Some Commissions!

I've had some commissions lately which is really great - it's good to be working on something that you've already sold! Far better for your confidence, although it can be more stressful, especially as you have a customer's expectations to worry about too. But my customers have all been lovely so far, so fingers crossed. It's a real mixed bag of projects. Gill wanted a hat... it's just been finished, and this is me wearing it - excuse the crazed smile (see below, I'm very tired). The yarn is Colinette Point 5 in a shade called Velvet Damson. It really is lovely and a real pleasure to work with. I've also crocheted up another in a shade called Bright Charcoal (I couldn't go to the shop for just one thing could I?) - can't decide whether to sell or keep that one! I am becoming slightly obsessed by Colinette yarns, they are such blissful colours and I love the different textures and structures that they produce. I've had some requests for proper full-sized stockings, so I've been having fun working on designs. I thought it might be interesting/scary to post a picture of my initial design so that you can compare it to the final result. So, here's my design.... The customer requested pink and wanted the stocking personalised, and I suggested the applique. I think the one thing that this tells everyone is that my artistic skills are extremely limited. And don't you like the use of the pink gummed paper I pinched from my sons' craft box?! I'm going to be using pink corduroy for the main body of the stocking, and felt for the tree and the letters. The stocking is going to be lined with some gorgeous Michael Miller fabric called Yule Trees (the link will take you to Hancock's of Paducah - I warn you not to click on it if you suffer from fabric issues). We tracked down a UK supplier of this fabric on Ebay - it's been a very helpful service so far from Quilted Mouse Fabrics. Another item I've been asked for is a blue hippo amigurumi with a nurse's hat and apron. I'm thinking felt for the hat and apron - I'm hoping it's going to look pretty cute. Other stuff I have almost finished at the moment are: business card wallets made with some really funky Free Spirit fabric, 2 or 3 crochet brooches and a patchwork bag. Phew! And of course there's just the small matter of my lads' 6th birthday party at the weekend and finishing decorating the front room by Christmas. See, I told you there was a reason I look tired...

I pricked and pounced!

I've been personalising Christmas stockings full time for the last few days it seems. Because the stockings are made with quite rough textured felt it is a real problem getting the lettering on to the fabric so that I can embroider the names. I have been using a charcoal pencil, but that is rather unsatisfactory because drawing on the felt is difficult, smudgy, and the pencil gets very clogged up with wool. Yuck.

So, today, I had a bit of an inspiration when I remembered reading about the 'prick and pounce' method of transferring pattern to fabric in Diana Springall's book Embroidery. So I tried my own version of it.

First I drew my design on thick tracing paper.










Then I pricked along the lines of the tracing with a chunky needle (sorry, rubbish at knowing about needle sizes) - you might be able to see in the photo below that I missed the dot on the letter 'i'!













Then I laid the tracing on the felt stocking I'm working on at the moment. Holding it firmly in place I then scraped a bit of tailors' chalk dust on to the tracing paper & rubbed it in a bit with my finger. If you were doing prick and pounce properly then you would use pouncing powder - ground up cuttlefish - & a brush so I don't think you would need to rub it in.

















Then I lifted up the tracing paper and - tada! - it worked perfectly! I then pressed the chalk in a bit with my finger so it didn't just brush off.














People have been using this method of transferring pattern to fabric for centuries. I think the next step is to join up the dots with paint, otherwise the pattern would soon be rubbed off. Fortunately, the chalk I used lasted for long enough for me to finish the embroidery.













I've just read that it's also traditional to use ground cinnamon for pouncing. That sounds infintely preferable to using ground cuttlefish... And wouldn't it make Christmas stockings smell nice and Christmassy?

I feel the need to record how hard I've been working these last few days. So - we've got the embroidery above...

This very sweet little blue elephant:


















Some crochet brooches (er, not quite finished):














Finished a scarf using the stunning beautiful Colinette prism in Autumn Leaves:














No wonder I'm cream-crackered...

Colinette Yarns

I'm learning about new yarns all the time - it's so exciting, addictive & erm, well, purse-emptying. I am now in the terrifying position of having a quite wonderful wool shop just minutes away, and it's so much easier to buy stuff 'just in case' when you don't have to pay the postage... So it's always great when a custom order means that I can buy some yarn without having to feel guilty about it. A friend has asked for 3 custom knit scarves for Christmas gifts & I've had a lovely time suggesting some yarn options. I was looking for something that would knit up in a bumpy, slubby way, that was quite chunky & came in lots of lovely colours.

A quick trip to the shops established that the beautiful variegated colours & bumpy style of Colinette Prism & Colinette Grafitti fit the bill very well. The yarn pictured is Colinette Grafitti in Cezanne. Gorgeous to work with. There is something very inspiring about working with materials that are of such great quality. Colour is a big deal for me & I am very impressed by the strong, deep colours of the Colinette yarns.