Commission + Crochet

 

  

Oh, it's been lovely! I have been lucky enough to have a painting commission to work on for the last couple of weeks, in the days when all the girls have been at school.  It's a seascape of a local area - hooray - and I would love to show you how it's progressing, but this little painting is intended as a surprise so it will just have to stay under wraps. Just for a bit.

 

Instead I am delighted to show you the progress I have been making in my most recent of yarny undertakings - a granny square hottie cover.

 

Inspired by the colourful crochet of Kate at www.foxslane.blogspot.com.au/ and her granny square hottie which you can see here, I have been playing with my many small woolly scrappy bits and creating a hottie cover that is in high demand among a certain group of young girlies. Miss E will be the ultimate recipient of this piece as it's HER TURN!! Apparently!

 

 

I'm making it up as I go along - free(yarn)balling, as it were! There are a couple of other crochet creatives who have written 'recipes' for their hottie covers, but it is generally instinct, misguided or other, that is directing me in this. And it's fun. Of course!

 

 

Finally, I'm hoping this finds you all well because I know there are some who aren't. And I pray you will become well once again, Mandi. Love and strength to you and yours.

 

xx

Shed

 

 

One of the many great things about our new home is it has a shed. That the shed is also meant to be the garage hasn't affected G's plans - the shed is now G's workshop.



This makes G a very happy man because he did without a shed for eight years at our last place - not that he had had a shed before that, only, you know..... he has one now!

 

And now that G has a place to work, there is one very particular, very positive outcome for me as well - I get to use the shed too!

 

The current project on the production line is the painting and reconditioning of an old Freedom furniture bookcase that has been lurking about my various abodes for almost 20 years. Our idea is that by painting it white it will disappear into the background, no longer dominating the space with its dark toned wood. It was very 90's. Now it is cool. Cool white.

 

And there is another reason why I am keen to get the big bookcase finished and back in the house, because that's when we can start work on a smaller old bookcase we picked up from the second hand store on Saturday. It will eventually take its place in my studio as extra storage for my paints and brushes. Woohoo!

 

And after that, well, there's a rather sexy 70's coffee table with copper patterned top from the same Saturday shopping spree that also needs some reconditioning love......

 

Love that shed!

 

 

Sam xx

New Knitting

 

I couldn't help myself - I loved the other shawl I made so much, I just HAD to cast on another Line Break shawl, once again in the lusciously beautiful Madeline Tosh Merino Light, but this time in the Charcoal colour way.

 

I was sad to see the last one go, but I am delighted it has been so enthusiastically welcomed into its new home. That it is so appreciated makes me feel good!

 

Ahhh. I do love a new project.

 

 

What projects are you undertaking at the moment?

Do you have a gorgeous yarn that you would recommend?

 

 

Happy weekending!

 

Sam xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Knitting

It's official - I do not like garter stitch!

Actually, it's my hands that don't like it. After casting on my latest knitting project, Line Break, and knitting 20 rows or more, my hands cramped up. So, frog it I did, casting on again and knitting the shawl in stocking stitch.

Ahhhh! That's better!!

This yarn is Madeline Tosh Merino Light in Luster, one of my online yarn purchase colour mishaps*, but it's perfect for this project and for its intended recipient.

I'm just about to begin the short row section for the first time - and for my first time ever doing short rows!

And I'm having fun!


Sam xx


PS The plums in the photo are one of my roadside farm stall finds - I have plummy plans in mind!

* Obviously, I did NOT learn that lesson!

Knitting WIP

 

 

When I was packing up my wool stash for the move, I had to ask myself if I was seriously going to use it all. Some incomplete projects just didn't make the grade - the colour was wrong, the yarn wasn't right - and were gifted to the local op shop. Other yarn, such as this beautiful Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed that I bought 12 years ago, just had to come with me.

 

My initial aborted attempts to use this wool included an aran knit jumper and, when that didn't grab me, I then tried it in a jacket, but it wasn't to be.

 

And so last year, I tried again, and used 9 of the skeins to knit my first Mara Shawl for one of my buddies. Which then left me with eight skeins. Hmmm. Not quite enough to knit another Mara. But, after another lengthy ravelry.com pattern search (which I loooove to do), I discovered that eight skeins would be quite enough to make this pattern - Autumn Leaves Stole by Jared Flood.

 

So, I'm feeling good - I'm destashing!

 

And I'm knitting, which always makes me feel good!

 

 

Are you destashing?

 

 

Sam xx

 

Schoolhouse Tunic #3

I can't knit for a while, so I'm sewing instead!

Schoolhouse tunic #3 in a grey linen bought from Spotlight earlier this year.

Gotta love a good pattern, but I will be trying the Liberty shirt by Amy Butler next.


Sam xx

I love a project!

This is our bathroom. Isn't it beeeeauuutiful??? Rather green and very 1970's, isn't it? And the toilet in the next room? It's green too, a perfect match!

Awww. I'll miss it all when it's gone.

We are finally in the process of renovating it, the toilet and the laundry. Hooray!! This has only taken me 8 and 1/2 years to organise; 8 and 1/2 years since we bought this house. I always planned to do these rooms up. I just didn't think it would take me quite this long, though.

Now, that's "A Project"!!!


Sam xx

New Knitting Project

It’s time! I have had seriously itchy fingers since finishing the scarf I made for my Mother!

Hmmm. What to do? What to make?? Sure, I am in a house cleaning “CDT”* phase right now, but I certainly don’t want to clean in my downtime. I need a project, a creative project, and I need one now - a semi-mindless, able-to-knit-while-watching-television project. Nothing too boring, but something that is fun and different from the things I have knitted before.

And this is where ravelry.com comes in – again! Hooray!!

Oh, I do like ravelry! I have to admit that I find the pattern search on ravelry to be rather...er...addictive! I keep saying to myself, “just one more page...”, "just five more minutes”... and then find myself still searching 20 minutes or so later...sometimes an hour later!

And so, after much thought, pattern searching and changes in project ideas, I have settled on the Mara shawl. This is because I have a lot of wool I have frogged** from older pieces, wool that deserves a new ‘home’, wool that is too good to give away. Wool that I just don’t like the colour of anymore but think would make a great present for just the right person.

And the right person in this case is my Mother-in-Law. Don’t worry. She doesn’t read my blog but, then, please don’t blurt it out to her, just in case. I have Misses J and E who will do that for me If I need them to!

So here it is, my new project beginnings, 'artfully' arranged on the back table to try and get some light on this grey, cold day.

Pattern:: Mara

Wool:: Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed DK

Colour:: Paper Rose

I am making one change to the pattern, though - I am knitting it in stocking stitch whereas the pattern calls for garter stitch. I'm just not much of a garter stitch girl, it seems!

What new projects are you working on?

And finally, here is one of my tips to encourage creativity as I missed adding it to the My Creative Space site last week:-

When I have finished a project, and in preparation for beginning a new one, I always like to clean and organise my work table; I start afresh in a freshly tidied space. For me, it works a treat!

Have a great weekend!

Sam xx

*CDT – cleaning, decluttering, tidying

**'frogging’ – don’t you just love that term? It means to unravel from an old knitted piece in order to reuse and recycle the wool i.e. rip it, rip it, rip it......