Knitting Accomplished

This is what I made with my pale yellow knitting practice piece.

And here is my finished Baby Building Blocks Blanket.

Finished by candle-light last night as we have had power cuts with the gales from the tropical storm that swept North Island.

It's not as 'straight edged' as I'd like, but hey! I'm just happy that I can knit now, lol.

Happy Stitching

Digital Art for Inspiration

What do you do when you can't sleep at night?

Me?....... I have a PLAYTIME on my computer.

Last night I produced some weird and wonderful digital art which I will share with you here.

I would love to use them as inspiration for fibre arts. 

I can see quilts in them.

Patchwork - Crazy Quilting - Mosaic - Collage - Embroidery - Canvas Work - Colourwash

Embracing My Knitting

I am taking my new knitting skills and running with it, and having such fun.

Knitting along with the Tuesday Stitchers, here is my baby blanket.

A friend is about to give birth to a boy (any moment now), so this is for them.

I call it Baby Building Blocks, and I have 'built' up three blocks high so far.

It is eight blocks wide and should end up at least 10 - 12 blocks long.

Size in inches is roughly 24" wide. 

I'll keep going either until I run out of wool, or Hayley has her baby boy, whichever comes first.

Happy Stitching

Crochet White Wrap Progress & That "Eureka" Moment

The White Wrap/Shawl is progressing along nicely now.

I have a lot of scrumbles joined together and it is really starting to take shape.

Lots of lovely texture...... I love texture.

Some lacy delicate dainty parts.

Waves ruffles bobbles and fluffles.

Loose threads still to weave in, and more scrumbles to join up.

It's fun.

And now.................on to the other title of this blog.............

 THAT   EUREKA   MOMENT 

Yes, I have had a 'moment' of that description this week.

I have learnt to knit.

I am able to knit.

I CAN KNIT

All my life I have admired knitters but never been able to master it myself. My mother tried teaching me, my school teacher tried teaching me, various friends over the years have tried teaching me. I even had a 98 years young lady try to teach me.

I couldn't understand how to cast on, and even when someone else did the casting on for me, I still couldn't get the knitting bit right.

I could never get the hang of it and gave up trying in the end. 

I was Doomed to call myself a NON-KNITTER for ever.

Until last week that is.

I have been so inspired by the creative knitters on Tuesday Stitchers:

Debra

Deborah

Judy

and

Barbara

I spent two whole days watching youtube video's on how to knit.

I've lost count of how many video's I watched, but it was definitely A LOT.

And NOW, just look what I can do...... I CAN KNIT......

A tentative start after the cast-on.

Still a bit unsure at this early stage.

 The ribbing starts to appear.

I lost half a row of stitches about half way through this ribbing, and although I managed to recover the loops without dropping a stitch, I think I put the loops back onto the needle the wrong way around, hence the midway 'bumps' along that row.

Oh yes, I think I've got the hang of the ribbing now, so I tried a different stitch.

Hah! So that is how stocking stitch is made, lol. It's all becoming clear now.

More rows dropped, damn it's annoying when I do that.

More care needed, but at least I managed to pick up the loops the right way around this time.

WooHooo look at me go.

I CAN KNIT 

excuse me while I shout louder

I CAN KNIT

That was my eureka moment.

Can you tell I'm excited about being able to knit. 

I'm sure my mother is looking down on me at this moment with a big smile on her face.

Perseverance, see, that's all it needed.

____________________________________________

Lessons learnt this week

• You can teach an old dog new tricks
• If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again
• It doesn't matter if I knit slow and clumsy, as Iong as I DO it somehow
• Slippery needles are, well....... slippery (duh!)
• If it doesn't work one way, try it another
• Check each row for mistakes before moving on
• Big Boobs and a deep cleavage make a great needle grabber in emergencies
• Knitting takes about 30% LESS wool than crochet does
• Relax and enjoy the ride

White Wrap Scrumbles & "Brock" Needle-felting

White Wrap Scrumbles & "Brock" Needle-felting

 The latest work on my needle felted Woodland character "Brock" has included a tunic change and a new hairstyle.

He is now 'Brock the Wayward Wannabe' and I can just imagine all the fun and mischievous tricks that he will be participating in.

He still needs more work in certain areas, but he's fun to work with and I keep dreaming up new characters to join him in his Woodland abode. 

Here he is now.

Progress on my White Wrap has been happening this week too.

Some scrumbles have been joined, and more scrumbles made to fit the gaps.

Not all joined together yet, but it's coming along nicely I think.

Gardening has taken up a fair amount of my time this week. 

It's Spring here in New Zealand, and everything is starting to bud and flower. 

The first lot of daffs have come and gone, the swallows have returned to the nest under the eaves on the deck (one egg so far), the rosella parakeets are busy chattering away to each other in the orchard, the ducks, pukeko's, plover's and pterodactyls (sorry, I mean herons)  are nesting around the woods and stream.

I love Spring.

Crochet Galore

Yet another week has rushed by and I don't think I've achieved much at all.

My sewing machine has been packed away for about a month, and I'm starting to think that maybe I should get it out again.

I have an abundance of ideas for things that I want to make on the machine..... I'm in a quandary... do I get the machine out and start more projects, or do I do more work on the ufo's?

During the week I have been crocheting. I seem to 'flit' between projects like a little bird (maybe its that little bird that I drew last week).

This belt is finished and will be going in my Etsy shop later today. 

I love the filigree buckle.

And another crochet project that is a WIP, here is the start of a very free-form Shoulder Wrap or scarf. Mostly in shades of white and cream, with a hint of gold/yellows.

Just for inspiration, the following pic is something my mother made in 2001. 

She signed and dated the back (good job mum).

It is all wool, and stitched in a straight stitch.

The RUG measures 0.62m x 1m (24" x 40")

Does anyone like digital art?

I do.

Later in the week I shall share a couple that I have created recently.

That's all for now.

Happy Stitching

Free Form Crochet Bolero etc.

 Needle-Felting 

This week I have been working some more on my needle-felted Woodland character. I have had to change his name though, as everyone who saw him thought it was Oscar the Grouch as he is green too. I don't want my character to be 'similar' to anything already created, so I think I'll call him Brock. Hopefully that won't bring to mind any character already in existence.

I have given Brock a cheeky Mohawk hairstyle and will post pictures next week as he is feeling a bit 'exposed' at the moment.  

 Free Form Crochet Bolero 

I have been 'playing' with arrangements for the motifs on the bolero.
I'm piecing the back together first as it is the largest area to cover. 
Here are a few motifs on my 'dummy'. The final placement may not be the same as this, and there are smaller 'filler' motifs to add to it too. I'll be making those specifically to fill a space as I need it.

I have started stitching some together in mesh style. This is probably going to be a long job, but it is quite enjoyable to do, rather like 'meander quilting', therapeutic. 

Crochet Along Space Saver and Stash-Buster

Even though I have finished my crochet-along squares baby blanket, I am still doing more crochet things.

This is a plastic bag storage dispenser. It has elastic 'holes' at the top and the bottom. You scrunch and fold each plastic grocery bag up and push it into the hole at the top. When you need a plastic bag you pull one out from the bottom. Simple. 

A hanging cord at the top keeps it off the workbench and out of the way, and within easy reach.

I know this idea has been around for a while but I've only just got around to making one for myself.

It was a good way to use up a couple of small balls of yarns.

All of these plastic bags...........

.....fits into this dispenser......

Arty Stuff

An English blue-tit bird sketch with coloured pencils. 

I wish I had time to perfect my arty muse.

Have a great week.

 Cy 

Crochet Along Afghan & the NEW Project

Well there goes another week.

The "Invasion of the Packing Boxes" has started. At the moment most of the boxes are still in their flat-pack form, but a couple have been packed and stacked. It will probably be about a year before I see the contents of those boxes again.

Crochet Along Progress

The Pastel Squares Afghan is finished now. 

Quite pleased that it is finished but not too happy with the random squares as they all turned out a slightly different measurement which made the joining of them a little bit awkward. I think I managed to get the middle lines to behave as I joined the squares together, but that outside edge, well, I will have to talk a bit more sternly to that part. It needs blocking to try to get those edges straight. 

I probably will not be doing another 'random squares' afghan. Uniform squares would have a more professional finish.

And..... because my mind was thinking about the baby afghan colours.....

here is something else that just slipped off my crochet hook.

Felting

And now to reveal what I teased you with last week.

WIP

Meet Oscar...... he lives in Hampden Forest with his family and other villagers.

(He's not finished yet though. Needs more work on mouth, arms, hands, boots etc.)

This Oscar character is the start of my NEW project.

When he is finished he will sit on a log in the bush for a photo shoot, and then await the creation of his fellow Hampden Forest inhabitants.

I can see many wonderful hours spent creating this fantasy village, and finding family connections for them all.

Do I have fun, or what!!!

Have a great week.

 Cy 

Crochet - Felting - House Update

Creatively speaking I have had another fun week.

Not too many photos to show you though, sorry about that.

 Crochet Along Squares 

I have 12 squares made now. And that is it. I really don't have the enthusiasm to make any more, so I have started stitching the squares together with a rather textured stitch (or stitches actually). This will hopefully have the effect of blocking the squares and help to keep them 'square' when the baby afghan gets washed.

I had to disregard one of the squares I had made as it was too 'chunky' to match the rest, so I made one more square during the week.

Here are some pics of the sewing together parts, as yet unfinished.

Two rows of coral stitch, two rows of fake knitting (I still haven't learnt how to knit, but I have bought some knitting needles to correct that fact) and four rows of trebles.

I will hopefully have a photo of the finished project next week.

________________________________

 Felting 

A sneak peak at what is on my felting work-table this week.

Sorry for the tease, haha.

There is a reason I do not want to show the whole thing just yet.... 

I'm not sure if it going to be as good as I intended it to be, and I may have to do some rapid alterations to get it right.

This is another project that will hopefully be finished by next weeks blog update.

 House Update 

Phew.... all ok on this now, and we finally OWN the land in Hawkes Bay and can really start planning our dream home build. Celebrations started last night (mwuahahahahaha).

This is one of our fields and is where the house will be built. If we remove a couple of those smaller trees in the middle of the field we will have a great view of the Ruahine Ranges.

This is the next field, and probably where we have the workshop/barn/studio built.

And there are three more fields in addition to these two.

Work is progressing slowly on the caravan restoration that is to be our bedroom there while the build goes ahead, and we are on the lookout for another caravan to be our living and cooking rooms for a couple of months (or maybe more) during the build, and then we can use that caravan for touring when it is all finished.

Exciting times. I shall love even living in a caravan on these blocks. My 'for-ever' holiday home.

Creatively Inspired Mixture

I have had a gloriously creative week.

It started with little bits of needle felting ....... like this.......

and this .................

All just for some fun coloured backgrounds that I can use for some other stitching projects later on. Not planned what projects they are yet, but my creative muse is thinking on it.

Then for a couple of days I stitched crochet motifs to add to my collection for the Free Form Coffee & Cream Bolero.

These are fun to do. Mostly just created from my imagination, or from inspiration pics on Pinterest etc. and creating something similar, or from adapting patterns to suit my needs. 

And then...... what bright spark let me loose in the yarn shop?

.......which just so happens to be the fabric shop as well......

which had an inspirational Christmas quilt hanging in the window.

Hence......

And........

And......... I just HAD to have this........

Isn't it beautiful.

I can hear a Rhapsody Quilt .........  Can you?

Happy Stitching