First Sewing Project in Years: Face Mask

For some reason I've had a strong urge to sew recently, after literally years of umming and aahing and putting it off. Occasionally I'd buy fabric but not use it; I'd just stash it. I know why I was procrastinating -- I'd lost the manual to my sewing machine and was worried I'd forgotten how to use it (re-threading the bobbin is the trickiest part). Worse than that, I was worried that my 25-year-old machine no longer worked!

With all of that on my mind, I have no idea where the strong urge to sew came from, but I got out my machine and gave it ago. I'm happy to report that the machine still works, and I made up my own 'manual' by sketching the bobbin and how the thread is arranged in situ. In fact, it seems to work even better now than it used to. Perhaps it's the patience of age which makes me run the machine slower than I used to?

I found a half-finished project from a few years ago. It was a pouch but I couldn't remember exactly how I was going to make it. When I saw this Face Mask pattern from The Stitching Scientist online, I thought it would be a good easy project to practice with. Not to mention current.

I went through my smallish stash of scraps until I found a piece of fabric large enough:

I thanked my past self for washing them years ago, though they did need ironing. Thankfully I also found some nice elastic in my findings stash. I cut out the pieces according to the pattern. I made the side bindings 1cm wider than the original, because I wasn't quite sure how that part worked, and I thought it better to be safe than sorry.

After sewing the front and back, and gathering the side pleats:

After inserting the elastic and sewing on the binding:

I'm really glad I have my pinking shears. They make it so easy to prevent fabric from fraying without having to muck around with double seams, etc. I got pretty confused about how the binding is finished off, and I think I fudged it a bit, but it still looks okay, I think: (Actually, I neatened it up a bit more after taking this photo.)

The finished product! Can you see me smiling at you?

It's a little loose around the nose, but a dart or shirring would fix that. Or use a shaped version, many patterns for which can be found online. And remember -- this type of cloth mask doesn't protect you from catching a virus.

Then I asked Husband if he would like one, and he said yes, and even offered up a spare Star Wars pillowcase that he had to make it from.

I matched it with some blue fabric I had on hand, which I think is left over from a sheet that I made into a skirt (maaaany years ago). I followed the same process but forgot to insert the elastic! Thankfully I realised straight away and was able to fix it without too much fuss.

Finished!

He looks awesome, huh!
I've already started work on my next project -- a skirt. Updates soon!

Many Projects

Hello! After a fairly long absence, about a month ago I started to become really motivated to craft again. This came about because of a couple of things: really cold weather, which makes me want to make scarves and hats and gloves! Two of my friends having babies, which makes me want to create little treasures! And just last weekend, a geek-themed trivia night, which put me back in touch with my geeky interests and made me want to start churning out Jane hats and Dr Who scarves!
In a word, I'm excited!

Today I'm just going to share a quick run-down of what I've been doing in the last month, so get ready for some photo-spam! Later on, there'll be more in-depth posts.

So the first thing I did was make these baby booties. This was about a month ago. S and B came over for a craft/card-playing afternoon. I decided to start some booties from the Quick and Easy Baby Knits book. It's a simple pattern and I thought I'd get a good way into it. In fact, I worked hard and I finished them in one afternoon! Yay me! I was able to give them to Ms E at her baby shower.

I also started a project that I'd been meaning to make for a couple of months - cat toys! They're semi-urgent because I want to make them for a friend as a thank-you gift for something that's rapidly moving further and further into the past! My plan is to make a set of 3 in simple shapes. I'm about half-way through the spherical one:

I've also been working a little bit on my rainbow-coloured afghan, which doesn't really have a name. I've nearly finished this section, and I think I only have about 2 or 3 to go. I'm very happy about that!

I have a few ideas in mind about other afghans I'd like to work on, so it'll be good to have that finished off so I can start one of those. Or, knowing myself, I'll just start one of them anyway!
I'm also coming along well with the Jane hat for Husband. I want to get both his and my hats finished before the charity Firefly screening, which is in about 6 weeks. I think I'm well on track for that (if I don't get distracted by other projects!). I altered the original pattern so it's more fitted. That means less stitches, which means finished quicker. Yay!

I'm still on a bit of a Hama bead kick, and a few weeks ago I made this little storage box. My perfume vials kept falling over all the time, and it was really annoying me. So I made a box to put them in!

I made it with a lip on the bottom edge for stability, and just the right size and height for all my mini perfumes. It also fits perfectly on my mirror base, just where I wanted it to go. The pattern was something I just made up. The polka dots are a little uneven, but I like it that way! I made each piece separately and glued them to the base with epoxy glue. I don't know if I would use this method again. I found the edges of the beads were a very small surface to glue together. It came out how I wanted it to, but I don't think it's very strong. It holds together fine for its purpose, but I wouldn't want to test its strength. There are a few other methods you can use to make a 3-D box; I'll try one of those next time. I'm pretty excited about this - being able to make little containers in just the right size and shape that you want them (not to mention colour!), instead of hunting around the shops for hours and usually not finding anything. I love Hama beads!

I'm so inspired at the moment! I even had a dream the other night about making an afghan. It was a 70s retro-ghan, made out of granny squares. Each square had an orange centre, a couple of rounds of brown, and then a couple of rounds of cream to lighten it up. I want to make it in real life! Though I don't have any orange or brown wool, funnily enough!

I'm just completely wired at the moment!

A Few Projects

I finished two projects earlier this week! Wonders will never cease!
Firstly, we have these Baby Jane hats. Technically, there are 4 in different sizes, but I'm counting it as one project. I made them on request from a friend. Originally there were supposed to be two, and I was most of the way through them when I completely forgot about them. This was about a year ago. I suddenly remembered them the other day and, wracked with guilt, pulled them out and started feverishly working away on them. Now, babies' heads tend to grow, in general. And it occurred to me that the size I was making might not fit any more. So, just to be safe, I made another two in a larger size. All I did was add 6 stitches to the original cast-on, and a couple of extra rows of orange and yellow, and they came out fine. I also made the pompoms slightly bigger. Here they are:

Baby wears a hat like that, he ain't afraid of anything!
I thought I'd get slightly arty and photograph them sitting on the cover of a book I borrowed from the library. It has a really cool patterned texture. (It's called Couture in the 21st Century, in case anyone's interested.)

The other project I finished was my Granny Square Headwarmer (aka Teacosy Headwarmer - I couldn't really decide what to call it). This one took quite a lot of work, so I'm breaking with tradition and modelling it personally so you can see what it looks like on.

From ze left.

From ze right. Or vice versa. Not so good with my left and right!
I'm really, really happy with this project. It came out looking exactly like I wanted it to. Occasionally when I'm wearing it out, I get worried that people are going to think I'm a completely crazy craft lady, but then I think, "stuff em!"

In other craft-related news:

* I'm about half-way through my horse-head filet crochet project now, and I'm looking forward to making and possibly designing more filet projects soon.

* I've made 3 1/2 squares of the Babbi L baby blanket now. I reckon I'll need between 16-24 to get a size I like; I haven't decided yet. This project is going a bit more slowly because the patterns I've chosen need a bit of concentration to work on.

* I started a new scarf! I couldn't help it! I found a ball of wool in the coffee table drawer when I was looking for a pen, and some urge in me just made me grab a crochet hook and experiment. The stitch is very easy though and it shouldn't take too much work to finish. I'll post a picture next time.

More soon, hopefully!

Crafty Catch-up Session

Today I was finally motivated to take photos of all of the craft projects I've been working on over the last month or so. I used my trusty light tent - which I'm still getting the hang of, so the light may be a bit dodgy on some of them. But I figure the important thing is that I'm sharing!

FINISHED PROJECTS

I bought these toys for my little niece and nephew. My niece had only just been born. I didn't have time to make anything from scratch but I still wanted her teddy to be a little bit personalised. So I knitted a bow for it with some lovely soft yarn from my stash. It took a couple of hours. You can't see it very well in the picture, but I used decreases at each end to make the end curve back a bit. I was quite happy with the effect.

The other finished item is a tea cosy for a teapot I received for Christmas. I crocheted it to fit, and it took a couple of goes to get it right! It clings onto the pot without needing any kind of fastener. It has a cut-away bit at the back which looks weird, but it fits snugly under the handle, and I'm pleased with it. I was watching the Pride and Prejudice mini-series while I was making it, so I guess that's why I was influenced to choose the classic colour scheme and girly bow decoration.

UNFINISHED PROJECTS

This section has many more projects in it!!

First up is my Squares Blanket. I've decided it will be a blanket now, not a couch cover. I think I'd be better off making my couch covers from fabric (when I eventually get around to it!) So I now have 4 finished squares; plus 2 finished that need weaving in; and 5 squares in progress. I still haven't decided how big the finished blanket will be (i.e. how many squares I'll need in total), but there's plenty of time for that.

I started this one quite some time ago. Remember I was having an obsession with filet crochet a while back? Well, this is the project I decided on. It depicts a horse-head, nice and retro. It was originally going to be a doiley, but pretty soon I realised that it's going to be enormous! I'm using fingering weight cotton, which is a smaller gauge than I'm used to, but I can see why people normally use thread cotton for projects like this. I didn't want to use such a thin thread, but after a while I realised - no matter what size the thread is, it's still the same amount of work! Duh!
So I might make it into a (large!) cushion or possibly a wall-hanging.

This is a headband/earwarmer that I started a while back. I had the idea to make a series of crochet squares and join them together. I chose some from 200 Crochet Blocks that were nice and decorative, but didn't have too many holes that a cold wind could blow through. The colours came to me like an inspirational lightning bolt as well! I had to buy the grey yarn because I didn't have any suitable in my stash. I've finished the 5 squares, and I've stalled at the stage where I need to figure out if they fit around my head or if I need to enlarge them somehow. I hope I get around to it before the weather warms up!

Finally we have a project that I started just the other day! I came down with a bout of Startitis and decided I needed to start on a baby blanket for my niece. I made one for my nephew when he was born, and that one took me 6 months! So I thought I'd better get started. I chose 2 lacy-ish motifs from 200 Crochet Blocks (increasingly love that book!) and I'll do them in different colours, all with a cream-coloured outer row. This first colour is horrendous, I know! But I'm hoping it will blend in all right in the end. I don't know yet if I'll need to buy some wool for this, or I'll be able to work it all from my stash. We'll see!

I also have some sewing projects from the last few months, but I thought I'd save those for next time.

Suddenly Serviceable

Last week I finished Boy's Hat:

A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything!
Yay! Now his head and his ears will be warm! There are more details about the hows and the whys in this post.

And, I'm pleased to say, that today I finished S's scarf in time for his birthday shindig (with about 5 hours to spare, as a matter of fact).

The old scarf-photographed-on-the-windowsill trick!
I was a bit cheeky: he's not one for being showered with gifts (gosh knows why!) so he declared that everyone should take the money they would have spent on a gift for him, and buy/do something nice for themselves. Well, I enjoy buying yarn and knitting things with it, so why not knit something for him? And I had a red hot go at it as well. I spent about 45 minutes choosing this yarn at Cleg's. I ignored the price tag completely. It's an absolutely gorgeous blend of wool and alpaca. And 'cause alpacas are just so darned cute, I had to find us a pic:

Cute!!
And look at these amigurumi alpacas from Moon June!:

It's a well known fact that everything is cuter in amigurumi form.
And, in a blindingly white ultra mega moment of the ultimate productivity, I finished an art journal page today too!:

Materials used: gesso, acrylic paint, scraps of newspaper, envelopes, magazines, wrapping paper, Sakura Gelly Roll pens, Pilot Choose gel pens, Signo Uniball gel pens, Think wedge felt pen, vintage Japanese rubber stamp and ink, spirograph, metallic rub, deco tape, embroidery thread

I really just put the finishing touches on it: some dabs of green paint and metallic rub, a couple of swirly bits and a quote from Ray Bradbury about creativity. I have quite a large collection of quotes saved on my laptop now, and I felt like using one. So I did! For some reason, it really irks me the way that quotes are traditionally presented, with the person being quoted at the end. I always look at that part first, and then I know who is speaking when I read the quote. If I read it as presented, then just as I'm letting the profundity of the thought sink in, I get interrupted with a jolt by the sordid detail of who it's attributed to. It irks me. Is that just me? I thought so. Anyway, I thought I'd put the author at the start and see how that feels. The quote says:

Ray Bradbury: Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You must simply do things.

It's an important thing to keep in mind when doing art. Perhaps not so much when doing craft. But it definitely applies to meditating.

---

P.S. About that subject line: my powers of alliteration failed me today.

Two *More* Projects!

This time both of the projects are for other people though, so that makes it all right. Right?

First, Boy asked me to make him a hat with earflaps like the one I made for E a few years ago. This winter has been so cold that his old hat, which only covers the tips of his ears, just isn't cutting it. Back then I used the Jayne Hat pattern. (For your information, it's the hat the mean guy in the movie Serenity wore, if you're not geekily inclined.)

I returned to the pattern page for it on Ravelry [login required: are they ever going to change this??]. I find now that the pattern I used is only available as part of a kit for US$20 (not including needles). Re-affirming my faith in the internet, I found also that there's still a free version on Craftster.org. I'd saved a copy of it on my computer anyway. I probably could have re-done it from memory if worst came to worst. It's really easy. I changed the colours, and I'm giving the hat 3 stripes instead of 2, and no pompom. (He's just not that kind of guy.) Anyhoo, here's a picture of the hat In Progress:

Rare winter sunshine: glorious!

I imagine I'll finish it this weekend. Probably in front of the next installment of TV's James Bond season. The second project is a scarf for a friend's birthday.

I already ripped it out and started over again because I wanted to use larger gauge needles. I'm still not %100 happy with the garter stitch look, but I'm not going to change it again. I'm only about a quarter of the way through it, and the birthday is next weekend, so I need to stop faffing around and get knitting!

My hobby room My and Boy's hobby room has a new addition, which you saw glimpses of in the previous photos.

Herbs! And an ornamental chilli! We're going to have lovely fresh herbs! I'm so excited. We're leaving them alone for a few weeks to let them get settled in. The parsley looks pretty at-home already though, don't you think? Yum!

---

P.S. Thank goodness the baby version of the Jayne Hat is available for free. Here is a picture of it on Flickr being modelled on a long-suffering cat. Sorry I can't post it here because it's copy-right protected. What it also is is pretty cute! Today is bad-grammar not-carey day. Whee!

Quick Update

Hi! I'm just quickly sharing two craft projects that I've been working on lately. The first is a cosy for my printer. You're thinking "nuts!", yes? Well, I noticed that it was starting to get a lot of dust on it. Nothing ever comes with a bag, box or cover to keep it in these days. I guess companies think that the item will break down and you'll be buying a new one before it gets the chance to gather dust!

You can see in the picture that I'm crocheting it from the middle out. It's big enough now to cover the top of the printer. I just want to make a few more rows so it goes down the sides a bit. Interesting choice of colours, you may think? I was going for a really cheesy, 70s, retro feel. I think it worked. You can also see a little bit of the gorgeous lovely knitting project bag that I got from Avonlea Designs [link to blog]. Unfortunately she's closed down her Etsy shop for now. I do hope she starts up again one day. I love the colours and patterns she uses in her sewing and it was very well made.

Prospect Number 2 is my very first Entrelac project! I'm using This Pattern [links to Ravelry: login required] which is a tutorial for a rectangular piece. Then you can continue to make it as long as you like. I'm making a headband/headwarmer thingy. It'll be quite wide, but I think I'll be glad of that when I'm on my trip to Europe in a few months. (Yes, you heard right!! Wooohooo!) I'm sure it'll be finished by then. Really sure.

A lot of people say that Entrelac makes them want to gouge their own eyes out with a pair of 10mms, but I really like it. Sure, it's kinda fiddly but - unlike Illusion Knitting - the results make me go, "wow, I made that! That's so cool!" (If you love Illusion, fair enough. Your kilometreage may vary.)

The yarn for both of these projects was sourced from my enormous stash. It pains me to admit it, but I actually don't think I'll need to buy yarn again for a while. There, I said it. Ouch!

More of the whats and the hows and the whys when I'm a bit further along on both projects.

A Few Things

This is where I'm up to at the moment on Journal Girl's Wish Journal project. The inner pages have been cut and folded:

I used an old children's book I bought from the Salvos for the cover. I cut the covers off using a craft knife and joined them together:

The kiddie images will be all covered up in the finished journal. Unless I like any of them! =) And here is Bec's Hat, all finished.

See my new golden-brown nail polish as I model the hat!
Also, I have done quite a good job at removing the red-eye from the photo.
Bec shaved her head for the World's Greatest Shave for cancer, and I'm so proud of her! And kinda glad that a) I got the hat finished on time and b) I didn't screw it up. I'd forgotten how much of a pain in the butt working with double-pointed needles is. Next I'm gonna be doing some good, simple mindless crochet for a while!

Tonight I'm making Chicken Tortilla Soup. I've changed the recipe so much there's no point in linking to it. I tasted it just before, and I've put way too much chilli in. If it hasn't killed me, I'll post photos next time!

Changes

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. I actually wrote this one up at the start of the week and forgotten that I hadn't actually posted it until today. Oooppps.

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to do a major overhaul of my craft projects. Finally, it has begun!

The one-third-finished Mohair Beret from the Cleckheaton book I won at the Knit-In-Public day two years ago?

Why on earth did I ever think I'd wear a beret??
The Heirloom Baby Blanket that I haven't worked on for a year and can't remember what row I'm up to?

What a giant pain in the butt!!
The half-finished Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Tomten Jacket that I was once so enamoured with?

As if I'd ever finish that, with all those loose ends to weave in!!
That last one was the hardest. I was almost half-way through the knitting. (That picture only shows the beginning - I had actually knitted about 120 rows.) It's a shame to waste so much work. But then I looked at it again and realised it would be ridiculously too big for a newborn baby. That annoyed me. So..... RIP!

I turned the blanket into a jacket, and I turned the jacket into a blanket. That gave me a perverse sense of satisfaction.

I'm still making an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Tomten Jacket, but now it's in the Panda Baby Lustre that I was using to make the old blanket. I'm calling it the Snow Elf. I'm using 3.25mm needles instead of 4mm, so it should be much smaller and more suitable for my new niece/nephew.

The Snow Elf, in its infancy.
I still wanted to make a baby blanket, but a simpler, less annoying one. I happened to have a copy of Jan Eaton's 200 Knitted Blocks just lying around. I'd borrowed it from the library on a whim and it just happened to be the perfect book for what I wanted to do. Serendipity! The great thing about this book and its sister 200 Crocheted Blocks is that you're basically designing your own piece. Along with the 200 patterns (each of which is for a 15cm square), there is a section on combining textures, colours and shapes, and one on sewing them together and finishing them with various edgings. The sample blankets are amazing and quite drool-worthy, but the way they are presented - not as a finished blanket, but as a series of squares next to each other - reminds you that it's really your choice to combine the squares in any way and any colour you choose. It was very exciting! I chose Block No. 17 Checks and Block No. 83 Heart In Frame, and designed the Your Chequered Heart baby blanket.

The first block off the rank.
I will have to knit 36 squares, sew them all together and add an edging. It's a little daunting, but it's a hell of a lot less daunting than that white, lacy, double-stranded nightmare on circular needles and bristling with stitch markers that I was confronted with before. I actually do like the Henry's Baby Blanket pattern, but my head's just not in a place where I can cope with it. I'd like to give it a go one day, though.

Finally, the old beret is now this:

Fuzzy!
It's a skinny scarf that's *very* loosely based on one I saw on Etsy. The original is knitted, not crocheted, and it's made sideways, not lengthways, and it has even ends, not a stepped ends, and it's orange, not pink. So yeah, I can see the resemblance! I'm pretty happy with how mine turned out. The only disappointment is that it's way too hot to wear a mohair scarf now. But come winter, I'll be all scarfed up!

End of September Wrap-Up

Boring for you, but instructional for me.
My goals for September and results:

1. Increase items in shop to 38.
The number actually went down this month! I let some expired items stay expired because I didn't like the way I'd photographed them. But with Boy's new camera, we can fix that!

2. Work 2 hours on Long Term projects.
I did this and then some! I'm really enjoying knitting or crocheting while I listen to the audiobooks I downloaded from The Classic Tales Podcast and I was itching to do a lot more! But I held back because I knew I had so much else to do! I worked on Branwell the Brachiosaurus while I finished The Hound of the Baskervilles. I had never read any Sherlock Holmes mysteries before and I have to admit I had a pre-conceived notion of what it would be like. I was all ready to be hatin' on Holmes when he swept in at the end and solved the case after Watson had done all the work. I was really angry at how Holmes treated Watson. What is their relationship, anyway? Friends? Master and servant? Whatever it is, Holmes has him wrapped around his little finger. Poor Watson has no confidence in himself and is petrified of putting a step wrong. But even I had to be impressed by the lengths Holmes eventually went to to solve the case and the intelligent twists and intriguing clues. In spite of myself, I enjoyed it. Anyway, this wasn't supposed to become a book review!

3. Do 2 pages in Art Journal.
I did one and have finished the other today. I also started two others which I should hopefully finish next month. I've been experimenting more with layering paint and collage elements. I also want to try some more new techniques, so I will continue this one.

4. Utilise drawing board.
I stuck a few postcards to it with blutac, does that count? At the moment it's broken and in the way, but Boy and I made a plan which hopefully we'll carry out this weekend. It's past the deadline, but it'll still happen.

5. Look through old paintings and list one in shop.
I never got around to this. I was too busy playing computer game.

6. Reduce number of projects by 2.
I reduced them by one. I did start 2 projects and then finish them this month, but I don't think that counts!

This is one of the projects I finished:

It's the headband that I crocheted. I'm very happy with how it turned out - only it's a bit too small! I'll have to add maybe 5 stitches when I make the next one. But I can't remember if I did 70 or 75 last time. Am I feelin' lucky, punk?

Here is the other one:

It's a laptop sleeve for my laptop, Lenny. It's just a very simple cover that will protect him from scratches, etc. (Soryr that the photo is so small and fuzzy.) I can feel this is only the beginning of the great pouch frenzy. Soon, all of my belongings will be in pouches! Even Boy! hehehehe

Here's my latest art journal entry. The theme is Spring. And mucking around with paints and collage. I like sticking stuff. It's calming. I really want to start another altered book but a) I already have one on the make; and b) shnyeh, who has time?

Some time ago I also blocked my skinny scarves. I think I've mentioned before that I was happy with them except for the fact that the ends twisted into ringlet curls that would look great on a 5-year-old girl, but not on my scarves! So I blocked them:

They turned out all right - the photos of them didn't! Boy, help!

OCTOBER GOALS:
1. Work 3 hours on Long Term projects.
2. Reduce number of projects by 2.
3. Finish 2 pages of altered book.
4. Re-arrange hobby room: drawing board area.
5. Start new zine. (I signed up for another zine swap. Oops!)


P.S.
Confused by the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis? Read this simple yet biting comic.