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
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
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
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
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
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 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
