Miss Woolple and the happy things

blog about creativity and the happiness that brings

[misswoolple-blog]

For my dad, who is always cold, I knitted this neck warmer. It's the herringbone neck warmer by Craig Rosenfeld of Loop Knits. You can find the pattern here on Ravelry : https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/herringbone-neck-warmer

The wool is Manos del Uruguay Clasica. I bought this yarn in 2014 in the lovely Caféknit in Lavenham (Suffolk, UK). I think this shop no longer exists, at least I can't find anything recent on the internet about it. Such a shame. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

The buttons I used are made from coconut shell, so all natural materials!

[misswoolple-blog]

Tooterphants

Aren't they cute, these tooterphants ? It's a crochet pattern by Lucy Ravenscar. You can buy the pattern here on Ravelry. I got it from a magazine called 'Adorable animals', from the Creative Craft-series, published in 2015. I made two tooterphants at the same time. As they were my first amigurumi, it took a while to finish them. But it was fun to do and I think they turned out quite nice...

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A little bird told me...  

These egg cozies are simply irresistible I think. It's a pattern from the book 'Cute and easy knitting' by Fiona Goble. And they are really easy, and supercute!. The pair of them make a nice present. I used some acrylic yarn from my stash. I don't buy acrylics anymore, but having it in my stash, I think I made good use of it here.

[misswoolple-blog]

I can't throw anything away... even a badly made pair of cheap socks. Both the socks ripped and were ready for the bin. That was one of these moments I started thinking and planning how to "make it better than before"...

I decided to sew up the tear of each sock with different colours of embroidery thread. To my very humble opinion, my socks are saved and better than before ;-)

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Somewhere last year I found myself the proud owner of a stack of T-shirts that were really too worn out for anything but cleaning windows with... Now is the time to make a confession about my condition : I find it sooo difficult to throw away any textiles. Since I don't like cleaning windows, I decided to make t-shirt yarn! A lot of work that produces a lot of dust, but I must say, it was rewarding. And with this yarn, I knitted different bowls. The bowls are in use and serve their purpose well, and there is less waste... What's not to like?

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My needle-felted fox : he is sound asleep on my dad’s desk. So far no complaints about snoring....

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Helen Stewart is a knitwear designer and the host of the podcast 'Curious Handmade'. The podcast is very friendly, really interesting and entertaining. I have been listening for some time now and Helens enthousiasm is so contagious. The spindrift shawl is a free pattern you receive when you subscribe to her newsletter. More information on her designs and podcast you can find here : http://curioushandmade.com/ the Spindrift was my first shawl and I really enjoyed the proces of making it. It was wonderful to see it grow and find its shape. I only knitted one row of lace, because I was afraid of running out of yarn. So it's slightly smaller than intended, but I don't mind. The yarn is Schoppel crazy zauberball, I bought at Loop London : so many stunning yarns, knitting supplies, haberdashery, patterns, a truly fantastic shop (http://www.loopknittingshop.com/)

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Now here’s a very nice childhood Hero!

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Betsy and Gertrude, just thinking about mindfulness, well...

#needlefelting, #sheep, #mindfulness, #wensleydalewool, #wensleydale

[misswoolple-blog]

I so want to believe in them!! 

[misswoolple-blog]

There is this old newspaper cutting I always kept : a pattern to make slippers from knitted squares. It reminds me of the slippers my grandmother once made me. And so it's my turn to make these. I used wash+filz-it by Schachenmayr. After the knitting and the sewing, I put the slippers in the washing machine and they felted nicely into these cosy friends for my feet : another happy thing!

I found a similar pattern in 'Knitted & crocheted slippers', by Alison Howard, p.14.

[misswoolple-blog]

Razja, my wizard of the tundra

Needle-felting is something I really love. It's sculpting with wool. And wool is so nice to work with, pure, forgiving, soft. Don't always like the needles that much though... When you get into this hobby, you're bound to yell once in a while...

This wizard originated without me knowing what he would become. His image, looks and personality became clearer and clearer : powerful, vain, righteous, though slightly arrogant, constantly in a bit of a bad mood, but a good soul on the whole.

In his hands he holds a magic crystal, how about that?

He wears majestic bright colours (Oh yes, he is vain!), his clothes are warm, his cape is ornamental and lacy, with little pearls (I painstakingly sewed on); And let's not forget to mention the moustache...!

I do feel protected now!

[misswoolple-blog]

the Bucket Bag

This summer, on different trips, I worked on my 'travelcrochet' : the crochet bucket bag, a pattern by Martha Stewart crafts. Here you should be able to download the free pattern.

I love the simple, honest look of this bag. I used fine merino aran pure Falkland wool and the grey stripes and handle are made with biolana organic wool. I added a simple big wooden button and a crocheted chain, with tassle. That chain gets wound round the button, this way the bag is kept closed when I put it down.

It was a fun and easy project to work on and the wool felt nice : light and fluffy. I like the outcome, I think it will make a great project-bag.

[misswoolple-blog]

Mittens revisited                                                                                              

I have knitted this pattern twice. The first time I knitted the mittens for myself in self-striping acrylic (nice and soft, good quality acrylic, from my stash, once bought who knows where and when...). It was my first project on double-pointed needles, and turned out okay in the end (after having to start all over again about 4 times...). The second pair of mittens was a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law. Here I used a 100 % wool yarn, in 2 shades of purple, I bought at Swaledale Woollens in Muker. I had the immense pleasure of visiting this shop in Yorkshire in 2012, while we were on holiday there. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, go and visit this shop. It is beautifully located in this wonderful Yorkshire landscape and they sell the most wonderful honest, local and pure wool.

Knitting with this wool from Yorkshire was absolute bliss!

The pattern is printed in 'Fast and fun knits', p.58.

[misswoolple-blog]

The constant happiness is curiosity

This bag is made from an old organic sweater. It is lined with some fabric from my mum's stash. Inside I made a small pocket for a phone. the stack of books and the bird on the teacup are made with machine embroidery. I also embroidered a saying by Alice Munro :"the constant happiness is curiosity". I love that saying, it is so true. I could do with some practice on the hand-embroidery though...Nevertheless, the bag made my mum (it was a present for her) very happy, her being an avid reader.

[misswoolple-blog]

Stashbuster

Last year I made these coasters as a Christmas present for a relative.

I used a skein of variegated bulky yarn from my stash. I can't remember the brand or any other specifics (sorry...), but I loved the colours and the feel of it. I thought this yarn to be perfect for a couple of coasters. So I went looking for a fun stitch I could use and found what I was looking for in 'ons breiboek'. This Belgian reference work holds lots of information and patterns. However, since I get most of my patterns and manuals from English books, magazines and websites, I find the Flemish terminology sometimes confusing. that's probably a bit odd, Flemish being my mother tongue...

I completed my gift with some straw ribbing and a snowflake pendant. Happy with it ! (and it was well received, luckily!)

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Japie Apie

This is Japie Apie, my sock monkey. He is a bit scruffy and old (he is actually made of a pair of very old socks...), but I love him dearly! I used the pattern from the magazine Handmade Christmas 2013 (p.98). It was a lot of sewing small pieces together, a bit fiddly, but I did it whilst listening to a couple of knitting podcasts, so time well spent!

As I said I used a pair of actually worn socks. In books and magazines you encounter lots of these sock animals made of new socks. I like the idea of giving a worthless object (like my socks) a new life... et voilà , Japie Apie now watches over me while I am working on some or other project. There is always room for one more, no? AND he spreads the good words "be silly, be honest, be kind" !!#