Art + Craft Archives - Page 9 of 21

Adventures in Knitting – French Press Slippers

December 8, 2010 By Paola 5 Comments

I’ve been knitting away at other things apart from sock monkeys, trying to get everything off my books by the end of the year, so I can start the New Year with some lovely new knitting projects. So I’ve got a couple of finished items to show you.

These babies are one of the best projects I’ve ever completed. Because they’re made of thick wool felt, the slippers are toasty warm and because they’re shrunk to fit your feet precisely, they’re INCREDIBLY comfortable. Seriously they’re going to have to be surgically removed from my feet I’ve been wearing them so much.

Firstly you knit and seam together a large ‘shoe’ from chunky wool. I used Araucania Nature Wool Chunky, which felts delightfully and, because it is hand-dyed, has a pleasingly mottled depth of colour. I have to admit that the project doesn’t look entirely prepossessing at this stage.

Then I threw them into my ‘Wonder Washer’ washing bucket, together with an old tennis shoe. If you’re ever going to do any felting ever in your life, then I can’t recommend this highly enough. It gives you such control over the process (and is great for washing handknits etc. too).

The slippers took about 20 minutes to felt down to an acceptable size. I then felted them for three minutes at a time and kept trying them on wet until they were perfectly sized for my feet.

After drying and a haircut (for the slippers not me), I sewed on the straps, which are felted separately. I finished the slippers off with beautiful handmade wooden buttons from OruAka on Etsy.

I think I’m probably the last knitter on Earth to make these slippers which have been all over Ravelry in the last year or so. If you’re the other knitter on Earth who hasn’t made them yet, then the pattern is available on the French Press Knits blog here, which is also worth checking out for all sorts of cool craft and knitting projects. My project page on Ravelry is here, which shows the mods I made to make these from chunky wool instead of the worsted/dk weight recommended.

Shhhh! Don’t Tell the Minx

November 29, 2010 By Paola 2 Comments

I had the devil’s own job with the mouth and had to rip it out twice times before getting it right. For sock knitting aficionados, it’s knitted as a mitered heel, except that the only mitered heels I’ve ever knitted previously used a completely different method of doing the short rows, so this was uncharted territory for me.

Fortunately someone else has charted the territory, and if you ever do want to knit this (kit available here) I can’t recommend these very detailed instructions highly enough. Ms Carmen here would be very ugly without them.

Shhhh. Don’t Tell the Minx

November 16, 2010 By Paola 4 Comments

Quite possibly the most sinister photo I’ve ever published on here.

It’s been going swimmingly so far, but now I move onto the head, where there’s plenty of scope for making her look ugly or even downright scary. Wish me luck!

(She is helped to sit by a small bag of big green lentils stuffed in her bottom)

Knitted Wreath, Candle Holders and Vases

November 15, 2010 By Paola 4 Comments

Or the art of wrapping knitting around things.

A regular and lovely commenter round these parts, Lou, from Happy Serendipity, has just taken up knitting (you may have seen us discussing knitting in the comments) and decided to make a winter door wreath she had seen. Bear in mind that this is just her second or third EVER knitting project.

If it had been been me I would have been getting into a pickle trying to knit in the round, increasing and decreasing etc. etc but Lou just knitted this

pinned it like this

and hey presto! created this

so much quicker, easier and cleverer all round, and just goes to show that you don’t need to be an expert at all to create beautiful things.

With the remaining yarn she made this candle holder, which I think I love even more than the wreath – its chunky, simplicity seems very cool and modern somehow.

Check out Lou’s tutorial here for more details.

It seems also that Ferm Living is getting in on the act, recently introducing a range of chic knitted vase covers.

They’re available from Ferm Living here and also from Velocity Art and Design in the US

When I get out from under the sock monkey, I’m thinking of designing a few knitted home accessories, maybe for sale in the shop. Very inspired by all these ideas.

Shhhh. Don’t Tell the Minx

November 10, 2010 By Paola 5 Comments

My needles are on fire at the moment as I’ve realised that the actual monkey has to be finished by the end of November for there to be any chance of her having clothes by Christmas. I start attaching the arms tonight.

She can sit due to a little bag of rice in her posterior end. Note that the pattern designer added a little shaping to the waist to give her some ladylike curves. Truly the Joan Holloway of sock monkeys.

Shhhh! Don’t Tell the Minx

November 4, 2010 By Paola Leave a Comment

Need to buck my ideas up if I’m going to get this done in time for Christmas.

Go Love Your Office – Etsy HQ

October 14, 2010 By Paola 2 Comments

Once upon a time when the Internet was still young and I was working as a management consultant, I remember musing with a few folks that it would be a great idea to set up a ‘shopping engine’ for craftspeople and artists to give them a standard template shop under one umbrella and save them the hassle of setting up their own websites and doing their own independent marketing.

Yes, things would be very different round here if I’d held that thought and founded Etsy, rather than just sitting on my arse.

Perhaps I would be working in gorgeous offices such as these. Etsy’s HQ in Brooklyn has been designed by Hangar Design Group to reflect the quirky, colourful, handmade nature of the brand and decorated using many pieces commissioned or bought from Etsy sellers.

Those lamps are incredible, does anyone know where they were sourced? I’ve been searching everywhere. And I love the crochet granny blankets on the wall.

The combination of geeks and gingham is such a winner I find.

Junkprints installed the record wall

The desks are all handmade. And see the ‘Craft’ area to the left below? Every office should have one.

Plush toy makers Zooguu designed the individual phone rooms. This has made the Husband and I are consider installing a British phone booth door chez nous, though for the full authentic touch I hope the room beyond stinks of stale urine and cigarettes.

Seriously, there are about a thousand fabulous ideas to steal in all this, though I am left wondering whether all the geeky programmers feel comfortable in this space – in the startups I’ve worked at, the geek squad seemed to think pizza boxes and beer cans were decorative objects.

{via SwissMiss}

Blog I Am Loving – Kat Knit’s Project Project Runway

October 7, 2010 By Paola Leave a Comment

As you will doubtless know by now, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Project Runway fan, even in seasons like this when the fashion really is nothing to write home about.

So I’m loving this fabulous project happening on the blog Kat Knits where Kat, and also her friend Susi, both take 15 hours to follow each Project Runway challenge to the letter and create outfits for a doll.

From creating a stunning handbeaded element for the couture challenge

and its ready-to-wear counterpart

to printing a custom fabric for the fabric challenge

to knitting a tiny ensemble for the sportswear challenge

to punching out from ribbon and glueing hundreds of tiny circles for the ‘party store’ challenge

and knitting tiny accessories for the team challenge.

There’s much more to see on the blog, including all the workroom ‘drama’ and if you haven’t discovered it already go and say hi to Tom and Lorenzo at Project Rungay for everything you ever wanted to know and then some about the show (which is where I found out about this blog).

Update

I can’t wait to see what they comes up with for last night’s ‘Design a Grey Shapeless Sweatshire for Heidi Klum’s Vanity Line’ challenge. Best of luck to them both.

Things I am Loving – Living Dolls House

October 5, 2010 By Paola 1 Comment

Once up a time Canadian artist Heather Benning, then the local artist-in-residence in Redvers, Saskatchewan, decided to create a real-life dolls house art installation.

She acquired a derelict, isolated farmhouse on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, rolled up her sleeves and set to work.

She had the interiors painted in 1960s pastels; furnished the house with vintage 1960s furniture from the time when the house had last been inhabited and loved; and had huge plexiglass windows installed to one side.

And created the house of many a grown-up little girls’ dreams (except perhaps for the huge Plexiglass windows).

THE END

{From the Jealous Curator, via sfgirlbybay’s Tiwitter}

Thing I Am Loving – Erin Flett Pillows

September 29, 2010 By Paola Leave a Comment

What a shame my birthday has just passed, as I’m rather enamoured of these and can think of quite a few places they’d fit in our house. I may have to sneak one or two in.

The cushions are hand silk-screened on sturdy barkcloth by graphic designer Erin Flett in a variety of gorgeous on trend colours.

I think this chair is crying out for one, don’t you? Going to see if I can get some in the shop too. Find Erin at www.erinflett.com and buy her pillows on Etsy.