inspiration.

well ive recently began to use tumblr as a place to store any inspirational images that i come across. it's mostly related to my current project so its all pretty similar but if you've got a spare 5 minutes, have a peek.

come to the woods & say hello.

space.

apologies for the lack of posts recently, it's been a bit hectic with 2 projects and a dissertation to juggle. anyway, here's a quick post of my space at the moment... more bears and lots of colour!

bath stuff week. part two.

another part of 'stuff week' was 'reinventing the wheel', which showed a modern use of old textile techniques. sound familiar? this was the summer project set for us this year so this was our opportunity to get some work in an exhibition.

see the little stripey chevron thing in the embroidery hoop? yep, thats mine. pretty small but every little bit helps.

bath stuff week. part one.

this week bath has held 'stuff week' which involved many different events and exhibitions around the city. 'the mantelpiece' exhibition required artists to display their 'stuff' on a make-shift mantelpiece. i loved the idea and some of the collections were beautiful.

Karen Nichol ^
& i was so excited to see my favourite artist, Donna Wilsons', piece.

back to dyeing.

(i dyed quite a bit more than this but the colours were awful. thats how it goes with dyeing yarn i suppose. i just want to draw more animals!)
now just need to get knitting...

more bears.

so it appears, i cannot stop drawing bears!
i dont know what makes them so great to draw, but i should definitely be doing some proper work...

if you go down to the woods today...

...you're likely to find some bears wearing funky jumpers.

ive never been a big fan of drawing, but i now understand it was probably because i was drawing the wrong thing... woodland creatures wearing bright clothes is definately the way to go!

Knitting & Stitching show 2011

i spend this years show a little differently, as i was helping exhibit. i was working with Rachel John Extreme Textiles stand (i did some work experience with them a couple of months ago)
i really enjoyed it but i must admit it was pretty hard work!

a little snippet from our stand, a beautiful knitted rug just using odds & ends.

Some of the stands had gone all-out to look gorgeous! Here's a few of my favourites...

too good to... drink?

whilst spending my usual half a day on pinterest (its my new obsession but thats another story) i came across this...
...dyeing yarn with kool-aid, a funky little american soft drink mix.

i just put a large pot on a hob, with just enough water to cover the yarn. it must be kept on a really low heat, really just to keep it warm.
then i added two sachets at a time, pouring them around the edges of the pot. when the water goes pretty much clear, i flipped the yarn over and did the same again.
at the end, i added a light colour just to cover any white bits.
remove it from the hear and let it sit for a while, just to get it to room temperature then rinse and hang up to dry.

the flavours i used (by flavours, i mean colours)... black cherry, berry blue, lemon-lime, orange and lemonade.

too good to... drink? continued.

so here is the final product from the kool-aid dyed yarn. tunisian crochet creates really interesting vertical stitches so i thought it would make a perfect knitting needle holder.... crochet a little flap, sew on a button and voila!

in a spin.

our summer project was to look at old textile techniques that we feel are not being used so much anymore.
not being one for thinking inside the box, i decided to have a go at spinning my own yarn (im sure some may argue this isnt really a textile technique but as i crocheted it after i spun it, im sure they can let me off!).
i bought a lovely little spindle from etsy and dyed lots of welsh wool tops. it was actually a little easier than i thought (maybe im not doing it right?) but it seems to work ok.

from this........

to this.......

finally, to this......

its good to be back!

well the uni year hasnt officially started yet but i just couldnt keep away from the dye room any longer! i cannot wait to get crackin with my third year!
this little beauty is going to one day become a cushion cover (when i can decide which side to use!)

one mans scrap...is another girls gold!

swindon scrapstore- my newest (and most dangerous) discovery. they sell everything, including a huge box of tapestry yarn (which i quickly delved right into!) i have no idea what im going to do with the 30 skeins i now possess but who cares, they're so pretty!

hola amigos

i must apologise for my absence but i've spent the last week & a bit in Portugal. i had an amazing time & saw some beautiful sights, some of the architecture was absolutely gorgeous & i love the printed tiles on the outside of the houses.
the Portuguese also seem pretty crazy about crochet, it was everywhere!

in the dragons den

i'm currently doing a work placement for rachel john 'extreme textiles' and they recently appeared on the bbc programme, dragons den. heres a little clip from the programme.

woof woof.

me & my little sister have spent our summer so far making these adorable little puppies. they've taken us a while but here they are!
the templates are courtesy of mollie makes magazine & can be found here.

farewell brighton

well i cannot believe my placement is over already. those 3 weeks flew by!
unfortunately, i cannot show you anything that i worked on, because of copyright, but here a few little highlights from my time in lovely brighton

tea anyone?

this is first addition to our wedding collection... i picked up this this little tea cup in a charity shop in brighton. it's destined to become a scented candle, that will make up our table centre pieces for the wedding.
i will keep you updated on how the candle making goes (as it could be disastrous!)

i do love cake.

its true, cakes are my weakness. especially ones that look like this...

i♥brighton

i spent yesterday getting to know Brighton (& lying on the beach!)... & today i started my work placement at Knit-1 in Brighton.
i got stuck in straight away, knitting a fairly complicated fairisle pattern. i'll keep you updated on what im doing :)