Finally managed to make the Swallowtail Shawl

It's a project I've had in my queue for ages but I've never been quite brave enough to actually start it. Once I finished a few other projects from my queue I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a burl. I've been saving some reclaimed yarn for at least the last 7 years for a lace project so it's not like I've not had it in mind! So, despite having a deep fear that I might not be able to give it the concentration it needed, I cast on.

It was much easier than I imagined. The budding lace section was really very easy once I got into the swing on it and the yarn knit up lovely.

I had to stretch the lace out because left to itself it's really not that impressive!

I didn't really hit any problems of note until I started the lace with the nupps on it! 

It didn't take me too long to decide I didn't like nupps! They require REALLY pointy knitting needles (which I didn't have!) so I had to do each one with the finest crochet hook I had that I use doing fine filet crochet !

And it was almost impossible to see whether I was making progress!

But eventually I finished, aburdly pleased to leave the nupps behind and looked at my finished creation...

Didn't look like much...

...rather like a large crumple spinach leaf really.

So I carefully washed it, got out my blocking wires and pinned it out on our spare bed and went to bed. It was nearly midnight, after all!

In the morning I went and looked at this amazing creation. So worth every irritation and frustration to be able to just look at it!

So beautiful! It's not very big, really only fit to drape round your shoulders like a triangulr scarf but it is so light and SO beautiful! I can just stare at it!

Can you tell I'm a little proud of my little project?

Happy Knitting :)

New Stuff in Shop

I've just put up some new stock on my Etsy shop. I've heaps more pendants to put up but this'll do for the moment. I've just resined up a heap more pendants so hopefully they'll be as pretty. I hope I get better at this. I always make such a mess! 

Wish me luck.

My Shop is Open and with Stuff to Sell!!

Yes indeedy! I finally got brave and started putting just a few of my things on there at a time. Still getting really pretty pics of my pendants but so far I've got about 5 knitted items and 1 tatted pendant up on my shop site.

These are the knits. I've only shown 1 set of mitts because I've got three of the same design but different colourways. Very cosy and easy fit!

 

I've got heaps more to put up! Since I'm such a compulsive knitter I have to get rid of some of it before me and my family get smothered under it all! So please come and have a look. You might find just the perfect gift for someone this christmas, be it a cosy knit of a piece of unique jewellery!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/danie17

Look forward to see you :)

A Worthy Pattern for a Worthy Yarn

I spun this gorgeous, scrumptious merino I bought from a craft store in Denmark called Majestic Merinos a while back and spun it as a two ply into one reasonably large skein and then set it aside because I didn't want to waste it on anything shabby. 

I remembered a pattern in one of my Spin-Off magazines for a lovely yet simple scarf. Since I tend to despise scarfs that are just one long strip of mindlessly boring knitting this pattern had the attraction of a small wedge being knit on each side as you went back and forth over the scarf. Perfect! And it only took me three days to do it!

I used upthe whole skein and it looks so good! Feels great too! Now all I need is to get another project up and running. I've still got that alpaca and wool combo to use up!

Happy knitting :)

Project Completed!!

I've done it! The vintage jumper is completed! I'm very happy with it, it fits! All I need to do now is wash it and hope a little of the scratchiness washes out. Here is what I did today.

I finished all the components this afternoon. There were seven in all, a front, a back, two arms, a collar strip, bow and loop.

They fit together quite well after I figured out which side each of the arms belonged on (the pattern directions weren't very helpful in that regard.) and it looked very impressive.

I ended up tacking the collar down becasue despite the suggestion that folding it down was all that was necessary I soon realized that unless I wanted to wear the jumper and endlessly fiddle with the collar because I was sure it was rolling up I'd better tack it down. I also tacked the bow in place too because it kept flopping forward.

I like it :)

Now I have to find another project otherwise my fingers are going to start twitching. I've been knitting pretty much solidly for the past weeks and I don't know what to do without something to work on.

Happy Knitting :)

I Love Recycled Stuff!

It provides me with so much more materials to work with than I might otherwise have! One of my old school friends, Leanne asked if I could make a bag for her using the same owl pattern I used in an small bag I made my daughter. Didn't seem like a hard ask so I went and plunged into my stash!

It's kind of difficult because most of the wool I have is deliberately treated so it doesn't felt and the stuff I know will felt I don't really have enough to make the bag. But finally I dug out the yarn from two jumpers I'd bought from an op shop and unravelled. A pale green and a blueberry purple. They were quite fine yarn so I held 4 strands together to make a bulkier yarn. Then I drew up the pattern in those colours and prepared to begin!

Once started I really sped along! I love with stranded work how you can watch the pattern appear row by row. Finally, at 12.40am I cast off the garter edge top.

Next morning (or rather, when I got up after sleeping in because I stayed up until a ridiculous time of night!) I knit the two straps in I-cord and crocheted the loop for the button closure at the top. Then I sewed up the bottom, attached the straps and loop and then stood back and briefly admired my  work!

Pre-felting it looked pretty good but Post-felting...

...it looked even better!

So tonight I'm waiting for it to dry before sewing a lining for it, attaching it, sewing on the button and then,  Ta Da!!

It'll be all finished!

Happy Knitting :)

Still Slogging On...

...With the Vintage Jumper of course! I've now finished the back...

and am almost finished with the sleeves! Yahhh!!!

This is going much quicker than I feared it would but I'm still sceptical that I'm not going to hit problems when it comes to seaming everything up. And I'm really not liking the cream colour. I think I might have to dye it something else when it's all sewn up...outside somewhere...so I don't get dye on our rental house!

Also I finally got my parcel from Annie Howe on Etsy! Not Annie's fault, I might add, that it took so long. I stupidly forgot to change the address from my old one to the new one and so it had to first go to the wrong town before being diverted back to the right town! But now I have more goodies to play with!

I've already played with the Art Gel, a pendant tray, a tatted motif and a glass disc and it's looking pretty good so far. I just have to be patient and leave the whole thing to dry properly, then I wont have gel all over the face of the pendant! See, here's one I prepared earlier!

So, there you have it! Now, I better get off, pretend to do some house work and see if I can't finish these sleeves tonight...or at least before 12.30am :)

Happy Knitting :)

Twinkle, twinkle, Little star...

..well, they do look kind of like that. I've finally got a group of pendant trays with a tatted motif embeded in resin all finished. Not 100% satisfied with it myself yet but I'm getting better!

The first group I did I didn't warm the resin first and there are tiny bubbles trapped in the resin not to mention I didn't coat the motifs in PVA glue to keep there colour from becoming washed out when the resin absorbed into it. And some of the background colours weren't the best choice for displaying the motifs either.

These ones are an excellent example of what not to do!

While this one, while beautifully clear...

...still has bubbles trapped in it. But at least I'm getting better at mixing the resin!

Now all I need to do is wait till I get the chains I've ordered off www.etsy.com (LOVE Etsy! I've gotten most of my supplies from there and have had excellent service so far!) and some more pendant trays. And then tat some more motifs, without getting bored doing the same ones over and over and over...

I have a relatively short attention span sometimes :)

Keep Happy!

Collecting Vintage Knitting Patterns...

...is a fine thing, some so elegant and others so "what were they thinking!!!" but since my favourite period of history is late 40's, 50's and early 60's, most of the time it's elegance that wins the day.

Mind you, I've never really had the courage to tackle a garment from my many hoarded pattern books.

Oh sure, I knit some baby singlets for my neice from one of the family booklets, but I heavily modified that because I refused to knit two tiny fronts and backs of said singlet when I could streamline the whole thing by knitting it in the round!

Which I did!

 And I also had a go at an adult garment which I did follow to the letter of the pattern but since it was largely a huge plain knit that folded up to be a lovely cape over the shoulders it was more the post-knitting construction that I found very challenging (first I had to figure out from what direction the folding was supposed to start!).

As you can see (and even if you can't I can!) the colour changes just slightly after the first three folds. This is because I didn't realize that the pattern would eat up 1 100g ball and when I went to buy another there were no more to be had in that particular dye lot. Of course. 

In fact, if I were ever to knit this again (God Forbid!!) I would use smaller needles with the same ply (5 ply) or the same needles I used and a heavier ply, probably 8ply. I had to tinker with the closure because it was so big it kept falling off my shoulders and the fronts gaped forward in an unbecoming way. But it has turned out really nicely despite all it had going against it.

So taking this all into account I was a little nervous taking on a proper garment, you know, the sort that's supposed to fit MY arms and MY body, here in the 21st century without the phenominal undergarments that kept everyone looking so neat and poised (if slightly breathless) in the pretty pictures. So I thought I would choose from the early 60's patterns rather than set myself up for disappointment first off by tackling something from the form fitting and slightly smaller bosom that I might possess era of the late 40's and 50's.

This being my aim it was easy to choose a pattern because I'd loved the appearance and the neckline of this one particular pattern from the day I first saw it. It doesn't even have a cool name! It's just Jumper 751.

Isn't it sweet?

But it presents its own challenges. As you may have noticed from previous jumpers, I love seamless construction! You do all that work and at the end there is practically no seaming to do and no sleeves to try and smoothly attach to the body of the jumper without it getting bulky. Alas, that is exactly the construction of this 60's jumper. A front, a back and two sleeves. Oh, and a collar. 

All of which have to be seamed together before I can see whether I have succeeded in making a jumper that I can wear or have wasted time and effort to produced something that will haunt me for all time!!

But despite initial terror and disquiet I have soldiered on. I have about 12 balls of this Baby Bella stuff I bought from Spotlight, 100% wool which will do pretty well despite the fact that it's a very uninspiring cream colour. I've upped the needle sizes since the largest size is for a 36 inch bust while mines about 40 (if I hold the tape a bit tight). So hopefully the slightly heavier gauge of the wool and the larger needles will cover any differences in the size of the finished garment so it actually fits me!

I cast on....

Not bad. The greatest difficulty I came across was when dividing for the neck edge and the fact that the finished sides right at the very top seem slightly different lengths. Not much but enough for me to notice. But I've steam ironed the finished front and I'll wait and see how everything turned out and decide then if it's worth while unravelling about 4 rows of each and then knit them back up the same size. 

So, so far, so good. Now I've just cast on for the back, done the ribbed hem and started the plain knitting until I get to 15 inches long. Wish me luck!

Happy knitting :)

Another Seamless Shirt done!

I forgot to put up another garment for myself that I finished while I was in Canberra. I really love seamless knits and I wanted to knit something light that I could possible wear during the spring when the weather's a little iffy. So I found Silken Straw Summer Sweater by Purl Soho on Ravelry and pulled out two cones of acrylic I'd picked up at various op shops. Since both yarns where very thin (the grey one looked about 1ply!) I worked them held together which made a quite passable 4 ply yarn.

Then I got started. It's unlike most seamless shirts I've knit that it started from the bottom and finishes at the top. I modified the hem edge on the bottom and the sleeves because I hate these rolling up so I garter stitched them for about  10 rows. It grew pretty slowly for quite a while.

Then I finally got to the fun stuff while I was at Daughter's. Finished the sleeves, did the I-cord bind off around the neck line, washed, blocked and worn! Was and am so pleased with the result from two ordinary yarns that I couldn't have used alone but together made this lovely heathered grey shirt!

One yarn was light grey with a slight halo and the other one was a smooth yarn in a subdued white, almost the palest grey. And it fits which I always think is a bit of a miracle when I knit stuff because I haven't the patience to do a tension swatch and the few times I have my tension when knitting the whole garment is completely different! But there we go.

Happy Knitting :)

Now I'm Back Home...

Well, after a lovely nine days with my darling Daughter I can start putting into place some new ideas I had about what I might want to try and sell in my etsy shop, when I finally get myself organised enough to stock it. My little tatted motifs are so sweet I thought it would be nice if I could present them in a way where they wont get dirty or torn off, you know, some way to display them in all their delicate beauty.

I've never used resin before so I've been tinkering. My first attempt was pretty ordinary because I wouldn't wait until I had a few tools I needed (like cups to stir the stuff in!) and the only moulds I could access where silicone muffin trays. Although they look like the bottom is flat they have just a trace of texturing which makes the bottom of the resin kind of frosted. Not the best for looking at a piece of lace :(

So I was more careful next time. I put a layer of resin in the bottom of the moulds and when it was tacky I placed the motifs on it and poured another layer of resin on top.

Then I waited.

After a day and a half I was pretty sure they were dry so I popped them out and gave them another day to dry out a little more. They looked pretty good although I was annoyed that one of them had managed to entrap a gnat so now I have a wonderful lace motif accentuated by a small winged speck!

I sanded them underwater with wet & dry sandpaper (grad 600 & 1200), dried them and dug out my jewellery making supplies and managed to find some bails I bought ages ago for glass bead pendants. Bored a hole in 5 of them and hey presto! I had 5 individual and totally unique resin pendants!

  Aren't they pretty? Don't bother looking for the gnat because it isn't in this group. I'm very pleased with them and will continue experimenting. The tatted motifs of the next lot will be PVA brushed and dried before they go anywhere near the moulds. 

This is fun :)

Stay Happy!

OKAY, Let's try this again!

After much fluffing around Etsy finally reactivated my old account that had my shop on it and I plan to open it up again soon. But this time I'll actually read the hints on how to be successful with it, take really nice photos and more importantly don't rush it! There's nothing there at the moment but this is my new shop banner.

Still fiddling about with some ideas of jewellery including some of my fibre crafts. Should be interesting :)

Happy Crafting :)

So much FUN!

I've been enjoying muself immensely with all this lovely wool to spin and this merino top was scrumptious! I spun up two bobbins so I could ply the resulting singles into a 2ply yarn that was about fingering weight. When I washed it a HEAP of dye came out but I think I got rid of most of it. It looks so nice!!! I can't wait to find something worthy of it to knit :)

But what I am most proud of is I finally finished my Buttercup Top. I used recycled yarn from an unravelled cotton blend jumper and knit Large although I could have gotten away with Medium I suppose. But I like the slightly oversize look. I serves very well as a smock to layer over other clothes. I'm really pleased with it and I wore it today even though it's not blocked or anything.

I LOVE it!

Happy Knitting :)

Finally, some lace!

I've had a bit of a blitz on the yarns I spin and then tend to hoard, mortally terrified that if I use them somehow I'll commit them to a project beneath their ability to shine. I think I've proved sufficiently to myself now that is not true!

I've had this Tussah silk and Wool blend for ages and couldn't think of anything to use it for that would do the lovely soft yarn justice. Then I found the perfect pattern! It's the Wasabi Hat that I got off Ravelry. I've wanted to have a go at knitting lace for a while but I needed a small enough project that wouldn't seem overwhelming. This was absolutely perfect for all these requirements.



Isn't it gorgeous?
Strangely enough I can't see the pattern as clearly as the camera can so it's gratifying to see how well it worked out. I love it already and it feels so beautiful on!
Second project noteworthy for the swiftness of completion. I visited a craft store in Denmark and they had handdyed rovings! I love these since they are so easy to spin and you get such individual colour schemes. So I bought about three bags of different colours and different fibres. But as soon as I got home that night I sat down and started spinning this rainbowy coloured alpaca roving.



By the end of the night I'd spun up the singles and then navajo-plied the singles and then wound it on the niddy noddy and went to bed. It was about midnight by then! Next morning I gave it a gentle wash, slapped the water out of it against a verandah pole and hung it out to dry. While I waited for that, I began exploring for just the right pattern. The finished ball, once dry and balled up was just a single ball of about 8ply weight.



I wanted to do a pair of socks but I knew I wouldn't have a lot of yardage to play with and I eventually found just the pattern on Ravelry. The Double-Take Anklets. As soon as I'd finished the beret, damped it and stretched it out onto a plate to dry I cast on for these socks. It took me less than a day to knit them up and they are so cool!!



They fit fine, I used up every scrap of the yarn and they feel great as well. Very proud of myself and I've had so much fun!! I love having lovely yarn to work with :)
Happy Knitting :)