Needle Felting - sooo simple

My first try @ Needle felting & I'm so pleased with the results. I gave the bear to Mum as a thankyou for looking after the children

Stash from Harrogate

Knitting & Stitching Exhibition - Harrogate 26th November

So what did I get?

• Beads
• Wool
• Sock wool
• Dyes for fleece
• fleting needles
• colourful scraps for needle felting

Had lots of fun & can't wait to get started on new projects

FRED!!

I have finally finished the Christmas Gnome - well a couple of weeks ago, but I find it hard to keep up to date with this blog.

Oliver found him downstairs and I had to think quick, so this is Fred and he is one of Santa's helpers who has been sent to watch Oliver & Lily to make sure that they are good. Oliver thinks that this is great and keeps talking to Fred and stopping lily from trying to play with him.

I took him with me to Harrogate & Aunty Eileen was so taken with him that she wrote out the instructions, bought the 'Foxy' wool @ the show to make his beard and had some of my wool so that she can get started!

Innocent little hats

Innocent, the Smoothiw makers have a campaign to get knitted hats for their little bottles. Each hat donated will be put on a bottle tro sell. Once sold, 50p goes to chariety to help the elderly - more details - http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/supergran/how_to.htm

Knitting places on the web

Joined the Yahoo UK Handknitters group and the Knitters Review forum - http://www.knittersreview.com/forum/default.asp

Great places to chat to likeminded knitters

Lily's Lemon Jumper - progress

I have finished the front & back and they are bang on the dimensions that I wanted to knit. I joined the shoulders and picked up the collar to knit a simple collar (2 rows of 2x2 rib then 7 rows of stocking stitch), which rolled over.

I miscalculated the length of the sleeve, so re -worked the figures. Once knitted however I realised that the cuff was a bit tight and would not last her very long. Back to the drawing board to recalculate again allowing for her chubby wrists. I'm only half way through one of the sleeves, so hope it worked this time.

Stich Markers sent

I packaged up my two sets of Stich Markers - not sure who got which pack.

Looking forward to getting my little parcels

Stitch Marker Swap

I got my pals to send markers to today - they are both in the US

Can't wait to see what is in store for me - will hopefully get mine send in the next day or two.

I have started the sleeves to Lily's Lemon jumper and finished the Christmas Gnome that Oliver has given the name 'Fred' - probably because he watches far too much Scooby.

Photos will follow soon

RED Rules

Your Hair Should Be Red

Passionate, fiery, and sassy.You're a total smart aleck who's got the biggest personality around.

What's" Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Lily's Lemon Jumper

This is the first project that I have designed from scratch. I took inspiration from Debbie Bliss's book How to Knit that has a great section on designing for children. So with measurements and a Tension square in hand I drafted the pattern. So far I have knitted the back & front and to my surprise I am bang on for measurements. I don't know why I thought that my calculations would be wrong, its just it is my first attempt and I was not expecting it to go so well (hopefully I have not spoken too soon).

So sleeves and neck band to go. I want to double check the sleeve length before I start as it has a drop shoulder and therefore the sleeves themselves will be shorter. More to follow once sleeves are underway.....

New Knitting Book

I went to the new Borders shop @ the Coventry Ricoh Arena. The craft section is amazing and the books were really reasonable. It took forever to decide which one to buy and it had to be one or I could have come away with half a shelf. So I settled on Nursery Knits by Zoe Mellor. I have another of her books and she loves colour. This one is just as good with lots of creative ideas, so many that I don't know which one to do first.

Here is a few of the items that can be produced from her book:-

Lettering using Tablet Weaving

Yep - you can even to lettering!!

10 minutes Tablet warp!

The Saturday was the Coventry Spinners, Weavers Guild meet. This workshop this month was demonstrating how to warp up tablets, something that I have had many a furstrated time with.

I was amazed - Anne Dixon showed us a fantastic method that produced a continuous warp where you dropped cards off each time round. There was a little fidding to get the Z and S twist cards right.





It took a while to get the tension right, but I was very proud of the final product.

This isn't mine, but an example of what can be achieved.

Row counter

I came across a photo of a stitch counter that looked very interesting - here is the prototype (photo to be added as there is a problem loading atm)


For each row completed move one of the amber beads into the center circle. Once you complete 5 rows you move the single row beads back and put a green bead in the center circle. It will count up to 39 rows.

My first Stitch Markers

Well they are here - I have had a wonderful creative evening. 15 Stitch Markers - so I have made the 12 that I need for the swap and tried out different approaches. The wire is quite thin, so I may try a thicker one next time, but it was ok to start with.




Jewels in a box - I love the earth colours - I think that I may use some for my design board









These have 'lobster trigger clasps' that allow you to place them inthe boddy of knitting to mark the start of an armhole for instance.

The main stitch markers - looking forward to doing more of these

Stitch Markers

Right - I am all set up to start making my stitch markers & signed up @ http://www.stitchmarker.blogspot.com/ more news when I have made my first one

Found a good site that shows you how to make stitch markers - http://www.scknitting.com/spring2005/stitch-markers.html

and this one - very good step by step - http://www.wormspit.com/stitchmarkers.htm

Luca's Money Pouch

As with the potion holder this pouch is constructed from a circle this sides built around. For this I used DK Cotton. 6 rows of tr to form the circle then build the sides as with the potion pouch to form straight sides. 13 rows of tr to form an eyelet row. A final row of dc to secure the eyelet row.

False bottom made by crocheting a separate circle to match the bottom and sewing it inside and leaving a small gap to allow a malda, paper or gem to be slipped in

Twisted cord of the same yarn.

Ameena's Potion bag

This was designed for Ameena to put her potion bottle in for Whispered Tales. When she mixes a potion it only lasts for a short amount of time and this pouch will allow her to carry it around with her until it can be used.

It is a very simple design using Cotton 4ply. 12 tr into a slip knot ring to make a very secure tight start to a circle. Next Row 2 tr into each. Next row 1 tr into the single tr and 2 tr into the 2 trs to form the rough circle shape. In this case I completed total of 3 rows before forming the sides. To build up on the sides of the pouch make single tr through the top of the stitches from the previous row. Where there are 2 tr then t tr through both stitches – this makes a straight cylinder. Trebles for the next9 rows then 1 tr 1 chain miss tr to form an eyelet row for the cord. 1 row of dc into each tr and ther spaces between. Final fancy scalloped row by 5 tr into 2nd tr miss 1 tr then slip stitch. The scallops are then added around the bottom to complete the flower look.

Twisted cord of DK cotton used for Luca’s potion pouch and the 4ply used here.

Wow - here I am

I have finally found a place to write. I have the design bug well and truely, so be prepared for my notes and ramblings