Yule Presents 2017 Continued

Yule Presents 2017 Continued

I have several lovely friends that are coincidentally in the same craft group so I thought I would like to make something crafty, personal and useful.

I had one of ‘my bright ideas’ which generally means it is okay in theory but could do with several months extra in which to make. Therefore I haven’t taken pictures as I have gone along but I will try and give you the idea.

The craft group is called The Witches’ Stitches. The presents are for three lovely ladies and two handsome gents. Ladies first -

Moira’s Yule Present Front 2017

I made these gifts simultaneously so they are in no particular order. I am making bags complete with zips using the Cross–Stitch technique on Aida Fabric. The bags are embroidered both sides with the group name on and are large enough to encompass long Knitting Needles.

Moira’s Yule Present Back 2017 

Although the lettering is the same each bag is unique to the person it is meant for. Moira is a White Witch and renowned Author so what could be better than a bell, BOOK and candle design complete with a pentagram.

Cayt’s Yule Present Front 2017

Cayt who set up the group is organised. She is a very cheerful person and is often sporting colourful clothing so bright colours were a must.

Cayt’s Yule Present Back 2017

She is also is a gardener. Therefore I felt that it would be nice to have a bit of Ivy clambering around the lettering.

Julia’s Yule Present Front 2017

Although Julia is a Crochet Demon rather than a Knitter I thought it would be nice to have the bag the same size as the other girls.

Julia’s Yule Present Back 2017

When I first met Julia she was often in flowing ethnic or tie die kind of clothes. Therefore I thought I would do a myriad of colours to go with her sparkling personality. Ye Gods never let me have an idea like that again

Now for the lads presents. Both the men do Cross Stitch so I made the bags shorter but deeper than the ladies. With luck they should be able to get a small hoop inside. This time the material used for the bag is felt and the Aida is sewn on top otherwise the small needles would fall through. Rather than using a zip this time I have used strong Velcro.

Tim’s Yule Present 2017 

After consultation with Cayt as to what colours Tim liked I decided on a blue background. I did wash the felt first because I didn’t want to risk the colour bleeding onto the White Aida.

I have tried to keep the pattern simple with a few of his gardening tools on. By sheer coincidence when I began to add the ribbon I had bought I noticed it said Merry Christmas.

Matt’s Yule Present 2017 

With the information from Julia that her Fiancé likes Tartan I proceeded to go with that theme. I think the ribbon used was definitely in the Festive mood because it just would not go on straight. – Sorry about that Matt!

Since Matt is musically inclined I add a few notes then went on to wash and press all the gifts ready for wrapping. Merry Yuletide 2017 folks!

If you want to know more about Moira’s work follow the link below

www.moirahodgkinson.com

Yule Present 2017 Leads To New Skill

Yule Present 2017 Leads To New Skill

I mentioned a couple of blogs ago how Laura from Alyssa Rose Boutique (https://www.facebook.com/Alyssa.Rose.Boutique/) had given me a great deal of craft items. These included some tools I had never seen before.

Small Tool

  

Medium Tool

Since they had originally belonged to Laura’s Gran I thought I would ask my mum if she knew what they were. She had never come across them either so time for an Internet Search!

Large Tool 

I should mention at this point that the Large Tool I couldn’t really see because it was incorporated into a project started by Laura’s Gran. Therefore I knew that the tools were old, metal and used for some kind of sewing craft.

I used various descriptions to search through images. I finally found what I was looking for and I was lucky enough to find a website linked to the photograph.

http://www.knitting-and.com/embroidery/kays.html

I heartily recommend going to this site as it will explain far more than I can. A brief synopsis is that the tools are from the 1920’ – 1930’s and known as Kay’s Practical Embroider.

Kay’s Practical Embroider

This is the set after I had got them out of the material and cleaned up. What I learnt is that there are two sets. There are others that are just small leaves/petals and two small circles. I am not entirely sure whether this is a complete set or a mixture of both.

This craft work is known generally as Plush Work, Chenille Work or Amish Stump Work. As far as I can tell from my research that there are differences between the three and I think Plush Work is the best term.

The principle is like that of making a Pom-Pom. Wind yarn around the template and then cut along the middle and remove the template. I decided to try and finish the project Laura’s Gran had started.

Laura’s Yule Present 2017

I was very nervous doing this but I think the result is quite good. For those that are interested the Three Red flowers were done by Gran along with the leaf and stalk of the largest flower.

I did the infilling of the petals and the dark green part of the large flower. I also finished the pink flower and other stalks plus the embroidered leaf and the plush leaf.

I wasn’t quite sure what kind of yarn had been used before but I decided to use embroidery silks. This gave a lovely soft feel to the work.

So thanks very much Laura that is another string to my craft bow.

Other Craft Creations 2016

Other Craft Creations

As well as the major long term project of a cape that I have been working on. I have been involved with other bits of crafting. These were mainly presents that I was making for friends and therefore could not be posted until they had received them.

So in no particular order here is what I have been playing at. Due to time constraints I did not make a record of how exactly I was making them. Firstly a knitted item. This was a baby blanket for a lady's new addition to the family. Though we do not see each other very often I am very grateful to her for her kindness to me when I was unwell on an outing.

Baby Blanket

Being aware that she was expecting a boy I proceeded to make a blanket using a technique of knitting squares in plain garter stitch and sewing them together. The hardest part was trying to decide on which colours and in what order in which to place them prior to sewing up. Thankfully I had some excellent help in choosing the final design from a good friend.

Then it was simply a case of sewing them all together (not one of my favourite jobs) then giving it a good wash and allowing to dry. If you notice the blanket does not have an edging on it. This is deliberate so as the child grows more squares can be added.

Baby with Blanket

Photograph by kind permission of his mum Joy Kelly

Another craft item I tackled which when finished I presented to my mum was a pyrographed chopping board. This was made with the assistance of Tessa Kaine who allowed me to play around with her pyrograph machines. Having made my selection of a Rose, Tessa kindly printed of the design so I could trace then burn it.

Me being rather clumsy had to enlarge the original pattern in order to cover up my various mistakes. However it turned out okay and mum loved it so I consider it a win.

Present for Mum

Carrying on with the pyrography theme I made another gift for a friend. Having expressed an interest in Braiding I decided to make her a Braid Wheel.

As always my theories are better than my ability to carry them out and I had several major problems.

1 Tools. Unfortunately some of my tools are rather old and I did manage to break some in the process of making the item.

2 Material. The wood I was using wasn't as good as I hoped and this lead to several redrafts.

3 Design. The design was a little adventurous given the other two problems and in the end I had to alter it.

Failed Attempts

As you can see I had about finished the notches when the darn thing snapped - Twice grr!

Therefore instead of trying to put in 16 slots as I originally intended I had to start again and reduced the number of slots to 12. This meant that the wheel could take up to 11 yarn as you always have to have an empty slot.

With this in mind I redrew the design however this time I deliberately did not place the slots exactly evenly. The reason for this was two fold. Firstly it was my intention that the wheel could take yarn of a variety of thicknesses. Secondly I had an ace in the hole.

As previously stated the wheel can take a total of 11 yarns. By carefully arranging the slots so that there was an area of just wood a thirteenth slot could be added if the user wished to ever make a 12 thread cord to correspond with the months of the year or zodiac.

Apart from the actual structure of the wheel I also added visual markers to help with working out which slots were in use. Though the wheel will take 11 threads it is not necessary to use them all. Indeed different types of cords can be made by adding or taking away the number of threads used.

When I have made previous wheels I have only ever put in 8 slots and have usually labelled them with the Sabbats. However since there were more slots and intended receiver has a slightly different path I decided against labels altogether. If wished they could be added by the recipient at a later date according to her own taste.

Therefore I created a design with lines that drew the eye. The widest slots were marked with an arrow in the centre for easy identification. The slots in-between are highlighted with either thick or thin lines. That means the wheel is divided into three, arrows, thick and thin lines. All of which are directly opposite their corresponding partners or in other words a thick line is never opposite a thin line or arrow.

Once the design was created and drawn in pencil I could then begin to pyrograph it. The effect is that of a flower. If you look there is one anomaly which is a line with no corresponding opposite. This is marked with little leaves imitating a stalk. This is the possible 13th slot highlighted if ever required.

All that was left was to give a good sanding especially in the grooves so the yarns did not snag. When satisfied it was as good as it was going to get I gave it several coats of varnish.

Finished Braid Wheel

And that is another selection of my Blue Peter Craftmanship : )