Got to choose one

I've been playing around with Kak Jon's little tatted motif, trying to find ways to interweave them.  I thought I'd gotten a decent way through, then I really looked at it this morning and realized I'd done the joining in two different ways, one through the side, and one through the middle.  Now I've got to choose one and cut off the bits that aren't woven the right way.  I guess I've forgotten some of my tatting wisdom after all.

I'll post one more picture of the knitted shawl (design by Ilga Leja) before I stop talking about it.

Time for the pins

My 'blossoms by the brook' shawl is finished!  Or um, somewhat finished.  All the knitting is done.  All that's left is to weave in the ends and block it.

I had to go out and buy some foam squares for blocking.  The last blocking surface I had (a big piece of styrofoam) got turned into trees for one of my kids' projects.  I've got the surface now, so tomorrow, time to break out the pins.

Blossoms growing

The 'blossoms by the brook' shawl is growing.  If fact it's gotten a little overgrown.  I followed the pattern until the last few rows and realized I had a lot more yarn left.  So I unraveled the top 10 or so rows of decreases and added in some more repeats.  It really, really hurt to watch those long, long rows getting undone, but I decided I'd rather that than have a lot of unused yarn.

I'm pretty sure there's enough yarn to finish.  Unfortunately, pretty sure is not the same as absolutely sure.  Ah well, when in doubt, knit faster.

Still fun to knit

This is my favourite part of knitting a shawl.  I'm about a third of the way up.  There is enough knit that the pattern starts to show but the rows aren't drearily long yet.  From now on, it's going to require some perseverance to keep on knitting.

The pattern is 'Blossoms by the Brook' by Ilga Leja.

More sea creatures

Want to see more creatures?  There are polymer clay creatures made by my little lady.  There are origami shells (designs by Robert Lang, Toshikazu Kawasaki and DavorVinko) and knit marine life (designs by Hansi Singh).  The creatures were well received in my kids' zoology session and served their educational purpose.

My educational obligations fulfilled, I'm on to other projects.  I should be sewing this 'baju kurung'.  I cut it weeks ago and I need it to replace all the faded, old, disreputable looking ones in my closet.

Here's what I did instead.  I wound a skein into a ball and started knitting a shawl.  Sigh.  Sometimes I have the attention span of a flea.

Knit sea creatures

I'm knitting little sea creatures.  Ostensibly, these are for a zoology study session my kids are having.  Truthfully, I was just looking for an excuse to try some designs by Hansi Singh.

The purple one is a nudibranch, the other is a sea snail (modified from the garden snail from Amigurumi Knits).

Here's the sea snail giving me the eye.

Nori knitting

Pattern: Nori shawl by Carissa Browning

Yarn: Unknown silk noil purchased eons ago

Long Haul

I have a finished object!  It's a knit shawl (it's the Lotus Blossom shawl pattern by Joan Schrouder).  I remember starting this when my son was in diapers.  He's in primary school now.  I don't want to do the math for how long it took me to finish this.  Here it is, ends all woven in.  Doesn't look like much does it?

Here are the charts, pens, knitting needles, yarn ends and bits that I can finally, finally throw away or put away.

Here it is, in it's current state, wet and blocking on a piece of polystyrene board.  All those empty containers are where I kept my various pins, every one of them now in use stretching out the shawl.

You'd think that after almost a decade of working on this, I wouldn't mind waiting a little longer.  The truth is, it's taking all my fortitude to keep from going over there every five minutes to see if it's dry.  Tomorrow, I can try it on tomorrow...

New Year 100th post

It's a new year, it's my 100th post and I don't know what I'm going to do with the blog this year. Ah well, perhaps I'll do a crafty roundup.

This is step 1 in Jane Eborall's 2013 TIAS.

Next is, Susan Fuller's Heart's Desire, done in response to the Malaysian Tatters January challenge.  It's a lovely pattern, marred by my careless joining.

This is a little snake knot bracelet done with satin cord.  I'm still trying to figure out how to finish the ends neatly.

Here's a soutache hairclip.  I'm planning to learn soutache jewelry making this year. There are some new books coming out. I like it because it reminds me of the Chinese frog closures my mother used to put on the baju kurung she made me as a kid.

Here's more jewelry. This is a spiral rope chain.  I nearly went mad with boredom trying to make 60cm (2 feet) of it.  I kept at it because it used up the stash and will go well with one of my favourite tops.

Next is another necklace.  It's a crochet chain, with plastic beads and metallic thread.

Here are some more stash busters; a knit garter stitch bag and some stackable cats from Mochimochi Land.

The cats were meant for my baby niece, but the big cat is super squishy, so now my kids fight over it.  Sigh.

2 months and lots of pictures

Two months of blog silence...  Bad blogger, no chocolate.  Oh well, life is what it is.  I didn't stop crafting.  I'd have to be stranded on a desert island for that to happen.  Even then, I'm sure I could do something with with all those coconuts.  So, here are pictures.

Here's a tatted goat from Jane Eborall.  He's pink and he's proud!

It's a mushroom wedding.  The mushroom is from Knitting Mochimochi and the bride and groom are from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi.  My little guy asked me to make the mushroom since it's his favourite food.

A bunny family fom Mochimochi land.  Obviously, I'm really enjoying Anna Hrachovec's designs right now.

A unisex dress up bear from Tilda Filur, specially for the little lady.

My current obsession, macrame bracelets made with cotton cord, beads and charms.  I make a few every week, as a sort of reminder that I actually can craft something.  They're very satisfying.  I can design, make and finish one of these in little found moments in a day.

I should just take a picture of whatever I'm working on each day, add some links and call it a day.  Perhaps consistency is better than quality?

WIP Wednesday: Headbands

A friend of mine gave me this cute headband.  I think it's one of her first projects, so I'm honoured to be the recipient of this gift.  There's a saying that goes 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'.  I'm not sure I agree with the saying, but in this case, the headband did inspire me, with lots of different variations running through my head.

Here are my versions. Hopefully those rolled up bits in the middle will look like roses when I'm done.

Since it's Wednesday, there are a lot of lovely WIPs on Tami's Amis. Stop by and take a look if you have the time.