What arts and craft things have you been making lately?

Lovely job Dandelion. Maybe little pieces of leftover fabric could be made into articles that could be sold - by a charity shop, school fair or some other fund-raising activity.

That's a delightful little dress, Dandelion, and a wonderful bit of 're-purposing'.

freebird wrote:Lovely job Dandelion. Maybe little pieces of leftover fabric could be made into articles that could be sold - by a charity shop, school fair or some other fund-raising activity.

Good point. We used to make hair 'scrunchies' from leftover fabric when my girls were at school - I wonder what the current craze is?

My first proper 'make' since we moved here.

We can use our concessionary bus passes on the Heart of Wales line from October to March, meaning free train travel for 6 months. There is a great fabric/craft/wool shop in Shrewsbury, and I bought several patterns and pieces of fabric on my last trip. Thought I might need some indoor winter projects in this rainy part of the country!

Looks a nicely made job, and I like the colours - reminds me of a plasma ball ! Is it for general, or dancing related use ?

Nice bit of pattern matching there Freebird. I like the colours.
Shrewsbury's a bit of a trek for me on the train but doable and its a lovely journey. We're exactly half way along the line so it's the same time to Swansea.

I love it!!

Thank you all. It's just for general wear. I love check shirts, but usually end up buying from charity shops, slightly the wrong colour or slightly the wrong fit. So nice to have something that fits and in my favourite colours.

Beautiful shirt, freebird. Just my style and colours too! I know what you mean about ending up with not quite what you want.

Did I detect perfectly matched pockets

A few years ago I decided to take up crochet again, but had forgotten how to do it. The first thing I made while relearning was a pan holder. I'd bought a single ball of a chunky cotton yarn, and the pan holder used over half although there was still a good bit left. Never known what to do with the rest.

Fast forward to last night, having just dug my crochet stuff out the loft. The cotton yarn still in my bag, so thought maybe I could make a pot stand for the kitchen table (save any more burn marks ....). Found a circular pattern, so I could stop when the yarn was running out. So here it is - took about an hour to make. I followed the pattern right up to the penultimate row, then just made something up for the final outer circle that would get me right round before the yarn ran out. There was about 2 feet left at the end. It's about 7.5" diameter.

Nice, and useful too ! You seem to have refreshed your memory quite quickly ...

My Mum used to enjoy crochet. She was a very accomplished knitter, but preferred crochet - I think in part because it was easier to avoid sewn seams, which was the stage of knitted garments she least likes. She once won first prize in our village show with a crochet matching skirt and top.

I didn't inherit her skill. I knitted half the back of a jumper once, then she had to finish it for me.

Sounds like any jumpers I have knitted CH. Hate knitting - think mainly I dislike the feel of all the stitches on the needle under my fingers. Seems a strange thing to dislike about it.

Handy little thing freebird. I'm all for saving surfaces from burn marks. I'm a knitter though can do a bit of basic crochet if I count carefully. With CH's Mum in disliking the sewing up of knitting - I favour knitting in the round wherever possible.

I've come to crochet quite late - I could never get the hang of it when I was younger, but in the last couple of years I've crocheted two blankets. Knitting tends ot make me tense - I tighten the muscles in my neck when I'm doing it (don't ask me why...) and end up with a headache. But I'm more relaxed when I crochet.

I don't crochet - I can do basic stitches. It makes my hand and wrist hurt. I do a lot of knitting but also dislike sewing up so I have become a big fan of seamless knitting. I knitted something seamless back in the winter. If I remember in the morning I'll dig out a picture.

I think I said before that my grandmother was amazing at crochet. This is a blouse I found when I cleared my mother's house, crocheted by my grandmother in the 1940s using fine cotton

I clicked on 'thumbnail' rather than 'image' when I put the picture in the post, but if you click on the photo you can get a larger image!

That is some amazing crochet Dandelion. It must have taken endless patience.
This is the last seamless thing I knitted. It's all in one piece with no sewing up at all. Just a few ends to weave in.
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Wow, Dandelion, that is absolutely stunning.

Nice cardigan Ploshkin. If no seams, how do the sleeves attach to the body - it is done by picking up stitches or something? Don't get too technical because I don't knit.

Things like that are knitted from the top down so you start with a yolk.(or is it yoke?). You then separate off a number of stitches on each side that will become the sleeves (store them on pieces of yarn) and carry on knitting the rest of the stitches to become the body (in this case flat knitting or in the round if it's a sweater). You then go back to the stored stitches, put them back on the needles and knit the sleeves in the round (one at a time of course).

Wow. That makes my head hurt thinking how to do that, excellent.

I love it Ploshkin. I know this sounds like a silly question, but does it get very heavy to work with after you've done the main body and are starting on the sleeves?

Dandelion, because I use a long cable with interchangeable needle ends the weight sits in my lap. I use interchangeable needles for all my knitting now because I get too much pain in my hands and wrists to knit for long with the weight on the needles.

I'm surprised, Ploshkin, that you find crochet uncomfortable. With only a single stitch on the hook at any time, there is never really any weight to speak of.

I can't keep up the wrist action for long Freebird. It would take me forever to make something.

Love the Dandelion grandmother crochet - what delicate work!
And Ploshkin's cardi is fab. I use interchangeable needles on a long cable too. Trouble is, I get little use out of lovely woolly pullies with the mild winters we get here!