bobbles

I've been into bobbles lately. You know, hair ties that have things on them. A friend said she liked them too so I thought I'd get her some for Christmas. They're not so easy to find though. If you don't want real kiddish ones anyway. So I made some. Simply put some funky buttons onto hat elastic. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the ones I made my friend. They were really cool I thought. I did make one for myself with these buttons though which I also really like. I'm planning to go by Spotlight today to get some buttons for a Christmas project and I think I might just get a little distracted... ^^

wearing blueberries

Blueberries for my feet! I've been working on these a while now. They are made from Moda Vera Noir that I split into two balls and doubled the knitting thickness. This also stopped them from striping and instead made them a speckly blueberry colour as well as doubled the progress speed. I made up my own pattern. Just a simple checkerboard with 3k 3p on top of the foot. I knit these toe-up which is I think I like better. I didn't have enough yarn to make them very long and in fact, decided I needed to use other yarn for a cuff so I'd have enough blueberry yarn for another whole sock. So I used the Moda Vera Noir left over from my first pair.
These ones are short and cosy. Love wool socks coz they do such a good job at keeping my toes warm. I'm gonna need more since I'm moving to the UK next year. I have two lots of sock yarn waiting though so I shall be casting on another pair soon enough. I'm off to flick through the pages at ravelry ^^

handmade decorations

This is one of my projects that I've been working on this Christmas season. Most, however, are presents so I won't show you until January. But I also decided to make some decorations. Some are better than others and I also got a case of lazyitis and couldn't be bothered changing the colour in my sewing machine so some of the sewing is a little odd in colour matching. I still think they look quite cute and unique. I stuffed them a little too to make them a little less 2D and purposefully frayed the edges. And I'm posting the pic to add a little Aussie christmas cheer to my page. See the sunshine? That's Aussie Christmas. No white Christmas here ....EVER! :) They're predicting 26 degrees for Christmas Day. Yay.

If you want to see some more awesome handmade Christmas decorations check out Lucy's work at Attic 24!

christmas sale

It's 20 days till Christmas so I'm having a 20% off sale on everything in my shop!!

Why not swing by and take a look at my handmade items?

20% off for 20 days

www.kelgellcreations.artfire.com

Catch a glimpse of some of my products in my shop window to the left of this post. <=

Sale ends Christmas Day!

cowl necklace

Started this cherry red cowl necklace inspired by raveler, Adrienne Krey. She knitted hers. That's why I say inspired. I crocheted mine and changed it a little bit. I thought it looked interesting and would make a great spring necklace as it won't be as warm as a scarf but will keep my neck a little warmer than none. I finished it last night and wore it for the first time today--the last day of spring. Ha ha.

It's crocheted from one ongoing strand from leftover BWM Classic Cherry. I made the neck patch holey on mine to let a little more air in. It has five eye-shaped strands each one shorter than the next. It makes for an interesting burst of colour and it's so light to wear.

first felting

Back in July I went to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show. I ended up buying a bag full of fibre. Unspun stuff. Do you remember? Well the plan was to have a go at felting and since Saturday started a beautiful week of warm weather I decided to finally pull it out and have a go.

Researching the how-to for wet felting while I ate lunch and indulged in a chai latte.

After watching a tutorial, I laid out my bubble wrap and got started. I laid out two layers of the grey icelandic top. It was cheapest of the stuff I bought so it seemed wise to start with. However, I didn't want to make something pointless so of course I start with something not so simple for my first time. That's me for ya. :P The basic idea was a scarf. I meant to make it thinner but I miscalculated on how much it would shrink. I made it a little longer than the table. So that provided the first awkwardness. I then used some Garments and Gadgets Rainbow fibre to do simple squares as a feature. Being a scarf I decided to put them on both sides so had to flip the unfelted fibre mat providing awkwardness number two. This created a little bodge area I'll show you later. So I finally got it all laid out.

Next I dropped on a bit of hand soap randomly and poured on a bit of warm water then rolled it up. Rolling and squishing it with my fingers rubbed the fibres together inside. Enough of this and it matts together. When it's sufficiently felted you start the fulling process.

Fulling involves chucking the felted piece on the table over and over. Nice for some aggression release. If you have pent up aggression. Not common for me. I just had fun tossing it.

Then you stretch out the piece and rub all the areas over a bumpy surface. I just used the bubble wrap as my bumpy surface. This creates further shrinkage and also allows you to shape it a bit. Depending on the direction you rub it.

Ok, what next. Um, ... might just check the tutorial again. Ok, I admit I actually did those last two steps the other way around. I rubbed and then tossed. The tutorial said to do it the way I've listed it here. :) Oh well. Next time...

I then rinsed out the soap in warm water. Since my felt had gone cold the sudden temperature change creates further shrinkage/fulling or something. Then I made my part Felting Finish and Wool Wash concoction and saturated my felt in allowing it to soak in all the mix goodness. Then I wrung it and hung it on the line to dry.

When it was dry I steam ironed it flat and then trimmed the tacky edges. They really weren't very straight at all and cutting it neatened them up beautifully. You see, when I laid out the fibres and then tried to roll it, some of it stuck out the edges. I need to make sure I leave enough bubble wrap room around the edges so all the fibre felts properly.

Wa-lah! My first finished felted piece. A bit-too-short scarf. Ha ha. That grey icelandic top is a bit rough and scratchy too. It has such long rough fibres like course hair. It was the cheaper stuff though. First tries really are more of an experiment.

I do need to practice. There certainly is technique to it. I had a number of areas that are quite see-through when you hold them up to the light. Here's my bodge job. When I flipped it before felting this part moved a bit and I didn't re-lay it. Just kinda shoved it back together. So this area is particularly bad with the see-throughness. A bit of pulling and I reckon it would quite easily separate.

So of course I had to try again with some better quality stuff. I decided this while the grey scarf was drying on the line. Pulled out the purplish fibre from Garments and Gadgets that was given to me for my birthday and tried some simple squares. After a few more felting searches online, I laid these ones with thinner whisps of fibre and did four layers being cautious of the edges. They turned out much better. The fibres are finer and softer. Think I'll make some more of these and sew them together somehow. Oh, I did these squares in the right order too...with the fulling. Don't know that it made a difference.

how to order your dragon

Remember I made a purple dragon for a softie swap five months ago? Well, I finally Facebooked the pictures the other week and one of my friends commented on it asking how much it would cost to make her one. After naming a price and assuring her it would mostly likely be a little different as I didn't use a pattern, she agreed and requested one in green. The little blighter is fully formed now, except for his firebreathing skills, and had his photo shoot today while taking his first flight.

ripple scarf

As I was working away on my Ripple Afghan I would think, "This would make a nice simple scarf. I must make one when I'm done here." So I did.

This ripple scarf is crocheted from stuff I had. Cleckheaton pink, some left over BWM Mongolian (from the afghan), Sean Sheep light pink stuff I had still and the multicolour is BWM Luxury that was overdyed by my sister. It's all just the simple zigzag pattern with some little shell shapes on the ends to neaten it all up. It's now nicely folded and put aside waiting to head off to a future birthday girl.

underway

I love variety. My craftyness is satisfiably varied which means I'm enjoying every moment. With Zach's quilt nicely started, I've decided to put it aside for a while and work on some other things that need to be done sooner.Here's a new dragon that's underway. I FBed photos of my purple one and had a friend request one in green. So I'm currently working on this order. Shouldn't keep my customer waiting too long.
I am delighted to be not only attending but also participating as a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding in GERMANY next June!! What a treat! I'm so happy I get to share this time with her and feel so privilleged to be asked to be a part of it all. This is my contribution from afar. She asked me to make the ring cushion and I plan to send it with her birthday/Christmas present in December. I love the fat embroidered ribbon. I was roaming Lincraft for ideas when I found this and got totally inspired. It's successfully underway and I shall do some more today.
And I'm still working on some designs that I'm gonna send into Phoenix Trading (a card company) to see if they want to buy some of my work. I had another burst of ideas so I've been getting them underway. I must soon send some in. No hope if I don't.

Ok, it's too lovely a day to sit here on my computer. I'm going back to crafting before implementing some of my other ideas for the day.

ending with stretch

I've had my leafy neckwarmer hanging off my needles waiting for the cast off for at least a week or two now. I wanted to use the same elastic cast off I used on Ezra's mittens. It was easy to do and gave it a good stretch ending so it stretches like the rest of the knitting. Only I couldn't remember how I'd done it. So last night I finally decided to seach youtube again to find it. And so I did. And I did the cast off. And I thought I'd share it.
This is the youtube clip I found. I liked this one because you just keep knitting with your needles. No need to change to any other knitting tool. It's not complicated either.

K2, RnK2tog (Right needle knit two together--like you do the 'k' of the 'ssk'),

K1, RnK2tog, K1, RnK2tog, K1, RnK2tog...etc.

It stretches nicely. As much as the cast on end.

So now my neck warmer is ready for some blocking and edging. I found a leafy edging in my Knitting and Crochet Bible that I decided I must use. That's next on the needles.

What stretchy cast off do you like using?

teaser

I had a lovely day pottering around the house yesterday. Just lovely. I've been working on my newest nephew's quilt. It's my tradition to make each niece and nephew a quilt for their first Christmas and Zachary's is only a few months away. So I sat down in my lounge a flicked through my fabrics and decided which ones to use and cut out all the shapes I need. I laid them all out on the background piece and placed a few final touches and then stepped back to observe. I was quite happy with what I saw. I took a few photos for a design map before pulling it to pieces to begin construction. I ironed the first layer of patches and it's now ready for some sewing.

No more posting pics of this. (The surprise is more for the parents than the boy who's currently 9mths.)You won't see the finished project until after it's given at Christmas.

new projects

I wanted to do some yarn crafting the other day and decided I don't have enough choice. I've finished off some of the projects I've been doing or I'm up to weaving the ends in and so the projects on the go are limited. I like variety so I started some new projects.

New Knitting Project

I decided to use a ball of Patons Wilderness that I had. I decided to search ravelry to find a project I could do with just one skein. After looking for a while I settled on the idea of a neckwarmer. Then I can keep my neck warm on chilly spring days without having dangling scarf tails in my way. In the end I opted to make a rectangle with whatever pattern I like. So I pulled out my Knitting and Crochet Bible and found a nice leafy lace pattern and set to work. I don't think it's the best idea for me to knit patterns where I need to follow the instructions while watching a movie. I thought I'd done alright until I tried to knit more the next day and found I'd made a mistake a few rows back that through out the pattern. So I unpulled and set to work fixing and re-knitting what I'd done. I kept stuffing up and re-knitting a few rows. I even managed to mess up a straight row of purls! But I was watching another movie. Ha ha. Think I need to concentrate more on this pattern. I'm liking it though and my leafy neckwarmer is coming along quite fast since Wilderness is classified as super bulky.

New Crochet Project

I saw this while searching for the knitting idea and decided I had to try it too. Adrienne Krey wrote the pattern for knitters but I'm crocheting it coz then I can just work from the picture. So it's basically the same as hers but I altered the back piece. She had plain stocking stitch I think but I decided to make mine a little lacier looking for interest and to let the cool air come in a bit. It should be good for a spring day when it's still a bit cool but not cold enough for a scarf. It will eventually have five stands each shorter in length than the one below it.

So now I have a few more choices when I feel like pulling and twisting some yarn.

playing with masking fluid

I've been doing some water painting lately. I've had it mind to do for ... well, all year actually. I went to Phoenix Trading party in January. Like a little selling group that comes to your home and you invite your friends over to come and look at stuff and have a bit of fun doing it. It happens with all sorts of stuff. Tupperware is probably the most popular. Phoenix Trading is a card, gift wrap and stationary type stuff. Mainly cards. The designs are all artworks drawn by a whole range of people all over the world. You can send in your designs and they pay if they choose to use one of yours. So I've finally been working on some designs myself.

I borrowed a couple of watercolour books from the library the other day and they both mention (with photos as well) the use of masking fluid. It looked great in the books. Useful and fun to use. So I found some in an art shop and tried it the other day.

After sketching my design in a grey watercolour pencil I painted the areas I wanted left white with the masking fluid. It's a rubber latex solution.

Once dry I painted over the area in watercolour using quite a bit of water in my mix.

Once that dried I rubbed and pulled the masking fluid off to reveal a nicely kept white space.

Then I got out my watercolour pencils and did some colouring.

Then I painted over it with water using my watercolour paint brushes which hold more water in the bristles than a regular paint brush. This turns my colouring into a paint texture. I don't do it like this much now. I tend to prefer this method...

I pick up the paint directly from the pencil and just paint it on. I think it gives a smoother look like regular watercolour painting. Sometimes colouring first and then painting with water can look a little streaky. Either way the pencils allow me to control the paint a lot more than using a tube.

I've done a few pictures now though this one was a bit of a quick do just to use my new masking fluid. Not as happy with it as with the others I've done. I think I'll do a couple more and then send them in and see if they like my work enough to buy it. Hopefully they do coz it would be fun to be "published" and the money will help me with my UK plans. In the meantime, I'm having fun.

completed and given

My younger brother got married yesterday. It was a beautiful spring day and a lovely wedding and celebration. I've been working all year on an afghan as their wedding present so they can lounge cosily on their couches (which are light green and brown) and keep warm. They opened presents today so now I can finally show you.

It's just a basic zigzag pattern crocheted with Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic in Mongolia, Rafia, Light Eucalyptus, Mulga and Fern. I had a seven colour change pattern and each colour was two rows. I did eight repeats and then one row of the light eucalyptus so both edges were in the same colour. It was a great winter work as it kept me warm while I crocheted.

I begun in February this year and finished it about one week ago. It sure takes a while to craft something big. Unfortunately I didn't check my gauge as I went. Didn't even think about it. When I finished and laid it out I realised it fanned out wider at one end. D'oh. My crocheting had gotten looser as I went. Fortunately, I was able to get out the iron and give it a bit of a steam blocking on the tighter stitched end so I shaped it back into a rectangle. Phew!

It should look good in their house though and since it's 100% wool it should keep them toasty warm too. I used a 6mm hook so the stitches are fairly big making it fairly light for a pure wool afghan. My sister also knitted them stripy socks using two of the same colours so they match and will make sure their toes stay warm.

ezra's mittens

I wore my mittens when I was up visiting family in Sydney. Four year old Ezra said he really liked them and asked if I could make him some. I said I'd make some for his birthday the following month. Of course he chose green for his mittens. I made them from a tencel. Cheap but nice green yarn that was also soft. I'm sure it won't be long before he's grown out of them. As kids go... Mostly crocheted, just with knitted ribbing on the bottom to for stretchy wrist hugging.

This is what I finally ended up with. It's really quite tricky making mittens without using a pattern to fit little hands that aren't here to try them on as I go. Thanks so much to the four year old I look after who tried them countless times as I crocheted, frogged, re-crocheted, repeat... as it goes... I finally got these done and posted. They look a little wonky but seem fine when they are on. Aparently they fit Ezra well and he loves them. He had trouble understanding why he wasn't allowed to go dig in the dirt while wearing them though. He he.

featured

I had to drop by quickly and let you know one of my handmade items has been featured in an Artfire collection. Really because of colour but hey, it's still publicity. It's exciting too because it's my first time being featured anywhere. Check it out>> Rasberry Flavoured Collection

absence

Just a quick note to anyone checking in... I won't be blogging much-if at all-in the next two weeks. I'm busy busy. My spare time is filled with sorting what's for my garage sale and what's to pack, packing, moving, garage sale and cleaning up good and proper and just to move across town. But I'll only be there for a matter of months before I head overseas. So both creating and posting is on the back burner until all this moving stuff is done and I'm settled in at my new residence. Catch ya on the other side!

hmm...

Here's a little experimentation. I decided to make myself another little bag and try a few modifications. I've been thinking about inverting the bottom but not game to do it on ones I want to sell. I went ahead and tried it on this one as I thought it would work pretty well since the fabric is covered with circles. And that part I think works well. I'm not sure about the other part though...
I also inverted the handle but I'm not sure it works as well. It just looks ... inside out. Like I made a mistake. Not too bad, just a bit odd. I also did a dark blue contrast ribbon and saw some nice green buttons sitting on my desk and decided to sew them on rather than do a knot. Just matches the fabric theme. What do you think? Should I make some more with inverted bottoms? Do you like the inverted handle too? I'd be very appreciative of your opinions.

drool

I decided to just take it easy tonight instead of thinking about what I need to do and how I can cross more things off my list. So I ended up looking at crocheted lace shawls on ravelry since I have a skein of lace weight from the Sheep and Wool Show I went to last month.

Ooo, I found some nice ones. This one grabbed my attention. Something like the sort of thing I was looking for. A triangle-shaped shawl, lacy and crocheted. Interesting pattern. It's Maia Shawl by Lisa Nakrent and published in Crochet Garden.

This one I loved instantly. It's called Gathering Leaves by Lily Go. I'm a foliage girl and I'm quite fond of green so this appeals to me quite stongly. But my skein of lace weight is more like the colour above with grey as well. This one here...well, I think I'd just HAVE to do it in green.

It's all dreaming at this stage though. I've got plenty on my plate at the moment. I'm moving house next month so organising myself for that. I've been accepted into an aupair program to go to the UK. I've gotta get onto getting my passport as my old one ran out last year. I've also gotta start an online course as a part of the program. So the plan is still to take this skein to the UK and work it there.

new stock

Some for my shop. Some for some shoppers already! Some for me. It's been a delightful weekend. For about a week and a half I've been working on building my stockpile back up coz my project pouches have been quite popular amongst crafters. So I've had seven waiting to be listed. (I just remembered about those beanies too. Must list them.) On Friday I actually sold my last two from my shop so while it was raining Saturday afternoon I decided to get the others listed. I spent all afternoon doing it coz it takes a while. Check out the new variety...

But they're not all available as I've already sold two plus some other things from my store. Woohoo! I also finished up this little guy. Squidge the Jellyfish. He's cute. You can see better pics of him in my shop.

And new stock for me from my awesome sister! Knit Pro crochet hooks from Morris and Sons. You guys will appreciate these more as you're more likely to understand my delight. I had hoped to get some at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool show but I didn't see any there, nor hardly any circular needles. My sneaky sister must have decided to get me some behind my back. Not that I mind. Thanks Tam! ^^ Had to start a new jellyfish today to give them a go.

mum's scarf

She wasn't too surprised to receive this for her birthday. It was a pattern from the book she gave me for my birthday. The Knitting and Crochet Bible. When I was flicking through it on the day I got it, she pointed at the scarf and accompanied it with a "Ooo, I like that!" So of course that's what she got. She did however 'oo' and 'ah' over the yarn I used. Pretty and so soft.

I used Moda Vera Picchio Dusk which is 70% Merino Superwash and 30% Silk. I quite liked the colours and the feel when they were on special one time so I bought the last two balls. They've been sitting waiting for a special project for quite a while and this scarf was perfect. Mum colours too. And I still have most of one ball left.

Yarn Fest -- The Loot

It's the Yarn Fest finale! My loot from the Australian Sheep and Wool Show I went to a few weeks back in Bendigo. There seemed to be fibre everywhere this year; almost more than there was yarn. But maybe it's because I was simply noticing it more. Since the first shed we entered was a felting area and a lady there showed us how to do it (plus knowing I had a little fibre at home already) I decided on trying my hand at it. So I stocked up. It's all so soft and delicious looking. Lovely colours just awaiting my creativity to work its magic tranformation act on it.
I got the grey fibre from Ewe Give Me The Knits stall. It's Grey Icelandic Top 110g. It's a bit rougher than the other fibre I got but it was cheap and I think will be good to start with. It will also make a good background or mix with the purple grey I got for my birthday. The rest in the above picture is from the Garments and Gadgets stall. From the bottom of the pile we have Pure Merino black 200g. A great base to hilight with the other colours or if I want something very versatile. Black goes with almost anything. The green I just had to get! Green is a great colour but this one is Pure Merino Kelly Green 100g. How could I resist!? Besides, it's a beautiful shade. A grassy green. Next we have Pure Merino WB 07/34 50g. A rainbow mix for some fun, bright featuring detail-work. Then the lovely Pure Merino WB 07/37 50g which is a real citrusy colour. Mostly yellow with lime green. Finally, on the very top the shiney Mulberry Silk 20g for some shimmery detail-work. The bottle is some felting hair care. Felting Finish & Wool Wash. A wool wash and conditioner in one. It's no rinse, contains lanolin to inhibit piling and tea tree oil to inhibit moth damage and antifungal to prevent mould and mildew. Provides the finishing touch that leaves your work lovely and silky soft.

I did also buy some yarn. The first two skeins weren't labelled but the stall lady said they were pure wool. I liked the colours. They'll make good seacreature amigurumis. The third is fun treat. I got it from the IxCHel stall. 58g/550m of hand dyed Australian Cashmere (30%) and Merino (70%) in Whisper. Can't wait to work some kind of lacy item with it. I think I'll store it for my UK adventure. And then at the far right form another stall is 100g skein of Colinette toscana 55 which is 79% wool and 21% bamboo. I love the random mix of colour over a base of green.

I also got this little guy. He's gonna mark my stitches for me. :) I'll put him on a clip so I can hang him at the start of my row so I don't lose my place.

Now I need to get to work and turn my stash into products. I'm planning on heading overseas next year for a year or two adventure basing myself as a nanny in the UK. I can't afford storage for my stuff so I need to get rid of most of what I have. So no more buying yarn (unless it's for a specific request) or other needless things I'll just have to sort in a few months time. Besides, I need to save my dosh for airfares and the like.