ChookMook

Granny Square

2007-05-30T14:44:00.000+12:00

I did it! Thanks to my fantastic mama who visited this weekend, I've learnt to crochet. Here's my very first granny square:

Move over slow and tedious knitting, I'm in love with my brand new green crochet hook. Thanks mum!

Now I'm inspired to join up to Granny-Along.

Knit one, purl two

2007-04-30T13:41:00.000+12:00

I came up with this new necklace design the other day as I thought it might be quite nice as a mother's day gift for a knitting goddess.

I haven't added it to my website yet, but did mention it in the WAHM advertising area on a forum I frequent called The Nappy Network (yes in New Zealand we call a diaper a nappy), because there are a lot of happy knitters over at TNN.

I've been suprised by how popular it has been. Both with the K1, P2 circles and with custom initials too. I've had to order in more supplies. The fresh water pearls are giving me a headache though. The holes in them are so irregular, that I am thinking about swapping over to using Swarvoski pearls (cultured).

As far as sewing projects are coming along, I haven't sewn up the hemp trousers yet. They are cut, I just need to transfer the pattern markings and then feed them to my sewing machine. Life has just been a bit hectic this weekend.

New pants

2007-04-26T07:47:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I made some new pants from left over fabric for two year old Xavier. I hand painted them with screen printing inks with the ChookMook birdie (excuse the grubby kid marks already on them).

And here they are in action:

I am finally feeling the love for my sewing machine, and have already cut out another pair to sew from some left over hemp jersey fabric - thanks to a huge stash I have from my cloth diaper WAHM days. I am hoping to progress to buying some fabric soon, as I'd like to make some cord winter pants with contrast fabric like the ones I've seen on Tiny Happy, which you can probably see in her Etsy store.

I used a pyjama pattern from Burda (can't remember pattern number of top of my head) as my googling around the craft blog scene showed the love for a good basic pj pant pattern. They are comfy, fit good around the butt and generally are well suited for a nice fit over modern cloth diapers.

Here is a photo tutorial on FlickR for recycling an adult shirt into pants and using the exisiting hem and side seams - super duper quick and easy, especially if there's a cool screenprint on the shirt.

And another tutorial here with lots of photos showing how quick and easy it can be including
dressing them up with fancy cuffs and pockets too.

Fly Free

2007-03-29T13:35:00.000+12:00

This is one of the items I’ve been working on at my metalsmith workshops:

It’s a copper swallow (tattoo style bird), flying against a bronze cloud backdrop. Bronze has copper alloys in it, hence why there are some orange/copper tones showing up in the cloud. Originally I was planning on making a necklace, but now I’m not too sure whether or not it would be better suited as a pin (brooch) or even a belt buckle.

More bracelets ...

2006-11-28T21:37:00.000+13:00

I've been on a roll. I added a dangle charm to my wee girl's bracelet that I made yesterday. The infamous cinderella's pumpkin carriage with a white swarvoski crystal. Here it is being worn:

And then I made my two nieces a bracelet each for Christmas, and my wee man an amber bracelet. All three of them will be turing two years old in the next few months ... hence why their bracelets are so teeny tiny looking. My wee man loves his. I had been using his wrist to measure his cousins bracelets, so when I made one for him, he wasn't going to take it off, not even for his afternoon nap. I think he was relieved it wasn't pink and sparkly. I managed to get it off him tonight at bath time though.

The bracelets are all made with hand fabricated sterling silver chains.

Another pink bracelet

2006-11-27T19:05:00.000+13:00

I made my little girl another pink crystal bracelet that is simple and classic. Swarvoski crystals on a hand fabricated sterling silver chain. She loves it, and has been wearing it all afternoon. "Ohh mum, it's so sparkly". At the tender age of four she's in love with Swarvoski crystals already, and can't wait to wear it to pre-school tomorrow (I love having a girly girl). I am tempted to add a charm ... perhaps another cinderella carriage.

Here's the bracelet:

Here's it being worn ... gotta love those cute little hands covered in paint from pre-school:

Handmade wool textile

2006-10-01T13:52:00.000+13:00

Hubby had to work this weekend, so once the kids went to bed for the night, I thought I'd have a play with some wool fibre techniques. More specifically, felting. Something I've wanted to try for years ... I finally purchased some wool sliver (already dyed) which arrived yesterday.

So I turned this:

Into this:

My very first piece of wool felt ... all handmade. It's certainly not quick, but it is a lot of fun. Definitely a project that I'll be doing again. There's something pretty cool about being able to make your own textiles.

Photos are shocking, it's red with cream circles.

Pink Cinderella's Carriage Bracelet

2006-08-30T10:05:00.000+12:00

Here is my little girl's sparkly pink bracelet I promised her, featuring Cinderella's pumpkin carriage in sterling silver (gotta love that fairy godmother), sterling silver beads, and genuine Swarvoski crystals all the way from Austria:

I made it last night having measured her wrist earlier in the day, but as Murphy's Law would predict, it's too big. Which of course she thinks is great because she can take it off and on without mummy doing the clasp for her.

Yee gawd's though, there's a lot of moolah in that bracelet (all sterling silver findings), so tonight I'll probably resize it while she sleeps so she can wear it without fear of it falling off.

Although, I'll have to blame it on the fairies that live in her bedroom curtains as she's already told me I'm not allowed to do anything to it. I think I'll just tell her that the fairies shrunk it.

Ohh, and having never worked with Swarvoski crystals before, I had so much fun as they really do dazzle.

The inspiration for this bracelet came from my wee girl falling in love with a blue and green Cinderella bracelet by Jennifer Garret she saw on her website Starhill Design.

My wee girl and I were surfing the net so she could show me the type of thing she'd like, as I'd earlier made her a pink cat's eye bracelet with silver flowers that she simply refused to wear. And yes, she will only wear PINK.

Amber Teething Necklace

2006-08-29T16:33:00.000+12:00

Apparently Baltic Amber is great for teething, and it's quite popular in Europe for children to wear amber teething necklaces. So I made one for my teething wee man:

It's a clasp-free necklace, so that if it catches it will slide off without injury, plus it's on steel wire, which is so strong standard jewellery cutters won't cut through. So I don't have to worry about breakage and beads flying anywhere. Here's it being modelled (the flash went off hence some of the beads have a "glow effect"):

Baltic Amber is not actually a gemstone, but is in fact a fossilised resin that is estimated to be 50 millon years old. Because I've sourced my amber from a jewellery supplier, I chosen A grade amber beads, so some of them may have been heat treated to remove bubbles and factures.

Next Project: Hubby's ring is still on the cards, plus I've promised little miss nearly 4 a pink Cinderella bracelet. I've just gotten in some delightful sterling silver carriage charms, just like Cinderella's. Plus some pink swarvoski crystals that come with my amber order.

Happiness is Motherhood (silver cuff bracelet)

2006-08-24T10:24:00.000+12:00

Here is the sterling silver cuff bracelet I started on Tuesday night and finished on Wednesday morning. It's marked with "Happiness is Motherhood" on it:

The photo and the one below have both been resized to fit the blog window so may look a little blurry ... to see them better right mouse click on the photo and select view image.

And as usual I've added a patinna to the lettering. This is what my hands looked like yesterday morning once I'd finished

I'm still working on hubby's new ring which I started last night ... I'm having a few issues with it.

Little charms with kiddliwinks names

2006-08-17T17:25:00.000+12:00

Here are the two hand-made silver charms I did last night:

And then today I finished them off by adding a patinna to the letters and polishing:

When I attach them to a chain, I plan on adding their birthstones.

Next project: A new ring for hubby!

My ChookMook Pendant

2006-08-17T13:24:00.000+12:00

Here's my chookmook pendant, hand-made by me in silver. It's a motherhood charm (symbolising a mother hen). I made it a few weeks ago:

I've antiqued it to make the impression "pop" out. See how the impression has been blackened? And ignore the ugly metal bead chain it's on, that's just for display. I'm not sure what type of chain to put it on yet.

It's been based off this sketch I dooddled:

And last night I made two silver charms with my kiddies names .... I just need to finish them off (antique and polish) and then I'll add photos.

Handknitted Longies

2006-08-17T10:00:00.000+12:00

I finally plaited a drawstring for my little man's pants and threaded it on. They've only been sitting around for like the last three months, and I was starting to get paranoid he'd outgrown them before he got to wear them.

So hey presto, here they are being modelled:

I used the Tiny Birds pattern:
http://www.birdcrossstitch.com/organicwool/woolpants.html

... and knitted it in NZ Tekapo wool.

New home

2006-07-05T10:40:00.000+12:00

Alrighty. With my WAHM business going up for sale, I needed to find some new web-space for my blog. I know I only had like 3 entries....ok, so you can stop rolling your eyes now!

So blow me over with a rubber chicken, but I thought "what the hey", I can get a bit of free internet real estate here at blogger.com.

So here it tis .... in all it's glory!

UPDATE: I am not going to be using this blog for personal journalling. I've decided to keep a seperate private blog for family and friends.