first illustration

It was my birthday last week and I had a letter arrive yesterday from my older brother's five children. They'd written me stories, drawn me comics and pictures and I even got a "letter from Bethy" who is four months old. It made my day. I was thrilled and laughed and entertained. My 12yo niece, Abby, who has been writing stories for quite some time now, wrote me one about her baby sister's toy elephant. I was impressed with her writing skills and inspired. So I decided to get to work on a surprise. Just for fun I decided to attempt my first illustration. I've made some scribbles for some of my own stories in the past but this is my first illustration for a story someone else wrote.
First I did some rough sketches to find the right pose for the illustration. Then I lightly penciled my chosen design on a clean page. Then I layered watercolour paint. I obviously got absorbed in this picture because I passed most of the day barely noticing the minutes roll on. I stopped here and there for other things, and to let the layer I just painted dry. I finished it off with some outline in pen and watercolour pencil.

Below is the finished project. Story by my niece. (Published with permission.) Illustration by me.

Elijah the Figure-Skating Elephant

by Abigail Gellert

Story set in the enchanted land of “Bethelasia”

It all started one chilly morning when Elijah, the world’s smallest elephant, woke up. It was the first day of winter and the ground was covered in snow. Elijah jumped for joy. He picked up a little backpack and ran outside. The trees were laden with snow and the ground was covered with it. The sky was grey and little crystallized snowflakes were still falling.

Elijah was humming cheerfully as he arrived at a frozen lake. He un-zipped his backpack and took out a pair of ice-skates and a portable CD player. He put on his ice-skates and switched on some music ‘The Candycloud Castle’ (composed by ‘Giraffes in the Sky’). Skating gracefully onto the ice, he took a pose and waited for the music to begin. Now, I just need to get something straight. Most elephants would make the ice crack, but not Elijah. He was, as you know, the world’s smallest elephant and he was careful to watch his weight. So, the ice didn’t crack underneath him.

Elijah had a secret dream. He wanted to be the world’s best –and only- Figure-Skating elephant. He had mastered Skating when he was just two years old, but no-one knew about it. After that he watched a figure-skating programme on TV, and ever since he had practiced and practiced and practiced, hoping someday he could fulfil his own dreams and enter the Olympics. The Olympics! Those words meant so much to him, and yet they always seemed to be just out of reach.

“And jump! And spin! And step-in-time! And spin! And bend! Leg up... final pose!” Elijah talked himself through his routine doing it very well. But “very well” wasn’t enough for him. It had to be perfect! “Practice makes perfect!” He reminded himself, starting his music and preparing to try again.

“Elijah!! Breakfast!! Come on!!” Elijah’s Ears caught the sound of his Ma calling to him. Almost tripping over in his haste, Elijah skated to the edge of his “Ice Rink” and yanked off his ice-skates. Shoving them into his bag, along with his portable CD player, he began to run home. When he got there, the smell of crispy bacon and warm toast greeted him. “It smells wonderful, Ma!” he cried, sitting down to eat his food. His Ma looked at him disapprovingly. “Don’t scoff your food, Elijah.” She scolded, “It’s bad for your health!” but Elijah was finished already and out the door.

On the way back to the pond, Elijah ran into one of his best friends, Princess Poppy. “Hello, Elijah. Where on earth are you going in such a hurry?” She asked. “Oh, hello, Poppy! I’m just on my way to the woods!” Elijah smiled as he spoke. Poppy nodded and stepped out of the way with Princess-like grace. Elijah hurried on until he came to the pond in the woods. There, he practiced until he was practically falling asleep. Then he stumbled home and flopped into his bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Elijah decided to go to the library. He scouted the shelves for hours, looking for books about figure skating. Finally he found a dusty book in one corner. ‘The Summer, Winter and Paralympics-ultimate guide.” He read out loud. “Hmm... Better than nothing, I guess.’ He opened the book and began to read. He skipped the section on Summer Olympics and went straight to the page marked ‘Winter Olympics’. After skipping through endless chapters of Snowboarding, Skiing, Bobsleigh, Luge, Ice Hockey, Curling and Biathlons, he came to the chapter on Skating. He read for a couple of hours, and then went home with a new role model- Kariana White. Kariana was the best Figure Skating Princess in all of Bethelasia.

The next day Elijah returned to the library, looking for books, brochures and computer websites about Kariana White. He sneezed a few times (because of the dust) but he didn’t mind. That evening he went home to read the books/magazines that he had found. At around 8:35 his Ma called upstairs “Elijah! Time for bed! Put the books away! Goodnight!” Elijah carried the books to his bedside table, calling out “Yes, Ma!” as he did. Then he went straight to bed.

In the morning Elijah went back to his ‘Secret ice rink’ in the woods. Humming to himself he put his ice skates on and turned on ‘The Candycloud Castle’ and began. This time, he practically skipped through his routine. “And jump! And spin! And step-in-time! And spin! And bend! Leg up... Final pose!” Elijah caught his breath. Finally, it was perfect! “How on earth...?” came a familiar voice behind him. Elijah turned to see Princess Poppy. “Oh,” he said, embarrassed, “It’s just...”

“Amazing!” applauded Poppy, “Fantastic! Beautiful! Super! Elijah, you’re Olympic material!”

Elijah beamed. “You think so?” he asked.

“Of course! Show me again!” So Elijah performed for his first audience.

When Elijah got home that night, he could hear excited talking from his parents. “The Olympics, Harold!” “Ellie, the Olympics!”

“So?” asked Elijah as he came in, “what about the Olympics?”

His parents beamed. “Oh, Elijah, Darling! Princess Poppy, bless her dear heart, just called to say you’re going to the Olympics in only six months!” cried his Ma, planting a big, wet kiss on the end of his trunk. “The Olympics?” Elijah couldn’t believe it. “The Olympics? The Olympics?” So Elijah’s dream came true!

Epilogue

A few months later, after intense training under a strict teacher, Elijah was ready. Ready for the Olympic Games. He sailed on an ocean liner across the Chaotic Ocean, named for its stormy waves (although it was relatively calm for Elijah) to Stadium Island. Stadium Island was where all the Olympic Games were held. There had been millions of tonnes of snow hauled here for the Winter Olympics (Which were held in summer). Elijah did his best in his figure skating solo and finished eighth out of fifty three contestants. He didn’t get a medal, but was still fussed over anyway. So, that is the story of the world’s smallest elephant, the little elephant with BIG dreams.

The end

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.