Uncategorized

Catch up

What a wild ride friends
Since last we spoke I had changed jobs, hosted another Indigo Faire,
and been to Westport and back.I’ve hit level 20 in “Pokemon Go”, we have gotten “No Man’s Sky”, the
baby has hit and passed 9 months (longer out than in now), and I have made a vintage inspired dress.
Played with the simply 16 a 16″ long arm quilter on a frame, played
with the top end Janome embroidery machine, the top end Husqvarna
embroidery machine, a product call the Artistic Edge, also from Janome,
and handled countless yards of yarn!
So I apologise for not being as regular as I once promised.To the yarn side of things:
Did I mention I purchased an Addi Express knitting machine?
22 needles so it’s only the baby one good for gauntlets and socks (albeit tube socks for now), toys, braided cowels, and funny little disks for an afghan.

So far it’s smooth and fast and fun. I must say I haven’t had the most
time but I’ve knocked out some little bits and bobs (I just have to
sew on some ears and such) and I can share it with you.  I did manage
to dabble in making knitted tights for the wee girl, in Ashford Tekapo
12ply.

Not bad for a prototype. It was one of those moments where
making them was a Cha cha…. 3rows forwar 2 rows back.
Other wise I have been crocheting slouch beanies. A free form top down
pattern in hand died and store bought yarns.
I was lucky enough to play with the Naturally Arumi possum merino. A
lovely deep red dusted with black from the fur. Simply scrumptious and
I hope it makes for a very warm hat.
I experimented with some new colours with my hand dying and a
technique of squeezing patches and sprinkling dye on top of the pot to
create a subtle uneven marl. Using also the Skeins merino Alpaca blend,
which was beautifully silky and soft, and produced some amazing colours.
I am bias toward blues and greens and turquoise though.

Otherwise I have been sewing. Getting the buzz for quilting again.
Getting the urge to finish some unfinished things.
Making bags!

My new job:
My new job is my old job. The job that I had straight out of Toi. The
difference is the new owner.
Her/the shops new motto is, “Do what you love”
And do we?
Yes.
It’s so nice to be in a fun busy environment with great creative
people. And I can sew at work!
So far I have made 4 bags for the Porirua craft fair and a banner.
Getting to know the newer machines and catching up with old faithfuls.

This weekend I have to speed build Janet from Rocky Horror to go to
the sing along event the embassy theatre puts on.
Last time almost 2 years ago I was Rocky, with a Frankenfurter.
This year I will be Janet with a Magenta.
From there it’s birthdays, shop repaints, craft fairs, and quilting
stitch alongs so I hope to tune in more regularly and let you know how
it goes.
Until next time friends

Zoo day

The Wellington Zoo has a $2 day event that comes around every so often, a great promotion for the zoo through winter. $5 Winter Wednesday’s are also great but a little harder on us working folk.

I’ve been periodically visiting Wellington zoo for around about 25 years. I remember the zoo from the 90s, a great step up from its original construction but still really a concrete jungle.
These days cages and runs have been replaced with expansive habitats and enclosures that not only look beautiful but provide each animal with enrichment and stimulation they need to live happily.

Hearing about the special day we planned we packed and with the baby in the Carrier off we went.
More amusing than the animals were the children, local and tourist alike, trailing stuffed monkeys or wearing Bear pants. Climbing the Tiger statue or exclaiming “it’s not sun bears, it’s sun BEARS”. Like the inflicted enthusiasm made all the difference.
The Zoo itself is broken up into rough zones. A Savannah-esque landscape for Lions, Giraffes, Cheetah, and Ostriches. “The neighbours” features a more open plan, with the Emu, Wallabies, and Kangaroos just doing their thing in a fenceless area. Down the bottom of the zoo you can “meet the locals” before heading to the petting zoo and run around with the chickens and watch the Kunekune sleep in the mud.

It is well worth it’s price to get in. And remembering the ticket price helps pay for the Zoo upkeep as well as goes towards their conservation efforts you can always feel like you’re helping them out while having a good day.

I know I promised a craft blog. And here I am two blogs in a row bombarding you with animal photos.
When I was a small girl, I dreamed of combining my two passions photography and writing and being a journalist for the National Geographic. This is me playing pretend.
Though my normal day to day life has nothing to do with cameras and the closest I get to the Congo is a fabric named after it, I do dabble as a photographer. Over the years I have teamed up with some talented friends to produce great fashion images and beautiful stylised portraits. As well as being able to photograph shows, show photography being my other love, along with wildlife photography.

Feel free to check out my Flickr (a combined effort between my partner and I) to see some of our past works. I promise to have more craft soon.

Until next time kids

Zemi photography Flickr

Wellington Zoo

So long and thanks for all the fish

Last Monday, a particularly leisurely, sunny, Wellington morning in late March. I get a call from my partner who was out on an early walk with our almost 5 month old daughter. He hurriedly asked me the status of my camera, and location of large lenses knowing that the day before we had an issue with a single bar battery and a hard job locating small objects in our messy house. (Note: 5 month old baby in house).
“The Dolphins are back” he exclaimed, and I knew we had to hurry.
The day before our little seaside village had been graced by a large pod of dolphins. We had missed out on photos that day, because of flat batteries and being swamped by people, but today was a Monday, 10:30am. There were only a few people out observing the breaks in the waves shielding their eyes from the low bright light.
We raced, one pram, two cameras, off around the bays to try and capture a magical image. The baby still miraculously asleep. We made it to the pipeline in Houghton bay, where after a bit of rock jumping I managed to find a great vantage point looking out over Princess Bay, where our returning pod played with a paddle-boarder and generally had a great time at the beach.

Island bay, Houghton bay and Princess bay belong to Taputeranga marine reserve, a 9 square Kilometer area, With 180 different species of fish,octopus, rock lobsters, crabs and star fish. The Dolphins were probably coming over for a nice snack as well as a play date.
On the beach we spotted what must have been either one huge pod or 2-3 small pots of around 7, Short beaked Common Dolphin.
Perhaps this sighting proves the waters are changing. Even though here in New Zealand we should be in the grips of Autumn I stood on the beach on a 20 plus degree day watching a porpoise that should be swimming for warmer waters have a rocking good time. Though it’s not unheard of for the common dolphin to swim to far off places and the short beaked has a greater territory than its long beaked breathren. They normally swim for the warm and tropical waters of the Indian Ocean.
With a diet containing mostly small fish and shallow diving squid I think it’s safe to say we were pit stop on the way through to more tepid waters.

Though called Common dolphin they are categorised as In danger of extinction. being a migratory mammal it can be difficult to make sure they are all safe in every reason they pass through.

So onward fine creatures. May you all safely reach your destination.
Until next time friends

Markets and Sunburn

Xmas in Picton, Gateway to the South Island is quite special. Hot beyond all reason with the longest sunny days.

The sleepy little seaside town plods along and makes for a nice relaxing Christmas if you arent running around preparing for a string of markets.

The secret this quaint village holds is that 4 or 5 times a month Picton is host to a darling little craft market as the cruise ships float in. Colouring books, silver jewelry, skin care, crafts, and us.

Miss Gemma Knits was there in force sharing a table with my mum. Selling soaps, stitch markers, apron dresses, candles, and on the woodturning side: pens, quick unpicks, and even a knife. We even had a tiny shop keeper there wearing the goods and being far too cute of a model that she distracted all the patrons on the first day and we had to limit her participation on the second day.

The market is run by the Lions club and is open to locals. It plays host to a vast collection of tourists from all over the world, and thus is always changing in product. There seem to be a few old faithfuls in the mix, one particular stall selling some beautiful feather knit jackets and textured scarves. Another is a felter using silk and roving to create original broaches and scarfs in fabulous colours.

It had a far more casual feel than the Wellington markets, with no designated spots. There was a very relaxed sprawl to the set up, which I think the patrons appreciated and with every stall having a gazebo I feel they relished in the added shade. I know the backs of my calves got sunburnt as they were the one place I forgot to sunblock.

Christmas itself was fabulous. First christmas with a baby, a baby that got unbelievably spoiled by her grandparents, and a few woolies from me. The green and cream crochet cardie from a previous blog, and a vintage sidways knit cardie by Knitsofacto design… A pattern maybe far too ambitious to cast on when Little Q was 2 weeks old but I had it finished in 2 weeks. Forgoing the variegated dye to leave it in its natural cream colour and finding some shell buttons.

Another happy surprise was the fact that the Shell shawl I had started last year for my mum was actually only 2 shells off being finished. So after sewing them all together and knitting the last two I edged it and managed to present it on Christmas only a year late. Not bad really in the scheme of things.

Lastly I treated myself to some 5 ply Chickadee in a wonderful old rose colour from Holland Road Yarns. Q made sure she kicked up just enough fuss to come out of the pram to supervise, and get complemented on her lovely stripy woolie. Once I have finalised the pattern for that little vest my treat is knitting The Wee Envelope by Ysolda.

Until then friends.

Demne vintage baby cardigan

Holland Road Yarns

wee envelope

Christmas cheer

 

 

IT’S CHRISTMAS!

That time of year crafters go nuts for that wonderful 25th deadline. A few of us even add another earlier date in our calendars to take part in charity drives.
This year I knitted for Foster Hope’s toy collection. Just some simple found patterns for little stocking stuffers. My partner even got on the lathe to turn a couple of old fashioned wooden spinning tops for the occasion.

The patterns I used were Honey bunny from ravelry. The bunny itself is knitted in a black alpaca blend. I have knitted this pattern a few times for friends for presents, and though I ran out of time to do it this time, the pattern includes how to make honey a little picot edge dress.

Honey is a seamed sock and the hardest thing about her is remembering your left from right so she doesn’t end up with 2 left feet.
The small garter-stitched rabbits are super easy and there are many different patterns floating around the Internet. I have included a link at the bottom

 

The small bears from Bev’s Cottage are soo cute and quick, it’s hard not to just make tonnes of them (I actually stopped because I started running out of stuffing) Bev’s kaiizen teddy can either be crocheted or knitted. Faces can be painted or stitched. Knitted on the round or stitched flat and seamed.

Her pattern calls for knitting 6 inches before the decrease. As you can see in the photos the koala looking bear is much taller and thinner because of it. I quickly changed the pattern and made it 36 rows until the decrease, roughly 4inches with my tension, making a shorter fatter bear. To me shorter and fatter equals cuter, and easier to grab with a little hand.
The ball in the picture is a rattle ball from the book “baby knits made easy” The rattle made with two coke bottle lids and some beads. It produced a better sound than the bell I got for my Wee girls ball.
The doll is almost the exact same pattern just alternating colours and in my case stitches as well to create the look of pants a jumper and a hat.

Other knits of the past month were a beautiful little bonnet to go with my Saxon themed baby for a Viking first birthday.
(The tiny Vikings mother has a blog and you can read in detail about their journey at Tiny Human Adventures, as always link at the bottom of blog)
Alas the T-shaped dress I had made suffered from a case of Narrow sleeves and chunky biceps, the vest was wearable and the bonnet was too, if it wasn’t a lovely hot sunny day.
The bonnet itself is by Julie Partie of Lili comme tout called Begin de printemps.
Brilliant use of I-cord and a stunning simple seed stitch pattern. It also suits the vintage inspired cardy I knitted a while ago. This is to be a xmas present so I won’t show the completed garment until after.

Other than that there’s been frantic finishing and making as we prepare  for a couple of Christmas markets down south. And while I prepare the wee girls wardrobe for some place warmer than home.

So follow me on Instagram to watch the excitement.

until next year friends.

Instagram – Miss Gemma Knits

Honey Bunny

Bevs County Cottage

Foster Hope

Baby Knits Made Easy

Béguin de Printemps

Tiny Human Adventures

Knitted Square Bunny

Babys, Singlets and Crochet Cardigans.

 

Babies, singlets, and crochet cardigans.

In the space between this blog and the last, I gave birth to a bonny, if not a little late, baby girl.
Being that’s she was a week overdue, I decided to get some knitting done while we waited. I also wanted something easy enough to continue on while I was in the early stages of labour.
With my partners mother in town for the birth along with my mother, we got to do a little shopping. My mum already had a knitting project but his didn’t, And she was keen to pick up the hobby again, so after getting her back in the swing of things with a simple pair of booties we moved onto a singlet.
I had fond memories of the touch yarns sideways knit singlet from days of knitting samples for my old job. At that time we were unable to find a copy of the pattern so after a little hunting around on the internet we found the Charity vest pattern by yarn on the square.
A clever little singlet type vest with a rib, knitted in one piece, then sewn at the sides. Pattern is clear and easy to read, and was great for the step above beginner I was teaching. Here you’ll see in my week of waiting for the baby to arrive I knitted 2 of this singlet. 1 in 4 ply cotton the other in 4ply merino, both striped. The cotton made for a much looser knit and subsequently a bigger garment, I suspect it wouldn’t be hard to upsize this pattern either by using thicker yarn or bigger needles. It is quite versatile, not dissimilar from the Plunket singlet pattern in the Knitworld free pattern section.
I found it was a great way to use up my scrap merino yarn as you only need about 50g total.
The other style singlet I knitted was the touch sideways knit singlet. Finally finding a copy of the pattern just before I went into labour and knitted in the early stages of my labour. I knew my contractions had gotten to strong when I could no longer knit.

This is a really fast knit, unlike the other pattern with its K2 p2 rib, the rib in this garment is made by alternating the side the stocking stitch is on. You can power through nice long rows of knit or purl and achieve a long ribbed garment quickly.
It even has what we call a Plunket neck to get over baby’s head.
This pattern is normally sold in a kit with the yarn, and the pattern has you knit in 2ply for little baby’s or 4 ply for bigger ones.
My garment on today’s blog is done in Cleckheaton 100% bamboo, a soft silky yarn with a heavy drape. NZ is coming in to summer and though Wellington summer is more than temperamental it can get hot, so the cotton and the bamboo can be used on the warmer days. The bamboo is exceptionally good at insulation (I often wear bamboo singlets) and while it can keep external heat out it can trap internal in keeping you nice and warm and at an even temp. Other random fact: bamboo has anti-bacterial properties so it’s great for socks if you have stinky feet.

This pattern when done in the bamboo ended up very long! In fact even though my girl is very long it’s practically a dress on her. So in honour of me never being able to leave any thing alone I may tutu with it over the next few weeks and make a dress pattern from it. We have a Viking themed 1st birthday to attend and it should look very swish.

If memory serves me I mentioned how we had obtained a lathe and I was trying to con my partner into whipping up some crochet hook handles and shawl pins while he makes his artisan pens and seam rippers. The shawl pin is still in its trial stages so no images just yet, but I did get to trial out the fabulous crochet hook handle while making a lovely tricolour cardi for a friend. (The in progress shot.) I liked it so much and forgot to take a finished picture of it that I am remaking it in green and cream for my little one.
This cardi is on a circular yoke, which is a little different than the pattern I usually use which is on a square or rectangle yoke. The circle requires a little more care when dividing up for the sleeves, unlike the rectangle, but leads to a nice delicate shape.
The original pattern (as always linked at the bottom of the post) was only 2 colours, but it turns out I had used some of that ball of purple at a earlier date and I was running short. I felt the grey was a soft subtle touch, and I may yet decide to do a third colour in the green and cream. With a little lace pattern in the body and 3 buttons makes it all so cute.

The verdict on the handle: Excellent. Smooth and solid it gives you something bigger to hold onto when using the standard crochet hooks. Though my carpel tunnel has subsided I can still have days where gripping small things tightly can be a challenge. The handle is a suction fit so I can whip it off and put it on another hook with the same size shaft. We are experimenting with making some handles to fit the super fine lace crochet hooks too.
Which is exciting because it means I should be able to stick with my crochet projects longer.

With Christmas coming up I expect there to be lots more crafting. And even more baking so don’t be surprised if I sneak a few recipes in amongst the patterns. Hopefully we will have some photos of the Viking outfit from the birthday party too. And with a deadline of the 10th of December for Foster Hope’s Christmas Drive there will be some toys too.

Until next time friends.

http://www.mundocrochet.com/round-yoke-baby-crochet-cardigan-free-pattern-and-tutorial/

http://www.yarn-on-the-square.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/charity-vest-pattern.pdf

http://www.touchyarns.com

Spring time Blogging

Tutorial page 1 Tutorial page 2 Patons house boots

Miss Gemma is sewing again.
With the flair up of both carpel tunnel (right hand) and tendinitis (left hand) a few of my more complicated knitting projects have had to go on hold. As much as I’d love to push through, I have to remember these things for me at least are temporary and if I don’t push it too hard I can be back and fighting fit soon enough.

I did knit myself some chunky slippers from a Patons knitting book, which are exceptionally comfy but unfortunately a little too big. I must remember that I really have a child size foot and I can’t pretend to be an adult.
A really simple chunky knit pattern with a little shaping and some button holes. In fact there’s a lot of great slippers in the link provided to fin the pattern and I suspect some Xmas presents might be slippers this year. It’s a pity NZ Christmas is summer.

The yarn I used is a mystery yarn I created out of some cobs of 2ply machine knitting yarn. I know there is a wool content, and judging by the burn test there is a polyester content (which can be good for socks and slippers and making them last a little longer).
I plied the different yarns together using my Ashford spinning wheel, I still have a few balls left so I will have to think of some more projects to do with them.

Featured today is a tutorial for a Rice pack, used exactly like a wheat pack. This particular design was shown to me by a lovely midwife, for use to combat labor pains. The shape and flexibility of it means that it would work really well for many different aches and muscle pains and cramps. For those with uterus’ and issues that surround them I was thinking it could be quite nice to lay across the tum to fight shark week.

Spring has sprung, they days are getting warmer. There are exciting new things going up on Miss Gemma Knits. Beautiful hand made native NZ pens, keep your notes in style.
And if I get my way soon Shawl pins, quick unpicks and maybe even some large handled crochet hooks. To make it easier to hold on those bad hand days.

Until next time friends.

Pattern available here  (Patons 076 house boots)

Less knitting, more sewing

After a quick trip to the main land, I managed to borrow my mothers over locker. So I have been putting a little bit more time into the sewing part of my crafting rather than my knitting.

However never fear knitting enthusiasts. I was able to complete the a little top style dress, in the variegated yarn we dyed recently.
What struck me in the image was the leaf pattern in the yoke. I thought it was very sweet and if my length of gradient was just right meant that I could get it in all one colour before the change.
Luck would have it that way, so yellow leaves with a green body and turquoise hem.
Initially the pattern was straight forward only getting difficult when nice old ladies decided to talk to me as I knitted on the bus. As much as I love to chat about knitting it’s very hard to do when your counting in the middle of a row.
I struck some issues when it came to making the sleeves and increasing for the body. This part is in the middle of some seed stitch, but it seems to throw out the pattern,  I could be reading it wrong but it left a bizarre line. Other wise a nice little pattern for a 1 year old.
The pattern belongs to Leyla Alieva, http://www.silkandwool.wordpress.com

An oldie but a goodie, resurfacing for today’s blog. Mithril booties. I found Mithril yarns while down in Queenstown, for those out of the loop this is the brand that produced the yarn used in The Hobbit. I got two balls one in the silver and one in the fern green.
The first silver pair I made because some lovely geek friends of ours down south were having a baby and I had 2 days to make them something before we left town.
Not to toot my own horn or anything but I am a bootie making machine. These (as well as the first) booties have a moss stitch and a black berry stitch to make them look like ornate armoured boots, and their base is made with a sheep skin.

One thing I did do while on my whirlwind trip down south, was hit the nelson bead gallery’s 50% off sale.
This got me a few more beads and things to make some more stitch markers for the etsy shop. Which should go live with this blog post. Link at the bottom of blog.

The first of our stitch markers is something very special, purple and blush tone Swarovski crystals, Japanese glass pendant, and faux pearls from a vintage trim.
Indian glass beads make up both shade of blue stitch markers, and that vintage trim has been doing me well keeping me in supply of a pearl that has a similar lustre to the crystal and the glass.
There will be some stitch markers with fresh water pearls coming in the future, as soon as we can find a delicate enough drill bit to open up the holes a little bit.

So I’m back at my beach trying to get as much done before the rain comes back.
Until next time.

Miss Gemma Knits – Etsy

A Stitch in Time

 

 

 

This week our home has been filled with dye pots and beads.
Our home was always filled with beads, rhinestones and other gaudy knickknacks, but this week we did more with them than just look at them in their little boxes twinkling happily.

With that dinosaur pendants, howlite sculls and crosses along with cutie stars became stitch markers. Designed in such a way that there is one feature marker and 4 ordinary markers because I have some attention issues and need to hit something definite when I come to the beginning of my round.
I have been using them on 4mm and 5.5mm but they should easily go up to a 6.5 or 7mm the flexible coated wire helping with that.

As for dye pots we have 2 successful attempts and a long tri-colour gradients seen here rolled in two different directions.
The yarn is a NZ 8ply and exceptionally soft and they come in 100g cakes.
I’m currently knitting a little dress in one of the ball to test how it looks but more on that next week.
I’m glad I dye my hair often and have a large supply of latex gloves because our poor kitchen got turned into a chemists lab. Ice cream and yogurt containers were the every where as we divided up the lengths to be different colours then had to suspend them at different heights to encourage the wicking effect to hopefully blend them together.
Thankfully the use of a cold fiber reactive dye means we have a little more freedom with our set up and a little less danger of burning our selfs, how ever my poor partner did end up with green hands after a forgetful no glove rinse.
We heat set using the good old microwave method and so far colour looks really stable which is always a big thing for me. After all no point in dying up pretty colours if they are going to wash out straight away.

Sadly our third attempt at a random variegated didn’t go so well, and we were left with a bit of a mottled yellowy green yarn, not unattractive just not what I was hoping for. Still on the next good day when I have a little time we may have a go at throwing some more colours in it or make it look a little more like a variation than a mottle.
I have found a beautiful shawl to knit up in it which should look lovely no matter how the colour ends up.

Alas knitting this week has been slow as I have been trying to finish a huge set of floor length curtains to help weather proof our house. Wrong end of the season I know but when your gifted the fabric you don’t argue about timing.
Though a 3 hour boat trip on Sunday and a nice big drive next week should mean I get a bit chunk of my commission knitting done. (A beautiful pair of possum merino 5ply fingerless gloves which I have been to scared to take on the bus for fear of dropping stitches.) and the circular baby blanket. (Which I have to admit isn’t a real commission but does have a dead line)
So along with some pictures of the South Island you may get to see some finished objects.

Until then my friends.

Charity begins at home.

Craft: both necessary and frivolous. Practical skill sometimes turned into an almost inanely intraciate hobby.
I have Tousled with many names.
Costumer, Seamstress, Designer, Maker.

I feel Crafter is the best title for me.

For I Craft with my hands items of cloth or wood, foam, card or wool. But more than that, for sometimes we don’t just craft from the fibres. Some times we craft the fibres themselves spinning and weaving taking the truest essence of the term “to scratch build”.
A quick introduction I am Miss Gemma, and I am a Crafter.

Primarily at this time I am a crafter of yarn or a Knitter. Which is what I hope to focus this blog on. Different knitting projects, knitting related items, and my experiments with a dye pot. (And no not just dyeing my hair).

Over the winter I have been knitting beanies and slippers for either the Neonatal trust or a few Of the lower decile schools in NZ, with some awesome help from my friends.We have lovingly nicknamed our selves “Ma Cobbs lil Helpers”. Along those lines we have been making a collection of booties and vests for little sprouts. (Links to find the pattern are at the bottom of the post.).

I started with the Felipe pattern by Jorji Locatelli to make the vests then altered it into a squarer garter stitch piece. I hope to make it easier for some of our newer knitters and quicker for our more experienced. I also experimented with some very basic lace patterns to make a little set of my own in a local Alpaca yarn from Koromiko which I was sad to Learn had gone out of business.

From there I moved on to the Milo vest by Georgie Hallam. One of my first paid for patterns and I was very impressed. I wouldn’t suggested it for an absolute newbie, but defiantly easy enough for a beginner knitter. I liked the cable charts provided with the pattern and am very fond of the little owl cable. I discovered it was fairly adaptable and managed to make sleeves for it, to make a plain little jumper.

As for the booties, we discovered the Bootie Project Bootie pattern, (a simple garter stitch boot, which there are many patterns on ravelry but not the original I found how ever), and once you have that in your head you can whip a pair up over a glass of wine on a Friday evening.

What can I say our Drinking group has a knitting problem.

To date we have 6 little packs ready to go! And I hope to drop them off with some finished rain ponchos soon.
Stay tuned next week for, gradient dyes and stitch markers.

Felipe

Milo