Fine Silver Handmade Key & Sea Glass Necklace from bittyclippies

Art Locket from twigstudionc

I am making a point to wear beautiful jewellery this year since I’m stuck wearing a uniform in my dreary government job I need a little something each day that is “me”.

So if you’re into all things handmade how about following my link to Heartsy and see if anything takes your fancy? You’ll get $5 credit when you sign up and purchase a deal. Beware, it’s quite hard to resist!

It’s been rough on our planet Earth these last few months – in Australia there were floods, fires and cyclones. Soon after came the earthquake in New Zealand and now the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, all of which have tragically ended with loss of lives and devastating damage to homes and infrastructure. While these events have came as a shock there is one thing that has not surprised me at all because it is something I have seen so often now, and that is the immediate response from the crafting community of “how can I help” – on a global scale.

So I’d like to do my little bit to help show a couple of the amazing designers who are donating profits from their pattern sales to relief funds for Japan.

Comfort Slippers for Japan by Reiko Arato – $2.50 USD
Such a cute pattern requiring only 180 yards or so of yarn. This pattern is especially perfect for those of us who have a large sock yarn stash but can’t commit to knitting socks (yes, that would be me) or just want some cute slippers! The pattern is only for one size but I would encourage you to check the notes in the projects listed on Ravelry because several members have posted their modifications and suggestions to get a perfect fit.

Caring Cowl (The Snood for Good) by Alexis Winslow – $3.00 USD
What a great name! Chunky cowls are “in” and doesn’t this one look oh so snuggly and warm? Winter is coming up soon here so this will be the perfect addition to my wardrobe. Am I the only one who looks forward to winter just so I can wear my knits? If you’re coming up on summer in your part of the world then how about knitting a few and stockpiling for Christmas presents? Knit with a bulky weight yarn on a 9mm needle this would knit up in no time, the perfect last minute gift. I’m thinking this would look great in handspun yarn.

Pacific Shawl by Michele Bernstein – $6.00 USD
Fess up knitters, I’m sure there is at least one skein of sock yarn in your stash that would be perfect for this lovely shawl. The pattern includes both written and charted instructions for three sizes of shawl so it’s well suited to both beginners and experienced knitters alike. It also has the option of adding beads (note: you will need 430 beads for a large shawl) – I’m off to raid my bead and yarn stash for the perfect colour combo!

Also please check out the 1000 Wishes shop where there are some amazing fabrics bundles, masking tape/paper sets, prints, yarn and handmade items available to purchase like the ones shown below. All funds raised will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Fund. Items are still being added before the shop closes at end of April so if you don’t see something you like yet keep checking back. If you have something you’d like to donate please contact Ali ASAP (who has done an amazing job organising this by the way).

Lastly, check out Ben’s “Help Japan” board at Pinterest for some amazing artwork and fundraisers. If you’re not a member of Pinterest yet, why not?! Send me a message on Ravelry or email me at mail(at)eriven(dot)net with your email address and I’ll send you an invite :)

Please be generous and support these designers, crafters and artists in their awesome efforts to raise funds for Japan.

(Images used are copyright their respective designer and used with their permission)

Day Four: Where Are They Now? – 2KCBWDAY4
Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

I am somewhat of a selfish crafter. I don’t mind knitting or otherwise crafting gifts for people but only those who will truly appreciate the time and effort that goes into it will ever receive a handmade gift from me. Plus all the women in my family knit so they can make their own stuff! For the most part the only knits that ever leave my home for good are those I make for swaps, e.g. this Traveling Woman Shawl that I made for a pink swap in the Australian Swappers group on Ravelry.

Or this Swallowtail Shawl that I made for a swap with a 100 gram limit on yarn – using laceweight is probably cheating just a little bit! But it challenged me to try my first lace shawl and I’ve made several since so it was a positive step forward in my knitting history.

So how about you? Do you give your knit or crochet finished objects as gifts and if so do the recipients appreciate them sufficiently?

Thank you for joining me for day four of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. To read more posts from Day Four: Where Are They Now? just enter our special tag, 2KCBWDAY4, into Google or your search engine of choice.

Day Three: Tidy Mind, Tidy Stitches – 2KCBWDAY3
How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.

My stash has it’s very own bedroom. Well it does have to share with my books, dvds, sewing supplies and a few little black dresses but my stash takes up almost all of the built in wardrobe in my spare bedroom. I am too embarrassed to show you photos of the whole room because it’s a disaster so instead you get some instagrammed iPhone photos that reveal my organised stash without showing the mess surrounding it :)

I love the shelf with my laceweight cones the best – wouldn’t our stashes be so much more organised if all our yarn came on cones? Am I alone in my cone love?

Notice all those labels? They correspond to my stash locations as listed on Ravelry. In theory this should allow me to locate a particular yarn without much trouble but if it’s one of those yarns that I like to get out and look at every so often I must must must remember to put it back again! Same goes for needles and hooks – I don’t know how many times I’ve given up trying to find a knit picks cable or a crochet hook in the right size and have just gone and bought a new one. I’m very lucky (though it can be dangerous) to have my LYS just a few minutes drive away.

I think of all the days in K&C Blog Week I’m most looking forward to reading how other people tackle storing their stash and needles. I hope to get some great ideas to makeover my disaster of a spare room.

Thank you for joining me for day three of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. To read more posts from Day Three: Tidy Mind, Tidy Stitches just enter our special tag, 2KCBWDAY3, into Google or your search engine of choice.

Day Two: Skill + 1 Up – 2KCBWDAY2
Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?

I haven’t actually done a lot of knitting or crochet over the last year that has required much thought, tending toward the simple and familiar due to my lack of concentration (side effect of a new medication). But I have learned a thing or two, nothing major and probably things that most knitters can do with their eyes closed, but have always been a bit scary to me.

Seams!

I have a terrible habit of not finishing projects because of scary prospects such as seaming. Well after a very long time of having a fully knit and yet incomplete Central Park Hoodie, I gave in and made my first attempt at seaming. I’ve read books and watched videos but the lightbulb went off when I watched the following video from Berroco in which Cirilia demonstrates seaming a set in sleeve. It all just made sense then!

I’m confessing now that I still have one seam to finish before I can actually wear my Central Park Hoodie but given that winter is just around the corner I might have a chance to wear it so I should definitely finish it.

Buttons!

Next on my list of fears to conquer is adding buttons. It sounds so simple and straightforward but to me it’s this last minute touch that could potentially ruin the look of my finished garment. Sure I could just take them off and try another, but sometimes you just can’t find the perfect option. Take my Drops Cardi – I have tried three different buttons on this and haven’t liked any of them. It is still being held together with some badges I picked up at Smiggle.

So perhaps given my difficulty with buttons I should pick the buttons before I start knitting a project so I’m not limited by the size of my buttonholes or width of my button band. How do you go about picking buttons?

Thank you for joining me for day two of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. To read more posts from Day Two: Skill + 1 Up just enter our special tag, 2KCBWDAY2, into Google or your search engine of choice.