Thursday 31 May 2012

Can A Sea Urchin Be Orange?

I am not quite sure - but it seems like a sea urchin can be any color in my world of polymer clay. I rarely create in orange and I really do not know why.

But lately I sort of discovered the color and it really looks great. This sea urchin is meant to spark up the summer or the winter for that matter. I intend on using it with my chunky bracelet.

It is so lovely to discover colors I rarely use. It gives a new dimension and challenge the idea of a color.

The sea urchin is a copy of a real one that I made a mold from. I make them hollow and with the texture just as it is in real life. I happen to love making them and I always keep some finished unpainted ones so I can make one necklace in a hurry. I only need the disks and the beads.

After baking they are painted with acrylic paint and heat set in the oven. I have made a lot of them for gifts, giveaways and for my own use.

Right now I am knitting on a gift that takes up all available time every day and has been for nearly two weeks.

But I had to put it away for a couple of hours to clear it out of my head for a while. And then the orange sea urchin popped into my head - and since my brain is huge I had to get it out quickly. LOL!!!

Orange is a part of the rainbow. And when the sky goes orange in the evening it is on its most beautiful. I will remember that wearing my new pendant. It is the little things that count - and a orange break was just what I needed.

I wish you a break in just the color you want!
The new orange together with the other ones in my collection.

Monday 28 May 2012

My Eyes Nearly Popped Out

It is no secret that I love knitting books. And that a lot of them are very inspiring and fun to read and full of tips and techniques that have helped me be a better knitter.

Recently I came across the book Pop Knitting and I must say that my eyes were about to pop out. I got so inspired, and it was such an eye candy, that I wanted to share it with you.

And let´s be clear: I did not get money or were asked to write this post. I bought the book - and simply loved it.

Britt-Marie Christoffersson is a swedish textile designer who started designing with her needles 1986.


And now she shares her intriguing patterns that simply uses known stitches to create so much fun ideas for what ever garment you want.

The book is a huge inspiration and the only thing I would like to be better is the explanations. It is sometimes hard to find out if you can knit in the round or have to knit back and forth.

But for an adventures knitter this is excellent with its texture, color and motif knitting.

There are projects for both the beginner and the advanced knitter. There are holes, squares and colors that makes the knitting pop. I have all sorts of projects rumbling around in my head right now. There are so many ideas that I have never seen before.

The book is in english and norwegians can find it here: Capris. For international readers you can find it here: Amazon. A treat for your self, or something to wish for if you love knitting and need some nice inspiration.


Monday 21 May 2012

Chunky Is The Best

I tend to make large jewelry. And this bracelet is no exception. Not a huge job to make this as I rolled out a sheet of polymer clay of the colors you see.

I used a whole packet of red and orange and a little of the other colors. To make sure that the beads has the same weight I use a round cookie cutter to measure out.

After the sheet is rolled out on my pasta machine I cut out two pieces for each of the big beads.

The small ones are only one piece. Fairly easy and quick. I roll the beads, press them a little and add the texture.

The beads are textured with a sponge sent from a friend in Spain. You could use any sponge with a heavy texture.

I press the beads between two sponges and make a hole. Thats it really.

Polymer clay is extremely versatile. And I simply love it. One do not have to buy expensive tools to make jewelry with it. Before adding a pasta machine to my tools I simply used a rolling pin from the kitchen. Keep it simple!

I have a simple philosophy: Fill what is empty. Empty what is full. Scratch where it itches.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Saturday 12 May 2012

The Cats Are Out

I nearly can not believe it myself. My jacket is finally finished. The finishing was a kind of pulling my hair out experience.... First of all I forgot to move the sidemarks before sewing the steeks - I remembered it after I cut it open for the sleeves. I was then wondering if a wig would be a choice if all the hair was gone...

And the jacket was a little too small. BUT, I am a modern woman - I have an iron. And decided to leave my hair where it was - still on my head.

With a wet cloth and the hottest setting I manage to get it bigger and not that strange looking from the wrong placed sidemarks.

Wool is always on your side - or was it on the sheeps side or back? Or whatever... LOL!

I must say I love the colors. I never thought they would look that good together and they certainly take away the small errors from my sight. I tried a new way of knitting the edges.

I hate purling pattern so I decided to knit them in the round. After all I wanted pattern on both sides, and my name and 2012 knitted into them. I picked up stitches and added six more for steeks and knitted the edges.

After binding off I sew and cut it open. It was so lovely to knit in the round.

But I managed to knit too tight, and the edges had to be blocked over night to get the right shape.

I was about to leave the jacket way back in a closet and starting pulling that hair after all. But I am not good at giving up and wanted that hair - so I thought that I would finish it once and for all.

No matter the outcome. Happily after adding the clasps - the jacket is fine. I actually love it - I think... There are a lot of hours knitted into my new jacket. It is always lovely to finish a work like this. But most of all the work preparing for the colors, pattern and all the rest together is a fun part of it all.

The road of life twist and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.
Don Williams Jr.

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Pt2 from Rauma
Needles: 2.5mm
Size: M (I think)
Pattern: Modified from pamphlet 1235 Rauma (Snodige katter)
Other materials: Cloak clasps
Ravelry linkKnitting Cats And Dogs
This polymer clay bracelet made a while ago, is a match for my new jacket.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Gone Hitchhiking


Well not literally. But I have started on a really fun knit. Before I joined Ravelry I had this comfort zone for knitting. Norwegian pattern tend to be very vague and trying new things often made me give up because there were no way to guess what the designers really meant with their sort of descriptions.

Ravelry has made me more brave and using english patterns there are no problems trying new techniques. They are so good explained that I can manage on my own.

Ok. After a long story, here is the beginning of my new scarf. I try new yarn, new technique and I love it. It is so much fun to see the scarf grow with its shark theeth.

The pattern is excellent and the designer has a lot of great designs. Check out Martina Behm on Ravelry and give it a go.

Do not fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: Could have, might have and should have.
Unknown

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Socks that rock mediumweight, Fire on the mountain
Needles: 2.5mm
Size: We will see
PatternHitchhiker
Other materials: So far, none
Ravelry linkHitchhiking To London

Saturday 5 May 2012

How Cowl Is That

Or rather, how cool is it to have knitted my first cowl. Well, I did and it was a little boring. But the result is ok. It is really nice and warm and will fit into a jacket. The pattern must be written in a dark night - I had to use double the amount of yarn recommended.

The pattern says to sew the ends together. But I am not happy about those tight things over the head ending up with a bad hair day, and a cowl that gets bigger every time I put it on.

I knitted it three centimeter longer. And this time I only used stash yarn - yes, really. I knitted three button holes - not even knowing how my buttons would turn out. I fitted them for the holes.

The buttons are made of polymer clay. I rolled out a sheet of orange on my pasta machine and added pieces of the other colors.

I then rolled the sheet through again and added it to another orange sheet to get the buttons thick enough. They actually were too thick and I had to sand them down with a 360 grit sandpaper. Fun? Not!!!

The button shapes are cut with a cookie cutter and then textured with various tools. After baking, I added white acrylic paint and wiped off the excess.

I was inspired my Beccas tutorial, but must admit that I have no skills in drawing so this went on to be abstract. Anyway, I added the word knit to one button..

I happen to like the buttons. To me, they make the cowl a bit more fun and colorful. Since the summer has decided to go on strike here - I may have to use this to stay warm. Sigh!!

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Vamsegarn from Rauma (220grams - over double the amount the pattern recommend)
Needles: 5mm
Size: 63 x 28cm
PatternRauma 084-10
Other materials: My own handmade polymer clay buttons
Ravelry linkCables And Polymer Clay

Thursday 3 May 2012

Into The World

It is really fun to wear this polymer clay necklace I made  - reminds me of summer and happy days.
When I received an invitation to write a guest post I could not believe it. I tend to believe that my creations are nothing that special. That it is just something ordinary.

But Mary Jane thought it otherwise and invited me to write a guest post on the blog Love My Art Jewelry. I have written about how my work in polymer clay started and about my knitting.

You can read the post here.

Thank you so much Mary Jane. I am very honored and happy about this. You touched my heart.

A large leaf pendant in polymer clay. I made a large leaf cane and used it for this necklace