Birdy Progress

© Donna Jones 2013

The Birdy Cushion I've been working on is now almost finished and I can't wait to see how it looks made up. I decided on random striping for the back in the end, for two practical reasons. Firstly, both sides are a feature so this makes it 'reversible' - if you fancy ringing the changes you can simply turn the cushion around. The second reason was to make the best use of all the different colours 'left over' from the birdies on the front to make this as economic a knit as possible for those that don't have a lot of stash and need to buy the yarn from scratch.

Here it is so far - The problem with so many stripes is having all those ends to sew in, but I hope you agree it's worth the effort. I've pinned it out and sprayed it generously with water to block it and, by the time it has dried completely, the fibres will have relaxed and the stitches will have smoothed out noticeably. I much prefer this method to pressing as you can iron the life out of your knitting if you are not careful!

All that's left to do is sew it up and raid the button box. The pattern for this will be available to buy soon on my website and Ravelry, and will be free to those attending my Intarsia Unravelled workshop on 4th May 2013 at Hazel Court, Swansea.

Stash Busting

I'm sure I'm not alone in my hoarding of 'stuff' which may 'come in handy one day' for craft purposes - today I found a way to kill two birds with one stone and tackle the fabric and cardboard I've been accruing, and use one to knock the other into some kind of shape.

Like many of you out there, I'm a bit of a craft book addict and have developed a bit of an Amazon habit - here's the evidence! I usually tend to hang on to the packaging to reuse as packaging or as 'material' for various art & craft activities.

I had got rather a lot of the stuff though, and today I managed to put it to good use in organizing my fabrics. I don't have a before shot, but believe me it was chaos - various carrier bags of assorted yardage and scraps in numerous locations around the cupboards and under my worktable

Needless to say this isn't a very effective way of storing stash - I had no idea what I had actually got, and would never be able to locate anything if I did actually know I'd got it.

I wanted to store my fabics in drawers but in such a way they would stand on their side so I could see what I have at a glance.

The Amazon packaging was just the right length to cut into strips and wind my fabrics around like a bobbin. Because the card's pretty thick you can secure it in place with pins.

You can also write on the end of the card if you want to add any useful notes like fibre content, where purchased & price etc.

So I've made a start as you can see. This is great for larger pieces and yardage, but I think I'll sort the smaller pieces & scraps into colour groups and store in clear plastic tubs in the other drawers.

Another thing too is I'm now out of book packaging which can mean only one thing........?

Over to You

Anyone else got any good stash organisation tips you can share? I'm always glad of any hints so do leave a comment below to join in the discussion - I need all the help I can get!!

Sneak Preview - Birdy design

I reckon Spring is in the air....or at least nearly. That's what the little sparrows in my garden are telling me if their busy chitter chatter is anything to go by. I love watching them go about their business and I guess it is no surprise that they are having an influence on my design work.

At the moment I'm in the process of making a chirpy birdy design which you'll be able to have a go at if you join us at my Intarsia Unravelled Workshop at Hazel Court on May 4th.

© Donna Jones 2013

So far I've made a number of birdy blocks and am about to stitch them together to make a cushion front.


My next decisions will be about how the back will look. I'm thinking stripes in the existing colourway........though I fancy some texture like cables or a dash of moss stitch.....what do you think?

New Crochet Workshop for oct 2013, Swansea

Saturday 5th October 2013, 10-4pm at Hazel Court, Sketty Park, Swansea

Crochet from Scratch with Donna Jones

Add another string to your knitterly bow by learning this increasingly popular craft. This introductory workshop is suitable for complete beginners, and those of you who are returning after a long gap and would like a ‘refresher'. On the day you will learn all the knowledge and skills you need to complete a simple project, including how to follow a basic pattern.


 



You will be shown the following techniques:

•    How to hold your hook and yarn
•    How to create a foundation chain and work the first row
•    Working in rows, how to do ‘double’, ‘treble’, and ‘slip’stitches
•    How to work basic increases and decreases
•    How to do a simple edging.
•    How to measure your tension.

You will need to bring:

•    a selection of crochet hooks (a 4.00mm and a 4.50mm would be most useful)
•    a ruler
•    a pair of scissors

Yarn will be provided, but do feel free to bring along any additional yarns of your own to use, share or swap.

Provided for you:

• full tuition
• yarns & beads to complete your project
• a workshop pack containing training materials and a free pattern

This workshop costs £30 per person - see here for further information.

Felted Hat Workshop

I love learning new skills, and last week I attended a Stitches Coven Workshop tutored by Mandy Nash where we all  had a go at making felted hats.

© Donna Jones 2013

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and I was pleased to go home with this 'Middle Earth' number (as Mr J calls it) which I think is not bad for a first attempt. I will probably tweek the edging a little further, and definately look forward to making some more hats.

To read more about the workshop and see how the other 'Stitches Coveners' did, please visit their blog here