Sunday, January 31, 2016

Green

I took this picture from the same window as the previous one to show that we have a good tinge of green after the rain. We need more rain to grow enough grass to get through dry Winter, but it is wonderful to see a green landscape where a few weeks ago it was all brown.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Day 10

Day 10 was quite tricky, with SCMR and beads and what not. My animal looks a bit bedraggled after all that.

Friday, January 29, 2016

A Travelling Mouse

On Thursday Jack went to the post box and collected this magazine, a gift from Katie, who lives in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Now, we had other friends here visiting from Bulawayo, so if I was quick about it, there was a chance of a lift for a mouse to go and say thanks to Katie.  Mouse isn't very big, so I was able to get her ready for the trip and she left this morning for the 1000 km journey. Here's another view of her:

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Day 9

Oh yay, it's looking less froggy! The beads look the same in this photo, but actually they're the same colour and different sizes. My daughter's guess is a scorpion.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Hats

Many years ago, I was given a hat that had hessian on the outside and a lining in floral fabric. It was an excellent hat, so I made a pattern from it, which I have made many times. I usually use fabric on both sides so that it is reversible. The one on the left is like that. But I thought that for a craft group competition, I would make a hat like the original. I made two, so that I could choose the best one for the competition and give the nearly best one as a gift. You can see I've pinned the sides of the hats up with a tatted flower, and some interesting long leaf pins that my sister-in-law sent me. Here's a closer view:
And a view of the inside of the hats:

Monday, January 25, 2016

Corina's Flower

Corina Meyfeldt's beaded flower has been on my to-do list for a while. But when I saw God's Kid's versions of the flower, it went to the top of the list.
This is the flower according to Corina's pattern, which you can find here.
This is my first attempt. I was a bit stingy when I wound the shuttle, so I ran out of thread. I made it into a five petal flower instead of six. It reminds me of a Tudor rose.
I really like God's Kid's smaller version of the flower, so I made a few in the smaller size.
Here they are all together. All of them are tatted in size 20 thread.

Day 8

It's a good thing I own a tape measure with inches on it. In this part of the world we usually work in centimetres. Jane explained that a size 10  bead means that 10 of them will fit in an inch. I have 9 here, but I figure that's close enough.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Day 7

Hmmm. It is looking rather froggy. I have a frog phobia, so I haven't been looking for frogs!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Left Overs

I was a bit heavy handed when I dyed wool for the sailing socks and I had some blue and grey wool left over:
I decided to combine it with natural to make it go a bit further:
So I spun one thread of each colour and then plied them together.

The grey wool ran out before the blue, so I combined the blue with two threads of white.
I haven't decided quite what to do with the yarn, I wanted to see what yarn I finished up with. I still have to wash the yarn. One thing that can be said for hot, dry weather is that it's good for drying wool. It's raining lightly now, so the washing will have to wait. 

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Rain At Last

This Summer has been very dry and very hot. So this rain storm yesterday afternoon was most welcome. We had 30 mm in this shower and then another 20 mm overnight. In a few weeks time, this view from my front window should show grass beyond the edge of the lawn.

Day 6

Not whale gills. The whale would be very big if these were its gills.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Miss Molly in Blue

Miss Molly is my name for a small version of Stacey Lozano's Molly Poncho pattern, which is on Ravelry. I made a pink one for Isabel and then this blue one for Annika. I didn't fill the neck in on this one because I was worried it would make the neck too small to go over Annika's head. It means the poncho has no definite back and front, which may not be a bad thing.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

WIP

I'm working on Annika's Miss Molly poncho.

Day 5 of the Tat It And See

I should've paid more attention to the tension of the chains. I was so excited about tatting the next stage that I neglected that aspect.  Whale gills is my guess.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Dyeing the Blues



And a little orange for contrast. I'm working on another Miss Molly poncho, this time for Annika. I spun ten mini skeins, washed them and dyed them. They dried in a flash in the heat we're experiencing and then I could roll them into balls:

I'm ready to begin crocheting.

Day 4

I was glad to see that T & C at the end of Day 4 because my shuttle 2 was pretty much out of thread!


Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Slightly Less Simple


I added handmade beads to the bottom of the Simple earrings. (pattern is here). How? After adding four small beads to the shuttle thread, I took the thread down through the large bead, through a tiny bead, then back up through the big bead and  tied a knot. The first ring is a single shuttle split ring, with the thread end hidden in the first half.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Day 3

Makes me think of a dragon. But having seen flowers become a hippo in a previous TIAS, I make no predictions about what Jane is up to!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Better!

I had some rather chunky handspun wool in my stash. I dyed a few skeins of it black and combined it with the sari yarn.  I'm really pleased with the result. The bias stripes show better, the fabric drapes better and I could make a long scarf. Rereading the pattern, I see I haven't followed it correctly. So I'll say that the scarf is based on mona's little bias scarf from stashbuster knits by Melissa Leapman.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Day 2

I read Jane's instructions and thought, 'That can't be right'. But of course it is right, just takes me a moment to get my head around it! This way and that.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Undecided

I thought this bias scarf pattern from Stashbuster Knits by Melissa Leapman would show off the colours in this recycled sari silk yarn. It does. But the yarn is uneven and the fabric I've created seems a bit lumpy. Last night I thought: no, no, this won't do. This morning I like it better!

 I did some research to see what other people have done with this type of yarn. First of all I learnt that the yarn is made from bits left over from making saris - so recycled saris is not quite accurate! There is a wide variety of yarn made like this. Finer yarns can be used for scarves and shawls. I saw mention of bags and cushion covers. There is also jewellery. Perhaps I could combine it with handmade beads? I don't have enough yarn to weave or hook a mat, another option I saw. Hmmm. Perhaps this needs more thought.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Tat It And See

Jane Eborall's tat it and see game has begun. It's a wonderful way to start the tatting year. I'm maintaining my tradition of using my silver shuttle for the TIAS. For no good reason, you understand.  I'm using orange thread, also for no good reason. This is my Day 1. Far too early to make any guesses as to what we are tatting.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Glitz and Glamour

I received a parcel  from my sister-in-law yesterday , a wonderful display of glitz and glamour. Clare and my nieces went to an Alexander McQueen show a few months ago. Cameras and notebooks were strictly forbidden so Clare bought some postcards for me. The yarn is made from recycled sari material - I like that idea and like the yarn. I'm thinking of ways to use it. Some of the beads are Clare's handmade glass. Wonderful pastels that look good enough to eat!