Tuesday 31 December 2013

Pay-It-Forward 2013

In January this year, one status dominated my Facebook news feed:
2013 Pay-it-forward
The first five people to comment on this status will receive from me, sometime in the next year, something handmade. There will be no warning and it will happen whenever the mood strikes. The catch? Those five people must make the same offer in their FB status. Go. Create.
I can't resist pay-it-forward, and part of the fun of the challenge for me is in making something for people I don't know well or see often. My girlfriend is driven mad by the time I spend checking things out with her, trying to scope ideas, but I always know the answer when I find it!

I only managed to get photos of four of my five projects this year, but here they are, in no particular order:

Totoro

Pattern by Lucy Ravenscar, related blog post here.
Totoro, pattern (c) Lucy Ravenscar
 This little chap was a gift for my friend Franki, who is epic and adores the film. He keeps watch over her patch in Yorkshire; it's a long way from the forests of Japan but a loyal Totoro does what he must.

Fashionably pastel headband

Pattern from knitty.com, winter 2006.
Calorimetry, pattern (c) Kathryn Schoendorf
My cousin Milly has an epic fashion blog - Fashion Launderette - and awesome pastel-coloured hair (lilac in this pic, but it changes). She loves anything that looks like 'unicorn puke' and this yarn from Ramshambles in York fit the bill perfectly. What I love about this pattern is how easy it makes it to have great hair in winter, without worrying about what a hat might do to it.

Crazy Cat Lady

Pattern from AManicMonday's etsy store.
pattern (c) AManicMonday
A present for Diana, and Tino the Cat. The biggest difficulty with this instant-gratification project was finding the right frame. Cargo came through for me in the end, and I'm really chuffed with how it looks.

Pink mitts 

Pattern from knitty.com, summer 2006.
Fetching, pattern (c) Cheryl Niamath
These are for a school friend who is living in the north of Scotland with a young baby. I love fingerless mitts, and thought they would be perfect for springtime walks with a pram. They are made from a very soft, warm pink yarn (which I remember being a DK-weight merino bought from I Knit London) that I had been waiting for the perfect project to use.

Fluffy grey scarf

I don't have pic of this, but it was a really easy crochet; it took me about an hour and a half using a single hank of fur-trimmed ruffle scarf yarn and a 6mm crochet hook. The scarf was about 1.5m long and really, really warm. Annoyingly in my haste to post it, I forgot to take a photo or make a note of the details from the ball band! I think the yarn was by SMC.



Friday 27 December 2013

Have Yourself a Nerdy Crafty Christmas

Finally, I can show you the fun things I've been working on lately!

I obviously don't want to blog about my girlfriend's presents, but I was really keen to share with you her two dice bags.

Zombie Eyeball
This disembodied eyeball is functional and good-looking. With all the vitreous gel wrung out of it, it perfectly holds Zombie Dice with room to really get your hand in and have a rummage. Even better, it can be tied off with the use of the handy, loose blood vessels.

Cthulhu
For many cultists, bas-relief clay just isn't enough any more. To really drive them crazy, this craven image in wool can also be used to store everything you need to drive your rivals mad.