Pransellknit

Once upon a time, I had a little idea that combined two things I’m interested in; video games and vintage home furnishings/decor. This idea percolated in my mind for years until Matt gave me all the things I needed to turn my idea into a tangible object.

My Duck Hunt flying ducks have sat finished for a bit over a year now, but didn’t post them because I thought people might think them a bit naff. I’m obviously over that now (it’s my blog dang it, I’ll post what I want to!).

Once the images were scaled, they weren’t difficult to put together. In fact, the trickiest part of the process was making sure all the beads had melted together. I don’t have the best iron which probably didn’t help matters.

Unfortunately my ducks’ current location is flat on a mantlepiece as finding a good way to get them up on the walls has been surprisingly difficult. The ducks are pretty delicate so falling off the walls would not be good at all. Another challenge was finding a spot to take these photos, as it seems the walls here are riddled with picture hooks.

The biggest motivation for posting this project is because its one of those projects that I should have done ages ago, a recurring theme on this blog. This year I’d like to try a few more of those types of projects, ones that don’t necessarily take up that much time, but always get set aside for one reason or another.

If this post was to be one word long, ‘duffer’ is probably the most appropriate way to sum up this year in knitting. It’s been a bit of a ‘wheel spinning in the mud, not getting anywhere fast’ type of year, with all the reknitting I did. That’s perfectly OK though; it’s helped me realise that patience isn’t as overrated as I always thought it was.

I’m really happy with how all this year’s projects turned out, but strangely I don’t have much to say about them. My favourite colours, green and brown, were well represented and I became a bit more adventurous with pattern modifications.

This year my partner Matt released a couple of knitting apps for the iPhone. While not my achievement, I’m still immensely proud of Matt and the effort he put in for a couple of tools to make my knitting life a little easier. I can’t even begin to describe how pleased it makes me to hear that the apps are also useful to other knitters and crocheters – the support and suggestions from the knitting and crocheting community has been nothing short of amazing.

Outside of knitting, I finally tried my hand at some other crafts, and was pleasantly surprised by the results. Unfortunately these other crafty activities took a back seat when I left Brown Owls to move interstate, but non-knitterly crafty activities haven’t been far from my mind. Going from thoughts to reality is sometimes the hardest part of the process, I think.

Finally, I also tried my hand at selling some of my knitterly wares. By far, this was the most daunting thing I did this year. Going to market was a lot of fun, and nerve-wracking all at the same time. I will try again next year, with a little bit more wisdom and a lot more organisation.

Perhaps the word for 2009 should be ‘wonderment’, I think my pleasant surprise has been mentioned in just about every paragraph!

On that note, I think this dufferly wonderment of a year from the Pransellknit perspective has been covered. Thank you everyone for reading my funny little blog. I hope I’ll see you again in 2010!

This weekend I went to a market as a seller for the first time. It was quite intimidating and I cannot fib, it was pretty nerve wracking (it probably didn’t help that I was feeling sick from a well-timed coldy-flu). It’s probably the ultimate judgement of your handiwork; would a perfect stranger pay money for a product you’ve made?

The day was not all about the hard-nosed world of commerce. It was also about seeing missed friends, meeting lovely new people and trying new things.

Apparently it was also about snapping up a couple of treats for myself.

Despite being in my late twenties, I still maintain it’s perfectly acceptable to wear bobbles in my hair (from Poppy, Bean and Bloss).

Also, despite having just about enough coin purses to start a museum, I still maintain it’s perfectly acceptable to buy more, especially when made from linen and vintage embroidery. (from a little red ribbon).

Besides the nerves and being worn out by the end of the day, a most enjoyable time was had. Hopefully I’ll be able to do it again someday soon.

The photos for this post were taken, what feels like, ages ago, and the brooch finished even longer ago than that. It feels like I haven’t been able to take a breath all week, but now I have a smidgen of time to post before I get back to the madness.

This is another Brown Owls project, designed by George. Mad props to George — I do think it turned out nicely. Her instructions were clear and the template worked well. She (the brooch that is) is yet to have its public debut, but I think today will be the day. Once I stop lazing about, that is.

While pondering this post, I decided that Brown Owls has been very positive for me. Knitting is the craft that I gravitate towards, but there are other crafts I’m keen to try but never seem to get round to it on my own. So far I’ve tried embroidery and making felt brooches, and not only am I pretty happy with how both of them turned out, I want to embroider more and make more felt brooches. Maybe once the craziness dies down.

I finished embroidering my little Dutch girl last weekend. She’s a bit wonky in places, but I don’t mind. It was my first attempt at embroidery and I’m pleased I stuck with it to completion.

I have another tea towel sitting on my desk, ready to embroider. The set that the Dutch girl is from, Loopsies’ Pretty Maids set 1, also has sweet girls from Bavaria, Russia, Poland and France. I can’t decide which one to choose next!

In other news, my partner had an iPhone/iPod touch program released in the iTunes app store this week. I was very hesitant to mention it here, and to’d and fro’d about whether I should say something. Ultimately, I’m very proud of him and the program he’s created and released, so I shouldn’t be embarrassed to say something on my blog, my personal space. It’s a program I’ve helped with from the word go, and I’ve been using for my knitting projects since December. So, if you are a knitter and an iPhone/iPod touch owner and are looking for a row counter, please consider Knit Counter or its free counterpart, Knit Counter Lite (both links to iTunes).

In both versions, you can have as many counters as you like, link counters together (good for if you’re knitting something with pattern repeats) and put in increase/decrease alerts for projects where you have to increase or decrease periodically (eg. if you’re knitting sleeves). You can have as many projects as you like for Knit Counter, and just a single project for Knit Counter Lite.

I’ve ended up rabbiting (excuse the pun, with Easter and all…) on a lot more than I intended to about the program. Full details can be found on his site, or on iTunes.

Learning new crafty skills, is a good, albeit dangerous thing.

Today at Brown Owls I learnt some embroidery basics. I felt completely lost when I first sat down with my tea towel, embroidery floss, needle and pattern, but with lots of help from lots of lovely Brown Owl ladies (sorry if I forgot anyone who gave me words of wisdom!), I was happily on my way. I think I’m starting to get the hang of it now – it certainly feels like I’m getting through sections a bit quicker, and I think the stitches are looking a bit neater and more even!

The only danger associated with embroidery, besides the inevitable needle-in-finger attacks, is that it will be competing with knitting (and occasionally sewing) for my attention. I feel so unproductive already without another crafty hobby!

It really is about time someone came up with a 30 hour day.