Cross-stitch brooch

I made this as a leaving gift for a friend who is moving to the US to be with her boyfriend, after nearly ten years in Switzerland. I only decided I wanted to make her something the day before her leaving do, so chose something small. This is actually the first time I've done cross stitch (or really any proper embroidery) since I was in primary school, but am really pleased with how it turned out.

I designed the motif myself. The red is three strands of embroidery floss, but the white is two strands of heavyweight sewing thread as I didn't have any true white floss on hand. I didn't use a hoop, as I didn't have one of those on hand either! The piece was only small anyway so wasn't particularly prone to distortion. I did at least have aida fabric on hand though!

I embroidered to just outside the finished size so that the edges of the brooch would be covered. I'm particularly proud of the back - it's not super neat, but I tried hard to keep it fairly tidy, and made sure not to use any knots.

To stiffen the brooch I used two layers cut from some random plastic packaging. I ran gathering stitches around the edge of the embroidery to help turn the fabric neatly and evently, then sewed back and forth across the gap to secure it in place. The back is covered in red felt and I used a blanket stitch around the edge to try and make it look semi-neat.

I was really glad that she genuinely loved it, and hopefully it will remind her a little of us all during her cool new life in Portland :)

Knitted gifts

I didn't make as many things for others as I have done in the past - I thought I had plans for Christmas well in hand early, and then realised there was actually hardly any time left. Oops. I did make a couple of quick projects though: a cowl and mitts for my dad, and mitts for my friend, all of which are pretty simple, so not a huge amount to write about them.

The cowl is simply a tube knitted in the round in twisted stocking stitch (alternate rounds of k into back of loop and k as normal), with three rows of k1 p1 rib at each end. I used one ball of Rico Creative Bonbon super chunky. I chose this lovely variegated purply colourway (that was also half price in pre-Christmas sales...) as I thought it's vaguely masculine without being boring black or navy, and also would look good against his grey and blond colouring.

The mitts are coordinating but intentionally not matching, as I didn't think he'd appreciate a full on matchy-matchy look! I used this pattern, but since I was using a different wool (Lang Merino 70 Superwash), I needed to adjust stitch counts etc to resize it. My notes on these changes are here. I also made them shorter at both wrist and "finger"-length, as I intended them for him to use whilst working at the computer and didn't want them to get in the way. The photos here are actually taken by my dad, as I forgot to take any photos before wrapping them up!

The mitts for my friend are based on Café au lait. She's has two young children and also works as a childminder, so I thought they would be more practical with a st st palm, and I also altered them to make them symmetrical (full details of my changes are here).

I used a non-wool yarn (Lang Omega) as she has eczema, and also to make them easier to care for (I doubt she has time to faff around hand-washing stuff).

The colour is really hard to photograph, it's actually much richer, more jewel-like in real life. I bought two balls just in case (and they were also in the pre-Christmas sale...) but they took less than one, so I'm thinking I might make myself a pair too!

Christmas 2013

So, before I join the masses with the Top 5 lists, I'll squeeze in a quick Christmas post (well it is still before twelfth night - just). There's actually a few me-made and sewing/knitting/crocheting/crafting-related things to show you, so let's go in chronological order I suppose!

Ivy wreath

I made this wreath at the beginning of December, intending for it to go on the door to our flat. However, I hung it up for some pictures before I put a nail in the door, and decided I actually liked it far too much for it to go outside, where I would only see it intermittently. The wreath base is shop-bought, and I made the decoration with felt, covered wire, and ribbon.

Christmas dress

I bought some cute retro printed cotton in November to make this year's Christmas outfit, and this dress was originally started (but not completed) for some pre-Christmas drinks with friends. As it was by that time only a week to go and I hadn't made a start on a Christmas dress, I figured I'd just finish this one, it being suitably festive (and also stretchy: key when doing the amount of eating I tend to do at Christmas...).

This is a bit of a bodged together pattern, a modified combination of a BurdaStyle Magazine pattern, and my stretch block. The lapped curves of the sleeves and the skirt were judged by eye rather than properly drafted, but they work well enough (well, apart from the skirt needing a leeeeetle more overlap - there is a safety pin preserving some sort of decency in these photos).

It is made from a fairly hideous velour knit that was given to me by my mother-in-law. I cut them with the nap running from bottom to top to minimise the shiny-ness, and it actually doesn't look too bad made up into a dress. To finish the neckline, hem and sleeve hems I just turned the edge under and topstitched it, first stabilising the neck and hem with bias tape.

The bodice ended up being a bit too short, so I just added a strip of fabric as a sort of midriff band. I underlined this with powernet, hoping that this would give a nicely defined waist on the dress, but the strip was a bit too long and this didn't really work. Never mind! I covered this up with the sash from my Budapest dress, which didn't look quite as glamorous as intended - it would have looked better with a slimmer waist, but I work with what I have! All in all, this isn't my best ever make (and was only ever intended to be a stunt dress), but was comfortable to wear and definitely festive.

Gifts for others

I only made a few small bits and pieces for other people this year. Once again, I'd intended to make a shirt for my husband, but once again time slipped away and it didn't get done... Oops! I've promised it as a new-ish year gift instead, so we'll wait and see if it does appear. Other than that, I made a necklace and a brooch for my mum, a pair of earrings for my sister, a pair of earrings for a friend, and a scarf for my husband.

The necklace is identical to the one I made myself a couple of years ago, as she's always admired it, and shares the same taste as me for bold and bright jewellery. The brooch is crocheted, just "freestyle", starting with a chain loop. The backing is interfaced felt. I made Mum another brooch ages and ages ago (before starting my blog), and she's always asking me to make more. Unfortunately I freestyled the first one and can't remember quite what I did... I'm not as pleased with how this one turned out, but Mum still likes it.

The two pairs of earrings are both effectively just covered hoops, but done in slightly different ways. The turquoise pair (for a friend) are made from wooden curtain rings, covered, then another row of singles worked around (or maybe doubles, I can't actually remember). They're quite large, about 2 inches across. The black pair (for my sister) use a smaller "silver" jewellery hoop, and I included black glass beads in the second row of stitches.

The scarf for my husband is almost exactly the same as the one I made for my dad last year, just shorter (2 balls of wool rather than 3) and again joined with a twist so it sits better when worn.

So, I think that's Christmas done and dusted, I'll leave you with my new favourite mug (a gift from my husband), which of course I use solely for Earl Grey tea, hot...

Making things for little people

There's a couple of babies on the way amongst my group of friends here. The first one is due just after Christmas, so a baby shower was organised a couple of weeks ago. This of course gave me an excuse to do some knitting...

As it's a winter baby, I figured a cozy blanket and matching little hat would be an appropriate gift. I used this free pattern for the blanket, which is a pretty pattern, but knits up quickly. It's knitted in non-wool yarn (so it's machine washable, and to avoid allergies), and I chose colours that were feminine, without being girly (they know it will be a girl, but I hate gender stereotyping - fortunately these parents aren't really into lots of pink stuff either!). The red is actually a richer more red wine colour than it appears in the photos.

I also made a quick hat to match, using this free pattern. Because it's so small, it can be knitted up in an evening. I added a mini pom-pom (using this fork-based method!) - I couldn't get the thread that holds it together as tight as I would have liked, so I don't know how long the bobble will hold up, but she'll probably grow out of the hat in a few weeks, so it shouldn't be a problem.

And because I'm a masochist, I offered to make a cake for the baby shower too. And decided on a really complicated design. Using fondant icing. Which I've never used before. Fortunately I did some practicing, and ended up being very pleased with how it turned out (oh, and I made some cupcakes decorated with mini baby blocks too...):

Well, I think that's enough baby madness for now - the next one is due at the beginning of February, so there will probably be a little more little knitting in my future...

Mittens!

My husband, Mr Dibulous, is currently working at home, and spends all day coding at the computer. As soon as the weather turns cooler (which it just has - snow on top of our local mountain this morning!) his hands get really really cold, so a pair of fingerless mitts is the perfect thing for keeping him warm, but still able to work.

He actually picked out this wool so I could make them for a Christmas present. Last Christmas. Oops. Fortunately they still ended up as a present: for his birthday this week! The wool is Lang Merino 70 (deliciously soft and squishy, 98% merino, 2% polyester), and the pattern is this free one (the same one that Karen used for her stripy mitts last year). Karen mentioned in her post that the pattern didn't use as much wool as described, but I found I did use nearly a ball of wool for each - you can see how much I have left in the photo below.

These were super quick to knit up. The first one took a little longer as I needed to decode a few instructions, but the second one was knitted in an evening. Mr Dibulous has ridiculously giant hands, so I lengthened the mitts: 4 extra rows of rib at the wrist, and 2 extra rows of stocking stitch between the thumb and final ribbing.

I did a test square to check the tension gauge, and it was exactly what the pattern stated, but I thought these came out quite loose-fitting. Perfect for Mr Dibulous, but I think I would knit them just slightly smaller if I make them for myself (which I might!) - you can see the difference in the fit in the photos where I am modelling them. This may also be because of the wool - I have an inkling that the wool is slightly heavier weight than that suggested in the pattern. I would also reduce the length from the end of the wrist ribbing to the thumb, so it fits a bit more snugly at the base of the hand.

I followed Karen's tip and tied a red thread inside the right-hand mitten so it was easy to tell them apart.

Overall very pleased with these! I've been putting off knitting smaller items (i.e. gloves, socks and hats) as they just seemed so complicated. These really weren't! Mr Dibulous loves them, and has hardly taken them off since I gave them to him!