A Knitted Lace Baby Shawl

Well, once again it has been a while. I do create every day, just some things come under the 'slow' heading.

This baby shawl is one of them. Started back in May, it has been finished for a while. I just couldn't show it until now. I has been made for my new great nephew who has only just arrived. 

The pattern is 'Hush little Baby Please Don't Cry', a free on-line one, but with mistakes in the pattern. I  overcome the pattern mistakes, and also made it larger.

The central pattern was easy enough, it was the edge that was new to me. I have done baby shawls before where edges are worked separately, then sewn onto the central panel. This one was worked out sideways from the central panel, and bound off at the same time it was attached.

I was also introduced to 'lifelines' in this project. I have been knitting for over 50 years and only learnt about them with this shawl. A very handy slice of knowledge for lace knitting that is well worth knowing.

The blocking was also new to me. I have only ever steamed blocked before. This one was wet blocked, rolled in a towel, then pinned out onto a blocking board. So glad I did! The lace center all opened up, and the edge got it's points!

Look at how it came off the needles! Wet blocking and pinning out made a huge difference!

The shawl has been worked in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 3 ply 100% wool, and is now finally with it's new owner.

A Bedfordshire Book Mark

Over the last ten years I have been working on and off through one of my Bedfordshire lace making books. This is design number 6B in the book, a little book mark featuring  flowers made of six tallies, and six pair crossings.

Note that this is design 6B. Two years ago I finished this handkerchief which was design 5 in the book. Personally I think these two designs should have been swapped. The book mark should have been Design 5, and the handkerchief edge should have been design 6. Surely it would be better to practice those flowers in something small like a book mark before tackling an edge. Just my opinion.

Anyway, my little book mark is finally finished. I have practiced those little flowers again, and I still need more practice! This time though I played with some different thread. The cloth stitch border is a King Tut variegated quilting thread, while the flowers are a combination of the king Tut thread and a Mettler Silk finish 100% cotton No 50. I thought the two together may have been too thick, and it is a bit, but its a book mark, so its OK. It was an experiment, so now I know what will happen when I go to do something like this again. It will be a useful tip to know to bring in some creativity into my lace.

Now onto design number seven, a little simpler I think, but time will tell. Watch this space!

A Green Scarf

This scarf was started back in November last year. I was going away and needed something small to do to take with me. I was planning on some knitting, but ended up with this crocheted motif.

The motif pattern is from my Mum's collection, cut from an Australian Home Journal, dated January 1947. It was meant to be done in No 40 Crochet cotton to form a tray cloth, but I worked it in 4 ply cotton.

I had no idea what I was going to do with the motifs. My original idea was a scarf, then I thought I may not have enough yarn. I also thought of making them into a bag of sorts. In the end I just kept making motifs and put them into a scarf.

Finished now, I'll have to find something to wear it with.

A Navy Cardigan

Behold, my new cardigan. 

Started back in March, this cardigan was supposed to be for me to wear though Autumn. Well, Autumn  is just about over, and winter is just about to hit, with snow forecast for the mountains this week. My cardigan is made using cotton yarn so it will now have to wait until spring for me to wear it.

The pattern is one of my own, using a basic cardigan pattern from  the Paton's 'Classic Knits for Women - Book 1245', and a lace pattern from  my 'The Harmony Guide To knitting Stitches' book , I  have created a border pattern to decorate my new cardigan. It is has been  worked in 8ply cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills . 

Now it's time to finish another UFO or two.

A Doily Bag

Over fifteen years ago I  was given a pile of un-worked stamped doilies by one of my students. Would I ever work them? Certainly not all of them. So I went through them all, kept the ones that I liked, and gave the others away.

At the time I needed a holiday project, so I picked one, chose some colours that I liked and started embroidering. I finished the stitching, then the piece sat there for many years, hidden in my UFO cupboard until I found it in a clean up at the beginning of this year. All it needed was a crochet edge to be finished!

I have lots of crochet thread in my stash, so I picked out a colour, and finished it off in a few days. Now what to do with it? Did I need another doily? Certainly not! Then I had this brilliant idea to decorate the side of a bag. So I rummaged through my fabric stash, found some scraps in similar colours, cut strips, joined them together, appliqued the doily to it, quilted it, them turned it into a bag.

It's a little smaller than I would have liked, but it will come in handy for my knitting, or taking books to and from the library. Wherever I use it, it will show off my creativity and some of my skills, embroidery, lace making, and sewing.

A Drawn Thread Needle Case - UFO Number 5

Another UFO finished! Actually, this one has been finished since February.

This little needle case started life way back in 2007 as a resist dye sample for my 'Summer Santuary' piece. Some drawn thread stitching and a hem of buttonhole stitch had been worked onto the sample, then it waited over 10 years before I found it again, stuffed in a cupboard, in a clean-up. 

 All that was required to finish it was some lining, some Dr's flannel, and a closure. 

So UFO number five is done and dusted. I wonder what's next?

A Reticella Bookmark - UFO Number 4

I found this book mark half done when looking for some fabric. It was in amongst all my scrappy, left over, even weave linen pieces. Just another UFO I had to finish! I had worked the buttonhole stitch, the satin stitch, and the four sided stitch, and there had been two cuts made ready to withdraw some threads. The piece was obviously meant for some reticella. It also came complete with threads and threaded needle!

It had been worked very close to the edge, and for reticella I needed a hoop. So I added some strips of calico so I could place it in a hoop to finish it.

It didn't take long to work the needle-lace filling, and it was good practice for working those bullion picots.I just needed to add a tassel, and a backing, and UFO number four for the year was finished! I have no idea how long it had been sitting there. I had began my reticella journey over ten years ago, so it could have been sitting there for that amount of time.

Anyway, it's finished now, and i have another pretty bookmark to use.

A Doily - UFO Number Three

UFO number three for the year!

This doily was given to me, along with quite a few others, about 12 years ago. All of them were un- worked, and were given to me by a student who had them given to her. At the time I just said thank you, and waited until I got home to have a good look. Mmm......... there were lots of them! Was I ever going to work them? Probably not, but I couldn't part with them. So I went through them, picked out the ones I really liked, and passed the others on.

This one is the first and only one I have worked. I worked it quite some years ago, it was my holiday project for a few years as I remember. According to the directions, it was supposed to be worked in yellows and oranges, but anyone who knows me knows that I like cool colours. So, I changed the colours to what I wanted. I finished the stitching, then promptly put it away to be finished later.

Last week I started to clean out my sewing cupboard. I must admit I didn't get very far, but I did throw some things out, redirected some things in other directions, and found not one, but many UFO's. Four of them managed to stay in daylight, one of which was this doily. All that need doing was to work the edge. So I went through my stash of threads, found two balls of donated 20 crochet cotton still in their plastic covers, cut the excess fabric off, and crocheted the edge according to the pattern.

So, my first doily in nearly fifty years has been finished. It's on beautiful linen, and very usable as it is. I tend not to use doilies very often, so this one is going to get put to another use. So come back soon to see what it turns into.

A New Needle Case

This little needle case started out way back in 2012! It began life as a sample of stitches for another piece I was about to do. It's been packed away since then, and I found it again by accident looking for something else.

It was all packed away with the threads I had been using to work it, and a little note to turn it into a needle case. So that's what I did.

I just had to find some Doctors Flannel, and some fabric to line it, both of which I had. I had an idea to make a twisted cord to add to the edge, but instead worked a back stitch around the edge in one of the colours used in the stitching.

It also needed a closure, so I made a little toggle out of some rolled cotton tape which then got covered in detached buttonhole stitch.

So another UFO is done and dusted. Watch this space to see which one is next.

A Little Trinket Pouch

This little pouch started life in my creative stitching group Stitchers Plus. it was supposed to be a fun little fifteen minute design exercise. Well, it was fun, but took way more than fifteen minutes to work.

We just had to bring fabric and threads on the day, then we were all handed two words and two stitches to start us off. I got 'square', 'positive', buttonhole stitch and lazy daisy stitch. I had no idea where to begin so just started stitching.

The little piece got put away until about a week ago. I was meeting two of the girls from this group for lunch and wanted to take some stitching. So I pulled this project out and thought I would deal with what to do with it on the day. I had not touched it in four months.

I added some more stitches, and debated what to turn it into. A needle case crossed my mind, so did an envelope pouch. I wasn't fussed with the design turned the other way for an envelope pouch, and felt it was too big for a needle case, so decided a little drawstring trinket pouch would do.

There was barely enough fabric to turn a hem, let alone make a casing for a drawstring. So I hemmed the piece I had, then joined and hemmed another strip and decided to work a ladder insertion to act as a casing. I wasn't sure if this idea would work, but it did, beautifully.

So another UFO has bitten the dust, and I have a little thread pouch to use instead of a plastic sandwich bag.

Fingerless Gloves

Late last year when I was about to make my possum gloves , I found a pattern for finger-less gloves made in the exact yarn that I had bought. At the time, I wanted full fingered gloves, so made made them two toned to make sure I had enough yarn. I really liked the texture in this pattern, so when I finished my possum gloves, I weighed the yarn I had left of the Payton's 2 ply Embrace, and I had 30gms left. I only needed 25 gms to make the fingerless ones.

So, behold my new finger-less gloves, worked in Payton's 2 ply Embrace that I had in my stash, and using a free pattern form Zealana. They will be ready when winter hits in about five months time.