Daisy Chain Necklace

Another pattern up on the Love Knitting and Love Crochet sites this week is this pretty Daisy Chain Necklace. It is a really versatile project - I have already made necklaces, garlands and some pretty flower clips for my littlun to wear in her hair using these flowers and each project (especially the hairclips!) receive plenty of admiring comments. The chain is so easily customisable to any desired length, and you can play with the yarn weights used to create differently sized daisies. 
It is very quick to hook and the pattern is written for both UK and US crocheters.

 

All images by Kirsten Mavric

Origin

I visited Origin yesterday in its new venue at Spitalfields market. I must admit, the new venue was a little disappointing. I have loved visiting Somerset House for the show for the past few years. There is a magical quality to that building and even though the Origin hall was always set up in the courtyard, I did love passing through the gates of the House. In contrast, the purpose built hall at Spitalfields had no roof and there was a strong wind a-blowing through the market. The temperature dropped rapidly yesterday meaning I did not remove my coat the whole way round, and I must say I didn't really savour the exhibits as it was just a bit too cold to dawdle, not to mention the pigeons we spotted nestling just over some beautiful knits...

I went with the lovely Bee, my parter in crime over at Make Do Mend. After my hectic summer of knitting I am onto a bit of a crochet binge and as Bee is also a huge crochet fan, we were especially searching out evidence of this beautiful craft.

We were not disappointed. There were some really stunning pieces. My favourite of these were created by Korean, Jeehyun Chung (pictured above) who combined strong linear wire shapes with ultra fine crocheted cotton and nylon monofilament. The oversized neck pieces were striking and fabulous as art pieces as well as accessories.

Aside from the crochet, I had a fondness for Joanne Tinker's recycled foil works, as she makes tiny little goblets from sweet wrappers, just as my granddad used to make for me to 'drink' from every time we ate sweets together.

It was also great to see Abigail Brown's adorable birds in the flesh. My favourite was this stunning flamingo. The attention to detail and handwork involved in these critters is amazing, the colours are beautiful and each has an irresistibly charming personality. Abigail was on hand to explain how each was made and I wish I could have taken one away with me, perhaps one day soon I shall treat myself, they would make a fabulous companion for my own Mr Crow.

Another exhibitor I admired and was unfamiliar with was Debbie Smyth who creates artworks from pins and thread. I must have mentioned hundreds of times how much I love linear art pieces, especially those involving thread, so her work is right up my street. I do regret not purchasing something now, but that blasted icy breeze did somewhat dampen my will to browse at leisure, although Bee made a smart purchase of a fabulous jaquard knitted neckerchief from the lovely Hikaru Noguchi which I was mightily jealous of as we walked briskly back to the bus stop!

spring into knitting

Another incredibly busy few weeks has seen me teaching knitting all over the place. This bank holiday weekend brought me to my favourite place of all; West Dean College in Sussex and it just so happened to be my favourite time of year to visit too; the lambs were gambolling all over the front fields, ducklings paddled in the pond and spring flowers bloomed everywhere. The food was divine as usual, using all the local spring produce and of course, as with any time of the year, the company was excellent.

I had a rather more art based collective of students than usual, which led to an interesting, fun and inspirational weekend, fuelled by very different creative personalities. We also had a Kiwi taking a stop gap travelling the world and an Oz based Brit, making us a very cosmopolitan group, which also added interest to the colours chosen, as the ladies who saw the sun a little more often were more daring in their palettes than those of us more used to wet, grey days!

Most of the experimental pieces made at the weekend looked like they should have been at the bottom of the sea, as part of some great, vibrantly coloured coral reef - perhaps it was the antipodean influence. Whatever it was, it made a typically grey bank holiday weekend much brighter and the oddly shaped jewels, beads, flowers and art pieces all served to inspire and intrigue.

This weekend, there were two other jewellery craft courses occuring at the same time as mine, a felt making workshop run by Heather Belcher and a polymer clay workshop with Carol Blackburn. Both looked like great fun and I always enjoy watching Heather's industrial carder at work. She also had fabulous colours on display in her unspun wool hanks, it seems that, just like me, she cannot resist a rainbow! I wish we had all realised beforehand we were all doing jewellery at the same time as our students could have bartered over each others colourful and unusual beads, creating a truly unique necklace out of it.

Next time at West Dean, after my taster days teaching beginners knitting and beginners crochet, I shall be doing a vintage fashion and knitting patterns inspired course. Keep an eye out for more details soon.

making the most of the summer

It is still the summer hols from my work at the college, so I have been making the most of it by getting out and about in town, seeing exhibitions, enjoying the weather and knitting on the bus on my way round.

This week I saw the latest offering from Contemporary Applied Arts in Percy Street, Inner Voice. Some very interesting and intricate jewellery pieces were on show and I particularly liked Helen Carnac's recycled pieces, embellished with hand sewing and drawing.

On the bus I have been trying my hand at double knitting, a way of stranding multicoloured knitting to get a reversible fabric. I adore the final, double-warm, squishy fabric it produces but, oh my, it is so time consuming. I think I manage about one or two lines per bus journey.

It is part of my new Autumn range so here is a sneak peak of some of the colours you can expect.

daisy chain

New pattern for sale on Ravelry; I have finally gotten round to writing up a pattern for one of my necklaces! I thought it was the perfect time of year to post it, with all the lovely flowers out in force in my garden, and it is a perfect precursor to the collection of patterns I am launching very soon.

Hope you like it.

west dean chilly weekend

This weekend I taught a knitted accessories course at a very crisp, chilly and stunningly beautiful West Dean College.

But while it was sub zero cold outside, it was definitely warm and fuzzy indoors as I had a really relaxing and fun time with the lovely ladies in my class, who produced some gorgeous and inventive accessories......

among them the most perfect teeny tiny pom pom I have ever seen......!

Check out the work in progress, final textiles and more striking shots of the grounds here

crafting by the river

On a misty, atmospheric autumn evening last week I visited the Origin fair by the Thames. The moon was large and bright, Sommerset House and the surrounding London buildings were as beautiful as ever and I had a lovely evening. There were some gorgeous offerings at the fair, lots of lovely jewelry and some great textiles. Highlights were, as ever, Ruth Tomlinson, who had some stunning new multi-stranded necklaces, also Naori Priestly, a lady who does some very eccentic things with textiles, who makes hilarious pin cushions, some of which you can see here.
Anybody who missed it should try their hardest to visit at least one of the two exhibition weeks next year to support all these talented designer makers.