For this piece I stepped a bit out of my comfort zone by using bold colours.
I embroidered figures onto a piece of fabric cut off an old pair of trousers. It is inspired by the work of Saima Kaur, who herself is inspired by the expressive folk embroideries from India.
It's a bit of fun, what will the day bring: yay or nah? But in the end, every day is just one day!
EmPower People is a craftivism project aimed at uniting crafters in all mediums to engage people across communities, so as to spark conversation, engagement and action to uphold social justice and human rights. The project launched a call to knit, crochet or sew a purple bandana and to wear it proudly, while you speak and act against injustice. This crafting community is committed to embrace humanity and family, to embody community, and to emphasize equality.
I am all for this and also feel strongly about craftivism. So I knitted this bandana, a pattern by Casapinka. And I wear it proudly, at the moment while I am doing my social distancing. I knitted it in Noro Tokonatsu (a cotton, silk and viscose blend) which I have found a wonderful yarn! Aport from its significance, this bandana is also beautiful and warm!
You can find the patterns for the different bandanas here.
I had a sweater that was still in reasonably good condition but had become too small. I loved its fabric and colour so decided to walk the recycling path here.
I should have taken a photo of the original sweater, but I cut it up before I even thought of that.
From the sleeves I made long fingerless gloves. I cut them from the main body, picked up the stitches with my circular knitting needle and cast off neatly, cutting an opening for the thumb and sewing round it. Really happy with them!
The shawl neckline of the sweater was kind of special so I cut it off in its entirety and made it into a cowl. By sewing round the edge with a nice yarn (Manos del Uruguay Serena alpaca cotton blend) I managed a ruffled edge. With the same yarn, I embroidered some flowers. I added an invisible press stud so it stays well in place. Not completely my style, but I still think it is a successful project and hopefully will make someone else happy.
Then there was the body of the sweater, which I cut into broad strips, sewing them together into one loop cowl that wraps around the neck twice. Again I picked up the stitches, and added a small knitted edge in a colourful yarn (Mayflower Egyptian organic cotton Print). The colourful edge makes this a really pretty cowl, I think!
