Wednesday

As this summer prevails, I find myself not drawn to my knitting bag at all, actually I feel totally unmotivated to knit a row or two of anything!

When I do sit down and knit a row of my socks I literally knit one row - I enjoy the row, but thereafter I put my knitting down for another day!

What is this syndrome called I wonder?

I hope that once the cooler weather sets in I will be more motivated to get back to my knitting!

I am not sitting idle though and have been trying to further myself in my sewing.

I am not a complete novice at sewing, but I have yet to learn patience and have not moved this craft to where I would like it to be!

Summer seems like the perfect season to work on this and as such I have a lot of new projects planned.

I have enrolled myself in a couple of new online classes and, once the material that you see above has been washed and is ready to be used, I will be diving right in.

The first of these classes is:

Learn to sew a Shift Dress by Nicole Vasbinder

Learn to Sew Pajama Pants by Nicole Vasbinder

Both of these courses are great so far.

I love how Nicole really explains the sewing process from beginning to end in super step-by-step portions.

My plan is to make everyone in the family a set of pajamas, I hope I succeed :)

I will take you with me through the process!

Reading Wise: Still reading the same book as last week.

What are you up to this week?

I will be sharing this post with all my creative friends.

See you soon
x

Tablet Weaving 101 - Equipment

Last week I showed you how to make your own set of cards for your tablet weaving.

Besides the cards you will need something to hang your warp off of. Let us look at the various options you have for your warping.

If you have an inkle loom you can use this very easily to warp your tablet weaving warp on.

I would recommend using an inkle loom for projects that are balanced, so the same, or at least similar, amount of forward and backwards turns (We will cover this in a later post)

If you have projects that will only be turned in one direction then an open ended warp, or a back-strapped warp would be advantageous.

To create a back-strapped warp, you will require a back strap as well as something that holds your warp under tension.

The most commonly used variation of this is made with two pieces of wood (the same size) that have two hole drilled through the bottom piece, and one hole through the top piece.

Through these holes a piece of curved metal is inserted.

At the bottom the curve resides in the second hole, and at the top of the belt, the curve is used to attach a "belt" (this can be made of fine rope, or heavy string)

The other option is a dead basic belt.

You will attach your warp up and over the belt and will need to secure it with a saftey pin.

Next time we will talk about how to understand the warp.

See you soon.

x

Friday FO Fun

This week I have two things finished and ready to show you.

The first is this cute owl above.

Now I know mine doesn't look very owl-like and that is because I didn't have any buttons on hand for the eyes :( So I added sequins and beads instead, making it look like a totally different animal :O

My beak is also pale yellow instead of orange as I didn't have the right colour or thickness!

Anyway, I wanted to test the pattern to see how simple it is to make and if I could introduce it to some of our clients at work as a quick and simple project.

I will share another with you all soon once I have made it with all the right fibre and extras :)

Here is my finished wrap skirt.

I hope you can see enough of it......(it is very hard to photograph without teenies who are so adept with their phones :))

Here is another image of it lying flat.
I find that I do not manage to sew something without giving the edges a certain decorative stitch!

Are you the same or is it just me?

So, what have you managed to finish this week?

I would love to see!

Share your FO's below :)

See you next week.

x

An InLinkz Link-up

Tutorial Thursdays Month-Long Linky Party

Welcome back to another month of linking fun!

June is the here, the month of Sunny weather (or colder weather) and lots of inspiration to be creative :)

Get creative and share your craft tutorials with us all!

I would love to see them, so share them below :)

This month there will be no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.

I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.marigoldsloft.com" title="Marigolds' Loft"><img src="http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i51/marigoldsloft/button_4.jpg" alt="Marigolds' Loft" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Have fun :)

See you soon
x

An InLinkz Link-up

Summer or Winter?

I don't know how you are feeling on your side of the globe, but where I live in Europe it feels like we are slipping right back into winter today! And that one day after the official beginning of Summer!!!

I was getting comfortable with the idea of plodding along knitting a couple of pairs of socks until the weather turned, but now I may spend my morning browsing through Ravelry looking for some winter woolies!!

No - I will not let the weather deter me, today I have some projects planned and I will pull them through (with gloves on ;))

After lunch I plan on cutting out and sewing this sweet little wrap skirt.

I still have some material left over from the pants I sewed the other week and it should be just enough to make one of these.

If all goes well I will be sharing the skirt with you on Friday.

I have finally got a move on these socks!

And it is a good thing too, because these are some gift socks for a neighbour of mine who could use some nice warm socks for her birthday which is coming up in October. (I know that seems a way away, but blink twice and it is here!)

I am also moving forward on my Tablet weaving band.

Above is another band that I started last week, I do love this colour combo :)

As I promised you last week, I have started a mini-series on how to tablet weave. If you missed the first post yesterday, you can find it HERE

Reading Wise: I have managed to start another title this week - I am Livia

I am not far enough into the title to have formed an opinion yet but it does seem to be an easy read.

What have you been up to this week?

I will be sharing this post with all my weekly creative friends, so do stop there for some great inspiration :)

See you soon

x

Tablet Weaving 101

Since I noticed that some of you would be interested in trying tablet weaving, I have decided to do a couple of blog posts to bring the craft a little closer to you.

If you like me are an avid crafter and love every kind of handwork, you tend to become hesitant to start any new crafts for fear of the initial financial set up costs.

The second thing I know I worry about is the space factor! 

Can my home handle another piece of crafting equipment?

Well, let me lay your worries to rest.

Tablet weaving is one of the most inexpensive crafts to begin!

If you have never woven before, not a problem!

All you need to be able to do is count and stay focused for a couple of rounds at a time :)

The first thing you will need is cards or tablets.

Today I am going to show you how easy these can be to make at home.

For this you will need:

A pack of cards

A ruler

A pen 

A hole punch

A corner punch 

Let's get started:

If you do not have a corner punch, you can try to round your corners by laying one card on top of the other and following the rounded edge with some scissors.

Join me next time where I will talk about the other pieces of equipment you will need.

I would love to hear from you!

Have you woven before?

Are there certain areas where you need clarification?

Write your questions below and I will be sure to answer you.

See you soon

x

Friday FO Fun

As you may have read on Wednesday I have spent the last week weaving.

Today I would like to share the bands I have finished with you.

This one is made with 5/2 Cotton

And this one with 8/2 cotton.

What I love about these bands is that the front and back pattern look so different but just as interesting as each other!

For those of you who are interested in beginning to tablet/card weave, I am starting a small instructional blog series to introduce you to the basics and get you on your way.
This series will begin next Monday - so the 22nd June.

What have you managed to finish this week?

Feel free to share your Finished Objects with us all below :)

See you soon.

x

An InLinkz Link-up

Tutorial Thursdays Month-Long Linky Party

Welcome back to another month of linking fun!

June is the here, the month of Sunny weather (or colder weather) and lots of inspiration to be creative :)

Get creative and share your craft tutorials with us all!

I would love to see them, so share them below :)

This month there will be no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.

I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.marigoldsloft.com" title="Marigolds' Loft"><img src="http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i51/marigoldsloft/button_4.jpg" alt="Marigolds' Loft" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Have fun :)

See you soon
x

An InLinkz Link-up

Weaving Wednesdays

This week has seen me weaving away the hours :)

I started tablet weaving last year some time (you can read about it HERE) and had the opportunity to visit a card weaving course in my vicinity over the last weekend. The course has definitely lit the fire of enthusiasm and I can't wait to further myself in the art of tablet weaving!

What I love about this ancient craft is that there are no specific tools needed to create the most stunning bands.

Until now I have made my bands on my inkle loom, but this weekend I got the opportunity to try back-strapping which was awesome :)

At the moment I have two projects on the go:

One is on my inkle loom and I am hoping to make a belt out of this band:

The other project is a Back-Strap Project and I am making this project because I found the pattern so cute!

I have completed two other bands which I will share with you all on Friday.

Reading-wise: I finished my book from last week and managed to read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" since then.

I finished this book with more than just the usual teary eyed expression as I have now read all of Khaled Hosseini's books on offer - what a pity! If you have not read any of his books I would warmly recommend each of them to you.

Finishing this book completed my Goodreads Book Challenge for this year :). I had originally set my goal at 12 books which I have now completed. 

I have decided to up the challenge and think another 3 books will still be a possibility for this year and so my challenge now sits at 15 books for 2015!

My next book to read is: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

What have you been up to this week?

I will be sharing this post with all my wonderfully creative friends, so do pop over and be inspired :)

x

My New Baby

Are you wondering what is in all these boxes?

Should I show you?

I can't unpack them right now as they will be unpacked in their final destination which will be my new craft room once it is finished, so I am sharing an image from the Makers Website - This is what I got.......SQUEEEEEEEE

It is my Öxabäck Lilla loom :)

I can't wait to get this baby up and ready to work on!

I chose the 80cm, 8 Shaft, 8 Treadle model.

What loom do you work on?

See you soon
x

Friday FO Fun

This week I shared my completed Beaded Cuff Free Pattern with you all.

If you would like to knit these cuffs you can find the pattern HERE.

What did you manage to complete this week?

Feel free to link your projects below :)

An InLinkz Link-up