More than Kisses

 

 

All four images © Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

Valentine's Day is not far away, so love is in the air. My favourite merino yarn twisted into letters and a paper heart. Something pretty for someone special.

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop. 

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

 

First 3 available (only a sampling as more variations are available) on Society6, 

framed picture on  Redbubble.

New Wrist Warmers for Winter 2010

 Artist's own - Malabrigo Silk Blend "Taurus" (variegated red)

For sale - red merino silk mix - burgundy red - medium - £20

 Reserved - Mirasol Tulpa - merino silk mix - chocolate brown

 For sale - Mirasol Tulpa - merino silk mix - chocolate brown - medium - £20

Closeups of the yarn/patterns.

These are part of the selection of wrist warmers available for this winter. More to come.

Teal Deliciousness - Knitting

 

A while back I bought some Malabrigo Silky Merino Lace yarn in Azul Profundo. I made a shrug from it (which I can't show you just yet because I've worn it so often it needs washing.... LOL Yes, I love it!) I bought 3 skeins to make sure I'd have enough, however, I had enough to make a pair of wrist warmers and a hat as well... and there's still yarn left over so I might make a little scarflette just to finish off the yarn... :-) Teal loveliness. My favourite colour. All mine.

However, I have some more of the Malabrigo Baby Lace in other colours, so if you want to order some utterly soft and light wrist warmers with or without a hat, let me know and I'll see what I can do. :-)

Knitting - on special request

... you know who you are! ;-)

I have been busy knitting lots of stuff recently. The weather was just so bad that there never seemed a moment of sunlight to take pictures, or if there was, I was busy. LOL

Oh well, here it is....

Citron shawl
Knitted with a lace weight lambswool. Pattern is here. Despite adding an extra repeat of the pattern it turned out a bit smaller than the one in the pattern because I used smaller needles and lace weight yarn. It looks great as a sweet little scarf in a Rockabilly kind of way and I love it. It's a present for a friend, whose favourite colour this is. :-)

Purple Slanted Shawl

Again, this is a present. It's a huge long shawl in a mohair yarn, knitted on the slant with several patterns in random order. I've embellished it with little beads at both ends.

Glacier Shawl and Wrist Warmers

Sorry guys, this set is mine. It's made from Rowan kidsilk in the colour 'Glacier' and I love, love, love it. LOL
The pattern is my own, although it's fairly simple, the stripes are created by alternating st st with drop stitch rows, the 'icicles' on the sides are simple increases and castoffs. Like the purple shawl it's very long and warm and soft. :-)

The matching wrist warmers are my own design too - the cable pattern is on both sides (front and back).

I am currently knitting another Citron shawl, this time in the correct yarn, but with a slightly modified pattern. That's for me too.... LOL I am also making a mobile with a sea creatures theme from wire, but it's not finished yet....

If you live in the Cambridge area and would like to have an invite to my next jewellery party (25th March) send me an e-mail.

I Knit Show Or Yarn Heaven

Last Saturday was taken up by a visit to London and the I Knit Show.

My blogger friend Caroline from over on Uniqart and her lovely daugher joined me and we trudged all the way from Waterloo to Westminster and got rather an indepth view of Westminster due to a terrible map (and some map reading errors on our side). However, we finally got there, and, yes, it was definitely worth it and next year's show is already marked in my diary.

The show was held in the lovely Lindley Hall Conference Centre, which is bright and airy and has great facilities including a reasonably priced cafe.

There were tables for people to sit and 'talk yarn' and lots of stalls with gorgeous, lovely, amazing, interesting yarn delights. :-) Yep, it's that bad. Really. LOL

I knew it'd be bad so I'd set myself a budget and resisted using the cash machine in the centre. I only bought things I really, really, neeeeeded. LOL

Here's my stash, partially wound up in balls already (couldn't resist playing with my yarn the minute I got home, footsore and exhausted but happy).

Like Caroline, I bought mostly lace weight yarns.


Below is some feathery pink yarn with black spots interspersed throughout which I'll be using as trim and also the black lambswool laceweight yarn.

This was one of my 'neeeeed-this': beautiful Malabrigo Silk Blend yarn in cherry red.

Rose and green alpacca lace weight yarn.



Feathery fluffy and, oh so soft, 'Guinea Fowl' yarn. Again, I will use this as a trim.


And this is the second of 'had to have' yarns: Louisa Harding Willow Tweed in a soft blue with little white dots throughout. Totally gorgeous!!!

And here's some Filatura di Crosa baby merino lace weight yarn. So soft and yummy. The colour is a pale silver. Very similar to the yarn I dyed - see this post.


Apart from the yarn stalls there were also seminars and stalls with 'made' things. One of the stalls was particulalry memorable. Unfortunately I didn't take a card, so can't remember the name of the lady, but she made the most beautiful sea creatures from knitted, very thin wire. Totally amazing. We also saw some people spinning - with spinning wheels and drop spindles. If there had been a spinning class.... one of the things I want to try before I die. LOL

A great day out. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Dye Project - Forgetmeknots, or maybe Faded Jeans

My latest dye project.

I had some fantastic feathery, papery ribbon yarn in silver which wasn't quite the right colour for what I was going to use it (my latest cardigan, pictures coming soon). I ended up using a different yarn for the project as it didn't dye the way I wanted it to as the yarn I used is from all artificial fibres so I knew right from the start that the dying process would be hit and miss. Also, I was using Procyon dyes rather than acid dyes, which makes it even more difficult. However, I love the new colour, which I am not quite sure why but reminds me of forgetmenots. It is a faded denim kind of colour and the various elements of the yarn dyed differently which gives it a lovely colour depth.

Below you can see the original silvery colour and next to it the dyed version.


Here's a close-up of the two yarn version side by side.

And here's a close-up of the dyed yarn by itself.

Yarn dying is so much fun and if you've always been meaning to try but weren't sure, do try.

I am still hankering after some natural dyes to play with....

Snowy the Bear

Ta-Da - Snowy the Bear.

My very first knitted toy, made for Ben. It should have been a Christmas present but I got snowed under with request for warmers and it never happened. Have to say I felt a bit daunted by the pattern too...

The pattern is called 'Otto' and is available from Ysolda Teague's Store.

It took me about 4 days to finish the bear and Snowy turned out very cute, but I did have a few issues with the pattern. I think the nose as per pattern is too long and it caused me no end of trouble when I embroidered it with the black yarn. In the end I had to take it apart, shorten it and therefore get rid off any resemblance to a well known German dictator....

I am also not happy with the mistakes I found in the pattern regarding the legs and gusset. Unfortunately, despite the promise of pattern support I got no help Ysolda herself, nor from the Ysolda Ravelry group.

On the whole though Snowy is sweet and much loved.


A personal touch was adding the bouclé yarn embroidery around the ears. The yarn is Sirdar Juicy in White (Coconut) for the main body, Cashcotton in black for the nose and eyes and Rowan Astrakhan in cream for the embroidery around the ears. The stuffing is pure lambswool. Very squishy and soft! :)

I loved knitting with the bamboo yarn as it's lovely and silky and so smooth. Perfect for all sorts of projects.

The pattern got my appetite wetted for some toy knitting. I've almost finished a little cat which is based on my own pattern. I quite fancy making a monkey or a different kind of bear though. We'll see... I'll have to add it to the very long list of projects which gets longer by the day.

The emerald green shrug got put aside whilst Ben was nagging me to make his bear... however, that is almost finished too. AND I did some more yarn dying. Once the yarn has been untangled and wound up into balls I will show you the results.

Frost Flower Lace Scarf

My lovely, lovely Frost Flower Lace scarf:


I've used both Habu Silk Mohair in a pale shimmery grey and a silk/linen mix in a soft light denim blue running alongside to create this scarf - both yarns are as thin as sewing thread and together they create a stunning pale blue with the softness of the mohair/silk and the crispness of the silk/linen.

I had real trouble for some reason to memorise the lace pattern, but I love the way it creates little flowers or maybe snowflake patterns.

The edges of the scarf have been crocheted and beaded with clear Matatama drops and there's a flower brooch that comes with it - partly knitted and trimmed in more Magatama drop beads, partly organza in various shades of blue, grey and silver and with a vintage faceted crystal bead in the centre.

The scarf isn't as long or wide as some of my other scarves, but perfect for Spring and Summer or even inside in the Autumn and Winter. It's extremely light and floaty and complements a whole range of colours.

The scarf will be available in my Etsy shop shortly together with the flower hair barrettes and clips.

Annis' Black Wrist Warmers

I love the way these have turned out, all Gothic and deep black.

The pattern is the same as for the teal wrist warmers, but they look so different!




This pair is for Annis, but I'll have to make myself a black pair. I've always liked long gloves but they're so impractical - and when am I going to a ball these days? So, these wrist warmers are the perfect substitute. However, the next pair I'll make will be a simplified pattern. It takes me about 2 days to make a pair with this pattern... and I want them much quicker. Anyway, this pattern is copyrighted, so only good for presents, but I'd like to share the fun so have to make up my own pattern to sell them in my Etsy shop... Watch this space.


Here's the knotted pattern in detail:


What else am I up to? Well, there's the dark green chenille shawl which is finally nearing completion. I've decided on the right colour for the needle felted flowers and been busy all morning needle felting little flowers and a butterfly. There are still some more flowers I'll have to make, but I needed a break, it's quite hard on the arms and shoulders this needle felting business. Other things in the pipe line are: a burgundy wrap I started yesterday, a cream chenille and nettle shawl, more scarflettes and hats, more wrist warmers, and Snow White's necklace is still not done either. So many ideas, so many projects and sooooooooo little time...........................

Yarn Addicts Anonymous

Caroline and I have been joking about the amounts of yarn we've bought recently and the number of projects we're working on at the same time. I have no idea how she manages to do all hers!

I am working on a shawl in green chenille at the moment, which will (when it's finished) include some Edwardian fringing (I found a lovely vintage pattern for this) and also some needle felted flowers. This will go in my shop.

I am also still trying to teach myself the magic loop method so I can make myself some wrist warmers in a beautiful teal bamboo with a pattern I bought on Etsy. Once I've got the hang of it I will make them in other colours and yarns too.

My latest finished project is a lovely knitted beanie. No photos yet, but soon, promise. It's really cute in brown with thin stripes in a mid grey, dark grey and dark chocolate brown. There will be others when I get round to it and they'll go in my shop. I just bought some more of the yarn I made the first one with. Ben decided he needs one too. :-)

I am also still working on my needle felted Zombie Fairy Cat, however, I have a design problem which I still need to solve. :(

The other project I am still working on is the Snowhite necklace. Part of it is finished but, again, I hit a design problem, although I think I've solved this. :)

I found several more yarns on the net I just had to have, so there'll be more knitting and crochet projects coming, e.g. more shawls, hats (beanie and cloche), wrist warmers and capelets and possibly necklets. Watch this space.

Now I am off to look at Caroline's blog to take a closer look at her new projects. ;)