The past few days I have been working with sisters on this very special bear for a very special dad.
Dad is an avid Welsh rugby supporter and often wears the same kilt as the bear (in an adult size ofcourse).
The bear has been made in felted wool with kilt, paws and inner ears in a wool tartan fabric. The tartan is Heritage of Wales.
Hopefully Dad will like his special bear at his special celebration this weekend.
I had these saltire blocks left over from a cot size quilt I was working on and had laid them aside to await inspiration. When I heard of a new addition that friends had, I saw a use for the blocks. Teamed with some designer cashmere/cotton plaid fabric and the addition of a bear applique it made the perfect quilt for a pram or baby carrier. No mistaking this wee ones Nationlity.
At £3 each these angels are perfect for that little minding or stocking stuffer for Christmas. Hand crocheted in soft cotton they stand approximately 2.5 inches, 6 c.m. tall and come in a linen embossed cardboard gift box. If you would like a loop to hang them on the tree instead please tell me and I will add it free of charge.
Now that October is nearly over our thoughts are starting to turn to Christmas.
Over the past couple of years I have been using a lovely traditional Christmas alphabet fabric to make different items. This year I have used the last of it to make an heirloom advent quilted wallhanging and a bell pull style wallhanging.
Each picture on the advent is a pocket for you to put in items of your choice. Small gifts, chocolate bars, animal treats dependent on who lives in the house. Instead of opening doors on the advent numbered 1 to 25, you start at the letter A and get a small surprise each day. As I made this from my own pattern with fabrics from my stash you will never find another advent the same as this one.
The Bell pull hanging used up the last of the Christmas alphabet fabric. I bordered it with a deep burgundy cotton fabric with gold stara stamped all over it. It hangs on a pine coloured dowling with matchind wooden beads on each end. It is finished off with a long burgundy tassle.
Both items can be found in my shop at Misi
http://www.misi.co.uk/product_desc.php?user_id=24761 the heirloom advent
http://www.misi.co.uk/product_desc.php?user_id=24990 the bell pull hanging
Last weekend saw me at a weekend craft fair in Dufftown. It was running alongside the Autumn Whisky Festival. It seemed at times that the whisky was definately more popular than the crafts.
Near my stall there was a spinner who spun over the two days and was happy to impart knowledge and to let us try using the spinning wheel. As well as selling her knitted garments she was also selling small quantities of her hand spun and hand dyed yarns. It was too much for me having to sit there and look at her stall. I eventually purchased some yarn with absolutely no idea what I was going to use it for.
It never made it to the stash boxes. I found a pattern for this hat at www.garnstudio.com and fell in love with it. Not being the flowery sort of person with my headwear I found these buttons in my button stash and used them instead. Roll on the cold weather. This is a very comfy hat and will be very warm
Fairisle style knitting has always fascinated me but I found it clumsy to do and kept getting my yarns all tangled which caused my husband to laugh at me and the dog to either hang her head pretending she wasn’t there, or to leave the room completely, depending on how blue the air was.
Then in the local charity bookshop I found a book called Norwegian Knitting Designs by Annichen Sibbern Bohn from 1965. This was very helpfull in demistifying patterns and techniques for me.
More recently my mum sent me a link to a pattern for Scandinavian sweaters for bears. The pattern encouraged the making of your own design and I chose hearts. The first sweater was a bit loose at the arm decreases as I was using too thick a yarn for the markers. I then attempted this second sweater on smaller pins using a very fine yarn from Brora and I was much happier with the outcome even though I altered the neckline from the pattern advise.
I then made this bear in the Duke of Fife tartan and he seems to like his sweater just fine.
This all came about because a certain little lady developed a liking for carp.
To save embarrassment and possible repercussions I shall maintain anonimity. As a result of the folding story my other half and I decided that we should do something slightly humerous.
The result was that I decided to make them their own carp and selected some of the brightly patterned fabrics in my stash that also suggested fish scales. The next door neighbour has catmint growing for the addiction of her mad cat so I went begging for some of her “supply”. I actually made them 2 fish each in different colours but my sister managed to take photos of them both playing with the same fish. As you can see I made them big enough that all four paws can be engaged in play at the same time.
Not to be left out I also made a half dozen carp for the grown ups and made them into a mobile. As all this upset ended in them getting married I added a weighty heart at the bottom to symbolize their love and commitment.
In the recent newslatter from Lion brand yarns there were some free patterns for shawls. This one appealed to me as it was lacy and solid. I set about knitting it in different yarns to see if this made any difference to the outcome.
The one at the bottom is James C. Brett’s marble chunky in those lovely autumn colours. The yarn is 100% acrylic making it light, warm and machine washable for easy care.
The shawl in the top picture was done in Patons High Society which is a mohair/wool mix with a polyester eyelash thread wrapped around it. This shawl is a little heavier than the acrylic one and also very warm. The eyelash thread is quite sparkly and would make this a nice option for an evening event or a wedding.
Here are the Antique Buchanan Bears. Having just been completed while staying in Edinburgh they agreed to sit for a photo before being packed to travel to their new home.