Carnival Calamity 2025 Part 1

Carnival Calamity 2025 Part 1

Every year we have a Carnival in summer. Each year is a different Theme. This year the Theme is Board Games. I thought it would be an excellent time to play Dress Up.

Starting Square

I have quite a bit of Felt left from other projects. I pick a nice large Blue Square to Start with.

30 Centimetres

I take a Ruler and Measure the Length. It comes to 30 Centimetres.

Middle Line

I Measure Half Way to 15 Centimetres and make a mark in Chalk. I Measure the same distance on the Opposite Side and make another mark. I then Draw a Line between the two points. This is my Middle Line.

Centre Column

I have taken a Second Piece of Felt and Pinned the two together with the marked one on top. I then take the Middle Line and place my Ruler directly over it. I then Draw a Line either Side of the Ruler.

Once the Ruler is removed the two Lines have created my first Column. This is the Centre Column that I will be working from.

Nine Columns

Starting from my Centre I move the Ruler either Side to create additional Columns until I have Nine in total.

Grid

I spin the Felt around and then using the same technique add more Lines. This had given me a Grid with Small Squares. I have Nine Columns and Nine Rows in total.

Nott’s County Scarf 2022 - Tassels

 Nott’s County Scarf 2022 - Tassels

It is a long time since I have added Tassels to anything. First thing to sort was the Colour. After checking the Nottingham County Football Club site I discovered the Tassels are White not Black.

6.5 Inches

 

I needed a decent amount of Yarn for the Tassels. I found an old Chalk Board. I turned it on its side and the length was 6.5 Inches.

Wound Yarn

 

I wound the Yarn around the Board in Strands of 4 until I reached the End.

Cut Along Edge

 

I cut along the Edge of the Board so I now a group of pieces of Yarn ready for use.

Hook through Back

 

I don’t Crochet but I do have a couple of Hooks I use for jobs like this. I pushed the Hook through from the Back of the Scarf.

Add Yarn to Hook

 

I took 2 of the Strands folded them and placed them on the Hook

Pull Yarn through

 

I gently pulled the Hook through the Knitting making sure that the Yarn didn’t slip off. This made a Loop.

Thread Ends Through

I then slipped the 4 Strands through the Loop keeping them even.

Pull Tight

 

Next I Pulled the Loop Tight. I then repeated the process on the other End. I continued this process working towards the Centre. Then I trimmed up the Ends to make sure they were all even.

Danny Scarf

All that was left was to model it. Here is Danny wearing the Scarf. It is a slightly older style but the Length looks good on him and it is very warm. He seems very happy with his Christmas Present and that in the end is the whole point of Hand Knitted Gifts.

All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 2

 All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 2

Since there was a great deal of Preparation I am going to try and get it in some sort of order. Ideally one blog on Preparation and the next one on what I did with it.

Chalk Circles

 

I started with my usual find something Round and Chalk a Circle around it.

Cut out Circles

 

I Drew and Cut out 4 Circles to begin with. This is because I needed to work out what I needed to do.

Half Moon

 

First of all I decided to Fold the Circle into a Half Moon Shape.

Cheese Triangle

 

I then Folded the Half Moon into what I thought looked rather like the Cheese Triangles you buy in shops. I Snipped off the Corners either side of the Pin at an Angle.

Double Snip

I unfolded the Cheese Triangle and got the Shape above. It was a start.

Middle Snip

 

I Refolded into the Triangle Shape. This time I Snipped out a Triangle in the Middle. I then opened it up and Refolded along the opposite Fold. Then I Snipped another Triangle out.

(Please note that the pictures may show slightly different stages due to some photographs not coming out properly.)

Original Cog

 

I had now done all the Snipping out. However I wasn’t entirely happy with it. I decided to try another tack.

Square Cut

 

This time instead of Snipping at an Angle I made a Square Cut.

Square Snip

 

I then went on to the next part and Snipped a Square-ish Shape out of the Middle.

Cog Corrections

 

This time I got what I wanted. A lovely crisp Cog Shape. Looking at the above photograph you can see all the different attempts that it took me to get it Perfect.

Dionne’s Draught Excluder 2019 - Part 10

Dionne’s Draught Excluder 2019 - Part 10

I am leaving the Rabbit’s Face for now and moving on to the Ears

Rough Drawn Ears

I took some Black material and Folded it in half. I Pinned it to make sure that it didn’t move. Then with a piece of Chalk I drew a Rough Rabbit Ear Shape.

I cut out the Shape and repeated so I had a pair of Ears. Next I Hemmed around the Pair of Ears.

Sewing Pipe Cleaner

The next part was a little difficult. I wanted to Stiffen the Ear with a Pipe Cleaner. Unfortunately it was a little short so one Side of the Ear would be a bit softer.

However I placed the Pipe Cleaner on the material and Folded the Hemmed Edge over it. I Pinned Sewed as I went along. I was also adjusting the Shape as I went.

Rabbit Outer Ear

Annoyingly I was half way through and the Pipe Cleaner had come out so I had to Unpick and redo. I then finished the other half of the Ear. Please note that I am only putting Pipe Cleaners in One Side of the Ear.

Rough Rabbit Inner Ear

Now the Outer Ear was complete I could now start on the Inner Ear.  I took a piece of White material roughly the same Size as the Outer Ear. I will continue this in the next blog.