10:04:00.000-08:00

The best things in life are free...

One of my favourite blogs is Super Cute Kawaii. Over the time I've been reading it, that blog has been responsible for me parting with more than a little of my disposable income by highlighting gorgeous purchases like this bear, which I ordered only this morning.

In fairness, though, Super Cute Kawaii also provides links to lots of freebies and giveaways, including the pattern for this delightful rabbit and her dress from Jenny B Harris of Allsorts. Jenny's blog includes a detailed tutorial for both the bunny and the dress and free PDF patterns. You might also want to take a look to see how it should have turned out :)

To begin, I glued the bunny pattern (body and ear) to stiff cardboard. The technique for both the ears and the body was to draw round the shape on the fabric and then machine sew around the outline with a small gap for turning. I then cut out the shape with pinking shears and turned for stuffing. I used a spotty red fabric for the ears and a white, fleecy fun fur for the body. I didn't do nearly as poorly as I have before with the fun fur under my sewing machine but there was still some swearing. The trickiest part was sandwiching the stuffed ears into the right place under the outline for the body.

Once I turned the bunny, I decided to use safety eyes and a safety nose for the face. I actually think my bunny is not as cute as Jenny's because of that, but it's too late now. Once bunny was stuffed and the gap sewn up by hand, I made the pom pom tail. Lucky bunny got some leftover pink baby alpaca made into a tail with my trusty Clover pom pom maker. Looking at bunny's tail just makes me smile.

To avoid bunny being naked, Jenny thoughtfully included a pattern for a reversible dress. I'm not sure mine is entirely reversible but I used a purple floral for the front and a lilac spotty fabric on the back. As Jenny suggested, I used felt ribbon for the dress yoke, fastened with a small press stud. I added two tiny purple spotty buttons for decoration.

To finish off bunny, I sewed on a small Papermania purple bow.

So, thanks Jenny and thanks Super Cute Kawaii.

Melx

Knitted Apple Cosies, Bag Charm & Gadget Case

2011-02-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

In praise of quick knits...

I recently met another girl (if I can be such a thing in my late thirties) who started to learn to knit about the same time as me. The project she chose to start with is a cardigan and she is still working on it. Although I think it's fantastic to start with something so ambitious, I'm fairly confident the learn-to-knit project would be stuffed in the back of the cupboard by now if I hadn't started with tiny pieces like purses and chunky scarves.

Even now, when I am more or less capable of knitting something bigger and more elaborate, I just love the instant gratification that comes from making something in an afternoon or over the weekend. It makes you feel like you're making progress and seriously cuts down on the UFO count.

I subscribe to a couple of knitting magazines and Knit Today is particularly good at providing quick knit projects for the impatient knitter such as myself. The three projects I've got here all came from February 2011's issue (hence the red theme).

First up, we have the apple cosies from Val Pierce. I made the first one in traditional red and green using Rowan pure wool DK. I was so thrilled with the finished result, that I made a second one (and I hardly ever knit two of anything - heaven help me if I ever get as far as socks!). This one is done in a beautiful hand-dyed DK (the shade is called Berrylicious!) from Green Eyed Monsters.

I have had people (hubby for example) questioning the utility of an apply cosy but they are awfully cute aren't they?

The second project was this mixed media bag charm. I knitted the heart with the Rowan pure wool DK and then used the Berrylicious to make two small pom poms with my fab Clover pom pom maker. I then raided my bead stash for the pretty plastic heart-shaped beads and a couple of crochet-covered beads, which I threaded onto more of the Berrylicious. I hung each item on a different length of yarn so the ensemble would look nice and then knotted the lot to a bag clip. I used a little FrayCheck on the yarn ends to try to keep the knot safe. Sweet and super-quick I thought, although I'm going to need to keep it away from the cats.

Finally, I started what should have been Katina Killey's pretty purse. However, once I got going with the Berrylicious again, I thought the shape would be perfect to hold my 3G (I know, how very last decade) ipod, so I didn't bother with a zip and made a little catch using a crochet chain (the some total of my current crochet skills) and a button. That's another bonus of the mini knit - you get less attached to the final result being one thing rather than another.

So, all in all, I think I got bags of cuteness for very little time and yarn. I'm sure there's a cardigan in me somewhere though...

Melx

Lovely Ellie Applique Mini Cushion

2011-02-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

Sew Hip Issue 26

With the Christmas post taking ages, it seems like I only just read the last Sew Hip and now the next one is here!

So, for my make of the month, I might have cheated slightly by turning Helen Dickson's Lovely Ellie Applique cushion featuring nine elephants into to a mini cushion featuring just the one elephant. There is a good reason for this apart from just laziness, though. A full sized cushion takes up a fair bit of room in the house and I already have quite lot of cushions that I've bought or made. Hence, a teeny version seemed like a time and space saving option.

A small sample of my cushion collection

For the front of the cushion, I used some lilac cotton drill I had in stash. The elephant's body is cut from a fat quarter of lovely purple fabric my mum put in my Christmas haberdashery box and I used a piece of lilac craft felt from my scraps bag for the ear. The elephant is simply appliqued to the front of the cushion using three strands of contrasting embroidery thread. Projects often have you gluing or using basting spray on applique but I tend to just pin the shape on and sew round, although I try to keep the stitches close together when using cotton to avoid fraying.

For the back of the cushion, I used some pretty cotton lawn from the Fent Shop in Skipton. I sewed the cushion together on my sewing machine, leaving a gap for turning. To stuff the cushion, I combined lavender and toy stuffing and then hand sewed the gap closed.

In the project in the magazine, two of the nine elephants were facing each other with a felt heart between them. I'm afraid my elephant is lonely but I did find a pre-cut felt heart to glue on its bottom.

The finished size is a modest 6" square. Cute, delightfully fragranced and I won't have my husband asking me where I'm going to put it...

Melx

Felted Neapolitan Pencil Case Kit

2011-01-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

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 Knitted Mug Hug & Owl

2011-01-22T05:48:00.000-08:00

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

Sleepy Squirrel Journal Cosy

2011-01-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

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

Pincushion Embellishment Jar and Mini Purse

2011-01-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

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

Black Cat Knitting Kit

2011-01-07T00:16:00.000-08:00

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

Rowan Big Wool Bag

2010-12-29T02:49:00.000-08:00

Warning: May Contain Ranting...

When I learned to knit back in June, the course instructor said one of the hardest things was finding kits and projects that were easy enough for a true beginner.

This bag is made from a Learn to Knit with Rowan kit that I picked up in a sale a while ago. There is not a chance I could have knitted this as my first project or even my 20th. Let me explain...

The kit itself is lovely. It contains two balls of gorgeous Rowan Big Wool (this shade is called smooch - how cute!), plastic 10 mm knitting needles and the pattern leaflet. You can choose to make either this bag or a scarf and both look nice. As you can guess, I opted for the bag.

The leaflet contains short, basic guides on casting on, knit stitch, purl and casting off. The second row of the bag pattern requires you to do an increase on a purl row using make one and purling through the back of the loop!!! In my humble opinion, this is not a beginner stitch and, to add insult injury, it is not illustrated in the instructions.

In fairness, if you can manage the pearl increase, the whole thing is not too bad and knits up quickly. You make two sides, a flap, a gusset and a strap in a mixture of garter stitch and stocking stitch.

Now for the making up. The leaflet contains a series of paragraphs on blocking and various seam types, but these are really general. The actual making up instructions for the bag are completely vague and don't tell you what stitches to use at all. I used a combination of mattress stitch and whatever-would-make-it-hold-together stitch.

The kit did contain one excellent tip. It suggested sewing petersham ribbon on the inside of the strap to prevent stretching. Once I'd been on the internet to find out what petersham ribbon was (again a little explanation would have gone a long way), I sewed on some robust but sweet cupcake ribbon I had in stash and it worked a treat. In the absence of any instruction, I handsewed the ribbon on with ordinary sewing thread in small stitches on the surface of the wool.

The kit didn't make any suggestions about how to keep one's bag closed, so I sewed a large press stud to the underside of flap and then covered it over on top with a fabulous Czech glass button from The Bead Store.

Happily, there was some leftover wool and I fashioned a small matching purse using rib stitch with a stocking stitch flap. This is topped with a beautiful handmade glass button from Lush Lampwork.

Don't get me wrong, I think the finished bag is lovely but there is no way I could have made this until recently and that's after 6 months of fairly intensive knitting practise. Maybe I'm just slow...

Melx

Momiji Dolls Mini Deco Cushion

2010-12-23T05:13:00.000-08:00

With a little (more) help from ma...

Well, my mum's been busy helping me with my crafting again. This is a new, larger version of the fab Momiji Dolls pattern from August's 2009's Cross Stitcher Magazine.

After making the panel for my knitted and felted bag, ma decided to try the dolls on a large scale piece of aida in new colours. I ended up with two dolls rather than three becuse they were so huge, but they do look fab. Mum decorated the purple and pink doll with rose ribbon braid. My only contribution was to put two glass brads into the hair of the orange and yellow dolly.

Having already made a bag, I decided the dolls would look cute as a small deco cushion (the finished size is about 8" square). I cut the aida into a square and then machine sewed it onto a piece of plain green cotton fabric so you wouldn't be able to see through the aida.

For the back of the cushion, I decided to use this fabulous Paula Ozier fabric that I had bought a while ago.

As the cushion won't really be washable, I simply machine sewed round the front and back, right sides together, leaving a gap in the bottom for turning. I always leave a miniscule gap for turning as I hate handsewing the gap closed. Having fought to get it the right way round, I stuffed the cushion with toy filling and did my tiny bit of hand stitching.

I think this is such a cute decoration, but I can't really take much credit...

Merry Christmas

Melx

Alpaca Teddy Bear Knitting Kit

2010-12-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

Do you think I'm odd?

Slightly weird bear...

This is the second kit I purchased at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitch Show on November 28th. Having already completed Momma Mouse, I only have one more kit to do (a cushion) to have got through them all within a month of purchase. Yay me!

Anyway, this is a Mr Been (the manufacturer's spelling not mine) alpaca teddy bear kit from Alpaca Select costing £11.

Teddy is knitted with 3.75mm straight needles and all in bits - head, two body pieces, two legs and two arms. The pink alpaca yarn that was supplied with the kit was just lovely to knit with and a really pretty colour.

Because of all the separate pieces, the making up was a bit of a chore. My mattress stitch is improving a bit and I am reasonably happy with the body and limbs. However, I don't think I made the best job of sewing the head together to meet in the middle.

For the facial features, I used some safety eyes and then black tapestry wool for the nose. I used polyster toy stuffing for the filling. I found a pink sparkly ribbon for teddy's neck, which helpfully disguises the rather dodgy sewing of the head onto the body.

I am concerned that teddy looks a bit odd. My husband assures me that it looks the same as the ones in the picture on the kit, which I suppose might mean the oddness isn't entirely my fault?

Very nice yarn though....

Melx

Momma Mouse Kit

2010-12-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

Attack of the Giant Mouse

I saw this supercute mouse when I visited the Harrogate Knitting and Stitch Show on November 28th. It was a kit from The Button Company costing £19.

I have to say that I am very proud of myself for actually getting on and doing the kit so quickly. I often buy things at shows that then languish unmade for many months or even years. I am especially proud because I was a bit intimidated by the kit because: (1) mousey is rather large at 14" high, and (2) mousey is fairly three dimensional compared with the flatter softies I often made.

The kit comprised the pattern, the brown fleece and the knitted flower fabric, together with the safety eyes and nose and the pom pom ribbon for the neck. I supplied the toy stuffing, thread and interfacing for the front of the ears.

Most of the mouse was machine sewn, which was moderately straightforward given the fairly large pieces. The pattern didn't specify a seam allowance so I veered between a quarter and half an inch, trimming the seams for rounded parts.

My main cheat was the ears. In the pattern, the knitted flower fabric is only used for an inner ear piece. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the pattern was saying about how to make the front of the ear, so I decided just to make the whole front of the ear from knitted fabric and the back from fleece. I think the ears look perfectly good that way.

I assembed the head of the mouse and then the body ready for stuffing, sandwiching in the paws, ears and tail in the right places. I put quite a lot of plastic toy pellets into the base of the mouse to help it stand up easily. I filled the rest of the base and the head with polyster toy stuffing.

To complete the mouse, I hand-sewed the head to the body, which was probably the trickiest bit of the whole project. Finally, I covered my line of stitches with the pom pom neck ribbon.

I found mousey easier to do than I expected and I am quite impressed with the result. I just need to find somewhere to put her now...

Melx

Ginny Wittle Whimsy Doll

2010-11-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

Who needs Harry?

This cute little girl is from a pattern by Sarah Faix of Bit of Whimsy Dolls. I have made several of Sarah's doll and animal patterns before and they are really sweet and easy to make. So, I was terribly excited when she launched her new Wittle Whimsy Patterns range.

Wittle Whimsies are pairs of small dolls that are about 6 inches high in their finished form. As a big Harry Potter fan, I opted for the Harry & Ginny pair, deciding to begin with Ginny.

The pattern makes it clear that the doll is a bit fiddly to make because of its small size and is threrefore not suitable for a first sewing project. Although this was far from my first ride on my sewing machine, I decided to look for a few ways to simplify matters for myself.

I made Ginny's hair out of hot pink felt and hand appliqued it to her head. This also meant I didn't need to turn her hair buns right side out after sewing. For the same reason, I went for a paler pink felt for Ginny's arms and legs and hand sewed them together. I used a plain cream cotton for Ginny's head and a delicate pink floral print for her body.

As normal, I created the doll's face flat before sewing the halves together. I used safety eyes and then embroidered the nose and mouth. I added a button for extra decoration on her hair.

Before sewing the doll together on the machine, I took the time to baste all the pieces together with the extremities sandwiched in the middle. For once, all the arms and legs came out the right way round. I stuffed the doll with toy stuffing and then hand sewed the opening I'd left at the bottom.

Ginny should have a cotton elasticated skirt. My attempt at the skirt didn't go all that well so I decided to go a bit mixed media. I knitted Ginny a little skirt on 4mm needles with Twilleys Freedom Spirit pure wool. I started with 14 stitches and then increased to create a bit of an A line. The top and bottom of the skirt are garter stitch with stocking stitch inbetween.

To finish off, I gave Ginny a little Papermania bow at the back of her skirt. Can't quite explain why her hair is at such a jaunty angle at the back though...

I may get around to making Harry but in the meantime Ginny is enjoying being an independent girl with a slightly uneven hairline.

Melx

Knitted Seaside Cottage Kit

2010-11-23T10:22:00.000-08:00

Knit your own getaway retreat...

This delightful cottage was knitted from a kit from The Little Knit Kit Company in Wales (try saying that after a few chardonnays). It's intended as a starter knitting kit for children, which sounds about my level. I'm always curious about the knitting kits you get for children. I personally wouldn't have been able to work out how to knit from the instructions provided - it was only when someone showed me how to knit in person that I grasped it, but perhaps today's children are brighter...

Having said that, if you know how to cast on, how to knit (not even purl) and how to cast off, the kit is indeed very easy. It comes in a lovely paper bag with all the materials you need to make the complete cottage, including some dinky Pony 4mm knitting needles that I replaced with some grown up ones from my stash.

The cottage is made from four green and two gray flat pieces all in garter stitch. There was a very small amount of shaping for the eaves using knit two stitches together. You were supposed to sew the pieces together for a "rustic effect", which I managed very easily with my scruffy making up.

The kit also includes the felt and embroidery thread to make the windows and the door. The beads and button for the door also come with the kit and I think are a very sweet touch.

The instructions did do that thing I hate of suggesting sewing the features on after you have sewn together and stuffed the cottage. As usual, I decorated the cottage flat before I did the sewing.

Probably the hardest part of the whole thing was sewing the roof onto the house over the eaves. I had trouble keeping the roof in the right position whilst I got the stitches in. The effect is certainly rustic in that area!

I think the finished cottage is really rather nice and there was lots of yarn left over for other projects. I'd definitely try another of these kits - there's a cute cat I've got my eye on...

Melx

Matryoshka Bunny

2010-11-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

~~Bunnies~~ Bunny

This sweet and simple little rabbit is a project from a fab new book called Sew It, Stuff It by Rob Merrett. The book is filled with gorgeous doll and plush animal patterns. I thought I would start with a nice straightforward make as a break from the knitting and a bit of instant gratification.

As you might be able to tell from the title, the idea was in fact to make several bunnies in different sizes but I decided one was sufficient - no need to be greedy ;)

The book comes complete with pull-out full sized patterns. I photocopied the bunny and made it into a cardboard template to draw round. I used a pretty floral fat quarter from The Fent Shop in Skipton for the bunny's body. The bunny is one-sided so I added a safety eye and an embroidered nose before sewing the sides together on my sewing machine.

The book contains two excellent tips. Firstly, the ribbon around the bunny's neck is attached to the back of the body as part of the sewing process so it stays nice and secure. Secondly (and my favourite), the book recommends using pinking shears to trim the seam allowance so you can clip the curves at the same time. I hate clipping the curves with scissors and the pinking shears are an excellent shortcut.

I stuffed the bunny with toy filling and then attached the bell to the ribbon. I used a little fray check on the ends of the ribbon to prevent, erm, fraying.

The final florourish was bunny's pom pom tail. I made this from rather posh yarn (pure Shetland wool in natural fleece colour) using my trusty Clover medium sized pom pom maker. I always fasten pom poms with embroidery thread rather than yarn as it's less stretchy and you can attach the pom pom to the plushie with the same strand of thread for extra security.

I also used this project as an opportunity to buy some more bells (although in the end I used one I already had in stash). I love displaying my crafting goodies in jars and decided to create a bell jar. I like to use Hartleys jam jars for my stash because (a) I like Hartley's jam, and (b) they are a lovely light bulb shape. I trimmed the jar using fancy felt, ribbon, felt shapes and a cute ladybird button. I'm not sure I will ever use this many bells in my lifetime, but don't they look pretty?

Melx

Knitted & Felted Bag with Momiji Cross Stitch Pocket

2010-11-12T00:02:00.000-08:00

Not all my own work...

I'm a little bit in love with this bag in its lovely autumn colours. The idea started when my very talented mother agreed to make me a panel of Momiji dolls in cross stitch.

The Momiji design comes from Issue 215 of Cross Stitcher Magazine (August 2009) but my ma changed all the colours for me, including the centre doll, who has green hair just like me :)

I did make a small contribution to her masterpiece. I sewed the little button onto the purple doll, the orange bow onto the green doll and the pom pom hair bobbles onto the blue doll. I also sewed the panel onto an orange felt backing and then sewed over the raw edges of the aida with sparkly orange ribbon from HobbyCraft

I wanted to use the panel in a practical way so I decided to make a knitted shoulder bag. I used Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran that I had left over from my knitted rabbit due to my inability to tell the difference between 50g and 100g balls of wool. The bag was knitted loosely on 5.5mm needles. I cast on 55 stitches and did stocking stitch until it looked bit enough. The strap is a simple 10 stitches of garter stitch.

I made a terrible job of making the bag up - dodgy stitching and lumps and bumps everywhere. Happily, I had already decided to felt it. I think you need to felt a lot of knitted bags as they are just too stretchy otherwise. Two goes round the washing machine at 60 degrees and the bag was nicely shrunk and all my mistakes safely hidden. The final bag size is 12 inches wide and 11 inches long.

For a bit more structural integrity, I decided to make a lining for the bag from a brown cotton print and heavy weight sew-in interfacing. I also added a magnetic clasp and a small inner pocket.

I attached the Momiji doll panel with four orange buttons to start with. I was going to sew all four sides down flat but then I decided the panel would work pretty well as a front pocket for the bag. To finish, I hand sewed the lining into the bag.

This is probably my favourite thing I've made this year and all thanks to my lovely mum....

Melx

Knitted Friendly Ghosts Kit

2010-11-05T01:32:00.000-07:00

Spooky....

Following up on the Halloween theme, I have recently finished a kit by Bergere de France called "Gentils Fantomes", which I believe translates to "Friendly Ghosts".

The kit came from Crafty Yarn for £17.99. The website just showed a picture of the finished ghosts, so I assumed, partly because of the subject matter, it was some sort of rough and ready indie kit. In fact, it arrived in a beautiful posh box with a magnetic closure. You get full sized balls of all the wools used and a pattern booklet in multiple languages (one of which was happily English!).

I decided to start with this fluffy grey ghost as it looked the easiest. He is knitted in Plume wool on 5.5mm needles. I have to say that I hated the feel of the toy stuffing you got with the kit and replaced it with my usual stuff. The kit included buttons for the eyes and I embroidered the mouth in silver grey embroidery thread. The pattern included tassels on each corner of the bottom of the ghost but I thought it was a bit much. Plume is very soft and cute and remains my favourite of the three.

Next up was this fellow whose body is knitted on 4mm needles in the Sport yarn. I found him a bit tricky because the pattern included the dreaded words "at the same time" and you had to remember to co-ordinate making the decreases to form the triangle with changing the pattern between garter stitch and stocking stitch. The wings are knitted on 3mm needles with grey Caline yarn. To finish, I decided to add a bit of colour by using green flower buttons from my stash and matching thread for the mouth. The pattern used cord from a French knitter for decoration but I decided a tassel for the head would be more fun.

Finally, I moved onto this ghostie, who was knitted in white and grey Caline yarn on 3mm needles. I made a terrible hash of the wings and decided to sew them on the wrong way round so you see the straight edge rather than curves. The buttons and mouth are as per the pattern, but rather than embroidering Boo! (or Booh! as apparenty it is in French), I used my Cuttlebug to cut a couple of Boo!s from orange felt and glued them on.

I thought this was a really unusual and fun kit to make and I now have a house filled with friendly ghosts. Cool, n'est pas?

Melx

Knitted Pumpkin & Pumpkin Purses

2010-10-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

A trio of pumpkins....

I may have mentioned previously that I just love Halloween and pretty much all-year-round. So, the last few weeks have been great for acquiring spooky patterns and crafting goodies.

This little knitted pumpkin came from a PDF pattern from Catherine Ren's Etsy Shop. The pumpkin itself is knitted with a seam with 4mm needles. The orange wool is King Cole Superwash Merino Double Knit (not that I'm planning to wash it) and the stalk is Rowan Pure Wool DK. The stalk is also my first attempt at i-cord using evil double-pointed needles, so I'm quite proud. The pumpkin is a bit holey towards the top but quite cute with its flower button eyes.

This pumpkin purse was from a pattern in October's Simply Knitting magazine. It was knitted in two halves on 4mm needles, again with the King Cole Merino Superwash DK. It included make left and make right stitches, which were new to me, but which I think I got right. I actually sewed the two halves together after I had glued each half to the purse frame using Bostik All Purpose Glue. I've only used a purse frame once before and that was with fabric, which I found really difficult. The knitted purse, being stretchy, was quite a bit easier to poke into the channel of the purse frame. I got a bit of excess glue on the frame, but that was easily picked off when dry. The pumpkin face is made from scraps of black felt and simply glued on with fabric glue.

My final pumpkin product is this little felt purse made entirely from spooky items in my stash. The pouch was made from 10" x 6" of wool mix felt with an orange cotton spotty lining and a piece of sew-in interfacing in-between. I started by sewing the ribbon onto the front of the felt. I then sewed the layers of fabric right sides together on the sewing machine, leaving a gap for turning. After turning, I top stitched the whole thing and sewed the pouch down. To finish, I hand sewed a press stud to fasten the purse and concealed it with a cute pumpkin button. The left hand seam is in fact really shocking but you can't see it on this photo :)

So there you have my pumpkin tribute. Happy Halloween!

Melx

Knitted Owl and Mouse

2010-10-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

Stalking Amy Gaines...

I feel like I'm stalking Amy Gaines. I just love her knitting patterns and want to make them all!

This is Odessa Owl from Amy's recent book Little Knitted Creatures. The book is a supercute collection of all manner of knitted animals ranging from fish to birds to farmyard animals. Odessa is from the woodland creatures collection, which is my personal favourite.

As with Amy's other patterns, the owl is knitted on straight, albeit spindly (3.5mm) needles. One difference I noticed in the book is that a lot of the patterns use an invisible increase rather than the usual knit forwards and backwards for the shaping. I couldn't quite see how the increase worked so I used kfb as normal and it worked out fine.

I knitted Odessa using Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran in brown and camel. I'm still working on the neatness of my seaming but she isn't bad. The features are made from felt and Odessa has black safety eyes. I'm very much looking forward to making the rest of the woodland chapter except perhaps the gnomes...

Mousey here is an Amy Gaines PDF pattern from her Etsy Shop.

I knitted the mouse using some leftover Sirdar eco wool for the body and ears. Unfortunately, I ran out before I got to the ears and had lost the band from the wool. I ordered some online and guessed the shade wrongly. Eventally I got the right colour (flint) in a wool shop in St Annes on Sea and no it probably wasn't the same dye lot either!

I decided to do a crochet chain for the tail. Mousey is currently whiskerless, however, as I can't get them to look right...

I think Amy's patterns are so appealing because they are really cute and impressive yet very easy to follow and make. I'm currently trying to persuade myself to learn how to use double-pointed needles but with patterns of this quality available for straight needles, I'm not too worried if I don't master the evil DPNs.

Melx

Halloween Fabric Hamper

2010-10-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Sew Hip Issue 22

I just love storage in all its glorious forms - boxes, baskets, buckets, jars, bags, drawers, compartments etc. As a multiple crafter, I always have plenty of stuff I need to store too. So, for November's Sew Hip Magazine, the Handy Hampers project by Niki Jarvis was a an easy choice for my monthly make.

I was also completely desparate to use this amazing My Minds Eye Boo to You! fabric I bought recently from the fabulous Seamstar. So you see, Halloweeen-themed storage combines two of my very favourite things.

For the lining, I used some plain lilac cotton drill I had in stash. I used quilting batting for the wadding in the side and base but sew-in interfacing for the handles to stop them being too bulky.

The method to create the side and base was fairly straightforward. You sandwich the outer fabric, lining and wadding right sides together and then turn and the hand sew the gap. The handles are also sandwiched in there - I was thrilled to find they ended up on the right side and untwisted!

The difficulty I had was with sewing the seam for the side panel and then sewing the side panel to the base. I was concerned that all the layers were too thick for my lightweight sewing machine and I wanted to ensure the side panel fit the base properly.

In the end, I decided to hand sew the panel around the base. I did this both on the outer and lining side for extra durability and neatness. I then overlapped the side panel and hand sewed that down too. My handles aren't quite in the middle, but otherwise I'm pretty pleased and I do love that fabric!

But what to store in my Halloween hamper? I think, as you can see from the piccie, it will have to join the other storage pressed into service to house my growing yarn stash (another eight balls came in the post just today!). The impromptu overlapped bit also creates a handy pocket for knitting needles, so you see these things happen for a reason...

Melx

Pink Charm Bracelet

2010-10-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Make Jewellery Issue 19

One of the reasons I started making my own jewellery is my love of charm bracelets. This is despite the fact that they are an utter pain to wear with the jangling and catching on things. So, it didn't take me long to select this pretty bracelet from November's Make Jewellery Magazine for my monthly make. It's from the Simply Charming project by Juliet Browse.

I was particularly attracted to the cube-shaped resin beads with fabric encased in them. Now, often when I get excited about resin beads I see in magazines, it transpires you have to make them yourself, which is a bit beyond me. In this case, however, I simply had to part with a mere £2.15 for a pack of three from Spoilt Rotten Beads. The millefiori rectangle and murano glass butterfly are from the same store. The pearl beads and the frosted glass bead were just from my stash.

The charm bracelet itself was a ready-made one with a toggle fastening that I found in a box I had helpfully labelled "bracelets". I can't recall its provinence. The beads were threaded onto sterling silver headpins using an assortment of tiny beads to stop them sliding off. I did like the sterling silver bead caps I used on the perarl beads, which came from Palmers Metals.

The beads are attached to the bracelet with wrapped loops. This was a bit awkward as the links of the bracelet are quite thick. Some of my wraps aren't very elegant but I noticed that the ones in the mag weren't super-neat either. The wraps on my pearl beads are pretty good though, probably because they were smaller.

As I didn't use all of the same beads as the magazine, I kind of let the design grow organically. That sounds great but in fact it meant I had to cut off and move several of the beads to get the spacing and balance of the bracelet right. Organic might be better when not using such a permanent method of attachment. However, the wrapped loops do mean that the bracelet is very secure and I shouldn't have bits falling off as you sometimes get when you use use jump rings.

So, all-in-all, I thought this was a cute, inexpensive yet durable piece for my collection pending me making the leap into doing my own resin beads.

Melx

Sirdar Indie Wrap and Tank Top

2010-10-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Grown Up Knitting...

My knitting adventures to date have been largely based on fripperies - bags, purses, toys and the like. Although the ability to make such items was the reason I learned to knit, I wondered if I should attempt something a bit more substantial.

I had seen Sirdar's Indie yarn trailed in a couple of knitting magazines and liked the look of it. It's 51% wool and 49% arcrylic (handily, I've set my yarn snobbery level at 50% wool minimum). The yarn is self-patterned, knitted on nice chunky 12 mm needles and has a lovely soft feel to it.

I saw the yarn in the flesh at a craft show in Manchester and duly bought the Sirdar pattern book Indie Knits and 5 balls of Apache shade 150 (got to love the names they give the colours). With my 5 balls, I made this lovely ribbed wrap. Unlike my previous attempt at rib (a hat), the ribs stay in line all the way through. My husband pronouced it "very professional".

The making up instructions were a bit vague so I sewed a big lilac button through both halves of the wrap so that you pull it on over your head. I really like the Apache colourway and have bought some more to make a hat and scarf.

Flushed with success, I decided to be a bit more ambitious and try the tank top in Navajo (shade 151). This was a bit scary, especically when you had to divide the stitches for the neck and try to make sure both halves were the same size. I mysteriously went about quarter of a ball over the amount I was supposed to (and didn't check if the dye lot was the same for the extra ball I had to send for), but the thing appears to fit so I'm not worrying.

The making up across the shoulders is shockingly bad but not too noticeable. However, I was truly chuffed with my mattress stitch up the sides, which I managed after watching this video about a dozen times.

Despite this modest success, I'm probably not planning to attempt loads of garments. It's often not terribly economic if you like nice wool (the tank top came in about £36, which isn't too bad). Also, if you're a bit on the lardy side like me, clothes are going to take an age, especially if spindly needles are required.

Still, I've made two proper items from a proper pattern book, so I can made the pumpkin purse I've got lined up next with a clear conscience.

Melx

Mermaiden Doll

2010-10-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

I like fins...

This sweet little mermaid doll is from a fabulous book called Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love by Hillary Lang. It's another one of those books that would be nice to look at even if you never made anything from it. However, on the principle that I should get value from my book purchases, I tried to pick-out an easy-ish dolly to start me off.

The mermaiden is made up of three basic bits: the body, the fins and the hair. All are sewn using a technique I'd never used before. Rather than cutting out the pattern piece and then sewing it with a seam allowance, you draw the pattern onto the fabric, stitch it and then cut it out to the seam allowance. I actually found this quite a good way of doing it as the pieces are quite small (the doll is only about 7" tall) and I could follow the drawn line with my needle on the sewing machine.

The body is made from plain cream fabric, the hair from baby pink corduroy and the fins from printed cotton. I don't think I made a brilliant job of embroidering mermaiden's face - it looks a bit, um, dented, which the book did warn about.

For the hair and the fins, you were supposed to free-motion quilt over two pieces of fabric to give a textured effect. I drew my lines in first with a trick marker, but I think they still look at bit jagged rather than smooth curves. I think I need more practise.

Assembling mermaiden was very straightfroward. You just pop some stuffing into the bottom of the fin and then sew her into it. Her hair is just pulled down over her head and stitched in place.

The patterm called for a ric rac ribbon hair decoration, but rather lazily I picked out a glittery star embellishment from my stash and glued it on. I say I, in fact my husband chose it from a selection I showed him. Nice choice though.

As mermaiden is quite a flat doll, I decided to hang her for display purposes (in the nicest possible way). I attached a small pieced of glittery pink ribbon to her head and now she's dangling from the wall in my study.

I have to say that one of best things about mermaiden is her lack of legs. I always find legs on dolls and toys difficult - they are either too spindly to turn after sewing or I end up sandwiching them the wrong way round, so here's to fins!

Melx

Pumpkin Head Zombie Brooch

2010-10-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

Sequins for brains...

I was beside myself with excitement when I saw the book Zombie Felties featured in Sew magazine Issue 16. I love zombies and I love making things from felt, so what could be more perfect! The book, by Nicola Tedman and Sarah Skeate features 16 patterns for teeny tiny felt zombies. There's a zombie rabbit, a zombie, duck, a zombie puppy, a zombie zombie...

With Halloween approaching, I opted for the zombie Pumpkin Head. I had everything I needed in stash in terms of felt, embroidery thread, beads and sequins. However, these guys are really tiny - Pumpkin Head is only about 6cm finished size. At first, I was tempted to enlarge the pattern and I still might with some of the others, but I decided to bite the bullet and cut it to size. The cutting out was really fiddly. I made the pattern into cardboard templates as usual, but the smallest bits were really difficult to get right and some bits like the bandages I ended up cutting freehand instead.

The bandages and mouth are glued on, but everything is hand sewn. I didn't find the small size too much of an issue for the stitching part and hand sewing is so zen comparing with the stress of the sewing machine. The sequin brains were the toughest part of the sewing - trying to get them spilling out of the split in the head appropriately. The sequins in the book were pink. I only had green, but I think zombie pumpkin brains could equally be green don't you?

Due to their petite size, the felties are great for making into key rings, bag charms and other accessories. I made pumpkin head into a cute little brooch by attaching a brooch back to the reverse of his head. I wore him out shopping yesterday and he was admired by several teenagers.

I'm doing the Day of the Dead Zombie next. I've already cut the teeny bits out so I'm looking forward to growing my zombie feltie family.

Melx

Knitted Alice in Wonderland Doll

2010-09-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Adventures in Woollyland...

This delightful Alice in Wonderland doll is another fab PDF pattern from Amy Gaines' Etsy Shop. I love all things Alice and I simply couldn't resist her, although I suspected the project might be beyond my meagre talents.

The doll was knitted on straight 3mm needles and I mostly used Patons Fairytale Dreamtime DK yarn from Addicted to Knitting, which has a great next day service for the impatient knitter.

To make the doll, you knit each bit separately, body, hair, legs, arms, skirt etc etc and then stitch each piece together. It was a bit like being a serial killer in reverse (my husband pointed out that I even have a box of eyes just like a serial killer).

As with previous toy projects, I found the slender needles and the large amount of increasing required a challenge (the instruction to increase in every stitch tends to make my heart sink).

One additional thing I picked up during this project is that I need to watch my tension on the first and last stitch of each row in a bid to get neater edges. You also have to try to form a firm fabric so the stuffing doesn't show through. The bottom of Alice's head was a bit dodgy so I added some extra stitches to stop her neck wobbling.

I just love the detail in this pattern though - the stripey tights, the headband and the bar across her Mary Jane shoes really bring the doll to life. I was a bit sceptical about using real blusher to do Alice's cheeks but it turned out a bit of Clinique Innocent Peach was just the ticket.

I'm not sure either the knitting or the making up is perfect, but she is absolutely Alice to me...

Alien Lampwork Earrings & Plushie

2010-09-24T00:09:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm green...

The ever-amazing Keiara made these fabulous alien lampwork beads. These are micro-sized version of her awesome Lil Bit beads and stand just over 1cm high. They are fantastically detailed, with pink spots on the front and purple scales up the back.

My contribution to this fabulous pair was embarrassingly small. I used sterling silver eye pins to create wrapped loops onto earring hooks. Great beads kind of make themselves into jewellery I think.

These cuties also inspired me to make an alien plushie to go with them. I've been wanting to make plushes from my own patterns for a while. Whilst "original" would be a bit much (the earrings were of course an inspiration and my husband says it looks a bit like one of the aliens from The Simpsons), this is my attempt:

To start with, I drew a rough shape onto cardboard, even though I'm lousy at drawing. To ensure the pattern was symmetrical, I folded it in half to cut it out. Using my pattern, I made the alien's body from green polar fleece (I have enough left over for my own alien race). I sewed the two halves together on the sewing machine and clipped the curves.

The eye circle is made from blue felt and appliqued on with embroidery floss. The pupil was cut free hand and glued on. I decorated each leg/fin/tentacle with a purple arcylic button. The bow is made from a square of Moda Free Bird from a charm pack (I was too lazy to cut something out from a bigger piece). I stuffed the alien with a combination of toy filling and plastic pellets to give it a bit of weight.

To finish off my alien, I sewed a ceramic start button on its bottom and, with a touch of narcissism, attached one of my "By Melanie Jane" tags.

A reasonable attempt I think, but not a patch on the earrings...

Melx

Tree of Life Earrings

2010-09-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

Make Jewellery Magazine Issue 18

Slender pickings from my point of view in October's Make Jewellery Magazine. However, having hastily bypassed a necklace made out of sabre tooth-shaped beads that looked positively hazardous to wear, I found the Peace & Harmony project by Linda Jones.

I was particularly taken with these tree of life disc earrings. So, I went ahead and ordered two discs and some 10mm haematite rounds from e-beads. For each earring, I threaded a haematite bead between two smokey grey Swarovski crystals onto sterling silver headpins. I attached the tree of life discs with small jump rings and then added my earring hooks. Very simple, but most stylish I thought.

As I'm incapable of buying beads I've seen in a mag without having a peek at what else the shop in question has to offer, I bought (amonst other things I confess), these rather cute antique silver skull beads ( I do love a nice skull bead).

To go with them, I also bought some fancy round spacers and I just added from my stash very teeny sterling silver round beads on the top of the skull and either side of the round bead. These earrings are made in the same style as the tree of life pair with the round bead on top and the focal bead dangling off the bottom, which I think is a good design to use in future.

I do find earrings very satisfying to make in terms of fairly instant gratification and both these pairs will make fab additions to my hippy and goth jewellery collections respectively.

Melx