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My Coraline [Rav link] is done! Hooray! I took advantage of my current copious amounts of free time and the recent sunshine to sit down and knit a lot. The end result being that after some disgruntled cable needle wrangling (I hate cable needles and normally do cabling without one but the smocking required it) I started the smocking yoke and finished it in fairly short order. Then, I blocked it and let it dry (took forever!) and then after a couple attempts at the sewn button loops, I gave up and did self-yarn crochet chain loops using a 2mm hook. About 7 chains for each loop and then reinforced with the sewn in ends.
And, when I haven’t been knitting like a crafty lizard in the sun, I’ve been cross-stitching. Which is probably my original gateway craft. I have picked it up and put it down multiple times over the years but very much am back in the mood for it. I’ve got a plan for some geeky charts brewing but while I work on those ideas, I’ve done some small pieces.
The Lovebirds is a mirror case that came as the free gift with Cross-Stitcher Issue 237 with a few tiny modifications and the other thing is a felt envelope that I made for my Hivemind so she has somewhere to store loose bits and bobs (heh) while she’s stitching – I may have helped get her hooked at the Stitch and Craft show, mwhahahaha! – and uses the chart that came with issue 239 of Cross-stitcher for the label.
Not yet photographed, because I haven’t assembled it yet, is the pincushion from Issue 238. Heh. Must get on with assembling it as it would be trés useful while I am stitching (oddly…)
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T’bf is a massive Doctor Who nerd, so while he was tromping around the Doctor Who exhibition in London, I was busily constructing a surprise birthday cake Dalek. Dalek Cake (exterminate! exterminate!) is made out of swiss rolls, icing and minstrels, with toothpicks, tinfoil and glace cherries standing in for plunger etc. and comes from a 1960s episode of Blue Peter.
I had less than an hour to construct him, so everything was shop bought and he had a tendency to fall over (quite hard to get the bottom even) so I am propping him up for the photo. But should you want to make your own Dalek Cake, you can watch the Blue Peter clip online.
T’bf may have squealed, which, you know, job done! :D
Other baking done this weekend, although sans photo, was my first attempt at a cake made with gluten free flour to take along to a housewarming. I’m using Dove Farm’s gluten free flour and their victoria sponge recipe from the back of the package. It didn’t rise as much as I’d expected it to but it was still substantial, very light crumb and didn’t have the gritty texture you sometimes get with gluten free flour and everyone who ate some enjoyed it. Hooray! Recipe behind the jump…
Read more »
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Look at that cake. It is a cake that netted me several emails from my coworkers going ‘That looks amazing!’ (and they got several emails back in return going ‘Well, eat it!’ but I had to be the person who made the first slice after lunch in order to lure the hordes.) and then several emails that just went ‘NOM NOM NOM!’.
It is also a cake that is great if you’re avoiding wheat for whatever reason, as it uses almonds. I currently have to avoid wheat and my hivemind is Coeliac, so I am always on the look out for delicious but wheat free baking things and this delivered in spades.
It’s called ‘guilt free chocolate cake’ and is by Annie Bell, from her Gorgeous Cake book — which I borrowed off a coworker and has several wheat-free cakes for me to try, hooray! — and I thoroughly recommend it! Recipe behind the jump.
Read more »
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I had planned to do some more sewing this weekend – a coin purse to go with my bag – but instead, I ended up doing some object finishing in regards to knitting, which brings me down to one piece on the go and that’s my Coraline.
Which is a good place to start, actually.
It’s actually even further along since that photo this morning – the sleeve is now halfway done and I’m finishing the last few rows on the back at the moment. Which will just leave me with the sleeves to do and then it’s the yoke and then I’m laughing (and wearing a v. nice cardi.) Hooray!
The finished objects are:
My Cotton Reel Mittens:
[Rav link to original pattern]
Which are also my first colourwork project. I’m quite pleased with them; my tension stayed fairly even through out, I really like the construction but I do think that next time, I’d probably drop a needle size after the start of the thumb gusset as they’re a bit bigger than I like my fingerless mittens to be.
And a stealth ‘must knit that now!’ project, also Ysolda (I’m knitting from patterns I have at the moment!), the Lee hat.
Mine was done in Rico Essential Merino Aran, in blue (Jeans) and Natural. The construction of this hat is fantastic (although fiddly at times) but generally worth it! I’ll almost certainly knit it again in other colours.
The sewing will happen, although probably not for a couple of weekends now, as my next two weekends will be spent somewhere other than my flat/sewing machine. But I do plan to do some prep work for them when I’m home.
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Wheeee! One finished Buttercup bag from Made by Rae. It took me awhile – I cut the fabric out ages ago and then failed to do anything with it/succumbed to the Sewing machine Fear – but I decided that I needed to sew it up, so I’ve been working on it slowly over the last week or so, especially when it came to the pleats, and then because I was up early today, I sat down and wrangled the last bits of sewing together etc.
The outer fabric is Tumble Roses in Tangerine (although they’re pink!) from Amy Butler’s Love range and the inner fabric is Gemstone in Sage from Dena Design’s Leanika range, both of which were fat quarters from same bundle I bought from the Fabric Loft as the one I used for the Frankenkindle.
I only made one major mistake and even that was fixable – in future, I shall remember to check which side I am putting the magnetic snap before I flatten the legs. But a little bit of wrangling with my pliers reversed that foolish mistake.
Yay!
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Well, don’t get used to this much updating but I’m back, with another post!
Yesterday I bought a Kindle, which wasn’t strictly planned but serendipity has its own ways and means and had settled this for me last week. So it wasn’t like I didn’t know it was going to happen and could thus make plans.
Now, Kindles are small. Tiny, even. Lightweight and utterly terrifying to contemplate it sliding around in my handbag unprotected. Kindle covers however, have their own pitfalls, esp. the official ones, also, they’re boring. Boooorrrrriiiing!
So, here is Frankencover, my own monster which started life as Chica & Jo’s Custom cover and ended up, with a little bit of ‘oops!’/mother of invention slightly off pattern.
The main change to the pattern was that I ran out of material before I could fit the final two pieces of card in the tube, a combination of slightly suspect measuring (I don’t do imperial and there’s always the possibility of oops when converting) and not being able to sew as close to the card as I should have. So, I folded over the end of the tube/flap and hemmed it with enough space to fit some ribbon through as a decorative but also mostly functional bow. The main security is provided by the elastic, which I flipped around to the other side of the tube when I realised that I was going to have to wander into the land of necessity.
It doesn’t stand up as the Chica and Jo pattern does but it protects my Kindle and gives me something to hold while reading. There’s a couple things to fix still – I may well change the ribbon and when I do/decide to leave it, I’ll do a couple quick lines of stitches to hold the ribbon firmly in the tube and the threads need a bit of tidying up.
The card is greycard which I bought a large A5-ish sized sheet of from Cass Arts and the fabric is a fat-quarter I got in this bundle from Fabric Loft. The ribbon was leftovers from the hen party I held last year with the lovely makedomenders for my best friend.
Unfolded:
Back view:
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*draws curtain over usual silence*
Things, things I am making in 2011!
Cotton Reel Mittens by Ysolda, in some of my treasured Sheldridge Farm 3ply, Mash Mallow (yellow) and Pussywillow (grey). These are my first attempt at colourwork and I am enjoying them greatly. The join is a little messy but frankly, they make me smile and they’re my first two-stranded project, so I don’t care.
Also on the needles:
Very exciting photo, of course but that is the start of Ysolda’s Coraline, which I’m knitting in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, bought in the John Lewis sales last summer. I’m now past the hem (hooray!) and knitting away at it while watching stuff, so I’m not expecting massively instant progress.
Other plans include a cover for the Kindle I’m buying shortly and some goddamn sewing, instead of suffering from Teh Fear of my machine.
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Oh blog. It’s been quiet here, I know. Aside from some technological shenanigans, I’ve just been kind of slumpy with regards to crafty things and blogging in general. I have WIPs everywhere, both fabric and knitting. But that’s starting to change and I figured it was time to get back on the horse and what better way than to start with an extremely fun experience?
Image used with permission of Homemade London
Due to the wonders of twitter, last Saturday saw me turning up at the newly opened and beautifully appointed location of
Homemade London as a willing volunteer for their press photos photoshoot.
Image used with permission from Homemade London
It was a small affair but lovely, with four other crafty volunteers, we busily tried out all the stitch options on Homemade London’s sewing machines, talked about crafty things, tried our best not to freeze up on camera and discovered that London is ridiculously small for somewhere so big, with mutual friends and ‘I know you from somewhere!’ moments popping up unexpectedly.
We drank tea and champers and ate absolutely gorgeous cakes and generally had a fabulous time. Nicola, from Homemade London is a delight and I can’t wait to go on one of the classes (as a disclosure, volunteering got me a voucher for a class) – Jam has already been on one, the scent class and really enjoyed it but I’ll leave that to her to write about (HINT HINT!) – and it certainly served as an excellent kick in the rear about blogging again!
Which, in related news, you may notice a selection of linklog posts have popped up recently. I’ve been tweaking the settings and have hopefully managed to get it set up to post once a week with all the crafty links I come across while I’m meandering the web. There’s also still a few things I need to tweak on the main layout but hopefully they’ll be sorted shortly.
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Crafty bookmarks for September 8th through September 12th:
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Crafty bookmarks for August 27th through September 7th:
FO: Coraline plus xstitch
