Empower people bandana

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.

 

Sweater becomes mittens and cowls

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!

 

So instead of an unused sweater, I now have 3 nice accessories 😊 

Clara's Cape

Clara's Cape is a pattern from Knitvent 2017, which is a lovely mix between an advent calendar and a mystery knit along. The collection was inspired by Tchaikovski's Nutcracker.

I used Rowan Big Wool, which meant it was a superfast knit. 

you can wear it as a lovely shoulder-warming cape or loosely as an oversized statement cowl. And, as the designer says "Combining a dollop of old-fashioned Edwardian charm with a dash of modern simplicity, Clara's Cape captures a bit of that timeless magic and makes it utterly accessible"

I am very happy to add it to my wardrobe! Hopefully next winter I can take some  strolls through a fairytale winter landscape...

The designer, Helen Stewart, hosts the lovely Curious Handmade Podcast, absolutely worth listening to!

               

Upcycling T-shirts into a loop scarf

On Pinterest you can find lots of images of loop scarfs made from T-shirt fabric. I love these projects and wanted to try my hand at this. For a long time I have kept my old discarded clothes so I have more than enough fabric to get me started.
I used mostly dark grey, with smaller pieces of coloured, flowered fabric.
It was a bit more work than I thought, but I am in love with the outcome, so totally me! I love the colours and the scarf is so soft.

You can wear this loop scarf in many different ways :

Work In Progress:

Oma's pull through scarf

This is a great little gift-knitting idea. It is a small scarf with an elegant look because of the yarn I used : it is Aiko (Lang Yarns), a merino-mohair viscose blend. The yarn feels soft but not too stretchy. And I love the colour, purple with some speckles, a bit of a tweedy look. I bought it at Lana in Antwerp, a nice shop with lots of the more classic quality yarns and lots of knowledge to tap into. 

You can find he pattern in "Cute and easy knitting" from 2013, so not brand new. I know there are lots of books for beginning knitters but these patterns are really lovely, beautiful, very cute and worth knitting.

I knitted this little scarf some years ago, for my mother in law, when all my Christmas presents for that year were handmade. As I mentioned before on here, I'm recovering from shoulder surgery, so this year no handmade presents sadly. But I am doing much better and am determined to carry on bravely with the physio, so 2020 can become a crafty year once again! 

Simple Rules Cowls

I knitted these two cowls on holiday. It's a very fun knit, ideal for using that one special skein of thick and thin yarn from your stash. The rule is very simple : knit when the yarn is thin, purl when it's thick! You can find the free pattern here on Ravelry.
The purple yarn is Verona Scheepjes, bought at Wolwollewool in Maastricht (the Netherlands). I have no idea of the blue yarn's name or specifications. It's probably a woolblend.
The purple cowl felt very prickly, so I lined it with some repurposed black fleece fabric, which makes it super warm.

The structure of the thick and thin yarns gets emphasized by the knitting pattern:

Selfspun experiment

I find myself loving the colour orange more and more. Using my new skill, I spun a small amount of orange yarn, with a bit of purple. I twined it with some turquoise weaving thread, which was  something of a brave combination. Eager to see how it would look like when knit, I got a circular needle and created what would turn out a rather nice, if a bit prikly cowl. Happy day!

the selfspun yarn :

what shall I knit…?

It's a cowl!

Stephen West's Purl Ridge scarf

To me, the unconventional colourful appearance of the designer Stephen West is fascinating. I really wanted to knit one of his designs for my bestie, so I chose the Purl Ridge Scarf, a circular scarf that knits up quickly in the round. It is a simple pattern, and it's free. You can find it here on Ravelry. I enjoyed knitting this, just garter and stockinette, while watching some nice detective series! The yarn is Uncommon thread lush worsted (merino-nylon-cashmere goat), very soft and luxurious! It was chosen by the recepient (whose knit-worthiness is 10/10), in the fantastic yarn shop Loop in London. It's got one downside, though, because the knitted fabric pills quite easily. But it's soooo soft!

still on the needles:

My Calm Cowl

This is the Calm Cowl by Suzana Davidovich. It's a free pattern on Ravelry (you can find it here). My Calm Cowl is not as wide as the original pattern. It's an easy relaxing crochet pattern. I used Evie Sublime Yarns in 3 subtle colours, purchased at Social Fabric in Totnes, a delicious shop which, as mentioned in a previous post, sadly doesn't exist anymore.

The herringbone neck warmer

For my dad, who is always cold, I knitted this neck warmer. It's the herringbone neck warmer by Craig Rosenfeld of Loop Knits. You can find the pattern here on Ravelry : https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/herringbone-neck-warmer
The wool is Manos del Uruguay Clasica. I bought this yarn in 2014 in the lovely Caféknit in Lavenham (Suffolk, UK). I think this shop no longer exists, at least I can't find anything recent on the internet about it. Such a shame. If I'm wrong, please let me know.
The buttons I used are made from coconut shell, so all natural materials!

In the beginning...there was a cowl...

A few years ago, I had some time on my hands and being in a bit of a gloomy mood, I thought it would be a good idea to start some kind of easy crafting project. I bought a ball of bulky yarn (Patons fab big colour acrylic) and knitted the cowl according to the pattern I got with the yarn.
I liked it! it was a fun, easy and fast project and I was superproud to wear a piece of clothing I made myself. And the whole process did wonders to my mood!
Since then, I became a bit more critical about the yarn I use (not so much in love with acrylic yarn anymore...) but I still love this first knitting project, for it was more or less the beginning of a lot more happiness!
that is why I chose this first project as my first blogpost.