Category: craft

April 2022

Anna

I’m reading: Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I read Spinning Silver by her last year and loved it; this one is in the same genre and maybe I still prefer Spinning Silver but it’s very good! Lots of fantasy and magic and evil trees.

I’m knitting: Still working on my stripy tank top. I haven’t been knitting at home much recently so I’ve mainly been working on this during long car journeys (I can’t read or use screens in a moving car without getting a headache but also I get bored so I take some fairly plain knitting I don’t have to look at) (obviously I am not the driver). It’s worked bottom-up and I’m nearly at the armholes. I might have to knit at home for a bit then while I divide for the top parts etc.

stripy colourful tank top knitting project

I’m drawing: Lots of sketches at the moment! Trying to work from photographs and it’s very tricky. I can get better results by using a grid but I’m trying to learn how to sketch people freehand. I’ve managed one or two that are recognisable which I’m happy about!

sketches of my daughters, some better than others (the sketches, not the daughters)

I’m learning: How to do more lettering and doodle illustrations, from this course on Domestika, Creative Doodling and Hand-Lettering for Beginners with Grace Frösén. I like the Domestika courses, I’ve done a couple of others (Creative Watercolour Sketching for Beginners with Laura McKendry and Artistic Portrait with Watercolours with Alejandro Casanova). I like how they’re easy to pick up and do bits when I have the time and inclination and I’ve learnt a lot from each one. I do find it difficult to make myself watch videos, I usually have to be doing something else at the same time, something crafty or playing a computer game. I bought a bundle of courses in a Black Friday sale and still have three more to do but there’s no rush.

doodles!

Categories: art, craft, drawing, knitting, reading, sketchbook1 Comment

Review – Craft Books from Pen & Sword

Anna

I received these books in exchange for a review

I was fortunate enough to be sent some craft books from Pen & Sword to review. I chose Modern Brush Lettering, Paint Make Create and Colourful Fun Embroidery.

All the books are colourful and cheerful, I love the design and styling. The photographs are really lovely and show clearly what to do with step-by-step instructions. I had trouble taking my own photos of the books as my teenager kept trying to make off with them; I think the embroidery one is her favourite but she was also trying out the brush lettering as soon as I put the book down!

Modern Brush Lettering is the book I was most interested to try. I have some brush pens I bought a few years ago but never got on very well with. I’m better at art now so I wanted to give them another go. The book gives you a good introduction to lettering and has some practice exercises as well as a couple of alphabets, then a selection of projects for the seasons of the year. Another alphabet or two might have been nice but I found the instructions clear and there was good information about supplies and lots of different ways you could use the lettering.

Paint Make Create has a wide selection of projects using different kinds of paint, from watercolour to acrylic to fabric paint. There were a few ideas I wouldn’t have considered, such as the flower cake topper, and I’d love to give the abstract art collage a try. The teenager wants to try decorating a tote bag. This book is by the same author as the brush lettering one and a few of the projects are similar but there is enough variation and it has given me a lot of ideas for things to try!

Colourful Fun Embroidery is the third book. I don’t do a lot of embroidery but this book looked so bright and cheery! Now I just want to get a lot of hoops and fill them with colourful words and patterns and hang them all over the house. My favourites are the simpler ones with a phrase and some decoration and I like how all the templates are in the back of the book for easy tracing.

The first place I started with these books was the brush lettering as I already have everything I need – I’d like to try it out with watercolour paint and brush as well as I think that would work nicely.

brush lettering practice!

Categories: art, craft, review1 Comment

Locus Vest by Katya Frankel

Anna

One of my favourite autumn/spring outfits is a knitted tank top over a long-sleeved t-shirt. I used to have a grey cabled tank top but it gradually got more and more felted until it was tight across my shoulders so I have sadly parted with it and knitted myself this nice new red one.

The pattern is the Locus Vest by Katya Frankel and I knitted it in Sirdar Country Style DK yarn, which I like because it’s warm and quite woolly but not TOO woolly (pure wool makes me itch, even through a t-shirt). The lace panel runs up the front and back and I love how it looks but it did mean I had to pay attention on every row, which means I wasn’t in the mood for this every day, and consequently it took over a year to finish. But I’m very glad to have it now.

My next knitting project is a stripy tank top knit using the leftover yarn from my Eastern Jewels blanket. This was initially moving faster due to being mainly stocking stitch, and also stripes always knit up faster; but recently I’ve been forgetting about it and leaving it to one side while I do other things. Hopefully writing this post will remind me to pick it up again.

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Trying New Things

Anna

I was looking around and saw some things I’ve made when trying out new crafts. There were a few things I wanted to try so I added kits or basic supplies onto my birthday/Christmas lists and when I was fortunate enough to receive them I could give them a go.

Firstly, needle-punch. This was from a kit, that included the frame, stand, fabric, yarn and the most important thing, the needle-punch tool. The pattern was printed onto the fabric so it was fairly easy to follow; I did the background first so the flowers etc would stand out. It took me a few tries to get the hang of the tool, and then I’ll admit I pulled out everything I’d done and started again! It was fun to do and very quick. I think you could use any fabric as long as it was fairly loosely woven and goodness knows there’s plenty of yarn in this house so now I have the tool maybe I’ll do another some time, or someone else here might.

I also needle-felted a blue tit! Eldest child had a llama needle-felting kit and it looked fun, and it is. So much stabbing. And easier to shape the wool than I’d expected. I have some of the roving left and I have a strong urge to spin it up into yarn and knit the birdie a little hat.

And finally my little animals made from air-drying clay. I hadn’t used clay since I was at school and I’m happy to report it’s still a lot of fun. I think with a bit more practice I could get a smoother finish. Once they were dry I painted them with acrylic paint, the little cat is my favourite, I painted him to match our actual cat (approximately).

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