Megan Dress and a cross dog!

I made the Megan Dress from the Love At First Stich book with some cheap tartan. I decided to use this instead of making a muslin and I've actually ended up with a wearable dress! I really love the shape and fit of this dress and plan to make at least two more - one using the Spring Hares fabric and possibly one in linen, although I'm slightly concerned that a linen version would end up with a saggy bottom after a day of wearing and sitting!

When I put in the invisible zip in the fish skirt I used a regular zipper foot and the result is ok but not completely invisible, so for this dress I invested all of £5 in an invisible zipper foot and I think it makes a big difference. The next challenge for me is clearly in the art of pattern matching!

I also, finally, finished my pink (oh so very pink!) lace and kidsilk haze scarf. I don't think it looks that great on me so I put in on Mabel instead - as you can see from her expression she is not impressed! Maybe pink isn't her colour either!

Bits and Pieces...

I've thoroughly enjoyed using my free time to do creative bits and pieces just for the fun of it over the  last couple of weeks. The pop up shop was great fun and successful for all four of us, but it is nice to be making something for no other reason than just because you want to!

I've made a couple of slouchy hats - one knitted, one crocheted. Both have a high silk content and are very warm to wear on those early morning dog walks!

I've experimented with a new corsage design - more three dimensional than my previous ones, and also tried my hand at making a pendant for a necklace. I just used a photocopy of an existing painting of mine for this one but I'm quite keen to explore this idea with hand painted images specifically done to fit different sizes and shapes of pendants. I see all sorts of potential for miniature butterflies, birds and creepy crawlies!

I went to Midsomer Quilting with Maxine and came home with two different fabrics - one fishy and one with Spring hares. The range of fabrics was amazing and I shall definitely be back for more!

The fishes have been turned into a skirt. The pattern is the one on the cover of Love at First Stitch and I was very impressed with the clarity of instructions. I plan to turn the hare fabric into the Megan dress from the same book.

One problem with the skirt is that I seem to have nothing to wear with it, so with Maxine's encouragement (again!) I have brought home some yummy Rowan felted tweed to make a little cardi!

I know I have a long list of projects on the go already and I also know that I promised myself not to get any more yarn until I'd finished at least a few of them, but Maxine's very persuasive and I am weak!!

Colour Coordinated!

Occasionally, and purely accidentally, I find myself colour coordinated! So when I tried on one of Rachel's rings in the Pop Up Shop this week I was delighted to find that it went not only with my newly crocheted fingerless mitts and my cardigan, but also the crochet hook that I happened to be using! I feel this is a sign telling me that the ring must be mine!!

The Pop Up Shop has Popped Up!

Whilst I've been very quiet on the blogging front of late, I have been beavering away trying to get everything ready for our pop up shop and it is now up and running! I belong to a group of 4 local crafts women known collectively as The Keyford Artisans. Keyford is an old part of Frome where we all live and have previously shown our work during the Frome Festival. The Pop Up shop is in a studio in the lovely Black Swan Arts Gallery in Frome and we have it for two weeks. It's a small but light and airy space and as none of us has large scale work we have managed to fit everything in quite comfortably.

The shop window.

Mary manning the desk whilst simultaneously working on a new fair isle design!

Some of Lin's felted bowls and Mary's tams.

Rachel's beautiful jewellery and pretty lights.

Painted and crocheted pebbles.

My butterfly collection.

Crocheted bunting adorning the desk.

We're open until Sunday 1st March, which is also the day of the next Frome Independent Market. It's been fun to chat to lots of people and even make some sales! We've had some lovely coverage in the local press although they mistakenly attributed me with a degree in metalwork!! Maybe I should start crocheting in wire and see what happens! 

Busy times!

Having decided to paint a butterfly a day in January life appears to have got in the way so instead of 21 butterflies I currently have 14! Never mind, I'm enjoying the process even if I'm not being as productive as I'd hoped.

I've finished the crocheted top but have yet to choose a button for it. I'm undecided about its wearability - it seems ok over a crisp white shirt and I've worn it open and loose over a black tunic dress but I am concerned that it's pushing me over into mad crocheted lady territory! Must remember not to wear it with the crocheted skirt I've started! (Incidentally, friends at work have looked at the skirt pattern and stifled laughter has been the overwhelming response - well, I do like a challenge and am determined to make it and wear it with pride!!)

My dress form has a new black body - I made it out of a fabric called "scuba"! This was a necessary step to keep in all the padding I had to add to make the form the same shape as me! A rather depressing piece of sewing but when making your own clothes there's no hiding from your vital statistics!

I've made progress with the pink scarf - I've finished the first half and started the second. I have learnt one important thing from this project - I absolutely hate knitting nupps and will avoid a project in the future if they have them! Luckily I've now completed all the nupps on this piece, but I've had to put it to one side to concentrate on making flowers (for corsages and hair clips) and hearts (for bunting) for the pop up shop in February. 

The red hearts will be making an appearance in Marmalade Yarns soon - a clue as to what Maxine is planning for the next window display!

So, whilst I haven't quite done as much as I'd hoped to by this stage in January, I shall continue to try and do something creative every day and enjoy the moment!

WIP - the Hall of Shame!

With Christmas done and dusted it felt right to do some reorganising. I knew I had a couple of projects to complete once the festive makes were finished but I didn't think I had a really meaty project to enjoy in the New Year. Inevitably, this led me to bring home some more yarn from Marmalade Yarns so that I wouldn't get to that horrible state of having nothing to do! I needn't have worried - once I went through my various bags and baskets I realised I had more than enough projects, either started or planned for, to keep me going for most of 2015! I decided to post some of them here to shame me into completing them before I acquire any more yarn! So, in no particular order, this is what I will be doing in January (and February, March, April etc)...

Lace scarf - about a quarter done so far.

Capelet/cowl thing - designing it as I'm doing it and currently stalling on what to do next.

String basket - hardly started but abandoned because it hurt my fingers and wrists. Need to remember to do a couple of rows every now and then.

Simple Granny blanket needed for a birthday in February.

Crocheted skirt - 1 motif done!

Beautiful yarn earmarked for some fingerless mitts (the Skein Queen) and a cabled cowl (the wonderfully soft Purl Soho yarn).

A cap sleeved cardigan - two thirds done.

I've also got several skeins set aside for socks and fairisle mittens!

On the painting front I have given myself the challenge of painting a butterfly a day for the month of January. I'm actually a bit ahead of myself on this as I've already started tomorrow's and Tuesday's! Once each sheet of 6 is finished I need to varnish them and then cut them out with a scalpel before mounting them individually in the little 3D frames.

This is preparation for a pop up shop I'm taking part in, in February, so I also need to get cracking with crocheted bunting, corsages and hair grips. I think I need a lie down!

This week...

...has had it's ups and downs. Food poisoning on Friday was definitely a down, but bouncing back and teaching some lovely ladies to make crocheted snowflakes on Saturday was an up! My latest knitting project has also had a bit of both. What started as a simple project to make a stocking filler turned into an epic nightly battle with wool and needles!

This was the rather unpromising start where I turned some beautiful Rowan yarn into strange and unrecognisable shapes.

Then followed some carcass construction - still not looking great!

At one point I was stared at by a manic penguin...

But then finally I finished, and lo and behold it looked like it was meant to - a bear!

The pattern is in the book Knitted Woodland Creatures and I have to say it was very well written - you just have to believe that the strange shapes will actually come together in the end!