Thursday, August 21, 2008

Experiment

I have had a woollen singlet lying around for a while now, and since it is still fairly cold, I thought I'd finally get around to dyeing it.

The trouble is I don't have any acid dyes or even cake gels, just food colouring. I figured it couldn't be too hard to work out though, so just dug out some vinegar from the pantry and away I went!

I was looking for a tie dye effect, except I didn't have any rubber bands, so I just used strips of Gladwrap (clingfilm) and it mostly did the job.



Not too bad in my opinion, and best of all it fits Erin perfectly despite being a size 1.

Mmmm... yarn....

So a week ago I got to do some yarn dyeing, and I have to say I think this has got to be my newest fetish! It is just so neat choosing the colours, setting it all up, and then seeing how it turns out once it dries and you can wind it up into balls. The possibilities are endless!


Here are the photos of my latest efforts - the top hank in lighter colours is 10ply and the hank in darker colours / pink is 8ply.






Photos to come soon of a wee hat I have knitted up in the dark purples / pink for Erin - I am really loving the Earflap Hat pattern by SweetP !!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Artwork for Erin

I decided the walls in my daughter's bedroom needed some jazzing up, especially since we had just bought her some new linen and all, so this is what I came up with:






A big thank you to my friend Jess for the canvas - I took the original fabric off, and put the brocade on - and discovered I am lousy at using a staple gun!

The first paint up of the letters didn't have them come up as bright as I wanted, so I changed tack and did a coat of silver on top.

Added some beaded trim type stuff, some butterflies, and voila! The hanging is not ideal, but it will have to do - we didn't have any wire or the right type of picture hook but oh well.

A little pink hat

With a purple stripe! OK so I mucked up the jogless jog, but I'm hopeful the recipient won't notice as she is only 7 weeks old ;)



Knitted with some hot pink 100% merino that was gifted to me, and scraps for the purple stripe. Used Gabes' Earflap Hat Pattern but knitted in the round.

Resurrection

Hi!

In short, I decided I needed a crafty blog, and rather than go to the effort of creating a new one with all the bells and whistles I decided it would be just as easy to revive this one!

Basically, it will be all about photos and descriptions of things I have been making - mostly for myself, my family, and as gifts for friends.

Lately there has been a lot of knitting, but I'm hoping to get the sewing machines back up and running soon too.

Enjoy!

Love,
Mrs Bird