Typewriter Key Bracelets

 Commission for my friend Caroline over on Uniqart.

 Birthday present for a friend.

My own - first one and prototype.

Each bracelet is unique with a mix of semi-precious beads (above, from top to bottom: turquoise, rose quartz and opal), vintage and modern beads, charms, and chain and of course a single vintage typewriter key. The typewriter key is chosen at random unless specified otherwise.

You can order your own bracelet - you just need to let me know the size and what colours (or semi-precious beads) you'd prefer. I will either select a random key from my stash or if you are after a particular letter, I will try and order it for you (unless it's in my stash already); however if I have to order it, it will add two weeks to the commission as I have to order it in from the US, so keep that in mind if it's for a present and ensure enough lead time.

Each bracelet is £25 plus P+P (depending on where you are in the world) and will come gift wrapped, ready to give to someone special or just a pretty way to keep it safe from tangling up with other items in your jewellery box.

Watch out for the new Rockabilly jewellery coming soon....

Chrysanthemum the Ninja Bunny

... and sometimes pirate bunny....

My latest toy creation:

Chrysanthemum

Chrys is not just any bunny, she's a special bunny with special moves and a bandanna that she sometimes wears...

... as her special eye patch, when she feels like being a pirate.


Not for the faint of heart, she is cute, feisty and a little bit wild.

She needs a very special home with a special little person to look after her.


Chrysanthemum has been made from soya (body), cotton (bandanna and embroidery) and merino Astrakhan yarn (her tail and the little fluffy bits on her ears). She is stuffed with 100% lambswool and soft and squishy. You can wash her gently in warm water with a little bit of special delicates washing liquid. Leave her to dry and she'll be good as new, but make sure you wash the bandanna separately as this has been hand dyed and might make her lovely vanilla colour go pink. She wouldn't like that. Really, she wouldn't.

Chrysanthemum is about 15cm (6") tall and she'll be waiting in my Etsy shop sometime later this week for someone to give her a loving home.

Note: This toy is not suitable for very small children due to the buttons on her face and the bandanna.

Mimi the Wishing Cat

Here's a little cat I made earlier....

... she's a special present for my sister who's moving house soon. She loves cats but is allergic to them and I thought this little cat is perfect for her.

Mimi

Little Mimi is a special wishing cat. She makes wishes come true. :-)


She's knitted using a pattern I made up as I went along in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in rose, fuchsia and burgundy.


Her face has been embroidered with embroidery silk, and cotton, and yarn and her eyes are two black buttons.

The flower (she insisted on having) is hand crocheted and embellished with another button.


Mimi is all soft and squishy as she's stuffed with pure lambswool.

Her paws are also embroidered.


Mimi can't wait to get to her new home....

If you want your own special cat, let me know and we'll sort out something. :-)

Penny's Wrist Warmers

Penny from Natural Attrill commissioned me to make her a pair of wrist warmers. We decided on the most wonderful Habu silk mohair (60% and 40% mohair) which I knitted to specification.



The design is very simple with purl on the front and back with a single cable keeping the wrist warmers tight around the wrist. There are a few rows of ribbing at the top and a single row of crochet at the bottom to keep the wrist warmers tight around the top and bottom.


You can see how light and fluffy the wrist warmers are! In fact, they weigh less than 25g and are as soft as eider down.


They are intended for use all year round inside the house and out and they can be worn with the cable on the front or back and even inside out.


You can commission wrist warmers too. Prices vary depending on design and yarn but are around £20 plus P&P.

Featured...

I just discovered Craft Cult, where you can check if your Etsy items have recently been featured on Etsy's front page, Storque or one of the gift guides.

Seems my turquoise and gold silk flower garland made it on the front page and one of the gift guides - Shades of Emerald. :-)

Strawberry Fields - Shawl

Here's my latest shawl. I wanted a red one to wear in the Summer and I'd had my eye on a Feather & Fan lace pattern for a while. So here's my

Strawberry Fields Shawl

It's the perfect shawl as it can be worn in a variety of ways...

... it's the most gorgeous red colour which I achieved by holding together strands of Japanese Red and Petunia Pink Clara Brilhante cotton from www.yarnstick.co.uk, which have been great in sending my cotton very, very quickly. I even managed to finally get real emerald green cotton - I'd been looking all over for it. It's amazing how many people don't know their colours!!!

The shawl is quite long (1.70m) and it's wide and soft enough to be worn as either a shawl or a scarf. Perfect for a Summer evening or a cool Spring morning.


The two strands of yarn held together almost look like cotton chenille as the pink is slightly lighter than the red and therefore gives the impression of highlights like on chenille.

It was surprisingly quick to make - only 4 days - and that's including finishing. If you want one, check out the colours here, and then let me know which colours you'd like. Keep in mind that I will need two balls of yarn (either in the same or two different colours) and about 500m (altogether) as the yarn is too thin to be knitted with just one strand, if you want a shawl that can be worn all year round.

Depending on the yarn you choose the shawl will be between £25 and £30. The cotton is colour fast and can be washed easily.

Commissions from Jewellery Party

Pear Blossom Earrings

To match the original Pear Blossom Set.

I've used slightly less verdigris and more acrylic varnish on the earrings as I was worried about the verdigris touching the sensitive skin round the neck, however, they're still a good match and will darken over time.





Willow Earrings V 2

See the originals here. The Willow earrings were a great hit at the charity event at Caroline's house. I sold the originals and got a commission to make another pair.


These are slightly different as I changed the flower for a different one and the leaves are handmade (cut from copper, hammered and bashed and scraped and scratched for texture and then filed and sanded to avoid sharp edges).




Warrior Princess Set

The earrings were commissioned to match the bracelet I made a while ago. I was sure I'd posted here before and then couldn't find it anywhere. Odd!


The earrings are more delicate than the bracelet as they would have been too heavy. I used new lovely faceted cathedral beads with copper detail to match the original emerald green bead in the bracelet.

Here's the original bracelet which I had to make slightly smaller. It has always reminded me of something I'd imagine a warrior princess to wear. It's bold and it's strong and it's lovely. The oxidised copper works really well with most skin tones as there's a lot of variation in the colour.

The beads used in this are both vintage and each has it's own charm. One is similar to a tigereye bead with darker and lighter striations and the other one is a deep dark emerald green with gorgeous facets.

Dancing Pearls Leaf Lace Heirloom Scarf

Finally done - the Dancing Pearls Leaf Lace Scarf.

Yep, it's a bit of a mouthful, BUT I wouldn't want you to miss any of the wonders of this scarf. ;-)

It's just so pretty in the gorgeous, soft, shimmery and beautiful Habu silk. The colour is a soft salmon pink which looks so pretty with the leaf lace pattern. The perfect scarf for a special occasion - from a ball to a Summer wedding, you can go wrong as this colour works with lots of other colours and styles.

I've embroidered the scarf with tiny cream glass pearls (almost 40 of them) which seem to dance across the silk and add a subtle shimmer.

Here's a details shot of my first ever attempt at grafting two pieces of knitting together with the Kitchener stitch. I found a brilliant tutorial on YouTube that made it very easy as it explained how to do it AND how to memorise it.

Here are two close-ups of the pattern and pearls:

Liquorice Jelly Bowl

This is my latest (finished) project:

Liquorice Jelly Bowl

It's made from black jelly yarn (which is made from vinyl) and it looks so yummy and glossy.


I wanted a bowl that looks good on the table and where I can keep my bits and pieces whilst working on them - needles, scissors, bits of embroidery cotton, pins, yarn etc.


The bowl has a rim of 'tentacles' all along the top. I was going to add flowers and leaves for decoration, but then decided it was pretty as it was and anything else would just distract from it's lovely glossy blackness. :-)


It can be washed (with hand warm soapy water).

There will be more of these in various sizes and colours. Check out www.jellyyarn.com for colours available. I am happy to make these to order. Depending on what else I have on it'll normally take a couple of days to make one of this size (rather large).

The large ones (made from 2 skeins of yarn) will cost around £20 plus P&P, smaller ones will vary depending on the amount of yarn used.

Daffodil Wisp Shawl

Here's the wonderful Wisp shawl (pattern here) I made for my sister in (as yet unreleased) Rowan Kidsilk in daffodil.

I love the colour and the drape of the shawl. A row of buttons and button holes along all four sides makes the shawl very versatile as it can be worn in hundreds of different ways.



I've used yellow sweetie heart buttons and an orange flower button as an accent.

Here you can see the pattern in detail:

The pattern I used is the same as Caroline used on here colourful scarf. Don't they look so different?

Can't wait to show my sister her shawl this afternoon. Not long now.... :-)

Sneak Preview of Leaf Lace Scarf

Here's what I've done so far on my Lace Leaf Scarf. The pattern is less complicated than it looks I just have problems remembering it, especially since it keeps being put aside for more urgent projects.


I've used the most wonderful Habu silk which is a delight to knit with - it's the same (but a different colour) as I've used in the Dragon Lace scarf and wrist warmers.

Sod's law means that I am running out of the yarn as this pattern uses more yarn as the other pattern... so I'll have to wait till I can get some more. :-( One day this scarf may be finished....The project for my sister is finished but I won't show it here until my sister has seen it. It looks so pretty........

Movie Magic

I've been busy with presents and a commission.

I was asked to make a pair of earrings like the ones the lamia witch wears in Stardust. There are some pictures of the whole costume here. I love the film, it's one of my favourites, so I agreed and here's my take on them:


It was quite difficult to find all the different materials for them as everything was slightly unusual and certainly not 'off the peg'.

I ended up with a lot of improvising and I think - although the feel of the earrings is similar - they look lovely and different in their own right. I hope to get some images of the finished costume as the earrings are to go with a whole outfit for a big party.

Alongside this commission I've also finished the purple polka dot wrist warmers and the silk flower (see previous post) and I've been working on a silk scarf with an intricate leaf lace pattern. However, this scarf keeps being put aside as other projects come up.

Currently I am working on a special secret project for my baby sister. She's going to come next week and stay with us for Easter. I CAN'T wait. It'll be lovely to have her here.

Presents - Wrist Warmers and Silk Flower Brooch

It was my friend Nicki's birthday yesterday and I made her some wrist warmers in purple cotton.

Purple Polka Dot Wrist Warmers


When the cotton yarn I'd ordered from eBay arrived, the purple was dull and dreary. It's a lovely yarn but the colour was terrible. So I ordered some yarn dyes and dyed it. The result was a lovely deep purple, much more intense and a lovely shade. I am so pleased with my first attempt at dying yarn. The only problem was, despite tying up the two balls of yarn in skeins, one tangled up so badly it took me 3 hours to just untangle a quarter of it! It's still all tangled up... luckily the other one was okay and I could knit with that.

The pattern is my own. There's a small pattern along the bottom of the front and then the lacing with the polka dot ribbon.

On the back I've used a cable pattern as I find it means that the wrist warmers keep their shape better this way, which is especially important as I've used cotton. Cotton tends to loosen up when you wear it, and it usually means washing the wrist warmers to make sure they tighten up again.

Nicki seemed very pleased with them, especially as she'd been nicking the wrist warmers I made for her daughter (see here, Funky Punk Wrist Warmers) for Christmas. These match Nicki's coat much better. :-)


Instead of buying her flowers, I made her one to keep and wear.

Rhapsody in Silk Flower Brooch

This is my first silk flower made with dupioni silk in wonderful shades of duck egg blue, turquoise and purple, teal taffeta, ivory organza and hand crocheted flower and petals. Each layer of silk and taffeta was embroidered with embroidery cotton.

There's a lovely turquoise button in the centre with three teeny purple fresh water pearls for a finishing touch.
I am pleased with how the silk flower turned out so will make more. I like the vintage, shabby chic feel of it.