Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Goodies from downunder!

Yes all the way from Perth W.A., bringing a ray of sunshine on a gloomy rainy and very cold day. So what do we have here?
Arisaig for me!!


It's gorgeous.
And....an assortment of needles. How I needed those. Dpns, circulars, they are not easy to find here. Can you believe it?


Yarn!


It's Patons alpaca blend in white and light coffee. I already have a few ideas for putting these to good use. The possibilities are endless!

And..

The blue is Cashmilon....could it be a Cashmere/nylon blend? The four red balls are aussie Clackheaton 5 ply pure wool, and finally this lonely ball of Carnival 8 ply 100% wool.


A little sweetness is always welcome..


Last but not least craft magazines and an enchanting little book about roses. A guide to growing and using roses including recipes, paintings and poems. I will post a few of them soon.


Thanks little sis! ;)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

I'm a Raveler.

Yes I finally got invited. And what a better moment than this since I have been lacking motivation and I'm in great need of anything that will make me pick up a hook or a pair of needles. I usually associate the way I feel to the change of season. Well it's true, and considering I haven't been feeling 100%...you could say that I have a good excuse for not doing anything creative in the past couple of months. Not that I lack ideas, that's not the problem.
Going through some magazines from the 80/90's reminded me of a rather productive season that included knitting, crocheting, as well as some other crafts.
Obviously I wouldn't be caught dead wearing some of these things today, but you know what fashion is like...they were trendy and cool at the time.

The original ...

...and the one I made. It's exactly the same. Here I'm showing a close up of the embroidered part.


I used recycled yarn for this vest. The pattern looks like intarsia, but it's actually embroidered. I find it very pretty.
Next, this gorgeous cardi.


The one in the magazine has flowers on the sleeves and on the back as well as the front. A bit too "busy" for my taste so I "decorated" only the front of the cardi . Overall it's a faithful reproduction of the pattern, including the colour of the wool which is a lovely cream 100% wool from Lana Gatto.

This one I find rather unusual.

Here I didn't make the sweater, I used an Angora-Mohair I had sitting in my wardrobe.
The embroidery technique is quite unusual. It's worked by wrapping the yarn around a pencil and then stitched on the sweater to form a flower pattern. Has anyone come across this technique?
Again here I preferred a partial reproduction of the flower motif which starts on the shoulders and runs along the sleeves.

Wouldn't it be great if these things became trendy again?