The cushion project - part 2!

OK so I finished off the knitting bit and sewed in all the ends... very pleased how the seams all came together. All I need to do now is to canabalise a pillow and make a cushion pad for it! This is the big version of the small squareand what I call the back, you can now see how well it matches my chair throw, Badham likes it too. The front can be the back depending on how the fancy takes me I suppose. It is much more sculpted and interesting I think.




Jennie to upload pics you choose the icon above where you write, browse to the folder on your laptop where you have pic saved, choose pic and hit upload, it then inserts the pic into your blog where you are writing and you can move it around and change the size etc. then carry on writing, I find it easier to compose some words then insert the pic and move it to where I want it.

I have done some Jennie blanket (cant remember how long it should be ???) and it gave me an idea for a long term project with numerous artistic outlets and a reason for buying small bits of lovely yarn I occasionaly see (when I can afford them) I am not sure if it will be a throw, blanket wall hanging or if it dosnt go well a mistake. However, a knitting record of places we have been, and things we have done, interpreted arty like so not necessarily a pic of the actual just a visual...do I explain myself ..maybe not. But I have also started writing a journal (long hand) to go with it for my ideas and interpretations so there will be a record of why I did what I did, what with and how much it cost etc etc..... I was feeling creative that day!!! I want to get started but havnt yet decided where, or how.... need more inspiration.

The other thing I have done is start to design a hot air balloon intarsia motif, done the graph paper thing and a little knitted sampler, it now needs a bit more graph paper work and more samples... in progress....

The real knitting is a T shirt from Berroco free patterns called Gainsbourg, in a blue random sort of silky yarn, (E - the one we unraveled a year or so ago!) I am 2/3rds done the back and want to get it finished to wear soon as its getting decidedly warmer here.

Happy Crafty Easter, Have a good time when you meet up. Oh and Elizabeth if you have time introduce Gma to Crafat Girls and see if she can jooin in - she has a googel account I set it up a while ago, I am surte she would love to chip in if we can get her started! xxx

Gloves!

Im rather proud of myself this week.
ive managed to cast on on my own.
ive managed to cast off on my own
ive managed to sew a seam in knitting without even googleing how to
and ive managed to get a glove in the middle of it all!
the ribbing at one end is rather bad, but ive since started another one and the ribbing is dare i say it perfect! or maybe i should let others decide...i just dont know how to post pictures on here!
im considering my next project, i think i may do a matching scarf, and i was considering a beanie, but all the patterns i can find says knit in the round on round pins.....would this be easy for me to do or is it not worth the hassle?
im doing the gloves in a dark gothy purple, ive also got some nice dark emeraldy green and some black(to try and get scott to wear warm things next winter, i feel bribery may work!)

xxxx

The cushion project

This is three quarters of the back of my cushion. It is a giant version of the 9 squares I have knit for the front! I need to make one big square to fill in the gap by picking up the stiches from the inner corners of the L shape.







So this is the front....
Each of the 9 squares is made up of  4 shapes. 2 small squares on opposing corners, 1 L shaped piece and a larger square, if you look carefully I think you will see what I am trying to describe.

The squares are joined as you go along by picking up the stiches for the next piece, very clever. Only 2 small sections could not be joined in this way as they were in the wrong position, I joined these by picking up a stich from the piece I wanted to join to, and slipping the last stich of the piece to be joined, over it, simpler to do than explain!

Each section is created by casting on and picking up stiches to make 2 of the sides, you then decrease 2 stiches in the middle of every right side row, this makes a square. I really enjoyed seeing it take shape.

The original pattern came from a book belonging to Elizabeth (maybe you could tell us what its called E) and was for ten of the squares joined lengthways to make a scarf, then felted. The original used multi colours but this leftover yarn from Elizabeths cardi I made her matches my comfy chair throw exactly, every time I put my knitting down when making the cardigan it looked so good I came up with the idea of making a cushion with the bits. As the throw is chenile and stripy the stich pattern looks good on it too.

As you can perhaps tell I am pleased with the outcome so far, one last big bit to do to fill in the large corner and then once the ends are sewn in and its all sewn up and stuffed I will post another pic with the finished object!

I now want to make something in multi colours ..... but I fancy doing some knitted lace and have been looking at shawl patterns.... but I am not sure what the next project will be, I think I will perhaps knit a length for the Jennie blanket while I am thinking about it.

Beads

www.katedrew-wilkinson.com/beads.htm

A web site to look at and wonder over the beauty of her glass beads. I met this lady yesterday in her store in Bisbee, she was born in England and her Grandparents had a house, where she holidayed as a little girl, in Morpeth! She come to Sunderland Glass Centre to teach sometimes. I may go back today and take another look at the beads having looked at the detail on the internet I want to look again in person while I have the chance.

BTW Necklace with one large bead ranged from $25 - $36

More soon!

Owls!

My first Owl may be finished this week!



I have been knitting him on the bus, and this will be the third week, his body is nearly finished, just need to get his wings done, then sew him up. I needed some felt for his eyes, and have decided to use felt for his beak and feet rather than knitting them as per the pattern.



There aren't many haberdashers in plymouth, so Min and I went to the co-op to find felt on thursday, but they didn't have white and yellow, so we ended up in the market and found some there, I was chuffed with 2 teddy bear eyes and 2 bits of felt for a pound!

When he is complete, I will put on a picture!

I didn't realise Jennie, your wool is bobbly, you would need a smooth wool for my scalf idea, if you got a varigated coloured one it would look really good too, I am tempted to do one myself!

Its gona be good!

Hi all, well it looks like we are all in and working, I am so pleased.

To answer Helen first, Crafty Girls was the best title that came into my head that wasn't already being used which I thought fit us... if you follow. I think we can use our judgement on what classes as crafty chat - covers just about most things I think, except men, little ones and the weather.... girly stuff know what I mean...

Since we have been 'off-air' I have been working on a new project. A cushion, Elizabeth remember the block patchwork pattern you gave me? and the left over yarn from your cardigan? Well they are coming together nicely thank you! I will have to take picks for when we have a proper connection and upload. I have now got loads of thoughts on how else I could use the pattern.

I have decided to have a play time with my knitting instead of a major project since reading an old Vogue Knitting which inspired me to take things less seriously, regard knitting as an art rather than a practical occupation, so watch this space I think my creative gene may emerge again.

I like your idea for the scarf for Jennie, Elizabeth, but not sure the bobbly yarn is the right stuff for the job, bit knobbly maybe. It might be an idea Jennie to get something else and then go back to the bobbly stuff later. That also means SHOPPING!!

Good luck with the icing Helen - at least if it all goes wrong you can eat it!

thumbs up!

Good idea mum! now I have finally got in (lol!)

Helen, I like the play on words, and I see no reason why crafty couldn't be interpreted either way! ;-)

Jennie, I thought scalf too, but I thought, thats abit boring, its just like a really long blanket square, so how about a 'caston-castoff' scalf? cast on say 10 stitches, knit across them and at the end of the row cast on another 20, knit back, casting off the 20 you just cast on, knit across the ten original stitches, cast on 20, then turn and cast them off, knit the original ten, cast on 20, castoff 20 etc etc, you will get a central band of garter stich with little strips in either side which will curl up like pigs tails, keep going till its scalf length and you'll have lots of curls along a central strip of garter, it should look quite effective! (you need to experiment to see how long you want your cast on cast off bits to be, i am guessing 20 stitches)

OK, so my question is are you a process crafter, or a product crafter? Is the process the bit you enjoy, or the item you make?

I am knitting - 75%process, 25%product
cooking - 25%process, 75%product
gardening- 100%product, only if its edible!!!!

Crafty or Crafty?

Hello ladies

I just wanted to clarify, is this all about making things or can we also come up with crafty plots and schemes especially since the chaps don't know about this (just a thought!)

I'll have a think about that wool Jenn, my initial instinct on easy stuff would be a scarf.

My brain isn't really with it at the moment, I've been learning royal icing at college and its driving me nuts....I looked up some old school techniques and they say you should sandpaper your cake for a smooth finish and to be honest I think I might just do it!

I got some fabulous vintage space age fabric the other week. I'll have to post a pic, I'm dying to get stuck into making something with it...as soon as I leave cake hell.

Catch you soon xx

Ohhhhhh!

Well this is the test to see if this works! keep your fingers crossed it does!
good idea mum!

first query then...

mum gave me two balls of light cream wool. its called wendy origins woolie if you want to google it.
i need ideas for what to use it for! itll be the first actaul thing aside from the pannels for the blanket so it needs to be easy... ideas in a blog post please!

Jx


(p.s mum did it work?)

Explanation

Hi Girls, You should have received an invite to edit the blog I have set up. Its just for us to keep in touch on girly stuff and crafty bits. I thought it was a way of us communicating as a group and passing on ideas or helping out with project problems etc etc etc and anything else we want to chat about.

I have set it so only we can write to it and will make it so only we can view the content. So, the first thing to do is let me know if you like the idea or not. I await your thoughts....