{quilt} while you're ahead

- 2 - seed stitch cowl

... or moss stitch cowl, which means the same thing and it would be a better name for this given it is totally the colour of moss.  (Don't show this sentence to my English teacher... clumsy or what?  Didn't sleep well last night, it is what it is.)

Knitted using two skeins of Madelinetosh 80/10/10 worsted, colorway 'rambler'.  Gorgeous yarn.

Slow knitted because let's face it... seed/moss stitch is wonderful... but very tedious to knit.

Super warm and soft.  Not itchy at all.  (Am I the only one who finds alpaca itchy?)

I have another skein... mittens or hat?

Decisions decisions.

*118** bauble wreath

It's a little bit blingy and bright and shiny....it's a little fun...

It's a coat hanger covered in cheap baubles and a big red bow to cover the badly made fastening. (Coat hangers are hard to bend, people, don't assume I tell ya)

But it's a happy coat hanger, don't you think?

 

*60**

... oops I did it again...

Little pouch.

Just because sometimes, among the chaos it feels good to make something.

 

And now, if you'll excuse me... that hamster wheel doesn't spin by itself you know

 

... so to speak.

*50** laptop case

After enough hints I got a new laptop for my birthday.  Not very subtle hints.  And it took a long time... but it worked.

(Some people call it nagging... I prefer calling it hinting...)

And then I made my present a present...

I used this pattern from Sewplicity (click on the link), but omitted the front pocket and the handles.  I really wanted a simple protective sleeve for when I carry the baby in my bag.

The fabric is a giant handkerchief bought either in New York at the MOMA store or in London in the Muji store.  I can't remember.  The original plan was to make a cushion out of it... but hey... plans schmlans...

The dense(wish) crosshatch quilting give it a lovely tactile feel.  I went by eye, no marking and I like it that way.

The zipper was a bit of a mare... but aren't they always?

But I tamed the beast.

I showed it who's boss.

Eventually.

So there.

Have laptop case.  Will travel.

110-2015 - advent calendar -

... yes yes yes, I know it's the 2nd today but yesterday I was busy ok?

Of course I made the boys a calendar this year... I actually did suggest a tasty Lindt one... but it caused a riot so...

Inside it's the usual suspects of chocolate and small treats (this year travel size samples of hair clays and body sprays seem to be popular with my lot).

Mr M has been a very good boy so he got a selection of weird beers and small bottles of wine

(chosen mainly by the prettiness of their labels, call me shallow... I don't care)

And me? Well, I must have been a good girl too!

Oh so so pretty.

 

Right December... I'm (almost) ready for you!

85-2015 - Autumn wreaths -

We have painted the doors in the new house a gorgeous blue/black.

(Little Greene, "Basalt")

They look great, I love them.  They used to be a sad grey before and I couldn't wait to change it. (I love grey, half my clothes are grey... just not that shade  and not on a door!)

Anyway, do you know what looks good on dark doors?

Yes! a bright wreath!

First up was the back door (our house is on a corner and both doors are visible from the road).  I guess when the house was first build this was the 'servants/delivery' door as it opens onto the boot room/scullery area - currently it's rugby boots and sports stuff room!

I dug out an old burlap wreath I made a couple of years ago, nice but plain,

and added a string of artificial little apples

 

and a glue gun... oh come on... who doesn't like a glue gun?

And voila', a brand new Autumn wreath:

 

It's a little too small... but it's the back door and it'll do for now.  I find it difficult to find large plain wreath to decorate around here...

And then there was the front door, which is much bigger and definitively required a larger wreath.

...At this point you'll have to forgive the lack of 'during' photos as I was trying to sort out new tyres for my car at the same time and was somewhat distracted....

... anyway, I bought a large fake orange berry wreath from 'Home Sense' and a few other bits to add to it.  I wanted a lot of large pinecones but they only had cinnamon scented ones and... no thanks... so I compromised

 

with more fake fruit and more burlap

And voila'...

Autumn, I'm ready.

Even if I have no tyres for my car...

46-2015

When I went to school we didn't have a dedicated art room.  Everything was done at our desk (boring) and in fact more than 'art' we studied 'history of art' which I didn't really appreciate then and it's not much useful to me now a part from hopelessly trying impress my children.  

It's very hard to impress my children.  Very tough audience.

Anyway, back to art... ah yes, so, when the boys' art teacher asks for my help (she's quite an amazing and creative and inspiring lady) I always say yes because it's great fun and I'm a great believer that it's good for the kids seeing their parents get involved in their education (a part from the homework nagging, that is...).

Plus the art room is fab.

The latest project (last year we did felting with the little ones) involved a gaggle (there's no better word) of 11yr old girls, a bunch of white t-shirts, elastic bands and fabric paint.

A riot.

Some of them turned out absolutely fantastic!  

I know because I went back this morning and rinsed them all off,  it sounds like I'm such a teachers' pet... I actually did to satisfy my curiosity...  (I now have blue/purple fingers by the way.  Not pretty)

So if you want a really (messy) easy (messy) project (which can get quite messy) do it!  I fully intend to buy the gear and get the boys to Pollock some fabric for me.  Outside.  Aways from the house.

You can get the stuff from Amazon, we used this one.

31-2015 { indigo fever }

A few of you have emailed me asking me about how easy it was to indigo dyed... well, the way I do it... it's easy.  To do it 'like a boss'  - to borrow an expression from my children - it's not easy.

The hardest thing is to make the dye bath, to make sure the various elements mix properly etc. etc.  I still don't know.  The two times I've done it I used kits of synthetic indigo rather than start from indigo powder and I do feel I kind of cheated doing it that way but I loved the results so I'm hiding behind those.

My dream is to take a proper course and learn 'the ancient way'... for now you can use these two kits from George Weil:

- Synthetic Indigo Dye Kit. This is what I used last year in Tuscany, it's a little complicated but you can dye up to 2Kg of fibres.

- Mini indigo Tie Dye Kit. This is what I used last weekend, and it was easy peasy.  The colour is lighter than the other one, especially after rinsing and drying, so you need to 're-dip' once or twice if you prefer a much darker blue.

Both come with very clear instructions.  I would say just dive straight in.  My favourite pieces are the ones I just chucked in the dye bath as an after thought (I tipped into it my box of white/cream scraps and they are divine)... and the magic of the green turning blue never gets old. (Try choosing a sunny day... it helps).

I bought my undyed yarn from 'Wooltops' if you fancy trying a bit of that too.

Go on... have fun... 

... you'll find it might become an obsession...

 

30-2015 { indigo dyeing }

Indigo fever.

There's something about that colour that I find mesmerising.

Magic.

It's deep.  Calm.  Thoughtful.

 

 

28-2015 { turmeric dyeing }

After the success with onion dyeing I was itching to try other natural dyeing methods.  I did a little of research and the yellow gold you can obtain with turmeric was too beautiful to be ignored.  Turmeric comes from a plant native of South West India and it's part of the ginger family.  It's commonly used in Indian cooking but it is also famous for its dyeing and some say medicinal properties.

I put 50g of turmeric in a large pot together with 3 litres of water and let it bubble up gently for about half an hour.

Then I took my pre-soaked yarn (merino 4 ply) and  fabric (2 types of linen) and immerse them in the dye bath and left them for about three/four hours.  I took the pot off the heat at this stage, I was a little worried about cooking/felting the yarn.

I have to warn you... you want to light some candles around the room if you're doing this in the kitchen like I did.  The turmeric has a somewhat peppery and mustardy smell that's rather pungent.  It does disappear quite quickly but during the 'cooking time'... it's not the best smell in the world!  Once the yarn and fabric were steeping in the dye bath I kept the lid firmly on at all times!

When I was happy with the colour I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed some more till the water ran clear and then dried the skein overnight in the airing cupboard.  I was very very happy to notice that once the yarn dried the smell completely disappeared. Phew.

The linen was left in the pot overnight but still you can see how different it soaked up the colour:

I didn't use any mordant but after washing nothing lost any colour so finger crossed they won't fade in the light!

Now I'm waiting for a sunny day to do a little more indigo dyeing... I really got the dyeing bug!