On things knitted...

A few things knitted in the past few months that I haven't yet posted.

The Kermit Skirt was begun when there was still snow on the ground. I had plans for this to be a nice houndstooth-pocketed number. But then I ran out of green wool! I had just enough wool to make the pockets, but not enough to sew them on. I tried to sew them on with the grey wool but it looked bad so I took them off. So now I have two pockets with nowhere to go. Of course I could buy more green wool, but it seems silly to buy a whole ball of wool to sew on two pockets. I'd need only a small amount. So for now I just wear the skirt without the pockets.

Nice pocket!

I made this skirt on circular needles so I wouldn't have to sew up side seams. It worked out perfectly and it makes the skirt more comfortable.

I love the elastic waistband for comfort purposes but if I made this again I would not follow the pattern here. The double layer of knitted fabric to make the pocket for the elastic adds so much bulk to the waist of the skirt. And seriously, who wants more bulk at their waist?

Knitted necklace. Made from soft lovely bamboo viscose and brass findings. One is heavy the other light so it makes for an interesting necklace.

Vest for a little baby boy. The mama said 'no blue' because everyone was giving her blue things for the baby. I was happy to oblige with a daffodil colour scheme: creamy yellow and spring green.

Vest for a baby girl. Bright pink and green. Cause little girls should get to wear colours other than pale pink.

Knitted scarflet for my nanna. Soft kid mohair in cherry red. The 'halo' of the mohair makes it hard to photograph but lovely to wear.

Buttoned 'cowl' style

The buttons allow it to be worn in two ways - as a circle or cowl and as a collar.

Buttoned 'collar' style.

Neck Things

I was getting jumpy from lack of making so I made some more necklaces...

New Toast Catalogue is nice to gaze at. May have inadvertently influenced the colours of my necklaces...

Wooden it be Nice? Square wooden beads & copper beads on brown waxed polyester thread (the inter-situ copper beads help it to sit flat when worn)

The Orientalist. Vaguely orientally inspired in the Victorian sense (as in the Victorian era mania for all things oriental resulting in a profusion of 'oriental' goods that were neither from Asia or replicated things from Asia, but were well sought after decorative items in middle class Victorian homes none the less). Black glass matt finish oval beads, bronze beads, red painted wooden carved bird bead. black waxed polyester thread. The whole reason for this necklace is because I found the bird - it was love at first sight - and I had to have it.

Glazed and Confused. Green & blue glazed ceramic beads, small copper beads and brown waxed polyester thread. Likewise, fell for the colour of the beads and the interesting features of the glazes, each bead is interesting in itself.

A paler shade of pale. Grey waxed polyester thread and grey painted seeds. It was grey. What can I say. I love grey.

And we make things

Even though I'm supposed to be here in Canada studying, I can't help but make things. Making is comforting to me when I'm tired, stressed or simply had enough reading for the day. Even just a few minutes, a round of my knitting before I sleep helps.

I've also been photographing my fruits and veggies because the veggies here look great. The weather this summer must have been nice because all the veggies at the market are beautiful...

Aubergines

Figs

Asparagus

Potatoes (and yes, my nice new teapot)

Cauliflower

Not a veggie but very nice Sugared Almonds

I brought the new Debbie Bliss knitting magazine to gaze at while not studying. It has a gorgeous colourful fair isle (I think!) jumper on the cover that I'd love to make but it looks just a little too challenging for me just yet. They have these cute mittens inside though that I might be able to manage. It think they would be nice in alpaca or cashmere...

This is what I brought with me: my tool kit for the year. The chunky grey wool is from that cardigan I was making. The little bit of wool managed to sneak into my bag while the cardigan would not sneak nicely.

The wool I brought along: Grey fluffy Mohair and Purple Alpaca. The purple alpaca calls to me but I don't yet know what to make from it...

The beginnings of the Rebecca knitted dress with grey fluffy mohair. I'm making it as I choose, and not following the pattern (I can't read it anyway). I'm starting with my measurements based on the way I made the knitted skirt a while back. So I'm starting from the bottom and working up using circular needles until I get to the armholes then I'll put parts on stitch holders and extend up for the neckline so its almost seamless. Then I'll make the sleeves in the round too and then sew them on. This also means that if happen to have not calculated the amount of wool I need correctly, and I run out part way, I'll have a long tube I can wear as a cowl scarf. So either way, I win, as knitting in really fine mohair is really slow going and its hard to undo as it felts to itself easily.

I also made a little necklace with crochet thread and yellow beads. Its really simple and cost me a grand total of 60 cents. I made knots between the beads to keep them from sliding and to give them more definition and separation.

I like it a lot. I'm planning on making a trip here later to pick up some more beads for some more little necklaces.

I've had a migraine for 3 days now and I don't really feel like reading (since I can neither see properly or focus on words - I touch type so I'm not so bad on the computer, plus I can make the screen bigger!) so making some things would be just the thing... if only I didn't have to present this book tomorrow for my seminar... sigh... schedules don't allow for human frailty.

Straws

I have been collecting drinking straws for a while now (I wash and dry them first so they aren't icky!) with the view to making things with them and also to document my own consumption. Collecting, rather than throwing away made me aware of exactly how much I use and throw away. I was inspired by the necklaces Lauren Manoogian makes with their geometry and colours and decided to try necklace made of straws.

The Mr. likes his Yakult but never uses the straws, so I had 5 packets of 5 straws to use for this necklace. Its not recycling in the strictest sense (eg: these are not used straws) but up-cycling something that would just be thrown out unused or languish in a drawer somewhere until being thrown out in 5 years time.

After a few experiments, I found the light grey crochet thread to be the best for thickness as well as colour. Threads of other colours made the straws look dirty, as the plastic is quite thin!

Its a really light necklace and comfortable to wear unlike a ceramic or glass bead necklace would be of a similar size.

little triangles

After I made some journals I had some scraps of fabric left-over so I decided to sew them together to try making a necklace. The result is quietly beautiful. Two shades of grey, light grey corduroy and dark grey wool flannel on a white knit cotton base. I love triangles, so many possibilities.

the very very long necklace... continued

After the last post, I made the leather clasp to cover the join. The leather piece is recycled from some product sample which I reclaimed from my big bag of fabric samples that were fished out of the bin. The clasp is simply wrapped around and has studs to join it so it can be taken off and the necklace changed about. I wanted to allow the possibility of the necklace being changeable to other forms later on if I get tired of the loop style I can plait it or crochet it or something. I'm happy with how the clasp turned out and the red looks great with the grey. If I get time, I'll make another one. I've got some green leather and blue grey too. And I've plenty of wool lying about of course!

the very very long necklace

So I was tired and unwell and it seemed like a good idea: just take a ball of nice wool cotton and keep knitting i-cord until the ball runs out.

And it was a good idea. It turned out really nice, it just took a while to knit.

I knit it up on 3.0mm needles in a flecked grey which gives it some interest in terms of texture. It measures over 10m long and I have been wearing it simply looped around like a coil of rope. I tried plaiting it but it ends up too thick and stiff with no movement. I'm planning on making a leather clasp to cover the knot at the back where I simply tied the two ends together. I've got a small scrap of deep red leather that will look great as the clasp.

All Accord, I Cord, Good Luck With That Necklace...

I saw this tutorial on a blog and it looked easy enough to try. I'm glad I did, because it turned out really well. Except for the part where I tried to tie a good-luck knot, which turned out tricky until I found this website to explain how to tie it! Then it was easy! It looks quite nice, but the pictures don't come up well as its black.

Of Creating and Such

Though I haven't updated in a while, I've been busy making things...

Knitting in chunky wool with 10mm needles is so fast! I love it!

This is the pattern from Vogue Knitting last year or the year before that's been in my to-do list for ages. My scarf is a bit narrower than the picture (25cm instead of 45cm) and mine is a little shorter and less overwhelming mass of scarf!

The pattern wasn't too hard despite saying 'Advanced'! (I usually never look at that sort of thing as an obstacle!)

A crocheted & knitted gold bow - so cute!

Finally strung my hand-felted scrap wool beads together and they look great!

Green glass & black wool beads on plaited crochet/lace thread strings.

Brass & wood beads on plaited crochet/lace thread strings.

Necklaces are inspired by this post by Wiksten. She has a tutorial on how to make them here. Easy and fun! I haven't plaited thread together since primary school, and it was so much fun I might make some more!

More recycling: a folded polyester fabric necklace.

Detail of the folds & fabric. I'm putting my new pinking shears to good use!

Progress update on the knitted jacket: 10cm left to go on the back section.