Cushion Covers & Cushions

Another quick FO to slip in just before midnight! (apologies for the rather rushed photo).

A few weeks ago I woke up one weekend with an urge to make cushions and cushion covers. I ended up churning out 6 covers (4 still unfinished of course) and 2 cushions, alongside cutting out lots of squares to make a patchwork skirt with (still in square status; the urge has since passed).



(The orange one is a bit of a cheat - I made it about 8 years ago to decorate my room at university. But it's one a pair with the purple one).

I had planned to make the purple cushion back at university, but the backing fabric - the same shiny silver that I use for my spinning pinny - wouldn't go through the sewing machine (this was pre-overlocker), so I left it... And left it...

And then 8 years later, overlocker-enabled, I ended up hand-stitching it!

Ah well. I also made the cushion for the purple cover, using scraps of fabric for the stuffing. It's a really heavy cushion! But nice and squooshy.

The little one down at the front is a mini-patchwork (I also made the cushion inner). I had these 4 small squares of fabric, each with a different picture on. I've had them for years, and never quite knew what to do with them, so since I was in a cushion frenzy, I decided to stitch them together, make a matching backing sheet (2 blue squares and two red), and make a mini-cushion. It's just the right size for back-support, and I'm quite proud of the fact that I did it 'properly' and made sure everything lined up, and even put a zip in.

The effort must have drained me, though, for I haven't made (or finished) any more cushion covers since!

FO: Cloth Pad Kit

Well, I wish to keep up with my posting of one FO a day this week, but am in a bit of a rush and don't want to faff about taking photos. What do I have in my Photos folder already...?

Here we go: more cloth pads! (this photo shows the backing fabric - it's actually more of a teal colour)



This was a kit that I put together for a friend's birthday the other month. She's like me - very eco-conscious and very crafty. She also uses a Mooncup, but was talking about getting some cloth pads too.

I decided to give her a 'Make Your Own Cloth Pads' kit, and she really liked it! It was great, as not only did it help me to destash a bit, but I deliberately didn't include a backing fabric, so that she could use her own choice of fabric from her own stash.

I made one pad up as an example, and then gave her a neat pile of terry cloth and muslin (both of which are reused from barely-used terry towel nappies and burp cloths that a cloth-nappying mum gave to me) for inner layers and the top sheet respectively; some waterproof fabric to use as the last layer (it's a bit like thin shower curtain sheeting) and some instructions, all tied up in a big birthday bow.

Turning old tat into new goodies

Thanks for all the kind comments about my lovely shawl!

In response to Kat: I don't know if you can get the pattern separately (although I really do recommend the yarn!) - it's probably best to keep an eye on Fyperspates pattern page.

I have decided that this week I shall attempt to post one FO report a day, because I've got a number of items that have been finished for ages (ahem, and in some cases, years!).

I had a very crafty weekend - mainly lots of sewing. I went through my mending pile, and then set about turning old clothes (that were so old and crappy that a charity shop would've chucked them) into new, usuable items.

First up: two old t-shirts, which became two new pillow-cases, and a stack of cloth pads:



I have a tiny square cushion, which I got at university when all the pillows that came with my room gave me neck ache. I made one pillow-case for it, out of satin, but otherwise just shoved it into normal sized pillow-cases, which drowned it. The satin one is great for keeping my hair unfuzzed, but not so good for my skin.

So, step up one black cotton t-shirt with a really lame (& cracked) logo on it, and one old pyjama top which is a cotton mix, but has cute sheep on, and hey presto! One plain black pillow-case with blue ribbons, and one sheepy-pillow-case (with a press-stud closure).

I then had enough fabric left over to make 5 cloth pads. I've been using cloth pads for menstrual protection for years now, and have a collection of ones which I've both bought and made. I love them! I recently got a Mooncup and it is utterly fantastic. I like to wear a pad with it though, just in case, and thought it would be good to have some really slim, lightweight ones. Usually I just overlock (serge) round the outside of the pad, but for these I decided to try stitching them with the right sides together, and then turning them inside out.

Then I took a really really old terry dressing gown, which I used to obsessive-compulsively pull all the terry-threads out of (this really was OCD - even years later if I put it on, I used to pull the threads out). I cut this up and overlocked round the edges to make a stack of scrubby washcloths and a bath mat.

And finally, I took the first overlocked garment I'd ever made. I got my overlocker for my 21st, and in a 'must sew must sew' fit, made a 'nightie'. This 'nightie' was a very thin neck-to-ankle tube, with neck and arm slits. Unsurprisingly, I never wore it (I would not have been able to move if I had!). I turned this into a pile of soft washcloths/ hankies, with contrasting overlocking to finish the edges:



And don't let it be said that I haven't been doing any knitting. I recently bought a book called 'Knitted Accessories' in a charity shop. It was only £1.80, and had a nice hooded poncho in it. That same day, a friend lent me an old chest of drawers to use to keep my stash in. So, in order to put everything away neatly, I got everything out. I found a heap of tiny oddment balls of yarn. Then I noticed there was a pattern in this book for a pair of mittens made from a heap of tiny oddment balls of yarn.

So far the chest is empty, my living has knitting all over it, and I've been making mittens:



Admittedly, I do need to work on my ball management somewhat!

Update

Well, it's been all quiet on the blogging front recently, but I can assure you it hasn't been on the fibre front!

The other weekend I had a veritable obsession with sewing cushion covers, churning out about 6 covers, 2 cushions, and cutting up loads of scraps to make a patchwork skirt (unsurprisingly, 3 of the covers still need buttons, and I still need to make another 2. Oh, and the 'skirt' is a pile of squares. I am equal in my distribution of start-itis).

Then I managed to knit an entire garment in two weekends! I'll have an FO report on that sharpish.

And finally, this weekend was spent at Woolfest! Right now I need to go and watch all the things we've recorded over the weekend before our box-thing runs out of space (and maybe get started on some knitting), but here's a teaser photo of my goodies:

Pin after Pin after Pin...

In the lack of more fun photos, I thought I could give a little teaser photo of the blocking of Branching Out, demonstrating just what a ridiculous number of pins I used. I had planned to use the string I use as a drive band, but when it came down to it I realised that that string would be far too thick to fit through either a darning needle or the stitches... Of course, only after the pinning did I realise I had some thin crochet cotton. I think I could probably have stretched the lace out more, but I had no wish to move all those pins.



(yes; one of those pins is a needle. I always remember my mum being shocked when she asked for a needle and I said to check the pin box - doesn't everyone else get needles mixed in with their pins?)

We move in 2 days. One day? In two sleeps. (So Thursday morning). I am incredibly worried that the movers have no idea how much stuff we have. Luckily we have this place until next week and we're hiring a car, so will be able to drive back and forth numerous times if they really can't fit everything in (and since we only have a 2-bed flat they really should!). In our new house I shall have a corner of the solar ('sun room' just didn't sound like a me-type-word) as my sewing place. With a dedicated table and everything (for the past 18 months any dressmaking has been done on a coffee table. This is why there has been very little dressmaking).

Yoga Shorts

Today for the third week of a row I didn't make my yoga class (this is not just me being lazy, my class is 1-2:30pm but I have to set off at 10am to get there and don't get home until after 4:30pm. I can't spend the whole day going to yoga right now). So in an attempt to make up for it, I present...

My yoga shorts:



I made these a while ago, from some random stretchy fabric in my stash, to wear over my leggings. I used to wear big baggy t-shirts, but felt that I really need my yoga teacher to be able to see my upper back and shoulders. With a pair of baggy shorts over my leggings to cover my bum and tum, I feel a lot less self-conscious wearing skin-tight vests.

The irony of me making baggy shorts to cover my lumpy bits is that these are made from a pattern for pyjama trousers for a nine year old. Not only was I using a pre-pubescent pattern, I had to take it in by over four inches. Before you start thinking that I'm only this big --><-- let me assure you that I also had to remove four inches between the waist and crotch. I don't know what kind of freaky nine year olds the pattern makers know, but I don't think they are real nine year olds.

Spinning-wise, I've now wound the second bobbin onto the toilet roll and hopefully I'll ply them tomorrow. It's exciting! The yarn didn't break while winding onto the loo roll, so I trust it will ply safely. I should have at least 118 yards, due to my insane idea to measure the circumference of a toilet roll and then count how many times I wrapped the yarn round it. There isn't too much of a discrepancy between length of singles either, which is promising.

Creativity Overdrive

A couple of things you may know about me. I'm a procrastinator. I get obsessed by a certain thing and have to do it otherwise the world will end. I tend to start things and never carry them through.

Add those things together and you're getting a whirlwind of creativity at the moment. Good news is: my thesis has a structure and I've started writing - hoorah! But I find I keep thinking about crafting, making, need to do it now otherwise I can't concentrate on my books (honest).

So, in the past couple of weeks there's been the sewing thing, the weaving thing, and last week I discovered blackwork for the first time and just had to do some right then. I'm not really a fan of cross-stitch (though I have seen a couple of patterns on ebay that are tempting... but that's another story), but as soon as I saw blackwork I fell in love - it's so elegant! It's basically single-line patterns done in a form of backstitch-cum-running stitch. Luckily, I think I managed to fulfill the urge that evening, trying out this pattern of violets.

I have some fabric which has a really loose weave, which is suitable for embroidery. I don't have any embroidery threads here (I think they must be at my parents'), but I used regular thread instead. At first, I was quite disappointed with how it was working out. I was using 4 strands of white thread, and it looked crap. However, I switched the 2 strands of dark green and it's just glorious.



Since then, I haven't felt the urge to do any more blackwork, but I think when I finish my thesis I shall buy this little owl kit, since I love owls and the Little Owl and the Burrowing Owl (which looks like a Little Owl but with added cute burrowing feature) are my favourites. One thing to possibly prevent me from further embroidery is that I don't really know what to do with the finished object: I have no wish to hang it on my wall, and we don't really need loads of cushions. Blackwork would be nice embroidered on the edge of skirts or pinnies maybe... we'll see.

Talking of pinnies, I made another yesterday, using up the rest of those burgundy fabric remnants. This one has pocketses and cute machine-embroidery. Oh, and talking about not needing any more cushions - I started making a cushion too. This isn't as bonkers as it sounds. When I first went away to university [as an undergrad] I had bought some large fabric squares to make two cushions out of. I made one, but the other one has the slippery silver fabric I made my spinning pinny with as a backing, and it didn't like going through the sewing machine. Being far too lazy to sew it by hand, I decided to put it aside until I got an overlocker, and haven't picked it up since! So I will make that second cushion cover at some point. However, what I'm missing is the second cushion. What better use for all my scraps of fabric (oh, another thing to know about me - I don't throw things away) than a big cushion?

So yesterday evening I sewed some fabric together to make the cushion and started stuffing it with scraps. A bit like with the Jack Skellington cushions, small squares of scraps worked better than big bits. So I cut up all the scraps left over from making the pinny. Then I went round finding more bags of scraps to cut up, and by (ahem) one in the morning, I'd chopped up all the scraps I could find to put in the cushion, bar any really big ones that I may use for a patchwork skirt. I think I have scissor-blisters on my thumb! It was good to be crafty and declutter at the same time! ;)

Edited to add: Oh ho ho... I've just found a he-youge bag of scraps in the bedroom. Good job my thumb still hurts from all yesterday's chopping otherwise I'd never get any work done!

Spinning Pinny!

Here's my spinning pinny - it's silver so it looks jolly glam, LOL! Compared to the burgundy one it's so rough - the ribbon at the top is stitched on really messily, and I haven't neatened the edges at all. HOWEVER: it works! In fact, there was hardly any fluff at all! I think because it's such a slippery fabric there's nothing for the fluff to 'grab' onto, so it just gets spun up instead. Hoorah!



It's a bit of a crappy pose; unfortunately I'm just wearing a grey jersey nightie which I made when I was about 17 and that's not the neatest of garments either (see - I've always been a lazy sewer :P ).

Burgundy Pinny

Here is the pinny I made the other day for cleaning in. It's a bit short, as it's the size of the scrap of fabric I found! I'm actually quite impressed with the finishing I gave it - the pinny itself has rounded corners with an overlocked rolled hem, and the waistband has been done neatly. Given that a) I'm usually quite slapdash in sewing and b) it's a garment which isn't really going to be worn on fancy occasions (!) it's even more impressive ;)



Yep - got tennis elbow in the blasted left arm now. Like my fancy band?

Bunnies & Pinnies!

Mr Bee has been harping on about getting a bunny for some time now. He especially likes Netherland Dwarf bunnies, as they are so incredibly cute. I used to have my own rabbit when I was younger who was considerably... non-dwarf. Anyway, at the moment we are somewhat limited by the fact that we have no garden and barely any space in the flat. I think if we had a rabbit it would probably live in the house, but we'd have a run for it outside as well. I know when I had my rabbit she got way more attention when she lived inside as a baby than when she moved outside.

The other issue we have is that Mr Bee, as stated, likes dwarf bunnies. Admittedly, I like those too... But, I'd kinda like a spinnable bunny ;) Mr Bee thinks that angora bunnies are ugly (though even he will admit that The Sanguine Gryphon's angora bunnies are soooooooooooooooooooo cute!).

So. Impasse.

Fear not! Today I discovered the Jersey Wooly - a cross between a dwarf and an angora (boringly named 'Dwarf Angora' in Europe apparently). All the cuteness of a dwarf with the spinnability of an angora!

Though having lived in a house with 3 long-haired cats and their resulting fluff, we may end up with a Rex bunny instead ;)

Today I've been cleaning and sewing. The sewing was a result of the cleaning - I realised I could really do with some aprons. I have one pinny that's for best (I bet not many 25 year olds say that nowadays), but none for actual cleaning/cooking in. Plus I like pinnies, especially ones with pockets. Since I only wear skirts I rarely have any pockets on my clothes, so it's good to be able to strap on some extra pockets!

So I made a little pinny for cleaning/cooking in. This is quite small given that I just used a random fabric offcut, and it happened to be small pinny sized! I had 4 offcuts the same size, and used one for the pinny and one for the waistband. I could put some tiny pockets on it with the waistband remnants, but they'd be pretty impratical. I may make another with the other two offcuts and put a pocket on that one. I'm wearing it now and pretty sure it already has lasange spatter on it ;)

The second pinny is more an apron: it's my Spinning Pinny! Now that we live in a relatively fluff-free house sans chats (see above), I don't like getting spinning fluff on my clothes. So I've made a full length apron of a very shiny fabric to wear whilst spinning, in the hope it will make fluff-disposal easier. It's not very well finished - I haven't even neatened the edges with scissors never mind hemmed it, but it should be functional.

I do need one further pinny - a full, calf-length one. I realised once I'd made the little one why I'd decided to make a pinny today - to help me do the laundry! Both our laundry baskets are full of random crap, so when I get the clothes out of the washer I put them all in my skirt. Which is fine when I'm wearing a full long skirt, but today I was wearing a mid-thigh nightie (what? It's a Sunday!) which wasn't really practical! So one further pinny shall be in the works, and then I may just make more from funky fabrics to wear for extra pocketses.

Photos to follow shortly!

Depending on what's on TV tonight I may try some spinning (if it's all crap I'll have to do some work) as I don't think it hurts me. I realised after yesterday's post that weaving would be a perfect way to use up my spun yarn! I haven't felt like spinning recently as I can't do anything with the finished yarn other than look at it or give it away. But weaving might work... I've found instructions for a warp-weighted loom ;) but may try something less ambitious. I have a giant bead loom, so may try and convert that and see how I get on!

Making stuff

OK, so I really don't have much willpower. Pretty much after I wrote my last post I had a go at knitting. It was partly due to the fact that I had a physiotherapy appointment and wanted to have done some hand-motions beforehand. So I've been working on Friday's mittens, just a round at a time. Now I only have about less than 10 rounds left, but I'm not sure when I'll have it finished by. It's cool to make progress though, no matter how slowly.

My physio confirms that I have golfer's elbow. I have new exercises to do, and I'm quietly confident I can beat this :)

This weekend I've been doing some dressmaking. I've made a pair of shorts for yoga (to wear over my leggings - I'll be much less self-conscious, and can hopefully then stop wearing huge baggy t-shirts down to my knees!) and most of a dress. The dress only really needs to be hemmed, but I feel it's too big - even though I've taken it in twice - and become annoyed with it. It's too hot to keep trying it on that I'll just wait for a cooler day to make a decision about it. Yes, I did make it to the right size on the packet, I just think the pattern is a bit off.

A bit like the shorts. I made those from a cut down pattern for a pair of teenager's pyjama trousers. The pattern comes in sizes 9-10 years, 11-12 and 13-14. When I first used it for some jammies (at the age of about 19) I made the 13-14, thinking I might just squeeze into them. Well, I can pretty much fit my entire body into one leg, with space! So for the shorts I used the 9-10 size, and *still* had to take it in. The pattern is so screwed: I had to remove 4 INCHES from between the waistline and the crotch! If I held the crotch against my crotch then the waistline on the pattern reached my boobs. I know I'm short but I'm not *that* short.

Anyway, despite the fact that I had just made a par of shorts that according to Simplicity would probably fit a 6 year old, I decided to make the Simplicity dress in a size 14, even though I've never been about 8-10, maybe 12. My measurements fit their size 14 measurements almost exactly, but I guess they have wacky tape measures. And it wasn't a case of ease, it was a case of looking like I was wearing a huge sack.

Anyway, on a less hot day I might give it another try!

Straight Needle Case

After I finished my DPN case I thought it would be nice to have a straight needle case too - after all, my straight needles were just as higgledy-piggledy as my DPNs were. When I was first making the DPN case I cut two pieces of fleece, originally considering stitching them together so both sides were fleecy; in the end I realised I preferred having a fleecy side (the outside and pockets) and a non-fleecy side (the inside flap). Besides, with a double layer of fleece it would have been too thick.

So I had my extra piece of fleece, cut to the same dimensions. However, given that the DPN case is faaaaaaaaar too wide, and straight needles are much longer than DPNs I turned the fleece the other way to make the straight case.



As you can see, it's still pretty big, but not as stupidly wide; and since I went back to the charity shop and bought more needles it's a lot fuller (but there's still room should I get any more - which given I have my Denises is unlikely).

I reversed the colours in the overlocking thread: this one is mainly turquoise, with one purple thread, and the pocket threads are turquoise too.

It looks cute rolled up (yes, I know I should've turned that photo before posting it, sorry!):



And now my grandma's knitting basket looks much neater than before when it had plastic bags full of random needles sticking out of it:

DPN case

I have a feeling that this ban may have to last longer than a week :-/

Anyway, as a general cheer-up, here are some pics of my DPN case!

I made it in a dark turquoise fleece and it's so soft. I used purple overlocking for the seams and as decoration, with one strand of turquoise thread in the second running thread (can't for the life of me remember what this is called!). There are two levels of pockets for shorter and longer items, and the pockets are varying widths, with some very wide ones for packets of DPNs.



Yes. I am aware that it is ridiculously long! I don't intend to ever be able to fill it, but it's good to be prepared, right? Anyway, it also fits in crochet hooks, stitch holders, needle gauge, etc.

Here it is all folded up - I like how the pocket stitching (done in purple thread) looks like quilting.



All it needs now is a matching purple ribbon to finish it off. I'm pretty sure I may have one, but can't remember where my ribbon bag is, so it'll have to wait. It still works without a fastening though! And it's great to have all my DPNs kept neatly - I've written on each what size they are too, so everything is nicely ordered.

Next: the straights case! Might post that tomorrow to give my wrist a break.

Kneedle-case Happy!

I did go back to the charity shop with my gauge and rifle through their knitting needle box. I managed to get a couple of sets of DPNs by mixing and matching - the lady serving thought I was a bit strange buying random needles, but I got 14 for £3.50.

When I got home I decided that now I needed a needle case, rather than keeping them all mixed up in a bag. So I made one from a lovely turquoise fleece. Then I realised that if my DPNs had a case, my regular needles should get one too ;) Now I have two beautiful cases - pics to follow soon!

All I need to do now is get a permanent marker and write the size of the needles on them (the needles, not the cases). I was thinking of embroidering the sizes onto the cases, but I'd rather have some flexibility in moving them around. Plus this way I won't be completely paranoid and recheck every needle when I come to use it!

I'm also planning to make a small inventory list of what needles I have, and go back to the charity shop to fill in any gaps!

Merry Yule!

Slightly belated, I do admit. Still not knitting, but hopefully I can start again soon, though I have been very slack on my exercises as of late :-/ Naughty bee...

Anyway, here's a picture to share of the presents which I made for my siblings - Jack Skellington cushions! No knitting involved - I blanket stitched the faces on (lightly glueing them first to keep them in place), then overlocked the front and back together, leaving a small gap to stuff, before overlocking that up. I took the faces from a bag Friday gave me, and scaled them up to the right size for the cushions.

The thing that took the longest time was actually cutting up all the fabric scraps for the stuffing! I decided that small 1 inch squares stuffed best, and so spent hours cutting the scraps down to size. I think it was worth it though! Plus I got to use up a whole bag of fabric scraps.



I gave the left one to Tuesday, the right one to Friday and the bottom one to Sunday. They were fun to make and well-received! :)

Some more things to add to the 'wanna make now!' list

* Some easy fingerless gloves - these look like they'll hardly take any time at all!

* The Panta - a cross between a hat and a headband, it's like one of those fun scarves that hippies with dreadlocks wear! It is a Finnish pattern, with a translation on page 2, and a cleaned-up version on page 4.

And here is a wonderful resource for making Susan's green dress: The Wardrobe Door. I'm not going to make that until I've finished off some half-made things though (honest!).

And now I'm off to make non-knitted presents for my siblings!

Creating things with other types of needles!

We've just come back from seeing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I LOVE Susan's green dress - I just have to make it! :) You can see a picture here. It would go beautifully with the green knitted shoes I'm planning to make. I also liked her cloak - and during a close-up I realised it was knitted! It's thick stockinette, but I think should probably only be attempted with a knitting machine...

During my knitting break I have done some sewing. I have been buying patterns and fabrics for years and years, and planning to make stuff but never getting round to it. I do make things occasionally, but not as quickly as I buy them! In recent weeks I've made a double-layered skirt - I just need to hem it and then I'll post a pic. Dress-making is fun, and you get quicker results than knitting (I'd've finished the skirt in a day, except I didn't get round to it and then left it for a while), it's just much more awkward to get the machines out, clear a whole table to cut things out on, etc.

And I'm now moved onto strengthening exercises during my chiropractic sessions :)