New projects

The last week has had me starting some bigger projects:

Leaping goat pilsner beer, a very basic brew with only light malt, Motueka hops and lager yeast. This beer had a really slow fermentation which means it'll have developed a good flavour, better than a quick fermentation would. It'll be a very light beer, probably at 2% or something.

This year I seem to only want to knit garments! After finishing knitting my vest I want to make a jumper but can't seem to decide on a pattern. I have two that I like but aren't happy with the way they're constructed. One is knit flat and then seamed, with a very interesting pattern. The other is knit flat to the armpits them knit in the round for the yoke. Both are beautiful but have their drawbacks. The yoked jumper is so very boring to knit - a lot of stockinette st and I cannot be bothered with so much seaming. I'd really like to knit a jumper completely in the round! Norah Gaughan's Lempster looks wonderful, I just need a print out of the pattern :)

Anyway this yarn was a fantastic purchase from my favourite second hand clothing store; Toffs. 18 balls of yarn for 18 bucks! Bargain! Plenty for a whole jumper. Very pleased with that value for money. It's really good quality yarn as well.

My Grandma gave me some of her old sewing pattern, this dress is from the 60's. The play I'm putting costumes together for at the moment is set in the sixties and I just happened to find a dress just like these for one of the characters. What a co-incidence that it was actually from the sixties... maybe my sense of time appropriate clothing isn't as bad as I thought!

Woollen mithril
Here's a picture of the vest I've made for myself, hand spun and hand knitted by me. It's all cast off now, just needs to be sewn up and I can wear it! It's very warm and cosy, nice and long which is good in a vest I reckon, you don't want cold hips. Pictures to come of the finished vest being worn by me! First garment I can truly be happy with! Pattern is this Have to say I loved knitting this, the cables were complicated enough to be interesting and the way they twist around is intriguing. Yarn was a bit thick for the needles I used.. so I could only knit a bit before stopping.

 

Decided that we need another quilt for our bed. The one we have is lovely but looking a bit worn out. It'd be good to have another one to use, a different look. This quilt looks like fun, Lonestar quilt and I have a lot of woollen scraps left over from my Dr who coat. Started cutting out diamonds today, but think I might need some more fabric to be able to finish it, I don't have enough. the June fabric sale is so far away though!

 

Needs a bit more variety I think... I'm thinking rows of colours as the star spreads outwards would be good, just like the finished one above...

We went for a drive the other day and found these lovely Boer meat goats in a field by the road. As Oscar and I will squeal at any chance to pat and feed a goat we rushed at the chance to say hello to these two. The little one had such a cute bleat. The older one enjoyed having it's back scratched. I haven't even put up pictures of the pigs that live down the road! And the donkeys....

Well that's pretty much it for this week, should have some more things to share in a week or so. if I post every week that'd be good. Feels like a long time since I got into any sewing projects, so that will be my goal this next week, really get absorbed in something and get creative again :)

Finished this week:

• Tea towels for the kitchen.
• Killing of sister George costumes

In progress:

• Woollen star quilt
• Leaping goat pilsner
• Woollen mithril vest
• Lempster? Or other jumpers?

Back again!

After a long break I'm back again, now we have a proper internet connection! I've been up to a lot of different things :)

 Travelling the north island! This is Mount Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom!) on the left and Mount Ruapehu on the right. What a wonderful sight.. the Volcanoes were the most impressive thing we saw on our trip, Mt Taranaki being even more so.

 Dyeing more blanks again, this time with different wools and colours. My favourite is the tweedy one, both for colour and texture. These will be turned into machine knit socks and hand knit gloves. I'm really excited to be able to make socks in the round on my knitter soon. At the moment I'm just knitting them flat and seaming them together.

Wonderful summer flowers, I don't even know what they're called. There's plenty of them around at the moment. These ones are beautifully rounded and intricate, with curved petals. They look more like those carved watermelons you see in Thailand.

 Dr who coat! There was a nerdy expo on a few weeks ago and I couldn't resist dressing up as Colin baker, the sixth doctor as the actor who played him was actually there! I thought I was entering a cosplay contest with it, but just turned out to be a parade. Anyway, it was fun to make, and now I have an extra funky coat. Colourful enough to cheer up a grey winter's day :)

A new tea cosy! Made from scraps of my own design. In the background is the mushroom kit we got for xmas, we started growing them ages ago, and still waiting on actual mushrooms to sprout out. Here's hoping....

And most excitingly, homebrew!

Our first batch of beer, Irish stout is bottled and maturing right now. Look at how dark it is! Home brewing is becoming a really enjoyable hobby for us and our friends do well out of us with free beer :D We've now got another batch brewing, a lighter, hoppier beer with Motueka hops in it. By May we should be able to start drinking it!

Well that's all for today, but I'm looking forward to writing more regularly from now on. It'll be good to document my projects and share them with you, that is, my readers (if there still are any!)

Current projects:

• Handspun, hand knitted cabled vest; Woollen Mithril
• Cashmere summit scarf
• Machine knit socks
• Sunflower tam
• Costumes for "The killing of sister george"

Finished lately:

• Mum's birthday present
• Dr who coat
• Kupla mittens
• Irish stout
• Journey's end costumes

End of year wrap up!

So yes I haven't posted for a month now have I? Been entirely too busy up until the 19th of december. Been on holidays for a week now and very relaxed, it is brilliant to have a break. I'm a bit restless though, I'm missing my projects, my only creative outlet here is the knitting projects I brought with me. When we get back to dunners I'm sure I'll have extra incentive to craft and garden and play music again :D

So, goals for next year -

Crafting:

• Hand knit a vest
• Learn how to use knitting machine - socks in the round, fair isle, jumpers etc.
• Make another quilt big enough for our bed
• Sell more of my creations, go to more markets, find something that sells
• Learn how to use the inkle loom
• Try new recipes

Other:

• Perform with the choir playing accordion
• Get a bike and use it to get around
• Try busking with the accordion
• Costumes! Make some more costumes for local theatre :)
• Get P's so I can drive!
• More gardening and preserving, brewing etc.

Also we are going to get into the homebrewing next year, and excitingly, osk got a mushroom growing kit for xmas, so we'll do that too!

 Got a few sewing projects I'm already planning in my head - like the doctor who coat.
 From the 6th doctor, woollen with all different panels of fabrics.

 Got the perfect fabric for this one :)

Looking forward to settling in our new house and setting up a crafting room for myself, what a treat after using the edges of our bedroom for a year!
It's going to be another interesting year!

Projects on the go now

Yep, been busy. Searching for a new rental place, making xmas gifts, sewing my own projects, seeing friends, packing for the holidays and packing up things where we are now. It's kind of fun in a way but really tiring. Thankfully I have plenty of time to get this stuff all done :) I don't know how people cope being so busy all the time. No space to breathe!

Lately these have been my projects:

Mitten blank all dry and ready to knit!

Close up detail, and yes it is really that bright. No problem with kinks in the yarn when knitted up, they dissapeared fine. Quite nice to knit from a piece of fabric rather than a ball.

This is my lace chevron crochet vest. It really needed something to bring the fronts together, the neckline would never sit right. This lace ribbon was the perfect solution, looks awesome and makes it into a wearable garment now. Thinking it might be a bit too long, so I might shorten it a bit.

A wrap around top, pattern designed by me. Fabric is from the fabric sale in june, when washed it leaked a lot of dye, so I'm glad I hand washed it. Made this for the xmas holidays, I'm sure the north island will be warm enough to warrant such a drapey, light shirt.

First mitten finished! Woo! I was so much fun to knit, and I never knit such fine wool... The combination of surprise colour changes and the unique constrcution technique made it fly by. Second mitt is on it's way and many more will follow. Brillant pattern : Circle mitts

Beautiful calendula flowers, drying these to make soothing moisturizers and lip balm.

A random patchwork project, part of the cover I'm making for my knitting machine. Should look great when it's done! Making squares into 3x3 blocks and sewing them together. Trying not to let any of the same fabrics sit next to each other.

So that's all this week, perhaps I will be back next week with some of these projects finished!

In progress:

• Circle mitts
• Knitting machine cover
• Xmas gifts

Finished this week:

• Batik wrap top
• Friend's baby quilt
• Niece's xmas present
• Mitt number one

Blanks

Been working on dyed blanks for a pair of mittens:

Knitting the blank on the knitting machine.. I've worked out how to use it properly now, just needed to figure some little tricks to make the process smoother. This is worked with a e-wrap cast on 50 stitches wide, tension 9 with a 4ply yarn. It's actually a really good machine and I'm enjoying using it.

This is the second blank I dyed, a combination of food dyes and the yellow is tumeric. Very messy, got dye everywhere really but the finished effect is definitely worth it.

First blank steaming away to set the dye... the colours mixed a bit but I'm very happy that it didn't just turn into a big muddy brown. Such vibrant colours!

I'm going to turn them into this pair of mitts: Circle mitts
After trying this technique I'm so excited to try making more for other knitting projects like shawls and socks and maybe even vests and jumpers! Having a knitting machine is so very useful :) All thanks to me dear Oscar for giving it to me for my birthday. I must knit him some socks on it.

In progress this week:

• Indonesian musician batik tunic
• xmas presents....
• lava flow cowl - about 90% at this stage now
• Summit shawl - Pattern

Finished this week:

• Kittyville hat
• Mitten blanks

Another baby blanket!

 

So one of my friends is having a baby in January and I decided the perfect gift would be a nice cosy warm woollen blanket. This one is made completely from scraps of fabric, leftover from old projects. Twas so very satisfying to chop through these squares...

Started it on Saturday and the top is nearly complete, just 4 more strips of squares to add now.
If you look closely you can see individual crosses with contrasting centres, almost like flowers. Going to use the self biding technique from here: Milkybeer for the edges, instead of bias like I usualy do. After this one is done, I should really do some xmas presents..

Busy busy busy! Picture heavy post

So I've been sick and busy with organising life (mainly renting for next year - ugh!) But feeling better and things are looking more positive now. Not much sewing going on these days, can't seem to get back into it :/ But I might as well post pictures of the Macbeth costumes!

It was great fun to be involved in this project and the people were a joy to work with, you guys rock!
Thanks to Sophie Macduff for helping out when I needed it and getting me into this project in the first place!
This is the first time I have made costumes for a play and it was amazing to see them worn onstage by the actors.

All pictures and designs (C) Nina Duke Howard 2013

Hecate's dress, by far the most fun to make! The pointy bits are held up by feathers which are threaded through the bias binding. Designed to have the look of a corset but with much more room to breathe.

2nd witches costume, badger witch! Had fun making the fur sit wildly on the shoulders and adding a sleeve to one side.

1st witches costume, Wild cat witch. Drafted from scratch this one had a completely different style. The shiny fabric on the sleeves and claw like additions on the neck really caught the light on stage.

3rd witches costume, Owl witch. This one was done last and suitably rushed a fair bit, it got changed a lot at the last minute and looks quite different now. Better actually!

It has feather stems in the shoulders to help hold them up, a bit like wings.

And now onstage! Yay! The headress was an impressive addition to the dress, really brought Hecate's goddess like character alive :) The dress fit her perfectly.

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Dry ice cauldron/keg looked very convincing on the night, everything was blue light creating a sinister atmosphere. (media speak coming through here)

The photos that I was allowed to take on dress rehearsal night turned out very dark indeed, not sure if they show the costumes to their full potential, but that's what the witches scenes were meant to be like.

Ah you witches were fantastic, such sly cackling you did!

Macbeth and the witches with projection in the background.

 Hope to do more costume work with the Globe in the future! What fun it was, and good practice for my dressmaking skills. The most satisfying part was taking people's measurements and creating clothing that fit them, without fittings, but having them fit perfectly anyway. I didn't know I could do that before :)

Off to bake some bread and play accordion, then I have a whole evening to do crafty stuff, sewing and knitting again!

In progress this week:

• Kittyville hat - for watching adventure time in, need a cute hat for that. Rav link
• Lava flow cowl (nearly finished I think)
• Knitting machine - teaching myself how to do different techniques and having less problems i.e knitting coming off the machine and unravelling itself. Can now do a proper non-raveling hem and cast off.
• Accordion - teaching myself Amelie songs, two half learned now meaning that I know how to play them, but my technique isn't up to speed yet. Here's a link of a talented accordionist playing this beautiful music: La Valse d'amelie
• Sewing............ anybody there? Actually a quilted knitting machine cover made with this quilt: Flower hexagon quilt

Finished this week:

• Nada. Life has taken over but I am still doing creative things, how else does one stay sane?