I want to take this opportunity to look back on the few knitting projects I have done in my knitting career (wow, that sounds more impressive than it actually is!)
Oh. I just went to take the photos to find that the babydoll and the cute artist I knitted when I was younger are apparently with most of my other cuddlies in my parent's loft. *sigh*
It was super simple to make - I believe it took me a couple of hours/one afternoon. All you need is some different wools which work well together, and your 2 hands! It's really enjoyable - I wish I could find more purposes for finger knitting - there are only so many scarves a person can use! It saw me well through the winter though :) Now it's tucked away in a box until it gets colder again!
Ask anyone who has to see my art room on any day other than when it's just been tidied, and they will tell you I live in an unorganised messy chaos. Some people would see my art room after it's been tidied and still think that!!
Whilst I recognise this thing people refer to as "mess", I prefer to think I live in an organised chaos. I know a specific piece of paper is under a specific collapsed pile. (Unless I've decided to tidy said pile and put said piece of paper somewhere safe. Then I'll never see it again, believe me.) I know I last used a particular pen/brush/crochet hook in that particular corner/room/country, and I can generally track things down...
Well, until I can't. Then my husband and my Mother both groan in unison as they spend the next hour/week/decade searching for whatever it is I've mislaid. I still haven't found everything since I moved house a year ago!
As for my crochet and organisation... Well, my source of wool is my parent's loft, where my Mum has it organised by colour. Apart from the 4-ply, which is currently in 2 mixed up bags in my art room... And my current "borrowed from Mum" pile which is extremely organised for me - in a rucksack by the sofa where I work. Then there are random balls scattered on various surfaces round the house, going back to various projects over the last few months... My crochet hooks are in the old Jaffa Cakes tube I inherited them in. Well, apart from the ones on the lounge coffee table haha!
It may not be all in one place, which would make it appear disorganised. But I know where it all is, so it must be tidy :)
Ah, amusing. My skill level a year ago, compared to now?! A year ago, the only time I'd picked up a crochet hook was when I was little and would look through my Mum's workbox to see what there was to play with! Altho, I did enjoy some knitting when I was young - I knitted several toys actually! I could never pick enough speed up for it to come naturally though, and it was a real labour of love. I think I still have an octopus on a pair of Mum's needles somewhere in my parent's house... Hmm...
Anyway, it was the magazine series "The Art of Crochet" which spurred me on. Saying that, I missed the first issue, which was the only one I wanted, and my back issue didn't come through til the summer! It was nice to have the hook, the wool, and the instructions placed in front of me, and I think it was January just gone I picked it up. The thing is, just learning stitches by making squares seriously bored me, so I decided to just throw myself into something and hope for the best! The biggest issue? I cannot read crochet patterns. Blame it on inexperience, blame it on brain fog, blame it on my hatred of foreign language, but I cannot read them... Fun!
I was fortunate enough to find this Youtube tutorial for flowers, with written instructions I could attempt to follow along with it! It was so so useful to see, for example, where the hook should be inserted, and where the wool should be at any given time. I picked it up really quickly, and soon began adapting it!
But, there are only so many uses for flowers in life (I think, anyway... There's certainly a limit on how many you can make before closing your eyes and still seeing flowers!) So when I saw this Sea Pennies tutorial I couldn't resist trying something a bit different! I've adapted several elements to get the Sea Pennies the size I need, but they're looking lovely!
Honestly? I feel a bit of a fraud taking part in this. I'm certainly not a knitter, and I'm barely a crocheter! Something about it appealed tho, as I do love this new found skill of crochet, especially in these days where paintbrushes are too heavy...
Today's topic is supposed to be about your favourite and your least favourite yarn... Well, here's the thing. I can't afford wool. At all. So all the wool I use comes from my parent's loft. My Mum has been a knitter for ever, and has boxes upon boxes of wool, which I am taking delight in slowly using up ;) A favourite or least favourite?! Well, I could give you colours... And ply... But beyond that it would be tough, because most doesn't exactly have labels anymore...!
So instead I'm going to dive straight in with the wild card - embellishments. Now that's something I relish!
When I was in my mid teens, I had the nickname Button Girl. Heck, if you browse my deviantArt scraps carefully enough you will even find her superhero self gracing a comic... How did I acquire this name? Because of my love of buttons. I don't really even know how it started, but me and all my friends - even my 2 best guy friends - wore bracelets of buttons made by me! I realised just how many uses buttons have - whether it is merely embellishing something, or as a closure; or whether it is making whole items or pieces of art from just buttons!
Back then I emptied all the colourful buttons from both my Mum's and her Mum's tins of buttons. And then the other year I also inherited my Nan's barrel of buttons too! That's not even going near the buttons I bought off eBay, and the ones I picked up in Singapore! I have an epic stash, yet still not always the style I need ;)
Considering this is supposed to be about crochet, here we have my classic use of buttons - for flower centres:
Something a bit different today! I've been having a tough few weeks or so, so still no art or anything I'm afraid :( I did manage to get into my art room at the end of last week tho, for the first time in ages. It was lovely to be back!
Over at her blog, Julia Crossland has started something called Being Creative, where each month there is a theme to follow to simply be creative, with no restrictions. This months theme is Garden, and I thought it was a nice theme to pick up for my Mother's Day cards...
Just a simple stamp I embossed and coloured, before mounting on suitable card :)
I haven't been being very creative lately... Well, I've done some sewing, but art is a bit of a struggle. I was meant to launch my Folksy shop last month, and everything is sat here to be sold, but I'm having issues... Maybe one day?!
Anyway, I have still been working on my Destruction Journal!
I created a front cover, echoing the lovely marks left by the stickers I ripped off!
Creating various items for my Folksy shop (if I can ever get it launched!!) gave the sketchbook a perfect opportunity as a background for gluing :)
Is this cheating?! I gave a page to my bunnies to play with... It ended up being used as a litter tray ;)
I also gave a page to my cheeky chappy nephew Dylan when he wanted to do some colouring. In reality he just had a good crumple of it!
Another page proved useful as scrap paper when trying to work out a painting I'm work on...
And whilst I forgot to actually take this in the shower with me, I left it to absorb the bubbles after washing my hair :)
I hope everyone is as well and creative as one can be :)
