Tunisian Crochet | The Contented Crafter

March is my month to get back into my art. I have challenged myself to practise sketching daily and to complete a painting every week. Last week an owl appeared. This week it’s been teddy bears – and a dragon or three, but they can wait.

Two Teddy Bear sketches were made in my A4 sketch book:

A plump Teddy Boy was quickly followed by an equally round Teddy Girl

I thought they had potential – so I went on and made another, smaller, sketch of the girl, which in turn, went on to become a watercolour painting. Here she is, about one third of the way through

Of course, being me, I forgot to record anything else til she was

Finished

Painted on an A5 sheet of 300gsm watercolour paper using watercolor paints, graphite pencil and white and black pens. The balloons are finished off with a little touch of the shimmery stuff……..

I then had some smaller prints made and turned them into cards. A fortuitous mistake by the woman at the print shop gave me a bonus close-up image

I’m also pleased to report that this week saw the completion of a wip that has sat in my basket for two years. I’d kind of forgotten about it for most of the two years. Two years!! (hangs head in shame) In the end it took ten minutes to finish the row of daisy stitches I had decided to do on the back yoke. This is my first garment made using Tunisian crochet and vaguely following a pattern in my how-to book. I am rather fond of the weave like texture you get from this technique.

The photo on the left is closer to the true colour.

I also framed the owl as a frame makes anything look better. Also, in my house it’s hard to capture anything without the addition of a few sparkles from a light catcher …….

Here’s Siddy caught watching something interesting on TV. Orlando doesn’t care about it.

Siddy watches TV

PS If you can’t figure out which way is up on Siddy there is an explanation in my response to Tialys comment……….

So, that’s the second week of my March challenge completed. Thanks for coming by today, I’m happy that you did!

Well HELLLLOOOO!

It’s been quite a while since my last post – it’s not that I forgot about you or anything, it’s just that I got – well, side tracked really….. Lots of inner rumination and pondering and thinking about the state of the world, not to mention my own role in it, led to a need to just be quiet and contemplative for a little bit. I visited some of you, others I missed, but I’ve been picking up the slack for the last week or so and getting back into the swing.

I also made stuff, some successful, some not so much. The really exciting thing for me was I picked up my paintbrushes for the first time in over 15 months. I decided – wisely as it turns out – to work in a journal to begin with. I’d lost all my skill, not to mention my stuff and the first weeks were a combination of starting to paint, searching, finding, organising, painting a bit more. I use the term ‘painting’ loosely here – you’ll see why if you stick with me. As usual my photos need work – but you’ll get the idea…….

First up, I made myself a couple or three vests. I tend to use patterns as a suggestion if I use them at all and therefore my results are often a surprise to everybody, even me. From this latest foray at plying the hooks, two will be wearable when blocked and finished – the third is an ill-fitting nightmare and will be undone.

This is crocheted, adapted from an original pattern consisting of lots of little hexagons all stitched together in long panels. Made from Lion Brand ‘Shawl in a Ball’ I used three different colour ways all featuring my favourite colour. The back neck requires building up a bit – I might even do that this evening.

Next up here is a Tunisian Crochet attempt at a vest – otherwise known as ‘Railway Knitting’. This is my first time making such a big item – but I love plying the huge crochet hook and I love the texture you get from the two step process. This still requires blocking and a bit of finishing off with a fancy plait thing I’m stitching into the back:Here’s a closeup of the bottom edging:So, here’s some bits from the art journal – I’ve done something every day for a bout two weeks – some pages were complete in one sitting – others took days to come to anything. It’s all practise and remembering while playing about with colour.

This was the first pageAfter that first attempt I resorted to something I knew well – I’d made quirky houses for years, long before they became a staple of art journalers and I was figuring I may as well give myself some therapy while I tried to remember how to apply colour and use paint to come to form…….

This next nightmare became more a paper piecing exercise followd by a splendiferously gleeful wallowing in glitter and sparkles, none of which you can really see. It reminds me of paper dolls – do you remember paper dolls?

It’s going to take a while before I’ll feel competent with a brush in my hands again – but just having it there has made me very happy! Who cares if I can’t paint!!

It’s been a long hard winter down here in the Riviera of Antarctica. This morning I woke to -6 C; a world whited-out in frost. The upside is it will be a blue-sky day and walking with Siddy, despite the obvious risk of me ending upside down in a tangled mess on some unseen slippy-slidey icy bit, will be a pleasure*.

Here’s the boys all lined up for treat time for those of you who missed them