An artist's canvas. Or a box of shreddies?

Uh-oh, I've been experimenting again. Like a mad creative scientist.
What usually happens is a kind of creative mania where I grab anything
and everything in the house to do with the particular idea and just
pile it up in the living room (where I do most work in the evenings)
and then sit with it. Or sit on it. (and eventually even work on it. ha!) Take this for
instance.

It's Frankencanvaswerk! Ooh I have grand plans for it. Trouble is, the grandiosity of the plan didn't quite match the nature of the fabric.

This
is 25 count evenweave, hand-dyed by yours truly. And then painstakingly
stitched on, for what seemed like hours (through the Friday Night Play,
and two episodes of Mark Steel's Solution no less) only to send me
spiralling into eyestrain and a humongous headache. Thanks, evenweave,
I love you too! I was a little over-ambitious, I think. I wanted to
create spirals as well as squares, you see, and I chose a teeny tiny
thread count so the spirals would be more, um, spirally when worked in
tent stitch. Mishtake! The sample below that looks like a box
of run-over shreddies, well, that's about a 10 count. Easier on the
eyes, anyway. But very very brown of background.

You see, I fell in love with these Ehrman kits  but I wanted to design my own (I
know! why choose the easy option marked 'add to basket' when you can
spend hours giving yourself a headache over 25 count evenweave?).
So I am really having a go, but haven't quite cracked it. I'm sure I'll
get there, and my wrapped-thread shreddie wallhanging will be ready for
the living room wall!

Having time to
experiment is such a luxury so I took full advantage of it and got the
Procion dyes out for some cottons and velvets:

I love the results. The velvet is cotton-based so not quite as shiny as I wanted it to be:

I
think I need viscose velvet for the shiny-shiny effect, but apart from
that I do love the other bits of cotton fabric I scrunched up and dyed.
(glamorously, in a plastic cup!)

I managed a (warning! lame pun alert!) stab at needle felting too :) An embellishing machine is just a distant dream for me, so I've been using a Clover Felting Tool which is surprisingly quick. And it's good therapy if you've had a bad day, all that punching ;)

Not a great pic but you get the idea (the problems of early afternoon darkness!!). This piece has a bit of gold free-machine embroidery on too. I didn't bother with the special Clover felting brush - I used an old nylon bristle hairbrush! One day I'll have saved up for a posh machine then I'll be felting everything in sight. I for one can't wait to see the results of that particular experiment... ;)

Canvas

Uh-oh, I've been experimenting again. Like a mad creative scientist. What usually happens is a kind of creative mania where I grab anything and everything in the house to do with the particular idea and just pile it up in the living room (where I do most work in the evenings) and then sit with it. (and sometimes work on it. ha!) Take this for instance.

It's Frankencanvaswerk! Ooh I have grand plans for it. Trouble is, the grandiosity of the plan didn't quite match the nature of the fabric.

This is 25 count evenweave, hand-dyed by yours truly. And then painstakingly stitched on, for what seemed like hours (through the Friday Night Play, and two episodes of Mark Steel's Solution no less) only to send me spiralling into eyestrain and a humongous headache. Thanks, evenweave, I love you too! I was a little over-ambitious, I think. I wanted to create spirals as well as squares, you see, and I chose a teeny tiny thread count so the spirals would be more, um, spirally when worked in tent stitch. Mishtake! The sample below that looks like a box of run-over shreddies, well, that's about a 10 count. Easier on the eyes, anyway. But very very brown of background.

You see, I fell in love with these Ehrman kits  but I wanted to design my own (I know! why choose the easy option marked 'add to basket' when you can spend hours giving yourself a headache over 25 count evenweave?). So I am really having a go, but haven't quite cracked it. I'm sure I'll get there, and my wrapped-thread shreddie wallhanging will be ready for the living room wall!

Having time to experiment is such a luxury so I took full advantage of it and got the Procion dyes out for some cottons and velvets:

I love the results. The velvet is cotton-based so not quite as shiny as I wanted it to be:

I think I need viscose velvet for the shiny-shiny effect, but apart from that I do love the other bits of cotton fabric I scrunched up and dyed. (glamorously, in a plastic cup!)

I managed a (warning! lame pun alert!) stab at needle felting too :) An embellishing machine is just a distant dream for me, so I've been using a Clover Felting Tool which is surprisingly quick. And it's good therapy if you've had a bad day :D

What I did during the (blogging) holidays

Phewph! well, that was a bit of a blogging hiatus, wasn't it? I've been busy in a whirlwind of creativity though - honest. Firstly, I've been knitting lots of these:

They're Fetching gloves and I keep knitting them for anyone and everyone...they could turn out to be the equivalent of that jumper  which granny or auntie knits them and they don't like...but I can live with that! Mr Yaffle calls them 'Milkman Gloves' although I've not seen a milkman wear them...yet...

With the arrival of winter and hideous weather, the urge to crochet! blankets! Now! has come upon me, as it is wont to do. Trouble is, I usually end up not finishing them until the summer, which means I have to stick the blanket in a drawer until the following winter. Ahem. Exhibit A: a new collection of granny squares.

I know. They are of uneven size. That's deliberate. I have in my head an uneven, hotch-potched mosaic of a blanket, and I have no idea how it's going to work out. Plan it on graph paper? Where's the fun in that?! I prefer the plunge right in, mess it up, abandon the project and be left with a bunch of pan-holders approach myself. Wish me luck!

I've managed to finish one half of the Neverending Socks:

The yarn is similar to this one but it's not quite the same as mine's a mis-dye...(oh, and there's meant to be more yellow in there but the light is terrible here). Speaking of winter and knitting, does anyone else suffer from a lack of knitting in the summer months? I can't seem to get going on anything when it's the hot (scrub that: I mean mildly sunny) weather. But come the winter months - I can't get enough. Sock-tastic!

Apart from that I've been making small embroideries for greetings cards...

...this is something I've not done for such a long time as I lost a lot of confidence in my designs and didn't really have much time to get over that (*woes* teh agoniez) and get back into it (!!!). But I'm back on track now! They're made of recycled sari scraps, with shisha mirror and freestyle machine embroidery. Well, except the owl in the right-hand corner, who's made from appliqued bits of fabric :) When I get my act together I'll put some up in the shop or start an Etsy shop...but these four have already found a home!

And finally, it's been a long homecoming for Johnny the tortoise. I'm sorry, I'll read that again: And finally, in shop news...ta da!...I can now offer Gift Vouchers ! So you can get someone to treat you...or give someone the 'gift of yaffle yarn' this Christmas...:D The best thing too is they're E-vouchers, so you simply email them to your recipient, thus avoiding the nightmare of the Christmas post! Full of Win!