Handdyed yarn

My yarn order arrived and I’ve handdyed 600gms and cast on a toe up sock.  I’m making up my own knitting pattern as I go.
I’m so excited!!

Hey, look! I’m making spaghetti.

I’ve been trying to “up” my mum-game by doing more cooking from scratch.

So today I’m tackling pasta,  which isn’t new to me, but I haven’t done it in a year and a half,  and fresh pasta is just so yummy!

Tacky pasta dough needing a lot more kneading.

Silky sheet of pasta with basil leaves place between two layers and then rolled out.

Pasta in boiling water.

Cooked pasta and my creamy mushroom and spinach sauce made from scratch!

Dinner is ready! 
Emmaly and I demolished our dinner in record time.
SUCCESS!!!

Reupholstering a desk chair

I recently received a desk chair from a fellow Freecycle.org user and upon seeing it, just KNEW that it had to have a new life if it was going to live in my house. It was a ghastly browny/yellow colour made out of some seriously durable hessian type fabric that wasn’t pleasant to look at or see, and so I set to it and gave it new life!

I ransacked my stash of fabric (which is i m m e n s e) and chose some beautiful purple and green silk (unfortunately while this looked pretty it was a bad choice as after three months of use, the fabric has split and is tearing). I then found some sturdy black fabric to go on as a base, and prepared the chair.

If I was to do this chair again (which I probably should do!) I would spray paint the metallic parts while I had the base off and before I put it back together again.

Overdressed – A move away from cheap and nasty clothing

I love this article as it represents a move that I have already undertaken, that of making more of my own clothes.

It began with my frustration of wearing out clothing in certain spots, which if thought of in a mathematical viewpoint would only be classed as 10% or less. How seriously un-eco-friendly is it to throw out a pair of socks, simply because you’ve worn through a toe? Or throw out a pair of jeans because you’ve rubbed the thighs so thin they’re now indecent (for those of us who have larger thighs!).

At first, it started with simple things; I’m an avid skiier and FIRMLY believe in the necessity of decent, good quality ski socks like Smartwool, NZ Sock Co, or Wigwam, but found regardless of only wearing them in my ski boots or on extremely cold days (lets at least be honest!) that after a season, I had worn through the heels and the balls of the socks, therefore rendering them useless. So I took up darning! I have been able to stretch my ski socks into three more seasons since then and have had to darn during each season, but I have saved approx. $40 per pair, each year.

With jeans, I have taken to threading my sewing machine with dark navy thread, finding some patches of denim and putting them on the inside of the thighs and then using a zig-zag stitch, have completely quilted the patch and the jeans together. While this feels bulky and uncomfortable for the first couple of wearings, after a few washes, it’s hardly noticeable, and I take delight in the fact the my jeans now last more than three months.

 

Pattern drafting

I’ve been drafting up a storm after discovering the pattern books and pattern drafting books at the library lately.  So far I’ve sewn two pairs of shorts and four (pairs of)  underwear for myself and a pair of tights for my daughter and four pairs of tights to sell.
I’m currently working on a dress shirt for myself.

This is the first yoke I’ve ever sewn and I’m pretty excited about it.  I’m using chiffon in red and black, and I’ve altered the pattern so that the buttons run up the right hand side instead of the middle.  I’m not sure what it will look like on,  but I’m ecstatic that the cut pattern pieces match and especially that the sleeve matched the armhole! 
The main reason for my excitement is that I had to add 15cms to the width of the pattern as well as adjusting the sleeves O.O.

Anyway!  What’s on your creative agenda?

On my bookshelf this week…

I’ve been stirring up my creative inner workings by devouring craft-related books from the library.

I’ve also discovered that Japanese pattern book designers are BRILLIANT.  I do wish that the sizing was a lot larger,  but it’s a great basis for my own pattern drafting.

Pattern Drafting

After a long hiatus from crafting, and then slowly getting into knitting, and then a WHOLE lot of knitting (which I will dutifully take pictures and post here!) I then did a bit of crocheting and then decided to do some sewing including a denim refashion (which I will post as well) and now I’m pattern drafting for a pair of pants. Thanks to Weekend Designer for some awesome pattern drafting instructions – I used them a year ago to make myself some pants and they were great.

I purchased 10 metres of pinstripe fabric and I plan on making at least two pairs of pants. Thanks Nicks Fabrics for some fantastic prices!

Pattern drafting following instructions from Weekend Designer

19 metres of new fabric purchased from Nicks Fabrics

I also purchased 4 metres of green medium weight knit, 2 metres of peach tshirt knit, 2 metres of black merino knit and 5 metres of light weight cotton.

My plans at the moment are to use the green to make a light weight pixie hoodie for myself, the peach to turn into two camisoles (if there’s enough fabric!), the black merino is going to be used to make Emmaly some thermal tops for the winter and the 5 metres of cotton is to be used for lining the pin stripe pants.

– Kayleigh

 

Modelling clay dragons

I’ve never worked with modelling clay before but I found some cheap stuff at the $2 Shop (Craft Workshop Make and Bake Modelling Material) so I thought I’d give it a go.

Based on this design by Dragons and Beasties on DeviantART because when learning to use a new material / medium, I find copying the design easier than making my own. And these little dragons are adorable! I have some micro D&D dice, so this little fella (provided he survives the baking process) will keep my D20 safe!

I should have had my finger in there for scale. This dude is small haha.

Looming deadlines

For a while now I’ve been wanting to try the waffle weave on my loom, and my sisters soon-to-be born twins are a great excuse to learn how to do it, and so this week I warped up my loom in a waffle weave with multi-colored blue yarn and got to it.
It was a very easy and quick weave with a floating selvedge.

The heddles were set up 1,*2,3,4,3,2,1* with a repeat from *to*, and the foot pedals were set up and used *1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2* and repeated *to*

1. 1
2. 2
3. 1 and 3
4. 1, 2 and 4
5. 1, 2 and 3
6. 2 and 4

Waffle weave

One of the things I enjoy most about weaving is the fact that I have boat shuttles and it makes weaving so much easier and quicker.

Warp and boat shuttle

After I had woven enough for two blankets, I still had a few inches of warp left over, so I quickly wove off some plain weave with pink and blue.

Left over warp

Artwork in the home

Emmaly enjoying our new artwork

I’ve been happily collating artwork/type on pinterest for my home and finally decided to paint one of them on to one of the plain doors on my bunk/cabinet, at 11pm, as I knew Emmaly would stay asleep and not disturb me.

Painting in progress

Painting in progress

Being a stay at home, single mum, money is always a bit tight, so my palette consisted of three heavily discounted tubes of acrylic paint in blue, yelllow and violet. I used regular tape to mark out my lines and then went for it with the paint and brushes – as the cupboard has been finished in fabric, I didn’t have to worry about the tape leaving marks or wrecking my cupboard door.

I found that I really liked the green colour that I made using the blue and yellow.

Emmaly was quite excited when she woke up and found the cupboard door had changed. It’s a great reminder for me to be a bit more patient, and to have more fun with my little lady.

Finished artwork before removing the tape