Domino knitting and a little bit of Art!

I finally finished the cushion...front. There's no way I'm doing domino knitting on the back. For this I wanted something simple and mindless. I am happy with the colour combinations of the Domino part though.

 Isn't it pretty? Wonderful kaleidoscope of colours and gradients!

All in all I'm pretty pleased pleased with the front and I decided I'd do a simple back so I can just put a pillow in there without a zip or buttons or anything...and for some reason the picture wont turn the right way so here it is anyway. A nice plain grass green wool in garter stitch and at every 15th ridge I knit using one of the 5 colours I used on the front.  I'm liking it so far.

But while I've been doing this I've been fiddling with my art supplies. I wanted to do a picture showing a sort of analogy for depression. So this is what I came up with.

Then I added a wash of ink, really black at the bottom of the well and getting lighter as it reached the top. And remembered that I'm really not very good at adding paint.

It still seemed a bit blank so I added colour with some pencils.

All in all I quite liked the effect...except for the paint effect. What I really wanted is some kind of paper with an ombre effect that would go from midnight blue to light sky blue. But apparently such a thing does not exist. Because I thought perhaps I could cut out the section I don't like and place the picture over another sheet of paper with the effect I want. I've done it before and it works quite well, especially once framed.  So I painted the effect I wanted using some art paints I had lying around.

And then I got to the business of cutting out the middle. I tried using a scalpel at first but I'm no better at that than I am at painting so I used a pair of really slim, pointed scissors. They worked much better! And eventually I managed to get it all cut out.

So now I had to attach the picture onto the painted background. I used some mod podge I also had lying around and a brush and then proceeded to nearly ruin the whole thing by almost making the cut-out picture stick backwards to the background. But after that small panic passed, I was pretty pleased...

I'm really pleased with it all told. I think it shows how I feel anyway when I'm particularly depressed. It's so dark down in the bottom of the well that it's hard to remember that there is still beauty and hope to be had,...that this feeling wont last forever, which is kind of what I was trying to suggest with the falling blossoms into the well. That this too will pass.

I'm waiting for it to dry now to see if I need to tidy up any details and one day I'd love to get it framed in a nice thin frame. I think that would look nice.

But, yeah, that's what I've been up to. So now I'm off to my knitting again. I think I've used up enough of the artist to keep it quiet for the next year, anyway.

What do you think of the picture? 

See you all later
Dx

But some experiments don't work, so...

You just have to bite the bullet and move on.

Speaking of my last post...

...I looked at it some more and decided...I really didn't like it...so I...

...unravelled the whole thing down to one starter square! See? There it is, right at the bottom. And THAT became my new starting point!

I decided not to tinker with this and just knit it the way it is supposed to go, generally speaking.

I used 5 different sock-yarn colours from Moda Vera Noir 4 ply range and decided to do a square 9 squares high and 9 in width. That should get a nice shuffle between the different variegated yarns involved and as I ran out of one colour I'd just bring in a new one from my collection. There is one yarn that isn't Noir, a pretty Patons Patonyle I had a bit left over of, so I thought I may as well use up the last little bit. It fits in quite well!

  

But watching it grow is SO absorbing! I'm enjoying this much more than my first attempt. All the different colours and patterns are really quite nice with no big blocks of colour sounding any discordant notes. And it's very relaxing.

Both a nice mindless knit while at the same time not boring at all! I find myself having to make myself put it down! To stop telling myself, "Oh, I'll put this down when I get to this point in the decreases...oh look! I've nearly finished the square, I may as well finish it...Oh, I'll just pick up the stitches I need for the next square so It's ready when I..."

You get the idea?

Here I've got 4 squares width...

...And now 5 squares...

Doesn't it look lovely? I love running my hands over it and feeling the lines running diagonally across it because of the decreases down the middle. 

And now 6 squares wide. I've actually started the seventh row now and the end result of a cushion is looking pretty good! And although I love this way of join-as-you-go construction, I'm not sure I'm so in love with it that I'd want to commit to a whole blanket like this!

But all in all, I think the sacrifice of my first idea was a valid choice. This is now something I like to look at and touch. Not something tinged with a little regret.

Have you had to change an idea of something you thought would really work when it wasn't developing as you'd imagined? Any craft has that propensity! Tell me about it and share!

See you all later!

Dx 

A new Experiment!

Domino Knitting!

I've heard of this and there was no particular reason I decided to have a go at it besides the fact that I have a few balls of left-over sock yarn in my wool room and the plain truth that the other thing I was knitting was in a heavier gauge of yarn and I liked the idea of something delicate...like 4 ply. I mean, it's not like I have any lack of sources of sock yarn to fall back on!

Anyway, I found a really helpful tutorial on Pinterest on a blog called Loose Threads all about how to do it to produce beauties like this!

But I didn't like the jagged edge. I wanted a straight edge. So after reading about half the instructions and quickly flicking through the pictures I grabbed the top ball of left-overs, a 2mm circular needle (a really short one!) and dove in!

First I knit the four on the right and worked out how the placements of the decreases worked. I really like the way the slip 2, knit 1, pass 2slsts over knit st make a really neat line in the centre. But I still had a fair amount of yarn left so I decided I'd make a square twice the size to sit next to the smaller ones. I quite liked how that looked and decided to surround this rectangle as I went around.

I mean, how hard could it be?

See? Isn't it pretty? And a nice predictable pattern developing too. Always a large square beside the 4 smaller squares.  I really quite liked this kind of joining as you go along and with the fine yarn it's not too hot to do while it's uncomfortable warm either!  Okay, moving on...

All going along really well although it's hard to know whether to try and match the colours better but I decided in the end to just go with whatever I grabbed next.

And right here! Right here I suddenly realized I may have outsmarted myself. I had discovered earlier that there had to be an order in how you knitted each square or else the line down the middle could end up pointing the wrong way but I didn't thing it would really be a problem...until I started trying to go down the right side of the centre rectangle. To do the little squares with the line going in the right direction I had to some how join THREE sides instead of the usual two.

Pause...Think...Grind Teeth! (buggerbuggerbugger!!)

So I decided that I'd just have to come up with a way of doing that. Not that it was difficult, just a little fiddly! And now I know why there aren't any examples of small and large squares in a straight edged blanket like this!

So, using a single double point 2mm needle I picked up 15sts on the third side and every back row I knit together the first st on the working needle with one from the third side. It works pretty well. It's not quite as smooth a join as the normal one used through out the pattern but it functions and for that I'm prepared to be thankful!

Of course all this is still in progress and my aim at the moment is to finish the large square I'm doing and make a cushion cover with it. And then I'll sit back and contemplate the wonders now at my fingertips of greater and larger things... Like maybe a sock yarn blanket myself. Yes, that might be nice...

Well, one day maybe anyway :)

Anyone else ever experimented with domino or modular knitting?

See you later!
Dx

Family Photo Shoot

Let me just say one thing up front...
I hate having final responsibility for anything.
Anything at all!
I will happily be your second man (or woman, whatever!) your lieutenant, Beta to someone else's Alpha. Perfectly comfortable in this role.
Just don't make me the final authority because I will either run, throw-up or quietly melt-down as I panic about something going wrong and it being ALL MY FAULT!

Okay, little disclaimer done, now onto the story.

I organised our family's latest photo shoot...largely on my own!

And several times I really wanted to die...for a day or two at least.

It's difficult getting all our family together now the kids are all adults. Because of Hubbie's work, we move about every two years or so and at the moment are in the western Australian wheatbelt. Our daughter's partner is an officer in the Army and they're based in Brisbane, Qld. And the two boys both house share together in Perth. Even with 4/5ths of us in the same state, it still isn't the easiest thing in the world!

Finding a photography place that would make us look like a family as opposed to 5 strangers who just walked off the street was hard enough. I wanted some place where they would make us look good and no-one would be able to escape! And I had to get it done while daughter was over here for a friends wedding and her yearly visit. So a kind of tight time frame, really...(panic,panic, sweat!!)

I found Exclusive Photography and they sounded like they ticked all my boxes and were really lovely. I had to make a date to go and then tell everyone what was expected and what to bring, (hyperventilating a little, panic, panic!!) and then meet up in Perth.

And...it kind of worked!

Brianna getting the pretty treatment!

And then my turn...

...While the boys went out clothes shopping because Jordan had worn his favourite clothes to shreds and couldn't understand why his father wasn't going to let him get photos like that...Ben didn't really help by wanting to get done in his boardies and ugg boots! But they managed while we girls were made look lovely.

It was great fun. It really was and the only fly in the ointment was how much it cost but that's just because any numbers with a $ in front of it makes me immediately break out in a sweat and want to throw up! But all things put together it was pretty reasonable and fortunately they organised a really easy payment plan spread out over the year. And now I have over 50 gorgeous photos of my three adult children, all vibrant and lively, in their various degrees of development together with their father and I.

After it all, I can breath!

I'm a little pleased with myself...just a bit. I'm sure that something will come along and cloud my confidence, but for the moment I'm quietly relieved that everything is over and it didn't blow up in my face...

...I'm proud of my family...

That's all.

See you later.

Dx

Still kicking along

We're on holidays back home again for two weeks which is lovely. Back home in Albany where I don't have to have the air conditioner on all the time!
But despite the heat I have managed to get some knitting done.
It had to be small, preferably seamless and in a light gauge yarn...and I found this gorgeous little onesie on ravelry. Sunnywear Romper. I've been knitting the 0-3 months size and using up some of my stashed 4ply baby yarn. I don't know anyone with a baby or about to have one but I guess I can always donate them to charity or keep them till I get grandkids of my own.
I've knit two already, in yellow and blue and I'm in the process of knitting a pink one. I really like them and it's a excellent pattern too. Here's  what I've got so far...
What do you think? Cute, huh?

...A Little More Sewing.

I meant to do this ages ago but Life (in general) and Holiday plans got in the way and I figured that visiting Hubbie's parents and mine in our hometown while the commemoration of 100 years since the first fleet of soldiers to fight in the First World War sailed from our port and then spending a week with our daughter in Brisbane was probably more important than cobbling together a short spiel about another crafty do-dad of mine.

Needless to say, both weeks were wonderful. But now we're home.

Before we left I'd been experimenting with gifts to make for family instead of buying everything...unfortunately we have a lot of men in our family. It's relatively easy coming up with a gift I can make for the women in the family but I don't think there's a man in the world who wants a tatted lace doily or a knitted garment in the middle of the Australian summer!

So I just concentrated on our Mothers. Both knit a fair amount, both for personal pleasure and for charity and I thought a knitting roll to store their knitting needles and oddments in would be a good idea. So I looked around Pinterest and found a lovely tutorial by Made By Loulabelle for a simple but pretty roll. And I had all the material on hand so I drew up the template and started.

The first one was a bit rough but I got better as I tried to take time and not rush them as I tend to do with sewing projects. I made up 3 rolls, digging through my boxes of fabric. It's astonishing how you can have a lot of fabrics but never just the right colours to blend nicely together while offering a bit of contrast. I needed a solid or semi-solid, a small print and a large print. Was much harder to find than I ever thought it would be!

But the final result were well worth the effort.

The First Knitting Needle Roll

 I learnt with the first roll that the decorative ribbon I chose wasn't a great choice. It isn't double sided and the back of the ribbon doesn't look as good as the front. But everything else worked really well.

Second Knitting Needle Roll

So with the second all I changed was to make the ribbon from the bias binding I used around the edges and that worked fine.

Third Knitting Needle Roll

So my final one I used up all the pinkest stuff I could find and made up one overloaded with devastating cuteness. I love how cheerfully bright it is and although some of the stitching is a little dodgy I'm still quite happy with this.

Actually, I'm happy with all of them and I'm looking forward to being able to gift these to people I know will appreciate the time and effort I've put into them.  And it wasn't so difficult getting the sewing machine out even though I had to pack it up again when I was finished. Our house is too small at the moment to leave anything like that out. I feel like I've achieved something worthwhile and it might be the first Christmas I'm almost prepared for before December.

But let's not get too hasty! Now to recuperate from all the travel and try and get my bearings...

I'll have more later. Don;t know what. I'm at a bit of a puzzle at the moment with crochet, cross-stitch and knitting all cluttering around me.  I'll clear my head eventually!

See you all later!

Dx

Broadening My Horizons

I've been looking through all the beautiful crochet goodies on pinterest and slowly being eaten up with envy until I finally broke down and decided to give crochet another try.

I can crochet. I can even do it fairly competently...but I don't really enjoy it and I can't read the patterns, regardless of whether they're written or charted. And I don't like being made feel stupid by a short length of metal with a hook at the end! It's just rude!

So I decided I would use up a bunch of small acrylic balls of nice colours and make granny squares. I found some instructions I could understand on the bog Little Tin Bird and headed off!

It actually worked out pretty well. I loved the colour combinations. I even managed to figure out the end joins of each round to my satisfaction! I made 12. Now to join them up!

I was going to try and crochet them together but none of my attempts looked nice and they were lumpy. In the end I just whip-stitched them together. I sat back and admired my work...

I had a really small...REALLY small rug. Mmmm....?

Since I still had quite a bit of the yarn left over I thought I would crochet around the edge, tying everything together and make a (quite small admittedly) lap rug.

But the experience with the squares had taught me to be cautious.  I did NOT want to have to sew in hundreds of ends from knots tying each of the colours together.  So I Russian-joined them. Sort of splicing the yarns, cutting off half the yarn bulk and loop them together and passing the left over thread up through the working yarn. It really worked brilliantly! It meant I could just crochet around the squares and watch the colours appear!

I can crochet. And maybe with a bit of practice I might even enjoy it. For now, this was fun. But I think I'll pick up the knitting needles again...

We understand each other a bit better!

I'll tell you about some other forays into different crafts next time. Bet you can't guess what!

See you all later :)
Dx