Busy, busy, busy

Photos done in order, it seems to make everything a bit easier to remember? 

I recently bought a fantastic empisal knitting machine, and let me tell you it is BEAUTIFUL!!! I played with nothing else for a week! Just mucking around with tension and different fibers and stuff.

I only actually created one thing (the pumpkin further down.)

I completed two custom beanie orders for Eagles colours. I think they turned out pretty good and my customer was very pleased!

I read through a Knit scene magazine awhile ago, I think it was the spring issue. I came across the "Boscombe Socks" in the deductions section by Lisa Jacobs. 

They quickly became my favourite pattern of the issue and I decided I had to have them, (I very rarely make anything for myself). 

But I changed them to knee length, just something I've always wanted to have!

I made this on my thrifted semco tapestry loom, I couldn't find any info on the internet about how to use it or anything so I went in a bit blind!

But I think I really pulled it out in the end, my dragon obsession is a bit clear? For those who don't know it is Toothless' symbol from 'How To Train Your Dragon'

This is the aforementioned pumpkin, made as a gift and pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!

Here is a picture of my first voyage into shuttle tatting, not nearly as hard as I'd imagined.

It just takes a bit of practice to remember the motions, I now have to make SIX more to complete the doily. 

I think it will be well worth it when I'm finished.

And finally the makings of a childish duffle bag, I can't think of what to do for the next panel though!!! Suggestions?

Works in progress

Many, many, MANY works-in-progress. Should've taken a photo of my overflowing project bag! It's nuts, I'm terrible at completing things (well yarn related things anyway!). 

I blame pinterest, far to many tempting projects.

Either that or things just didn't turn out properly like this "lovely" hermit crab shell from the book Amigurumi Knits. 

There was nothing wrong with the pattern mind you, just the wool. I was having bit of a lupus flare up at the time and picked the wool solely for the variegated colour, as you can probably tell the Kitchener segment didn't work out to well.

The Kitchener stitch is just not something I'm very good at, I ALWAYS stuff it up and this particular fibre really didn't work.

Here is cute Mr. Moon with only half a hat. I think I'm going to make some little stars and hearts and cute bits to assemble him into a babies' mobile. Thoughts?

In celebration of "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2" (which I am totally obsessed with) I have been sewing night furies and attempting a night fury knitting and crochet combo pattern. 

I just don't like knitted wings, I'm all for blocking and stuff but I would rather avoid it if at all possible. 

I think toys need to be durable, as in able to be washed many times over.

Never fear this pattern will be available when I'm finished and if your not a knitter or crocheter I will be selling completed toys through Brightly Burst' Facebook page.

Also in need of test crocheters and knitters, just comment on this post if your interested!!!

Look what happens!

What happens when you've got nothing to do?

You make something, well I do anyway. I make ALOT of things! I mean, like, heaps. 

But what happens when I'm not motivated?

Nothing, well something, but nothing. 

I suffer from an autoimmune disease called lupus, I get arthritic symptoms without the arthritis. I get sick super easily so I have to be uber careful about being around sick people. I could be fine in the morning and then sit down on the couch and sleep for the rest of the day. Some days in just can't get out of bed, some nights I just don't sleep because the pain is just that intense. 

But this disease is not like diabetes where there are designated 'types' instead every single case is a totally different story. My dad suffers from the same disease but even the difference between us is amazing. His is a much more severe case that really takes a toll on our family. 

I've never really mentioned this before on my blog because it seems to be a hard thing for me to communicate to people. Only those who spend an enormous amount of time with me actually understand. But knowing this may give you a little insight into my life. 

I knit and crochet because most days it's hard for me to do much else. I've put some random photos that give you a little interest! Might be a little disjointed to what I've written but I'll let you be the judge.

This is our GORGEOUS new puppy Thea. She's about 18 months old and pre-trained, (so much 

easier!) she's so needy, but in a good way. She just sits next to you on the couch and follows you around the house. She waits at the back door to go to the bathroom and brings her little toy to your feet when you come home. What could be better! Unless your not a dog person, but wait there's more!

Here's a fuzzy picture of my scrappy balls of wool to try out Entrelac crochet, hmmm interesting. I'll show you how it turns out! (Picture a cheesy grin inserted here!)

Teaching crochet to a friend of ours, tiny little hands, tiny little hook. Bad photography but hey it was nighttime and perfect opportunity! 

Here is our beautiful pussy cat! She's gotten suprisingly more cuddly since Thea's been here. It's unfortunate that she's put out by the dog, but nice that we are actually getting some affection!!

Here's is about 3/4 of a teeny, tiny baby jacket for a little stuffed monkey. But I mean Oh My Goodness I had to compleletely rewrite the pattern because even the premature size was way too massive!

I am in love with this crochet dragon scarf!! But I can't afford it at the moment so I'm attempting one of my own.

Pattern can be found here

And finally, ahhhhh, cookies, or at least the makings of them!

Busy, busy, busy

Teddy bear, oh how cute are thee? I love these little pieced body parts connected with little buttons. This Christmas he'll be going to a lovely new home, I'll be sad to see him go. I loved the way the variations of the yarn changed so smoothly, it's really the first time I've had any luck with this type of wool. It's my own pattern so the head's a bit demented but the arms and legs are from this book.

My little birds from the last post went to some new homes over to some cousins in Adelaide but boys are so much harder to make things for!! There are four little boys, two above 6 and three below. 

(From left to right) I bought a pooh bear quilt block for the newest little boy, strangely enough I had never enough seen a pre-printed quilt block until today! It's a perfect size for the little guy. 

Next is a boy who likes Spider-Man, but due to a lack of licensed fabric my fantastic brother found this spider print. I loved that it had the red scattered throughout and I got the blue for backing cause it seemed to complete the Spider-Man theme. 

Then we've got two different Lorax prints for two more boys. One is a gorgeous window sort of print and the other is an A4 size print blocks. 

And lastly I was searching for Ben 10 fabric but they had just run out!!! So instead I got the basic colours for that watch thingy he wears. I have an idea of how it looks so I'm going to appliqué it on. 

Oh my gosh! I just realized I didn't even tell you what I am making!!!! 

Due to postage I vouched for something mostly flat, I decided to make different pillowcases for them. I'll show you pictures when they are done!

Looking at the beautiful wreaths from Attic24 I decided to manufacture a Christmas wreath of our own. Instead of crocheting a scarf thing to sew around the foam ring I've cut polar fleece to stitch around it. A lot of the patterns for the individual pieces have come from Attic24 tutorials, the golden swirly things were supposed to look like west australian Christmas tree flowers and look pretty good if I do say so myself. 

For these gloves I developed the pattern from a photo on pinterest. My sister has already put in a request, they are made of mitered squares. I may post the pattern but I'd like to get permission from the original source first. 

Hope your week has been just as productive in this crazy lead upto Christmas!!!!

What have you been upto? Let me know!

Projects! Oh my goodness!

The doll on the left is a pattern if my own, as is the dress. I need to make another one and remember to write the pattern down (I'm terrible at that!) she's a little ballerina. I painted the face and knitted the hair, I thought the two buns were cuter than just one. 

The elephant and sausage dog are from 'the big book of softies' and they are so cute.

The two dolls on the other end are still in progress but I thought I'd show you anyway. 

The two books are by Loani Prior and showcase some gorgeous tea pot cosies. I working on 'Gone Potty' its double knitted and I've struggled a bit with the colour pattern but it is the first time I've double knitted anything this complicated. 

On the right are a pair of freeform fingerless gloves I made. They were so much fun to create!

Here is a better photo of the gloves. I'm really happy how they turned out, if only it weren't coming into summer over here!

Daphne beanie

Daphne beanie

This hat is adapted from this scarf:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/daphne-19

The best way to mke this hat is using a circular knitting needle using the magic loop method or double pointed needles. I used DK yarn.

Pattern

Cast on 120 stitches, put a marker between each group of 20 stitches. The pattern design is for each set of twenty. The pattern repeats for each leaf and a half. When you have five leaves instead of splitting the stem again you need to go only to the opposite leaf. 

You need help or run into pattern mistakes please don't hesitate to contact me.

Row 1: P2, K5, P4, K3, P6

Row 2: P2, K2, yo, K1, yo, K2, P4, K2, inc1, p2tog, P4

Row 3: P2, K7, P4, K2, P1, K1, P5

Row 4: P2, K3, yo, K1, yo, K3, P4, K2, inc1ps, K1, p2tog, P3

Row 5: P2, K9, P4, K2, P2, K1, P4

Row 6: P2, K2tog, K5, ssk, P4, K2, P1, inc1ps, K1, P2tog, P2

Row 7: P2, K7, P4, K2, P3, K1, P3

Row 8: P2, K2tog, K3, ssk, P4, K2, P2, inc1ps, K1, p2tog, P1

Row 9: P2, K5, P4, K2, P4, K1, P2

Row 10: P2, p2tog, K1, ssk, P4, K2, P4, yo, K1, yo, P2

Row 11: P2, K3, P4, K2, P4, K3, P2

Row 12: P2, sk2p, P2, p2tog, K1, m1, K1, P4, (K1, yo) twice, K1, P2

Row 13: P6, K3, P4, K5, P2

Row 14: P4, p2tog, K1, inc1, K1, P4, K2, yo, K1, yo, K2, P2

Row 15: P5, K1, P1, K2, P4, K7, P2

Row 16: P3, p2tog, K1, inc1ps, K2, P4, K3, yo, K1, yo, K3, P2

Row 17: P4, K1, P2, K2, P4, K9, P2

Row 18: P2, p2tog, K1, inc1ps, P1, K2, P4, K2tog, K5, ssk, P2

Row 19: P3, K1, P3, K2, P4, K7, P2

Row 20: P1, p2tog, K1, inc1ps, P2, K2, P4, K2tog, K3, ssk, P2

Row 21: P2, K2, P4, K2, P4, K5, P2

Row 22: P2, yo, K1, yo, P4, K2, P4, K2tog, K1, ssk, P2

Row 23: P2, K3, P4, K2, P4, K3, P2

Row 24:P2, (K1, yo) twice, K1, P4, K1, m1, K1, p2tog, P2, sk2p, P2

When you've made five of the leaves work only the next one instead of splitting the stem again. Decrease your purl stitches evenly across the row, work a row normal and decrease evenly again repeating this process until you have about twelve stitches left, fasten off.

Geoffrey

Geoffrey the giraffe, commissioned to make by a good friend from my church for his wife's birthday. He turned out very cute, sometimes simplicity is best. It's the first time I've done stranded knitting, and the first time I've actually used French knitting for anything. When I was little I used to just make strings of the I-cord like things, now I've finally found a use for them!!!! I included some close ups of his face a crocheted mane just for kicks. Hope you enjoy, I adapted the pattern from this book:

http://www.bauer-media.com.au/books/cool-knitting.htm

Vintage Bunny

Isn't my bunny gorgeous!!!! He's knitted mainly in seed stitch with his crocheted red scarf and stocking stitch stomach. I'm thinking next time I'll get a few different contrasting patterned fabrics and do some in-laying in the ears, on the paws and a circle patch on the tummy. With a few tweaks he could be a mama kangaroo with a pouch and a joey.

Made from a free pattern by Sara Elizabeth Kellner on Ravelry

Rachel's doll

This is the first doll I ever made. I made it specifically for my best friend Rachel. her body and head are crocheted and her hair is knitted. I loved making her and will be making more similar to her in the future. Right now I'm working on new patterns.