Tags
artist, audiobooks, Baa Ram Ewe, Emma Dolan, Flaming Pumpkin, Harris Tweed, jacobs wool, knitting, linen stitch, WIP, yarn swap & project adventure
I did it! I finished Flaming Pumpkin for the Yarn Swap & Project Adventure. Hurrah!
I can’t tell you how proud I am of the final result! Oh, okay, I’m proud. PROUD.
Proud!
🙂
It may look fairly demure in that picture, but remember how it started? The last I told you, I’d sewn the lining and attached the zip. After that I left it for a while. And then, last night, just after dinner, I decided to knit. Then I couldn’t decide which WIP to pick, and I spied with my little eyes the flaming pumpkin reclining on the side where I’d left it. It didn’t even say anything. It just looked nonchalantly out of the window. I couldn’t resist! And so I set up for the evening with my audiobook (The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Steig Larsson), my pin cusion, a goodly selection of needles, and a whiskey mack. Perfick.
First of all I had a good ol’ game of faffery (I’m sure you’re all familiar with that one) trying to get lining and outer suitably arranged and pinned.
Then I sewed my little socks off.
And before I knew it, it was all done!
Once again I have to say thank you to Marie, aka UndergroundCrafter, for coming up with the idea and then sorting the logistics for the Yarn Swap & Project Adventure.
Yes, I was bemused by the colour. And then I loathed it! But I had to keep disciplined to complete the project, as committed to when I signed up for the swap. It was a powerful lesson in slogging through something that isn’t liked, as the end result is so good. I should carry this through into my non-knitting life too! While it’s not exactly been a deadline project as such, there have been agreed outcomes. I will swap a yarn. I will make something with the yarn I receive. I will blog about the project as I progress through it. And Twinkle shall have her purse! (I just need to get back on with your socks now!)
Picking linen stitch and turning this purse into a practice swatch for it has given me more ideas. Do you remember my Jacobs Wool? I spoke about it in the ‘knitting’ section here. Since receiving it, and washing lots of it (I’ve still not finished…), I’ve not really known what to do with it. I think it’ll be good as an outer layer winter jumper, but it’s too itchy and rough for wearing on the skin. But since the linen stitch, I’ve thought I could do similar practice items with it. I have Different textures I can try out, but as I have dark brown as well as the creamy colour, I can practice different stranding combinations too. Ooh, and vikkel braids! Just watch this space for news on what I get up to.
Now. A complete change. I have to share with you the most amazing artworks I read about the other day. I am a recipient of the Baa Ram Ewe monthly newsletter. The last one I was sent spoke about the artist Emma Dolan, and her beautiful tea cups made out of Harris Tweed. I was really intrigued, so I went to Emma’s website.
And spent the next half an hour slack-jawed in wonder at the beauty of the items she has created!
Emma very kindly allowed me to borrow some pictures from her web site to share with you. I hope you enjoy her creativity as much as I do.
I love how you can see the weave of the tweed, and how each item has the Harris Tweed orb on the base!
The attention to detail is exemplary. Look at the chain stitch around the red and white circles. And then at the chain stitch in much finer thread on the small blue circle at the top right of the picture.
It’s not only tea cups that Emma designs. Here’s one of her lamp shades.
Just. Wow.
My new aspirational goal is to own one of her pieces of artwork. I wonder if Oopy would let me have her Rennie Lampshade in our bedroom?
You can see from Emma’s website that she travels around the country exhibiting her work. Based merely on her website, and the teensy communications we had where she graciously agreed to let me use some pictures, I’d urge you to see her if you can. I know that I’m going to be an Emma Dolan website lurker, and if I see that she’s going to be visiting somewhere I can get to, I’ll be there!
There is also a Facebook Page for her: Emma Dolan