Links and updates!

Just set up a brand new knitting club in Newcastle! Its called Spinning Yarns and we're having our first meeting this thursday in a cafe in town. I'm personally hoping we'll be moving it to the Cumberland Arms, as a beer or glass of wine is aways good (although not so good for the knitting itself). Apparently they used to have one and it was great, so I think ours will be even better!

Had some very lovely mentions on the Craft Mafia blog  and Made in Newcastle blog too, so will be trying very hard to keep this blog up to date in future!

Craft Mafia Market at Made in Newcastle

I had a fantastic time running a stall at the Craft Mafia market at Made in Newcastle yesterday. Sold a couple of pieces so was definately worth it, but always hard to say goodbye to something you've put so much time and love into! Had so many lovely comments, and definately hoping to do more markets as and when they crop up.

I shared a table with Clare Wilsher who makes the most adorable sock monsters and I wanted to take home all of them! Check out her work at Clarabug Creations.

Knee-high Cable Knit Socks Finished!

All to my very own cable knit sock pattern!

Very happy I managed to make them the same at least!

Now to get shipping them to America I suppose.

Bye bye socks xxx

My Little Business Cards

During my degree show I gave these out (with little info labels on) as funky business cards, and they were so unbelievably popular I really regretted not selling them! I kept having to refill the tub of them, although I think a lot went to other students...!

I'm going to be selling them as brooches in the future I think. They're very small and cute, so I wonder if maybe wool or craft shops would sell them for me too. I suppose we'll see!

I may make my millions yet...

My Cable Knit Socks!

My first proper freelance job post degree, a pair of long cable knitted socks for a lady in the US. I found the job on http://www.etsy.com/ which has a whole feature called 'Alchemy', advertising freelance projects. 

I'm making up the pattern as I go (and writing it down so the next one is the same!), and it seems to be going pretty well! Very soft and snuggly, and on the teeniest of double pointed needles!
I kind of want some for myself, but theres no time for that anymore...

Degree Show

Part of my graduate show exhibition installation. Unfortunatley most of the pictures I took didn't come out well so I'm going to try to get hold of the official college ones if I can. I had everything suspended on fishing line from a bar with 4 beautiful ornate brackets across the top.. Everything could turn so you could see the front and back. I had a lot of brilliant feedback which was lovely.

My page in the Degree show catalogue

More of my finished pieces for my final project

My knitted knickers! These are very cute with my hand printed silk as a tie, bow and side ruffles. Knitted in supersoft cotton they're shaped at the back for bumcheeks ;-) They're pretty teeny (about a size 6) but hopefully I'll be selling somewhere soon so I'll make sure I do some bigger ones for us normal sized people!!

Finished silk bra with print, embroidery and knitted detail. I used really fine silk for this and dyed it, so it's really soft. the embroidery is a really detailed peony from my own drawings, as are the printed bugs. I knitted little tubes to go over the halterneck straps which are really soft too and I think a bit different!

I dyed a ball of bamboo yarn (which was new to me!) and knitted this little bra-top which I think is very pretty. The silk back straps are dyed and printed with my peony and beetle drawings, and then padded and embroidered. The bamboo doesn't shape so well as other yarns so I'd probably do it a bit differently for a more supportive shape, but this would be lovely on someone with perky little boobs!

Knitted vest based on a ww2 pattern, modernised with a beetle printed silk tie belt and fushia silk ribbon. This shaped really well as I knitted round the top so I decided to leave it strapless. Would probably need some of that rubbery stuff in so I might look into that!

Vintage inspired hand-knit vest

This seems to be my most popular piece. It's hand knitted from a 4ply cotton yarn with a leaf design that widens down the body for the hips. The belt tie is hand dyed and printed silk with a peony and beetle design, and the brooch is a knitted wool peony with embroidery. One of the most time consuming pieces, and one of 2 pieces I've put on my new Folksy shop, so we'll see if it gets any interest!

Front and back of my vintage inspired corset/waist cincher/suspender. I think girdle is probably the right word, but it's not a nice one!

This is knitted with one strand of wool and one of cotton so it is quite a solid but soft knit. The embellishments are silk that has been screen printed with my drawings and then hand embroidered over, and the suspender straps are soft dyed silk and little buttons.

One of my finished pieces: Knitted pure merino slippers with printed silk insole, printed and embroidered leather sole and hand dyed silk ties. I made the ties long so they would wrap up around the leg, and have sewn some little knitted leaves on the ends to finish. I think they're very cute, and the wool is beautiful and soft. About a size 4-7.

Neck piece

Just wanted to share this piece that I think is finished now... the base is a bit of knitting I did weeks ago and put aside as an experiment that hadn't worked. But the flowers make it something else entirely, and with the butterflies added I think this is one of my favourite pieces. Here's hoping my tutors agree!
I also hope this might be a bit more what they're looking for in the Knitting Competition later this year, which would mean I'd be able to exhibit at the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate in November. Fingers crossed!

The first finished piece for my major project... one down, about ten to go!

This is a sort of waist-cincher belt with screen printed silk and embroidery with soft suede ties. The base is knitted strips of silk, which took about 3 metres of my hand dyed stuff so I will probably never have the money or time to do again!

A couple of pieces in progress... I thought knitting was relaxing until I decided to do it for my project! I am getting a lot faster though, and creating my own patterns has been a steep learning curve!

Printed and embroidered silk bra-top. Its still in the process of being made and will include some knitted straps I think. I think when it's finished this might be one of my favourites.

These knickers are very cute I think, with a stencil printed silk bow and tie. Unfortunatley since they're for 'fashion', they're about a size 6 so too small for my big bum! They also had the women in the wool shop here a bit concerned that they would be no good for swimming... I assured them that that wasn't really a requirement for my degree show, and they went back to trying to sell me more wool.

Some pictures of my minor project installation. The drape is an embroidered screen print with hanging silk petals, and the body is newsprint half covered with an embroidered hand felted piece. I am very happy with the result, and it got a lot of admiration in the corridor at college- happy days!