Wednesday, June 15, 2011

What comes first? The duck or the egg?

Hey Bubbles had a duck themed party recently - see here.

We were lucky enough to be invited and we were all so excited! I started hatching plans (pun intended) for knitted gifts. I'm really really into Susan B. Anderson's book Itty-bitty Toys - I particularly love her chapter on reversible toys.

But what do you knit for a one year old who is having a ducky themed party?

Why, an egg of course!



But this isn't just any old egg. This egg is just about to hatch. Can you see the cracks?

It's hatched! Look, a little duckling!


This wonderful pattern from Itty-Bitty Toys usually has a little blue bird inside of the egg, waiting to hatch. But I wanted to stick to the party's duck theme, so I made a little modification to turn the little blue bird into a duckling. As usual, it was down to the wire in terms of completing the gift and I was crocheting in the car on the way to the party. You'll be pleased to hear that my husband was driving!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Kanzashi Flowers

I've just come home from a fantastic "Kanzashi" workshop with the lovely Melanie from Kimono Reincarnate. The workshop was part of Saviour of the Lost Arts (SOTLA).

I was lucky enough to be one of the 20 people registered for this workshop and along with two of my friends, got to make one of these.

The workshop was fantastic. Melanie explained how to make the "Kanzashi" flowers very clearly. We started off with some beautiful vintage kimono fabric which we cut into squares.




We then did a little bit of folding and sewing and ended up with this -




A little bit more fiddling, we then added some beads etc and voila!


Thanks so much Melanie! I had a great time and I'm so happy with the beautiful "Kanzashi" flower that I made. I can't wait to make some more!

P.S. The photos with the black borders were taken by my lovely and talented friend who also came to the workshop :) - thank you!