My new Colette pattern arrived

My new pattern arrived!  Here is a picture from the Colette website.

http://www.colettepatterns.com/shop/parfait

I'm thinking that I will make it in a a soft pastel colour, I am leaning towards pink but will see what is out there.  I also think I am going to have a go at making crochet buttons, Casey being my inspiration:

http://blog.caseybrowndesigns.com/2010/04/an-ode-to-crochet-buttons/

I think this, with perhaps some lace on the pockets could look very cute.  Plus, as I am now living in Sydney I need a much larger wardrobe of summer clothes because even in mid autumn here it is hot!  So this winter will be spent sewing clothes for next summer...

The Giraffe

 So, I have finally finished my amigurumi giraffe!  

I found this project a bit of a struggle, and I have been finding it hard to explain why.  I have been telling myself that it is because it was so very monotonous, but then surely all crochet is?  Doing the same stitch over and over and over...

However, I don't mind that, so I am not sure why I didn't enjoy this as much as my other crochet projects.  I have been dreaming about sewing so maybe I was simply keen to do something else?

Anyway, there were not too many dramas with this one (unlike Mr Elephant), I used a much smaller wool (8 ply, while my elephant was 12 ply) which I think helps make it look slightly more like it should.  I do suspect I still have my stitches a little incorrect.  One of the instructions for this one was "working through back loops only" which when I looked up seemed to be what I was doing normally anyway. I need to look into this a bit more, but overall I think it looks ok.

My pattern is another Lion Brand freebie, again please remember that you need to register to view the pattern:

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90231AD.html?noImages=&r=1

Next up, my aunt has very kindly lent me her sewing machiene so I am working on a couple of projects.  More soon.

Millinery Course

Yay! Just enrolled in this course and it starts in 2 weeks. Super excited!

http://www.sydneycommunitycollege.com.au/course/artf9

I'll be creating hats like these beauties (by Stephen Jones) in no time I'm sure!

Brand spanking new header!

Just created this new header, this blog is starting to look a little professional I think. Just thought I would say thanks to pixalsandicecream, who very kindly put the background online to download for free:

You can see it here:

http://pixelsandicecream.deviantart.com/art/quot-GypsyGarden-quot-Seamless-tile-94990354

Thank you!

Also, thanks to my lovely hubby who helped me put together the borders and text etc etc, thanks hubby!

Photos, photos everywhere...

So, I have literally thousands of photos that need editing so the crafting has taken a little bit of a backseat this week. I have been travelling for 10 months and am slowly working my way through them.

They are going up here if anyone is interested:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jscottnz/sets/

Also, just to have this short post a tiny bit relevant - I love this skirt by Casey over at elegant musings:

http://blog.caseybrowndesigns.com/2010/04/potting-shed-skirt/

Can not wait to have a sewing machine again as that skirt is going to be copied (after I have got through my back log of other ideas, of course)!!!!!

Some Sydney craft stores

I moved from London to Sydney a few weeks ago and am very slowly trying to find out where the craft and sewing stores are. I have so far visited 4:

Tessuti

http://www.tessuti.com.au/Tessuti_City.php

Morris and Son

http://www.morrisandsons.com.au/catalog/main.php

Spotlight

http://www.spotlight.com.au/

Lincraft

http://www.lincraft.com.au/

They are all chain stores, which I am a little disappointed about. But they were all perfectly serviceable, Spotlight and Lincraft I would only use for basic supplies, pins, zips, thread etc, while Tessuti had a reasonable selection of fabrics, although I believe there is a much larger store in a different area of Sydney. I did pick up these fabrics:

Morris and Son is a wool and embroidery store and have a pretty good selection of wools. Although I was not overwhelmed, and found a lot of the colours quite dull, especially as I was looking for a bright yellow. These are my buys from Morris and Son:

So, I feel like Sydney will offer all the essentials for sewing and crafting, but I need to search out those special little independent stores, the ones with character, I'm sure there must be some here and I am looking forward to searching them out!

My amigurumi elephant

Yay! I have finished my elephant, which is actually my second!

I found this amigurumi business a little hard to get my head around, firstly I really struggled with counting the stitches, especailly when I was increasing a row. Having to think of how many stitches in the row, how many times I had to do two stitches in one loop, how many single stitches between each double, phew! Luckily I have a wonderful husband who says that his job is to make the complex simple, so he sat down with me and got me to come up with a way I could keep track of it all. So this was the pattern I ended up working from, crossing each section off as I completed it:

Row 3: D 1S, D 1S, D 1S, D 1S, D 1S, D 1S

Row 4: D 2S, D 2S, D 2S, D 2S, D 2S, D2S

Row 5: D 3S, D 3S, D 3S, D 3S, D 3S, D 3S

And so on.

This really helped me keep track of what I was doing, and stopped me getting into a complete muddle.

The next issue I had was that my decrease stitches left huge gaping holes, I was using the sc2tog stitch and was really unhappy with the result. However, as my previous post mentioned I found a different technique which I used on my second elephant and got a much better result. Thanks June!

First elephant Second elephant

Finally, and perhaps the biggest (and stupidest) problem of all was that I was using totally the wrong stitch in my first elephant!!!! I had managed to make up one of my own, which I think makes it all the more impressive that I completed an elephant (no matter how demented) in the first place. I keep learning lessons about doing your research properly before starting.

Here are the two side by side so you can see how wrong my first elephant went.

Overall, I enjoyed this project, even though I had to do it twice, and I am looking forward to trying a different project (which is going to be a giraffe).

Here is the original pattern from Lion Brand although please note you need to register with them before you can view patterns:

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/70582AD.html?noImages=&newreg=1&r=1

On a side note: I realise my choice of grey is highly original for an elephant, but this is a recycled wool of which they only had grey, so I felt like doing my bit.

Amigurumi

So I have been working on an amigurumi elephant, this little guy from the Lion Brand website, this picture is not my elephant, just a picture of what it is meant to look like:

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/70582AD.html?noImages=&newreg=1

I will write a longer post about it once it is finished but I just discovered this post:

http://www.planetjune.com/blog/amigurumi-help/invisible-decrease/

Which I am very excited about as I was very disappointed in how my decrease rows looked, there were huge holes and the decrease stitches were very obvious. So I am going to give this method a go and see if I get a better result. I will post up the two examples once I am done. I knew all I should have done was a little research!

Raiding my grandmothers patterns

A few weeks ago my mum found me browsing vintage patterns online (oh those full skirts and waspish waists!) and suggested that we go take a look at my grandmothers old patterns as she had distinct memories of seeing all the sorts of patterns I was looking at. So off we went...

We pulled out a large box and a big bag, full of patterns, however....it appears that a whole heap have been lost (sob), apparently at one point they had a lot of things in storage and a lot of it got water damaged. My grandmother then told me about some of the patterns she had had, and they sounded beautiful. One in particular, a ball gown with criss-crossed fabric across the body leading to a full skirt, which in my head I can just imagine in a beautiful pale sea green. Despite this there was the odd treasure, especially two original patterns from the 1920's, these would look terrible on me so I left them there but it was still interesting to see. Most of the patterns that survived were from the 70's and 80's, which was a bit of a laugh, and it was interesting to see how my mother and aunt dressed when they were young (they are also sewers and when younger made a lot of their own clothes as well). I did however get my hands on these three patterns, and a really good sewing book that covers everything from drafting a pattern, to how to iron as you sew, to all the different sleeves, collars and darts. Really, really informative and hopefully will help me in my sewing.

So now, as these patterns are only on loan I have to learn how to trace and re-size patterns, that will be a steep learning curve, but I am looking forward to the challenge!

By the way, if you are looking for specific vintage patterns this website can be a good starting point:

http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

My Very First Crochet Hat

A few weeks ago I was looking for a knitting pattern, but my mum suggested I try my hand at crochet (I think she was having flashbacks to picking up all my dropped stitches when I was young) and so I brought the Patons Learn to Crochet Book, a 5.5mm hook and some wool and tried my hand at crochet. All in all it was pretty successful, it took a while to figure out the instructions, for a while I thought 2ch meant start at the second chain, and not chain two, but once I figured that out it was mostly smooth. The only other massive setback was when I got to row twelve, and realised that it was way to big, and had to undo to row 6 to make it smaller, that was demoralising! But in the end I figured I might as well put in the effort to make a hat I would actually wear. My husband was amazed that essentially all I was doing my tying knots and yet that was creating a hat.
The other change I made was to the flowers, as the hat was made from a grey, almost purple wool, I thought a dusky pink flower would be a nice contrast. So off I went to get some more wool, and pearl beads to sew into the inside of the flower, by now I figured I was hooked. So here is my hat, which I have to say, I am quite proud of. My husband was amazed that essentially all I was doing my tying knots and yet that was creating a hat, and I continue to be amazed at what I can do with my own hands. No more china made, run of the mill hats for me!!

Crafting with children

Well, this blog has not started too well! In my defense however, I have moved country so things have been a little bit all over the place. I still do not have pictures of my recent creations but wanted to post a short piece about crafting with children.
While I do not have any of my own, I have been lucky enough to spend some time with my young cousins (girls, 2 and 8). One day I was wearing a lovely necklace that I had picked up in Uganda, made with rolled paper beads, that the local women had been taught to make so that they could earn an income. My cousins loved it and were intrigued when I told them it was made with paper, so we sat down with an old magazine, scissors and glue and made two cute bracelets. It was so much fun teaching this old technique, one that I used as a child, to two wee people who had never seen it done before. And it was so easy, you cut out long, thin strips of paper, glue one side, and roll up, starting from the fat end. And while the 2 year old is not quite old enough to make her own she was happy sitting on my knee and 'helping'. Plus the 8 year old did it all herself so can really call her bracelet hers.
But then, if that wasn't enough crafting, the 8 year old asked me if I knew how to knit, as she wanted to learn! How exciting that such a young person wants to be able to create. Sadly, I do not knit but I have been teaching myself to crochet, so we sat down and together made a cute pink flower. She enjoyed it so much she also sat down and made a little bracelet for her little sister. We then played a game, where we had to list (from a group of objects) what our favorite, second favorite etc were. So, we both put the flower and the bracelet as our two favorite things. I was so happy to be teaching a little person the value of crafting, and the sense of accomplishment you get making your own things. The next day she even took her little flower to show and tell at school, maybe even inspiring more kids??