Scrap sculptures

These bowls and sculptures are made from scrap thread and tiny fabric snippets, all waste material from previous projects. It's a technique I learned from a workshop led by Meredith Woolnough, which basically comes down to using water-soluble fabric and a lot of machine and/or hand stitching.

I love this way of using every last scrap of material as in the Japanese concept of mottainai : a caring culture in which you try to use something for its entire effective life.

A silk painted scarf

Now this is a fun craft : It’s easy, quick and has a lovely wow-factor!

First you create a design on the scarf (or just some lines or shapes) with outliner, a kind of paint. Mine was copper. 

When the outliner has dried, you fill in the spaces you just created with silk paint, which is a really fun thing to do. 

When the silk paint is really dry (next day), you have to iron the scarf, to secure the colours.

Washing my scarf made the copper outliner disappear. I don’t know if that is supposed to happen, but I like the scarf without the copper lines too. 

Et voila: a unique piece is created!

with the outliner :

no more outliner, because it is washed out. Also the colours have slightly faded:

Is it a shawl or a scarf, a sharf or a scawl

This is a project I solely made for the fun of experimenting with shaping and matching colours. I looked through my stash and brought together these different yarns, all DK weight :

- Alpaca Super Fine by Borgo de Pazzi (the red yarn)

- Adriafil WoCa ecoyarn (the dark grey yarn)

- Adriafil Sierra Andina Alpaca (the light purple yarn)

- The Fibre Co Acadia (the green, the blue and the dark purple yarns, some of it was leftover yarn) - one of my favourites so far!

The technique of short rows intrigued me and although it looked fairly complicated, I wanted to try it. So I looked for some intructions online and started knitting away. There were so many stitches on the needles, that I couldn't visualise exactly how the shawl (scarf?) would look like : a true mystery knit this was! In the end, it turned out quite all right, certainly not perfect, but I love the colour combination and the rainbow-shaped section. And it's a really warm scarf (or shawl?) as well!

the shortrow section:

Work In Progress:

Winter Wonderland scarf

I made this scarf from a piece of fleece fabric sewn together with a cool, smooth, supple fabric. The decorations are embroidered merino yarn and various kinds of beads. On the reverse side I embroidered some subtle stars with small beads. The scarf makes me think of Russian fairy tales, winter wonderland and magical icy landscapes.

                            

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! 

Josephine's Twin leaf loop

This infinity scarf is a design by Alana Dakos, from Never Not Knitting. You can find the pattern in her book "Botanical Knits". Earlier I made the Life cycle scarf from her book "Botanical knits II". The yarn I used is Blue sky fibers Suri merino, very soft and fluffy.
The lace pattern wasn't that hard. I had to focus though. I don't have a clue how to correct mistakes in lace. Luckily I managed. This scarf really needs blocking before wearing, to present the pattern at its best.

                                                          It needs blocking before wearing

Steely Tweed Scarf

This is an "oldie". In the autumn of 2014 I knitted this scarf for my son. It was one of my first knitting projects and it took forever. But I enjoyed it and he liked it. The pattern is published "Easy knitted scarves", a booklet by Monica Russel. The yarn is Artesano Aran (50% superfine alpaca 50% Peruvian highland wool), a beautiful strong, soft and robust yarn. Unfortunately, the company shut up shop in 2016.
We bought 2 skeins in the summer of 2014 at I Knit, another beautiful yarn shop in London. I was a real beginner at that time and the two (expensive!) skeins I bought were from a different batch...I hadn't noticed, I even had no idea that this could be a thing. It only became clear while I was knitting... Surely the person selling me the yarn, me clearly being a novice (you could not help noticing by the questions I asked...), should have warned me...? I guess it is one of these lingering  disappointments… I still love this scarf though!
I added tassels from some leftover dark grey yarn I got from my Mum who knitted me this dark grey beautiful sweater years ago. Yes, the story continues...

One of my last projects on straight needles...

such a warm scarf!

Parisienne Chic

This was my very first lace pattern. It is quite easy but I struggled with it at the time, and I made mistakes, dropped stitches etc. Even in an easy lace pattern, mistakes show, but I found a solution. I sewed a nice bead on every mistake and added lots more on random spots. It turned out quite nice actually. Having struggled with this scarf, I still have a soft spot for this "Parisienne Chic".
The yarn I used is Rowan lace (80% baby alpaca and 20% merino), bought at local yarn shop Lana in Antwerp.
You can find this pattern in the booklet "Easy knitted scarves" on p.38.

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:

A sweater becomes a scarf

A sweater of mine, nice ecological cotton, but very worn, has become this admittedly slightly eccentric scarf.
I cut the sweater in long pieces (incuding the sleeves) and sewed them together. Then I went crazy with embroidery and small pieces of fabric, all in according colours. The scarf, it's cotton, feels a bit stiff, but the colours, I think, are a succes.

And the leaves that are green...

This long and narrow scarf is the life cycle scarf by Alana Dakos. The pattern is published in her book "Botanical knits 2". I couldn't find the yarn that was suggested, so instead I used Malabrigo sock yarn (superwash merino). I purchased this yarn in 2016 in Social Fabric in Totnes, another local yarn shop that seems to have closed, so sad...
The lacy stitch pattern made this an interesting knit. After blocking the scarf, the leaf pattern became very beautifully visible. I am happy with it!