little blue

It's an exciting week here where I work. (I'm a live-in nanny in England at the moment.) This week the 3yo boy I care for became a big brother! Just before the weekend I decided to look through ravelry to see if I could find a nice quick knit present I could whip up to welcome the coming little one. You know the kind--small, cute and 10ply/worsted yarn ;) Well I came across this fabulous pattern that I was immediately sold on. These little whales are designed by Cheezombie. You can check out her other patterns in her etsy store too. However....cheapo me didn't buy the pattern. I just looked at the picture and decided to wing it--still giving credit to Cheezombie's design. Once I got to the tail I got stumped as to how to do the little dip in the middle and emailed my sister for ideas. She emailed me back the pattern as an early birthday present. He he. In the meantime, I'd finished it off still winging it.
Cheezombie used cotton for her whales I think which gives a great shape. I used what I had which was Malabrigo worsted in azul bolita. Pure merino wool which is so soft but not so shapely. I glanced over the pattern and realised I had knitted it quite differently. Forgive me cheezombie, but your pattern seems a bit more fiddly in theory with stops and starts and sewing pieces together. Mine was fiddly too but from trial and error.

I started at the opposite end than the pattern does and knit the whale in one piece. I first knit a square of 12x12 stitches and then picked up the stitches all around the square increasing one on each corner (giving me 12 stitches for each side). Then I just knit round and round. About 18 rounds. On the underside I knit and purled back and forth about 9 rows and then as I continued k&p-ing I folded it over and knit front and back together at the edges forming the mouth flap. This was a pretty tricky bit and I'm sure I could find a better way to do it that would end up neater. Once I was back to where I started the mouth I got back knitting rounds. Here I can't tell you what I ended up doing as I frogged and knitted rows too numerously to remember exactly what is now there. Basically I decreased down to 18 stitches. I then stuffed it, a little more than I intended, and with 9 stitches on two needles I knit them together to close the hole. Then I increased on each end as I k&p-ed the tail. I ended up just knitting it straight and then as I weaved in the tail of the yarn I did a gathering stitch down the middle of the tail. I like this tail shape more than the pattern anyway. Finally, I sewed on some felt eyes and wah-la!!

Little Blue, ready to meet and befriend the new little boy born yesterday!

my UK brother

I didn't pack my sewing machine when I moved to the UK last year for obvious reasons. But it turns out I'm becoming an aunty two more times over while I'm away. One in fact has already started her life in the world. The other is due later this year. It is my aunty tradition to make each of my neices and nephews a quilt for their first Christmas. So I simply had to get a sewing machine.

I've been looking on and off for quite a while trying to find a decent second hand one that did the things I wanted it to; namely stitch width and length adjustment. If I did find one I was happy with I would call to discover it'd been sold already. Well, I finally managed to win a decent one before I went on my last holiday and asked the seller to delay posting it so it would arrive once I was home again. It arrived last week. Last weekend I went fabric hunting. I crave the craft stores of Australia! Even the USA. In England it's hard to find what I'm looking for. Half the time I just buy online if I can because it's easier.

It's practically as good as new. It did take a bit to get the tension right but I suspect it may have to do with the cheap thread I was using at first. I have found there's been evidence toward that end before. Now that I've got the good thread for the quilt on it's been running nicely. Bit noisier than my Aussie one and not as smooth but works well and will suffice for the year. Then I'll ditch the british for my beloved Aussie bro. ;)

grass felting

When I couchsurfed in Leeds last weekend, I stayed with a lovely lady who teaches art classes for a living. No long explaination needed to say we got crafting. She had a huge bag of fibre of all sorts of colours and so I happily set about having another go at felting while she pottered about with this and that. She had about seven different colour greens and I took my time thinking over what I might like to do with them and which ones I would use.

I started with a few base layers of the darkest green leaving my design for one of the final layers. The second topmost layer I laid down various rows of green. Starting with the duller ones, I pulled a whisp of fibres out and twisted the ends a little into three or four blades. Repeat. I overlapped them a little as I moved down my base and changing shades to brighter ones as I went. The last row I laid was a white and whispy filler. The final layer was a few slithers of a goldy unnatural fibre (I can't remember what it was) and covered over with a very fine layer of the white so the gold would be held in place. And then the truly labourous part.

With a sprinkle of liquid soap and few drizzles of water, I rolled away the next few hours. Or that's what it felt like. In reality it was probably something like 30mins but you always seem to have to roll much longer than you need to.
Needless to say, when I finally stopped I was quite happy with the result. It seemed like it was going to be quite thick when I laid out all the fibres but naturally it thins when you felt it together. It ended up being thinner than I expected but not too thin and I'm pleased to say that my layering was quite satisfactory. With my last effort there were see through spots where I obviously didn't spread it out evenly. None with this effort. And the final effect....
Layers of grass with the white at the bottom reminding me of a tangled net of roots. If you hold it in the light right you catch glimmers of gold in the front rows. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and I'm thinking I'll turn it into a zip purse of some kind.

It was loads of fun to do some different crafting than yarn work. I've also recently bought a second hand sewing machine that should be arriving any day now. I'm very excited about getting into some sewing again.

through with the hood

Aye! It's been a busy few weeks. Last week was half term so I felt I had barely anytime to myself and when I did I had stuff to do. Bit more like motherhood I suppose. I was tired all week too. The week before I went to Iceland for a holiday and before I went I managed to finish my hood so I could take it with me.

It's Through the Woods by Kalurah and I did the crochet version. I didn't use the yarn suggested and substituted it with Berroco Ultra Alpaca in this lovely red. I chose a hook to match the gauge but it's seems huge. Alpaca is lovely yarn but I'm not sure it was the best choice. I think a stiffer yarn would have got the neck to stand up better. Mine just flops down all the time which I'm not so happy about. And now that I've looked at the pattern photo again I'm sure mine IS huge. It's a bit too big for me really and doesn't quite sit nicely. I was tempted three quarters of the way through to frog it and do it again with a smaller hook but I finished it all off as I wanted to take it to Iceland with me. I hate disappointment. I still like the hood. I just think it would be a bit better being a bit smaller. Maybe I'll undo it one day... Anyway, enough whining.
I attached some yarn to neck near the buttons on either side and wove the strings through to the top. I tied them together in a bow so I can use them to pull the hood opening tighter around my face when I want it more snug. That helps a bit. I chose some funky patterned buttons to dress it with (and close it with). It's a blue button with a red flower. I also like how you can flip the hood back too. The hood was interesting to crochet. A fairly basic design. Just an oblong with some extra tabs and then hemmed all around. I liked doing the twisted crochet stitch. I'm impressed with how cabled it looks. I also got to do "rib" for the first time too. Though it's only rib in looks. It doesn't have the same stretch that knitted ribs have.I do like the design and it's not too complicated. I'd pretty happily make another. But this time I'd wing it a little more and make it a better size. I also discoverd that when I wore it up as a hood when my hair was out, the twisting this way and that as I looked around inevitabley had whisps of hair being pushed forward and hanging in my face. Less annoying to wear it with my hair tied somehow. All the same it's cosy and I like that it when I was wearing my jacket it looked like I was also wearing a hooded cardigan or jumper. But I wasn't. Just a hood. He he.

sunday sharing--week 4

Lots of people drawing this week. While I don't really like drawing people because I find it difficult, I've either improved a bit or I've relaxed about the end result. I think it helps that I've begun experiencing different styles of drawing rather than trying to draw perfect detail. Some have just been an interesting experience--like drawing people in motion. This drawing is my choice of the week: Boys on fence in ink.This task was to draw a group of spectators. I drew this early in the week on a day I knew I was to work a full day. I rose early so I could get my drawing done. I was very pleased with how it turned out. Taking care to match the size and preportions. Usually I don't particularly like drawing in ink either. It's so final and so fine but I must be getting the hang of it a bit. I tried not to worry about too much detail. In particular the colour of clothing. I like that I scribbled in their shoes/boots though. Adds a nice touch. Other than that it's just a tad of shading and enough detail to explain the shapes.

I'm also pleased that I got through another week (with the boy I care for being sick and grumpy meaning some longer days for me) and managed again to draw every day. Woohoo. That being said, I'm taking a week off. I'm spending the last half of this week on a holiday in Iceland--if London's snow doesn't distrupt my flight.

white swan migrated to Australia

Hello young chap!This sweet little white swan, which turned out not to be as little as intended, was hooked together and stuffed for my sweet little baby niece who arrived a couple of weeks ago. Another wing-it, I frogged and reworked the beak numerous times trying to get the size better and the black part right. I moved on hooking and stuffing as I went making it all up as I progressed. I had just finished the waddling feet which will be a fun feature for little fingers to grab when I heard little Elizabeth had finally arrived. I sewed on the last features, including embroidered black eyes and did a final photo shoot.
I didn't do wings like I had imagined mainly due to finishing off the cute little tail with just enough end to weave in. So this little white swan migrated south via royal mail. I chose to make a white swan because I'm here in the UK where plenty live and my darling little niece is home in Australia where our swans are black. It's a little symbol of this moment in time. Also I had the colours already stashed. Wish I could give her a cuddle with my real arms. She'll grow and develop so much before I get home.

Give her lots of snuggles for me, young chap.

sunday sharing -- week 3

I was doing my own little celebration jig when I returned home from sketching at a cafe yesterday. After the first two weeks of this six week "one drawing a day" book course, I whipped myself into gear and drew EVERY day. I even did any extra drawing session just because I felt like it. I'm quite satisfied with my efforts this week.

Not only did I draw every day but I felt like I made some progress. I didn't always stop with one drawing. Sometimes I redrew a few times and happily saw improvements. I also sometimes saw none really but didn't let my mind make a failure out of it. I drew. That's what was important. My favourite of the week is this one.
The task was to make a quick, undetailed sketch of a local landmark with water soluable crayons, spray water over it and do a press with absorbant paper. I decided to give it a go with my inktense blocks. It was the best match I had for watersoluable crayons. They are basically a block of ink but mixed with some other stuff to make it slightly pastel like for sketching. You can add water like you do with waterpaints but being ink it's more final in result. I only have four basic colours from a sample pack.

The idea was to choose just two or so colours to work with and sketch a rough idea. I did my best with the water sprinkling/soaking and paper pressing/dabbing. I'm not sure inktense blocks work the same though. I tried two other sketches before this one of Tower Bridge but it was Big Ben that got me smiling. Just a few features that identify it in sketchy scribble design.

Another example of progression for this week is from this 'day'. An abstract reflecting lines and colours of the subject with a few features to sort of identify it. The above "Carousel" is the example from the book. My efforts are below on the subject of a clown ball game at a fair.

The first picture was my first attempt. After completing it I felt that it was still too detailed so I had another go. The bottom one I was satisfied with. More abstract; the one main clown to identify had less detail. I also added in some other elements that made me think of this clown game. Random circles for the balls, some cog shapes for the mechanics and the spray of colour at the top left for the spritz of a win. While I was satisfied with my effort in acheiving the idea, I'm not really a fan of such abstract art. I like it to look either like just a spread of colour or like an actual picture of something. Not that wierd inbetween state.