Stash-busting Corinne

While I have many projects on the go right now, I didn't have any nice simple knitting to do.  I like to read forums and blogs while doing mindless knitting so I had to find a project.  I also want to make a dent in the wool stash so I found some Cleckheaton Studio Mohair, an 8 ply acrylic/mohair blend I bought years and years ago.

I'm not sure why I bought it looking at it now.  While I guess it's pretty in a way, I'm not a big fan of fluff which is kind of the definition of mohair yarn!  The colours are a bit pale too- sort of a bluey green with pink sections.  The point being, it was hard to find a pattern, and harder still to know if I'll like the finished result!



I ended up settling for Corinne, a Knitty pattern, for two reasons.  One is that I don't want to spend money on a pattern when I may not like the finished result due to the yarn (and I hate knitting the same pattern twice).  The other is that while the knitting is about as simple as it can get, the construction is interesting being a sideways knitted garment.  I like the idea and am interested to see how the shaping works.

So here is the result of the first day of knitting.  I have 9 more repeats of the side row increases before I hit the sleeves so this will take me a while.  But it's about as mindless as you can get since it's made in garter stitch with short row increases for the shaping!

Return to regular posting soon

Sorry for my thousands of fans out there (she says facetiously!) but I've been crazy busy with the last bits of my uni course.  But is now done, finished and completed!  I'm now qualified to be a teacher in my state (woot!)  With the end of my course, I will soon have lots of lovely free time to do crafty things in.  Well, with the exception of planning a move to the country for my new job that will start with the new school year.  But on the plus side- new job!

So in the short term, expect more crafty goodness with occasional wibbling from yours truly as the reality of moving sets in!  I've more posts coming so stay tuned!  And anyone who has some advice about moving, feel free to drop me a comment.

Nine block quilt- first two blocks

I've always admired quilts but up until now I've not tried making anything much myself.  But now I have a sewing machine that is not evil and I have a friend with a online fabric shop (Bella's Patchwork) with lots of pretty fabrics, I've no excuses (well aside from the lack of time, money and having lots of other crafting projects on hand already but they're merely minor details!)

I bought a book 'Quilting for the first time' by Donna Kooler.  It covers all the basics and covers a range of common techniques used in quilting.  Now in theory, one should take a book like this and start at the first projects, developing skills in the simpler projects before attempting the more complex projects.  But I'm can never be bothered with the first projects generally.  They are often for things that I would never want or use in a blue fit.  I do NOT like 'country kitch', which I'm afraid many of these projects often remind me of.  Or I just get caught by a lovely pattern towards the back.

This book was no exception, the project that caught me was the last of the book- a miniature quilt (about 1m square when finished) that is made of nine different traditional quilt blocks.  I figure it isn't TOO outrageous a first project since it does allow me to learn many different techniques.

Step one was to work out what fabric to get and it's hard!  Trying to work out what to get and what colours to use- tricky stuff.  I ended up getting several patterns of Moda's whimsy series since at this early stage, I can use all the help I can get.  Using the one manufacturer and series meant that all the colours should match.  I also got a small 'charm pack'- pack of 5 inch square pieces of material- because I thought that I could use some for smaller bits (but I don't know now I'm cutting out pieces how sucessful that will be).

But right now I've got a big pile of fabric to play with, and I hope it's enough (or I can get more before the end of the range!)  To date I've only cut out material for two of the nine blocks.  Here are the blocks and the book I'm using.

The pinwheel was fairly simple to sew (I started with it first for just that reason.

The Bearpaw block was harder- it turns out that (to my amatuer skills anyway) that there was a mistake in the book with the size of one of the blocks wrong (too long in one side by one seam length), plus trying to get the triangle squares in the right orientation took several tries.

Still, it's a good start. The cynic in me thinks that is because things will go wrong at the end when it's much harder to put right but hey, at least it means I can have fun in the mean time with nothing going wrong *ducks cautiously*  Now I need to work out what colours the next blocks will be so I can cut out bits of fabric... man, quilting is hard!

Mutant squares- aka flowers!

As a beginner to crochet, there are many many things I am still learning.  I'm still at the stage where I need to go look up what a stitch is.  And there I hit my first problem- not everyone speaks the same language when it comes to crochet.  Specifically, there is a difference in terms between those from the UK and those from the US.  Below is a table that compares the terms (from about.com's very useful page)

British vs American English Crochet Patterns
British English	USA - American English
double crochet (dc)	single crochet (sc)
half treble (htr)	half double crochet (hdc)
treble (tr)	double crochet (dc)
double treble (dtr)	treble (tr)
triple treble (trtr)	double treble (dtr)
miss	skip
tension	gauge
yarn over hook (yoh)	yarn over (yo)

See the problem?  If your pattern asks for trebles and double crochet's like mine, what stitch should you do?  Now if your pattern is known to have come from one of these lovely places, no worries.  But I'm not sure if the rule holds if your pattern comes from Australia (and possibly Canadians have the same problem).  Here in Australia we have a bit of a mixture when it comes to influences.  Being a former colony of the UK, there is a strong UK influence in our spelling for instance (colour, optimise, aluminium are just a few examples).  But a significant proportion of books, tv shows and movies come from the US.

So when I first started the Juliette scarf I took a guess as to what to do- and I choose poorly.  Instead of little squares I ended up with this:


This should not be taken as a slur on the pattern- even with my confusion about terminology I had to make a major mix up to get what I got.  But on the plus side, the small ones look like pretty flowers, don't they?  Once I realised what was wrong I frogged some of these to recycle the thread (that DMC Perle cotton is lovely but not the cheapest stuff in the world).  But two I didn't have the heart to so I gave them to Mum for card embellishments (they would also look pretty as decoration on a garment or perhaps a hair clip).

So here are my instructions for making mutant squares- also know as little crochet flowers.  I am going to use UK stitch terminology.

Make a chain of four and join the ends together to form a loop.
Round 1
Make a chain of three (this counts as one treble) and then stitch 12 trebles into the loop you made.  Join with a slip stitch into the third chain of three to make a circle of crochet.
Break off yarn and change colour for next round
Round 2
Make a chain of four. * Into the next treble of the previous round make two trebles and a double crochet, into the next treble make one double crochets and two trebles.  Make on treble in the next treble**  Repeat from * to **  twice.  In the second last treble make two trebles and one double crochet.  In the last stitch make one double crochet and two trebles and join to third chain of three to make a round.

Sew the ends in and you have your flower.  Hope this makes sense- since I am a near beginner at crochet I apologise in advance if the pattern is confusing.  Feel free to email me or leave a comment if you would like anything explained.

Julliette crochet scarf beginings...

With my owls now finished it's time to find a new project.  What with me being me, there are about five actively in the queue with many more that are sort of sidling in and hoping no one makes a fuss.

This project is one that I bought in 2010 at the Melbourne Craft fair but I can't find it available anywhere online.  It is a crochet project, a craft I'm only just getting into, and is basically lots of granny squares of different sizes made from DMC Perle Coton that are then sewn (or crocheted- have not decided yet) together to make a scarf.  Below is the kit and the squares that I have done so far.  I love the colours.  Not in your face bright but not all pale pastels either.


The only downside is that crochet is not a task I can do without looking the way that knitting is (especially plain knitting). So while I can knit and read at the same time, I can't crochet and read. I can crochet and watch TV though so this will become my 'sit and watch TV project' while I will still need a 'sit and read' project. And then there are sit and just do craft projects... Me, addicted? 

Anyway, this is going to be a project that takes some time.  The advantage of making lots of squares is that it will be a good project to pick up and put down without risk of loosing track of where I am.  The only other think I need to worry about is how to join my squares and when to start- on one hand having all the squares done will mean I can optimise the colour placement.  But on the other hand, that will make a BIG slog when it comes to putting it together.  I think I'll make sections at a time- I've got about enough squares to start so I'd better go and work out my joining technique.

Procrastinating Owls finished!

Procrastinating Owls finished, a photo by Kelshandra on Flickr.

This has got to be the fastest piece of clothing I have made. Combination of 10ply yarn which I don't usually use (it's rare to find here- 8ply is far more common) and the fact that once I hit the owls I was addicted and couldn't put my knitting down.

The eyes are shell buttons that give the eyes a nice shiny feel as they reflect the light. The jumper is going to be a favourite- I can even see me knitting this pattern again which is incredibly rare. Most of the time when I knit something, by the time I get to the end I'm over the pattern and want to move on to something new.

So, overall- Squeee!

Dressmaking for Barbie

Like, I assume, a large proportion of girls who have grown up since the 60s, I had several Barbie dolls (and probably a few fashion-dolls-that-just-happened-to-be-the-same-size-as Barbie).  And while my sister and I had lots of clothes to dress them in (many of which were clothes from my Mum's childhood), I never sewed any myself.  So why now?  Is it a reaction to the stress of uni causing me to regress to childhood?  Well no, much as my assignments (two and a half to go!) have driven me up the wall or into procrastination crafting, the incentive for today's post topic was the upcoming 3rd birthday of my niece.

As a poor uni student, I didn't see the point of spending a lot of money since she has a ton of doting parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  Besides, that's good craft money and she's three- it isn't like she understands the difference at this point anyway.  But she loves playing with dolls and with Barbie so I thought I'd try crafting something for a Barbie doll for the first time.  A quick search on google for a pattern or two surprisingly did not turn up as many as I thought.  But the pattern I choose for the first attempt was a lovely simple pattern I got from the Janel was here blog.  Very simple strapless bodice pattern and then you just wing it for the skirt.

Sorry for the photo, afternoon lighting sucks and my prime photo spots are all dark colours which makes the brown dress camouflage in perfectly.  The dress was made using offcuts from a skirt I made for myself a few months ago.  Around the bodice is a row of french knots in gold (note to self, given the vagarities of your ability to do french knots, particularly when doing it in already sewn material, next time just use beads or some other stitch!).  The back is held in place using a velcro fastener (much easier for little fingers to manage than press studs at this point).  All in all, very happy with the pattern (the darts for the shaping are perfect) and I will certainly use the bodice pattern again if I make my niece any more doll clothes.  Christmas is coming, after all...

For now, I need to get off the computer to go wrap up a certain birthday present she's also getting the miniature flower shop that featured in a earlier blog post and a Barbie doll.  This information is safe to post as A) no one in my family knows of my blog (that I know of) and B) my niece can't read :D

Don't you hate that 'Did I...' feeling of doom?

*sigh*  So I was happily knitting away this evening on my second sleeve of my Procrastinating Owls when I had that horrible feeling.  That nagging little thought that can not be dismissed.  In other words, 'Did I remember to change up to the larger needle size after doing that rib...'

Then that hope of 'perhaps I did but I just forgot... I'm sure it will be fine' 

*glance at sleeve now at elbow length* 
*think about needle sizes and stitch gauges*
*wonder if having symmetrical arms is really THAT important*
*realises that cutting one arm off to keep things even is A) a tad extreme and B) would severely hamper future knitting and crafting activities*
*checks needle size on needle gauge*
*grabs another needle gauge in case first was... wrong...  Um heat or quantum or something... Hey, it could happen...*

*sighs and sadly pulls needle out of work*

Time to knit sleeve to elbow (30-40 cm long)? About 8 hours.


Time to frog down to the ribbing again?  About 60 seconds


Urge to cry and/or swear?  Rising...

Finished stuff- September doings

I've finished a few things recently that I want to show off, but since I bought them as kits I can only provide links, not instructions.  Still, it's nice to have a wrap up of the end of the month craft doings.  Sorry for those for those looking for projects.  But they are really awesome kits so if you do like them, feel free to go and by one.

First of all is this lovely bracelet I bought, a Chainmaille crystal weave bracelet.  Little fiddly to get the hang of the maille technique but once you do the results are great.  I think the bracelet looks a little bit like a honey bee- I'm tempted to get some small black links and try modifying the pattern to make a honey bee bracelet.  If I do, I'll post some instructions.

Next is a part of a birthday present for my niece who will be turning 3 next week.  It was going to be something she could play with a bit but it turned out to be just too impractical for that.  The small pots and such are too unbalanced so had to be glued down.  But it's pretty and I know her Mum already made a few for the wall of her room because we bought the kits at the same time for... wait for it... $5 each!  Bargain or what!  No online link for it, but if you are in Melbourne then Theo's Discount Craft in Boronia (outer eastern suburbs) is well worth a visit.  They have lots of import stuff, mainly jewellery findings and sewing stuff but also a random mix of other stuff too.

Next, I didn't make these but my Mum is an awesome card maker and my go-to stop for card supplies.  I need a few thank-you cards I need to give in a few weeks to my awesome teaching placement mentor teachers (I have to go back to finish my time at the end of the month).  She made these this week and they were so pretty and suitable I nicked them on the spot:

And now to wrap this post up, here's my procrastinating owls in progress.  I've done the body and one sleeve up to the armpits so I'm just about to cast on for the second sleeve.  And in terms of assignments I now only have one large evil one left (total blank so I guess I'll start it next week) and a few smaller pieces that I'll get around to eventually :P