artful kitty

First attempt at 'pinstriping'

2013-05-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

Today my husband asked me to do some pinstriping for him. After imagining what that could mean, he gave me his guitar and asked me to basically doodle on it. Here are the results...

My gorgeous girl in her hand knitted items

2013-04-12T13:18:00.001-07:00

Baby knits for my beautiful Willow Eve

2013-01-09T10:52:00.001-08:00

A bit late in posting, but here are a few items I knitted for my beautiful baby girl, Willow Eve, born at 11.21am on 19th January 2013, weighing 7 and a half pounds.

Christmas 2012

2013-01-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Another frugal Christmas lead to me hand knitting all of our Christmas presents. Beanies, bobble hats, wristwarmers and cowls. This Christmas project also allowed me to use up a lot of the yarn that I've had lying around for years and years...

I forgot to photograph everything before wrapping, but I have a few pictures. Here are two of the 4 bobble hats I knitted for my little nephews.

Here are the first few beanies I knitted for the menfolk of the family. I think I'm missing 4 images here, eventually I'll fill in the gaps!!

Below is a close up of one of my favourite colour combinations, I love the texture created using all the different yarns mixed together. ( Also a good way to use up finer yarns)

I used a similar colour palette for Jane's wrist warmers in a moss stitch to create texture and interest.

Pink wrist warmers for Lis (her favourite colour)

My new exploration was into headbands / head warmers. Easy and quick to knit but very practical and cute. I embellished them all differently, some with crochet flowers, some with buttons, some just using a few different colours.

The last images are of cowls that I knitted for Lars' (hubby) sister and mother in Michigan. I hope they will send me photos of them being warn soon so I can incorporate them into this post.

We had a few people round on Christmas Eve and exchanged gifts then. I managed to get a picture of everyone in their Christmas presents - a bit blurry - but I'll replace it with a better one at a later date.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

back row: Dan, Lars, Jane, Merlin, Chris

seated: Ivor, George, Maisie

belly dancing costume

2012-03-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

In 2010 I took up belly dancing for a short time with two of my lovely New York friends. These two also happened to work in the costume department at the New York City Ballet and so we decided to have a costume making day for when we felt good enough to perform in public (ha ha). Mine never got completely finished, the belt is missing its lining and i never got round to making a skirt, but i thought I'd keep a record of where I got to.

entrelac knitting

2012-03-19T07:15:00.002-07:00

I taught myself a new knitting technique recently and decided to turn my practice piece into a funky cushion cover for our new bedroom...

beautiful fabric

2012-03-12T13:32:00.001-07:00

I bought some gorgeous fabric from a closing down sale last summer. The idea was to make a skirt for myself out of it... but the first thing that ended up being made was a cushion cover. I went to stay with my sister in Crediton for a few days and attended her sewing class with her. Here is the result.

I used wonder web to stick the applique hearts on before using zigzag stitch to secure them in place. I re-used an old red skirt for the back panel and the hearts.

And there was still enough fabric left over to make my skirt!

a little recycled crafting for the future

2012-02-11T05:08:00.000-08:00

Over the last month I have been making a few cushions for the sofa that I will one day own, I the sitting room I will one day be renting/eventually owning... I decided to recycle my end of degree knitted swatches into patchwork cushion covers. For the last 6 years they have been pinned to presentation boards, hidden in a cupboard somewhere, so I have turned them into something useful and creative. Plus I can remind myself of all the hard work I put in to getting my 2-1 and hopefully this will help inspire me to continue being creative when this year gets tough to handle.

ditsy print fabric on the back of the cushions
(envelope finish)

some welcome encouragement from my lovely friend Jane!

I still have enough swatches for one more cushion cover, so when I next get some spare time I'll finish that one up and add the photos to complete the set!

Hubby's Birthday Hat

2012-02-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

My husband has been asking me to knit something for him for quite a while now and with one thing and another I just never got round to it. So for his birthday I found a simple hat pattern, used some of my special chunky black yarn and knitted his birthday present. I think I'll knit one for myself next!

blue eyes

Helping out a friend

2012-02-01T00:55:00.000-08:00

Last Summer (2011) I spent a weekend with my good friends Emily and Toby and their boys Lucas and Milo. While the boys (my husband included) went off to spend a day and the park, I helped Emily finish painting her bedroom and created a tree mural for her. She had seen the one I had done in our apartment in Brooklyn and wanted something similar... We had a lovely weekend, Emily and Toby are excellent hosts, and this is the end result of our day spent painting.

Last minute Crimbo pressies for the boys

2012-01-21T04:28:00.000-08:00

Painted with acrylic, outlines in Sharpie, on a 12x12 canvas.

Ben Ten, Ultimate Alien for my 9 year old american nephew, Jack Junior.

Mace Windu, Some Star Wars character, for my 10 year old american nephew, Jayden.

Picture quality not so good - I should've turned the flash off!

My Crochet Scarf

2011-12-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

It was such a long time ago that I crocheted this scarf that I had forgotten to post about it...

Festive Evening Success

2011-12-02T15:01:00.001-08:00

Flyer for the Evening

The Craft Evening went really well. Not only did I sell 4 out of 5 dresses and 4 out of 7 pairs of wrist-warmers, I also got to spend some time with some really lovely creative people. I had a lot of great feedback about my dress designs and so a lot of work to get on with in the coming new year. Success!!

Overview of our space

Close up of my dressing hanging with Jane's mum's mittens

Jane's beautiful tea cup embroideries and vintage crockery

Last dress ready for the craft fair!

2011-11-28T10:25:00.001-08:00

The fifth and last dress ready for the craft fair on Thursday. I finally found the time to hand stitch the skirt to the bodice...

Age 18-24 months

100% wool bodice, 100% cotton skirt

wrist warmers, perfect for the cold winter months...

2011-11-28T09:35:00.001-08:00

Here is a collection of wrist warmers in various colours that I will be selling at the craft fair.

3x3 stitch creates stretch.

Each pair is completely unique as I have been using up the ends of balls of yarn for this project!

First installment of craft fair items...

2011-11-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here are the first of my creations for the craft fair Jane and I are doing at the beginning of December.

The little sleeveless cardigan was finished using odds and ends that I had in my scraps box of yarn. The end result was an interesting mismatched stripe in various shades of red and orange.

I have completed 4 out of the 5 dresses I started, using 100% wool for the bodices and a cotton fabric for the skirts. The skirt seams were all machine stitched and then hand stitched onto the knitted bodices. I used a pretty cable and moss stitch pattern for the bodices to create texture. Each dress is unique.

Little sleeveless cardigan in warm reds and oranges. Brown leather buttons.

age 12-18 months

Beige knitted bodice with silver peony buttons at the back.

Whimsy cake print skirt

age 0-3 months

Yellow front and grey back to knitted bodice.

Yellow edging and silver peony buttons.

Quirky alphabet print skirt print on a blue/grey background.

age 6-9 months

Maroon front and faded blue back to knitted bodice.

Maroon edging and bronze circular vintage buttons.

Blue ditsy print front and red ditsy print on back panel of the skirt

(opposite to knitted bodice to create interest)

age 9-12 months

Various shades of green on the front and back of the knitted bodice.

Bronze circular vintage buttons.

orange and green panels of the same print for the skirt.

(my personal favourite so far...)

age 12-18 months

Christmas craft fair

2011-11-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

I have committed this year to having a stall at a craft fair with my brothers girlfriend (and good friend) Jane... I have made a few different things to sell, from baby dresses to wrist warmers. Pictures to follow...

My first baby cardi...2006

2011-10-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

I just found pictures of Evan and Francis in my first attempt at baby knitting...
Here they are in all their adorable cuteness!

India in her Christmas cardi

2011-02-28T01:04:00.001-08:00

Here is my lovely niece India in her Christmas cardigan. It looks a little small, I'll have to take some better pictures when I next see her...

Evan's 5th birthday cardi

2011-02-20T08:16:00.001-08:00

It's my gorgeous nephew (see above) Evan's 5th birthday at the end of March and so I am in the process of knitting him a beautiful 100% wool cardigan with a stripey back panel...
Here are some (grainy - mobile shot) pictures of the progress, photos of better quality of the final product to follow. Can't wait to see him in it!!

The colors work really well together

I love this stripe layout

my progress so far...

Rather bad quality picture of the final result, but I'll get some better ones soon...

Maisie's little yellow dress

2011-01-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

Here is Maisie, my nearly five year old niece wearing a dress I knitted for her a couple of years ago. Yes, I think I knitted it a little too big, but now it fits and she looks beautiful in it!

collection of my Dad's paintings

2010-12-04T06:12:00.001-08:00

For his Christmas present I collected ditigal images of my Dad's paintings over the last couple of years and had a book made up for him. Technically not one of my creations, but I thought it was definitely worth keeping a copy and documenting it on my blog...

Click here to view this photo book larger

Julian and his sweater

2010-10-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

How adorable is this little sweater that I knitted for my good friend Elizabeth's baby shower gift...?

But how much more adorable does baby Julian look in his little sweater and jeans combo?

Cozy winter cardigan-jacket

2010-09-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

This little cardigan was knitted for India Elizabeth Noble, my three and a half year old niece. No sleeve seams, the yoke was knitted in the round which was tricky.

Sorry about the dodgy picture quality. I'll get some better photos at a later date.

Sakura in her little stripey cardi

2010-09-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

An update on an earlier post. My sister-in-law finally took some pictures of my beautiful new niece Sakura. Though not so new any more, 3 months old now, can wait to meet her at Christmas. She's already grown so much...nearly out of her cardigan.

I guess I'll have to get knitting again.