Monday 9 January 2012

Works in Progress

I've started my sky blanket! So much fun. 


The weather is so changeable at the moment that the sky can look totally different within five minutes, so I'm looking out of the window / up at the sky at midday each day and using the weather at that moment as my guide for the day's colours. It's fascinating how many creative choices are involved in translating the English weather into a mere two colours.

I've been noting down my colour choices on my calendar (a pretty one I got free with the craft magazine Mollie Makes at the end of last year) so I can knit the squares in the evening, and (most importantly) keep track of what square matches what day so I'll sew them together in the right order!

I'm definitely in the mood for knitting at the moment. I'm still quite tired after the busy Christmas season, and am spending my evenings curled up on the sofa watching lots of TV and doing some simple knitting. 

My current project is a black scarf - basic garter stitch on big chunky needles, using one strand of soft faux-mohair yarn. Black is always a pain to work with in bad light, but this is so easy to knit that I barely need to look at it (bonus: I can read the subtitles while watching Borgen and still keep knitting, hurrah!) It's very light and fluffy, and quite wide but I'm not sure how long it will end up being yet.


Work-wise I'm mostly doing admin at the moment (yawn), but I have made a start on the slow process of getting restocked after Christmas - beginning with a pile of poppy brooches.


I've also been making some progress on those knitted cushion covers.

The new one is almost finished (all the squares sewn together, all the ends woven in). The two older ones (the pink and the blue) also needed a bit of work as when I first made them I rather short-sightedly stitched the cushion inserts inside them without any way of removing the covers for washing... They've now been unpicked & washed, and all three covers are getting a row of little snap fasteners along one edge so they can easily be removed in the future.


As if I hadn't already sewn in enough yarn ends this week (oh my gosh, so many bits of yarn), I've started sewing in the ends of this stripe-y something that was lurking in my WIP box...


 ... and I've come up with a project for using six of the remaining eight blanket squares leftover from making the knitted cushions. I'm sewing them together in matching pairs...


... then lining them in matching acrylic felt and adding a mini zip...


... to make little coin purses. I've just finished one so far, it was a bit of a "don't measure or plan, just sort of wing it" job, but it turned out quite nicely and the end result is pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. I popped a few of my business cards in this one to add a sense of scale for the photo, but when they're finished the three purses are destined to be gifts for my two sisters and for my mum (who, of course, will get first dibs). 


Now I just need to come up with a plan for the final two non-matching squares. Hmm...

8 comments:

Pyschodelic Elephants said...

How about sewing them together with some stuffing to make a mini pin cushion!

Anonymous said...

You are being so productive! I love it all and understand what you mean about the scarf. I am currently making a spirit scarf for my cheer girl. I knit it during practice time and game time and don't miss a tumble as I hardly have to look down at my knitting. It is also quite therapeutic and a reminder that we should always have this sort of project going for the times we just need to knit and think. I love the little squares! ~Kelly

unDeniably Domestic

Tumus said...

The coin purses are cute ^_^ I love Mollie Makes and have to scour the bookstore shelves for copies over here and encourage the local bookstores that it's worth it to carry it.

Your cloud knits have inspired me to maybe attempt something similar only having to do with flowers in my garden....and maybe do it with cross stitching instead of knitting...hmmmm.

Unknown said...

Well now you are showing off Laura! You have been so busy that I feel rather lazy in comparison! lol!

I am in love with those cushions x You are most welcome to join our A Make A Month 2012 if you fancy, it is our second year!

Jacquie said...

I love all your little knitting projects! It's cool you can use them for multiple things too! Now I have some great ideas for all my leftover yarn!

kjsutcliffe said...

I followed the link to the sky scarf through tizduster and have started watching the weather- it is a wonderful way to record a year. My sister in law is about to teach me to knit so I think this scarf will be the perfect one to learn on! Keep posting pictures of your sky blankie, looking forward to seeing how the colours will change

Clo said...

may be you could sew them as a cube (changing a bit the assemblage)
(your poppies are so lovely !)

Bugs and Fishes said...

P. Elephants - ooh, a pincushion might work... Luckily with only two squares left, they won't take up much room in my WIP box while I think up the perfect project for them!

unDeniablyDomestic - yes, knitting is a perfect thinking project! I find it so restful and soothing, and so good to have something to show from hours of sleepy TV watching or days when I'm feeling a bit under the weather and would otherwise just snooze all day.

Tumus - I know it's not the same as having a paper magazine, but I *think* you can buy digital copies of Mollie Makes via their website if you're having trouble finding it locally. The idea of observing things in nature / other events day to day and using those observations to create an object is such an appealling one. I was talking about this with my sister and we were saying you could do an amazing quilt using a spectrum of colours based on the temperature each day over a year.

Annie - I have been very lazy in doing non-crafty things, I promise! :D

Hawthorn - awesome, I hope you have fun making the scarf! It's an ideal project for a beginner knitter...or for someone like me who likes their knitting projects to be super simple!