Advice for a grey day

Today started out pretty grey. Well, ugly grey. The snow looking particularly dirty and clumpy, with a flat grey sky. Above is the picture I took after the sky started to brighten up.

It always seem that the days where I feel pretty lousy are the days when I suddenly feel really pressured to achieve things. I mean, really turn things around and sort out the big picture. While at the same time feeling completely incapable of doing so. I generally end up wasting the day fretting.

So my solution was to pick a very small job and finish it in order to give myself a sense of accomplishment (however fleeting). So I picked a bowl I started to crochet with beautiful handspun yarn from Kristyn of Pleasurecraft a mere year ago. I had about 2 inches left on this bowl, yet I set it aside at some point and didn't finish it. I wasn't sure if it was going to work out as it was turning out to be very floppy.

Here's the bowl before felting:

So I finally finished it, and felted it and was very happy with the results! The yarn is helping hold the bowl's shape while it finishes drying but it's much thicker now and isn't too floppy anymore. I love wool felted bowls, everytime I see one I want to make one myself, but after all the years of admiring them this is actually my first one. I love it! Now I want to make more.

The best part is I no longer have this unfinished project sitting around taking up space and saying "why can't you get things finished?" every time I see it. This one was depressing because it was also saying "why did you waste this beautiful yarn making something that is clearly not working out??"

Detail of the lovely texture:

And now it's sunny...

INSTRUCTIONS
This handdyed handspun yarn is the beautiful handiwork of Kristyn from Pleasurecraft.

The yarn is thick-thin handspun that overall is quite bulky. I used a size G crochet hook which made the crochet quite dense and tight. You would do a sample with your yarn and choose a hook that gives you that result - ie. a bit smaller than you would usually use with that yarn. If the yarn isn't bulky enough you can always double it up.

The whole thing is sc (single crochet stitches). This bowl is shaped like a cylinder rather than curving up gradually.

Make a circle as large as you want the base to be (remember it will shrink a bit after felting). Start with 3 ch, join into a loop and start sc into the loop until you have your starting circle. As you sc around the circle add increases here and there so that the circle lies flat.

Once the circle is as large as you want the base of your bowl to be, stop adding increases and continue sc around the circle until your bowl is as tall as you want it to be.

I felted by washing in alternating hot/cold water with lots of soap and agitation. I put it in the dryer until it was mostly dry but then took it out to shape it.

If you try this, I'd love to see your results!

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Lattice cork board

This is my current WIP - a white wool felted purse knitted up with moss stitch. The fabric in the picture is going to be the lining.

The other project I just finished is for the sewing corner - a lattice covered cork board. I see these in magazines all the time and decided to finally make one after finding a cork board at Goodwill for $0.99.
The first stage was to cover it with fabric. The frame was too securely attached to remove, so I had to find a way to attach the fabric and still have it look tidy. I used a light blue cotton cut to the same size as the frame. Then I used a pencil to mark the dimensions of the cork part.
The pencil line marks the hem allowance which you fold over. Then you pin the fabric in place and make sure it's tidy and even all the way around. I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the cork.
The last part is the lattice. (I wonder why I love lattices so much?) The little white bookshelf has a lattice inset too, so it's kind of a theme in that corner. I made the cork board lattice by marking off even intervals then pinning bias tape in place with silver tacks.

The bias tape is single fold, which works best. (I just found out the difference myself - previously I'd only bought double fold which wouldn't have looked quite right for this project.) Also, the tape is cut on the bias of course, which means it has a little bit of stretch, so after pinning it snugly in place, it will hold your odds and ends without the need of extra pins.
Here it is in the sewing corner - I also added a hook to the wall for my aprons. I think I'm finally done now! Thank you all so much for all the comments on my crafts corner, I'm happy to have inspired so many people, because I think every crafter should have their own little corner to work in.

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More jewellery (and no yarn for a year?)

Once I rediscover a craft I can get a little bit obsessed about it! I can't seem to stop making jewellery. So I've been busy turning my new silver findings into more earrings, necklaces and one bracelet. The things I don't keep or give as presents are now in the shop at www.clairelmilne.etsy.com.
In the meantime I have also done a little felting and embroidering and made two eyeglasses cases, one for me and one for the shop.Part of putting all these things into the shop is an early effort to spring clean. Our apartment is very small - I love it because it's cosy and really has everything we need but it means you definitely have to keep your belongings under control. So this new site caught my eye - no yarn for a year! I saw it just before boxing day and so I picked up some yarn at Romni's big sale and I'm going to try to leave it at that. Of course the exceptions make it liveable - it's ok to buy yarn to finish a project, or for a specific gift.

My extra exception is thrifted items - if I see a nice bag of yarn at a flea market for $5 I'm not going to pass it up! Unless of course it's acrylic as sadly those grab bags often are. And generally I think it's inspiring to have some sort of stash on hand because I always look through what I have before I buy anything and it can give you good ideas. But I'd like everything to fit into my one cabinet and not have extra bags of yarn squirreled around the apartment!

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