Week Forty Five

I have craft progress to show. But its not posted for two reasons. Last week's school fete and a weekend of social commitments has left me exhausted. Then Carols Service and School assemblies this week on top of everything else. It is all a lot of time away from home.

I have a little knitting to show though. I have made good progress on my son's brown Sundara merino sweater.

I have cast on the baby cardigan in Debbie Bliss Andes. I'm not reassured its going well though. I think I might need to unravel and try again. But I will post my work photographs and explain why I think it might be better redone.

Then I have been working on something else. Its top secret for Christmas gifting and I can't show or give any hint until after December 19th.

Tomorrow is Thursday, usually my day off. I'm hoping for an afternoon of crafting (and photography).

Week Forty Four - Update

I'm counting myself fortunate to have these two t-shirts sewn up last weekend. It has been a chaotic week and I haven't managed a single stitch for days.

But two t-shirts are now in circulation. (One is more sucessful than the other)

Firstly.
This was a dark blue stretch cotton. Possibly an organic cotton, which I bought from Kelani Fabrics some time ago.

I cut a t-shirt for myself and tied it in knots. Three or four knots up each sleeve and another series of knots from bottom to top of both the front and back. I soaked it in bleach and washed it out to find this! I like its pale blue colours, its like beach surf.

Here's a close up. I overlocked the edge and then did a double line of stitching on the neckline, cuffs and bottom hem.

My second tshirt was a white, heavier weight stretch cotton. Its very opaque so I am planning some 'perfect' white tshirts for myself.

I did a similar knotting and dyed this with navy blue. I like it enough to wear it (at home) but I'm not counting it a success.

Lesson learned for next time. Whilst I love the navy blue cap and cuff as a detail, they should be both alike!

So next time I won't cut both sleeves out beforehand.
I think they should be cut after the fabric is dyed so that they can get the same amount of cuff on each.

I love the soft colour though.

Hopefully next week I will have done a little stitching. I have lots of work in progress.

Week Forty Four

This week's post is a bit delayed, my week has been very busy.

There is craft work to show... photographs tomorrow!

Week Forty Three

I have finished my Emelie cardigan in Madtosh Pashmina. The colour is Antique Lace.
I couldn't be happier with it.

 

 

Especially the way the sleeves fit to the armholes. (I redrafted these from the pattern so I could knit them upwards from the cuff)

 

 

I'm much happier with the buttons too, now that I see them on a finished garment.

I am so pleased with this turned out-- its all I can do to stop myself immediately casting on another.
I wore this today and I think it will be a very useful cardigan.

For this week I have only the tailors form photographs. When I do a 'proper' photo shoot I will put it with the silk sift dress I chose the yarn to match.

I worked a little more on my Flo cardigan. This is also in Madtosh pashmina (colour Ink). I chose a "Pearl" from Rowan Kidsilk haze for the contrast ruffle.

I tiedyed some fabric.

 

Week Forty Two

I made another iPhone case. This time with a motif from Caroline Vincent's Sampler Workbook.

Here is a view of the reverse. I tried to keep things reasonably neat.

I used my embroidery threads as follows:

• Birds DMC924 (dark) and Anchor 850
• Pears DMC975 (dark) and DMC782
• Oranges DMC972
• Branches DMC3347



I tried the reverse of tie-dye on some dark blue t-shirt cotton for myself. Instead of dye, I used bleach. I still have to sew this together, and it needs a solid ironing but for an experiment it is quite good.

I made substantial progress on the sleeve of the Edge Hoodie in the bluegrass Savannah yarn from last week but I have decided to unravel and destash the yarn. The colour and heatheriness of the yarn isn't what I had in mind for this.

This week I am going to make an effort to finish my Antique Lace Emelie cardigan, which is wanting only the button bands. Very close to finished.
Also, keep knitting on the Flo cardigan and my little boy's brown Sundara merino sweater.

I have some grey dye which I am going to experiment with using some white cotton.

Next weekend should see me returned to my craft room and playing with my sewing machines.

Week Forty One - Updated

I'm back with photographs.

I cast on Flo by Kim Hargreaves with my dark blue pashmina yarn. Much as I loved the Reine cardigan I planned for last week, once I downloaded the pattern details I thought it might not be suited to my yarn.

Plus, dark blue is part of my daughters school uniform. Since I spend a lot of time in junior school, I didn't want to be too similar to her dark blue collarless blazer.

I have had Flo in my queue for a few years now. I originally bought it as a kit (with dark red cashsoft yarn). Then I thought I'd use grey Blue Sky Alpacas Silky Alpaca.

I'm very happy with this now. I haven't picked the contrast colour yet, I have a lot of kidsilk haze in stash and will probably go with either a pale grey or cream.

My next project cast on is Edge Hoodie by Veronik Avery. I bought this Fibre Company Savannah a while back. The colour is 'Bluegrass'. I'm still not 100% on this yarn and pattern selection, although i do know it will be a sweater. The direction may change once I've finished the first sleeve. The photograph isn't great, I'm reading it off a downladed PDF on my iPad.

Finally, I am still exiled from my craft room, but I unpacked some embroidery threads and an iPhone case.

I got the motif from this book. It promises 2 hour cross stitch. Which turned out to be pretty close to time.

 

 

 

Week Forty One

Posting is a little behind this week.

The builders have taken over my craft room so I had to pack up all my stuff, except for some current knitting projects.

Hopefully I will be back in my room when some brickwork is removed and some new glass doors to the garden are finished. (I am so looking forward to it. I won't want to leave my room!)

In the meantime, I have cast on two new projects and progressed a couple more.
Photographs coming tomorrow.