Category Archive

Well, today I was still feeling pretty ill so I continued doing very little -  and I continued to try to stitch despite the lack of fine motor skills and consequent finger pricks drawing blood.   A little while ago I purchased a lovely book called “Mixed Media Explorations” by Beryl Taylor.  It was very inspiring and while it doesn’t give a lot of detail on the techniques, it’s a good jumping off point.  So, thanks to this book I’ve been experimenting with fabric dye sticks to make a background colour and slight pattern and then embelishing with embroidery. 

I quite like the tiny fairy person.

and my little star

Today I worked on TAST week 20 - Butterfly chain stitch.  It looks terrible.  I had an idea behind this, truly.  But it just didn’t pan out.  Perhaps it’s because I’m taking some drugs (prescription - don’t get worried)  that are making me really spacey today.    Perhaps they also affected my fine motor skills because I found it really difficult to line up the chain stitch in the right place whilst keeping the line it’s forming from one stitch to another taut.  And so I will be mightily glad to move on from this stitch.

About all I could do today was listen to one of my favourite podcasts, Stitch It, and wind a ball of wool on my home made nostepine i.e. a large knitting needle.  I do like this ball of wool though.  It’s spindle spun from two colours of merino top from Virginia Farm Woolworks.  It’s my first go at combining colours…I realise it’s not totally original but it was still fun. I have two more skeins to wind of about the same size.  It’s probably only enough for one scarf, but that’s ok, that’s alright, that’s fine…Ummmm do you see how spacey I am?  I don’t think there’s quite enough twist in this one.  I’ve been trying to ply a balanced yarn.  I am getting a bit better but it’s nowhere near perfect yet.  But it’s still fun, and that’s the main point of this, right?

What can one do on a rainy day without a car?  Dye.

Today I rang up the automotive man to see if I could book our car in because it was smelling strongly of petrol.  It had been running really well apart from this curious smell that wafted up through the floorboards when we parked it under the house.  It’s an old car form the 80’s that has been in our possession for little over a week.  We have pushed it hard in that week and it has responded gloriously, apart from the smell.  I, not knowing much about cars, thought that since it was going well nothing much was wrong.  When I rang up to ask the garage about it I was told not to drive it as it might CATCH ON FIRE AND EXPLODE! 

So it has been towed to the service station and I have been left at home with the rain pattering steadily down.  A perfect day to experiment with crafty stuff. 

I have been meaning to try jelly crystal dying since reading an article on it in Yarn Magazine about a year ago.  I think I got a little carried away with adding and mixing colours.  I might try to restrain myself next time.  the article talked about the jelly setting and becoming gooey during the process but mine stayed pretty liquid.  Also I noticed that the diet jelly was thinner in consistency thatn the regular jelly and, I think, more intense in colour.  I’ll have to experiment further to confirm that.

 I have also completed the week 19 TAST stitch - Basque stitch today.  I enjoyed it but I think I kept getting the direction of the twisted stitch wrong.  I’ll have to keep practicing.  But I’m wondering if it really matters?  Does this mean that some stitches are Basque stitch and some stitches are a different stitch?  I didn’t set out to make a picture but it just turned into  one.

When I was a little girl in the 70’s, I remember one of my cousins completed a string art picture of a boat in shiny metalic cord on a black felt background.  My Aunt hung it proudly in her hallway. 

The TAST week 16 stitch  - Palestrina stitch - seemed to want to be some string art, like it or not.   It was fun to do.  I quite liked the rthymn of the stitch, even though some of my stitches are not too neat.  I worked with some linen thread for the first time.  This really held the knot well.  I liked the difference thicknesses of threads placed side by side in this stitch - It sort of made a bevelled edge “frame”. 

I also found an amazing beetle sitting on our table this week.  I have no idea what it is called.

I’m thinking my brain must be unconsiously caught up with creating some really spectacular philosophical concept that prevents me from accomplishing ordinary tasks in ordinary time.  How else to explain why it takes me so long to complete one miniscule TAST stitch. 

But here we go.

It’s  Week 15’s Oyster stitch.  I think it would have turned out better if I’d planned it a little bit but I really liked playing with where to put the “arm” of the stitch and elongating the last part of the stitch so it sort of produces a stem.  I also have been playing with different weights of thread a bit lately - and I really love the perle cotton.

The other day a beautiful dragonfly decided to visit our house.  Before we “saved” him and put him outside to battle the birds, I took a photo.  He/she makes a beautiful drawing subject, I think.

It feels like a long time since my last post and since my last TAST stitch - but I’ve had a lot on - kniting/embroidery-wise.  I knitted Dad a hat for Father’s day - and forgot to get a photo.  I went yarn shopping with Mum as I have promised to knit her Veronik Avery’s Threepenny Opera jumper, from Interweave knits.  We have been meaning to hunt for some yarn for a long time.  Neither of us are particularly flush so I thought I’d hit a jackpot when, 6 months ago, I found a reasonably LYS who said that I could put away the required number of balls and then buy a couple as I needed them.  A sort of extended lay-by/ ”pay as you knit” system. 

I thought this was fantastic and finally got Mum to the store to choose some nice wool.  We found some that she really liked but when we went to the counter to discuss the purchase the lady looked horrified at the suggestion of “pay as you knit” and said that the system didn’t work for anyone and they hadn’t done that for years and that she didn’t know of anyone who did. 

 All I can say is…it would have worked for me.  As a result we weren’t able to purchase the yarn - there is no way we could  afford to pay for it all at once.  And so I guess it will be back to Lindcraft eventually - to pick up some cheaper yarn.  Not that I have a problem with cheaper, or indeed recycled yarn .  I had just wanted to make a special jumper for Mum and give her a choice of colours and types of yarn. So it was a little disapointing.  I do understand that it may not work for the yarn store in that, if you put a certain number of balls away and then don’t use them all the store may be left with one extra ball at the end of a season.  But then, does it work for the store that a  customer is excluded because they can’t afford to pay for the yarn all at the same time…but would be able to afford to pay for the yarn in installments?  I would have thought that $120 is $120, whether that be paid in one hit or in five. 

I think I just felt a little bad because of the horrified look on the woman’s face, it made me feel as though I wasn’t good enough to shop there.  A sort of “You seriously can’t be that poor that you have to budget for $120!” attitude.   Well, yes, I certainly can. 

I did finish my Column of leaves scarf , designed by Brooke, in the yarn I won from the Knitting Psycho’s podcast.  I really like it and I’m so glad I decided to make a scarf in sock yarn- it’s so light and warm.

I’ve also worked on the TAST knotted Cretan Stitch. 

 I didn’t try to make a cohesive piece as I sometimes do - I was just playing with the sitches.  I really like the way the sitch builds up when overlapped (see green strip on right).  I quite like using it to build up a net too - thought I think this could be done better if pre-planned a bit - I just did it on the fly.

“It’s not very pretty, is it?” was the response from my partner upon seeing this TAST project, “couching”.  Well, no, I have to admit it’s not very pretty.  But it is a fair representation of what’s going on inside my brain at the present time.  Hell of a week = hell of an embroidery piece. 

I’ve recently struggled with all sorts of blocks: writer’s block, podcaster’s block, embroiderer’s block….If they didn’t exist before, they do now.  At least in my own little head.  I haven’t had access to the computer for a while either.  My husband was home on holidays and took time out to “fix” it. 

Here is the up and down buttonhole stitch for TAST.  I actually had trouble with this one.  i couldn’t quite get the rhythm of it and kept on going up when I should be going down etc.  (Is that a life metaphor?)  So it’s a relatively simple sample.  But I did learn something new, and that’s always good.

Whilst we had some time together my husband and I went on some day trips.  I thought I’d just include a couple of photos from the places on the coast that we visited.  Naturally, the photos don’t do it justice.

 We have lots of ships lining the coast from newcastle to Sydney at the moment.

And this is the beach at The Entrance

I feel like I have to hurry up a bit on the TAST weeks, having spent so much time on  the cross - stitch week.  So here’s the next offering, Barred Chain Stitch.  I did a sort of Mr Squiggle on it. i.e. put a few lines in and then thought “hmm, Miss Jane, what could this be?”   Now I ask myself… Why does it have to be anything in particular? But here it is.

I also tried Crochet, again.  I tried to learn it about a year ago without success.  I found that my hand cramped up really easily.  I was chatting to Marly from The Yarn Thing, on Skype, and she suggested holding the hook like a knife instead of a pencil.  I think I had tried it before but it seemed awkward.  But I persisted this time and it was more comfortable for my hand, even if the motion wasn’t as easy as the other had been.  Anyway I needed to use up some left over yarn from other projects.  I made a simple dishcloth first and then I made a simple little baby hat.  It is really simple but I’m quite proud of it as I made it up as I went and I like the little flower.  It sort of looks like a waterlily to me.  So I’m calling it the waterlily hat. 

Well here we have two experiemental projects that actually turned out ok (I think)

Here’s the finished “cuddle cushion” made of leftover wool from my husband’s and my jumpers’.  I had a blue jumper and he had a brown one.  Now they are joined - as one commenter said “interesting”.  

Growing up in my family, “interesting” was the word used to mean “I have no idea what that is/what you’re doing/what your weird sense of colour or style is - and I don’t like it - but  I don’t want to risk hurting your feelings by saying so”

Needless to say we all worked out what the word ‘interesting” actually meant before long.  And as a teenager I came to cling passionately onto that word to describe myself.  (It seemed a better word that “boring”, which was the alternative)

Here’s the front

 And here’s the back.

 Considering that I didn’t use a pattern for the knitting I’m pretty happy with it.  Plus - I didn’t have to go out and buy a cushion.

 And here’s the embroidery. 

It’s all in cross stitch. I made it for TAST.  It sort of grew as it went along , though I did have a sketch for it.  I would have preferred subtler shades of blue for some of the embroidery but I was using up my odds and ends.  

On an unrelated note:  The tree is off the house now - which is good.

Well. I’ve been a bit busy lately and have been meaning to catch up here for a while.  I have been doing the TAST embroidery challenge and have also knitted a pair of socks for my Mum for Mother’s day.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before I gave them away.  Maybe I can snap them in use one day.  They were the simple ribbed cable socks from Interweave knits - except that I put another baby cable in the small rib.  But of course this makes no sense because I can’t show a picture!

I can show my latest two TAST projects: Feather Stitch and Fly Stitch.  I like them - though I found the metal thread really difficult to use - particularly the thicker blue thread.

This will need heavy blocking!  Today I’m preposing that life feels like heavy blocking.  I feel like I’m being stretched into a shape that is not my original one!  Will it make me functional, like I expect this cushion to be?  Will it look ok if you don’t peer at the seams?  I don’t know… but I know one thing… this cushion cover needs HEAVY BLOCKING.

 It’s the cuddle cushion that I mentioned earlier; made from leftover yarn from mine and my partners’ jumpers.  I like the concept if not the execution.  I guess it looks ok.. or will look ok.  It’s a bit of a strange colour combination.  And the yarn doesn’t match entirely so washing will be a bit of a chore.  The brown yarn is %100 New Zealand Wool and the blue is an polymid/wool blend.  I didn’t have a pattern for this. I made it up as I went, I just really wanted to try mitred squares…so guess what?  I forgot to work out how the thing will close up at one end.  I might have to do an inside flap like a pillowcase if one of the edges turns out strong and neat enough.  Otherwise, a zipper maybe?  Let’s see how it really turns out.

 I’ve also completed the week 5 stitch from Take a Stitch Tuesday, Chevron Stitch.  I really liked this one.  I’m thinking of making it into something… what?  I wonder.

I’ve submitted my podcast to itunes, as I think I mentioned before. It’s been accepted but it still hasn’t appeared in their directory.  You can subcribe to it from the show notes page.. but how will people know about the show notes page?  I’ve put it under the blogroll here..is that to narcissistic?  It’s really not meant to be.  These places are just spaces for me to play. Hope everyone has a happy day.

It’s after Easter.  Hope everyone had a happy one.  It seemed to come and go quickly and I was caught up in the rush of trying to get pretty eggs for everyone.  A bit sad. 

I did manage to make some hand dyed eggs and fill them with tiny m & m’s and petit florals though.  I think the family liked them.  No photos because I forgot to take them before I gave them away.  Never mind, they live on in my memory.  They are probably prettier there anyway.

 Instead we have a photo of an underwater embroidery piece that I’ve just completed for Take a Stitch Tuesday.  I had to redo the seahorse after my partner strolled in and said “Ahh… cute girafffe”.  I hope it looks like a seahorse now. 

 My sister really liked her Wine and Roses mitts and seemed particulalry pleased with the colour choice.  I do love it when I pick the right colours for someone.

It’s me versus the housework again I’m afraid.  Or at least that’s my procrastination excuse for today.  I did managed to do the next Take a Stich Tuesday stitch. (Detached chaing stitch) I have managed to work on my cross-stitch a litte. I did think about starting a webring for knitters/stitchers who just happen not to be mothers.  But then thought better of it. I have managed to start a little hat with left over sock yarn… I did say a little hat….. on my train ride to the city yesterday.  It’s the first time I’ve used dangly stitch markers instead of little plastic rings and I’m a convert,  even though they were just the freebie ones from Simply Knitting magazine.  Still, they were heavy enough to keep the stitch marker in the right place, and they were pretty.  I might have to make myself some.  I am a bit of a compulsive knitting and stitching magazine buyer. I find that they calm me down.  It’s weird.  Even the ones that aren’t so great.  One of my favourites is Yarn.  It’s an Australian magazine and has really intelligent articles in it with pretty unique graphics I think.

I gathered a collection of shell bits and pieces that I might use in a embroidery piece somewhere along the line.

I really love the varying purples in these.  I’ll sit and stare at them a while and hope I come up with a plan.

Not ’sick of trying”; not “sick and tired”; not “too sick to try” nor “tired try-hard’… well, maybe “tired try-hard”.  Certainly I do try hard and today I’m tired.  I’m also a bit sick, which perhaps explains the nonsense spilling out of my brain. 

But, though I have no pictures to speak of I have images running around in my brain.  I had a dream last night in which I had started a story on this blog, as a page.  Sort of a continuing selection of short stories or prose with yarns or threads linking them.  I might try it.  We’ll see.  Could crash and burn. But, since it’s a blog and no-body knows me, and possibly not many people read me (or it)…why not try, eh?

Now in terms of crafty updates:

• I’ve finished knitting the fair isle cushion cover but I can’t afford a pillow insert until next week, so I haven’t had the motivation to sew it up yet.  That will probably happen next week and then I’ll have a pretty picture of that.
• I’ve started a new stitch for Take a Stitch Tuesday - detached chain stitch - which I, well…don’t like so well.  Perhaps I’m not dexterous enough for this one. Or perhaps it’s harder than I thought to embroider a felted bowl.
• I’ve started a new cushion cover (I may not have mentioned that we are in dire need of cushion covers as the ones we have now are falling apart - a shame really as they were lovely ones that my sister-in law gave me a few years ago - but now they are in a sorry, well - worn shape with threads bubbled up and beads falling off  - I’m saving the beads, thrifty person that I am)  The cushion cover is made from left over yarn from two jumpers, mine and my partners.  So it will be a true cuddle cushion though it may end up that the concept is better than the yarn combination. But I can live with a good concept.
• And I’m still working on “that” cross stitch.  It feels like I will be for the rest of my life!
• I’ve sent off my ATC’s and I hope they reach their destination on time!  I’ve allowed two weeks but they’ve got to travel around the other side of the world. Will I be blacklisted if they don’t arrive on time?  Will this be the final curtain on my ATC experience?

  Put you best foot forward and listen closely

 …for we try so very hard.  And sometimes it is hard to try and sometimes it is trying and sometimes it feels as though we are hardly trying.  Today my effort is  in getting these last two atc’s up on the blog  and I’ve done it.  I was stupidly wondering why the site wouldn’t download a word.doc as a picture last time!    But all’s well….

I am pleased with these cards as they are my first and I don’t think they look too bad - though I’ve had no objective feedback.  I now have to work out exactly what is meant to go on the back of them and send thm off.  I do hope the person who receives them likes them.

Today was a great day.  I managed to do a lot of things I had planned on the last blog - this time without trying.  I finished my ATC’s. Here they are:   Well.. here one is. I  don’t know why I can’t get the others up. Maybe another time.

Also…big news. My knitting loom arrived from Markman Looms  It took a long while to get here but I am so glad it did.  It’s beautiful.

And then… for the big suprise.  I am a winner! Truly!  I won one of Manda’s contests from Knitting Psychos . A beautiful skein of yarn is coming my way and I couldn’t be more excited.  We don’t get very much sock yarn here.  And what we do get is pretty limited.  I am thrilled.  It’s the first thing I’ve won since I was 7 years old  - I won a set of drinking glasses on a chocolate wheel at a school fete`.  My Mum liked the glasses. This was in the 70’s and they had a bold orange print of… oranges… on them.

Be kind.  Be gentle for this is my first post.  I am a beginner and do not know how to do this properly yet.  I don’t even  know why I am doing this.  But here I am.  Here you are.  But we may not be here together.  When I was little I always remembered how to spell that word, “together”, by breaking it into the smaller words ” to get her”.  

They are coming to get her.

I’m not sure what I intend for this blog.  I might try to thread together some pieces of arty crafty work and see if they make any sense.  At this stage I pass the time with some knitting, embroidery, cross-stitch, drawing and writing.  I also should be continuing to work on carving a walking stick. 

It’s coming to get her

So we’re away.  I’ll have to upload some pictures.  I’ll have to take some pictures, then upload them. 

Good wishes to all,

C