A Ring and a Gnome

Yesterday was Sit & Stitch at Can Do Books.  I finished sewing the red ring and did a few other crochet bits and pieces.  One of the lovely ladies there gave me a very sweet knitted gnome pattern.  Thank you Joan.

Hmmm

Large ring of cardboard covered in crochet.  Circle about 26cm across.

Tawny Frog Mouth

  

  

I made him earlier this year.  Knitting, embroidery and a felt beak.  He guards the craft room sitting on top of the burtons watching the door.

Never Too Early For Christmas

  

  

I made this Santa in 2013, and have never made another.  He is is three wrapped balls, body, head and nose, and weighted so he sits quite well.  There are beads in the brim of his hat.  The beard is knitted from specialty yarn.

Pantry Update

  

Sistema have brought out a new tub that I quite like, so I have been changing them over in the pantry.  Nice and clear, you can see what is inside.  On the spice rack I have been slowly changing over to glass bottles with screw top lids.  I used to have it full of IKEA spice bottles, on the IKEA rack, but they don't seal very well or keep the herbs fresh.  This time for the pantry update I made labels instead of writing them out.

Handrails

I was trying to make very small handrails with quite fine wire and was having a lot of trouble.  And then I thought I could make the handrails like needlelace, using a pad.  The wire is held to the pad with little stitches, then the buttonhole stitch is worked, the handrail is removed from the pad by cutting all the little holding stitches.  It is still quite fragile and can be easily bent, but it is a much more successful way to do it.

Teeny Tiny Ladder

For the teeny tiny people.  I know the ladder is even too small for the worker, but it is all about perspective in the final piece.

Turkey

  

  

I am still working on the commission, which I can't show just yet.  This turkey was made for the same lovely lady I am working for now.  She asked for a turkey and a butcher.  I had a lot of fun making the turkey, lots of frills, lumps and bumps.  The bird is made up of crochet, wrapped wire legs and black, and embroidery around the eyes.  I left the legs sticking out the way they are while working on the turkey because they were less in the way and the bird was able to sit still.  I ended up leaving them that way because the pose gave a startled look.

 

Not Enough Legs

I often pause something I am watching and take a photo.  Recently I was watching Who Do You Think You Are UK on YouTube and spotted these very sweet seagulls.  Then looking at the photo closely, there are six birds and ten legs.

Barry the Blowfly

  

  

Like any blowie, Barry is trying to find somewhere to settle in the craft room.

In The Garden

  

  

  

Even though it is still winter, there are some lovely flowers in the garden.  And the moss, love the moss.

And Still Knitting

Got quite a bit done this weekend.  Back and one front finished and started on the other front.  Will have to back to working on the commission today.  Might go back to the knitting in between stages, thinking time.

Barry the Blowfly

  



Textile artist Ann Wood put out a challenge to make a silly bug (Ann Wood's website).  I accepted the challenge and made Barry, a blowie.  Complete with Harris Tweed scarf he is ready for this cold day in Melbourne.

Still Knitting

Finished the back and now on to one of the fronts.  Having a little break from the commission work.

Knitting and a Book

  

  

Nearly finished the back of the cardigan yesterday, worked up to the arm shaping at Can Do Books, then the rest last night.  Also bought a lovely big book, The Shetland Project.  Full of  lovely knitting, mostly colour work, and a bit of history of Shetland knitting.

Jumper Knitting

It's Sit & Stitch at Can Do Books today.  Still working on the commission, so need something to work on.  This cardigan has been sitting on the table for a while, so its coming along today.

Water Tank

The workplace for the teeny tiny people has a water tank.  The workplace is still coming together.

Needlelace Flower

  

I took a course three years ago at the Embroider's Guild to learn needlelace.  We made a flower.  Petals and leaves were made separately then brought together.  I went on later that year to do the Intermediate course in Needlelace and made three items.

Dyeing with Lavender

  

This jar of lavender was from our very first lavender bush in our very first garden when we were living in Canberra.  Not really sure why I put the flowers in a jar, or why it has come with us all these years, from one home to the next.  So while I was waiting for the printer to do its thing the other day, I was looking at the jar and wondering what colour I would get.  So in an effort to declutter, or just make different clutter, I made a dye pot of lavender flowers.  The cotton ric rac and the piece of linen did not take up much colour at all, bit of a subtle pink.  The yarn on the other hand soaked it all up (wasn't the first thing in the pot either) and is a lovely brown shade.  I used citric acid for the mordant.

In The Garden

The hellebore is flowering.  It has been a couple of years, it got knocked about when the neighbour's tree was removed, changing the light.

Sneek Peek

The workplace for the teeny tiny people is what I have been working on.  It is a slow process, but coming along.

New Yarn this Week

The grey yarn arrived by post the other day from Shetland, Scotland.  It is a Donna Smith Design yarn, Langsoond.  I don't have a project in mind for these two skeins so they will go in the stash.  The blue yarn I picked up yesterday at the shop in Fairfield, Cutting Cloth.  It is for my next commission project, gathering materials while I work on the current commission.

Magpie Photo

  

Playing around with an app that changes photos, I used this photo of one of the magpies that comes to visit our backyard.  Most of the effects on the app are useless, these two were the best of the lot.  I think the white lines on black work better than the black lines on white.  Either of them lend themselves to stitch work.