Christmas 2009: Part 1

The following was written on New Years Day. And now that I look back on it, I can't work out why I didn't post it then... So, I'm posting it now and will add more parts as I get more photos:


There's a reason I didn't post for the rest of December - every spare minute was spent making Christmas presents, which even if I had the time, I couldn't really have talked about here. We went totally handmade this (well, technically, last) year, other than a few things we'd already picked up for Lily before we actually made the decision to do so. We bought handmade for my brother-in-laws' girlfriends and my Mum, but everyone else got something crafted by our little family.
Mum (and Dad, since it was above our budget for one person, but then we added something else for Dad) got this kit printed by Prints Charming. My original plan was to embroider some of them and make them up for Dad and then give Mum the rest to stitch/decorate herself, but since we're living with them, it was tricky to find time and/or space to work on it, so only one got stitched...

Of course, by the time I finally finished everything on the 23rd, I was so relieved and exhausted, that I stupidly wrapped it all up without taking photos and then forgot to take photos as things were opened on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So, I still need to get access to some of it again and take photos, but I can show you one thing, because I made it today. See, my sister actually just got some fabric in her gift, because I thought it was perfect for her, but couldn't decide what to make with it. So I waited until she'd seen it, talked to her about what she'd like made from it and today, I turned it into this skirt:

Read More......

Onesies for Kaitlyn

Alison has been one of my best friends since we were about 15. In November, she also had herself a little girl. So, of course, I had to make a little gift.
Kaitlyn was much smaller than Lily at birth, which was good, because it meant that I could use a couple of the unworn plain white bodysuits I had put aside and never decorated for Lily - they were the size Lily wore straight away, but didn't fit Kaitlyn until I'd gotten around to making, packaging and sending them :)

The two tops, ready to wrap. A lily from Lily and a 'K' because it's the best initial of them all. I was going to make a third 'from Graeme' but couldn't think of anything appropriate and besides, I was already past my self-inflicted deadline. I'll make it up to her on her first birthday :)


A detail of the K to show my mad stitching skills (click to see bigger). I also took a close-up of the lily, but while my stitching skills were spot-on that day, my photo skills weren't and it's blurry...

I can't wait to meet Kaitlyn and for Lily to have a playmate with whose Mum I can also spend hours hanging out (so far I've only met one person who fits that category, but that's another post). Hopefully, our little girls will have as great a friendship as we do.

Read More......

Project #2 - 5

So, if you'll remember, I decided way back in January to try and complete 50 projects this year. I'm not really on target to reach that goal, but I haven't been idle, I've just been lazy about taking photos and posting them. These are the things I have finally photographed - I'm sure I've done more things, but this is all I can find evidence for at the moment...

For project #2, I had planned to use the leftover wool from my first project to make a hat, but i couldn't find a pattern that suited and my attempts at winging it didn't really go well. So I ripped out an almost complete hat and ended up making this:

The pattern is Wavy from Knitty, although I added an extra repeat to the width and just knit 'til I ran out of wool, so its shorter than the pattern, but I like it. It is knit from Rowan Cashsoft 4ply (which is 57% extra fine merino, 33% microfibre and 10% cashmere - beautiful and soft) with 3.25mm needles.

Project #3 is a little cross stitch kit I bought before Christmas and never got around to stitching. There is another one similar to it waiting to be finished and I will finish it when I remember where I put it.



Project #4 isn't too exciting, but something I've been meaning to do for ages. I finished stitching this in November 2005 and brought it with me to London, since it had taken so many hundreds of hours to complete and I felt the need to display it. Well, its finally hanging on our kitchen wall - I had to cut the mat and stretch the work and stuff - the frame is from Ikea. It looks extra good because the kitchen wall is yellow :)



And finally, Project #5, which I finished last night and is the real motivator for making this post... my very own Gryffindor scarf. I've wanted one for ages, since I knit one for my brother a few years ago for Christmas. I finally got my butt in gear because I wanted to wear it to the midnight release party of book 7.


Being modelled by the couch, so you get some idea of the length.


Modelled by me

The red is Patons 100% cotton - I think the colour is Tomato :) The gold is sparkly gold stuff. It was basically impossible for me to find the two colours I wanted in a suitable yarn. I loved this red, but there was no yellow and the gold stuff was sitting just above it in the shop. I figured if Hermione were knitting herself a Gryffindor scarf to wear to Quidditch games, she would totally use sparkly gold, so I did too.

I didn't really follow a pattern - it's based on the scarves worn in the third and fourth films and I just kind of knit each section until it looked good to me and then repeated it a bunch of times. I think it ended up with the same number of repeats as a lot of fan scarves, but that was based on the length it had reached, not a desire to be the same as everyone else. It's knit in k1p1 rib, rather than in the round like most people's HP scarfs, for the same reason I chose cotton - I want it to be wearable, both in Winter, but also this summer for aforementioned book release. Its quite heavy for a scarf, due to the weight of cotton, but not too warm and I think it looks rad.

Read More......

50 Projects in 2007 - Project #1

i'm not really the new-years-resolution-making-type, but one of the girls from an online commuity i am part of suggested a challenge to complete 50 crafty/creative projects in 2007. since i feel as though the only creative output i had in 2006 was the 5000-odd photos i took, i jumped on board.

so here is my first project - something to keep my wrists/hands warm over this crazy long winter i am experiencing (i feel like it should be warming up already and its not even half way over).

i didn't use a pattern - i just bought some wool and the appropriate sized needles and went for it. i'm quite happy with how they turned out.

unfortunately, i have hardly any crafting supplies here in london, so without buying new things, i am basically restricted to badgemaking, scrapbooking (although, i guess this is something i should get working on with all those photos) and other paper crafts. i have my sewing machine but no fabric. oh, hang on, i have the fabric scraps from the school musical costumes i made, which unfortunately i got no photos of :(

so project #2 is a hat out of the leftover wool from my gloves and just writing this post has given me ideas for other projects (even if it turned a bit rambly).

Read More......

August

So August has come and almost gone and I haven't updated. Thought I better have at least one post this month, so here's what my August has been like:

Summer school holidays last all of August, so I haven't been working, well other than trying to work out what I'm actually going to teach this coming school year. I spent today in school trying to get my classroom organised, but they are doing a lot of renovation work over the break and its all still a big mess. Hopefully I'll actually have tables in the room before class starts next week :)

Graeme and I went on a 9 day holiday to Scotland - you can read about it on our website. Scotland is much nicer than London - less people (but friendlier ones), less polution, less cars, less of everyone living on top of each other. I guess most of Britain outside London is like that, but Scotland was great.

We only went on a short holiday within Britain because I haven't actually been paid yet, even though I started work on July 3. I have been sorting out all the paperwork and I SHOULD get paid two months pay tomorrow - although they'll probably take out more tax than they should because I only just got the paperwork to fix that...

We went and saw We Will Rock You - the musical written by Ben Elton and based on the music of Queen. Graeme basically promised on my behalf that I would write a review of it here, but part of what I loved about it was that I didn't really know what to expect - had no preconceived ideas about the plot or which songs they'd use or anything. So I'll just say it was great and leave it at that.

I pulled out my sewing machine (yes, I brought my sewing machine around the world with me) - actually, that happened in July, but I had just used it for mending and adjustments. I bought some fabric and made a couple of skirts - unfortunately I've only worn one of them and only once, because the weather here is just not suited to much less than jeans and a tshirt most days. I still have fabric that hasn't been made into anything because the change in weather right as I finished the first two kind of made me lose my motivation.

Oh, and I turned 26. Don't know what else to say about that.

Read More......

My new toy

It was our 3rd wedding anniversary last week and Graeme bought me a button/badge maker. Its a very nice little machine that makes one and a quarter inch button badges quickly and easily. Of course, the first thing I made had to be HP related, so here are the first bunch I made. I obviously have heaps of the things and am only going to keep a couple for myself. Still not sure what I'm going to do with the rest.

Inside were about fifty badges, all of different colours, but all bearing the same letters: S.P.E.W.
'"Spew"?' said Harry, picking up a badge and looking at it. 'What's this about?'
'Not spew,' said Hermione impatiently. 'It's S - P - E - W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare.'

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, p 198

Read More......

Finished (?)

The thing that has consumed a massive amount of my time over the last 10 months is finished. Actually I finished it a couple weeks ago, but I have only just got around to taking the pictures. At least I think its finished. I was originally planning on including the dark blue line and a filled in top (in white rather than yellow) like the book cover, but I think I like it like this.
Opinions would be appreciated (from those small few who may occasionally look in here).

Now, hopefully, I can finally focus on going to London.

oh, and if you want to see some close-ups and stuff, go to my photobucket album.

Read More......

The Phoenix Takes Form

So its three months tomorrow since I took that other photo of my cross-stitch. I haven't worked on it as much as I'd like because working full-time as a teacher is damn exhausting. But, here it is in all its glory - its really starting to take shape, which means, unfortunately, that I have done most of the major colours and now have to start filling in the colours where there are only like 10 stitches per colour or something...

Read More......

HP cross-stitch

Progress on cross-stitch at 8 May 2005


I'm cross-stitching the cover art of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This photo is obviously a few months old now, but I hope that by putting it out there it will motivate me to make more time for myself to work on it...

Read More......