My crafty room.
I’m pretty pleased with how it looks at the moment. It has just been organised so everything is neat and tidy which won’t last too long, but it’s become my favourite room in the house. (This post is really picture heavy – I tried to cut it down but it didn’t happen)
Continue reading My new favourite room
Last year I did 13 things. Well I did a lot more than 13 things, but I set out to do 13 specific things.
This year I’m doing 14. I don’t know what I’m going to do when we get to 2025 but I’ll cross that bridge when/if I get to it.
Andi and Jesse have already posted their lists, so it’s time to get my butt into gear and write out my own.
So without any further ado, this is my list of things to do in 2014.
1) Knit 7 pairs of socks
2) Read 20 books
3) Try 3 new crafts
4) Make an artwork for our house
5) Keep making cushions (Related: Find people who want cushions)
6) Sew (and wear) a garment
7) Write a guest post for Marielle’s Spread the Love feature
8) Crochet a granny square blanket
9) Make jam
10) Dye a yarn collection
11) Send snail-mail to friends
12) Spin 100g of yarn
13) Learn 3 new embroidery stitches
14) Actually finish a Knit-A-Long
So these are my goals / tasks / things to do but if I don’t then I’ve probably found something more interesting to do.
May 2014 be my craftiest year yet!
2013 was awesome in so many ways.
We bought a house, went to our 6th test match together, saw plenty of live music, holidayed on a houseboat, and I helped out with the Port Adelaide Football Club.
I’ve had green hair, pink hair, purple hair, red hair, and several different combinations.
I participated in the Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. I even made two youtube videos!
And I worked my way through 13 goals.
1. Open my little etsy shop. – Tick!
I opened a shop and closed it just as quickly. I didn’t enjoy knitting for strangers or the etsy fees.
2. Host a giveaway on my blog – Tick!
This was so much fun! And this is where I figured out the I like giving things away more than selling them.
The lesson to be learned is that postage is a killer. In the future small and light will be the way to go.
3. Finish Start the knitting crafting for my Pay It Forward post. – Tick!
Again this was ridiculously fun! And it was the beginning of embroidering fabric to go on a frame.
4. Knit 12 pairs of socks. – 8/12
I completed 8 and I currently have 3 on my needles. I didn’t quite get to 12 but maybe I was being a tad optimistic.
5. Sew 6 cushions.- 10/6 – Tick!
I caught the cushion making bug hard!
I even learnt how to sew an invisible zipper.
6. Write a knitting pattern and post it on Ravelry.
I have started this one yet. I don’t know if I still want to.
Maybe if inspiration strikes I may be able to check this off my list.
7. Post a tutorial or a how-to guide. – Tick!
Seriously making a video was not what I had planned for this. But it turned out to be a really good experience. And now I have youtube subscribers. That’s a weird feeling for someone who only has two knitting videos.
8. Try a new craft, or 2, or 3.
I tried arm knitting, spinning, jewellery making, yarn dyeing. I’m looking forward to seeing what new crafts I can learn next year.
9. Create an artwork for my apartment – Coming Soon!
I never showed you this one. But it did happen.
10. Embroider a whole song (lyrics) onto something.
This is totally my favourite embroidery ever!
11. Sew a garment from a pattern, and wear it.
This is going on next years list.
12. Read a new book every month. (something I haven’t read before) 15/12
I joined goodreads to keep track of it all, so I realised I well and truly met this goal.
13. Crochet a granny square. – Tick!
2013 was the year that crochet and I finally understood each other. I still struggle with patterns and only have one loop on my needles, but the instant gratification is awesome.
I’m currently deciding whether to do 14 in 2014 or, as I’m 30 next year, 30 before 30.
Either way 2014 is going to be awesome. I just know it.
I hope all of you Christmas celebrators out they have a lovely Christmas. And to anyone else who is celebrating anything else I hope you have a lovely holiday.
And to all you very important people who are working today –
Thanks. Especially to all the doctors and nurses who do an awesome job and are largely unthanked.
For all of those for whom this holiday is an awful and difficult time- much love and hugs.
Now let’s all appreciate David Tennant in a Christmas jumper.
(I have no recollection of how this photograph came to reside on my phone, so if you know the source please let me know so I can credit it)
Happy December 25th.
My mum is a pretty kickarse lady. (Who would never in a million years call herself kickarse but I’m telling this story the way I remember it)
She left the country before finishing highschool, but once I was born studied at night school to become a teachers assistant and then when she didn’t really want to do that anymore she retrained again in business studies.
She’s a crafty lady who used to sew me swimsuits. Including one pink + frilly number which I believe I hated at the time [i hated pink – go figure!] but looking back must have been bloody difficult and time consuming to make!
I still have dolls she made and pottery she painted, and pottery we made together. And she did teach me to knit although it never quite stuck.
There’s only one way to repay a crafty lady and that’s with crafty love.
I found some flowers on the Internet, and used the Rhonna iPad app to trace the letters.
I used nail polish to gussy up the frame. And glued a backing to the fabric because I can guarantee that my Nanna, who is a far superior embroiderer than I, will check the back which was not done to her standards.
I love my mum.
I am thoroughly enjoying having easy access to my craft supplies.
That being said my crafty room is currently in disarray as we (and by we I don’t include myself because I’m still on light duties) are assembling a spare bed in there at the moment.
But it wasn’t on Saturday morning, so decided to sort through my modest collection of jewelry making supplies and organise them.
And by organise them I mean spend an hour looking for a specific pair of pliers, giving up and making a pair of crazy cat earrings.
My talent currently extends to sliding beads and making flimsy joins, but that’s enough to make a pair of earrings.
“As soon as I could use my hands she taught me to knit, which has been a great amusement;”
I own three copies of Persuasion.
One was in a box set, the second I bought because the first was getting too well worn, the third because I liked the cover more than the second.
The romance between Miss Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth is one of my favourites.
So I’ve based a yarn collection around all of my favourite parts. (This will contain spoilers if you’re not at all familiar with the plot.)
Continue reading Yarn Collection – Persuasion
One day my beloved HeWhoFishes is going to wake up one morning and the whole house will be covered in yarn.
Actually he probably already has nightmares about it.
Wouldn’t that staircase look brilliant yarn bombed? It’s oh so tempting.
I don’t think I’ll get the required planning approval for the staircase, so I’ve started small and started to bomb my crafty-room-chair.
I was holding my first handspun in my hands, fondling it and wondering what I should do.
There’s only a small amount and various thicknesses.
I wanted to put it on display, but I didn’t know where.
And so I knitted it up and put it on my chair. (Yes I’m watching Bobs Burgers.)
My crafty room may still be disorganized with a pile of bedding in the corner (it will double as a guest room), but maybe by the time my room is ready, my chair will be ready too.
It all started with Bon Jovi on Thursday night.
Which I actually remembered to take my camera to. So I have to actually put some effort in before posting.
Bon Jovi was followed by 5 days of cricket watching and Australia winning the ashes.
It was absolutely stinking hot (4 days of 38+ degree heat) so naturally I caught a cold. I didn’t even get much knitting done because I couldn’t stand touching anything.
Now you must excuse me while I take a kip under my desk. I’m a wee bit tired.
Zzzzzzz
Beks
Whilst moving house there was 5 days when I didn’t pick up my needles at all.
Every time I thought about knitting there was something slightly more pressing that needed unpacking or organising.
By the sixth day I was getting slightly stir crazy and so I cast on two pairs of socks, untangled some yarn that I needed to finish a shawl, and started a hat.
It is going to be crazy hot here over the next week. So even though a hat isn’t the most practical item of clothing for an Australian summer, it is a practical item to knit.
Urgh, just thinking about having a jumper or a blanket on my lap is making me uncomfortable.
We still don’t have wireless internet at home, so I’ve been making do with using my phone as a hotspot to get the internet through my ipad (definitely #firstworldproblems).
I started the hat working from my ipad, until I had the pattern firmly in my head. I finished the required 4 rounds and then started the decreases.
I did the right thing and checked the decrease chart to make sure I was following the pattern.
Silly Bek picked up her phone, checked the last pattern that was open and followed that not realising that it was not the same pattern.
So I now have a half lettuce / half hues of lothlorien. A lettuce of lothlorien.
I am still pretty happy with it though.
The wide cables are gorgeous (without actually doing any cabling) and even if the decreases could be steeper it blocked out nicely.
If I was to make this again (which I probably will because I do really like both patterns) I would probably make it into a cowl.
And maybe play around with the drape. The needle size & yarn combination only just worked on a hat.
If you look closely you’ll see that there are two side plates inside the hat which I used to block it with.
You’ll also have to bear with me while I figure out the best times to take photos.
Clearly 11pm after I’ve just finished weaving in the ends doesn’t get the best light.
polka-dots & sparkles 