stumbled across the pattern for this cache coeur a few weeks ago on Ravelry. Quick hunt through the stash to find some Jo Sharp Silkroad aran in Ricepaper and it was on the needles.
Only a few rows to go before I can sew on the buttons and get small Grace to model it.
Wonderfully simple to knit - thinking about making one in a darker colour...charcoal maybe to balance out all of the red and pink in her wardrobe.
part of the class artwork I am co-ordinating for Rose' class.
Sort of a 3-D shadow box-like sculptural thingy.
All clear on that?
Firstly the children will cover the box shapes made from recycled milk cartons) with paper mache and paint them white .They will then decorate the cubes with drawings, mono-prints and collage and I will build a shadow box to display all of the completed cubes.
Should look good.
(I hope.)
Soon to be covered in this long hoarded piece of barkcloth...
Better get a move on or else I'll spend an awful amount of time sitting in a very bright orange chair.
I bought this book more than a year ago and worked diligently until I had finished all bar one leg. And the poor thing has languished in the bottom of the workbox ever since. I just couldn't face doing any more of this blanket last night (especially as the lovely Alex over moonstitches thinks that the stitch pattern I have chosen actually does tend to develop a bit of a lean...I knew I should have asked for advice before I ripped back two thirds of a finished blanket! You live,you learn I guess!)
So here finally is Amineko, admittedly still in many pieces, but at least complete in that all of his body parts are done. I'm hoping that I'll summon up enough energy to stuff and sew him together tonight.
I'm not even sure who he will end up with ( I suspect Charlotte, who has been a little cross about the number of things that I have been making for the baby.And then of course Rose will wonder what I might be be making next for her.....)
Incidentally if you want to make one of these cuties,just click here for the link to the authors website. She has very kindly posted the pattern in both Japanese and English.
Sort of wish I had known that before I had finished grappling with the charts and instructions in Japanese.....
on the blanket for the baby made with this lovely cotton.
Although I have quite a few other tasks that have higher priority on my to-do list, I couldn't resist trying out a few rows to see how it looks. And then of course just a few rows more....
I was initially inspired by this beautiful striped blanket and after numerous swatches,decided to go with alternating blocks of off white and coloured stripes. The stitch I have used is called 'Catherine Wheel 1" from "The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches -The Harmony Guides (ISBN 1-85585-990-4 ,published by Collins & Brown).
Now the challenge is to finish it in the (hopefully) 10-12 weeks I have left before the baby arrives...after I have ticked off a few of the other more pressing tasks, naturally.....
an exciting project I'm taking part in.....
and one of the only photos I have so far of me and work in progress No.Three....courtesy of Rose.
I am nearly 25 weeks and this one definitely has big jack rabbit feet like her big sister. Always thumping and kicking.
( To be honest I was tempted to crop off my head but decided to show the photo warts, bump and all....).
Hmmm...don't think these favourite jeans are going to fit for much longer- already resorting to the old hairband through the button hole trick.
Remember this canvas? This enormous empty canvas? Only a 8 days to go until it's meant to be complete for the Spring Fair. So what am doing?
Anything but working on that great blank space!
We have a lovely old Chippendale chair that sits quietly in the hallway. I did a very quick sketch the other day( top left corner) and scanned it into Photoshop where I had a bit of play. Straightened it up a bit to make it look like it just might stand up and then tried out a few filters.
I think I might have a go with the Gocco using this image.
After I finish the big canvas of course.Maybe I'll just paint an enormous red and green chair on it.
And then buy it myself.
Wish me inspiration!
Just about finished this hat from Oneskein.....
I only had three attempts at it before I finally hit the jackpot. As I was using a substitute yarn , it took a little while to get the gauge right. Even though my swatch seemed quite correct I realised about 8 rows in that hat no.1 was going to be about the right size for an elephant.
Two needle sizes down and after finishing the first pattern repeat I could see that something was not quite right with hat no.2 - obviously I had made an error reading the chart so back to the start again.
Cast on and find once more after the first pattern repeat of hat no. 3 ,that once more, there is a problem somewhere. I was certain I hadn't made a mistake but all of the cables were out, even though skinny rib section looked fine.
Then the penny dropped - I have worked from a graph several times before with no problems- start at the right hand side and read back and forth just as you would knit. However this hat is knit in the round and so I should have been starting each row from the right hand side of the chart.
Perhaps this is just common knowledge but it is something I have never come across before ( having said that I have never knit in the round from a graph before). It makes perfect sense now that I have almost finished hat no.4 of course( I know now the pattern repeat by heart). However for the slightly confused knitters like me, a small reminder at the top of the chart would have saved me a lot of grief!
Now I just have to decide whether to add the pom pom or not. The hat is not shaped at all but simply seamed straight across and then the two corners stitched together to give it a bit of shape.
I think that I will have another go at this hat but this time add some shaping to the crown to make it a bit neater and less bulky.
Because summer is on its way and I really do need a thick woolen hat for those 30 degree plus days....
The school fair is fast approaching and I am doing my bit by helping to paint small canvases for the art stall. The local art store kindly donated a heap of small and medium sized ones for us to paint...with three of us at work we have ended up with a good mix of styles and images.
Here are a few of my small ones in progress.These are fun and not too creatively stressful!
Unlike the monster I found myself loading into the boot of my car at the end of a very enjoyable evening of painting, talking and a little wine. You would think that I would be safe after just one glass- but no! "sure,why not, I can think of something to do with this enormous canvas."
So, the next morning I woke up to find myself staring at a big white and very blank surface...what to do? Well, if you're me and you have loads of old paper at your fingertips ( yes, on both counts) then you do what I do best. You get a lot of gel medium and a very big brush and you start pasting.When you stop you should have something that looks a lot like this
Still enormous but not quite so daunting.
I am not quite halfway through knitting Rose a cardigan for school. She dislikes pulling things over her head and the other options are either a sloppy joe (looks sloppy and is a pullover) or a Rugby jumper ( only comes in sizes way to huge for Rose and is a pullover!).As I have only ever successfully completed one (small) jumper for Charlie ( which was actually meant for Rose but wasn't finished before she grew out of it!) I have set myself quite a task. Usually I get bored after a back, a front and a sleeve and wander off to do something else. This time I made a firm resolution not to start anything else until the cardigan was sewn together.
A back and a left front- so far so good.
And then this bit of temptation showed up in the mail and I just couldn't resist casting on to see how it would knit up....
When it is done it will look like this-
It is so lovely to work with that I haven't yet cast on for the right front of Rose's cardigan - but I will.
Tonight.
Right after I knit just a few more rows of stainless steel, silk and merino....
Who would have thought that knitting with the equivalent of sewing thread could be so addictive?
