Beaded kumihimo bracelets and hand spun winter woollies

I am really enjoyed making these beaded kumihimo bracelets. I had a play with some different beads, I especially liked using the long magatama beads shown in the middle. These bracelets will be for sale at Dilham village hall, home of the Worstead spinners, weavers and dyers on 6th December. Some of the proceeds will go to fundraising for the guild to do repairs to our building. There will also be lots of other spun, woven and dyed hand made items. The adjacent village hall will also be open with a Christmas fair with lots more crafty goodies and nice things to eat.

        

I have also made some cosy winter warmers made of handspun yarn to sell....

The brightly coloured hats and the cowl are made from merino. The light grey, cabled hat is made from Shetland fleece and the dark/light grey striped hat is made from a mixture of black welsh mountain and light grey Shetland fleece.  For more information on the patterns I used you can see my ravelry page Ellieb93.

I am now working on a mask for a masquerade ball in November, I thought of using a technique similar to Kathleen Laurel Sage's organza work, I will let you know how it goes.

The cutest little Cotswold cottage scissor keeper

Yet again another purchase from the knitting and stitching show. I was admiring the lovely handy work of Sue Hawkins. She is a talented needlework designer. A Cotswold cottage scissor keeper kit caught my eye. I had to buy it and attempt to replicate this gorgeous design. It took me about 5 days to finish completing a few hours each evening. I really enjoyed sewing it and I am very pleased with the finished piece. Not as neat as Sue's but not bad for a novice. It has made me want to design some of my own 3D stitch early. Here it is...

I could not believe how many different designs Sue had made. If you want to find out more see Sue's website suehawkins.com

Soldering irons and organza are the future!

Last weekend at the knitting and stitching show (Ally Pally) I bought a snowflake kit and a soldering iron from Kathlene Laurel Sage. Kathlenes display was so inspiring with a miriad of organza goodness. She uses a soldering iron to cut and seal the organza to make flowers etc. Kathleen was very helpful, she gave me a quick rundown of how to use the soldering iron. I was so excited to have a go, but did not get chance until this weekend. The instructions were really easy to understand, it took me about 6 hours to complete as I was faffing about a bit. Here is my finished snowflake decoration.....

I am definitely hooked to this technique. I have a hole host of ideas to make things using this technique. If you are interested is ordering your own kit see Kathleen's website... http://www.kathleenlaurelsage.com. Kathlene has kits you can order online and you can see lots of lovely things she has made.