Category Archive

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.

Just to note - at this stage, if you happen to see 3 comments left on the pay it forward post and are thinking “oh..3 people have already signed up and I’ve missed out”…think again.. No-one’s signed up yet.

And as for my TAST projects…I’m steadily losing hope that I’ll ever catch up…but I’m still having fun with it and learning heaps anyway.  Which is the point, I think.  So I’ve been working on bonnet stitch, which is so sweetly named, don’t you think?   I quite liked this stitch , although I found it difficult to get the tension right so that the loop part of the stich stayed flat.  Nothing that a bit of vigorous ironing won’t fix, eh?  Well, actually, in some cases the ironing didn’t fix it, but I quite like the effect anyway.  So here it it is.

I’m also working on the “Notre Dame” jumper, designed by Veronik Avery.  I love her designs, almost every time I stop to have another look at a design when flicking through Interweave Knits, it will be one of hers.

And I also plyed my first balls of spindle spun wool.  Now I know they are a bit uneven still.  But I think I’ll be able to knit a little scarf out of them.  And if that doesn’t work I can always felt it and make a knitted purse/wallet.

“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

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.

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew here.  I’m up to the Cross  Stitch week in TAST and I thought, as I’m sure that someone else has thought before, that cross stitch could work a little like cross hatching.  As I like drawing, I thought I’d turn one of my sketches into a cross- stitch piece.  It’s taking a long time and I don’t think I’ll know if I’ve been successful or not until I’ve finished… But… well… here is the piece so far (thought I’d better post it so I don’t get bumped off TAST - please don’t bump me off….)

On an unrelated matter  - here is my house with a tree on it after the “rare and unconnected to global warming” storms we had last weekend.  We were very lucky.

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.

What a frustrating morning! _ Somehow I’ve lost full controll of my podcast blog! It’s not connected to the dashboard of this one anymore.  Don’t know how I did it or what to do about it.  Almost cried - instead I contacted support - Let’s hope they write back soon.  This cross stitch sort of represents a little frustration too.  I like doing it BUT it is taking Sooooo long!

And here is the lastest TAST - Algerian Eye stitch sample.  This is my consolation - I like this one.

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.