Other Bits and Bobs 2017

Other Bits and Bobs 2017

You might wonder why my long term project is taking as long as it is. Sometimes it is because I am waiting for supplies to arrive but generally it is due to having to put down to do Other Bits and Bobs.

Often when I do these Bits and Bobs I write them up into a blog. However there are occasions where due to time commitments I do not have time to record the process. So here are a few of the things I have done this year.

Green Beret and Gloves

I made the above Beret and Gloves a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I ran out of wool before I could add a scarf.

Green Scarf too Short

I bought a couple of balls of wool from my favourite shop Knit Nottingham and found out the pattern I had used (also bought from Knit Nottingham). However I found when I had knitted the scarf I ran out of wool. So to avoid another trip to the city I had to improvise.

The pattern called for 60 stitches to do the rib. I have quite a small neck and this scarf seemed a little wide. Therefore I unravelled the whole thing and started again

Green Scarf Second Attempt

I used the same pattern and size needles which I believe were 4mm. This time I cast on fewer stitches. I cannot remember exactly off hand how many. The rib pattern was Knit 4 Purl 4 continuing and ending in a Knit.

I made sure that it would still end with 4 Knit so I think I cast on 44 stitches. As you can see in the above photo that greatly extended the scarf. So there is a handy tip if you ever come across the same problem.

Handy Cutter and Cord

If you are like me you are forever losing your scissors. So when my friend spotted in Knit Nottingham a handy little cutter in the form of a pendant I couldn’t resist. She bought a silver one whilst I opted for the bronze colour.

I set to work making a cord for the pendant cutter so I could wear it. I thought brown would work well with it. Fortunately I had some brown wool to hand so could start straight away.

I toyed with various ways of making the cord. I could use my Lucet or Braid Wheel. In the end I decided to knit an I-cord.

Birthday Cords

As I said previously my friend had bought a Pendant Cutter at the same time as I did – she always costs me money when I go shopping with her ahem!

One day she happened to mention about having to get a cord for her Pendant Cutter. Oh-ho I thought. I know what I will do for her birthday.

I had quite a stock pile of ribbons at home. I spent a couple of hours going through the lot. I needed ribbons that were not only of sufficient length but also quite thin. This is because once plied together they would need to be small enough to go through the hole of the Pendent.

In the end I selected about 15 ribbons that I thought would work. Each cord would need 3 ribbons each as I was going to hand plait them into a workable cord.

I tried to put the ribbons together so they looked nice and could be interchanged depending on what my friend was wearing. As we are both pagans a little idea regarding ritual colours crept in whist I was designing.

So I ended up with a yellow one which could be Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Lammas. The blue and white were Imbolc. The red and white were able to be used for both Beltane and Yule.

However my absolute favourite was definitely the Black and Orange. This was for Samhain or as it is more commonly known as Halloween.

Medieval Bracelet

This bracelet was made from embroidery silks. It was for a neighbour’s daughter. It was made on my Braid Wheel which takes 7 threads. This was ideal for making a Chakra Bracelet.

The neighbour’s daughter chose the colours she wanted from my selection and after several measuring sessions we ended up with the item in the picture above.

You may notice it has quite a long tail as well as being tied with an adjustable knot. This is because she has only just turned 12 so it can be lengthened accordingly as she grows.

Peg Doll

Another item I made was something I was taught to do as a child long before such things as CD’s, I-Phones and On-line gaming was thought of.

The doll as it name suggests is made primarily of a peg. I rustled up some fabric, thread, wool, and glue and felt tips and made a start teaching her.

The above doll was a bit of a rush job but I think it isn’t a bad item since I haven’t made one for about 20- 30 years. I gave it to her dad to take to her when she went into hospital.

I do still have other projects on the go but I will leave that for another blog.