Garland everywhere and it's not Christmas Sista!

Yesterday my kids decided they would create little fairy party houses so that their personal fairies could visit, have a snack and leave a little somethin' for the girls.... It was hinted to me numerous times before bed... Anyway I played  along and decided to try my hand at making garland.... First I started with little scraps of fabric and ribbon and hung that on one of the little houses. then for the other I had scraps of printed paper and a butterfly punch.  They sailed beautifully through the sewing machine...   and here's how they turned out:

You might have noticed there's a lot of garland/hangy things  - and not of the Christmas type.... but garland made out of everyday and not so everyday items.   I just found this post by CreatureComforts where she has a DIY Garland Roundup.   Lots of fun ideas.

J. Crew  recently opened a  Crew Cuts just around the corner from us in Tribeca. They seem to have caught the garland bug as well.  Here are a couple photos:

Even the curtain for the changing room has fringe!

The  garland-fringe  and pinatas are creations  made by the team at  Confetti System.  You might have seen their work in the Winter CrewCuts catalogue .

I've also been seeing them lots in the magazines and other websites .  These are just a few photos I've collected on Pinterest.  Check them out... It's great way to file your bits of inspiration!

Source: translate.googleusercontent.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: mrsboho.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: housetohome.co.uk via Suzanne on Pinterest

Well- you get the point. Fringe, Garland, hanging stuff. Lottsa fun!!

Another Brioche [no bread involved]

knit the stitch (that was slipped in the row before) together with its yarnover.

brp (brioche purl - also known as a burp) 

purl the stitch (that was slipped in the row before) together with its yarn over

About a year or so ago I passed by the window of Purl  in Soho.   Everything there is beautiful and even when I have a ton of yarn, fabrics and books at home, and simultaneous projects I'm working on, I never leave without buying something!  I saw this beautiful knit scarf in the window so of course I bought the yarn.   Although I've knitted off and on for years I had never tried using a self-striping yarn.   Usually it seems to be sold as sock yarn but in a scarf you have more opportunity show it off.  For my first version of the Brioche Stitch scarf you can go here.


The Brioche  (aka Berlin scarf chez Purl)scarf is made with Alchemy Migration yarn which is 30% Silk and 70% Wool. This is what the yarn looks like before knitting it up:

 The yarn on the left is goldeneye and on the right is cinnamon tea.  Below shows what  it looks like after brioching...To get this effect you alternate the colors every 4 rows. I think I might make mine into a cowl thing-y....

If you'd liketo make it go to purlbee for the pattern.  It's fun to do once you get the hang of it.  I'm not quite finished with it (see wire at right)but had to show it now...

If you'd like to see more projects bloggy people are working on go to kootoyo " my creative space".

I made  another example of the scarf using different yarn here.

One of these days I'm going to learn some other brioche stitches! Here are some books I'll be putting on my wish list:     I'd love to see any examples of items you've made with the brioche stitch!

Pouf Pouf Baby!

This is my second try at the pouf.  My first attempt was back in May where you can see the results here.  So far I have used  Burly Spun  yarn and used 4 strands of yarn as one strand.   I used the biggest crochet hook I could find. For the first pouf I noticed that the more the kids played with it and rolled it around there was  lots of pilling and it was getting kind of worn out looking . It was also stretching out and I  could see the foam pillow inside.  It wasn't dense enough.

These are photos of my new version using single crochet pre-felting.  I already like this better because I used single crochet throughout instead of double so it's much more dense. I also made the reverse side the outside of the poof.

 

views of the poof

Could even use it as a dog bed...

I had sewn most of it together and left an opening for the foam pillow insert before throwing it in the hottest water possible in my washing machine.  I had created a woolly mass of wet wool. After taking (actually felt like I was dragging) it out  of the washer it gave off an odeur de farm...  It literally smelled like a barn every time I passed our little laundry room.   I have a ridiculous, delicate, vent-less dryer which was pathetic for drying this thing.... I finally decided to just put our bathroom radiator on high and put the wool blob on it.  Two days to dry!! Thankfully there was no mildew smell... Now here is the end result after washing and felting it:

It's much denser and less likely to pill.  I still have to sew in the foam pillow on the first pillow I made (it is now also felted ) but this is what they look like stacked.  Just have to make a 3rd to finish the stack... (Any collection or grouping should be an odd number.  It always looks better!)

I'm seeing more poufs in my future. Everybody who sees them likes them - especially the kiddies that come to visit on play dates....

Have a good weekend!

Xo S.

Why do now?

Another version of the Keep Calm and Carry on  .craze...  It's late but just found this on Pinterest and love it...

Source: ffffound.com via Rosalie on Pinterest