back on etsy

The Kalk Bay market at the Brass Bell on Wednesday was cancelled – management decided it was too quiet to be viable (mainly due to lockdown regulations which still include curfew restrictions) until at least the summer comes and more locals start going out again and more tourists are able to visit Cape Town. As more people get vaccinated and case numbers fall, perhaps the curfew will be done away with completely. We can only hope.

I used the time I’d saved on Tuesday and Wednesday to restart my etsy shop. It’s something I’ve been meaning to get around to for ages, ever since I started working mainly with beads and playing around with fabric jewellery.

I’ve only got five items listed right now, but I aim to add three to five a day including some boot accessories. Perhaps you’d like to visit? Perhaps you’d like to favourite my shop? All fans welcome! The more the merrier!

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Rabbit: Take Two

When Alex was small, I once made her a rabbit. I found the pattern in a library book and it’s the nicest rabbit pattern I’ve ever come across – but I have no recollection of the original book nor do I wish to waste time by tracking it down – so, when it was time to make a rabbit for a friend’s new granddaughter, my only option was to undress and dismember Rabbit One in order to cut a new pattern.

There she is, poor thing, headless, earless and naked as a jaybird.

Ta-da! Meet Rabbit Two, sporting a patchwork frock trimmed with pompoms and a silk headscarf.

Now to re-attach Rabbit One’s head and ears, and hope I haven’t scarred her for life.

and then you can add….

I had another idea about making an infinity scarf from odds and ends of fabric (original post here) — ADD SOME POM-POMS !!!

The idea struck me in bed at about 5h30 yesterday morning. The earliest opportunity I had to track down something suitable was at 12h30. I found a few metres of this:

and stitched a strip of it down the last seam of my next scarf.  It looks like this:

wrapped twice, and wrapped three times:

I am very chuffed with the effect. You could use a strip of lace or fringe or even some piping, depending on the sort of contrast you want.

Right, that’s it. I have two markets this weekend, so I’m logging off and logging out otherwise I’ll never be ready in time.
Back soon x

cunning pompom technique

**This post is dedicated to my friend, M_______ L____, in Californ-ee-ay-a, without whom there wouldn’t be any pompoms at all!

So, I am now the proud owner of three different sizes of the Clover pompom maker.  I am extremely happy with them, and they each have names (which I won’t share with you, because it would just confirm what you may only suspect – that I’m a nutcase!).

One thing I wasn’t liking so much was that sometimes it was too easy to pull out a piece of yarn from the finished item, and I certainly didn’t want anyone buying a BonBon with a dodgy pompom. I think I wasn’t tying the yarn tightly enough around the centre, but even when I tied it so tightly that the thread almost snapped, it still bothered me. So now I do this:

When I’ve wrapped the first layer, ie. until you can’t see the plastic on the inner any more, I dot on some Stop Fray.

 

 

I use the Stop Fray about four times on each side, and also on the very last bit just before closing it up and tying.

And because I live where I do, I am able to hang my pompoms in the sun to dry. (Sorry, northern hemispherers….)

I’ve also experimented with craft glue but that didn’t work as well as the Stop Fray. I know there are various fabric-type glues on the market and I once had something called Fray-Stoppa, which was a clear, runny glue, which I think would also have worked well.  Give it a bash with whatever you have lying around, and let me know what works for you.

I haven’t forgotten that I promised to give you the BonBon pattern, I am only halfway through the shocking pink one I’m making and want to finish it first so I can be sure that I’ve understood Eunice’s technique 100%.  Here is the beginning:

Back soon x

feeling sheepish

In just a few short minutes online this morning, I feel like I have been bombarded by amazing crochet patterns and designs from blogs and websites and shops worldwide and about thirty of them have my hands itching to get going. But I’ve been disciplined – I forced myself to finish my hat.

I’ve used this pattern by Jennifer Appleby many times, and it’s always turned out well. This time I used a Stylecraft Life DK in Denim and a 3.5mm hook (because the yarn seemed finer than other DKs to me).  [[Please note my gorgeous hook with funky handmade handle that the wonderful Lisa at Yarnchick sent me a while ago. She sent me three, actually, and I use them all the time.]]

Too impatient to wait for Alex to get home from varsity, I have had to use a sheep as my model.

But I’m sure you’ll agree, the hat suits him very well, worn either over one ear to the side, or pulled right down like teenagers and women with bad hair days wear. I added a pompom instead of a button.

Sheep I love pompoms. Don’t know why I don’t make more of them, actually.

To be continued…