Dribble dribble, toil and bibble!

Remember the lovely swap parcel I received from my new friend in Australia last week? Well I decided that I would use some of the yarn today. A friend’s daughter has just given birth to a baby girl and I thought it would be useful to make some pretty bibs. My swap partner had told me that she uses the bamboo for dishcloths, so I though it might work well for a baby’s bib. When I knitted it up I found it to be so soft that it will be lovely for wiping baby Libby’s mouth. Less harsh than cotton. I hope the bamboo stays soft. I’m sure it will. The colours are very modern and bright, but very pretty and cheerful. I hope the new Mum likes them. The yarn, by the way is the Moda Vera bamboo/cotton (70% bamboo and 30% cotton). The second bib turned out a bit better than the first, but I think Ted models them well!

 

                                   

 

                              

 

                                                             

 

 

                              

Artistic endeavours

I spent much of Sunday drawing buttercups. It wouldn’t have taken me so long to do the drawings if I’d just read the Swap requirements, but I think I’m so used to creating ATCs that I just had it in my mind that that was what I had to do. So, I got my tablet out and did a digital painting of a buttercup, and I’m quite pleased with it. The only trouble was that when I re-read the requirements, I was supposed to do a much larger sketch. I think I had asked previously if I could do a digital, one, so that part was ok, but it needed to be much bigger. Ok, so I could have enlarged it and printed off a bigger version, but that didn’t seem like playing the game. So…I toddled off to find my pencils and watercolour crayons, and a sketch pad, and created another sketch.

Well, this one was ok too, until I decided to colour it. It actually looked much better as a pencil drawing. As soon as I put colour to it, it looked awful. By now I was running out of time, and still had a card to make for the swap, so I decided to leave it. All I did was laminate it to stop it tearing, and cut it to size. Then I set about making a card, having had a brainwave when I saw the blank card stock. Why not do another buttercup for the card, just to prove that I can draw? So, Buttercup number three followed, which was very good until I decided it would look better if inked over. It didn’t! I finished off, pretty disillusioned by now, by drawing three more mini buttercups in a left hand margin, and left it at that.

And the lesson learned? Don’t leave your swaps till the last minute. Do them straightaway, so that you have plenty of time to red0 them, and redo them…and …

See what you think..

 

 

Creepy Crawlies

I am not a lover of insects, but I do appreciate that they play an important part in our eco system. Many of them are quite pretty too, like butterflies, moths, ladybirds etc. A member of my group Flora and Fauna on Swap-bot has been hosting a group swap with the theme of Garden Insects. We had to make three Artist Trading Cards to send to one partner, either drawing or stamping the insect. These are my cards which I will be sending to my partner later today. I drew the little creatures digitally, using Artrage, and utillising the pastel and watercolour brushes. Great fun.

Swap from down under

I received a swap from my Australian swap partner a couple of days ago. This was a yarn swap, organised by one of the groups on Ravelry. I am thrilled with the contents. I asked for Australian wool, since J is in Australia and she sent me some gorgeous Cleckheaton Country Naturals, which is 8ply (DK) and 100% wool. She also sent me two skeins of Moda Vera, bamboo / cotton, which is 70% bamboo and 30% cotton, which I am also dying to try. Having read my blog, J remembered that I prefer knitting with shorter lighter needles, (unless I have 200 sts ) and sent some adorable little duckie needles. Obviously they are for children, but I am not proud. I frequently knit with children’s needles. There was a really pretty postcard of a little Kaola to remind me of Australia, along with a keyring, and also some pretty papers and adhesives to do some papertole work.
I loved everything, and just hope J enjoys what I have sent her too. Thank you for a wonderful swap.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of what I had put together for J. So I hope she takes a photo and posts it on the relevant thread to remind me.

Bits and pieces

I’ve been busy with the Dishcloths New Techniques swaps on Swap-bot. The one for May has been about ‘pick up and knit’ patterns. I decided to do one using a log cabin design and one using domino squares. I love making dishcloths and plan to start doing some Christmas designs soon. Next month the new technique is entrelac and garterlac. I had a little go at it but wasn’t very good, so I think I’m going to need quite a bit of practice!!

Meanwhile, here are this months cloths…

 

And, for a change from one type of cotton, I decided to try Adriafil Fruttamix (100% cotton). I loved the colours so thought I’d try it out by making some sachets ready to fill with lavender or pot pouri. These will be sent to a friend for selling at the next church fayre. I loved the Fruttamix. It was easy to work with and the stitches are well defined and even. It doesn’t split easily which is a bonus. And the colours are bright and fresh. I now want to try some more Adriafil as I am impressed. So, watch this space

Crochet scarf, section 4

I received the next scarf in the traveling scarf journeys. This one belongs to a lovely lady in California. As usual I had several attempts to find a yarn or yarns that would blend in nicely, or at least not clash. I think I frogged my section three times and eventually decided to do something plain and embellish it, rather than use a multi-coloured yarn or mix colours in a pattern. So, I chose black chunky shetland wool as the base, and used merino wool for the flowers and leaves. The scarf’s owner wants it to be mostly greens and blues so that’s what I used for the embellishment. I hope my friend likes the result. Here are the pictures of the scarf, before I added my bit, my contribution and the scarf as it is now, ready to travel on it’s way back to America.

Beanies and Berets

It’s a long time since I made a hat. When my children were little I seemed to be forever knitting hats, balaclavas (remember them?) and a weird and wonderful assortment of gloves and mittens. Hats with pom poms, tassles, ears; gloves with lacy trims, whiskers and noses, and fur cuffs. Those were the days! So when I had the oppoerunity to join a hat swap group on Ravelry, I grabbed it, thinking it would be a good short term project. I relished the choice of patterns I knew I’d find on Ravelry. All I had to do was wait until I was assigned a partner and then ask her for her design prefences and colours and yarns. Likewise I had to think about my own prefences.

I made a beanie as requested for my partner. I used a pattern called Christina’s Beanie  and embellished it with my own flower and leaves. I hope she liked it.

Meanwhile I received a wonderful beret from my other swap partner in Canada. She chose a wonderful pattern, and the perfect colour. I asked for a raspberry colourway, but never dreamed she’d manage to get the exact colour of my coat. It’s a perfect match and so pretty. It’s also lovely and soft and warm. Almost makes me regret it’s spring as I’ll have to wait until the end of the year before I can wear it. Not only did my partner make me a beautiful beret, but she sent a parcel full of goodies. It was like Christmas all over again. One of the items in the parcel was some Rooibos tea. It smelled lovely so I put some in the pot and had a cup without milk, and then one with milk. I liked them both, but do prefer it with milk. It’s Rooibos spicy chai and it tastes gorgeous. I will definitely be getting some more. Thank you so much Melinda,  for your generous parcel and my lovely hat. I am well chuffed.

 

Scarf Travels – International scarf section three

I received the next scarf in the International scarf travels group on Ravelry, ready for me to knit section 3. I have to say this is becoming more and more exciting because each scarf that arrives presents a different challenge. I am learning so much and stretching my abilities, learning new stitches, techniques, and experimenting with colours and texture. However, the main challenge I have is actually trying to keep the scarf width even. Most of the participants are in the USA, but some are in Europe, New Zealand and Australia and consequently we have the differences in knitting and crochet terms, plus the different yarn gauges to contend with. We have tried to iron out these difficulties but it  is still a problem as can be seen in my attempts as well as some of the other scarfs. Perhaps we’ll get better as we go along. Anyway, this is scarf three which will eventually belong to a lovely lady who lives in Illinois.All three sections have been knitted in various yarns by Noro.

 

 

Crochet starter 3!

Well as mentioned in my post below, the crochet scarf I started and sent on, doesn’t appear to have reached it’s destination, so I have started again. Not being well the last few days, I had to make do with something from my stash. It is wool, but not merino, so I hope folk will be able to work with it. I am hoping to get it out in the post today. Of course, the minute I publish this post, my lost starter will suddenly turn up. I wish it would…the thought of another thirty earrings!!

Ah well! here’s what I will be sending off this time. It’s very plain, just to get the scarf going…to anchor it, so-to-speak

Yarn test.

I have been knitting since I was five, which is a very long time ago. I learned to crochet not long after knitting, and honed my skills throughout my childrearing years. My children had all their clothes, well, a good proportion of them, handmade by me, either knitted, or sewn. I was never without a project on the go, and as well as being a useful hobby, in that it helped with the family finances, it was also theraputic.

Now I find myself in the lovely position of not having to knit for anything other than pleasure. In the intervening years, many of which were knit-free because I was too  busy working, the yarns available have improved and diversified beyond belief. The only ‘fancy’ yarn known to me was mohair, and it was expensive. We relied on clever patterns to jazz up our knitting! Nowadays there are wonderful yarns wherever you look, and we don’t have to stick to the local yarn shop, (though we should all frequent them as much as possible as they offer a valuble service), we can shop online and buy yarn from countries on the other side of the world. Incredible! The choice is only limited by your budget and imagination.

So, as a result of this, one of my favourite occupations of late, has been exploring foreign markets and testing out some of the yarn on offer. This week I sampled a Lion Brand yarn, called Suede. Like a chenille, or velvet, it is 100% polyester, and wonderfully soft to touch. Its a chunky weight, so requires bigger size needles. I couldn’t resist the urge to have a go at another bag, so clutching my size 6mm crochet hook, I made this from the one skein  (ball) of yarn, and still had a wee bit left over. The colour is called Denim by the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved this yarn and will definitely be using it again. It would make a fabulous scarf or hat, so maybe I’ll get some more for the christmas project box!