Making A Difference (Part One)

I was intrigued by this photo of the Finnish snowboard coach, Antti Koskinen, knitting at the start of his event at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang last month.


 Social media reported that his team mates were also knitting - but what were they making?

Well, the team's knitted pieces were all stitched together to make a baby blanket.  Here it is being presented to the Finnish president whose wife had recently given birth to a baby boy.

This lovely gesture got me thinking about collaborative projects.  In general, the individual pieces are small and on their own they don't have much significance.  Put together, however, they have the Wow Factor.  A wonderful finished project   Altogether, they really make a difference!

So I decided this year I would make a difference too.  Each month I'd make something to contribute to a creative project comprising small pieces from lots of makers.  They'd each have a big impact when complete.

So in early January, I knitted a tiny jumper (from this charity pattern) as part of the celebratory bunting being created to mark the 100th episode of the Knit British podcast.  I love listening to Louise Scollay's regular podcasts as she enthuses the crafting community about the virtues of British yarn.  I know my wee jumper arrived safely as it featured on Louise's Instagram feed a few days after I posted it along with others she'd received.  Not only was the bunting displayed at the Knit British 100th episode party in Edinburgh in mid January, the bunting had another outing at Edinburgh Yarn Festival in February where it featured in the Podcaster's Lounge.  Photos below are by @knit_british and @mariette694

It had to be hearts for February!

I knitted five hearts and sent them off to be part of the Work of Heart Garden.  The pattern can be accessed through this website.

The Work of Heart Garden is the brainchild of Clare Young who is creating a full size knitted show garden installation in memory of her husband.  It will be on display at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival at the Three Counties Showground in Worcestershire from 10th to 13th May 2018.

The 4 metre square garden will include a hospice bedroom overgrown with knitted plants known for their healing properties.  As part of the installation Clare wants to include 10,000 'works of heart' - small knitted or crocheted hearts which will be made available to visitors to place on trees around the Work of Heart garden in return for a donation to the Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice which cared for her husband.  Clare hopes to raise £50,000. Let's hope my wee hearts help her on her way!

Pants??? 

No, my project for March was knitted squares.  (It just so happens that a mitred square starts off looking a bit like a pair of pants!)

Through Facebook, I learned that two enterprising ladies (known as Grans On The Make) were appealing for knitted squares to create a 13 foot commemorative poppy to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.  When complete the poppy will be made up of 1568 squares, representing the number of days of the war.  The picture below shows the middle section of 992 squares.

As well as the giant poppy, they are also creating a panel on the reverse to commemorate the Votes for Women centenary.

When I contacted Pat, who's organising this mammoth project, she said they had enough red and green squares for the poppy but still required black and also squares in shades of purple, green and cream or white so that's what I made.  I recently learned the meaning of the British suffragette colours designed in 1908 - purple for loyalty, green for hope and white for purity.

The finished project will be revealed at The Creative Craft Show in Birmingham in November 2018.

I've had fun knitting all these meaningful makes.   Now I need to head off and see what I'm going to create in April to make a difference!

Felted soap - what's that all about?

I tend to find I don't use bars of soap nowadays.  Liquid soap sits at each sink and a rainbow of shower gel bottles inhabit our bathroom.  The soap bar in a gratefully received toiletry set frequently becomes an orphan.

I love Arran Aromatics, or Arran - Sense of Scotland as they're now known, but the Eydis soap I received in this set was languishing in our bathroom cupboard so I decided to liberate it and create a felted soap bar. 

But why would you? 

Felted soap isn't a modern idea.  In the past, soap was encased in a fabric pouch to make it last longer.  By felting the soap into a wee woolly parcel, you get soap and cloth in one.  The wool helps exfoliate the skin and the soapy suds don't go to waste.  It's also easier to hang onto when you're washing as it's less slippery than a naked bar of soap.  You can still enjoy the lovely fragrance.

All pluses so far - but isn't it unhygienic?  Well, I learned that bacteria prefer smooth surfaces so the natural antibacterial properties of the uneven wool coating deter unwanted adherents apparently.

So I proceeded to make a felted soap of my own.  There are lots of really great tutorials online showing in detail what to do - I probably followed this one most closely.

It seemed like a soap bar with rounded edges might be easier to work with so I used the potato peeler on my soap bar's straight edges and kept the shavings to use when I need soap flakes.

I looked out some merino wool roving which I've used in other projects and a pair of old clean tights.

I wrapped the soap bar in the wool roving and popped the woolly soap 'parcel' into the toe of the tights to help it all stay together.

Then I put on some music that I knew would last for at least half an hour because that's how long you need to rub the soap in warm water to make the fibres stick together.

No loose fibres should come away during the 'pinch test' ensuring the wool has felted successfully.  I then left my soap bar to dry overnight.  (I also had the cleanest hands in the world!)

Here's the dry soap the following day.  I chose to decorated mine with a bit of needle felting, adding a wee pink star.

My intention with this blog post had been to show what happened once the soap was used up but here's the soap on it's first day in use and the same soap one month later.  The wool shrinks as it gets wet and dries again so it continues to fit snugly around the soap.  I've been using it every day and try to use it every time I wash my hands at home.  It's clearly going to last a very long time!

So here's a decorative and practical way I've put a bar of soap to use - and I'm liking the result!

A Secret Mosaic Revealed

Three years ago, my elderly Mum came to live near me.  She moved 200 miles away from the town she'd lived in since the 1950's.  The sheltered house quickly became her cozy home as she surrounded herself with her own comfortable furniture, familiar pictures and treasured objects.

We couldn't have known then just how much joy her new garden would also bring.

I use the word 'garden' advisedly.  In reality this is two flower beds, one either side of the front door and when Mum arrived it was largely a rose garden with a few shrubs.  She has transformed this tiny plot by packing in lots of new plants, much to the delight of her neighbours and those who pass by and stop to chat.

Last October I attended a weekend mosaic workshop at Blue Sky Mosaics near Kintore in Aberdeenshire.  I shared the project I made in a previous blog post about my mosaic gin-and-tonic-table-top.  What I didn't mention at the time was that I made the table-top on day two and I kept the project I made on day one a secret!  

It was a birthday surprise for Mum - for her beloved garden.

I made her a mosaic stepping stone.

As usual, the process began with a pencil sketch and inspiration from the wondrous array of materials available in Ann's studio at Blue Sky and a browse through her library of mosaic art books.

The process I followed differs from previous mosaics I've made where the pieces were glued onto a pre-cut base then grouted.  Using the reverse method for the stepping stone involved sticking the pieces onto a clear adhesive film.

You can see the design taking shape.

I'm laying the pieces face down on the film which is on top of a clear glass plate as this allows me to pick it up and see how it will actually look.  Carefully does it....

The finished design, still on its film base, is slipped into an oiled silicone cake mould and cement is gently smoothed over, taking care not to dislodge any pieces.

Once the cement is dry, the stepping stone is extracted from the mould like an upside-down cake.  Some cleaning up reveals all the details of the design.

Then the piece had to wait in our garden shed until Mum's birthday which was in December!  

I'm glad to say she was delighted with this new addition to her garden.

 I can't wait to see it bedded in properly once the frost is past.

Swaps, surprises and the joy of giving

 Everyone loves getting a parcel!

But a lot of the post I receive on a daily basis is pretty boring - bills, glossy ads from companies I once patronised, lenders pressing me to sign up for yet another credit card and unsolicited charity mailshots.  Most goes directly into the recycling bin.  I love getting packages in the post and that's what first made me curious about swaps. 

I signed up to the Perfect Strangers swap when it began in 2013.  Throwback to a younger me!  At the time I was subscribing to Oh Comely magazine which organises this on-line event. 

Here's some of  the goodies my American swap partner sent me.  I never took a photo of the contents of the parcel I posted to the States - I only know I enjoyed assembling the contents and wrapping them up in the knowledge they'd make someone, somewhere smile.  The downside was that the postage cost me more than the contents were worth!  Hey, ho - you live and learn.

The following year I signed up again and you could tell your partner a little bit about yourself and what you liked.  You could also choose to have a partner in the same country as yourself so postage costs were more manageable.  I knew my swap partner was a young woman with a sweet tooth who liked Disney.  Here's what I sent to her.

I crocheted her a scarf...

... and must have mentioned that I was a knitter as here's what I received.

Two years ago I took part in two swaps for knitters.  I'd started listening to knitting podcasts around that time and was enjoying being part of the crafting community on Ravelry, the world-wide on-line go-to site for knitters, crocheters, spinners and dyers. I joined the groups associated with the podcasts I liked and followed the discussion threads.  

The Caithness Craft Collective podcast is hosted by lovely Louise Hunt, who I've been lucky enough to meet, and she organised a swap where you had to make a decoration and include something for the other person to make or do.  Here's my parcel contents, destined for Oregon, including the crocheted Christmas tree I made, one I bought and some Scottish bits and bobs - a calendar and National Trust tea towel.  I also included a wee kit to sew a felt gingerbread man and some stickers.

Caroline, my swap partner, blew me away with her thoughtfulness, even including some treats for our pets.  I got a Christmas themed project bag, handy snips, glitzy tape, a pad of postcards to colour in and a multi-tip gel pen.

But it was her handmade item which nearly made me cry - hand knitted bobble hat bunting!  How cute is this?

Another Christmas swap  from 2015 was coordinated by the Shinybees Podcast, hosted by the inimitable Jo Milmine for her listeners.  This time the swap was yarn related and all participants had to upload a photo to reflect the colours they liked.  

Unfortunately, I didn't keep note of what I sent to Katy from London but she saw my inspiration photo of a vibrant tree in spring and sent me this gorgeous zingy hand-dyed yarn from one of my favourite indie dyers, Jess from Ginger Twist Studios.  Katy also included a Christmas tree decoration and family favourite Lindor chocolates. They didn't last long as I remember!

These swaps were such fun that this year I decided to take part in the Caithness Craft Collective Podcast swap once again.  My partner this time is Laila from Denmark and we had to make, or buy, a decoration to fit with our partner's holiday traditions and tell them about where we live.  

A few days ago my parcel arrived from Laila containing the most beautiful natural Christmas tree decoration, a handwritten note about Laila's home and some delicious mint chocolates.

I had real fun making my decoration for Laila.  Following this cute pattern by Sarah at Imagined Landscapes, I followed her pattern modifications to knit Santa-esque Gnicholas Gnome.  In fact, I may have made more than one...

Gnicholas was accompanied on his journey to Denmark by some Scottish soap, tablet, biscuits and a key ring.  I also enclosed a tourist map of my village and a personal letter.

Swapping with a stranger I have found over the years to be a heart warming experience and there's as much to be gained from the act of giving as there is in receiving.  Making something personal for my swap partner is something I enjoy, as is finding appropriate little gifts for their parcel.  I love wrapping the items carefully so the package is pretty.

I will treasure my new Danish tree decoration from Laila and hope she likes her knitted Scottish gnome.  They say 'it's better to give than to receive' and I couldn't agree more.  (but getting stuff rocks too!)

Lead, Solder and Putty (a first go at Stained Glass)

The range of posts which pop up in my Facebook feed is diverse to say the least and I usually skim read most of it rapidly, if I look at it at all.  When a local shop which reupholsters unloved furniture to make it lovely again advertised a stained glass course being held nearby, I read the page fully and signed up on the spot.

That's how I came to be in the picturesque North East village of Collieston yesterday (where we usually go for a dog walk) with four other stained glass students and our inspiring tutor, Anne Ferguson.  In the same venue, preparations were underway for a lino cut course which was also running.  There'd been a social event in the hall the evening before so there was a colourful array of beautifully crafted items for sale made by both tutors.

We got straight down to business as the focus of our day was to leave with a finished object.  Anne started by showing us pieces from previous classes she'd run so we could see what we might manage to achieve in the time we had.  A wonderful selection of stained glass was all laid out for us to choose as we planned our designs.

There's some similarities with mosaic making too which helped me feel more confident.  Glass cutting tools and nippers, and the electric grinder which I'd used before, were demonstrated and we all had a go.  Designing again starts with a pencil sketch...

...then the enjoyable, creative task of choosing and combining colours.

Precision cutting and grinding followed to make all the pieces fit the template.

Then lead is carefully cut and fitted round each piece of glass.

The edges all get a coating of flux to help the solder join the lead together.

I didn't get a photo of me with the soldering iron - which is probably just as well!  

Time to putty all the little windows...

...then clean off the grease from the putty which has adhered to the glass using plaster of Paris.  

Hanging hooks are added then the lead and solder get buffed up with stove blackening to dull the solder and make the colours in the glass sing!  As my fellow students finished their pieces they placed them at the window to enjoy the first sight of the coloured glass in all its glory.

And today I was able to prop my wee piece up against a window at home on this dull, cold and rainy November day to finally see how it looks with daylight behind it.  I love the Northern Lights sky!