Wickedly fuchsia

So time for a reveal! Yes, the long awaited wicked vest is now finished, blocked and buttoned and ready to wear. Only took me over a year to get this one off the needles but hey, at least this one managed it:)) I can finish small projects easily but long ones seem to die a death or end up in a long hibernation once I start getting bored. So I don't tend to make many big projects any more. Every now and again I try - like the hawaiian flowers blanket - but its very stop and start at the moment too. I LOVE the flowers, I enjoy making them too but I just don't seem to be able to be monogamous in my projects! Got to have more than one on the go:)

But the wicked vest has made it and it fits! This was an issue as I thought the ribbing and my use of a different weight yarn might mean a very skinny rib fit but no - whew! Looks nice and skinny on the dummy though:) Not quite so skinny in real life - probably because I don't have adjustable buttons to reduce my bum size :))) What a wonderful thing that would be!! I'm not totally convinced about the white shirt underneath either. I'm not really a shirt person so it looks and feels a bit uncomfortable on me  - rather a staid look for me, even in fuchsia! So I think I'll need to experiment a bit till I get the right combo or it'll end up never worn, and that would be a shame after all that knitting and all that waiting!

I did manage to find some really cool rose shaped buttons for this though. I swithered on whether to have a contrasting or harmonious colour as I've seen lovely versions on ravelry that worked either way, but the subtle combinations won the day - if you can call bright fuchsia buttons subtle! But what a job I had getting the right shade of pink! I didn't realise how difficult it would be trying to match this yarn. It's not bright pink, nor rose and has a paler tone overall so nothing seemed to be 'just right' as goldilocks would say. Eventually I decided to go for see-through ones hoping that the yarn colour would come through and soften the overall tone of the buttons. I think it's worked rather well ;)) Girly but not girly, if you know what I mean.

Now, I have to consider the other poor projects in hibernation.... if I don't get distracted...... again! :))

The veyla mitts are finished!

I finally made a decision on the buttons for the Veyla mitts and plumbed for the small victorian style buttons. They fit the buttonholes very well and suit the delicate lacy style overall I think. Although it took me a while to decide which ones to eventually go for, it took me even longer to get around to sewing them on! - as I said its been a lethargic week...:-) So as promised, lots of photos of the finished Velyas for you.

So a pic of one mitt off, then one mitt on. I love how Ysolda really thought about how the buttons would sit on that curve - very nice design detail.

And just for you, a tricky picture taken from my viewpoint by John - he had to stick the camera pretty much in front of my face for this one:-)) Thank you for being patient enough to take these pics!!

I think I'll get more chances to wear these now its getting a bit colder. I really noticed the difference in the air today. Time to pack away all the summer clothes, I think and bring out all the layers. I've been thinking more about crochet and stripes and I think there will be more stripes in my future! Stripey scarves, gloves, mitts - and socks of course! Maybe its my antidote to winter coming. Colour, colour, colour!!!!

Oh, I've got to look a bit more natural in these photos:-))

Buttons for Veyla

At last all my buttons have arrived for my green Veyla mitts. It's quite hard to gauge online whether the greens will accentuate or get lost in the lace detail and some that seemed small enough on paper, now seem a bit too big for the cuff. I got a mixture of plain and funky - well, you can never have enough buttons;-)

These first ones fit the buttonholes well and are solid but relective in colour. I quite like these as they are small enough but the shine keeps them interesting. Subtle for me, I know but with these the lace is more dominant.

Next up, not so subtle nice, bright daisy buttons. They are certainly funky and not too big for the cuff but they don't lend themselves to an elegant feel:-) These would have to be decorative only as they get caught in the buttonhole but I think I can slide these mitts on without undoing the buttons anyway.

Next up, these lovely apple buttons. These are super funky but a bit bigger. I can only realistically get three on without squashing them up close together. Again, these would have to be decorative rather than functional. I'm thinking the paler green colour isn't working and the lace is obscuring the apple shape too much to make everything gel.

Ah, the green flower/star shapes. These are a no-no straight away. Gorgeous buttons though but the green flower is totally lost and the sparkly centres look like little dots. Waste of a lovely button on these. I have enough to use them on a larger project so no worries.

Hmm. I like these buttons a lot but they are a bit bigger again - maybe verging on too big? Enough pattern without killing the lace and the right tone of green though. Running near the top of my list these.

These lovely buttons arrived late and are a lot bigger than I thought but lovely. Looking at them on the glove, they are maybe a bit too busy or weighty/heavy looking for the cuff. But they are so nice... Maybe I should keep them for a funky cardigan, or something instead.

The last idea I tried was to move away from green altogether and try white. Although they are more pearlescent than in the picture, the white is just too bright and has too much tonal contrast to work, I think.

So, that leaves the little green buttons in picture 1, the bigger green buttons I liked, the japanese ones and the green and white daisies..... What do you think?

If the slipper fits...

Now all my buttons have arrived I have put the final touches to the crocheted slippers I was making. They are crocheted in Paton's marbled Symphony super chunky yarn so a quick couple of projects. I think it took as long to put all the decoration on as it did to make them! (well, nearly!)

The first pair are in the 'nougat' colourway and quite girly. As these are for a younger girl, I added lilac ribbon detail and a funky flower button to fasten them with. The pattern is my own from a few christmases ago but I did a short row heel instead of a square heel this time - legacy of all those socks!

Some of the buttons are so small!

I was going to use a bow for the front but they do have a habit of working loose and never going back just the way you want them - unless you stitch them in place or use the bought bows already tied. I did consider this but as I had some lovely buttons to choose from, I thought the ribbon would look nicer with the flower button detail instead. I do prefer it and if the slippers are too loose, the ribbon which is threaded all around the slipper top can be pulled in tighter and tied off for a perfect fit.

It was a little harder to get fancy buttons to match the heather colourway. They are for an adult so I needed something striking without being plain or too girly.

The stars work well for this theme but the fastening loop caught on the star edges and it was a little on the small side to hold the strap so I put a slightly larger contrasting circular red button underneath and kept the star on top for decoration. Tada!

I wanted to add some ribbon around the slipper and after wrapping, threading and crocheting the ribbon hundreds of ways that didn't look 'quite right', I decided to go with a crocheted chain stitch along the edge with some bead decoration to the front to add a more adult feel. I'm not 100% sold on the edging and is a little tighter than I would like but I'll live with it for a week before I send them off and think of some alternatives. It's not that it is bad per sae, it's just I think I've not tried the perfect edging yet.

I do like these beads though! They are tied close to the top so they don't swing aroung and thump on the front of your feet. I had a pair of slippers that did that and it really annoyed me after a while.

Any suggestions on binding or edging most welcome!

Buttons!

At last my buttons have arrived from Ebay! Now I can finish the apron properly. A trip to the fabric shop did render up some nice buttons - the strawberry ones, the green, white and small red simple flower shapes and the hand painted wooden ones at the top of the picture, but none of them seemed right on the dress.

So I resorted to hunting on ebay. There I found the big plastic ones, the daisies and twelve red flowers with white centres. The new ones all looked nice BUT still didn't look right. They didn't have enough presence, even the lovely daisies. Because the button size has to be no bigger than 2cm wide to fit through the crochet stitches, the button looks too small and floats on the background. Then I thought, "Do I really need to unbutton this anyway? I can pull it over my head." So maybe I can use the bigger size for just decoration purposes.

So that's what I've done. Big daisies, it holds everything together and it looks right!

If you are really lucky, you might get photos of me wearing it - but as I don't really like modelling, it might well be the tailors dummy!

Finished!

At last! The red apron is finished! Well, it was finished at 1am this morning but it was a bit too dark for photos! I'm really pleased with it and the colours are lovely. The red is a bit over bright in this photo but not by much!! I added the darker red stripes on each edge at the back and made the top band darker too. Now I'm thinking, maybe I should have put a dark border on the bottom to balance it out - give it a more finished feel? What do you think?

I'm thinking yes at the moment...

I also want to change the buttons as they don't stand out at all but I didn't have any funky ones to hand and wanted to try it out! Something with more definition - I did try white ones but they looked too tacky and cheap. Flower shaped ones would be good but quite hard to button through the crochet stitches I'd imagine! I'll have a look in the shops tomorrow and see what I can find. If not, I'll try ebay -you never know!

Now I've finished this one, I'll have to find another project to do. I have the ongoing ripple blanket - which has been neglected of late - but it is getting a bit heavy now and I like the feel of getting something made in a shorter time span! I'm thinking of a more fitted crochet top or a small 3/4 length sleeve knitted cardi/wrap/shrug - any ideas or links to patterns?

While I'm in town tomorrow, I'll have to get some rechargeable batteries for the MP3 player... yes, already! Too much listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack whilst crocheting, I think! (good motivator for fast crocheting!)

This week, I have to go back to work as the colleges are back for the new term. So, from wednesday, I will have to hoard my spare time for creative endeavours, whatever they will be. I'm intending to work on some new cards and do some sampling for new ideas - I'll let you know how I get on. But first I have to think of a taster session for my new textiles class on wednesday....

Back soon, hopefully with some new buttons and some cards to show you.