Blackwork biscornu for St. Patrick's Day

Hello,

I am back with more reports about my knitting - crochet course, with some more felting and some embroidery, a finally finished long-time WIP and another freebie - this time it is blackwork for St. Patrick's Day.



Here is a picture from one of my lessons. We just started our knitting unit, and I used this technique that I called the "human knitting machine" to teach the kids the basics. It was great fun! I learnt this at the university. It works the same way as finger knitting or the knitting looms, we just used the kids' hands instead of the pegs.

And here come some more pictures of my homework for the course.

To try out different materials, I did some crochet with a thick cotton cord. The flower shape, as well as the third one, in wool, was done with freeform crochet: I used no pattern, just started and then went on to see what happened. It was fun.

I tried out shadow knitting. I borrowed a book from the library, this one and tried to create my own pattern. While the book has some lovely modern looking pieces, and I found a few interesting pieces on the internet too, my experiment turned out a disaster. I wasn't thinking clearly, I should have realised that the pattern will become too long - I should have adjusted it accordingly. There was no time to do another experiment, and now I am busy with the next course, but this needs to be put on my list of "To try again". I certainly recommend trying this, it looks complicated but it isn't really and it is cool.

Another thing I learnt is called tvåendsstickning in Swedish. It means two-end-knitting, but it is usually called twined knitting in English. The basic technique is that you knit with tho threads, even if there is only one colour. They usually used the two ends of the same yarn ball, hence the name. The first stitch is knitted with one yarn, the second with the other and so on. Between each stitch you twist the threads. It makes a thick, firm fabric, there is hardly any stretch in it. Traditionally you have to do it with z-spinned yarn, that's what I was using for my mittens. I think it works with the usual s-spinned yarn, too, it only looks a bit different. I designed the pattern with the flowers myself, and on the palm side I was just improvising.

This is what it looks like on the inside. You can see how the twisted yarns create almost like a cord on the wrong side of the fabric.

Another homework was to take a knitted woollen sweater or something, felt it in the washing machine, and experiment with it: embroider on it, cut it apart etc. This is what I made out of two pieces. It's a vest, the collar and the sides come from one piece, the "body" from another. I added the crocheted band on the shoulders and around, and the embroidery. On the right side there is a Hungarian motif, on the left a Swedish one. I myself dyed the thread to match the rest.

Two pairs of socks that I also made. The first is knitting the traditional way - although that is still quite new to me. The other was knitted toes-up, and with an afterthought heel. Both of them were made on circular needles, instead of the usual double pointed ones, using the magic loop. I love this technique!

We also had a group homework: we had to create a piece together, on a chosen topic within "communication". We chose "power". We created a puzzle, and this is my piece. I collected a few pictures from the internet for inspiration, and then used a piece of a felted woollen pullover as background, then needle-felted and embroidered my interpretation.

I have collected quite a few links for all these techniques, if you are interested, go and look at my Pinterest page.


My old visitors can perhaps remember how I started to do some weaving on a huge piece of cardboard - perhaps two years ago? Shame, I know, but now I finally managed to finish it.

Although the edges became strangely loose, I still like it a lot. In the middle it is quite nice - not too densely packed but the boucle yarn has made a good, solid fabric, and still soft. I will use it as a scarf. I will take it off the cardboard and tie the ends tomorrow.

And finally, my freebie for you today. I made a blackwork pattern that reminds me of clovers, so I thought it would be perfect for St. Patrick's Day. But with another colour it might give a different effect.

I made it into a biscornu pattern, I hope you will enjoy it. Some more clover patterns are coming soon.

Edit:
If you are interested in St. Patrick's Day patterns, why not take a look at my other freebies here, here and here?

Swedish folk pattern and some WIP

Hi, dear friends.

I have been really busy lately with my sewing machine and other stuff.
I am learning quilting. Here is my second attempt. (The first one was a simple piece sewn together from 10 x 10 cm squares, not very well - I am still thinking to do something with it.)

I was trying to do a log cabin quilt. I cut lots of 5 cm wide strips and started working. I don't have a real fabric stash, absolutely no quilting fabric, only some odds and ends that I bought in second hand shops or got as donation from colleagues. I tried to pick some light and dark fabrics, and started sewing them together. Here are some pictures of the process, but mostly I was too excited sewing, so I didn't take many photos.







As my blocks grew, I had to realise that my seams are not precise and my cutting was not ver exact either, so some of the lines on the blocks turned out to be a bit wonky. After some thinking I came up with a "brilliant" solution - I will make the blocks so that the log cabins are leaning a bit to the left and right, this way it won't be so visible that they are not perfect. Ha! As if this was a solution - for someone who is a beginner!
I saw some pictures and calculated for myself what size triangles I need for the edges. And I didn't have much fabric that was good with the other colours so had to be careful. Of course, I made mistakes when cutting and sewing again, so at the end it turned out even worse. There were even more seams to match.


In the close-up you can see the not-so-matching seams:




But there are some that are almost OK - purely by accident, though:





Anyway, here is the final result - and in spite of all the mistakes I am VERY happy with it. :D





This is only the quilt top, now I am going to learn how to quilt it. I don't have any batting, need to buy something for the back, too. Until I can do that, I will practice with smaller pieces. It will have to be straight lines quilting, because I also need to buy a free motion foot for the sewing machine and buying all that might take some time.


I have also been knitting a pullover for my daughter. It is almost ready now, I only need to sew in the sleeves. It was made, as most of my knitting, without patterns, just improvising. I knitted the body on the round, and the cowl neck, too. One of the problems with improvising is when you have made one sleeve, it is terribly hard to duplicate it - so I decided to make the second sleeve different. Purely for laziness - but I think it looks really cool. I hope Eszter will like it. It is absolutely soft and warm, it is an alpaca boucle yarn from Drops. Of course, since spring is here, she will need a really warm pullover - NOT. But I didn't manage to finish it in winter, so she will have to wait until next autumn to wear it. :=/







And I also crocheted a little cat for her, to go in the packet when I send the pullover:



This was also made without pattern. Perhaps I should try and write it down?


And here is a small Swedish folk cross stitch pattern for you all to enjoy, I think it is lovely. It was inspired by some old patternbooks I have.

Have fun :)

Granny square cross stitched

Granny squares are everywhere these days. So I thought why not stitch them, too.
I imagined a granny in soft colours - but you can change the them to more vibrant ones, feel free to experiment. You can also make this smaller by simply leaving out one or two "rounds".

Could be used as a biscornu, perhaps in different colours on the two sides.

Happy crochet-stitching. :)



Click on the picture for the downloadable pdf.

Plarn crochet projects

Not long ago I saw this site and I said I have to make it for my balcony. Then I thought that yarn is probably not very durable and also, I don't have any that I would willingly use for this, nor do I have money to spend on it. On the other hand, in school me and the kids have been trying out making and using plarn, that is plastic bags cut into stripes and used as yarn. So I put the two ideas together and this is what happened. I tried knitting, but then realised that crocheting is easier with plarn. I also remembered that in my childhood my grandma and my mom crocheted doormats from plactic bags milk was sold in.

So this is from the inside of the balcony:

...and this from the outside:

It was really simple, I made a long rectangle, about 20 cm by 80, folded back the two ends and crocheted the edges, leaqving about 10 cm in the middle to put over the rail. Then tied them together under the rail. It is actually lined with another plastic bag, with a few small holes in the bottom, so that the soil is not washed out.

The pansies have a wonderful scent!

Then I decided I would like to have a plarn pot too. I have just finished it so it is still empty but will buy some geraniums tomorrow.

I think it looks lovely with my other recycled "pot", the old washbasin with a hole that we found thrown out in the forest and I rescued it. :D

Crazy quilting, crochet and knitting

These are the things I have been working on recently.

First, I finished my February crazy quilt block for CQJP. It is all made of old clothes and leftover pieces. I love the little flower I cut out from an old piece of lace and apliqued it on.




Then, I have re-knitted my boyfriend's sweater that was supposed to be a Christmas gift :( Now the shoulders are ok but the sleeves are just a tiny bit short. I am not sure if I will have the energy to take it apart and redo it again. He might just hang it in his wardrobe and look at it sometimes. :(



And finally, tomorrow is our national holiday, and since I don't have any ribbon with the Hungarian national colours, I crocheted a kokárda to wear - it is a beautiful tradition for us.

Crocheted and knitted hat tutorial

The weather has turned really cold. One morning it was minus 17! And of course, I have lost my hat.
So I took some yarn from my stash. This is how I made my new crotted hat. Or knicheted? :D

First, I crocheted a circle about 13 cm in diameter, with single crochet:





Then I picked up stitches all around and put them on knitting needles. First tried the double ended versions, but I needed five just to fit them on:



So after a few rows I swithced to circular needles. I knitted 24 rows of garter stitch - about 9 cm. I wanted garter stitch because it is so warm. I had to keep in mind that garter stitch, when knitted on circular needles, is one row knit, one row purl.





This is what it looked from the top:



Then I cast off my knitting.



With the last stitch remaining, I started crocheting again. One row of single crochet was followed by the shell pattern.

If someone wonders, shell pattern works like this: *one single crochet, skip two stitches, 5 double crochet in the same stitch, skip 2 stitches* and repeat between the *-s. For the next row, start with a single crochet in the middle of the "shell", on top of the arc, and make the 5 double crochets in the single crochet of the previous row.



Then, when it reached almost my ears, I thought, it was a bit too wide. (Starting from the top gives us the opportunity of trying the hat on as we go.) So I thought I needed some ribbing. Picked up stitches on the knitting needles again and stitched a knit-one-purl-one rib. I also decreased every 8th stitch, and in the next row every 7th. So it became a bit more snug around my head - although it is still just a little loose.

I don't have a photo of this stage as I was knitting in the car while going and coming home from work.
After 5 cms of ribbing I cast of again, and did three more rows of the shell crochet pattern. Had to pull the hat together a little in the back, so it doesn't fall forward on my eyes, so I did that with a few stitches.

Here. It can be worn as a hat, with the shells as a brim:



or the second shell-part folded back and hiding the ribbing totally (I prefer it this way):

Upcycling a cardigan - up a size

I bought this cardigan in a second-hand shop because I loved the colour and the soft texture. I bought it for my daughter but she didn't want it. And of course, it was slightly small for me. So I had to do something about it.



Originally it had 4 buttons, two on both sides, but by the time I took this photo, I had removed two of them, thinking that replacing the buttons would be enough to make it wider. It wasn't.

So, I took some black boucle yarn and started to crochet a stripe in single crochet in the middle, for new buttons and buttonholes, to add a few centimeters. It is not very straight because I had to go up to the collar part, too, but I think it looks OK. Then I made a row of single crochet around the collar, too. The sleves were a bit too long and tight, so I folded the extra length back and crocheted two rows there too, one single and one double crochet, then cut off the extra length of the old material and sewed it down so that the knitting didn't unravel.
And of course, the former buttonholes and the spots where the buttons had been (the material was really badly pulled) had to be hidden. So I did some very simple embroidery.

What do you think?







Unfortunately, the embroidery emphasises my middle which would be better off hidden this after-christmas time, but I hope this is just a temporary problem. Trying to fight it, you see :)