Life Drawing Sessions in Carlilse

I've been busy trying to organise some life drawing classes recently and have finally more or less got it together. I think the poster above tells you what you need to know but if you want any more information, get in touch!

Completed Stole of many Purples

The completed stole

Detail of some of the pattern

Before my Shadowfolds book arrived I finished the stole of many purples and have been happily wrapped up in it on these cooler autumn evenings. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out although I think I would use thicker yarns (or smaller needles) if I was to make it again, I keep getting my ring caught in the holes! It was a very satisfying thing to make as it grew very quickly (due to the 10mm needles used) and the lace pattern was very easy to memorise. It also used up lots of odds and ends and I was really good and didn't buy any new yarn for it. Of course now I will have to go and replenish my stash...

Double wrapped

Drapey

Bundled

Pattern detailStole of many purples

Dinosaurs and children

Big Draw, Big Dinosaur

As part of the Big Draw (a national campaign for drawing) we at The Heathlands Project are working with a local school in Rockcliffe. Today we worked with reception and years 5&6. The theme of this years Big Draw is 'The Drawing Age' and so my friend and colleague Helen, who has set up our Big Draw open day on 8th October, thought it would be a great chance to look at drawing from the past, in the present and how it could be in the future. So, starting with pre-history and the reception class we all worked together to collage a giant stegosaurus that Helen had drawn out and then over the collage we drew on the scales. The finished dinosaur looks great, it's really effective and the children really enjoyed working on it as did our members (we support adults with learning disabilities.) Helen worked with the older children to produce hand leaves to make a tree, each person's hand features a drawing of something important to them.

Dino Detail

Shadowfolds-New Obsession!

Detail: Back lit shadowfold #1

Detail: Front lit shadowfold #1

I got the book 'Shadowfolds-Suprisingly Easy to Make Geometric Designs in Fabric' yesterday and I feel a small obsession coming on. Using 'simple' join the dot type patterns the book shows you how to produce some amazing effects. The potential is amazing, I can imagine a really beautiful installation using these techniques. Anyway, I had to have a go last night and even though it is quite a simple process it is quite fiddly but the results are totally worth it! I used a crochet edged linen mat that I got in a charity shop and it holds the creases really well.

Back lit shadowfold #1

Front lit shadowfold #1

Shadowfold #2 before pressing

Shadowfold #2 after pressing

Plane Knitting

Ruffles in purple

My first trip on an aeroplane was fine, I was pleased to discover. I quite like taking off and once your up there it's really quite nice, if a bit boring. Anticipating this I took my knitting on my flight to New York. I didn't actually do much (not a lot of elbow room) but I did try out a web yarn. This is one of those yarns where you stick your needle through it rather than knit loops with it. I quite like the effect it gives although it doesn't go a long way-this is a whole ball. I'm going to do a middle section in a simple lace pattern and then do another set of ruffles at the end.

Detail of the ruffles

It's (finally) a wrap!

The finished lace wrap cardigan

This time I have a really good excuse for not posting for a while, I've been in New York. We had a great holiday, saw lots of cool stuff and had a good time. More about that in a later post when I have sorted out our photos.

Before we left I finished a cardigan I'd been working on, literally, for years. It's a clover lace wrap cardigan in 4 ply cotton, with bell sleeves. I really loved the pattern, which is from Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller, and started it, as I mentioned, several years ago. Because of the lace pattern, fine yarn and my tendency to get distacted with other things I would work on it for a while and then abandon it for months at a time while I worked on other projects. Anyway, I finally finished it before we went away, dyed it purple (me and white are not a good combination) and instead of giving it a knitted neckband and ties I used ribbon.

Detail of the clover lace pattern

This was a good move in terms of saving time but a bad move in that it left it too wide, the cardigan kept sliding off my shoulders. So, I put a little tuck in the back and this seems to have solved the problem. In retrospect I probably should have knitted the neck band but I was so desperate to finish the thing that I just couldn't face it. Typically, I've finished this lightweight cotton wrap just as the weather has started to change, but ther's always layering!

A little tuck in the back

A Stole of Many Purples

WIP

In my insatiable quest for knitting knowledge I managed to buy two copies of the same book (at different times, I'm not that bad.) Luckily my friend was starting to learn round about the time this occurred so I gave one copy to her. The first thing she picked out was the thrifty stole, a wrap made from all your odds and ends in a feather and fan stitch pattern. It's a lovely stole although as I pointed out to her it's not so thrifty if you go out and buy more yarn for it than you already have, but that's by the by. Anyway, I was flicking through the book on Sunday when I came across the pattern again. My stash is beginning to get what some people would term unmanageable so I decided now was the time to make the stole. It's also been a little chill of late and the thought of a nice cozy wrap was rather appealing. So, here is the Work In Progress, with some of the oddments I'll be using up. And I definitely won't be buying more yarn for it. Well, maybe a little...

Detail

Detail

More Detail

Backwards BookJacket

The Backwards Book Cover

I thought one of the projects I could do with my textiles group this term is book covers. The construction is fairly simple and there's plenty of scope for embellishment. So I dutifully began making a sample, merrily embroidering a bird and branches in sparkly thread (ooh, shiny!) I cut a lining and stitched that on, using some interfacing for increased stiffness. It wasn't until I actually came to press in the folds that I realised my minor error. I had embroidered the bird on what would be the back part of the cover. I'd been so involved in the decoration I'd neglected the construction! However, it's a very pretty bird and it really doesn't matter, I just laugh at myself every time I see it. I'm using the book jacket for my little knitting notebook as it was getting a bit dog-eared. Hopefully next time I'll get it the right way round.

Opened out book cover

The back/front!

The front/back!

The lining

Pom-Pom-a-licious Scarf

New season, new scarf!

I sorted out my fabric stash last week as it was in serious danger of taking over not only the spare room but the entire house. Whilst sorting I came across a long piece of purple embroidered crinkle cotton. I was puzzled by this discovery, why would I have cut a long strip of fabric? I then remembered that I'd used it previously as a cravat type thing when I was the Mad Hatter. So, I wrapped it around my neck as I was running out of space to create new piles of fabric when it struck me that it would make an excellent autumn scarf. I had a rummage through my trims box and found some pom-pom trim and an idea began to form. I didn't have enough pom-pom trim so I put it on my shopping list. Anyway, today I went to get said trim, there was no purple but they did have shocking pink and I decided that this would work very nicely so I purchased 5m and headed home to commence makeage.

In progress

I'm very pleased with the outcome, the colours work well together to create a bright fun accessory and it's the perfect weight for this time of year. There's a definite chill in the air which I love as it means it's getting close to hat, scarf and gloves season. If you would like to make a similar scarf, the instructions are up on Burdastyle (http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/pom-pom-a-licious)

Detail

Well wrapped

More draped