Mostly Knitting

Threadbanger and Decor It Yourself

I watched last Friday's Threadbanger on DIY rain gear and forgot to blog it! Oops. Here it is:

The rain poncho is interesting but even though it rains a lot where I live there's no need for a rain garment that you can wear over a coat. The only time it's cold enough to need a coat is in the middle of the night in the middle of Winter and most people are safely tucked up in bed at that time :)

And I haven't watched it yet but here's this week's Decor It Yourself. It has what looks to be a very interesting project on upholstering dining room chairs.

Wardrobe Blowout!

Regular visitors to my blog (all one of you, lol), may remember Florence Dollington, the doll I made from the Japanese Una-Na doll book.

A few weeks ago I finished some ponchos for her and started sewing little skirts and things to go with them. Here are the results.

Firstly, a very pink outfit :)

The poncho is made from some handspun wool/silk that I spun a couple of years ago. I wasn't sure what to make with the rest of it but it's so incredibly light and soft that it needs to be something special. The skirt is made from a hot pink printed acrylic felt fashion fabric sample from Reverse Garbage. All the clothes are made from discarded fabric samples (so is the doll).

Next are a skirt and top. I really like the way the top looks but it gets all screwed up when you put it on so any future ones will be slit down the front with buttons or ties of some sort.

Next is the same skirt with a matching buttoned stole. The stole is made from a scrap of alpaca bouclé from Rare Yarns

I added little embellishments to the ponchos and capelets that I had made previously. Here's the orange one. I added a little crochet flower and button and a matching edge.

The turquoise one has a new ribbon and flower

and the beige one has the little silver ribbon that was on my Easter chocolate rabbit :)

I also made a few more ponchos and scarves.

A little brown one with a vintage button closure and matching hand bag

A pink handspun one with a crocheted edge made with embroidery cotton.

A handspun green one with contrast purple edge and tie.

And all the scarves :)

The first one was knit from a lot of yarn colour card samples. I tied them together to make a fashion scrappy scarf.

A scarf made from the same handspun wool/silk as one of the ponchos

These are all crocheted by the way :)

This one is made from some Bendigo Mills 4 ply baby wool that I dyed

And finally three little handspun scarves

I have fabric all picked out to sew several little outfits and shoes to match each scarf or poncho. They're very addictive.

Almost That Time of Year Again

It's almost time for me to pay the webhost for the following year. Since we moved to a virtual private server it costs a lot more than it used to, about AUD$700 a year and due to unforseen circumstances eating up all of our family savings, I need your help!

So, how can you help and get something great as well?

If you buy a copy of my "Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book" in pdf form from Ravelry you'll help me pay for the web host, you'll help Ravelry earn a few $ and you'll get a great book (well I think so!) with 45 hat styles and variations. You can knit the hats with any yarn from your stash, in a range of 17 different sizes from teeny tiny preemie, all the way up to "my goodness you have a big head"!
Actual size 8" - 24" to fit 10" - 26" with a suggested negative ease of 2"

I need to sell 40 or more copies to cover the webhost and give Ravelry and Paypal their commissions. Please spread the word!

Click here to find out more or

If you don't wish to buy a copy of the book but still want to contribute, I can also accept donations straight to my Paypal account.

Please note: Your purchase will show as "Pork Pie Hat" in Paypal but you will receive the whole book of patterns.

KnitWiki - May's featured article

The featured article for May has been added to the KnitWiki.

I'm going to make you go there to find out what it is :)

Decor It Yourself: Get Comfy

with a bedroom make-over.

New Free Embroidery Transfers!

I've put up a new set of embroidery transfers today. Sunbonnet Ladies days of the week. They're a vintage appliqué and embroidery transfer from the mid-1930's. I hope you like them as much as I do :)

I Have a Gazillion Zippers from the Op Shop

and now I know how to use them to make the little purses I bought them for.

http://www.twelve22.org/2006/07/zipper_tutorial.html

Brilliant. Thanks a million twelve22!