February: A month of small projects

I want to see if I can post a finished project 
every day for the month of February. 

Unlike this lacemaker I will be 
making quick projects.
 I know my limitations...

Also I'm hoping to avoid buying
any supplies but if I do I'll track them.
I have a little more than 
a dozen projects bookmarked 
(a mix of sewing, crochet and embroidery)
so if anyone wants to toss some simple
ideas my way, that would be great.
Wish me luck!

The above image is a painting done
by the great painter Vermeer
called The Lacemaker.

Green and red favourites

Green and red favourites
Originally uploaded by Torirot

Daphne's moment of transformation

Isn't this tree beautiful.

It is especially gorgeous in

spring when the leaves are out.

I pass it on my walks through

my neighbourhood and I always 

stop and marvel at it's beauty.

To me this is Daphne, 

the beautiful river nymph in 

Greek mythology who was chased by the powerful 

and often ruthless god Apollo.

She realized that she could not escape from

him so she pleaded with her father to protect her.

He changed her into a laurel tree

 and wept knowing that 

he had lost his daughter forever.

There are many beautiful interpretations

of this moment in art. 

Apollo and Daphne by Bernini

I hesitate even posting a

picture of this statue since 

it doesn't do it justice.

If you could see it in person

you could appreciate how each

 delicate leaf that sprouts from

her fingers has been carved in marble.

 Daphne's face reflects her

sorrow as she realizes her fate.

Beauty and sorrow together.

Apollo and Daphne by

John William Waterhouse

I've not always been a fan 

of Waterhouse but he has started 

to grow on me lately.

 His subjects are often scenes from mythology 

so it is always interesting to see how he

interprets classic stories

through his romantic style.

Yarn tagging around the city

Do you know how hard it is to

find a telephone booth anymore!

I would've rather put it in

an enclosed booth but I 

couldn't find one nearby.

That meant I had to attach this one

right near a busy train station

and parking lot.

That also meant I got an 

awful lot of strange looks 

as I tried to sew it on

without drawing too much attention.

I ended up putting the phone

to my ear to make me look

a little less conspicuous.

I'd make a terrible spy.

A small crocheted dog

I'm still alive even though I haven't posted

anything for ages.

I've been busy with other things

and I really miss my creative time.

 I don't have much to show for my time

away, just this simple dog.

 It's funny how unfinished it feels to me.

Probably because I didn't alter

the pattern as I made it.

That's unusual for me.

Another crocheted Max from the Wild Things

What is really cool about Max is that
he makes a great gift for both
a 25 year old male (my son) and 
a one year old girl (my niece).

Again this is from this great pattern.

by Allison Hoffman from

 Crafty is Cool (etsy).

I loved making him,

so easy, and so well designed.

I can see myself making this pattern again.

Related link: A Tale of Two Maxes

Hobbes.... waiting to come alive

You can now find my free pattern here.

I've been waiting for a nice sunny day

to take a picture of my finished Hobbes

and today was the day.

How do you like him?

I decided to make the Hobbes that
the world sees, not the one Calvin sees.

I wanted to remain as true to the original

drawing as I possibly could.

I'm pretty sure by son will 
be happy with his Hobbes.

A Tale of Two Max's

I made the bag on the left to hold

the crocheted presents that I made

for my darling new sweet niece.

You could also use it as a Xmas stocking.

I really love how it came out despite the fact

that my sewing machine had major problems

and that I could only find the acrylic felt

and not the nice wool felt.

This great free pattern comes from

the totally cool blog Meet Me at Mikes.

Click here for free pattern

I crocheted the little Max figure from

this wonderful pattern that I bought on Ralvery.

I found him easy to make and

only changed his nose.

His crown comes off and his

hood comes down, how cute is that!

I'm part way finished making a second

one for my son.

Related link: Another crocheted Max

The beginning of Hobbes

Hobbes
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

Since we are now in November I thought
it was high time that I get started
on my son's Xmas present.

We interrupt this program for a short announcement

knitted breast
Originally uploaded by acechick

As you probably already know
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.
This year it was a little more personal to me
as my annual ultrasound showed a
small lump...
thankfully my results turned
out to be negative.

So a small reminder.
Take the time to perform
breast self-examinations.
Check with your doctor whether
you should be getting a
mammogram and/or ultrasound.

Tasty Crochet

Tasty Crochet
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

I've been working on a batch of crocheted
food for my 2 nieces.
These are some of the snacks I've made so far.
The patterns are easy to make and
are from the great book called
Tasty Crochet by Rose Langlitz.

How I came to love tea and their cosies

You can never have enough cosies
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

I was first introduced to tea time
and all it's grand traditions
through the English side of my family.
Every summer our family and
my aunt's family would visit my
Great Aunt for two weeks at her
place by the beach.
Twice a day we were summoned
to tea time by the ringing
of an outside bell.

The grownups including my grandmother
would carry the trays of teapots,
teacups and slices of cake.
We children would carry the
trays of cheese and crackers
and pop since we weren't
old enough for tea.

During the rest of the year
we often didn't get to see our relatives
because we were scattered across the country
so these times were very special to us.

The teapots at these gatherings were
covered in knitted, well worn cosies.
They looked like hats that
our mothers
had popped on them,
and unlike us, they accepted
their adornments without struggling.

Years later I visited England,
and saw all the beautiful cosies there...
it brought me back to those wonderful days.
I bought my first teacosy (made of cloth)
and since then have made a point
to indulge in teatime at least once a day.

Related post: My first knitted cosy

Great Malabrigo Giveaway

Salihan Crafts is having another great giveaway!
This time it is for 2 skeins of lovely Malabrigo yarn,
how nice is that!
All you have to do is pick out which
Malabrigo yarn you'd like to win
and then leave a comment on her post
Yarn & Kisses Malabrigo Giveaway
Last day to enter is October 25.

And while you are there check out the
rest of Salihan crafts.
It is filled with lots of yarn, diy, recipes
and other goodies.

Have you seen a teacosy like this before?

DSC02291
Originally uploaded by sukigirl74

Isn't this a beautiful tea cosy!
I really wish that I could take credit
for making it .
I bought it at a small garage sale put on
by a group of lovely older Polish women.
I'd be curious to know how old
it is and if there is a pattern for it
floating out there somewhere.

It is crocheted with loops pulled through
and as you can see,
is made with the most glorious colours!
The flowers are simply made
from loops of yarn tied in the middle
and are laid on a bed of pale green yarn.

If you've seen one like this
I'd love to hear about it.

A Knitted Cosy fit for a teapot

Although this isn't a great picture I
thought I'd post my finished cosy.



I feel fairly happy about it,
I didn't drop any stitches,
it didn't end up half finished
stuck in a drawer somewhere
and it fits my teapot.
Not too shabby.

At first I did make it way too tall
so I managed to rip back a few rows
and make it shorter.

I used 4mm circs and one
skein of Noro Kureyon 163
and this lovely free
pattern by aemmeleia
.
I actually made this for my
sister for Xmas but it may
be too dark for her.
Also, the last time she visited
I asked her if she wanted tea and
she said "oh good god no!"

Today's Problem & Solution...knitting

My problem:
I want to try knitting
a teacosy and the pattern
calls for 5mm small circular needles.
I am a beginner knitter.. I don't have any.

Solution:
When I checked my free needles
(given to me by my sweet mum)
I only found some really large
circular needles in that size.

So I went to my favourite
knitting help site
(aptly named knittinghelp)
and found a video demonstrating
a technique which allows you to
do small diameter circular knitting
on larger diameter needles.
Magic Loop Knitting

A sad goodby

Comet

Today I said goodbye to the sweetest,
and gentlest dog that I have ever known
and it broke my heart.

Crochet Apple Cosies

No... these apples aren't wearing
sweaters to keep them warm.
These cosies actually have a practical
purpose...keeping them from getting bruised.

I'll be curious to see if they work ...
don't they look pretty!

Link to free apple cosy pattern.
Link to leaf pattern

A vintage style crochet bunny

For a long time I've had an image of a bunny
in my head that I've wanted to make .
It has floppy ears, arms and legs,
so that a little girl could easily grab it
and carry it around.

I came across a pattern very close to it,
this is the result.


It's not exactly the same as the bunny
in my head but he's pretty close.
When I completely finished him I
couldn't figure out why I wasn't happy with him.

That's when I realized the reason.
It was because my imaginary
bunny was a girl and although I
tried, there was no way this guy
wanted to be transformed into a girl.
He did, however, keep his wee granny
square scarf in pink and purple.

Maybe someday I'll make
a female version but for now
he'll do.
The pattern came from a book
called Vintage Crochet by Susan Cropper.
The errata, which includes
the entire pattern
is here.

Peter Rabbit embroidery

I was cleaning out the crawl space in

my laundry room today and found this.

In 1977 ( pre-children, pre-husband),
when I had loads of time,
I decided to try embroidery for the first time.
Being young, I decided to tackle a fairly large project
so I bought a this crib sized Peter Rabbit cover.

My stitches aren't too bad for a beginner
but I only managed to embroider this one panel
but I did finish all the words in the other panels
Then I quit.

Here is an overall picture of what
it could look like.

I still have all the embroidery thread
and the instructions so I'm going to
set this aside for a winter project.

I have no idea how far I'll get but
hope springs eternal.