Thursday 27 February 2014

Second Hand Shopping

Today I accidently crashed at a rare case. Around here where I live is several second hand shops. But you never find there any craft stuff. Sometimes some yarns but that's it.

Today I found Fiskars Mini-ShapeBoss embossing kit. It included 4 stencils (Swirl, Roses, With Love and Victorian) and 2 Texturing tools (Regular and Detailed Tips). I paid only 4€ of the whole kit. Seems someone just wanted to get rid off it. For a long time I have desired that kit so now I am extremely happy about it.

I also bought 3 templates for shape cutter (Hearts, Ovals and Frames) -all three together just 4,50€, less than one cost at a craft shop. I don't have the shape cutter yet but I do have the self healing cutting mat. It seems I finally need to write to Santa about it. :)

I found also 2 mini cross stitch kits (1€/each) and 7 balls of Novitas Nalle wool yarn. Each ball has 150g yarn and these 7 cost only 15€ which means I got seven with the price of three.

I am very paranoic with little creatures and all kind of bugs. So I set the yarns and cross stitch kits into my freezer. They'll stay there for some time so that nothing will be alive after the treatment. :) And rest of the shopping faced a good wash in my kitchen. I do love animals but most of them must stay outside.

Monday 24 February 2014

Waste can be treasure

Today I got some waste yarn from a special person. Later on, some day, Mr N and his little sister Miss N will get something soft and boring as gifts. <3 I don't know yet what but for sure I will figure it out someday. Knitting or crocheting -or perhaps something else??? We'll see. :)

Friday 21 February 2014

First knitting challenge DONE!

Yeppee yeppee yeppee I did it I didi it I did it I did it!!!!! And guess what! I did it only once! Yes, just once!

I thought I have to knit it for several times but no -just once. I must admit I was very careful and had breaks to see how it begins to form out. I had days when I just kept it on the table to see how it looks and to understand what to do next. As I told before at my previous post it is my own design and I have the pattern of it only in my head.

I used two different kind of yarn. The details of them you can see here.

Believe me or not but I broke those bamboo knitting needles before finishing the pullover. It was the first time these needles were in use. So the lesson of the project is -rather cheaper equipment than expencive ones if the quality is the same or you can't see the difference.  I was lucky because these knitting needles were free sample so I paid nothing. I loved them but the plastic cord between them just got broken and loosed from another bamboo needle. No, I didin't pull and it was like cut off 1 cm far from the needle. And yes, it was possible to fix it by shorten the cord and take away the remaining piece from the needle -but I realized it too late.

See, it happen that the cat got very interesting and exiting toy. Finally she was allowed to touch my knitting needles. So much fun we had until I was told it can be fixed but the cord was already bitten so it all got too short at the end! But we had fun and that's the most important thing. :D


Saturday 15 February 2014

Tabcase

Today I finally finished the Tabcase I designed. This is the first one and more is comming. I am going to try out other materials too.

This one has knitted and felted cover. I used Italian Adriafil's Gelosia Trends yarn (34% acrylic, 15% polyamid, 12% mohair, 12% alpaca, 2% elastic?). I felt it in the machine (90 degrees wash). The natural white fabric that can be seen under the knitted cover is 100% recycled army wool. It is also felted in the machine. Each part is felted individually before cutting and sewing. There is cotton wool and slippery lining fabric inside.

Using these materials and making it all in this way makes sure the Tab stays warmer (the cold climate wastes the battery fast) in the wild (a person who likes to make snow mobile tours around the wilderness will have this case). The materials also protect the Tab from hits and prevents it to get damaged.

Sunday 9 February 2014

First knitting challenge

Knitting is the challenge for myself for the year 2014. I am going to try out new things in knitting. This is my first trial. I have never knit a pullover in this way. Here I have two sleeves waiting for fastening. As you can see it is short sleeved according to the wish I was given.

Of course I have no pattern or other instructions. It is my own design in my own head. I have been going through Vedis Jonsdottir's book Knitting With Icelandic Wool to solve out the mystery. And then I need just to try, try and try to get it perfect shaped. We'll see how many times I need to knit it before it is ready for finishing.


Wednesday 5 February 2014

Stitching the flu away

Yes, today I've been trying to escape the flu. It is good reason to bury yourself in the sofa with stitching. Resting and silent work makes you to lay down and feel better despite of the naughty virus.


I realized today that I need to make a new list of stitching materials which I will need next. Still there will be many hours to finish this First Kiss stitching project but it will take some time to get it all sorted out and delivered into my house. But finally it begins to seem out something. :)

I need to decide which project to start next...

Sunday 2 February 2014

Recycled re-usable kitchen towel -tutorial

In my kitchen I use towels made of fabric. They last forever and are easily re-usable. I ended up this choise over ten years ago because I noticed I always ran out kitchen towels and how much waste it makes. Using re-usable kitchen towels is one way to save the planet. When you make them from the right material they last forever and you desire new ones only because the old ones look so ugly and messy at the end.

I make the towels from old things like bath towels or robes. The point is to use material with good and fast absorbency. My material is always 100% cotton or linen because then the towels can be washed in hot temperatures (60-90 Celcius degrees). When the material is old it is thinner which is just good in use. Thinner towel gets dry faster so the level of bacterias are minimized so they don't smell and the hygine level is high. I always have more than one re-usable kitchen towel (one in use, few in the cupboard waiting for the use and dirty ones in the laundry basket waiting for washing).

This time I used old bath robe. The pattern is my own design which I use making pot holders. The size is excellent -not too small, not too big.

Making re-usable kitchen towels is simple, easy and fast. Even beginners can succeed. It is also an excellent gift idea for a friend who cares about the environment but is poor in crafts. This saves also your money because after having these you don't need to buty them again and again from the shop.

Use a pen (I used permanent ink) to draw the figures of the towels on the fabric. Then cut the towels off from the fabric.

 
Use seaming machine to neaten the edges. Don't make folds or hems because they slow down the drying process in use. If you don't have seaming machine you can use sewing machine's zigzag stitch.

Finished recycled re-usable kitchen towels ready for their new career.

Saturday 1 February 2014

Heart hanging -tutorial

Here is easy way to make filled hangings. When using this technique filling is easier. I use here cotton wool sheets to fill the hangings. These are my own designs but anyone is free to get inspired.

You need craft felt sheet, cotton wool sheet, wool for felting, felting needles, felting needle mat (I used Novita's, more at Felting ideas), pen and figure/pattern/mould to start. I used gingerbread mould for the smaller hearts and self made pattern for the bigger hearts. If you look carefully you can notice big and small hearts are different shaped. That's all right; the effect fades away during the process. If you want the hearts form out clearly different the difference of the pattern must be bigger than this.

Use the felting needle and mat to felt the wool on felt sheet. The outlining of the smaller heart gives you the form to work.

Decorate the hearts in the way you want. I used old recycled buttons and woollen yarn. I edged the felted hears by stem stitches.

You need the background for the hearts. Cut similar sized felt sheet (use the processed one as a pattern) and place it under the heart fabric you have worked with. You don't need to draw the hearts on the back ground felt sheet.

Cut also similar sized cotton wool sheet. (I used two layers of 80g/m2 thick cotton wool.) Place the cotton wool between the felt sheets and fasten all these layers together with pins.

Sew the layers together from the front side by sewing machine. Sew far enough (1cm) from the drawn outlining.

Use good scissors to cut the hearts separate. After separating the hearts cut them more precise so that drawn outlining will be cut off.

You can fasten a yarn to hang the hearts. These hearts are still missing the fastening system because they are going to be a part of a bigger art project.
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