The artist

Sometimes, she disappears for hours and I know that I am not to disturb. The creative juices are flowing and this child who usually bounces about, runs from adventure to adventure, and is the loudest kid on the block (which means I usually hear her if I can't see her) cannot be heard or seen. If I get too close to the door it's a panicky "mummy DON'T look" that greets me. Of course I don't because I know when she wants to be left alone until her project is entirely finished. It's a big secret and a work in progress is never shared with anyone.

Her favourite book ever is Hoglet the Spineless Hedgehog, which according to her is absolutely amazing ("Mami, it's so so so good that story")

And she is a self declared artist. She loves the fancy paints, like acrylics on canvas.

Next up she creates houses for cats, with built in toys.

After this, she's back to her usual bouncy self, like a switch that's been turned one way and then the other.

 It's not an easy task keeping up with this kind of energy!

Rag Rugs all around

The better half of my evenings last week were made making t-shirt yarn. And what better to make out of all that loveliness than a rag rug! But wait, this is not the only way to make a rag rug. In fact, there are a few approaches to brightening your home up with handmade rugs.

Thankfully, all three ways of making a rag rug were trialled at the latest StitchUP. I had my mind set on a crochet one, with all that colourful t-shirt yarn and my still rudimentary crochet skills, I knew I needed a helping hand to get me started. By now it measures 3/4 of a metre in diameter and it's growing quickly. It's an ideal starter project, and quite satisfying because it's so super quick, while giving the beginner plenty of single crochet  practice. Result: I no longer feel I'm holding the yarn in the wrong hand AND I can crochet while holding a baby toddler.

Tutorial:
Make a chain of 6 stitches. Close to a round. single crochet into the hole as often as you can- I aimed for 10 but only managed 8. It's important you know that number.
Round 1: In the first round after this, increase the same number of stitches; i.e. single crochet into one stitch, then make a chain, single crochet into next stitch, make a chain etc.
Round 2: single crochet into next 2 stitches, make a chain, single crochet into next 2 stitches, make a chain until end.
Round 3: single crochet into next 3 stitches, make a chain repeat until end

To put it differently: you increase your number of stitches from the base round in every subsequent round. So in round 5 you single crochet 5 times, then make a chain; in round 10 you single crochet into 10 stitches then make one chain etc.
As to crochet hook: well, it depends on your t-shirt yarn. I used size 9 but that was on the tight side of things.

So this is an image of my work in progress, and considering I've only just learned how to crochet and this is my first proper project, I'm pretty pleased with it.

Next up is the one that I will be doing another time because it's been on my mind for a while. It's made from hessian (a type of rough linen/jute, the kind that used to be used for potato and coffee sacks). You will also need fabric scaps, approximate 2 inch long and 1/4 inch wide and a tool for threading (there are professional tools for this but a crochet hook will do failing all else). For a detailed tutorial, and more images, visit The Patchwork Heart:

Finally there's the no sew woven rag rug, also made from t-shirt yarn. It's pretty straight forward too, and as there is an existing tutorial I will spare my breath here and just point you to it.

All three methods are super simple - and yet you'll end up with a beautiful addition to your home, while recycling/upcycling fabric that is no longer useable.

You may end up not wanting to actually step on your rag rug, though.
Pray tell me, which one's your favourite?

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: me-time or a birthday treat or making felt

As a treat for my birthday, Mr Cartside took the girls to the park nearby while I learned how to felt:

Add some sparkle to your life!

I did. Just by setting up a folksy shop for the wonderful, sparkling, beautiful, amazing, shimmering and colourful jewellery that Marlene McAdam continues to come up with. You see, she's a real creative soul, and her jewellery, well, what can I say? I wore tiara, necklace and bracelet made by her for my wedding, and very proudly so, I don't think I could have worn anything more special.

So today, I would like to share Marlene's shop with my lovely readers. Have a look, tweet the shop, add it to your facebook profile or whatever other social networking you may be into. I'd really like to get the message out about her fabulous jewellery. No, this is not a sponsored post, I just genuinely love her stuff.

Not being someone who sells handmade things myself, I'm not sure if folksy or etsy is the way to go, if any of the crafty folk amongst you have any opinions on this, or how else to promote Marlene's shop even, do let me know.

By the way, you can also order custom made items in your favourite colour scheme for the same price as the items presently listed in the shop. Just drop us a line. Ah go on, treat yourself and sparkle a little bit!

looking for creativity

The last few weeks were full of pressure at work and trying to get 100 and one things done in the evening. I slept little, stayed up late. Every night I planned to squeeze in some creative time, some knitting, sewing and felting (the latter thanks to Betz White's Felt and Stitch Holiday which I'd taken part in). Each night, I failed. Yes, I did do some creative work with my photos and produced some amazing photo books and calendars, which I do count as creative work. I did follow the felt workshop and discovered new techniques, yet failed to make time to implement them. Try I did, succeed I did not.

Erica over at Little Mummy recently posted and interesting pyramid of needs and while I don't subscribe to the rather radical theory, it was clear that my head wasn't free to make mind time for crafting. It was frustrating. My approach has always been that all my crafting has to be enjoyable and not a chore - so I went with the flow. Last night, at last, the urge came back properly and within a day, I completed a knitting project. It was triggered by a visit to K1Yarns' Glasgow shop. For anyone who doesn't know K1Yarns, it's a top notch yarn shop, with one shop in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow. The owner very kindly agreed to sell the print copy A Hat in Time without any commission and the reason for my visit was the delivery of a batch of books. In the shop, there were knitted tea cozies on display and amazing books on knitting and sewing caught my eye. Torn between 3 books, this one on Japanese Zakka (home style) sewing inspired me, ending up home with me along some wonderful knitting yarn:
There I was, frantically trying to source linen fabric, my head full of ideas, buzzing as it hadn't been in a long time. That very evening, I started to knit a tea cozy which I've just about finished (bar the finishing, excuse the pun). The feel of the yarn running through my fingers felt good beyond words, the pleasure of the texture created so satisfying. The joy of having found the right idea for someone special this Christmas. Thinking of the person while knitting it and which tea pot the cozy may keep warm.

It made me ponder how in spite of the sewing inspiration and the felting workshop, with all the materials lying about, I'd defaulted again to knitting. I feel at home knitting, unlike sewing and felting. I'm determined to become at home at least with sewing because somehow I feel it's meant to be, as my paternal family made their living from it. I can boast a father who can sew and cross stitch like you wouldn't believe it, having picked it up from his mum and aunt who were seamstresses and who were the sole breadwinners in the postwar years, with a fiance fallen in the Great War and a husband (my grandfather) injured in the Second World War. My father never was a great teacher, and while picked up knitting from my Mum, never did I do more than watch my Dad sew and stitch.

Sewing, for me, is something I still aspire to enjoy and get good at, because it's a family thing, a tradition, it should somehow be in my genes and there's pride in it too. Pride that my paternal grandparents were crafts people, a seamstress and a bricklayer, one to make homes, the other to make clothes and mend. A perfect combination, and considering I'm rather far removed from bricklaying, at least I want to do my father and his mother and aunt proud.

While for this weekend, I'll keep to knitting, hopefully next week will have some sewing in store at long last.