Wingspan No 2

I enjoyed knitting Wingspan so much a couple of months ago that I decided to knit another one.  I gave the first one to Baby Bear as I thought the pink and purple suited her more.

This one is using the same cheapie sock wool from Spotlight that is splitty and would not feel good on the feet, but makes a sptriking scarf, obviously in a green and purple colourway this time.

Slight variations from last time, where I followed the pattern completely - I made this one a bit longer.  The pattern calls for eight wings; I decided to try for ten but ran out of yarn just into the tenth one, but decided to just cast it off straight away as I quite liked the effect of the little odd flap.  This does mean that I didn't do the four rows of straight knitting before casting off before the end of the pattern, and that does show as it makes the cast-off edge a bit wonky.  But I intend to wear it pinned together or scrunched up or something, so I figure it won't show.

I will probably make another one at some point, as they are so addictive, and then I will probably stick to nine wings and finish it properly.

Wingspan

I've been wanting to knit Wingspan for a while, and eventually got round to it.  Here is the result:

I used about 3/4 ball of Wisdom Yarns Poems Socks, 75% Superwash Wool and 25% Nylon, in (obviously) a pink/purple/grey colourway.  It's a Turkish yarn that appeared in Spotlight at some point, quite cheaply, and I bought four balls of it in different colours.  The colours are all gorgeous, with long, Noro-like colour changes, but the quality of the yarn itself is pretty ho-hum, being rough and splitty.  I wouldn't want to wear actual socks made from it.  But it made a pretty scarf/shawlette.  I've given this one to my daughter because they are her colours, and I enjoyed knitting it so much that I have decided to make another one for me, out of another colourway of the same yarn.  I might make mine a bit longer though, nine or ten 'wings' instead of eight.

My Creative Space

What with the (currently stalled) Knit Along, and this lot 'ere, I am behind in the Bead Journal Project.  But I feel an urge to bead returning and will catach up sometime soon!

I finally had some time, and some courage, to pop into Open Drawer (see last post) and hopefully they might be able to sell some of my things.  And I was asked to make some more things, which I took in at the start of the week.  These are they - my creative space for the last couple of weeks:





Patchwork scarf - a variety of yarns of completely different textures and weights, with some of (now specially named) Mazey Patchwork on the bottom.  Because I was running out of time (this was the last one I finished) most of the embroidery on that was done on the tram, the train and in the Melbourne Central food court at lunchtime.  It got a few weird looks, but who cares!





The first of two feral hats.  This one has some of the ends pulled out through the top and tied with big beads.  It is a floppy tam-o-shanter type of hat.





The other feral hat.  Again floppy.  This time the ends are like a fringe down the back seam.






This blue hat is what you do when you find half a scrumbled hat and don't have the time to finish making it properly.  You knit a tube, using a hat block and pins to judge how long it needs to be, then you carefully sew down the scrumbling to the tube.  Add an extra row of stitching underneath the scrumbling (repetition, and tying the design together) and hey presto!





Simple scarf knitted lengthways in a variegated yarn, and some crocheted bits sewn down in a viney pattern (plus I needlefelted the long ends of theyarn in a similar pattern).  Finished off with Suffolk Puffs and cute buttons.






The final, blue, scarf, knitted lengthways and the ends turned into a feral fringe.  They were lightly needlefelted crossways for the first third or so of their length, so hold them together but still keep them defined as separate yarns, and then I sewed buttons and beads all over the ends of the actual knitting and the start of the fringe.

These were fun to make, and all my own designs.  Currently working on a prototype new design which I might try to sell through my new Made It Shop.

For more yummy, inspirational Creative Spaces, pop over here.

Me-Made-June Whenever It Was...

I have been a bad blogger.  I did finish Me-Made-June without any duplications, though I only made one item instead of two.  But I haven't felt like blogging recently.  Now ... I'M BAAACCKKKK...

Because it was a while ago, I can't remember which day I wore these things, but I did have them marked down as the last week of MMJ so here goes.



Good old Entre Chien et Loup!

This brooch was part of my Graduate Exhibition for my Diploma.  This is a shocking picture!  I take terrible pictures of my work :(  It was part of a set called Full Fathom Five and is meant to look like coral and seaweed and pearls (those are seed pearls that were his eyes!)

This cowl is the one I blogged about earlier and, because it took me an unneccessarily long time to finish it, counts as the one thing I made in June, to wear in June.  It is the Tilting Tardis cowl from Revelry (too lazy to look up) made from a Wendy sock yarn that is mostly bamboo and is silky and soft.  It is meant to be buttoned up.  When I was sewing in the ends I used them to sew up the seam without thinking, and then, as I could get it on over my head, just left it be!

A ubiquitous Clapotis of much Knitty and bloggy fame.  I made mine longer and narrower to wear it as a scarf.  It is one of the few things I have ever knitted in the recommended yarn, splashing out of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, if that;s what it's called?  Anyway it is utterly luscious and I wear it a lot.

A pair of Jaywalker socks knitted in , I think, a Regia wool-cotton blend.  Again too lazy to find a link.  Hey, it's taken me over two weeks to write this post at all!

And that, I think, finished Me-Made-June.  It was fun but towards the end I got a bit distracted, at least in terms of recording it, as must be pretty obvious.  Sometimes life you actually have just gets in the way of the life you want to have.  That's happening a lot at the moment.

On a lighter note - I have just formed a hopefully fruitful relationship with the gorgeous textile art shop Open Drawer  (to which I obviously can be bothered linking!).  Whether they actually sell any of my work remains to be seen but at least they were willing to give it a go.  And that has given me a bit of a kick in the pants to do some other stuff.  I have had a couple of Etsy shops at various times, and set up the framework of a MadeIt shop earlier in the year, but have never really achieved anything with them.  I am inspired to start all over again with a new name, new goods, and, well, watch this space!!!

Me-Made-June Week 3

Another chilly week.  But not quite as bad as last week!  It did however start with a scarf.

This is knitted from Lincraft Prism and is 70% wool and 30% soysilk.  The pattern is from Knitted Shawls, Stoles and Scarves by Nancie Wiseman and it can be knitted either as a shawl (my MIL has a lovely pink and purple one) or a scarf.

I had to get my favorite glass brooch in somewhere this month!

Then it was a wet day and I had to catch the tram to work, which means walking through a park (which is pretty at sunrise, but gives you wet feet), and so I wore waterproof shoes and carried office shoes in the felted bag I made for Me-Made-May. 

This brooch, made some years ago, sits on the lapel of a designer denim blazer that I bought in an op shop about the same time that I made the brooch. 

A cold Sunday meant hand knitted socks.  These are Jaywalkers knitted in a mixture of wool and cotton.

I've worn very little of my own jewellery this month, mostly because I have had the perfect opportunity to wear the handknits!!  But I did wear these green and blue coralled earrings.

And finally, as Arctic blasts assailed Melbourne, I wore my Fetchings, knitted from the same Prism yarn as the scarf at the start of this post.

I haven't been doing My Creative Spaces for the last couple of weeks, because of the planning and photographing, etc, of Me-Made-June.  but I am going to this week, because I am participating in a KAL (Knit-along, for those who are wondering) and I want to show some progress pictures, and it's pretty much what I have been working on all week.