KnitWit

Just in case...

you are at a loose end tomorrow I thought I'd mention Farm Sunday.

Archers fans will be already familiar with the concept but basically Farm Sunday is an opportunity for farmers to showcase their farming practices. It is organised by LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) which is a organisation which works with farmers to develop a sustainble system of agriculture which meets the economic needs of farmers and minimises environmental impact. Farm Sunday is about recongising the importance of having a vibrant countryside and celebrating the role that Farmers have in shaping that. I'm planning to cycle to a local farm tomorrow morning to show my support (and see if there are any animals to stroke!)
The pig picture was from the sheep day I went to last year with Kirsty at Spitalfields City Farm - I think he is rather splendid and worthy of another blog appearance.

Feeling friday-ish

As it is nearly the weekend, I thought I'd play a game that I spotted on Craftapalooza. Details on Flickr.

Bert

 

Photo: via H's friend, Helen.

This is Bert, he is 4 weeks old and is soon to be my sister's puppy. Isn't he sweet? I think he is just the model for the dog coat from the Pet Heaven book that I have been desperate to knit and foist on someone.

Expect many more gratuitous pictures in the next couple of weeks... It has been a while since we had a family pet.  

Pansy alert!

Sewing FO: Around Town Summer Bag

After seeing Katie’s bag made from two fat quarters – I started thinking, I have a lot of fabric – it is a nice small project and a bag. I do L-O-V-E bags…. Hmmm.

Katie helped me massively with this project, we used hers as the basic pattern. My fat quarters were slightly smaller so the third fabric was used to make it deeper. I like how the three fabrics work together. There was a moment where I thought I had gone insane thinking they would work together but I love how this looks.

It isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I don’t think that matters. I love that I made it on my sewing machine and that it was finished relatively quickly (well it took about 5ish hours).

The pansy fabric is a Kaffe Fasset fabric from Rowan and bought from the Festival of Quilts exhibition along with the red and white dotty fabric. The brown dotty fabric was bought on my recent trippette to Paris from Le Bon Marche. Perfect for taking book and knitting out and about on a sunny May day.  (Or your knitting and my new Paris Hilton style bling purse!)

Things I learnt:

• When buying what you think is a fat quarter in Paris, it probably is a long thin strip!
• Zigzag stitch around all the edges is very good for practising straight lines and ensuring fabric doesn’t fray
• Unpicking on sewing is harder than knitting
• Turning straps inside out is hard but gives a nice finish
• Ironing and pinning is very important – MUST BUY IRON
• Katie is incredibly patient and supportive when helping the novice sewer

Bluetonic

Given that I’m sad and weary today, and all my hope is gone (slightly overdramatic but really – poor choice London, let us leave it at that.*), I think it is time for a restorative FO. This cushion cheers me greatly and frankly I needed a boost. Honestly, what can cheer you up more than an FO?

So to recap, my name is Lara and I’m afraid of sewing. The mere idea of cutting fabric could give me a rash and while I love my sewing machine, it currently makes me shudder. I want to be able to sew, I adore the clothes I have seen Kirsty sew, the quilts and log cabin pillows that Ashley makes and obviously the amazing quilts that Jane makes. I love fabric and have been hoarding fat quarters and general pieces that have pleased me. Hand sewing is fine – when I was younger I got really into sewing patchwork pieces together, embroidery and counted cross-stitch. (I did very much love the counted cross-stitch until everyone in my family had bookmarks and lavender bags – I find  it very soothing). I would always choose to sew by hand rather than use a scary machine being the Luddite that I am. (It once took me a triple period to sew three sides of a square cushion using a machine – the teacher wasn’t very sympathetic and suspected I had been chatting with my best friend and so made us both stay behind). With knitting it took me a long time to realise that if I didn’t like something then I could just unravel it and I think that a lot of my fear of sewing is really fear of cutting the fabric and completely mucking it up. Anyway, my sewing forays have been a bit limited to date, even with the amazing machine – I made the needle case, pincushion but then stalled.

Anyway, on Friday I decided to try and sooth my rather fragile nerves by getting out my sewing machine to finish of a UFO which had been languishing around my house for a long time. This cushion is the second thing I knit (first was the scarf, third thing was as yet unblogged mitts which I wear all the time) and I had been putting off sewing it up because of the fear of the sewing.  And hurrah it worked – it isn’t the most beautiful sewing in the world but it is finished and all held together and I love it.

The front is basically a practise square in Noro Kuryeon with intermittent garter and stocking stitch stripes. (The ball band is long gone so not much detail). Ravelled here.

It is backed with some green fabric and some fancy turquoise-bluey-silver silk for the back bought from Masons in Abingdon (in February 2006!). On the back is a flower which I embroidered from an Angry Chicken free pattern on the Craft Sanity podcast. I used silver thread which against the fabric is a bit more than my old camera can manage. It has been blogged here previously and I find it a nightmare to photograph.

Anyway, hopefully my sewing fear is going to subside slightly now. I figure that the fear isn’t going to go away but ignoring my sewing machine. My family were so excited when they bought me the amazing machine that I am determined to master it. Straight lines are a thing which seem to be a rare creature when I sew. Learning by doing is my mantra – I found knitting really hard when I started and while I’m not technically brilliant, I try all the time to improve.

* I got a text message from a friend which said “I am full of expletives today” which sums up my feelings perfectly.