Last Christmas I gave you... something hand knitted

Nothing puts me off knitting more than a deadline.  

So it might surprise you to learn that I knitted five gifts for my nearest and dearest in time for  Christmas.  There's no more stressful deadline than 25th December, as we're all packing in so much else in the run up to the festive period.  What was I thinking?

Start early.  That's what I was thinking.  

So I began knitting for my Mum way back in August when we were on holiday in London looking after my daughter's puppy.  

It may appear that Murphy is taking a keen interest in my knitting, but he's really just hoping for a pat - or a treat!

My Mum had admired the colours in this jumper I made a year ago, and I still had some of the gorgeous pink dyed by my friend Helen of Ripplescrafts.  I paired it with a mohair in a colour called Mother Knows Best from local dyer Claire of Cookston Crafts.  They just had to be made into something for my Mum.

This lighter-than-air shawl with its picot edge of golden beads feels luxurious but is surprisingly warm.  

Five shawls - two for me and three gifts

I should know - I've knitted this pattern, the Winter Wander Shawl by Helen Stewart, five times now and it's one of my wardrobe favourites, as well as making a lovely present.

So, that was one Christmas gift completed - and autumn barely begun. 

I next turned my attention to some souvenir yarn purchased in Amsterdam last May.

The Dutch yarn store Stephen and Penelope is something of a mecca for knitters and I was pleased my daughter Maddy was happy to accompany me on a visit during our minibreak - and took lots of photos whilst I was drooling over the wool!  I asked Maddy to choose something she liked and she picked a pretty skein of mohair silk by German hand-dye company Walk Collection in this delicate colour called Cloudy Sky.

Throughout October I transformed the skein into a shrug similar to one I'd seen Maddy wear, following a pattern called Sleeve vibes by designer Sachiko Burgin.

Here's Maddy wearing her knitted Christmas gift, back home in London.  It's an ideal layering piece.

If anyone in my family admires knitwear, especially anything I've made, I pay close attention.

Three hats ready to post to Crisis UK

When Geoff said he liked one of these chunky hats I'd knitted for a charity initiative supporting the homeless in Edinburgh, I noted the colour and bought another ball.  I chose the Suffolk Hat pattern by Jo Storie Knits.  This pattern had been in my library for ages just waiting for the right wool.  All the hats are knitted in ReCreate Chunky from Stylecraft, a blended yarn made entirely from recycled fibres.  Though it's 40% wool, it can still be machine washed.  That ticks a lot of boxes for me and I can buy it in person locally from both Baa! and Cookston Crafts.

Here's Maddy admiring Geoff's finished hat during a woodland walk at Haddo Country Park just after Christmas.  I didn't make a pompom for Geoff as I made his hat slightly bigger than the charity ones and only had this tiny nubbin left.  He's not really a pompom kind of guy!

It's fair to say that when I find a knitting pattern I really like, I can become a bit fixated.  

I first knit the Bamboo Field Mitts as a shop sample for my local yarn store, Baa! in Stonehaven, last September to see if it was possible to make a pair from one ball of beautiful North Country Cheviot Hills Lambswool from The Border Mill.  It's a lovely pattern generously provided free by designer Holly Terrell.  With my mission accomplished - mitts finished from just one ball and safely delivered to Baa! - I made a pair for myself.  Then my attention turned to other leftovers in my stash for my final family gift.

After I made Maddy a Rosa Cardigan in Rowan Felted Tweed for her birthday in 2021, I made myself a grey one in the same yarn.  Remembering I'd some of the tweedy grey wool leftover, through November I knitted Eilidh a pair of the Bamboo Field Mitts to keep her cosy on her dog walks back in London with Murphy.

At the end of the day, when the Christmas hype is past, gifts are given and all I really want for them is to be worn, and worn, and worn again.

Geoff's hat on our hall table awaiting its next outing

But wait - that's only four and I mentioned five hand knit gifts...

With three weeks 'til Christmas, I made a late decision to make one more pair of Bamboo Field mitts, this time for my friend Lorna.  We'd a lunch date on December 18th when I knew we'd be exchanging gifts.  Made from her own alpaca yarn (which I've written about here) held with beautiful mauve mohair lace from Henny Penny Makes, I was in such a hurry to knit, finish, wrap and present these that this is my only photo!

Hand knit work in progress - not an instrument of torture!

I can't say I'll be making that number of knitted Christmas gifts every year but knowing those I love are wrapped in beautiful yarns from the work of my hands gives not only me a warm fuzzy feeling!
 

Leaves and Lace Blanket - Eventually!

Can you cast your mind back to your first post-lockdown outing, when you were finally allowed to travel more than 5 miles from home?  I remember mine very well.  On 5th July 2020 I drove 30 miles to Stonehaven from Oldmeldrum to shop at Baa!, my (relatively) local yarn store.  Small shops operated by appointment only and I had a precious half hour in which to squish, choose and buy.

Prior to my visit, I'd perused Baa!'s extensive online store at length to optimise my shopping time and I  left with a large bag of Scheepjes Aran yarn, happy in the knowledge I could make a blanket for my sister-in-law's birthday the following month.  

The only trouble was I'd bought the wrong yarn!

Blame the yarn fumes, I was so overjoyed to be out again, shopping in person, that I'd forgotten that the Scheepjes cotton comes in Stone Washed and Stone Washed XL with very similar ball bands.  

I went straight for the weightier version, ignoring my carefully planned shopping list for its lighter cousin, chose my colours and gleefully left the shop with a minute to spare.  It was only on the drive home that doubt began to creep in.  If I'd bought the thicker yarn I'd need twice as many balls for the blanket as the yardage was so different.  Baa!'s proprietor, Janice, could not have been more understanding and a parcel of the correct yarn for my blanket was posted out and was with me within days.  

All's wool that ends wool - you can read about that blanket here.  But the wrongly purchased yarn weighed heavily on my mind.  Janice had kindly offered to take it all back and swap it for the supplies I needed but, truth be told, I was a bit embarrassed that I'd made such a silly mistake.  I decided to keep it.

Time rolled along in my crafting life and I continued to knit, crochet and be inspired by other makers.  Catching up with Sam on the BetsyMakes back catalogue of podcasts, I saw her crocheting beautiful lace doilies, or mandalas, following a pattern by Haafner Linssen.  Each was a different colour and she crocheted them together into a bedspread, following a project in Haafner's book 'Mandalas to Crochet'.  I owned this very book, having received it as a Christmas gift from my thoughtful husband back in 2019.  

Could this be the inspiration my errant yarn had been waiting for?

I decided to have a go and see if one ball of  my rogue Scheepjes XL was enough to make one motif.

Why, yes it did.  I made my first Leaves and Lace mandala as the pattern stated with a contrast centre - then made another centre to prove one ball would make one entire motif.

After completing my first motif in March 2021, I worked on this project on and off for many months.  With no deadline in mind, I was able to lift and lay these motifs, enjoy some relaxing crochet when I felt like it.

Crochet on planes and trains

It proved to be a great on-the-go project as I only needed to take one ball with me.  It was very satisfying to complete one whole hexagon doily with just one ball of yarn.

These three motifs were completed during our week on Davaar Island in the summer of 2021 (when the sun did shine some of the time!)

With lots of hexagons complete, I needed a plan for the joining round and to help me with colour placement.

So I made a paper representation of the Leaves and Lace blanket and cut out shapes for the number of full hexagon motifs I'd finished then taped a wee bit of coloured yarn onto each.  When I was happy with the layout, I glued them in place.  Who knew tape and glue would be integral to my crochet project?

I still had lots of  half hexagons to make to fill in the edges and complete the rectangle.

The plan was a godsend when joining everything together.  So was the spare bed!

I was beginning to feel like the end was in sight.

But this photo was taken in May 2022 and it's the last one I took of my unfinished Leaves and Lace blanket.  Since then, I completed all the joining up, and crocheted round the whole blanket three times to make a deep border, but failed to record any of this progress.  Despite being so close to the end, I stalled at the very last round of decorative picot stitches and have no idea why.  In hindsight I realise I didn't really like the frilly finish in the pattern.

So last week I Googled 'Easy crochet blanket edge' - which I probably should've done months ago! 

I found this easy-to-follow tutorial and four evenings later, the border was all done.  I'm eye-rolling at myself for not just getting on with it but the biggest crochet project I've ever undertaken is now complete.  

I took the chance to show off my Leaves and Lace blanket in the snow!

Then laid it out on the spare bed.  

This might not be its final home but I can enjoy admiring it here for the time being!

You can read find details of the colours I used on my Ravelry project page

Happiness is... a Crochet Bag

"Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness"  So said novelist Richard Bach.

Well, my friends must wish for me to be very happy as, over the years, I've received some lovely craft-related gifts!  This is just a tiny selection of them.

My knitting pal, Eveanne, gave me this rainbow of Rowan Cotton Glace yarn following her craft room clear-out.

My sister-in-law, Frances, gave me this pattern book and cotton DK yarn as a birthday gift a few years ago and our mutual friend, Carol, gave me this very cute tea-towel from knit/graphic design brand, Tillyflop, because she's a lovely person.  It's too nice to actually use though.

All items were appreciated at the time, and I hope I was effusive in my thanks, but all were carefully stowed in my craft room awaiting the perfect project.  

Little did I suspect they'd come together in the same project!

....................

Back in July, I saw this photo on  Instagram by crochet designer Sarah-Jayne Fragola.

Sarah-Jayne is known around the web as Bella Coco Crochet.  She is my go-to on-line crochet tutor and I always recommend her website when I'm asked about crochet as her video tutorials are so clear.  Her website is a fantastic resource and is especially helpful for beginners and left-handers.

The Instagram post related to a blog article by Sarah-Jayne who, dismayed by the low cost of crochet items on our High Streets, set the record straight about the true cost of such hand crafted items - and urged us to make our own.  Not only were there clear instructions and video tutorials to create this bag, 50% of sales proceeds were donated to the charity Labour Behind the Label, which campaigns for garment worker's rights worldwide.

Read the whole thought provoking article here.

So I bought the pattern.  Maybe those multicoloured balls of cotton had finally found their purpose.

But I did have some reservations before starting to crochet.  I get peeved when modular crochet projects teach you how to make one motif, then the pattern glibly tells you to make a gazillion more.  I'd lose interest well before the end is in sight.  Who needs another guilt-inducing, unfinished work-in-progress?  So, one of the key attractions of this pattern is that you only need to make 13 granny squares.  

Here are mine, all neatly stacked. 

The creamy cotton came into its own joining all the squares together and it soon began to look like a bag.

So what about that lovely tea towel, I hear you ask?  Well, that's where a bag lining comes in.  Knit or crochet bags are notoriously holey and a fabric lining adds structure, as well as ensuring small items from your bag don't land on the floor!

My next challenge was to actually sew the lining.  I say challenge as sewing is not my superpower!  Unstitching the edge of the too-lovely-to use tea towel made a fabric I could cut to size and machine into a simple pouch to insert into the crocheted bag.  Even I could manage that, surely?

Please be impressed by the pocket I added, just the right size to hold my mobile phone! 

And retain these wise words from Julie of Tillyflop, so true for my once-was-a-tea-towel - sews a little, knits a little, designs a little and dries up even less!

Some soothing hand stitching later and the no-longer-a-tea-towel lining was firmly attached inside the bag.

Fabric handles are notoriously tricky as they're apt to stretch so I reinforced mine by enclosing cord inside the crocheted strap, making my bag a little different from the original.  I happened to have some cord leftover from a bag I'd made my daughter a while back - a clear case of  'you never know when it'll come in handy'!

With the handles securely attached, my bag was finally finished and ready to use.  

Big enough for all the usual nonsense I carry around - but stylish too.   

I couldn't be happier - and I used all these gifts from my kind friends.  

Just as they wished  (according to Richard Bach, apparently).

...............

Find Bella Coco Crochet here

Get your copy of the bag pattern here

Find Tillyflop designs here

An unintentional outcome

I recently had the chance to try my hand at Gelli printing, a form of printmaking which encourages creativity whilst using relatively simple and inexpensive materials.  

The original Gelli Plates are made by US firm Gelli Arts from non-toxic, vegan-friendly synthetic gelatine but this brand name has now become a catch-all term.  Think Biro or Hoover, but for monoprinting!

The afternoon printmaking class was held in The Shop at Daviot, a lovely local cafe where I'm more likely to be found enjoying an Americano and a wodge of sticky ginger cake, whilst perusing the shelves of arts and crafts.  

Shop owner, Karen, had engaged art tutor, Fiona, from CreateWithUs to show us the ropes.

We inked up the squidgy pads with acrylic paint then aesthetically arranged a selection of pressed leaves on top.  Clean paper was gently smoothed over this by hand and the paint transferred, leaving a stencil outline of the leaves.  But the magic happens when the leaves are removed from the pad and a fresh sheet of paper is applied - a ghost print appears.  I was having so much fun, I forgot to take a photo of any of mine at this stage!

Fiona showed us how to overlay the first print of one stencil layout, over the ghost print of another, resulting in a variety of colour combinations and patterns.

Some were bold and some were subtle.  Sometimes the colour wasn't as expected.

All were a surprise as the paper peeled away from the printing plate.  Such a fun craft!

Fiona encouraged us to embrace this experimental experience suggesting we cut out the bits we liked if some areas of our prints were more pleasing than others.  She provided us all with card making materials and I made a few (which I'll doubtless send to creative pals who understand my need to constantly make stuff!)

I'd have been content to leave it at that, having thoroughly enjoyed my crafty afternoon.  

When it comes to knitting, crochet and mosaic, I know I'm product-led so I'll happily work to the end of the project as I really want to see the finished product.  With a class of this nature, I'll embrace the creative process and not focus too much on the outcome.

That was until Lesley came to visit....

Painter and fibre artist, Lesley, made this vibrant felted scene, inspired by my photo of Bennachie, at my kitchen table in 2019 - read more about it here.

As well as selling her pictures in galleries in the Borders, Lesley creates lampshades from her images and has recently had cushions made for her as well.  She very kindly brought me a gift of this Bennachie cushion, created from the artwork she'd made in my house.  It perfectly compliments the colours in our recently refreshed lounge and I love it.

When Lesley saw this monoprint in my pile of papers from the printmaking workshop, she suggested it would make a great cushion.  It was one of my favourites, I have to admit.  

After taking a good quality photo of my print, I submitted it to www.my-picture.co.uk, the firm Lesley uses for high resolution photo printing.  I ordered a 40cm x 40cm plush cushion and opted to have the image printed on both sides.  Though production is based in Germany, my cushion arrived in a week and the postage didn't break the bank.*

Now - where does it look best?

Find out more :

The Shop at Daviot 

Fiona Chance artist

Lesley Johnson artist

My-picture.co.uk

*my cushion cost £21 for a two sided plush cushion and postage was £6.  There was a promotion on at the time but the company seems to have regular discounted prices so it's worth waiting for these.