However you celebrate, I wish you a beautiful holiday season filled with warmth and light :)
Craftily yours,
Shireen
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I’ve been craving one of those long, loopy scarves – and I found the perfect solution in a free pattern by Madeline Tosh. The Honey Cowl uses up 2 skeins of DK weight yarn in a completely mindless, easy knit that works up fast!
Again, we’re taking the mirror route of photography here….
This slip stitch patten is unbelievably quick and mindless, a good TTC knit. I’m using 2 skeins of TFA Yellow Label DK weight yarn in ‘Deep Sea‘. Deep sea is my favourite these days….it’s taken over from Mallard ;) I love how this simple stitch pattern compliments the subtly varigated yarn.
The slip stitch pattern is also dense and warm. Both sides look lovely;
I could definitely have kept going – but there was a cold snap in Toronto and I wanted to wear it! I did have more than half my 2nd skein of TFA left over, so I’ll be making matching mittens.
My only pattern mods were that I went straight into the pattern without the stockinette border, and that I added a few inches to the length. The stitch pattern is easily modified to make it shorter or longer.
Did I mention that the pattern is available free on Ravelry? Pattern page here!
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Fresh out of the kiln – 3 new yarn wranglers, including a new design; a double sided bowl for colourwork.
I have tried knitting fair isle with this one and yes, it does work. Makes handling the different strands much easier.
I love the saturation of the glazing in this round – the studio is letting the kiln ‘soak’ longer – this means the colours have more time to deepen and intensify.
These babies are only available at the Purple Purl here in Toronto. I know many of you have made inquires, or checked out my Etsy shop, but it really is very difficult to ship pottery. It’s expensive, and risky because the pieces are so fragile and I generally feel that it’s not worth it, however if you do live in Toronto, visit occasionally or just really really want one and are willing to look at the shipping costs then feel free to drop me an email :) hello@thebluebrick.ca.
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Today I wanted to show off the lovely knitted designs of Jane Richmond. This is one talented lady, her patterns are really well written and her designs are simple and classic. I found Jane’s designs while on the hunt for the perfect slouch hat. I started out with Jane. I knitted this up in only 2 days to kill time in Calgary. At 5.5mm on worsted weight, Jane just flies off the needles.
Incidentally, this post could also be called ‘A very uncomfortable venture into the self-portrait’. Tito was working this weekend and I was way overdue for FO shots, so I just made do with a mirror ;) I am way more comfortable behind the lens than in front, that’s for sure.
I used Rowan Lima for this, in the colourway ‘Aztec’. I wasn’t 100% sure about the yarn – it was a bit weird to work with and I’m not a fan of ‘fuzzy’ yarns (you’ll never catch me battling mohair, ugh) but I couldn’t resist the colourway and I’ve got to say I was very pleased with the result after all.
I loved Jane’s design so much I did another hat right away, this time her lacy slouch hat, Pasha. I knitted it up in Cascade 220 black, because what I really wanted was a bad hair day hat. Love love love this design. The lace is easy to remember and in a dk weight yarn it’s still a pretty quick knit.
I like this one because no matter how I feel like wearing it, it works. It’s become my go-to hat. I love the lace panels!
You can see Jane’s other lovely designs at her Ravelry store. Want to see her style before buying a pattern? There are lots of beautiful free patterns as well. I definitely recommend checking her site out, and if you’re stuck for a Christmas gift that ‘Jane’ hat did fly off the needles…. just sayin’ ;)
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I know, it’s been all jewellery lately, but I do have knitting to share – I’ve just been having so much trouble getting it photographed in these short, dark days!
Today I just wanted to show off 2 necklaces that were worked in sterling silver. I don’t normally work in this medium, but these two ladies were special so I went all out :)
Both of these are lariat style necklaces with clasps in the back. This one features a 6mm square cut swarovski wrapped in a sterling silver band.
And this one was a replacement for a friend who’s home was broken into recently. Among the things that were taken was a necklace she had purchased from me. As she pointed out, while the break in was annoying – the theft choices were oddly flattering.
For this one I used sterling silver elements with brushed silver finishes. The small ring at the bottom contains a circle of maple leaf preserved in resin.
I’ve already given this one to it’s recipient and she loves it :) Lariat necklaces fall so beautifully when you wear them – such a cute, classy look.
I love gift giving, and gift making – best part of the holidays!
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Ah! The last of my leaves. From here on it’s all flowers for me… but in the meantime here are 2 gorgeous new autumn jewellery pieces in silver bezel settings:
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Both of these lovelies have already sold, but I wanted to share a peek at my new direction now that my autumn leaf period is over – preserved flower petals.
This large pendant contains the petals from a preserved chrysanthemum.
And this beauty contains the petals from a geranium:
Stay tuned for more additions to my Etsy store while I explore this new art form!
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I can’t get away from the autumn leaves, though my stores of preserved ones are getting woefully low :( However – I had enough for a few last pieces in my autumn leaf series and I think these are my most beautiful and romantic items yet.
This lariat style necklace is made with a copper butterfly charm and a heart shaped pendant. The heart contains real autumn leaves, preserved in jeweller’s grade resin.
This beauty is an antique copper pendant with filigree elements that were hand-shaped around the pendant after the resin was cured. The leaves are from a sumach.
This gorgeous medallion is the same idea as above – though in this case the filigree was adhered directly to the resin.
I’ve saved the best piece for the last one :) This ring is my absolute favourite, so delicate and detailed with 2 pieces of shaped filigree and textured autumn leaves below the resin. Even the side view is lovely:
I have discovered that working with natural materials and resin is my favourite medium. No matter what other ideas I have, I always come back around to this one, the possibilities are endless and nature herself has provided me with so much inspiration, and such a beautiful colour palette. I will be making these until the very last leaf of my 2011 storage is gone, but I am already moving into work involving flower petals – more on that tomorrow!
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This mug was inspired by my karate style; Goju Ryu.
Goju Ryu means ‘hard/soft style’ (the kanji on this mug says ‘soft’ – yes, there is another, complimentary mug coming, but the ‘go’ mug wouldn’t be fired in time for Christmas so I left it for the new year)
At my Nidan grading this summer, O’Sensei told me ‘Be as hard as the world makes you, and as soft as the world allows you to be.’ That was the inspiration for this piece.
Here is the ‘Ju’ cup in the raw – the technique used for the texture is the same as these mugs. I use shellac to paint on my design, in this case the kanji, wait for the shellac to dry then gently rub away the clay with a damp sponge. The areas where the shellac have dried stay positive. The shellac itself burns away in the first kiln firing.
The rest of the texture was done by filling my hands with a very wet mixture of clay and water and smoothing it over the sides of the mug until I was happy with the results.
I think pottery is about as ‘ju’ as I get, so it seemed like an appropriate medium. Clay needs balance; if it’s too wet, too dry, too stressed or if you’ve been working it for too long – it won’t work out. You have to be patient & sensitive – but still know when to muscle the clay into place. If that’s not Goju then I don’t know what is ;)
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I designed this cute little number as the ideal one-skein winter project. Cute and sexy, these boot toppers work up fast and use only one skein of my favourite: Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label yarn.
The cables are simple enough for a beginner cable knitter. You will need to know how to cast on extra stitches using the backwards loop method (here’s a great tutorial at knittinghelp.com if you’re unfamiliar with it).
You can wear them up or down, on short boots or tall, they’re a cute addition to any outfit :) I’ll be making a few of these for my girlfriends as Christmas gifts.
The tab at the top has a decorative button for a nice finishing touch that gives it a little more than ending it as a simple tube. I’ve written up the pattern for 3 adult sizes: small, medium and large.
You can download the pattern here if you’re a Ravelry member and here if you’re not :)
Please feel free to email me at hello@thebluebrick.ca with any questions!
The Blue Brick 