Stained Glass Course with Mo Wallis

Just had an exciting weekend.


Once a year, myself and my good mate Carol, go off on a Jolly, I mean an educational trip to learn something new about glass :)


This year we decided on Stained Glass, both of us make beads, and fuse, so now it was time to learn another glassy skill.


We found a fabulous stained glass worker called Mo Wallis (check out her website http://www.mowallis-artglass.co.uk/) and booked a two day course with her.


I have to say, it was worth every penny. We did copper foiling stained glass.




So, first I drew a design - I thought it was childish, but Mo said I was a "naive artist" :)



Then came the tricky but of cutting the glass, I am used to cutting glass in straight lines for pendants etc... so this was a little different.

After grinding down all the edges of each piece, it was time to copper foil them, this is a self-adhesive foil which was stuck firmly to each and every piece.

After tacking it together with masking tape, it was time to solder the gaps.

Wow, this was tricky, it took a while to master, and it still looks a little rough in place. You have to do both sides, my reverse side was a bit better than the front, so I have turned it round to display :)

Finally, it was edged in lead, then given a coat of black patina to make the bright shiny solder look more antique.

Taaa Daaaa, the finished piece. I have to say, I was quite chuffed with myself.

Knitting Roll

Following my recent re-awaking of the love of wool, and my constant knitting of wrist warmer gloves, I decided to treat myself to this superbly gorgeous knitting roll from Emma Jones of Meg&Millie.



(photo is Emma's own)

I have been drooling over her designs for some time now, but when this knitting roll came up I simply HAD to have it, well you just do don't you? :)

And now it is here I love it more, thank you Emma, my needles will be nicely tidy and easy to find.

Check out the rest of her lovelies on her Facebook page here... http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/MegandMillie ..... Keep an eye out for the gorgeous bangles too.

Shaggy Gloves

Ok, I will make it a quick blog as these are still Wristwarmer Gloves, but I did them with an ultra shaggy supersoft wool, teamed with the large button of course to finish them off.

These have gone on their travels as gifts., hope they like them :)

A Glut Of Gloves !

Having had no inspiration to bead for a little while, I took to knitting.

I am not a person who can just sit on the sofa, my hands always need to be busy, so I quite like Knitting, you can sit in front of the telly and mindlessly knit (as long as the pattern is simple of course).

These Gloves are incredibly easy to make (the pattern is in my blog somewhere if you want to have a go) and teamed with an extra large button (to help the wearer work out which way they go) they look quite funky too.

A girly night was planned last night, there are 6 of us that are a similar age, and meet up regularly to let our hair down, so I made them all a pair in "their" colours.

I wrapped them all in complimenting tissue paper with black ribbon, and wrote each one a Limerick about themselves which I tied on as a tag. They all seemed to like them lots :)

Result !

Curly Wurly Crochet Scarf - The Pattern

A simple easy to make scarf, but it looks so groovy when finished that everyone will want one.

I made this in a gorgeous fluffy lemon and lime coloured wool.

So, all you need is your wool (amount depends on length and width of scarf) and a size 4.5mm crochet hook.

If you need to learn how to crochet have a look on You Tube, loads of stuff on there.

• First of all you will need a chain stitch. Make a long chain in simple chain stitch the length of how long you would like your scarf to be.


• Working back along the chain -Triple Crochet into each chain stitch. (PLEASE NOTE: in the USA the UK TC or Triple Crochet stitch is refered to as the DC or DOUBLE CROCHET stitch)


• ***The next row is 2 x Triple Crochet stitches into each of the stitches on the previous row. This increasing is what will make your scarf curl.


• Repeat from *** for each row until your scarf is as wide as you would like it to be. Tie off.

Let me know if you make it, would be interested to see any piccies.

Chunky Wrist Warmers - The Pattern

After a good few lovely comments on my last pair of chunky wristwarmers I was asked how they were made, so here, for you all to enjoy, is the simple, easy pattern so you can make your own.

You will need:

100g Chunky Wool (I like the random colourways, but any is fine)

• 2 Large Complimenting Buttons.
  
• Size 5.5mm Knitting Needles.


• Large Sewing (Tapestry) Needle.
  

Using the Thumb method (this makes a tighter, neater edge) cast on 38 Stitches.

1st ROW: *Knit 2, Purl 2, Repeat from * to end.

2nd ROW: **Purl 2, Knit 2, Repeat from ** to end.

Continue these two row until your work measures 7".

Cast off, and leave a length of wool for sewing.

Decide which is your top and bottom, then sew the two edges together from the top, for 1.5". Sew in your wool, and re-attach it at the bottom of your work. Sew the sides together for 3.5" work, which will leave a thumb-hole of 2". Sew in your ends.

Attach the button so it sits on the back of your wrist.

*****If you need to make these wrist-warmers smaller or larger, either add on or remove 4 stitches from the cast-on amount.

Enjoy !

And in true Blue Peter fashion, here are some I made earlier :)

Hanky Bowls

Made a couple of Hanky Bowls last night.

First you fuse the glass to melt down the sharp edges, then you have to find something interesting to slump the glass over, something that will not melt, like Stainless Steel, or Terracotta.

I had two cocktail shakers and a bowl, so put a pink one in and two brown ones, as it happens when they were done the brown ones went together quite nicely, which was a bit weird as only the evening before (whilst these were "cooking") a friend showed me a photo of something very similar - thanks Kellie :)

So they can be used together as an interesting glass petal bowl, or apart as two matching dishes.

I feel the need to go and order more glass now :)