Made a few more Christmas gifts

When the weather has been cool enough to work in the shop I have got out and made a few more things.

The above is a luggage identifier tag.  You know when you are waiting at the carousel in the airport for your luggage and a suitcase comes out that looks like yours and you intend to grab it when it gets to you but someone else does.  So you get all flustered and chase them down only to find it isn't yours. I don't want to put labels on that show my full name and/or address and I have tried marking my luggage by attaching pom poms etc but they always seem to get ripped off. So I came up with this idea.  Something that will stand a lot of handling and is personal to only you.  Attached to a handle they are virtually indestructible.

                This is a Porsche badge. Good for a little street cred!

Tried some different things on the Knitsmart

I wanted to know if I could cast on differently than using the ravel chord and plastic strip with weights on the Knitsmart.  I used  the e-wrap method and individual weights and it worked fine.  Now I only had 20 stitches in play so whether it would be so easy with a full bed of stitches I have yet to find out.

I also did some ribbing, I had never tried it before.  I found it a bit cumbersome to do but think that with practice I will get better.

Here is my little effort and guess what?  I will be sewing it up to make yet another Barbie dress lol.  Going to put a fancy edge to the bottom too.


With regard to the leatherwork, we made a wristband for my husband.  He had bought some leather which still had the hair on and wanted to try something so he came up with the idea to wrap it with some thin leather and leave a strip showing. It was a joint effort, his design and cutting out with me doing the trimming and stitching.

It has been too hot to work in the workshop lately plus the wasps have got in there.  We usually go out first thing in the morning when it is a little cooler and the darned wasps are less active.  Hoping for a cooling down soon.

I want to get on and make more Christmas gifts.

Have been following Alex's blog and he is so quick with the things he makes. Put's this old lady to shame he does!

I got out the Knitsmart!

After seeing Alex's blog and the sweater he made on his Ultimate sweater machine I dragged out my Knitsmart and set it up.

I had to re read the manual because it's the first time in two years that I have set it up and the first time was only to check it out and test it.

I decided to try the Cricketers cable that he did and I only boo booed once!  I did two left transfers instead of alternate ones.  I realised my mistake and did some more just to see how it looked and I was very happy.  My husband liked it too so maybe he will get something I make soon after all.  He liked the sweater Alex made so I will try and make him one similar.  Just need to google Bond patterns as the Knitsmart one didn't have raglan sleeves and I prefer the look of raglan.

I can set mu Knitsmart up easily on my kitchen island so can knit downstairs on it.  It has wheels too so I could even wheel it into the living room and knit while watching TV.  How cool is that?  The stool is a bit uncomfortable after a while, have to put a cushion on it lol.

Alex saw the Cricketer's cable on Suzy's blog so credit to her excellent instructional video.

More leather working but no knitting! Been thinking about it a lot though.

I have been working on leather stuff.  I am trying to make Christmas gifts in a timely manner.  The problem is my husband, bless him, keeps thinking of more and more things he would like to make for family.  I told him that too much becomes a chore and not a pleasure.  This is my hobby and making gifts is something I choose to do and I don't want to feel pressured and obligated.  Is that selfish? Maybe!

Rant over!  I'll get over it lol.

This is what I have been working on.  The squares are for coasters.  I make sets of four.  There is a lot of work involved with them.  Each of the holes have to be marked, matched up and then punched out so I can sew them together.  That's a lot of holes by the time you've done 8. Then I have to decide on the design, stamp them and then stain them.

Stamping isn't as easy as it sounds.  Getting things lined up and symmetrical is harder than you think.  Also, once a mark is made on leather it's pretty permanent.  If you can't disguise it in the patterning then you have to discard it and start all over again.  

This is another bracelet for a female.  At this stage I have just stamped out the pattern.

Now I have stained and dyed it.  I am waiting for actual wrist measurements before I put in the snaps.

Here is another I have made for a teenage boy.

As for the knitting, I am at a stuck phase.  I so desperately want a lace carriage for my 700 but they are not cheap, even on ebay.  I let one go that I could have got for $100 plus mailing but I couldn't justify even that.  We have so many other things we need that are more of a priority.  I also want a bulky punchcard machine with a ribber.

I have to make the sacrifice and put up the spare Singer 700 up for sale and the SRP 50 ribber.  Then I can use the proceeds towards a bulky machine and/or a lace carriage.

I have thought about buying a Brother which has a lace carriage come with it.  There was one on ebay last night that went for $152.50. It was a bargain, but again, I couldn't justify it to myself.  Not when I have two 700's and two ribbers lol.  I used to have a Brother with a lace carriage so I know they make nice lace.  I only need a machine as I could do the ribbing on my other set up and transfer it to the Brother machine to do the lacework.

That should give me the incentive to take some photos and put the spare machine and ribber up for sale. 

I also thought some more about setting up the hobby bulky machine but am procrastinating on that too for some unknown reason.

So for now I am keeping busy with the leather work and trying not to be a spoilt brat about not having a working lace carriage or bulky punchcard machine and ribber.................it's not easy lol.