print giveaway

No more printmaking course for me - four weeks went by very quickly. Luckily I have a small selection of prints to show for myself and I've now become a member at the studio so can keep myself busy making more.

I thought I'd celebrate by holding a mini print giveaway! If you would like to enter please leave a comment on this post letting me know which of the above four prints you would like and I'll pick a winner out of a hat at the weekend.

Good luck!

charity shop challenge - round 2

Taking photographs of myself with the self-timer is probably the most dorky thing to do of a weekend.
This month for the charity shop challenge I found a summer dress in a Portslade charity shop for £3.50.

Cherry blossom pink.

watercolour challenge

We sat by the seal colony and played watercolour challenge on Inis Mór.

Aran islands

Last week Yumi and I went on a mini holiday to the west coast of Ireland. We had a lovely long train journey across the north coast of Wales and eventually made our way to Galway.

When we were there we took a day trip to Inis Mór, one of the Aran islands, where we hired bikes and cycled around the island - it felt like summertime. We also met a friendly lady who knits for a living. She had a whole hut filled with Aran jumpers made by her and her family.

There was also a mini museum exhibit about Aran jumpers which had some interesting information about some of the patterns used on the jumpers. Apparently Irish Moss stitch is used to represent the Carrageen moss which is gathered by the islanders, and the Diamond stitch represents the stone wall enclosed fields which cover the islands. Other stitched like Cable and Trellis are said to represent fishermans nets and most of the stitches have something to do with the sea, which is a huge part of island life.

This has inspired me to use Irish moss stitch and Diamond stitch on my next cardigan, which will be a variation of this favourite.

I also read that most Aran Sweaters on the island are knitted almost entirely from memory following no set pattern. Crazy.

printmaking

Here are the results from printing class number two.

I carved this jigsaw print in vinyl. As you can see I forgot to think about the fact that the print is the reverse of what is carved, so I have a back-to-front place setting. Maybe one for the left-handed folks out there?

I'm really happy with how this print turned out - I got to try a few different colour combinations and tried separating out the pieces of the jigsaw as well as printing them together.

This week I did a reduction print, which was semi-successful. I got a bit carried away with my first layer of carving so there wasn't much to work with in the end. A good learning curve though.

I've only got one lesson left as I'm skipping a week to hop over to Ireland, but I'm planning to play more with chine-collé in lesson number four as I really like both the simplicity and the outcome of adding paper shapes of colour. Très bon.

charity shop challenge

Lucy invited me to take part in the Charity shop challenge so here is my first attempt at showcasing some of my finds.

Half charity shop challenge, half knitting project this month.

I got this purple skirt for £3 in a charity shop in Portslade a year or two ago. I'm not sure this photo does it justice though. Bad self-portraiture.

The knitted waistcoat was a skills test to practice my cable and fair isle knitting. Good practice, although I'm not so sure about the finished result.

And I'm wearing a trusty M&S thermal vest underneath. Cheating? Maybe. Warm? Yes.

let the sun never set

On Saturday we spent some time in the Citadella in Victoria.
I had this song in my head all day.

let's all go to gozo

A very lovely time was had in Malta.

Highlights:
• A very rocky ferry ride.
• Feasting on Maltese bread, seafood & rabbit.
• Spinning on the sand.
• Walks along cliffs and past prickly pears and orange trees.
• Group naps.
• Our very helpful tour guide and holiday planner, Daniel.
• Our knight in shining armour, David.
• Dancing around the swimming pool and dipping our feet in the sea.
• Beat the best & the aeroplane game.

Lowlight:
• Dining at (possibly) the worst restaurant in the world. Oh well. I suppose you can't win all the time.

A super break - Żminijiet tajba!
And, only 3 more days at work and it's another holiday for me. Jolly good.

here comes the sun

I'm going on holiday tomorrow. Perfect!

night school

Last week I began a short evening course in soft woodcut and vinyl printing and I'm really enjoying it. It's lovely to be able to do some hands-on making after a day of working in front of a computer.

The prints shown above are the mini test pieces I created last week - one in wood and one in vinyl. I feel like I should really embrace the natural feel and texture of the wood, but I found the vinyl so much easier to carve.

Tonight I ate shortbread and worked on a jigsaw print which I'm really pleased with - I especially enjoyed playing around with different colours and chine-collé effects. And next week I might try a reduction print - although I fear this may be a hard method to grasp.

Fingers crossed!

ps. Some of my daffodils are now saying hello.

petit bouquet de fleurs

I bought myself a small bunch of daffodils.
I hope they show their faces soon.

so-so sewing

For Yumi's birthday I made her a knitting needle roll to carry her needles and accessories on her travels around the world.

I found the floral fabric in a charity shop (an old ironing board cover) and used this tutorial as a guide. It turned out much better than expected! Maybe my sewing skills are improving.

piñata

It was Yumi's birthday this weekend, so we took to the park in the (almost) spring sunshine to bash the piñata we have been making over the last few weeks.

We had grown quite attached to him so it was quite traumatic to see Derek decapitate him in one bash. Poor Johnson! It was lovely to see the glitter and streamers blowing in the wind though.

Lots of fun to make, and lots of fun to break. And a long-term new years resolution ticked off too.

adventures in sock making

This is the result of my first attempt to knit in the round. Semi-successful: warm but wonky.

I started these socks in December, but after knitting the first one I decided that I wanted to make another pair for Danni, so I interrupted the project in order to finish the second pair in time for Christmas. This might have been a bit of an error as once I returned to my initial pair I must have been more relaxed with my stitching (less tense = less tension) and ended up knitting a much wider sock. So now I have one sock that fits me, and one sock that would be more suitable for bigfoot.

I will continue to wear them though. To protect my toes from frostbite. And maybe next time I'll make a neater pair of socks. I just bought this book which I hope will be a big help in refining my skills.

Gorilla gorilla

At the weekend I went to London to celebrate George & Milkan's birthdays. We ate food at a lovely Turkish restaurant and visited the Hunterian museum and saw lots of specimens in jars.

I think this is a place you could spend all day drawing. Just make sure you're not feeling queasy before you go in.

patience

Lately it feels like I've spent a large proportion of my time in the post office queue (see Figure 1). Fortunately all this waiting has been worth it and I've ended up picking up some nice treats at the end of the long long lines.

In fact, the last month has led to a whole host of treats from kind friends and family with the festive period and birthday double act. Thanks to all. I am very lucky.

jigsaw january

I often like to do a jigsaw puzzle in the winter months and this weekend I put together this lovely silver jubilee portrait of the Queen.

Good recovery from panic about dentistry (which wasn't that bad after all).

this week I've mostly been thinking about...

EXTRACTION!

I'm having my wisdom tooth taken out in the morning and I am 110% terrified. Wish me luck.
I will definitely need to sit with a cat on my lap tomorrow afternoon.

a year in knit

Last year was a productive year for wool craft. I finally mastered the art of knitting clothing and learnt how to crochet more than simple blanket squares.

I made: my first cardigan, a warmer cardigan, many crochet flowers, a lace collar, a jumper, a diary, a crochet shawl for mother, some mini scarves for cats, my favourite blue cardigan, a 1-day bobble hat and one and a half pairs of socks.

Despite vowing to knit a bit less often, I still want to try out some new things in the coming months, so have a couple of knitting resolutions to add to the list for 2011:

• A fair isle jumper. I got this magazine (with patterns) for Christmas. So colourful & exciting.
• Some cable knit - I've heard from many sources that this is easier than it looks.
• Knitted bunting (because I must use up all those odds and ends from my wool basket).

But first, tax return...

11 things for 2011

2010 was a grand year. There were definitely more highs than lows.
And I did pretty well on my new years resolutions too.

So here are some more for this year:

• Challenge myself - Last year it was the London to Brighton. This year maybe paragliding...
• Make an item of clothing.
• Go swimming more often.
• Read more books and knit (a little) less.
• Draw more. I'm going to aim to illustrate at least one shopping list a week from now on.
• Have dim sum.
• Eat lobster.
• Visit new places (Malta & Berlin to begin...)
• Take a packed lunch to work at least twice a week.
• Make and bash a piñata. I now have a kit, thanks to Yumi.
• FONDUE!!! (This is an old old old resolution that must be completed).