Little Bird School of Stitchcraft

Rag rug making: a homemade extra large darning needle

2013-05-20T11:47:00.004+01:00

For simple knot rug making like in my Amish Knot Rug tutorial or for general darning for very loose woven large knits I have invented this simple tool with my children.

Take a 5 - 6 inch stick of wood from your garden (I used willow in its first year of growth) and strip off the bark. Leave overnight to dry off.

The next day, sand smooth with fine grade sandpaper and sharpen the end of your stick with a pencil sharpener or a craft knife.

Take a net curtain screw and twist it into the flat end of your stick

And there you have it, a darningneedle ready for threading your chunky yarn!

Knitted Finger Moustaches

2013-05-16T15:12:00.002+01:00

I promised a quick tutorial on the knitted finger moustaches I made for my daughters handmade party bags last month last month so here it is.

You will need:
3.50 or 3.25mm knitting needles (9 or 10 imperial)
Flesh coloured DK yarn (light worsted)
A small piece of felt of your preferred colour. I used black felt made from old jumpers (see tutorial on felting jumpers here)
Needle and thread

Using the 'thumb' or 'long tail' method, cast on 10 stitches

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl

Repeat the above 2 rows (stocking stitch) 10 times more until you have 20 rows:

Cast off leaving a 5 inch tail and use to stitch the short ends together to form a tube.

Next, using this pdf template which you can download from here print off and cut out the moustache shape.

Next, pin paper moustache to your felt and cut out.

Next, stitch your felt moustache to your knitted tube. I stitched it to the seam so that is was hidden behind the felt moustache:

Next, slip your in finger in the tube there you have it - one moustached lady!

"Gid Moaning. I am officer crabtree. I wark for British Ontelligence bot I have disgeezed maseelf as a poloceman so I am oble to move aboot with complate frodom"

Name that British sitcom?

Handmade Party bags

2013-04-06T12:47:00.004+01:00

Taking time and making the effort to make party bags for my daughters party was no mean feat. I rather ambitiously thought it would be a doddle but it took rather a bit of my time but it was time well spent. You may have discovered, from my recent previous post, that I dabble in a spot of guerrilla bagging, read more about it here. I really am not all that keen on plastic bags and I am not really all that keen on giving gifts that will be thrown away in a thrice ending up in some landfill to take years to biodegrade. I am keen on handmade and I am keen on getting the little folk to have an appreciation of it too. Kids are naturally drawn to creativity. Recently I spent some time with the local Brownie group teaching them to finger knit, and make flowers for a local community project, and I have seen just how enthused they are to use their hands to make things. My thoughts are that if you give children something that is handmade they will become curious about its creation and will want to find out how to do it themselves or at least ask the question 'did you make this' to which I would reply 'yes and you could make this too!'
My offerings were really dictated by my stash box. I had lots of wool, lots of felt and plenty of cardboard and envelopes that I had saved from the mounds of junk mail posted through my door.

I started off by making these mini bags from old shirt fabric and curtain lining for the handles. If you go to the Morsbags site you will find out how to make a simple reusable cloth bag, as well as how to help a wonderful cause.

I also wanted to hand make a few items to put in the bag. I decided to yarn bomb some apples. I had seen these lovely patterns before but I made my own up, using bigger stitches because I was a bit limited for time. These ones took me about 15 - 20 minutes to crochet. They are quite cute and help to protect apples from becoming bruised in transit to school.

There seems to be something of a craze for moustaches at the moment and I have seen knitted finger moustaches like this one, which I tried out but they didn't come out as well as I would like so I adapted things a bit to get the result I wanted. This one was partly knitted then I cut out the moustache shape from an old felted jumper and stitched it to the knitted finger ring.

I also made these little note pads from cereal boxes, inspired by this tutorial, and the insides of old junk mail envelopes. I have a big industrial sewing machine so I can stitch through several layers of paper quite easily, although the needle gets blunt very quickly.

The party bags seemed to go down really well. One little fella asked 'why do you need to keep an apple warm?' which I thought was funny. Well they do look like woolly jumpers, don't they.
I shall sit down and do some patterns for the apple covers and moustaches so keep a look out for the tutorials which will be on here and free of charge!

Hookers

2013-02-25T11:57:00.000Z

A while ago a lady attending my crochet workshop told me a story about how prostitutes, in New Orleans, used to crochet edgings to embellish their clothing and make themselves more attractive. As a result, they became known as 'hookers'. Of course being one for loving a story like this, I repeated this anecdote, on many occasions, to people that I have taught. I wanted to find out if this story was true so have spent a while doing a bit of research and so far I have not found anything about the New Orleans 'hookers' but I did find references to Joseph Hooker a Major General (1814-79) during the Civil War in America. Seemingly Hooker's troops were poorly disciplined and famous for fraternizing with the "working girls" of the day, in some accounts a practice tolerated by Hooker to the extent of allowing prostitutes to set up shop in the troopers' barracks.

Pink Lemonade by Flint Knits

Another theory is, that it is based on the slang term "to hook," which back then meant "to entice or swindle." An 1850 magazine illustration, for instance, titled "Hooking A Victim" shows ladies of the night, in hoop skirts no less, plying their trade at Broadway and Canal Streets in New York City.

Anyway, I rather like the idea of the first one, that it was a term used for embellishing items of clothing which is a little project I did this weekend.

Good bit of cloth but not keen on the flare!

This skirt was found in a charity shop but had a bit of a knee flair to it that I didn't like so off it was chopped to create a shorter version.

Next I did a blanket stitch to the lower edge marking equal spaces as I went along. With this blanket stitch edging in place you can crochet easily around the bottom. Into each of the spaces created by the blanket stitch I did 2 double crochet joining with a slip stitch at the end of the round. I did a second round of double crochet adding in a simple fancy edging by doing a chain of 3 and slip stitching into the first chain to give it a picot edging.

I am fairly pleased with the outcome but I think I may embellish it further. Am not sure I will wear it with bare legs, mine are worse for wear these days, but it looks great over a pair of jeans!

Too many plastic bags...

2013-02-03T20:39:00.000Z

On short journey to the cinema recently, my children counted, no less than 37 plastic bags caught up in trees. Each bag counted raised their voices to an higher octave. I think they were disgusted at the amount of plastic debris and well aware of the risks to wildlife. I will tell you more about that in a moment.

Supermarket carpark plastic bag tree!

So, I did a quick metric and calculated that we had travelled 6 miles, so that's approx 6 bags/mile. If you take the distance between John O Groats to Lands End it is approx 603 miles and times that by 6 bags/mile you get a whopping total of 3612 bags and that's if you go in a stright line. Imagine if you travelled all the 2705 miles of road in the UK you might count up to a total of 16236. That is alot of plastic floating around our small island. Of course you might say that the roads in the countryside will have less bags so my calculation may be grossly overestimated but then again city centres may have more than my estimated 6bags/mile so I could have grossly underestimated my sample size. Regardless of my statistical inexperience the fact remains that there are plastic bags floating about in trees, I've seen it with my own eyes (see the above picture). Not only do these bags get stuck in trees and verges, they also get into our water system. It's a sad fact that over 1 million plastic bags are consumed every minute globally and marine wildlife mistake them for food which kills them if consumed.

Image from the Marine Conservation Website

So what can we do help? Last year, through a series of happy encounters I was introduced to Morsbags. Morsbags is a global not-for-profit organisation. They are re-usable cloth bags made by volunteers using donated recycled fabrics, such as curtains and remnants, and given away free to the public at various local events. The idea is to encourage the use of re-usable bags instead of plastic carrier bags. Leicestershire, where I live, is a morsbag making hotspot, having made and given away over 25 000. Last year I started my own local group and so far, our small group, has made 60 bags, most of which have been given away.

The day we caught a plastic bag in St Ives!

We meet approx once a month in the Greenacres Community room, The Sidings, Adjacent to the Leicester North Great Central Heritage Steam Railway Station in Leicester. We call ourselves the Morsbags Charnwood Pod. If you live nearby, why not come along to one of our sessions and have a go at making a bag. It is not just sewing, we need helpers to cut out, seam press, sew, and help give away the morsbags. We also have a fabric drop off box at the Greenacres Centre if you have any unwanted fabric remnants or curtains. You can find details about the Charnwood Pod on our Facebook page. If you don't live nearby then you can make your own bag or, better still, get some friends together and set up your own Morsbags Pod.

They're very easy to make!

I have measured the (rough) distance, from North to South, of Leicestershire and have calculated the number of miles by the number of plastic bags per mile and have come up with the number 240. A challenge for the Charnwood Pod, for 2013, is to make that equivalent number of Morsbags - Can we do it - yes we can!

Felting Jumpers

2013-01-15T12:15:00.000Z

The past couple of months I have turned my attention to the thing I love to do most - crafting. In the run up to Christmas I had a couple of craft fairs booked, and so it galvanised me into crafty gear. I am very conscious on the materials I use for my work and am always thinking of ways of minimising the use of brand new materials by finding materials that are from sustainable sources that are easily biodegradable if they should eventually end up in landfill.

My favorite choice of textile has to be felt but not the felt you buy in craft shops. More often than not, this is synthetic felt which is great textile as a starter craft but I prefer to make my own out of old wool jumpers (see below, link to tutorial). The process can be a bit fiddly but the end result is worth all the effort. Patchworked felted jumpers and blankets look great when sewn together plus, because they are made of natural fibres, they are supersoft.

Here are some pieces I made from my own felted wool:

Patchwork 'laptop' blanket with a recycled quilt cover lining


Patchworked felted cushion stuffed with Cornish organic wool

Making felt from old jumpers

Making your own felt is very satisfying and worthwhile. It’s not a difficult process but finding enough quantity of jumpers in the right shade of colour for your project can be time consuming.

Sourcing jumpers

The best places to find them are in charity/thrift shops and car boot sales. Also you will be amazed at how many of your friends have accidently shrunk a favourite jumper and have not realised that it is not ruined but just transformed into a new texture that can be reused. The jumpers have to have, at least, 80% wool content or more. Anything less will not felt nor do acrylic jumpers.

Machine felting

To get the jumpers to felt, they need to be washed at the hottest temperature as possible. They don’t always felt on the first wash and often the process of agitation is needed to get the jumpers to felt. This can be achieved by rubbing the jumpers together by lessening the load and the quantity of water in the machine or by brute hand force by rubbing the jumpers together. I often get sore hands from the felting process. Another way to get them to felt is by the use of a tumble dryer but I prefer to hang mine out to dry!

Preparing the felt

Once the jumpers are felted the next stage is to prepare the felt ready for the creative process. I open the jumpers out by cutting down all the seams. At this stage I look at the shape and patterns on the jumper and think about what I might make it into. I don’t waste any of the felt and even keep hold of the seams.

Cutting the felt

The next stage is to cut your felt into the shape you require. For this I use a rotary cutter and ‘self healing’ mat and, a big metal ruler.

It’s really important to look at the shape and patterning of the felt to ensure that you get an even cut. I cut out 10cm X 10cm squares for cushions and the left over scraps will go to make three dimensional characters.

Once all the preparation is out of the way the next stage is deciding what I will use the felt for. This is the fun part of the process. Often I have no firm plans. I like to play around with the felt, mixing and matching colours and I like to see what evolves from my hands.

Because I spend a great deal of time ensuring that my work is sustainable I am also very conscientious about other materials that I use. For stuffing for my cushions and my three dimensional creatures, I use Cornish, soil association approved, organic sheep’s wool available from Knitwits in Cornwall http://www.knitwitspenzance.co.uk/ which is very soft, durable and long lasting but most importantly biodegradable.

Richard III inspired craftmaking!

2012-09-22T11:53:00.002+01:00

I feel so privileged to be able to deliver one of my weekly creative cafe workshops in what is the oldest and, by all accounts, most haunted buildings in Leicester city centre! The Guildhall is one of the best preserved timber framed halls in the country dating back six hundred years. The stunning Great Hall itself was built in about 1390 as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi and over the next 100 years the Great Hall was extended with two wings at either end. Over the years the Guildhall has had many uses as a town library, a courtroom, a townhall, headquarters of the local police, a school, a venue for performances and is now a museum - you can find out more about the Guildhall and it's history here


Beautiful timber frame of the Great Hall from the courtyard

The Mayor's Parlour, one of the side wings

I am very excited by all the kerfuffle that's taking place just a stones throw away from the Guildhall where there has been lots of interest in an archological dig that may have discovered the final resting place of King Richard III. Last week, during the creative cafe, a group of academics from the University bought over some artifacts that had been dug up over the road and set up a display cabinet ready for viewing by the general public and we were the first to see them:

Artifacts found at the Richard III dig site

I felt so blown away by it all and felt that I wanted to contribute something of my own, to mark the amazing possibility that Richard III's resting place has finally been discovered. So inspired by that little piece of a medieval pot there (in the lower right hand corner) and that virtually intact tile with a phoenix on in the top right hand corner, I set to work replicating them using some very special yarn. The yarn I used was donated by Shauna and Mark Richardson. Shauna is the exceptionally talented artist behind the Lionheart Project commisioned for the Cultural Olympiad by the Art Council for England and I feel so honored to be able to use this wool for other projects such as this one. The medieval pot and tiles I made took me a weekend to do but, boy, did my hand ache afterwards! I cannot even begin to contemplate how difficult and physically intensive it must have been to make those 3 enormous lions. The Guildhall staff where very pleased to be the new owners of a crocheted versions of the artifacts and these are now installed in the Guildhall.

Crocheted Medieval pot (my interpretation!)

Crocheted and appliqued Phoenix tiles hanging in the fireplace in the Mayor's Parlour.

Ethel Floeda models a crocheted Phoenix tile. I used old felted jumpers for the applique.

So if you are passing by, why not pop in to see these amazing artifacts but whilst you are there, see if you can also spot my (complete) medieval pot and 3 phoenix tiles.

If you fancy learning the beautiful craft of crochet, I run creative cafe sessions at the Guildhall every Friday morning (except school holidays) for just £5. Book via the Guildhall, Leicester by calling 0116 253 2569.

PS - Details of Richard III site open days here

Garter Yoke Ravelry Pattern

2012-09-13T11:26:00.000+01:00

There's nothing like the prospect of a new baby to get the knitting needles clacking. As always the ever useful knit and crochet community Ravelry had just the pattern for my need.

This lovely garter yoke baby cardigan was knitted on a circular needle and is seamless so virtually no need for sewing lots of pieces together. Once I finished the cardigan I decided to make another Lara Puppy like the one I wrote about in my previous post, along with a couple of hand crocheted cloths and a Morsbag to put it all in. The only thing missing was an hand made card. By coincidence, I met a lady called Sabina from Sabivo Design at a creative networking event, run by Creative Leicestershire , last night and she whipped out a bunch of most beautiful hand painted greeting cards and told me to choose one to keep, and there amongst the pile of lovelies was one for a baby girl.

I feel really happy that I can hand over a gift that has been handmade. It's given me a real sense of achievement. Perhaps you would like to share your stories about gifts you have handmade for someone? I would love to hear about them and how it made you feel when you handed the gift over.

Lara the puppy

2012-09-01T16:33:00.002+01:00

I have spent the morning finishing off a little project that my daughter set me. Lara was first spotted in the lastest 'Mollie Makes' magazine and it was love at first sight:

Her entrance into the world was rather fiddly given the length of the legs in relation to the length of the body coupled with the fact that my amazing indestructable sewing machine was destructable afterall (it's awaiting some maintainance). Still we have the JL mini sewing machine which is good for lightweight projects.

We decided to give it my signature Tim Burtonesque look with some extra surgical stitches here and there but Lily drew the line at my suggestion to make it into a zombie dog. Anyway she loves her little puppy dog, that she has called Lara, and is planning a welcome picnic for her as I type!

If you would like to make your own Lara dog (aka known by the exciting name of 'a plushie dog') designed by Tania Ho you can download a copy here but there are no instructions. You will have to buy the lastest copy of Mollie Makes magazine for that!

Winselmann Titan

2012-08-30T16:02:00.000+01:00

This little beauty was given to me a few weeks ago but it remains tantalisingly shut.

The key is missing. I have tried a paperclip and screwdriver and we even had a go at unscrewing the beautiful brass plate at the opposite end to the lock but, it still won't let me in. I know something beautiful is inside. I have seen pictures of these Winselmann Titans on the web. I really want to get in it because my old faithful Singer has decided to stop working.

For now, I will just have to sit and admire the lovely casing whilst I await and expert machine fixer and lock picker to come and open it up. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, about how to get in it without damaging the lock, then please let me know!

Pennant Project

2012-06-01T10:23:00.000+01:00

A great opportunity came my way via Charnwood Arts these past few weeks since. I have been working in a local school, helping them to make pennants for the Picnic in the Park event taking place in Loughborough next week. Working with children is always a dynamic, full on experience, but I do enjoy their enthusiasm and honesty. It was good for me to experience teaching some of the skills I'd formerly taught to adults, to a group of young people. One noticable thing I noticed was the way any rigid lesson plans or time schedule tends to disintigrate fairly quickly as the lesson progresses, and the teacher has to react and respond quickly and effectively with demanding learners. The end results indicated that they learned a great deal, and It was a great lesson for me in thinking on my feet!

Moonwalking

2012-05-28T18:04:00.000+01:00

A little while ago I was asked if I would have a go at crocheting a bra for two lovely ladies who had registered to do the London 2012 Moonwalk also known as 'Walk the Walk', it started 15 yrs ago in New York when 13 women decided to walk the New York marathon in their bras to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Since then over £75m has been raised. My mum had breast cancer and died from complications associated with treatment so, I jumped at the chance of being able to do something for these ladies and maybe help to raise awareness of this wonderful cause.

They are supposed to be cupcake cups but they kind of turned out slight Maddonna - ish but the girls were delighted nontheless and, apparently, they caused a bit of a stir. I used a DK yarn and crocheted the cake bit 'freestyle' and the pink icing was made from the tail created by a french knitting dolly and embellished with red crochet for the cherries and red and silver sequins for the sprinkles. Don't ask me for the pattern because it's resides in my head!

The cherry on the cake is the all the money raised for such a good cause!

So if you fancy a bit of a Moonwalk yourself in 2013 or just want to look at some of the amazing pictures from the night clicky right here!

Sarah & Sarah outside Buckingham Palace following their epic adventure!

Mini Jubilee Bunting Tutorial

2012-04-24T20:46:00.001+01:00

In this tutorial, and expansion to the one published in the Beacon Magazine, I will show you how to make a bunting for your jubilee celebrations, which will cost next to nothing! Measuring approx 124cm in length, this mini bunting can be used to decorate your home, inside or out. It can be used as a door decoration or, as I have done, a decoration for a child’s playhouse. This tutorial is quite easy, and suitable for children to do. Don’t worry if you can’t sew because I have added in a ‘no-sew’ suggestion. That said, if you are not very confident sewing, this is a great way to practice! If your stitches look a bit wobbly, I personally think this adds to the unique charm of the item! So please don’t aim for ‘technical perfection’, because other factors like imagination, playfulness, experiment, and engagement with your materials are much more important. Most of all have fun!

Take a look in your clothes cupboard for old fabrics with the main colours of red, white and blue. Look for items of clothing with interesting patterns and textures, or even motifs which can be incorporated into the flag design. I utilised my children’s old clothes. They grow out of them so quickly and I have often kept the good quality items to use in projects like this one. If you don’t have many clothes to use, try looking around charity shops or jumble sales for items of clothing. Cut along the seams of the clothes and iron them flat ready for cutting:

Next, you will need a template for your bunting. Get a piece of cardboard (an old cereal box will do for this) and cut out a 10 x 10cm square. Mark a line at the bottom end of the card, halfway at 5cm. From that half-way point, draw a line to each corner at the top and cut out the template to make a triangular shape:

Now that you have a template, you can start choosing your fabrics. I used 3 of each colour, carefully placing the template over interesting parts of the fabric. With this red one, I placed the template over a flower on a dress that my daughter had grown out of. I used an ink pen to make a mark around the template and carefully cut on the inside of the ink line:

Next, I cut 3 of each colour making 9 flags for the bunting in total. Next you need to cut a binding to hold the flags in place. I cut a strip of fabric measuring 124 x 3cms. Fold the binding in half lengthways. It’s helpful to iron along the fold line to make a crease as this will help you with the next stage. Lift open the binding and place the top left hand corner of the first flag approx 11cms along the binding and up to the crease line:

Pin in place with the pins pointing downwards. This will make it easier for you to remove them as you sew. Continue pinning the flags to the binding leaving approx 2cm gap in-between:

Now, using a contrasting colour (I used a red thread on blue and white check, start sewing using a running stitch. Don’t worry if you are not used to sewing. Random stitches can look beautifully quirky- and children can produce unique and playful stitches which add to the overall effect:

If you prefer not to do any sewing at all, you can even peg the flags to the binding with mini pegs that are used for paper crafts:

When all your flags are in place, you can embellish the plain flags with appliqué if you like, or add buttons or even a bit of embroidery. In keeping with the jubilee theme, you may want to use red white and blue threads. I appliquéd on a diamond shape with a running stitch inside it, I also edged some of the flags with running stitch and added a blue and white button to another flag:

And finally, hang your bunting and admire. One of our hens Pepi loves it so much that she tried to eat it!

Letterpress drawer

2012-04-08T20:19:00.003+01:00

A wonderful ten quid find from around 5 years ago has lain, not exactly forgotten, but certainly on the back boiler for far too long:

But today was the day that the long delayed restoration project was finally completed and how wonderful it looks now it has been scubbed and polished and oiled:

A beautiful way to make a once functional, hand made item, into a beautiful work of art.

In there, somewhere, are the names of my lad and lass. See if you can guess their names. Think abstract!

I think this will be up on our wall for many years!

Finger Knitting

2012-03-08T11:41:00.001Z

Finger knitting is a really good way of getting children interested in wool crafts, and it is very easy to learn. It also helps to improve a child’s dexterity and ability to concentrate. No extra implements are required, just fingers, the best tools in the world! I often carry balls of yarn in my bag to pass the time in the doctors surgery or similar.

Finger knitting produces a long thin strip of stocking stitch and there are many things you can do with these strips. In this tutorial, which is suitable for children, I will show you how to finger knit. You can use any weight of yarn for finger knitting but for this tutorial I used chunky which produces a nice stocking stitch.

Finger knitting is very addictive and children love it for its simplicity and ease. I have loads of strips of finger knitting laying around the house and there are lots of things that you can do with them. If you would like to find out how to finger knit, you can buy a copy of the full instructions for a small charge of £1.20GBP by clicking 'Add To Cart' button below:

"Get Stuffed"

2012-02-26T15:00:00.001Z

I may seem as if I have been procrastinating lately, the root cause being a need to get my workshops as good as they can be, perhaps I've thought myself into a knot. This particular week has been positive, apart from my having a nasty, wheezy tight chested cough, at least I've managed to tick a few things off my to do list.

One was to prepare for a forthcoming workshop that I am running for Charnwood Arts on 3 March, at the Charnwood Museum in Loughborough. This will be a Jon Burgerman inspired workshop for kids. I aim to get them to sew together their own designed characters in a similar simple, playful and cartoony style.

Last week, I hosted a mini session with a couple of willing participants - my friend, her boy and my son. I really didn't have much of a plan to start with, rather, I wanted to create a space and atmosphere in which they could learn. I offered suggestions for choice, and a few pictures to influence their decision to create their own characters. The process was amazing to watch! My friend went for bright and vibrant colours that matched her personality. Her boy wanted to make a owl like character and wanted to make a slight alteration to the general pattern on offer - a child who wanted to be different and my boy chose a more abstract arrangement - a boy just like his father! There was a moment when they decided that the stitching was taking too long so intervention, (a plate of biscuits), was required to keep them on task and motivated. Then there was a minor incident with a needle (mental note to give short but serious instruction on returning all pointy things back to their cushions before proceeding onto the next stage!) All in all a very successful and creative session.

If you would like to book your child onto the "Get Stuffed" workshop go to the Charnwood Arts, Artzone section for more information.

Ulr, Noel & Owl!

Vintage woolly stuff

2012-02-06T12:35:00.001Z

A little wander around the village charity shops last week, found me buying up some wonderful vintage knitting and crochet patterns. My favorite has to be this lovable fawn pattern, published by 'Woman' on 2 November 1957. It promises to be a "cuddlesome and characterful companion destined to make a gay splash on the christmas tree and to be gathered into a small childs heart"!

How can I resist him - he's on the needles as I type!

I want to ride my bicycle and take my teddies along!

2012-01-15T12:43:00.000Z

For christmas my daughter had the most wonderful retro style bike. She really loves to ride her bike, and goes to school on it everyday. One thing she really wanted for it was a basket to put her teddies in, but the shop only had hideous and expensive bright pink plastic things. My budget couldn't quite stretch to a wicker one, especially as I would have had to commission someone to make one to fit, as I couldn't find one small enough.

Over the christmas and new year, inspired by my success from the rag rug, I have always wanted to have a go at making something from supermarket carrier bags. Not that I am an hoarder or anything, but I seemed to have acquired a few of late.

Before I made the basket, I had to figure out how to make the plastic yarn or 'plarn' as the crafty types refer to it as. I tried the method I used for cutting the yarn for the rag rugs but the joints were fragile and broke easy. I tried cutting strips and knotting the ends together but this made the work bulky and messy. Then I found this tutorial which is the best way, for me at least. You will need about 20 - 30 plastic carrier bags to make the same basket as the one I made pictured above. No I didn't have this number of bags in my house. I have to beg a few from various folk when I realised I would have no where near enough.

Working with plarn is very different to working with wool or fabric. For starters plarn is stiffer and doesn't stretch in the same way requiring a little bit of brute force to make complex stitches such as the clusters I used for making this basket. From the same site that I found the plarn tutorial, I also found this tutorial for a recycled gift basket that I adapted for the purpose of making my bicycle basket. I omitted the handles and opted to make a red finish with a basic flower pattern. Below I have written a pattern for the basic flower:

Pattern for crochet flower

CH6

Join with a SLST to form a ring

*CH 6

1 DC into ring*

Repeat from * to * 4 more times and finish with a SLST

You should now have a basic flower with 5 petals

You can make the petals more defined by doing the following:

DC into each petal loop 6 times with a SLST in-between each petal

Fasten off

Experimenting

Now that you have mastered the basic flower, experiment with making the flower bigger by adding extra loops.

Attach your yarn to the central circle in-between each petal with a SLST and make larger petals by adding longer chain loops (approx 8-10) and extra DC’s on these loops.

Please ask for help if you are unsure how to do this.

Abbreviations

CH – Chain

SLST – Slip Stitch

DC – Double Crochet

Now Sneaky can come for a bike ride!

Making a rag rug for the new year!

2012-01-08T13:18:00.003Z

I have really enjoyed having a break from work over the Christmas and new year. I say I have had a break but I have, amongst other things, been working on projects that I hope to translate into workshops in the coming year. This has been a project too long on the back burner but, finally, I have mastered the art of making a crochet rug:

It really took no time at all after I had prepared the yarn and I didn't really use a pattern and, instead, made it by instinct. There are many ways to make rag rugs. The traditional way is using old burlap sacking and poking short lengths of fabric through the sacking with the aid of a bodger. Some plait lengths of fabric and then stitch together and others crochet with the aid of a large hook. After lots of searching and reading I decided to go for the crocheted version.

To get going you first need to search your home for textiles to make into yarn. I used some old fabric that I had acquired. Mine was stretchy rather like t-shirt fabric and very easy to work with.

Next you need to lay your fabric out ready for cutting. I folded mine over to make the length shorter. You will need a very sharp pair of scissors to get clean cuts:

Starting at the folded end, I cut 1 inch strips as I wanted a chunky effect to my rug. There is a quick and easy way to get consistent 1 inch strips and that is using a method I call the 'rule of thumb'. Get a ruler and measure from the tip of your thumb (or thumb nail if they extend beyond your thumb) and make a mark where it ends. I no longer make a mark because I know that the first crease on my thumb knuckle is exactly 1 inch!

using the 'rule of thumb' makes it easier to get equal strips

Use your thumb as a ruler by lining up the inch marker on your thumb with the edge of the fabric and then making your cuts snuggly above the tip of your thumb (or nail). This method will help to speed up the process of making your yarn.

Once you have cut all you strips open out your fabric. You will have lengths that are cut nearly to the end. Cut each alternate strip to the end so that you have uninterrupted consistent lengths (as illustrated above). Wind your lengths into a ball like this. My kids thought that it was great fun to play football with them, much to my dismay!

Once you have all your yarn prepared you can start making your rug. I started with a size 10mm hook and made a chain of 11. I then worked back along this chain in Double Crochet (DC) starting with the 2nd chain from the hook with 3 DC into the last stitch in the chain. Then I continued along the opposite side of the chain with 3 DCs into the last chain. I continued in 'the round' increasing stitches if it started curling up at the sides and decreasing stitches if it became wavy looking.

If have never crocheted before, making a ragrug is fairly easy to master. I found this fantastic tutorial that goes into more detail on how to create these wonderful eco rugs for your home.

An unmade bed

2011-12-15T21:58:00.024Z

Something struck me about Lily's unmade bed. Blankets flipped back, revealing a lovely warmth of a slumber recently ended. Those retro rummaged second-hand matching sheet and pillow case! The recycled hot water bottle cover (with her own design on). Those hand-made socks which will, no doubt, too soon be outgrown. This little domestic vignette, captured in time, made my heart skip a beat:

Engaging children in creative education

2011-12-10T12:23:00.000Z

Children are naturally drawn toward creating things with their hands. I always have a crochet knitting project in my bag, very useful for those times I am kept waiting, perhaps in the doctors surgery, or whilst the kids are having their swimming lessons. I often find a little group of children inching ever closer with a zombie gait, their eyes curious about what I am making. Before I know it they're upon me wanting to know what I am doing and how I am doing it! I feel quite sad that basic heirloom crafts like knitting and crochet are overlooked by the school curriculum. Picasso said "All children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up". Learning basic knitting and crochet stitches is absorbing and stimulating and taps into a part of the brain that brings a sense of achievment and relaxation. Both my husband and myself are lucky to be artistic and creative and can pass on these additional skills to our children:

Jack totally immersed in the process of making chains with a crochet hook!

Lily creating music with her daddy!

According to Sir Ken Robinson (international advisor on education in the arts to the government) schools kill creativity and suggests that "Creativity is as important as literacy and we should treat it with the same status" In this fantastic talk he goes onto say that children get "educated out of creativity" I couldn't agree more:

Introduction to crochet

2011-11-10T16:39:00.002Z

First stitchcraft sessions have taken place and so far so good! The Cafe sessions have been reasonably well attended, and the cafe settings were nice and cosy. Crochet and tea and cakes are an excellent combination. Naturally this has been a learning process for me too, and I'm now aware of the maximum number of people I can comfortably teach, and I've enjoyed working with learners all at differing levels of ability.


Crochet and cupcakes

Mastering double crochet on week 1

I have planned a number of sessions, suitable for all levels of ability, and have more planned that will fit around the those who are free in the daytime and those who are free in the evenings. Keep an eye on the workshop section of the website for new workshops.

Little Bird School of Stitchcraft

2011-08-30T22:11:00.033+01:00

After many a moons of procrastination, I have finally taken the plunge and registered myself as a Limited Company, namely the Little Bird School of Stitchcraft. It became an official entity on 19 August 2011 and with some fantastic support from Business Link I intrepidly dipped my toe in the waters. I say 'dipped' because my venture is essentially about having fun and not worrying too much about making loads of cash. I have not taken out any bank loans. I have not rented any accomodation to run the School of Stitchcraft and I do not intend to take any risks. It is early days and I now consider myself in the 'pilot' phase. I want to see if the good people of Charnwood are interested in what I have on offer and, if in the next 2-3 years, I find that they are, then I will work towards getting myself in a 'bricks and morter' set-up. Until then I tentatively share my skills and beaver away. If things don't work out then at least I tried and at least I won't lose out financially. All I can say for now is that I am happy with what I am doing and have done so far, and I am really looking forward to running my first stitchcraft sessions! Check out my website, that I built all myself (except the logo), here!

Blogging has gone quiet because...

2011-08-02T22:06:00.000+01:00

...apart from it being the summer school holidays. I have been working very hard on a big project. Will tell you more in due course but for now here is a taster...

The idea for my big project was inspired by this old, but very efficient, sewing machine.

Beach art

2011-07-14T10:47:00.000+01:00

The summer sun and the call of nature enticing me to the nearest coast has me thinking of long lazy days on the beach. I love wandering along the beach looking for unusual rocks and shells, picking up bits of sea sculptured wood to incorporate into a sand sculpture. I love to sculpt the sand into something and then sit and watch the sea reclaim it as its own.

Often, when walking along beaches I will come across bits of plastic and, if the beach is really dirty, other undesirable bits and pieces. It makes me sad to think that our seas and beaches are being polluted by things that will take probably hundred's of years to decompose not to mention the gases that it gives off in the process.

I came across this pair of talented artists who have created these fantastic works of art from plastic that they have foraged from the Californian coastline. Richard and Judith Lang have managed to take these ugly pieces of debris and recreate them into something stunning.

Here are just a few samples of their work that I have put together for your pleasure:

Obanten

Cheese spreaders

Beach combs

You can read more about their work and some interesting facts about plastic at this link: Plastic Forever