Unfinished Crafts, June 2021

Plushy Letters : O

Continuing the plushy letter theme from my last post, I started a Plushy 'O', as it seemed the second easiest letter to design after 'I'.

Floral Skirt

I started this skirt a few months ago, and it's almost finished. I just need to finish the bottom hem, and I'll probably add some of this lace to it. To be honest, it's deep Winter here now, and this is a rather summery skirt, so I'll probably put it aside until the season comes around again and work on other things in the meantime.

Grannyland Blanket

This is such an easy go-to project to grab when I'm feeling the urge to craft, but don't want a lot of brain-work to do. I realised a while back that the overall blanket will look better if I edge each square in the same colour. I finally got around to purchasing some wool for the purpose. I don't know why I chose red. Black is too common for this purpose, and I'm already making another blanket with white edgings. I thought about the primary colours and red just felt like the right one. I've started the epic task of adding one row of red to each of the 36+ squares. To be honest, I'm still not sure what dimensions I want the finished blanket to be, so there may be more squares before this thing is through!

Art Projects

The last two projects are ones that I'm doing under my artist umbrella, rather than 'private' craft projects. They're both still in the early stages, so I won't talk about them too much now. They both involve a lot of cross-stitch, bead embroidery, knitting and other crafty details, so I thought I'd mention them here at least.

Take care and keep on crafting!

Finished Craft Project -- Oracle Mat

I finished a craft project! It's a mat for oracle readings. I had a small one for rune readings, but needed a larger one to fit multiple cards on. I looked at the project and realised I only had one row to go. I didn't have an exact size in mind so I just crocheted until I ran out of wool ... and it was running low. I added a simple border in double-crochet (single-crochet if you're in the U.S.) to finish it off.


It was featured in my Unfinished Craft Projects last month, so perhaps the purpose of that blog post series is finally coming to fruition!

May Unfinished Crafts Report

Project: Divination Mat
Craft: crochet
Started: 1st September 2017
This project is a relatively recent one, and it's quite large already. I think I wanted it to be 50-60cm square. I already had a small mat which I use for Rune readings, but my interest in Oracle card readings re-surfaced last year and it was too small for that. I happened to have this beautiful Bendigo Woollen Mills Stella, which is silky to the touch. I started making a scarf with it but changed my mind and ripped it. Now it's being re-purposed -- if I ever finish it! I measured it and it's already 45cm wide, so it's well along.

Project: Frankenstein's Toyster
Craft: knitting
Started: 2007
Similar to last month's project, this was more of a fun experiment in making a monster. I deliberately tried to make it as 'ugly' as I could, with blocky shapes, exposed stitches, and different knitting stitches creating strange textures. Poor old Frankie has suffered the same fate as most of my other monsters so far -- languishing in the back of the cupboard, unfinished. Frankie just needs a head and maybe some embroidered embellishments and he can join my finished monsters.

Project: Yarn Picture
Craft: yarn painting
Started: c. late 1980s
I started this project in early high school. I think I must have read a book about Mexican crafts, because I remember deliberately trying to give it a Mexican style. I worked hard on it and prepared a frame for when it was finished, so I'm surprised that I still haven't finished it. Glueing the wool down was unexpectedly fiddly and messy, so perhaps that's why I was put off.

There are only a few small areas to finish off, so it won't take much work. And I might perhaps touch up a few areas, like this squished-looking flower:

I still really like the idea of yarn painting as a craft, and would love to create a series of them to decorate my house.

The accidental theme for this month seems to be: nearly there! All of these projects were much closer to being finished than I thought they were. I feel more motivated to work on them now than I was before.

April Unfinished Report

I meant to post my unfinished crafts report on the last weekend of April, but due to the health issues I mentioned in my last post, I spend most of that weekend sleeping. But never fear, here it is now:


Project: Squares Blanket
Craft: Crochet
Started: 1 March 2011
This was the first large blanket I'd planned. I was inspired by a photo of a bedspread from a magazine. I didn't have a pattern so I made up my own -- and I think that was the problem! The corners of the squares kept rolling up. Later I found a pattern in a book and started making the squares from it, but then I had the problem of the earlier, failure-y squares. I started fixing them, but then I must have unconsciously given up, because I started making the Granny Square blanket from last month's report.
Chance of completion: I'd say about 60%.

Project: Kitten Embroidery
Craft: Embroidery (tapestry)
Started: Mid-2011
I do like embroidery, I just don't have the patience most of the time. For some reason I chose this piece with tiny, tiny squares as one of my first projects. Some of the colours are also very similar, and it was very difficult to make them out on the pattern. I managed to get the grey parts finished last year, and I'm pretty sure I'll finish it one day. Then I need to find a place that will frame it, as I probably won't be confident to frame a circular piece myself.

Project: Rambunctious Roy
Craft: knitting
Started: 2008
This project is an experimental piece. I was trying to create monsters using various techniques of crochet and knitting. I figured out pretty early on that this technique wasn't really my thing -- too fiddly, too many double-pointed needles. Unfortunately that means poor Roy lay, languishing and unfinished, in my cupboard ever since. I really only want to finish Roy so I can have this particular project off my plate, and because ... well, look at that face!

New Art / Craft Project

Last weekend I had an idea for a new project, and, seeing as I have all the materials I need, I started it straight away. I'm crocheting a blanket, but it's no ordinary blanket. I want to highlight how long it really takes to make a hand-crafted item. So I decided to time myself, and change colours once an hour so there's a visual record of how long it takes.

Then I started to think about what it would be like if this blanket was being created in an office environment. How many rows would I get done in a day? In a week? Also, as anyone who's ever worked in an office would know, you don't work 8 hours straight each day and then go home. Some days you might need to work back late. There are the inevitable interruptions that pull you away from your desk: meetings, morning teas, fire drills. Not to mention the everyday occurrences like toilet breaks and getting a cup of tea. Some offices even have mandated 5-minute breaks every hour, though I've never worked anywhere like that.

How can I document these occurrences in this imaginary office job? I could attach small cards to the finished blanket highlighting different events: "team meeting", "Janice's going away", etc. Of course, those colour sections will be shorter or even non-existent to reflect the time I was away from my work. I even thought about making up fake pay slips to show how much I would have been paid if I was making this blanket at an hourly rate.

I'm really curious to know how long it will take to make the blanket -- both in real time and imaginary "office" time -- and especially how much my imaginary wage will be! (Will I get paid overtime? Sick leave? Perhaps holiday leave is pushing it a bit far!) It's this conceptual aspect that pulls this project out from being purely a craft project and into the realms of art.

Will I need to buy more wool? Yes, I think I will!

March Unfinished Objects Report

My rate of finishing craft projects has been dismally low in the last few years. I keep a spreadsheet of all my UFOs (Unfinished Objects) which records what date I started them, approximate finished percentage, how many of each type, etc. I also have a tab for keeping track of future project ideas. It reminds me of what I've got in progress, and helps me decide which project/s to work on when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I tend not to post projects to my blog unless they're finished, and with such a slow completion rate, it means that this so-called craft and hobby blog has very little craft! I wanted to try and change that a little bit, and maybe motivate myself at the same time. So, inspired by Hedgefairy's regular UFOs blog posts, I decided to start my own monthly series. I currently have 41 UFOs on my spreadsheet, which is quite a lot any way you look at it! Especially considering I've just realised that somehow none of my clothes sewing projects ever made it onto the list.

So hopefully the act of pulling UFOs out of the cupboard and photographing them for this series will encourage me to start actually working on them, and maybe even finish them. And, well, to be honest, some of them are so old that perhaps a process of 'naming and shaming' might help to move things along...


Project: Grannyland Blanket
Craft: crochet
Started: March 2014
This project is well underway. I've crocheted 34 squares so far. I haven't decided on the final dimensions just yet. A 7 x 5 square blanket would be nice, but a 7 x 6 would be even bigger and cosier. I think I prefer a squarer shape. Then there's the question of how to attach the squares together -- sewing them, or using a crocheted joining method? I haven't decided yet.
This is the project I usually take with me on car trips as a single square and one ball of wool is very portable.

Project: 70s-Style Cushion
Craft: crochet / sewing
Started: April 2014
I decided to create a colourful, 70s-inspired cushion with a crocheted cover. The crocheted part was over relatively quickly. I need to sew a backing and a custom-sized cushion to fit inside it, and that's where the project stalled. My sewing machine has been packed away for a very long time. I draped the square over the back of my couch so that I could still display it in some way while it was waiting to be finished. It got lost down the back of the couch for a while but I dug it out for this post.
I'm planning on unpacking my sewing machine again very soon, and this project would be a good simple one to give me some sewing practice.

Project: Bracelet
Craft: kumihimo braiding
Started: Mid-2014
I first discovered the craft of kumihimo when I visited Japan ten years ago. I was very enthusiastic about it but only managed to complete one bracelet and half-finish this second one. The repetitive action of braiding on the wheel is quite soothing, but it's a little tricky to remember the sequence if you're trying to pick it up again after a break. Perhaps that's why I never finished this bracelet. I really do love this craft though and I'd like to make more braids.

I'm hoping to continue this series on the last weekend of every month. Maybe I'll even have some Finished Objects to share in future!

My July

As I mentioned in my last post, this Winter has been a very cold one. I was sick through most of July, so I haven't done much. I did start a new craft project though, and have tried to pay attention to the things that make Winter my favourite season. (Or possibly second-favourite behind Autumn, I can never decide!)

What I've been making ...
I started a new crochet project -- a mat for oracle readings. I have a small mat for rune reading, but it's not suitable for cards, so I decided to make a larger one. I'm hoping to make it wide enough to accommodate 5 cards in a row, and perhaps do a border in a contrasting colour. The yarn was salvaged from a scarf that I started and then abandoned last year. It has a lustrous, silky feel to it which adds to the sense of it being special.

What I found ...
I did manage to go for some walks in between my foot getting better and then coming down with a cold. On one of them I found this huge, beautiful pincone, completely intact. What a gift!

Selections from Instagram

Craft Projects In Progress

Over Summer I tend to avoid anything that makes me hotter, and that includes having a big pile of wool on my lap! So it's been a while since I posted any craft updates. The weather has cooled down enough now, that I just want to snuggle underneath a blanket and, well, make a blanket!

Here are a few squares from my granny square blanket. I haven't decided on a name for it yet: I've been calling it Granny Galore, Granny Land, Big Granny, etc. I don't know how to join the squares together yet, but that's some way off at the moment.

Next is a shawl that I started a few months ago. It's made with 'straight granny' (I'm sure there are other names for it too), and it's my first time working with this pattern. I'm enjoying watching it taking shape. The green is the Bendigo Woollen Mills Bloom that I bought and blogged about a few months ago. The variegated twist that slowly changes from grass green to sage green is absolutely delightful to work with, and I only changed colours because I didn't want to use it all up too soon!

Last week I suddenly had the urge to make/own a scarf in a filet or grid pattern. I nearly rushed out at lunchtime and bought wool to start one, until I realised that I was already half-way through one! So I dug it out and started working on it again. I have to concentrate slightly more on it than the others, to make sure I crochet the bobbles in the right spots. On the other hand, I'm much further into it than I am the others -- about 75% -- so knowing I'm much closer to finishing it is giving me motivation to continue.

My September

In an effort to post more regularly, I've decided to start a, sort-of, monthly update. There's no official name for it yet.

What I've Been Making....
I don't think I've yet introduced my GrannyLand blanket. Or it could be called Granny Galore. I'm not sure yet. I probably should decide soon -- I started it back in March. Granny squares are just so easy to work on, and I deliberately sized them so that one ball of wool would make 4 without worrying about running out of a colour. Two reasons why it's the project I work on when I'm tired and it's hard to bring myself to do anything else.

What I've Been Drawing....
This is my Leftovers Journal. It's A5-size, half the size I normally work with. I bought it as a place to put all the 'leftovers' -- the smears of paint, bits of collage paper and images that don't fit anywhere else. I don't view it as a 'real' journal, and its come to play an important role. All the new techniques, colours and shapes that I want to experiment with seem to appear here first, before trickling their way down into my other journals.

The other thing I've started recently is 60 Things. It's inspired by Diced Imagery, which is in turn inspired by Rory's Story Cubes. I roll dice (a D6 and a D10 -- yes, I have some geeky tendencies!) to determine which of 60 pre-listed topics I will draw. This day I rolled the number for dinosaur, and just happened to have a figurine handy (more evidence of geeky tendencies). I'll show more drawings in my next update.
And yes, my dining room table is half art-journalling station and half plant-nursery at the moment!

What I've Been Growing....
Meet Crazy Potato. He's shy at first, but when he gets to know you, he shows his affection by suddenly attempting to take over your whole house. I swear, as soon as the daytime temperatures hit 18oC and above, this thing began to grow at a rate of about 20cm per day! I'll show you Son of Crazy Potato and more growing exploits soon.

What I've Been Reading....
I'm afraid my reading habits have been rather shameful lately. Blogs and Wikipedia articles have been my standard fare for most of this year. I blame the internet for my shrinking attention span! A few days ago I started reading a book -- an actual one, with paper and covers and all. It's been both challenging and refreshing to sit down and concentrate on one thing for up to an hour without the temptation to switch to another browser tab after every few sentences.
The book I'm reading is The Chinawoman by Ken Oldis. It's a true-crime/history piece about the murder of a high-class prostitute in Gold Rush Melbourne and the relationship between the police and the local Chinese community. I'm enjoying it so far.

Quick Project

Last weekend I suddenly got fed up with working on long-term projects. Heck, even a scarf is a long-term project for me! I wanted instant gratification. So I grabbed some spare wool and a crochet hook, and I made this mini mat:

I even embroidered a border. I made most of it in the car, on the way to various places over the weekend. I just had to wait until I got home to snip the trailing ends off. It was so very satisfying to start and finish something in one weekend - way out of proportion to the time and effort actually spent on the project! I could become a quickie project convert very easily.

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!

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.