Raised leaves pincushion

I like this raised leaves pattern so much and wanted to make something small with it for long time. As I needed a pincushion for knitting needle, I thought it is a chance to try this pattern. First, I knitted 4 pieces of triangle shape and sewed them together making square fabric. I chose very fine cotton yarn for this but it wasn't pleasing result. The seam was not tidy. So I chose wool yarn for next try and arranged the pattern to knit in circular to knit in one piece instead. I put old swatches and some failed projects inside.

Even though I knew the pattern with knit and purl stitch combination would make raised effect, I really impressed how the leaves raised such fully. You might think the leaves are sewed on appliques!

Embroidered bag for bead necklace

I made this beads necklace kit this summer and made a matching case. Stitching lace pattern was fun and finished before I know it, but it took about a month to finish. Because i didn't had a piece of fabric that goes with the surface, didn't had ribbon in same color, and felt hard to set up sewing machine.

There is one more bag for another beads necklace just like this waiting to be finished ...
Hope i can show it to you here before long.

Organic slub

Since I saw a nice comfy blanket knitted in ecru slub chunky yarn in a magazine, i firmly decided to make one for myself. It was an end of winter or spring when i saw it, so i missed the chance to find such yarn. Last month, I visited LYS and found very soft slub yarn just perfect for my purpose. It's called "Sonomono" that means "just as is," not colored organic wool, from domestic brand Hamanaka.



I got 5 balls to make a ribbed scarf for me before blanket, cause i want to make sure that it doesn't produce lots of dust on clothes. That what i learned from Abfab throw. If it's all right, i will get some more to make a blanket and scarf for DS - if he agreed.

Crochet motifs

After many tries, i figured out what i'm gonna do with organic cottons. No knitting, cause it tilt even after adding twist, wash and dry with weight. So, I started some crochet projects. Square motifs scarf and blanket or covering in 5 colors-motifs.

I chose one of the square pattern from the project on the front cover of this book.

The original one is made in more thick wool. I'm using very fine cotton yarn and i couldn't believe it is same motif as it looks very different.

Shrug Finished

I've been working on many small things since last post but all these were not worth taking photo. Sorry for kept this blog un-updated for such long time.

Here is the finished the shrug. It's very light - only 100 g and a little more. I arranged for rib part with additional length and frill-like cast off.

Organic Cotton Shrug

This is a shrug i mentioned in last post. It's about 60 cm now. The pattern is arranged from Flower Power Shrug ( Interweave knits summer 2005). As i always felt the need for such shrug to cover shoulders and arms at air-conditioned subway, shops or restaurant, It'll be my best companion for going out this summer.

I also made a pretty crocheted flower on the shrug from the pattern i found by fortune, i think it is very easy yet cute. I've already made 3 roses in different yarns although i have no purpose for use. Maybe i'll give them away. It made as a long tape and then rolled. This rolling process is really fun. I always try at least several times for best shape. Here is the link (http://megan.kiwi.gen.nz/StripMethodRose/).

Boiling yarn

Here is another collection of organic cotton yarn. They came from US. Very fine and tightly twisted. The most interesting thing about these yarn is that their color change after wash. As they are grown in the color, the color will not fade after wash but will get more DARK and rich. The note came with yarn says "It will continue to deepen and darken for up to 10 washings.... For the deepest color and color setting, boil the yarn for 20-40 minutes." Wow, boiling the yarn? I made small skeins of each color and boiled for 20 minutes and colors really changed. Amazing.
The boiled yarn is shown on top of its original cone in the above picture. Especially, green one got very deep.

As they are not soft enough for wearing, i will make some lacy edging to add on towel or crochet motif project with the other organic cotton i showed last post, which was very soft and in ecru color.
My needlework theme for coming season will be "Organic cotton yarn."
I have started knitting a shrug with the ecru yarn. I'll show her in next post.

organic cotton

I got some fine organic cotton yarn last week, and very busy with plying them into useful weight. I have to gather at least 8 string to knit with the needle i usually use, around 2 or 3 mm. As it is fine as sewing thread and always twist when it sag, plying all 8 at once is too hard to handle. So i made two 4 ply 25g balls then winded them together into 8ply 50g ball and added twist with drop spindle. I hesitated to use drop spindle as such manual process takes a lot time for me, but i have no way other than it. I first tried knitting with just plied yarn without twist but the knitted fabric was not square at all, tilt 45 degree. I checked if this tilt occurs in other stitch pattern. Garter and rib and moss was OK but i don't like to knit in pattern with those stitch only. So i have to use drop spindle to enjoy stockinette stitches. Of course i tried iron steam but nothing changed.

Although I have normal size spindle, i prefer small one i made before to spin fine thread, and used it for first ball. The thin stick was too hard for my fingers to work with and i looked around for something more thick and smooth surface and find this works quite nicely! This is a needle that was provided at knit out event held in tokyo last autumn. I will make some more balls enough for knitting or crochet or dyeing. Although I like natural ecru color, it must be fun to knit in color, too.

You see the tilt in even small swatch.

The flower behind in first picture is geranium. My son played around our flat with his new bike after we got home, and he came back with it saying "I found this flower fallen on the ground. Put her in a vase." It must fallen for its own weight as it has so many petal for a stem. He has a funny talent - he often finds fallen off flowers on the ground, that is still in bloom. He has found cherry blossom twig with some flower on it after windy day, and also found pretty yellow carnation left on street that seemed someone bought a lot bunch of flower at flower shop but one of them fell out. It might be happen when using bicycle or motorbike.

Summer bag

This is the bag just finished. As the yarn was very thick and hard, it stands by itself on the floor! I had to hold the hook like when you do with a rod to keep tension.

I finished all project in "Andalia" series and i think i enjoyed enough. Above all i proud myself on that i used up all the balls i bought and made what i meant. That's rarely happens. Now I feel i want to back to normal yarn.

Crochet hat and quaker things

Sorry for being lazy at updating this blog.

I've been working pretty hard and progress on needlework is terribly slow. I have many idea to try but i never catch up within my free time. There are some skew in what i wanna do and reality.
During past weeks, i finished a couple of projects in "Andalia" yarn. A hat with flower corsage and a bag with flower corsage. Due to hard yarn, it was difficult to keep the tension. I hoped iron steam will make the surface neat but it worked just a little. I tried the soft wire first time for this hat on last 2 round of brim to keep its shape. I haven't steamed the bag yet so the picture will be in next post.
I got those quaker items recently, Quaker Post pattern and Quaker pinballs booklet. I found both at a online cross stitching shop and i thought both for stitching. But the booklet isn't. It is a pattern for knitting pinballs and applicable for embroidery. You'll knit in 0.8 or 1.0 mm needle with fine thread to make them. I have both and more fine needles but i will use more large one for exercise first.I really like quaker style pattern in cross stitch. Hard to resist...

Bag finished

I finished this small shell stitch bag last week. Crocheting with hard twisted yarn made my shoulders hard and my hands turned red, so I couldn't work long at a time. Very small but just enought to bring wallet, mobile phone, hanky and tissue.

I'm gonna make another works with another types of same yarn, one is doubled yarn and the other is plain one. They are a hat and bag i showed in previous post. I think i should make a hat first.

Martha finished

Pattern: Martha from Rowan Magazine 37
Yarn: Rowan 4ply cotton black
Size : S

Since last post, I spent all my available free time for knitting Martha. I never thought i could finish such soon. Although It looked small while knitting because of its pattern, it fits nicely and i'm so happy!
I think this pattern also works in different pattern stitch. I'll try after i wear out Martha.

Happy weekend

I had very happy weekend. DS offered me "You may go Okadaya, Mitsubaya, or Yuzawaya or anywhere you want. I will prepare supper," I don't think i need such approval to go those craft store really, but how can i miss such opportunity? I went off in a rush, jumped on a subway and went Yuzawaya. As I really want to finish Martha first and not in the mood to get ready for any other project, I just looked around to see something new and get an idea and inspiration for future projects. And I found something new for me. It's rayon 100% yarn from Hamanaka for bag and hat.

I have known this yarn (or should I say cord?) for long time but the sample project made with them displayed at store were always looked uncool and i thought i will never try it until i met very cute sample at store, whose pattern found in this just published book.

I liked those two especially.

It has many cool pattern not only for bags but also hats. I gathered all material i need for this bag and some other balls. As the yarn looks like cord, the finished bag must be hard enough to use daily. This is very important for me as i always bring many thing in my bag. Knitted or crochet bag in usual cotton or wool yarn loose its original shape and handle stretches even when i put only a purse. So i will try with these rayon yarn this summer.
While checking out new books, i noticed how I love the shell stitch. The brown yarn will be a small bag in shell stitch.

What I really hope is that i have more time for enjoying materials i got. I often show you what i bought but i rarely show you what i made. I may have to make another category "shopping." Although i know it can't be helped as long as i am a working mother, i feel strongly stressed after shopping. Hope DH will make another offer for free time next or future weekend.

Oh, FYI, the reason DH released me is curry. He likes to cook curry in his way. He make curry from scratch occupying kitchen more than a few hours!

Books and covers

I got them from amazon yesterday. A friend borrowed me the first series of the novel and i was totally hooked. The pace i read was very slow at first, I say a chapter a week, but i read a chapter and more a day at last. I only used the dictionary a few times, that means the story was too interesting and couldn't help keep on reading. Not because i understood every word. So I bought it myself for reading it again later.

For them, I started making a book cover with liberty fabric in pink tone. I started it 2 or 3 weeks ago as soon as i came up the idea but i haven't made any progress since then. My mood always changes so quickly. Hope i can finish them while reading second series.

On knitting side, i am knitting Martha very patiently. Cause i want to wear in this spring, i have to concentrate on it.

2 socks finished

It took whole week for DS to get well and i took my work off at last. During the off, i knitted socks like crazy to make another ones to make them pair. I like loose fit for leg and tight for foot. To get such result, i tried 3 times for adjusting the length of foot for the first stripe sock. After finished them, my socks fever seems cooled down. I have no plan for another socks at the moment.

So, what's next? Martha. I also knitted her during off, but after i found that i couldn't knit front any more unless finishing back of cardigan first, i lost all motivation. I started Martha from sleeves and then front with my freakish idea, but i gave myself up when i read the instruction " knit less than 10 rows than back." I did knew some reasonable reason for knitting back first but i learned another deciding reason this time. The idea of knitting sleeve first is OK, but you MUST knit back first than front.

So, I was really satisfied with two socks and lost motivation for Martha, i knit little last week. As DS has just learned riding a bicycle, he asked me to pick him up from nursery school early to practice it. He also asked me to take him out to practice whipping a top. I was very busy last week to make time for these after work. So all i knitted last week was several rows of back of cardigan. That's all.
After a short leave from knitting, i am back again and realizing how knitting is fun!

liberty assorted bag

I went shopping on last weekend and when i peeked in a craft store, i found this cute assorted fabrics in miniature tote. I was thinking to buy some springlike color yarn at first, but the yarn was already cleaned up. So i brought this small bag and a cut cloth instead. You can see how the bag is small from the size of pen beside it. The fabrics are Liberty, some of them are original. I LOVE Liberty. It's one of my dream to make my wear with Liberty fabric. As these piece of fabrics are quite small, I think I'll make something small patchwork thing with them. Inside the bag is look like this ...

I wanted start with them soon but my DS got influenza and keeping me busy. It's ok if it's only flu he got ... he also got inflammation of the middle ear, too. I worked some during day and left some to do after he goes to bed. Due to the pain in his ear, he cried and woke up often till late, i couldn't work enough at night and even my own time for knitting was not left. He lost appetite and got up in midnight and woke me saying "I'm hungry, I want something to eat." Thank god, tomorrow is holiday and i can catch up. Hope he got well soon.

Tatted small pincushion

When i was stitching monograms on pillow cases, i thought i want a small pincushion as i needed only one needle to work with. Small lacy one. So i tried knitted lace pattern first, but it didn't worked. Maybe the yarn and needle size i chose were not right or my lace knitting skill is not enough for it. I also noticed even small lace pattern results in quite big size for my purpose. So i fished out my silver shuttle from my desk drawer. After long time, i thought i must have forgotten how to tat at first, but my hands remembered! I made two small medallion joining at outer edge with stuffed pillow between them. Although i made some mistake - knots on surface - it looks very cute. The idea would be applied to sachet too. I can't stop picturing many other adaptation like this and that. I will make another one later.

Pillow case finished

These are finished linen pillowcase with initials cross-stitched. As the thickness of weaven threads are different between vertical and horizontal directions, I had to stitch over 2 by 3 to make the crossed stitch look same propotion for height and width. It was tricky. I planned to stitch the item number for that fabric so that i can purchase same one next time, and year and month too, but i didn't, as i wanted try them away. I can stitch any time later.

And this is first half of Regia tweed stripe socks. As I haven't knitted socks in plain stockinette stitch on size 2 needle for long time ( I usually use 0 or 1 ), i amazed that the sock gets bigger before i knew it. The color is maroon and dark grey. Very light and confortable. I put on my leg and showed my DH and DS how they think and answer was "Oh, your socks has many fuzz!" Of course not. I should not ask them. Another pattern socks are on the foot now.

This is a crochet edging i found on japanese craft book. After finished required length, some more ladder lace will be added along straight edge. I have no any specific idea for the lace, just enjoying the pattern.

2 different socks at at time ...

I have little progress both on sewing and knitting this week. I finished my pillow case (no picture yet) and stitching for my husband's now that is almost finished and ready to be sewn sides (shown on picture below beneath socks) . I usually do most needlework at late night but I hesitate to bring out sewing machine at such late time. That's why my sewing projects go so slowly even it is an easy one. So i am thinking about finishing the pillow case by hand this time without using machine.

And finally i started knitting socks. I repeated opening and closing sock knitting books, magazines, web pattern countless times ... and decided two projects at last, both i eagerly wanted to knit. The stripe socks with Regia tweed yarn and shell lace pattern socks from Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks." But why 2 different socks at a time? I don't know. Maybe I'm just in a CAN'T-STOP-CASTING-ON syndrome. I think every knitter will understand what i mean. Another reason is that wool season is ending soon and noticed i have many wool sock yarn left. If i finished them, there will be reasonable space for 4 more balls. Maybe some cotton sock yarn in bright color!

Oh, I haven't forgot Martha. I finished second sleeve and casted on right front. I realize how 4ply is fine when knitting wearable things, as it grows so slowly.

needle broken

When I have almost finished first sock and tried it on, the circular needle suddenly broken. Accurately, I broke it by accident. I was sitting on the floor and the point of needles were facing down and it happend when i turned back to reach a mirror stretching my leg a little (i think). So sorry as it was my favorite needle. I've knitted many socks before but it's first time to broke needle.
What made me feel more worse was the fact that the sock was not comfortable AT ALL when i tried! Too tight around heel and the pattern of very narrow stripe looks very ugly where it needs strech. So i flogged it.

I really want to knit something small right now and seeking the stash and pattern, but haven't get any combination yet. I don't have suitable yarn for the design i want to knit and i don't have any idea for the yarn i want to knit. I don't think I can get out of this endless circle unitl buying the suitable yarn for what i want to knit. So I'm very busy for looking around online store for next shopping.