Illustration Friday - topic: small

This is my Illustration Friday entry, this week's topic was "small". I decided to do an illustration for Hans Christian Andersen's story "Thumbelina", a story that I have always wanted to illustrate. This is the part of the story where Thumbelina escapes marriage to the mole by flying away on the back of a swallow.

This is my first Illustration Friday entry, so I made some extra effort. I think doing it was/will be really good for me, because it's an opportunity to do something without any rules or restrictions. Sometimes I start to forget what I would do if I could do anything at all. I've added the Thumbelina illustration to the top of my blog because I like it, and maybe to remind myself about that.

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How to make crochet flowers

A friend of mine recently asked about making crochet flowers. I made some awhile ago, with a pattern I made up myself. Almost everything I make is designed by myself, but I do use books to learn the basic stitches, especially fancy stitches such as knitting cables and crocheting shell patterns. I learned to make a few crochet flower shapes from a book, and then designed my own with the same basic idea.

These flowers can be used to decorate hats and scarves, and to make brooches, as I've done here, by sewing the pin to the back. They sell backings for brooches at bead stores. Arton Beads on Queen West (in Toronto) is a well-stocked bead store with good prices.

Here is the pattern for the crochet flowers (I'm not an expert pattern writer, plus learning all the abbreviations can be an extra hurdle for the beginner, so here it is almost in plain english):

Crochet Flower Pattern
what you need to know: making a chain, slip stitch, single crochet stitch, double crochet stitch
General: use the size crochet hook recommended on the yarn label. Flowers can vary in sizes depending on how heavy the yarn is.

1. chain 4
2. join into a ring with slip stitch into first chain
   
3. * 1 single chain into centre of ring, chain 3 * Repeat from * 5 times to create 6 loops
4. * 1 single chain, 3 double chains, 1 single chain * Repeat from * 5 times, once in each loop to create 6 petals (it will look like there's a small hole at the bottom of each petal, that's ok, it gets covered by the top layer of petals)
   
5. repeat steps 3 and 4 for second (top) layer of petals, but this time only making 5 petals
   
6. optional: embroider French knots in a contrasting colour in a small circle in the centre of the flower, and one single French knot in another colour in the centre. Sew a pin clasp to the back of the flower.

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Easy knitted acorn bag

Here is a recent creation... I finally added the acorns but I'm not sure about the branches, I may take those off. I've been thinking about what a great beginner's project it would make.

Are you tired of knitting scarves and dishcloths? Still only comfortable knitting squares and rectangles? Here it is, the easiest bag ever! All you do is knit 2 squares and a very long and skinny rectangle, and sew it all together. The long skinny rectangle becomes the sides, bottom and strap of the bag. You can do it with garter stitch (all knit) or stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row). If you use stockinette, I recommend doing the last few rows all knit, so that the tops of the bag won't curl.

For mine I did stockinette for the squares and the sides/strap is all knit. I also used a smaller needle than recommended for the yarn, this makes it very dense and tight, so it can hold your things and not sag. Mine turned out so dense that I didn't even need to sew in a lining, although I might, if I can find something cute, like a vintage oak leaf pattern or something like that. And of course the embroidery on top is optional. I used a basic chain stitch for the leaves and satin stitch for the acorns, using scraps of wool. Finally I added a vintage button and a loop to go over the button. So there you have it, the perfect easy peasy bag project! (with evidence inside of my latest yarn spree at knitomatic)

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Peter Rabbit self-portrait

Ever since I added the sock monkeys to my blog I've been contemplating putting Peter up there too. Mainly because of the resentful looks I've been getting from him because he felt he should have been up there first. He's very small, his height is around 8.5 inches (including ears) and I had to knit his scarf on size 2 needles. But for some reason he seems to have a very bossy personality and acts like he's running the place half the time. It's not just me, you can see it in the picture can't you? Which incidentally I found one morning on the camera after being awoken by some suspicious clunking noises...

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Rabbitvalley in December

This is my winter activity illustration for the illustrious gallery at www.torontoillustrators.com.

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Sock monkeys hurrah!

I didn't have time to make any crafts yesterday, since I do actually have an illustration project going on and it kept me up until 12:30am last night. It's a children's grammar book for a company in South Korea, and there are hundreds of spots to do. I've finally finished all the sketches and I'm just about to start doing the painting today. So in the meantime I am just presenting two young sock monkeys that some may recognize from a previous Christmas card of mine. Yes, they're real! And they wanted to be on the blog. Well, they didn't actually say so, but I could tell.

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Crochet flower scarf

How cute is this scarf? I saw a girl wearing it today, and said to my friend "look at her scarf! it's so cute" then literally seconds later saw it in a store window. So I bought it. It was only $10. But of course this doesn't justify buying a scarf. I think I've already mentioned that I've made quite a few scarves. I like to knit, it's a quick, easy project, I don't have to concentrate too much and can watch movies etc. at the same time. It's a great way to use those skeins of yarn that I only buy 1 or 2 of, on a whim because I can't resist them in the yarn store (I've never managed to leave Romni Wool or Knitomatic without anything. And usually I'm clutching what can only be described as a yarn spree). So why am I buying a scarf?

I do buy things from other people who make crafts, and in those cases I feel good about it because I'm supporting someone else who makes crafts. And sometimes it's because I know how long it would take to make something, and how much the yarn would be, if I could even find it, so I know it's a good deal. But really, even I have to admit I have too many scarves. Of course I make lots of things for other people too, but I can't show those things on the blog because Christmas is coming up and it would ruin the surprise...

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The crochet and knit blue pom pom hat

This is what I made yesterday, a blue hat with crochet and knitting combined. It started out as a crocheted scarf, but I realized I would need more yarn, plus I have so many scarves. A scarf is such a great quick project but I think I can finally admit I may actually have enough scarves. So the rectangle got joined into a tube, gathered at the top, and with stitches picked up at the bottom with circular needles. I find the easiest way to make a pom pom is just to wrap the yarn around a tape cassette and then cut the loops and tie it in the middle. Then you can just trim bits off until it's nice and round.

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This is it

I've created this blog to show my arts & crafts projects... possibly to nobody at the moment but I have to start somewhere right? This is a needle book that inspired the name of my blog, it's made of felt with an embroidered cover, the inside pages are pink felt. The image on the front was copied/inspired by an antique Persian painting. I love crafts so much, and I've been seeing so many beautiful things online recently that I wanted to join in.

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