tag! -- you're fun

My major craft projects this year are two quilts.  One is finished and I'm very happy with it.  The second is coming along nicely.  Unfortunately for you, they're Christmas presents so I can't show you yet.  I have been working on a few little toys though.

My current job is caring for an 8mth old boy who's just got the hang of sitting up without toppling often meaning playing has become a lot more fun.  Whenever I changed him he kept grabbing the bag of cotton balls.  I kept my eye on him to make sure he wasn't going to put the bag over his face or in his mouth but he preferred to play with the little strings you use to pull it closed.  That's where this idea came from.  Babies seem to find the tags on anything you give them to play with.  I'm not sure what the thrill is myself but they seem to be quite popular.

I made a little wheat bag to give this toy some interesting movement/sound/weight when you hold it and then made a cover for it.  That makes it washable when it gets dirty, snotty and slobbered all over.  The tags were a bit frustrating to put together.  Or rather my putting them together was a bit frustrating.  I'd pinned them all on when I realised I was pinning them the wrong way (sticking out meaning when I turned it inside out they'd be on the inside).  Lucky, I thought as I reversed them and then got to sewing.  But I obviously hadn't thought it through that thoroughly.  AFTER I'd sewn it, I realised that I'd still placed them in the wrong spot meaning they'd still end up on the inside.  There was no way around it.  I had to unpick and start again.  I ended up getting there a little more roughly than I'd intended.  A simple little something for textural interest and that baby thrill of tags and strings.  The only thing I'd do differently next time is not put one long strip of velcro to hold the cover shut.  It interferes with the flimsy movement of the wheatbag.

Toy number two which I've just finished is another simple one which I've made for a new baby.  Just two simple rings crocheted, one joined together through the other.  With the coloured ring I crocheted a bit of tube and then closed if off by decreasing to form a circle.  Then I picked up stitches back at the tube width and continued with tube.  I fit three small bells inside before I repeated the circle closure creating a little containment area for the bells.  I've added bells to toys before for that rattle aspect but find the stuffing mutes the sound.  Creating this little compartment means the bells have a bit more room to move to give it a nice soft rattle.  I then stitched a little flap of contrasting fabric around where I'd joined the ends together after stuffing.  Partly to make it look a bit neater but partly to add that extra tag fun.

shrunken hood

Remember this?  It's the Through the Woods hood that I crocheted early this year.  In the post linked to the pattern name I commented that I like the pattern and design but complained about the end result being too large.  I'd used Berroco Ultra Alpaca which was probably too soft of a yarn to hold much shape.  It's been mostly not used due to the disappointment.  I'd considered altering it but the only way to do that would be to completely undo it and start again.

I saw it again in my drawer last week and pondered again what I could do to salvage it.  Then another idea came to me.  Washing can shrink things.  Well, I decided I would never grow satisfaction for the hood as it was so I tossed it in the washing machine by itself to see how it came out. 

Did you know Berroco Ultra Alpaca felts really well??

 So, still not sure that I'm happy with it.  On the positive side, the tangled fibres let less wind through so yay for the warmth factor.  I stretched it out as much as I could with a big bowl under the hood part and pinned it down to dry.  It's really stiff though which is not so great especially in the neck area where it needs some flex.  It doesn't quite sit as well as I'd like and it's also a bit smaller than I was hoping for.  Anyone know of a way to soften felted products?

Oh well, what can one do?  Experimentation always comes with a risk.  Not sure if this one improved it or not though. He he.  New knowledge gained though.

giving the boy wings

Isn't that part of my job as a nanny? Ok, so these ones are literal.
Just the classic reshapped coathangers twisted together and covered with a pair of stocking and a couple of elastic loops to slip his arms in.

It was a bit of a spur of the moment. Or rather a spur of the afternoon. He actually gets excited when I suggest going to the fabric shop. ^^ He got some swimming badges from his swimming classes so I'm going to make him a swimming flag to put them on. You know the red and yellow ones at the beach? Swim between the flags? One of those. He can hang it in his room and add more badges to it as he earns them. We had somehow got onto the topic of wings and he asked me for some. Or perhaps I mentioned making some for him which he then repeatedly asked for. I had some funky stockings I had hoped to wear to a 1920s party a while back. But the "large" sizing was NOT a large pair of stockings. So wings they became.

I've also been sewing away on a "kelly-made". I make a quilt for all my nieces and nephews for their first Christmas and my older brother's kids all call them their "kelly-made's". Sweet. He had another gorgeous daughter this year so I've been designing and stitching together another quilt. It's finished. Not so girly as I'd intended on making it since I knew she was a niece but I think it's awesome anyway. Not without it's unique handmade trademarks. ;) I love how the design came out though. But I can't show you yet. All will be revealed after Christmas. I've another quilt to make yet for my younger brother's first tiny offspring due next month. But first I've some more urgent projects. My job with this family finishes up next month :( so I'm in the process of making some parting gifts. I'll be able to show you some soon I hope.

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.