Winter is here ….

Tags

bear, bears, blanket, crochet, crochet blanket, crocheting, handmade bear, Handmade Bears, Johannesburg, johannesburg mornings, johannesburg weather, Mini Bears, miniature bear, misty, vintage look bear, winter, winter is here

Winter is here,

Friday morning started off very cold, and very misty.  The mist burned off when the sun came out, but it remained a typical winters day here in Johannesburg.

Misty mornings

That of course, meant a cold and wintery weekend.  And lots of time for crafting.  🙂  Yay.

I finished the crochet blanket I was working on.  Miekie loved the idea and could not snuggle under it soon enough.  I used a very plain stitch and pattern and it went amazingly quick.  I love this yarn and colour, “woodpecker” colour says the label.  It works well and fast.

Woodpecker Blanket

Woodpecker Blanket

And Old Ned, the little green and red bear, also got done.  He turned out so cute, and the perfect little friend for Old Blu that I did a while back.  I really like the fur with the two colours.

Old Ned

Old Ned

It is a chilly Monday here and this morning was a mere 3 degrees C but it warmed up again to a nice winters day.

Happy crafting all.

Advertisement

Happy Winter Crafting

Tags

bear, bears, crochet, crochet blanket, crocheting, hand knitted, handcrochet, handknitted, handmade, handmade bear, Handmade Bears, handsewing, handsewn, knit, knits, knitted, knitted shawl, Knitting, Mini Bears, miniature bear, sewing, Shawl, vintage look bear, Work in progress

So winter is here now, and the days are lovely, chilly and sunny.  I do enjoy a good winter’s day around here.  Although lately we have had some pretty cloudy overcast days, specially in the afternoons, and with drizzle during the night too.  Winter rainfall is unusual in Johannesburg.  The trees have started losing their leaves, and the lawn has a leafy blanket now.

This then means more crafting time for me now.

I have had enough daylight to stitch me little bear, Old Ned.  All the parts are sewn, and ready for stuffing.  Then his face and ears, which is my best loved part, as it gives character to them.  Then I am ready to assemble the last bits.

Little bear progress

And of course, winter brings shawls.  And even though I have many already, and love to wear them, I guess I can never have to many.  The latest one is a pretty blue-ish one.  The yarn is a yarn cake, and fades into shades of blue.  I found the perfect pattern, Chasing Blizzard Shawl.  The pattern makes use of various colours, but since my yarn is already coloured, I just follow the pattern without changing yarns.  It is an amazing easy pattern and knits very nicely.

New shawl

And when the cold is a bit to nippy, I can now change to the Woodpecker blanket, which is growing steadily at a lovely pace, and now big enough to keep my legs warm.  It will definitely be finished this winter still.

Woodpecker blanket progress

Happy crafting to you all.  🙂

 

 

 

 

Off to a good start in 2018

Tags

bear, bears, cowl, hooded scarf, Mini Bears, miniature bear, new zealand yarn, possumyarn, scarf, scarves, Shawl, shawlette, triangular shawl, tunisian crochet

2018 is off to a good start, or so it seems at least when it comes to crafting and completing projects.

I am so happy with the way Old Blu turned out.  He is so cute, and reminds me a lot of a Russian bear.  He has a cousin Old Ned, that is red and green, that I will attempt next.

Old Blu Mini Bear

Since I had a relative amount of the grey lambswool left after completing my grey sweater, I decided to use it up and knitted a hooded scarf with it.  A quick and easy knit, and ready for blocking.

Hooded Scarf

January was a very peaceful month at the office, and I could sit and knit quietly in the gardens and enjoy the shade of the big trees and warm summer days. It was just perfect to finish this mini Shawl already.  It needs to be blocked, in order to open the leaves around the bottom edges.  I have knitted this before, and loved it.  Always a good pattern to knit again.

Shawlette

When I received yarn from my Stitching Santa buddy that she got while visiting New Zealand, I immediately loved it.  It was gorgeous grey and a dusty dark pink colour.  Not the usual blues I always seem to buy and love, and I loved that she opted for something different to send.  Of course, I could not put it away and kept it around.  Now that I finished these two projects, it was just the right time to cast on this pretty yarn.  I am starting a cowl for myself for the winter, which is still a few months away, and it will be ready well in time.

Green Leaves Cowl

Green Leaves Cowl

Something that I have been interested in learning and teaching myself is Tunisian Crochet.  Yes, after all these years, I have never learned this craft.  But it has been on my mind, and I had a book on my “list” of books I want to get.  I was very happy when my daughter gifted me the book, so I can get started.  This will be new to me, and I really look forward to giving it a go.

Tunisian Crochet Book

And so that is January already.  🙂  A good month indeed.

And Miekie says a happy hello to all as well, she is still enjoying being the spoiled little furry baby she is.

Miekie

 

 

 

 

 

Heading for Summer

Tags

bear, bears, candle wicking, candlewicking, crochet, dog, festival, grey sweater, hand crocheted, handknit, handknitted, handknitting, handmade, handmade bear, Handmade Bears, handsewing, international, international festival, Knitting, Little black Dog, love summer, Miekie, miniature bear, needle booklet, sewing, Stitching, summer, sweater, vintage look bear

October is coming to a close already.  How very quickly this Spring season has passed.  It is warm and sunny here in Johannesburg, and we had good rain on the weekend.

We were really fortunately to have stunning weather during the annual International Festival at work.  Each year we host a festival for all the students from outside South Africa that study here.  They then cook a meal from their country and share with us.  The food is amazing.  Each flag represents the students from that country.

International Festival

International Festival

With the warmer weather, I have been knitting a bit less on my grey sweater.  I did still get the sleeves long enough and am now ready to get to joining them all together.  Still not being able to just not be busy, I have knitted a few dishcloths, decided to  try my hand at making a small needle book, (it needed to have the corners starched to stay flat), and sorted my mini skeins into large jars.  Each jar got a crocheted doily for its lid.

Sweater progress

Needle booklet making

Needle booklet making

Needle Book

Bottle covers

Bottle covers

And since I am still in the mood to stitch, I cut out the next mini bear.  Old Blu is already cut and ready for stitching.

Old Blu Bear

Old Blu Bear

Something I have not done for a very long time, is “candlewicking”  It is a type of embroidery.  I have opted to use a bit of colour, in shades if blue, and not stick to the traditional unbleached creamy colours.

Some stitching ideas being planned

And of course, despite all the busy crafty hustle and bustle Miekie is just relaxing and enjoying the sunny mornings in my bed.  That look simply says it all.

Miekie

Greetings :)

Tags

bear, bear fur, bears, cables, celtic cable, hand knitted, handknit, handknitted, handknitting, handmade, handmade bear, Handmade Bears, knit, knits, Knitting, miniature bear, sweater

Becky Bear is saying Hello to everyone.

She is finally all stitched and put together, and is even wearing a white glittery tutu and a pretty butterfly brooch.

The fur was a gift from my sister, and I absolutely love the way it worked for this bear. I used a bit of leather for the paw pads, and kept her as simple as possible.

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Currently on my needles is a rather big and brave project. 🙂  I decided to cast on a sweater for myself.  I have had this lovely and soft grey lambs wool in my stash for a bit, and have been wanting to knit a sweater for myself for some time now.  So finally it happened and I got started.  It is a plain sweater with not to much detail, but I am putting in a panel of Celtic cables, as I love the way they look.

Grey Sweater

Grey Sweater

Grey Sweater

So much time to craft!

Tags

100% merino, bear, bears, blanket, cowl, crochet blanket, crocheting, granny squares, granny squares blanket, greenteatipple, hand crochet, hand knitted, handmade, Handmade Bears, Knitting, mock cable cowl, scheepjes, Scheepjes Whirl, scheepjes yarn, Shawl, stormy day shawl, stormydayshawl, triangular shawl, turkish yarn

With winter recess and taking a break from work and the office, it is just amazing how much time you have to relax in the winter sun and enjoy the weather and craft.

I took my usual winter break, and was making the most of the weather, sunny days, and time to finish some projects.

After months of patiently waiting, Becky Bear finally got stitched.  All the parts are now sewn together, and I can put some stuffing into the parts and put her together.  The fur I was gifted by my sister, is lovely.  I am loving the look of Becky and am very happy with her.  She should be a happy little girl soon.  🙂

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

My quick knit of a mock cabled cowl in 100% Turkish Wool and Scheepjes Secret Garden Yarn was really quick and easy to knit.  This stitch was one of my Mom’s favourites, and she used it often in her projects.  I knitted the cowl open, and added some pearly buttons.  This makes it more versatile and I can wear it in different ways. I even had enough yarn to include a pair of fingerless mittens.

Cabled Cowl

Cabled Cowl

Cabled Cowl

My pride of course is this Stormy Day Shawl.  I can not get enough of this colour, and the finished edge is rich and dark.  The Scheepjes Whirl yarn is stunning, and this is only one to the amazing colour combinations for this Shawl.  I used GreenTeaTipple.

Stormy Day Shawl

Stormy Day Shawl

Stormy Day Shawl

Stormy Day Shawl

And I have a small crochet project going, a smaller blanket for a small family member.  I have started on the granny squares, and are just keeping it plain and simple so she can have it for the winter to keep warm when out and about.

Another Blanket

Another Blanket

Another Blanket

And in preparation for the all to soon summer, I decided that these two little cloths needs a pretty edge to brighten my kitchen.

Crochet edges

Crochet edges

Crochet edges

A busy crafty weekend

Tags

bear, bear fur, bears, birgit freyer, blanket, ceramic, ceramics, crochet blanket, granny squares, granny squares blanket, handknit, handknitted, handknitting, handmade, Handmade Bears, hartlam, hartlam yarns, Knitting, magazines, mongoose, Shawl, shetlace yarn, travel, undercoverotter, visits, weekend, yarn, yarncakes, yarns

It has been a lovely and busy crafty long weekend, and I am extremely happy with the time I could enjoy at home and out and about, still enjoying the last warm weather, as Fall has not arrived just yet and the days are still warm and so comfortable to be outside.  While visiting a friend in the countryside, these two came to visit and loved the fruits we shared with them.

Mother and Baby

 

Of course, I made the most of the time and cakes some yarns, cut the fabulous fur that I got from my sister for my next bear project and knitted on my Tanis Triangular Shawl.  The bear is slightly bigger than those I usually make, and I am so loving this fur.  My shawl is growing so fast, I am already at the lacy edge.

New Yarn

New Yarn

New Yarn

New Yarn

New Yarn

New Yarn

Becky Bear

Blue Shawl Progress

 

Sitting still and knitting and crafting was not all I did.  Having bought pretty little ceramic pieces and tiles over the last few months, it was time to get these into good use. A colleague (who knows me way to well) gave me two precious little wooden boxes, and I decorated them for use in my guest room / craft corner.  And as I love drinking tea, I made a stand for my teapot and another for my mugs.  (the last one still needs to dry a little longer before I dust off the grout)

Storage Boxes

Storage Boxes

Ceramics

 

And all my magazines got sorted and stored properly.  This little shelf is a self assembly project, and took a little work, but the holes were all pre-drilled and it was not to difficult in the end, with a little help of course.

Storage of Magazines

 

The granny square blanket is my daughter’s blanket, made for her more than twenty plus years ago, by my Grandmother, my daughters’ great-grandmother.  It is still in use and now have a precious place in my reading corner, along with my little porcelain doll that is more than 30 years old already.

Happy 2017 to all!

Tags

bear, bears, blanket, fall sweater, Frogged, handmade, handmade bear, knitting blanket, miniature bear, moss and diamond blanket, Rowan summer tweed, Summer Tweed, sweater, vintage, vintage look, vintage look bear

Happy 2017 to you all.

It has already been a pretty busy year, with 2016 WIP’s now being completed firstly before I allow any new WIP’s to make their way onto my needles and hooks.

The first one out the door for 2017 is Wilhelmina.  She is a cute vintage looking little green bear, and I am happy that I finished her during the holidays and she gets her special place now.

Handmade little vintage look bear

Handmade little vintage look bear

Handmade little vintage look bear

Handmade little vintage look bear

Then my green Rowan Summer Tweed Sweater.  We have had a very rainy weekend, and I took great advantage of it and worked on this sweater.  The drape is lovely, but I did not get good or proper tension on the yarn at all.  I don’t think this is a yarn I would use again, definitely not for a knitted item.  I’ve done the hems and even added the buttons.  It just needs the collar and then it is done.  I can still wear it in the Fall days, when we have the odd cold day.

Summer Tweed Sweater in Green Rowan

Summer Tweed Sweater in Green Rowan

Summer Tweed Sweater in Green Rowan

Summer Tweed Sweater in Green Rowan

And then on 1 Jan 2017 I made the decision to Frog!  Yes, I actually frogged this blanket I was working on.  It has now been nearly 18 months in progress, and despite the fact that I love this pattern, it is not going anywhere, at least not fast enough.  It will still be a blanket, and I hope to restart it in a pattern that I will knit up faster, and who knows, maybe even have a blanket pretty soon.

Blanket Frogged 😦

Blanket Frogged 😦

All the best to you all for 2017.

Winter Break update

Tags

alpaca, autumn, beanie, bear, bears, bunny, ceramic, ceramics, cross stitch, daughter, embroidery, fairies, handmade, handmade bear, Handmake, Knitting, lace, make-over, manos, miniature bear, mittens, paint, speckled yarn, speckledyarn, stellarfibreworks, tiles, winter, yarns

It has been my annual Winter Break and I have enjoyed the break so much.Getting away from the busy work and office is sometimes just what a person needs.

Miekie and I both enjoyed to lazy cold mornings, and spent the time having lazy, slow breakfasts before we started the day.

I got time to catch up on some reading, specially on some of my loved magazines.

The usual amount of knitting definitely took place.  My Alpaca Wrap is now already half way there.  I finished a Manos del Uruguay beanie for my son in law, and have another on the needles for him.  And my daughter is getting matching mittens to wear with her speckled wrap.

Grey Alpaca Wrap

Speckled Mittens

Green knitted beanie

Beanies

With me being home and able to work during the sunnier parts of the day, I could also work on more delicate projects.  One of these were these little fairies in cross stitch.  According to the instructions of the kit, you only stitch areas you want to highlight.  What a lot of fun they are.  Nearly done, and then I will frame them and find a special place for them.

Fairy Cross Stitch Work

Fairy Cross Stitch Work

Wilbur the Bear is now no longer a kit sitting on the table.  I cut the pattern pieces and am ready to start stitching him together.  I want to add a few things, and have gotten cute silk ribbon roses and antique looking buttons as well.  I suspect Wilbur will be a girl bear in the end and may need another name.

Wilmot Handmade Bear

Wilmot Handmade Bear

This wooden box had been around my home for a bit, being used on the odd occasion for this and that.  I finally decided to put it to proper use, give it a complete makeover and keep it around.  So with rather a lot of layers of paint, I was able to smooth it over, and stop it from showing up a nasty stain through each layer of paint.  Finished it off with a bit of pretty lace and a cute ceramic bunny.  Now I can keep it around for any little project or storage.  Sometimes these little wooden boxes are all you need.

Wooden Box Makeover

Wooden Box Makeover

Wooden Box Makeover

Wooden Box Makeover

Wooden Box Makeover

Wooden Box Makeover

While waiting for a friend the other day to arrive for a cup of coffee and a chat, I ended up browsing in a little shop.  I could not resist these cute tiles.  I think I will use the smaller ones as memo magnets and the bigger one will be just perfect for a mug cozy.

Little Ceramic Tiles

Hobby X 2016 – Johannesburg

Tags

Air Alpaca, alpaca, bears, birdie, birdies, bowl, bowls, buttons, fabric, handmade, handmade bear, Handmake, handsewing, Hobby X 2016, Johannesburg, Katia, lace, miniature bear, oneofakind, owlie, printed fabric, ribbon, ribbons, sewing, yarns

It was with the usual excitement that I awaited this years first Hobby X.  The first one for the year is always held in Johannesburg, and I always look forward to going and having a good day out, meeting new suppliers, and seeing old friends and suppliers that comes up to Johannesburg to exhibit.

One of my favourite suppliers is Skapie, an online store.  I only see them once a year when they visit Johannesburg, and we catch up.  They have the most gorgeous Katia yarns, and this year was no exception.

I was introduced to oneofakindyarns.  Also available online. Gorgeous beauties.  I got these for me.  (there is more from oneofakind, and you will see them soon)  The colours and combinations were fascinating.

There were not many other yarn suppliers, but I did shop around, as I needed other things as well.  Fabric and ribbons were on my list, and these old school ones were perfect for me.  I got some really cute fabrics, for both myself and my daughter, and these pretty picture pieces are going to be very pretty items.  I am thinking the pretty doll fabric should be the inside of a project bag, never a dull day each time you open your WIP.

Since I cut my previous bear (Becky) I have not started with the sewing together of the pieces, as I did not really feel the fur was what I wanted her to look like.  So I indulged in a few new bears, and I adore these.  Wilbur is ready for cutting and sewing, with maybe a little modification here and there.

And then I got a few other pieces for the home.  Birdies to hang in the window and the cutest bowl with birdies to store my small scissors and goodies on my workdesk.