Butterflies and Flowers...

I recently took part in a UK only swap from Craftster.  My swap partner was the very talented loukr (check out her website Dearest Jackdaw... beautiful!).  Inspired by her love of nature, I knitted catching butterflies from tiny owl knits.

 

 

I used Rowan wool cotton for the mittens, so they won't be too hot.  For the butterflies some Sheena Anne Mohair Look that I found in a charity shop, I knew it would come in handy one day!  The pattern was easy to follow, full Ravelry details here.  I'm so tempted to try some other tiny owl knits patterns, as they are very cute!

 

Also in the package, I made some crochet flower brooches and badges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great fun, and I can't wait to receive my swap package in the post!

Scandinavian inspired Craftster swap

Some time ago I signed up to this swap, as I have a bit of a crush on Scandinavia. For my big item I knitted a Fair Isle cushion. I realise that Fair Isle is actually a Scottish island, though it has a rich Norse history. And the Fair Isle style of knitting is similar to that seen in Scandinavia.
This is actually a cheat's Fair Isle, as the hearts were made with a variegated yarn.
The pattern was by Jane Burns for Simply Knitting. Full details can be found on my Ravelry project page. My next project was some felted coasters, inspired by these by adknits. I made circle shapes from crochet using some 100% wool yarn. I then put these in the washing machine and crossed my fingers. When the spin had finished, I pull the coasters out and reshaped them. You need to tug really hard to get them back to a circle shape!
Once dry, I used some merino roving and a felting needle to add spiral shapes (watch your fingers at this point, as felting needles are really rather sharp!).
I then found my old Danish textbook (Dansk for hele verden - Danish for the whole world) and scanned in some pretty line drawings. Using paint.net I cleaned up the images, added colour, and then printed on photo paper to make some unusual cards.
For a final treat, I made some cross stitch badges. Using this pixel Viking image as a starting point, I made a Viking, heart, snowflake and a star.
It was good fun creating all these items, and I am certainly braver at trying more complex Fair Isle knitting now. I'll share what fantastic goodies my swap partner sent me soon!

A Rather Fantastic Mr Fox Badge

Take one inspirational vintage waistcoat, some embroidery threads, a piece of 22-count aida, and a badge maker, and what do you get?
A rather fantastic Mr Fox badge. I drew up a chart, picked threads to match and got to work.
Covering a whole waistcoat would certainly take some time!