WOYWW 130

Well, here we are again, another Wednesday! For anyone who doesn’t know what this is all about, click on the WOYWW link in my sidebar, which will take you to our lovely Julia’s blog. She organises (??) us all each week and we share our workdesks with the world – mess and all – no shame!! So what’s on your workdesk this Wednesday?

First of all, a huge thank you for all the lovely comments I received this last week – if my recovery could be speeded up by the tide of goodwill I’d be 100% fighting fit by now! I’m still not 100% – I’ve got about half my voice back  after being totally voiceless for a week, I’m coughing, and feeling thoroughly wiped out after this ghastly infection, not helped, of course, by the M.E. Still, I’m on the mend, if slowly!

As a result, I’ve had another week of non-production in my ARTHaven. I did manage to get in there yesterday and have a good tidy up (it needed it) and managed to sort the credit card statement, but didn’t do anything Fun in there.

When I’ve felt up to it this week, I’ve been creative in another way. Last winter I bought a glorious rainbow jumper from Ebay – very cheap, brand new, pure wool and very warm, but it had no ribbing on the bottom or on the sleeves so it kept rolling up all the time which was a pain. The sleeves were also much too long. (Have I really got such short arms, or are the rest of you built like gorillas??) Anyway, last winter I tried to sort it out, and gave up when I was unable to find any ends to unravel from. I made 3 attempts at adding some ribbing to the bottom and each time ripped it out because it wasn’t right. In the end I dumped it in disgust.

I decided to have another go at it this week, with resounding success! Unpicking knitting from the beginning rather than the end is a pain because you have to pull the yarn through a loop at the end of every row, but I managed it, shortening the sleeves by several inches and using the yarn to knit some nice ribbing. For the bottom, I used 4 strands of my original wool that was much too thin for this jumper, mixing 2 reds, and it’s come out just great. Here’s the jumper with the completed ribbing:

and here’s a close up of the ribbing I’ve done.

While I was at it, I decided to have a go at another garment whose sleeves were far too long. This is a hand-dyed cotton crochet top that I bought more years ago than I can remember, and all that time I’ve worn it with the sleeves rolled up. I love this top! It’s a gorgeous murky dark colour.  It reminds me a bit of what you can do with distress inks! (Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Forest Moss…) Again, undoing crochet from the wrong end is horrible – far worse than knitting actually, so in the end I cut the ends of the sleeves off, and picked up the bottom loops of the next complete row with a row of chain stitch, and then added the finishing couple of rows to make the sleeves how they’d been before.

Here’s a close up of the edging I did on the sleeves.

Unravelling the cut off sleeve ends, I’ve got a nice bit of yarn. I thought I might make a few flower embellishments to go on the neck of this top. Anything left over can be incorporated into my next project (see below).

Both garments are now how I want them, and ready to wear! I’m really pleased with myself that I’ve finally got round to doing this.

I asked my hubby recently whether he’d give me Kim Thittichai’s “Hot Textiles” book for Christmas when he asked me what I wanted.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Textiles-Inspiration-Techniques-Tools/dp/0713490403/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322605541&sr=1-1

This week, I found a link on someone’s blog (sorry, can’t remember who you are!!) to an amazing book on freeform crochet by Renate Kirkpatrick, and asked him if he’d give me this instead, and he said no, he’d give me both books! What a star. Here’s a link to that book :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freeform-Crochet-Beyond-Milner-Paperback/dp/186351385X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322603071&sr=1-1

She’s got an awesome blog too:

http://rensfibreart.wordpress.com/

Years ago I bought a cheap jumper from a catalogue which isn’t really long enough, isn’t warm enough (the sleeves are the right length though!) but which has such gorgeous colours that I can’t bear to throw it away, despite it’s being more or less vandalised by kitty claws over the years! I had it in mind to knit a new one following the same design, but making it longer, and out of wool, and then I saw this freeform crochet, and decided that’s what I’m going to make it from instead. I’ve started sorting a few yarns so I can begin making the motifs. I’ve wound a few small balls from some machine cones to make the whole thing more manageable, and I’ve got some black wool on a cone coming from Ebay in a day or two – I’ve used up all my black now.

(This was photographed under ordinary artificial light, not Purelite, and the blues are actually more turquoise than this.) I think this will make up beautifully. Juicy colours, aren’t they.

This week, God willing, I shall be well enough to get back in my ARTHaven and get the wretched Christmas stuff out of the way. I’ve got so many plans for next year and want to start thinking along those lines, developing my mixed media skills and doing some more 3-D work if possible. Why do I always have to get ill when there’s so much to do??

Have a really great week, everyone, and thanks again for all the lovely comments! I’ve felt carried along by a huge tide of love and goodwill. (((((Hugs))))) to you all!