I ventured into purples for Kitty's doll.
Jim holds Kitty's Jessica for a photo!
Bev's niece's doll.I also knitted quite a few pairs of slippers. See 'Knitting' below.
I belong to a great women's group called Milliande. We often have 'swaps' of all sorts of things. Before Christmas we did a 'witchel' swap and here is mine:
I adapted a cardboard cut out that I already had as I was short of time and it went off to Canada.My latest swap with Milliande is for 'pins'. These are sort of little brooches with a maximum size of 2". Here are the 3 I've made so far:
This started out as a collage of all sorts of material on top of black felt. I think melted it with a heat gun and put some cellophane on top which I also melted! I found the lovely glass button and added that to the top and did some sewing in thick gold thread. It's quite funky I think!
This pin is a little collage of papers, tissue and a curtain screw! I then sewed with pink thread on the top and added beads and the other glass button I found.
This one is rather like a shield. The silver centre was a large earring which I straightened out and cut in half. Jim made holes in it so that I could sew it to the felt. The background is a bit more of the collage in the first brooch.
Finally, this little one is just one inch square!
I only have to make 3 so now I have one spare.
Crochet
I have finally learnt how to crochet - well, a little bit! Here is my first Grannie square:
Now I am crocheting a headband. I rather like the effect of the colours (lovely wool bought from WoollyGathering in Tuamgraney) and the spike stitch that goes over the row below. I haven't finished the headband yet!
Knitting
Bev wanted a pair of slippers for her Mum who has quite swollen feet, so I made a wide pair with a slit down the front and apparently she just loves them! Another pair went to my daughter and another to my sister in law Miranda. Here is the first pair I made:
I think my daughter K has this pair. I found the pattern online and adapted it for size. Jim and I have a pair too and they're really warm and comfortable if not a fashion statement!
I did finish Jim's jumper quite quickly. The sleeves were too long but I soon adjusted those and he wears it quite frequently. I haven't a photo of it on it's own but here is Jim wearing it. We (the knitting/crochet group) met up one day in a cafe in Killaloe. Jim knitted a square!
You can see Jim's sleeves turned up!! I was knitting a pair of socks. They still aren't finished because I was supposed to do 'Kitchener stitch' for the toes and still haven't done it.
Messing Around
I love recycling as you probably know and I have collected all sorts of attractive carrier bags. I found a magazine article on fusing them and had a play. Here is my first piece:
This is melted carrier bags plus a bit of wool and some stitching over the top. I called it '3 squares' and rather like it!
A close up of one section.
The second piece I made turned into a document wallet! I'm not sure how that happened. I lined it with dark hessian.
Front.
Back.
Close up of a section.
I had a lot of fun making these and still have lots of bags left!
I think that's enough for now. I haven't mentioned all the beads I made or the dozens of key rings and fingerless gloves I've knitted....
Until next time.
