Search Results for: knitting

Knit and weave

Lots of yarn activity here lately! I finished a Rainbow Dress using my hand dyed yarns in 10 ply. I love the look of it but I’m not sure how much wear she will get out of it now that the weather is warming up. Being 10ply, it’s pretty thick and heavy. As others have said, it will make a great long tunic next winter.

I’ll absolutely be knitting this pattern again, perhaps a cotton one for the warm weather. The pattern is by Tikki.

And this is my first ever project off my new rigid heddle loom – a stash busting scarf. I intentionally used a wide variety of yarns to see how they perform differently for weaving.

I learned so much from this project, and it doesn’t look nearly as rough as I expected for a first piece. I discovered that hand dyed and handspun yarns are perfect for weaving 🙂

My joy of all things yarn is not showing any signs of slowing and I’m very happy to say that my hand dyed yarns are selling really well. I’m waiting on my next order to arrive so I can start dyeing again, there will be cotton too 😀

The spring weather is so fabulous here at the moment and there is so much good, productive work to do. I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.

God bless!

Giveaway!

by Kelly 22 Comments

It’s so long since I had a giveaway! I’m coming up to my 800th (!) blog post and have over 200 likes on my Facebook artist page, so I felt a little celebration is in order. All items have been hand crafted by me. Here is what the winner will receive:

50grams of hand dyed “fuschia and raspberry” 8ply merino.

100grams of hand dyed “dusky heath” 8ply merino.

This 10 inch waldorf style softie doll (remember the one I made for the tutorial?)

A set of 4 stitch markers for knitting.

A 28x30cm piece of hand painted wool felt.

Open to all earthly residents.

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment here telling me which item you like the most and why.

2. You need to be a follower of this blog to enter. New followers are welcome.

3. You need to “like” my Facebook page in order to enter. If you don’t have a Facebook account please tell me in your comment and your entry is still valid.

I will draw one winner on Friday the 9th August.

Bright Rainbows

by Kelly 3 Comments

Since I spend a bit of time on my artist page on Facebook I forget to come here and show what I’ve been doing. There have been a few brightly coloured rainbows coming out of my dye studio. My laundry I mean.

This one came out so pretty and the 10 ply means it’s beautifully soft and squishy. It’s what I’m knitting with at the moment, but I have a spare 100g skein in my Etsy shop, as I thought someone would be bound to want some.

Here is the felt piece laid out. The colours bled a little in the steaming process, which I really like (and someone else did too – it sold very quickly!)

I dyed this skein to contrast with the bright rainbow yarn for Anna’s Green Apple dress. The pattern says “adventurous beginner” but I’ve hit a stumbling block already, hopefully I can figure it out and go on with the dress, it really is a gorgeous pattern.

Hello! Last week was my birthday, so this is me at 37. What a good age it is too 🙂

Easing into unschooling?

by Kelly 3 Comments

This year has been quite a happy one for me personally and for my family too. Pondering over this recently led me to realise how drastically my approach to the home education of our children has changed.

Although I think of our style as “classical”, in my heart and mind I’ve been leaning towards what some have termed “unschooling”. I guess the term can apply to anyone who chooses not to send their child/ren to a typical school, but it does seem to receive a bad rap.

Does unschooling mean that Mum flits around doing what she pleases while the kids languish in boredom and nothingness? Of course not! To me, unschooling is living a lifestyle of learning, having the time to follow your own learning pursuits and build skills independently as well as together.

Now, I don’t think of my family as unschoolers. But I do know this. Since I relaxed our formal learning schedule things have changed for the better. We all have more time and we all use our time effectively (for the most part). We appreciate not being tied to a strict schedule that dictates what we do and when we do it. Isn’t that one of the reasons I don’t send my children to school anyway? It sure is!

Yesterday a few events highlighted the positive changes. My husband is usually home on Mondays, so we use it as a day off rather than a “school work day”. In the morning the two older girls (6 & 7) read books about dinosaurs together and had discussions about the same, then the older girl worked on her knitting and stitching projects while the younger one played with Lego. Meanwhile, the littlest in our family (4) was in her room setting up a “farm”. Our son (13) went out with his Dad to run errands the spent the larger part of the afternoon formulating and testing mathematical equations that I’ve never seen before! A year ago, this boy hated maths. Other parts of the day are used for art and craft work, writing, exercise, playing (individually and together), reading (lots of!), prayer and family activities. There is always plenty to do.

I was asked the other day whether we are unschoolers. My reply was “can we be in-betweeners?” We’re not throwing our “school” books away, there is a lot of value in sitting down to do bookwork, especially from a self disciplinary aspect and ensuring that basic education is covered. But I do find it truly amazing what a child can achieve when given the space to breathe.

*If you’re interested in reading more about unschooling, Sue’s blog is excellent and truly inspiring.

Cast on, cast off!

by Kelly 4 Comments

The knitting bug hasn’t left me and isn’t likely to any time soon. Likewise, the yarn dyeing bug 🙂

The pattern is Granny’s Favourite by Tikki. The yarn is hand dyed by me, merino 8ply.

It’s my first attempt at lace knitting, and though I had to enlist a little help from Tas to read the instructions properly, it wasn’t hard in the end.

I got some lovely little heart buttons from here.

It’s a snug fit on Gem, but luckily her 2 younger sisters will be more than willing to take it off her hands next season 🙂

I’ve been working on so much stuff lately it makes me giddy to think of it all! You could say I’m well and truly immersed in everything handmade. There isn’t much I can show you yet, but before too long I can reveal what’s been taking up my creative time.

Waldorf softie doll tutorial part 2.

by Kelly 3 Comments

I’m a little embarassed at how long it has taken me to complete part 2, but I’m terrible at finishing what I start! Part 1 of the tutorial can be found here.

The pattern can be downloaded and printed from here.

For the body you will need 2 9x 9 inch pieces of knit fabric. Use a good quality knit with a percentage of elastane for a good result. If the knit is too stretchy, your doll will stretch out of shape.

You will also need clean carded wool for stuffing.

For the pixie hat you will need approx. 11 x 11 inch piece of knit to be folded.

Place your knit pieces together, right sides facing. Pin the body pattern on with the most stretch running horizontally and trace around it onto the fabric.

Place a few pins to stop the fabric moving. With a ballpoint needle and matching thread, stitch on the lines you traced, leaving a gap where indicated. Use small stitches to make strong seams. If you’re concerned about seams parting during stuffing, stitch right around the body piece again, leaving the gap open.

Cut around close to the seam lines being careful not to snip the stitches! Snip the curves. Be very careful when cutting between the legs, go slowly.

Turn the body piece right side out, running your finger around the inside seams to turn all the pieces properly. Ain’t that cute!

Stuff the body with clean carded wool. It is up to you how firmly you stuff, but keep in mind that the wool stuffing will relax over time. When stuffing, try to leave a hollow space where you will insert the neck.

Pop the head into the opening and stick pins into the “muff” that you created when making the head. Make sure the raw edges of knit are folded in around the neck – the great thing about knit fabric in this case is it tends to naturally roll inward, so it makes it easy to get those raw edges in.

Now, beginning at the back of the neck, hand stitch all the way around the neck, catching the head and body together. I use a little “catch stitch” which is almost invisible. I use a doubled thread in a complimentary colour. Stitch the little shoulder seams as you go. I stitch around the neck twice to ensure it’s really secure.

You can do a full head of hair if you wish but here I will show you how to do a pixie hat with a little hair tuft peeking out. Using a lovely, natural yarn make 3 – 4 loops. Pin these to the top of the head so that the cut end is poking towards the back of the head and all the nice loops are at the front, over the forehead. Stitch across the loops in a place that won’t show once the hat is on to secure them to the head.

Now the hat! Fold your second piece of knit with right sides together. Place the pixie hat pattern (triangle) onto your fabric against the fold where indicated and with the most stretch running horizontally. Stitch along the long, straight side, up to the point, leaving the bottom edge open.

Turn right side out and poke out the point of the hat with a knitting needle or similar. Placing the hat seam at the back of the doll’s head, pin in place. See how the knit has rolled up at the front to make a rim?

You may have to tuck up the hat at the back, which is easy to do. Using a catch stitch and matching thread, sew all the way around the hat, catching it to the head.

How does your doll look? I’d love to see it!

I’d also love your input (i.e. let me know if there are any mistakes in the tute!)

Just a little heads up. I’m approaching 800 blog posts and am in the mood to celebrate with a little giveaway. I’m thinking this mushroom doll may be featuring. Ssshhh!

A brand new day.

by Kelly 2 Comments

It’s amazing what a good sleep, a good talk with my husband and some heartfelt prayer can do.

Today is a new day and it’s a better one.

I’ve set aside some time for knitting and reading. My dear and wonderful husband took over our little “school house” this morning so I could go out and catch up on errands.

A few small changes can be so refreshing.

Thank you for your really lovely comments on yesterday’s post – I do so appreciate the experience and gentle words of others who understand a little of me even though they don’t know me.

It’s all about yarn :)

by Kelly 4 Comments

Yes, even my beloved embroidery has fallen to the wayside for a little while as my love of yarn and knitting continues. Dyeing my own yarn is also really rewarding, as whatever craft I’m doing I always like to have as much involvement in the process from start to finish as possible. OK, so I don’t have my own sheep and spinning wheel yet, but who knows what could happen? 🙂

I’ve just finished this cute Olearia (pattern by Tikki). I intended to have long sleeves but became scared that I was running out of yarn, so short sleeves it is.

I dyed this 8ply merino with really strong colours in fuschia and raspberry, using a variation of the hand painting technique to get the variegated colours. The glass buttons which are impossible to photograph accurately were gifted to me some time ago are beautiful and I’ve kept them for a special project.

I’ve already cast on my next cardigan using more of my hand painted yarn (I love the way this turned out!) I’m hoping to start selling more of my hand dyed yarn to fund further exploration, there are just so many beautiful fibres and I need to get my hands on them!

If you’re interested in any of my hand dyed yarn please do contact me 🙂

Craft from the past

by Kelly 1 Comment

I often forget to show finished projects these days or otherwise I just don’t get the time. This knitting roll was for a Crafty Mamas Christmas swap.

I followed a tutorial from here.

The red and white print is a screen printed piece from Blueberry Ash Textiles. The cute little blue and green trees I picked up from a craft show some time ago.

A nice way to keep your needles tidy I think (hmmm, I could do with one of these myself!)

My swap recipient is a keen knitter, so in keeping with the knitting them I made her a knitters brooch.

The little swatch was knitted on bamboo toothpicks (looks really cute, gives you really sore fingers and hands!) Then I glued some beads onto the ends of the sticks, rolled a little yarn around them and glued it all to a beautiful wooden brooch I got from here and filled with some hand dyed wool felt.

Another project completed last year that I never did show. The skirt was actually a UFO from my beginner sewing days which was made from pale pink polar fleece. I thought it was rather boring on it’s own, so I sewed some ric rac and buttons with embroidery onto some lovely hand dyed wool felt. I cut it into a pocket shape and sewed it onto the skirt, easy peasy.

But that wasn’t enough either. So I made this little guy from wool felt in a custom size to fit the pocket.

Hello, aren’t I cute?

What comes next?

by Kelly 4 Comments

A few short months ago I was ready to give away all hope and fancies of working for myself. After 4 years of trying to pursue a handmade business I was ready to accept that despite my efforts it just wasn’t happening and so I might as well go back to making just for my family and for gifts.

I’ve started knitting in a pretty big way and have really appreciated knitting every day to make really beautiful clothing for my family. I’ve had the time to sit back and enjoy my crafts and trying new things without the pressure of finishing an order or attempting to make something that would be popular enough to sell.

I’ve also been thinking a lot. About how much I dislike making items that I don’t personally like, but that somebody wants and will pay money for. About how I like to be free to make what I love. And now for the real problem – that I often seem to like things that other people don’t like or aren’t interested in.

All this leads me to ponder on my former philosophy of art and craft – that the two blend together almost seamlessly. But am I wrong? Because lately, I feel a direct leaning towards art as opposed to craft. My business card says “Textile Artist”, but have I ever really taken myself seriously as an artist or am I just “the lady who makes stuff”?

Why am I writing all this? Because I don’t know what to do next. My years as a Mum has seen me gain and study so many artistic and crafty skills that when I actually list these skills it seems amazing even to me. Yet I have no direction. I don’t know what to do next. My approach so far has been to create what I like and hope it would sell. Sometimes it works – usually it doesn’t.

My ultimate dream is to be a self supporting handmade artist. So, what comes next?

By the way, thanks for listening, it helps to share 🙂