J is for Jellyfish & O is for Octopus

More Alphabet knitting - an ongoing project for our grandchildren.

And thanks to Hansi Singh's "Amigurumi Knits" for some great knitted toys for some of the difficult letters of the Alphabet :-) In fact, I've plotted all the alphabet now except for the letter V. V is a problem - vulture and vampire are rather scary for very young children and they are not Australian critters, same applies to viper. Vixen might be the best idea - unfortunately we have plenty of feral foxes. If you can think of a good knitted toy for the letter V - please leave me a comment ... it doesn't necessarily have to be an animal.

Meanwhile, here are J and O ...

Roses for Rosie

I've a friend whose name is Rosie,
she said that she would like a Tea Cosy ...

OK I'll stop right there with the - umm - poetry (?) but honestly I did not realise until this was over 1/2 ways knitted that there was possibly some sub-conscious nominative determinism in my choice of Tea Cosy pattern for Rosie. This is called "Rosie Posy" - a lovely pattern by Loani Prior. Knitted body, crochet roses.













I have Loani Prior's fabulous book "Wild Tea Cosies" but "Rosie Posy" is available as a free pattern.

Just sew sew ...

Have been doing quite a bit of sewing for the grandchildren in the last few months - I've given them these items and there's more to come. I think there will be twelve days of Christmas this year :-)

I like to use cute and/or unexpected fabrics for childrens' clothes and this year I've indulged in some fun prints intended for patchwork quilts. Here's a Christmas shirt with shiny buttons for our grandson -

and a close up of fabric and buttons on his new PJs.

He likes fun buttons (don't we all) and likes to do them up himself - so I've made larger than normal buttonholes to make things easier.



Our granddaughter has had her first ever birthday :-) and I'd made her a cute play-suit from a vintage pattern. Lots and lots of frills especially across the ample bottom (designed to be worn over cloth nappies)


Well, it is not just the bottom that is large - seems that sizing was just as unreliable back in the 1950's as it is now - the pattern says it'll fit a 6mth old and I knew it was large but I think this playsuit will be a nice fit next year !!!

Alphabet Knitting - B, D and G

Am slowly knitting my way through the alphabet - for my grandchildren when it's all finished. A great excuse to knit lots of little toys :-)

SO - B is for Bat ... a "Boo the Bat" from Mochimochi Land

Very sweet and quite easy to knit - I did change the ears and used slightly thinner yarn and needles than suggested which has made this Bat just the right size to fit in my hand.





here he is with wings unfurled ...
so cute!







D is for Dragon - well originally, and in keeping with the attempt to make this alphabet as Australian as possible, D was going to be a Dingo, but I couldn't find a suitable pattern then I was thinking of a Drongo which is a bird (as well as Aussie slang for a somewhat silly person) but then I rediscovered Norberta, on knitty.com a very cute baby dragon. Again I used 8ply (DK) and so this one is smaller than pattern suggests, and I used lots of different yarns including bright metallic for her "fairy wings".

Well, I'm not knitting these in alphabetical order - so skipping right along to G for Gecko - another clever and cute pattern by Cheezombie on Etsy. Self patterning sock-yarn made for some good banded effects and I just love the goggly eyes!

Halter-Neck Dress for Blythe Dolls - pattern

Long sun-dresses with Halter necks are so fashionable this summer here in Sydney, lots of bright print fabrics - making for a very 1970s look!
As part of an on-going project I knitted one of these dresses for Blythe -
in self-patterning sock yarn.


It was so successful I knitted some other versions

















A very adaptable pattern - if you would like to knit one for your Blythe - the pattern is here.

The usual copyright thingos - feel free to use this pattern and adapt but please do not reproduce or on-sell my pattern, please do not sell items made from this pattern and if you use my pattern and post the results on the www - I would like an attribution, thanks.

Enjoy :-)

Natural Pest Control and a Knit

I'm a bit of an Arachnophile - have to admire such wonderfully fine spinning :-)

This lovely and rather large St Andrew's Cross spider has taken up residence in a corner of our garden.

She has had (probably in more than one sense of the word!) at least one admirer - the poor wee male is so much smaller than she is! She was even more rotund for a while, then she disappeared for a few days and when she came back she was least 1 dress size smaller - wonder where she left those eggs! She has lovely yellow stripes on her belly and bright yellow knees. Today she has woven a magnificent X in her web but some days she gets a bit lazy and leaves off an arm or two of her cross.


Finished this micro-cardi a while ago but only got the buttons for it this week.

It is in Collinette yarns, Iona and Giotto, both in the "Bilberry" colour - a magnificent strong blueish purple. My own pattern and this knit is for ME :-)

Hats in The Muse

Well work & life definitely got in the way of the Certificate IV Millinery course especially towards the end of the year and -Big Sigh - I've basically flunked out. Am trying to look at it as a Lesson that - You Can Make Too Many Compromises!

However, I do have 2 hats in the end-of-year exhibition - and they are hats that I'm proud of. The wire-work covered in red chunky knitting I've blogged about before and here it is with my be-Petalled Silk & Straw hat.

The Exhibition is at The Muse at Ultimo TAFE college - lots of lovely hats and some hand-made shoes too.

Purple-icious

I do like The Colour Purple - in all her many shades and variations. There are so many gorgeous purples in nature - from the soft tints of lavender, there's wonderful wisteria (and that mauve contrasts so beautifully with the fresh green of the new leaves), the amazing glow of jacaranda trees in bloom, through to the darker purples of irises and the regal purple of aubergines.

And here are most of those purples - all together on some hand-painted yarn

I handpainted / dyed 2x 200g of Bendigo Woolen Mills "Luxury" 4ply, originally "Cream". I had such a lovely time with all those purples, but I'm not sure how it'll look knitted up (planning a twin-set for my granddaughter) as sometimes a hand-painted yarn with short lengths of colour can look really messy when knitted. But, if I don't like it I can always pop it back in some more dye :-)

Brought to You by the Letter S

Well I do love to Bite off (almost) More than I can Chew ... launching into massive projects, I usually manage to finish them.

I'm planning to make an Alphabet for our Grandchildren - A set of A4 sized 'flags' (in felt I think) one for each letter with the letter appliqued on ... each 'flag' will have a pocket and inside the pockets will live small soft toys appropriate to the letter. I want to make it as Australian as possible and to knit most of the toys (I love knitted toys).

S is for Seahorses

and for Seal



Great patterns from Cheezombie on Etsy

nit knit nut

Have been clicking away and have managed to achieve some FOs (Finished Objects !)

For Granddaughter a bolero and matching beanie:
The Pattern is from Cleckheatons's Cocoon Baby No: 951 but the yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills new "Luxury" 4ply only I
dyed the yarn with those Blossom Spots myself :-)


For my Etsy shop (IF I can part with it!) a shawl that is just like a cloud - very soft and cuddly, lots of lovely Colinette yarns
in soft sun-rise colours.


My own design - a combination of triangle shawl and rectangle pashmina style shawl with the best features of both. Triangles keep your back warm but are often too short in the front corners - rectangles have length at the front but leave half your back to freeze ... this has back coverage AND fronts that you can wrap, throw over the shoulder, cuddle into ... It also has tassels :-)

Not finished yet but I'm making rapid progress, is a "Maxwell" a Martin Storey for Jaeger. It is a warm zip-up jacket with 2x2 ribbing, polo neck and massive (30sts !!) cables.

Still here and still making things!

What a month or 2 or 3 and Christmas is looming ...

But instead of running about in sheer panic I'll tell you about some of the things I've been making ...

An Etsy customer asked for a custom order of one of my 1930s style evening wraps in a dark colour and then ended up buying a bright coloured one that was already in my store. A good thing really because these wraps are my most popular item and now I have quite a lovely range of them - from soft pink devore velvet and a very bridal champagne silk, to dark forest green crushed velour ...

This is my favourite of these 1930s style kimono wraps at the moment - the fabric is really soft and smoochy and the colour is a lovely mysterious grey / mauve :-)

Busy busy busy

Hi there - it is a dreary maxim of Blogging that if you have the time to Blog it is probably because you aren't really doing anything worth Blogging about - and when you are doing things worth Blogging about - well you are just to busy doing those things to sit down and Blog :-/

That's been my life since we got back from a lovely 10 days with daughter and grand-children. Is good busy though - mostly costume making for Mamma Mia! the 10th anniversary production. Lots of crazy costumes and sparkly bits :-)

In between sewing costumes I've been knitting and listing on Etsy (had a couple of sales too VBG!)

Goodness Gracious - My hat was on ETSY's Front Page

My "Flapper Girl Cloche" hat was on Etsy's Front Page - this is a copy, my hat is in the middle of the lowest row.



A complete surprise - I didn't even get a notification that it was in the treasury!

Pressies for Grandchildren

YEA - we're off interstate tomorrow visiting our daughter and grandchildren :-) :-) :-)

So I've been frantically trying to finish some of the things I've been making for them ... granddaughter is 9mths now and she is getting a couple of dresses - green cotton cord. with ric-rac and yellow gingham binds and daisy (a bit bleached out in photo)

And vintage 70s rayon with purple contrast bits -

there is a matching hat













This knitted cross-over cardi has turned out rather large though I had the correct guage - oh well, as we are approaching summer this is probably just as well - it should fit by autumn!












The possum is just the right size :-)
I used yarn made of possum fur - which is a bit spooky I suppose but also very realistic! (it is lovely and made by Touch Yarns of New Zealand, where possums are feral pests) Because the grands are very young I've not used buttons for the eyes as suggested by the pattern (Cleckheaton's "Wildlife in 8ply" - very clever patterns by Barbara Lennon) nor have I used those "safety eyes" meant for toy-making as I don't think they are safe at all - they break very easily. SO - I used black felt but perhaps they are a little too large and rounded as this possum looks like it has a thyroid problem!


I've made more felt play food for grandson - guess it is never too early to learn how to be a wonderful Barista like his mummy :-) I've slightly adapted some of umecrafts lovely patterns to make felt 'cups' with inter-changeable 'beverages'. Have made 3 main bevs - Hot Choc, Coffee and Tea - then lots of extra 'tops' for the different variations.
Here is "Hot Choc" in the front and "Choc with MarshMellows" at the back - (not sure about those marshmellows!)



Here we have the coffees - from the left - Cappuccino, Latte (a 'top' sitting on the table), Flat White, then the other photo - Long Black (the main coffee base, don't you love the 'crema'?) and Mocha








And here is the whole lot - up-side down because I've stitched what they are ...






And finally - something for my daughter's Blythe Doll (well, she is almost another granddaughter!) It is being modeled by my Blythe Doll, Lillian.

A Plaid Pudding and Petal Power

Work commitments have meant that I've missed even more of the Cert 4 Millinery Class but I'm back to it again and trying to do a bit of catch up - the current exercise is on "Fabric Covered Foundations". That's millinery talk for the most time consuming hats! The 1st one had to be a pill-box and I've made this plump pudding of a hat to match one of my favourite suits -




The suit is in the same plaid fabric and is from a vintage pattern - very early 60s and very Jackie Kennedy! I love the colours and crazy one-way check but the fabric is acrylic which made things difficult - a wool fabric would've been much easier!





The 2nd hat has to have a straw brim, a fabric covered crown and fabric trims - and I must have a bad dose of Spring Fever because can't think of anything I'd rather make than a hat with petals all over.

Being crazy I'm making the petals myself - and I don't really know how to make silk flowers but I had great fun.

Because the traditional stiffeners are nasty petrochemicals I stiffened the silk fabrics with PVA glue which made the fabric quite paper-like - the white organza petals are painted. Then I 'tooled' and shaped them using the traditional brass silk-flower making tools.

Native Orchids and a Witch

Well I didn't really Make these but our garden is really lovely at the moment with everything in bloom - the smell is a blend of jasmine, wisteria and Dendrobium speciosum (Sydney Rock Lily or King Orchid) - 2 big plumes of flower this year.

Also all the Dendrobium kingianum (Pink Rock Orchid) are out (some of these are crosses with D. falcorostrum (Beech Orchid)









I'm trying to de-stash my life a little - have been putting lots of hats up for sale on my Etsy shop and today I listed my Witch's costume. Had great fun modeling it for the photos.

By Gum - A GumNut and some catch up

Yea - my GumNut Beanie for an adult is on the Dust Team Blog list of gift suggestions for Father's Day :-) the yarn is hand-spun undyed, natural coloured sheep and alpaca fleece.

My Etsy shops have been rather neglected in the last few weeks - and neglect is always immediately reflected in sales :-( but yesterday I listed some very old newspapers (from 1930) and they sold almost immediately VBG

I don't like to boast about knitting I've made for stage productions until the run is over - but I think I can show you a bit of the last Theatrical Knit now. It was for Bell Shakespeare Company's production of "Pericles" - wonderful costume and set designs by Julie Lynch. I knitted a striped vest for a fisherman - a very loose knit in banana silk yarn and self patterning sock yarn.

This vest featured some-what in the action - when Pericles is ship-wrecked for the 2nd or 3rd time (he makes a habit of it) he is rescued by some fishermen and when he complains that he is cold, one takes of his vest (the one I knitted) and gives it to Pericles.

Some of my bits are on Display!

What an exhibitionist!

And what a busy week it has been ... I've a bit of costume-sewing work at the moment AND I've been helping out back-stage at this year's Theatre Costume Showcase at Ultimo TAFE so I've been doing 12+ hour days and all at full-pace with not a moment to sneeze!

Part of the Showcase is an exhibition in 'The Muse' and the Munchkin costume I made last year is on display with all the other Munchkins.

Our Munchkins were full-grown adults walking on their knees, hence the over-sized foam 'shoes'. My Munchkin was an over-weight dandy c.1810 so he had a 'fat-suit', mad baggy trousers (lots of ribbon etc sewn into stripes), vest, tail coat, towering high collar with shirt frill and cravat (tied in the 'Romantic' manner) also mauve knitted gloves, a walking stick and a purple top hat.

The mauve lace on the shirt frills is tatting - I did most of it while on the bus to work and got lots of stares!

The Showcase exhibition is free and well worth a visit - with lots of fabulous work on display. Munchkins, Crinolines, Tutus ... and some spectacular Major Works.





AND today was the opening of The Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef at the Powerhouse (just up the road from The Muse!).

An amazing gathering of creativity and it really does look like coral reef. Had great fun trying to find my small contributions ...








Unfortunately I can't claim the gorgeous pink 'nautilus' but one of my corals is underneath it.