September « 2006 « Spacecrafty

September 11, 2006

Necklaces, oh my!

Filed under: Beads, Finished Object, General — Meg @ 8:09 pm

Instead of packing, I have been busy experimenting with necklaces and so far, so good!

The one to the left is the most recent one. Silver chain and some lovely blue and white acrylic beads that I picked up on a whim at my local ~~shiny crack dealer~~ bead stall. I’ve got a bunch more in other colours and I’m really quite taken by them. It’s hard to describe and didn’t show up in the photo but they look fairly solid colourwise and then you get one spot that realy catches the light and looks quite pearlesque. The wire cages were also an impulse buy (hell, most of my bead haul this weekend was impulsive…) and I really like them. I’m considering matching earrings but they’ll have to wait till the Saturday market rolls around again.

This necklace was my first attempt and I really like how it turned out. It’s longer than most of my necklaces are but I’ve decided I like this length. It came about after I went rooting through the pick and mix beads (always my downfall!) and found the first heart. After some poking and sifting, I found a bunch more and the rest was history.

Plus, it’ll go lovely with my camisole, if I ever finish it. The decreases always seem to take longer than the increases but it’s slow and steady and getting there. I got bits of it done today inbeween baking steak and kidney pies for the freezer and brownies from the Green and Black’s Chocolate cookbook (aka: yet another impulse buy from the half-price bookstore of doom.). I have the baking willpower of something very…lacking in willpower.

:resolutely ignores the Brownies lurking in the kichen:

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September 9, 2006

WIPs for a wedding (not mine, and not for me)

Filed under: Knitting, Patterns, Work in Progress — Jam @ 5:20 pm

A friend of mine, who I shall refer to as Madam A (codenames make knitting so much more exciting!) has a whole bunch of weddings to attend to, and as well as searching for a dress, was thinking about what shrug to go over it, since most of the dresses she was looking at were sleeveless and at least one of the weddings was in October. Being the helpful person I am (and this was in no way linked to avoiding working on The Beast or yet another pair of socks), I offered to make one for her. This was interesting, since a) I hadn’t made a shrug before, b) I’d never made anything more complicated than gloves and socks that needed sizing that wasn’t for me and Madam A is a little more statuesque and about a foot taller than me, and c) I was going to be making up the pattern. She wanted a shrug that was fairly tight over the upper arms and back, and then in to big bell-shaped lacey sleeves over the lower arms. Also, to make it more interesting, Madam A finds most wool yarn really irritating on her skin, but has a weakness for sparkly things. This meant using lovely Debbie Bliss alpaca silk (aran) for the body, and then sparkly yarn to be used on the ends of the sleeves where it won’t irritate so much, and she can see the sparkly.

Enough with the words! Pictures ahoy!

(more…)

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September 4, 2006

Preserving and WIPs

Filed under: Food, Knitting, Work in Progress — Meg @ 2:06 pm

It all went silent on my end due to packing (the great move to London is in t-minus 20 days and I am but halfway through the packing, urgh) and a sudden (although temporary) return to the world of Barwenching. Oh local pub, with your very very very old regulars that spend their lives drinking and hitting on the barstaff.

I have been busy outside of these things though. I’ve had two commissions for stitch markers recently which has kept me occupied, the WIPs on needles seem to be multiplying when I turn around and I’ve been dabbling in the art of preserving!

I’m particularly proud of the preserving as it’s been something I’ve wanted to try for ages but previous thought was too complicated. But, after a bumper harvest of blackberries from the local woods, I followed the really simple recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess and ended up with four jars of Blackberry jam.

Only three remain as the fourth jar was opened as soon as they’d cooled down sufficiently so we could taste them. I’m very pleased with the way it came out, tart but still sweet and with bits of fruit still remaining.

I’ve also made four other preserving/bottling related items but they’ve all been ermarked as presents and at least two of the people read this blog! :seals lips:

I can show what’s on the needles though!

First up is yet another baby cardi. I’ve become far too fond of knitting baby garments. It’s all the fun of a whole item but with only half the knitting! This one is the French Fancy from July’s Simply Knitting and is actually a bit more advanced than the picture is. I’m halfway through the collar and then all that’s left is sewing it up and adding the buttons. This one is also going to my smallest cousin in New Zeland.

And also on the needles is the camisole from August’s Simply Knitting. I’m knitting it in the pattern yarn, which is Elle’s Cotton Fields and it’s the first time I’ve knitted with cotton. I must say, I love the drape and feel of the yarn.

I’ve been knitting this one while watching TV because once you get into the pattern, it’s pretty mindless. I’ve already started the decreases so it’s downhill from here on until I hit the crochet needed to join it up. Er.

Plus, the sock that continues to mock me is still around (Cursed heel!) as is the prototype for my knitted puddlejumper, which is waiting for me to finish the baby cardi so it can snaffle some of that yarn.

And the temperature changes have meant that I’ve been churning out Banana Bread like it’s going out of fashion, so all in all the crafty side of life is still going strong.

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