Filati felting

Picked this knitting magazine up recently.  I've bought a few copies of Filati Handkitting in the past but this one with the gladioli on the cover really caught my eye.  As a designer of knitted and felted bags I was pleased to see a felted bag on the cover and there a few more felted projects in the magazine too.  The cutest one is a small felted stuffed toy fish, might even try this out with my new crochet skills so I can show you how cute it is.   I have personally thought felting had probably had it's day, now maybe I am not right............in Germany at least!  Other than the felting the magazine is full of great home wares projects, very contemporary and stylish.  Worth a look if you can still find Issue 46 on the shelves near you.

Finally something to make me blog again............

...................it's only been about 6 months! So what you might ask has prompted this little blog post? I'm not sure what it means but today while in town searching for a pair of pre-loved Levis jeans for a project I'm working on at the moment I came across this sad little selection of old patterns and I did a double-take. I've made it! I've found one of my felted bag patterns at a charity/thrift store, it really made me smile. Did the previous owner knit one of these bags from my pattern, did they love it enough to pass the pattern on to someone else, or maybe they couldn't make head nor tail of the pattern and they threw it away in disgust????

I am sorry I seem to have stopped blogging, it wasn't intentional, I'm not even sure why it has happened. I haven't taken any photos either, not even while on holidays in Tasmania late last year, no Christmas shots either! Weird isn't it? This photo I snapped with my iPod touch and it's not too bad, maybe that will motivate me to snap more things in the future. I do still think about blogging, there is a small pile of subjects to be photographed sitting in my sewing room waiting.

Returning to work has changed my life, I've been back nursing now for just over 2 years, working 3 days a week. Very soon I will begin working full time, this is a bit scary, I haven't worked permanent full time since I was pregnant with my first child who turns 19 this July. Will I survive? Who knows, but I'll give it my best.

Dashing about

I've a new bag to felt today. I have high hopes for this bag, I really like all the dashes and think it should look great when felted. Just one more load of necessary family washing then the machine will be ready to get to work on my 'Dashing About' bag. It's a great drying day today so might have finished shots later today. As you can see I also have a bale of sugar cane mulch to spread on the vege garden this afternoon when it's nice and shady out there.

Latest batch done

If you knit any of my Knitted and Felted Bag patterns up you would need a set of four stitch markers to mark the four corners including an odd one to denote the beginning and end of a row in the circular knitting. I've been busy this morning filling an order for the local knitting shop so thought I would show you too. My hands are tired and I'm still in my PJ's, time for a walk on the beach with Miss Ruby and Old Casper I think.

Dash, Dash, Dash............

.................maybe some dot, dot, dots yet. I'm really enjoying knitting this latest bag, the variegated wool is lovely and I hope these little dashes and maybe dots will felt up into an interesting feature on the bag.

Peas and Stripes

Last night I sewed these felted handles onto my Peas handbag which has been sitting in my studio waiting for quite some time. Today my new striped shopper is dry and I'm really pleased with how this latest design has worked out. Will take it for an outing tomorrow to test it thoroughly before I share the design. Research and Development is a big part of my knitting and felting designs, I want my bags to be fun and functional.

My new shopper

Busy, busy...........lots to do, picking strawberries, fertilizing lawns, washing, a mostly stay at home mum's day is very varied and enjoyable usually. I completed the knitting of this latest bag last night and in minutes I'll be throwing it into the wash so the felting process can begin. I'm really pleased with the style and colours, should be a good useful bag for toting around this summer. Might even write the pattern for this one so you too can make one for yourself.

Sea turtle in trouble

This morning has been interesting, a girlfriend found a small sea turtle that had been washed up over night onto one of our beaches, it was a very rough night, the turtle is obviously unwell with all the barnacles and algae taking over on it's shell and limbs. I sat with it until NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service with WIRES came to pick up the struggling animal and now it's with a vet to decide whether if anything can be done to save this poor animal. Most sea turtles who end up like this have ingested so much plastic along with their food that their bowel gets blocked and then they literally starve to death or die from infections in their body cavities which caused them to float on the surface of the water. There are 6 species of sea turtle in Australian waters some are threatened with extinction as early as 20 years away, this one was well away from the warmer waters of QLD and northern NSW which would be it's normal territory.

Next is a lovely book I bought at My Place in Bowral which is in the Southern Highlands area just SW of Sydney for those who need to plan an excursion. 'Sew and Stow' by Betty Oppenheimer is a great little book full of great items, perfect for Christmas present making.

Finally, when I returned on Monday evening from our trip I sat down and just started knitting, a new bag pattern was brewing in my mind and I just needed to get it on the needles. So far I'm very happy with the progress. I love this dull grey green with a dull grey, this will eventually be a large shopping bag with two handles.

Raving on a bit............apologies!

I am excited to tell you I have finally got my head around Ravelry, 'the knit and crochet community website'. I had joined way back in November last year but hadn't really worked out how it all functions. Anyway a while back I discovered I was listed as 'Lisa Ashton designer' on Ravelry which happened because last year I had one of my knitted and felted bag design published in an Australian knitting magazine named 'Yarn'. So I set about having my designer profile linked to my Ravelry username 'lisajane', that done I decided a designer shop was needed. I tested the waters with a free down loadable glasses case, it works, 9 people have downloaded it since yesterday. Now I have moved on and have worked out a bit more of how this site ticks and have managed to add 8 of my knitted and felted bags designs to my shop and you can now buy them and download them instantly in pdf format. While I slept last night one person bought a pattern and was delighted at how easy the process was now she's winding wool ready to begin knitting.

So if you are a Raveller then come in and have a look, if your not signed up then get to it here! When I signed up it took weeks to be admitted but currently the wait for your invitation is about 4 days. It is an amazing community of very talented people and it is so easy to find what you are looking for whether it be; patterns, yarns, books, magazines, designers and loads more.

Creative update

I did it, I started creating again...............I said I would! I did some more sorting out and tidying in my studio, found a pile of knitwear that needed to be felted...............so I went and put them all in the wash and now have a pile of beautifully felted knits ready to deconstruct and repurpose. I found a knitted bag 'Peas' almost complete so I got to it and completed it and this morning it's in the wash felting away as I type. I also cooked a great dinner for the family from the best cook books ever................you only need 4 Ingredients for any of the recipes, they're Australian and so easy. They are really Dear Husbands books, the red one was one of his Fathers Day gift on Sunday. I can't remember what the recipe was called but I substituted chicken breast for chicken thighs rolled them in lite sour cream then tossed them in slivered almonds and grated Jarlsberg cheese and baked them until golden, how easy is that...............served with lots of fresh veges, no one complained!

Off to create again today..............next update tomorrow!

Willow Pattern poem

'Two birds flying high,

A Chinese vessel, sailing by.

A bridge with three men, sometimes four,

A willow tree, hanging o'er.

A Chinese temple, there it stands,

Built upon the river sands.

An apple tree, with apples on,

A crooked fence to end my song.'

The poem tells of Knoon-shee, a lovely Chinese maiden, whose affections were bestowed upon her father's secretary, Chang, but who was commanded by her parents to wed a wealthy rival suitor. She refused to comply with their wishes, whereupon her enraged father locked her up in the little house just visible on the left of the temple. From here she contrived to send a message to her lover, 'Gather thy blossom, ere it be stolen.' Thus encouraged, Chang succeeded in entering the apple orchard and carrying off his beloved.So we see them hurrying over the bridge. Knoon-shee with a distaff, and Chang carrying her box of jewels, pursued by the angry father brandishing a whip. The lovers made good their escape in the 'little ship sailing by' and landed on the island, which can be seen on the left of the picture, where they took refuge in the little wooden house. But the father and discarded suitor tracked them and set fire to the house while they were sleeping and so the lovers perished. Next morning their spirits rose, Phoenix-like, in the form of two doves and we see them, with out-stretched wings, flying off to the realms of eternal happiness.

Of course no one knows if this story is true as it is over 2000 years old.

I don't own one piece of Willow pattern china but I have fond memories of my Nana reciting a version of the little Willow poem when I was young. Today I received this card in the post and it brought lovely memories of Nana flooding back. The card came from an 85 year old Yorkshire Rose friend of mine who had recently needed a little help with the felting of her 'Opera Bag' which I was more than pleased to help her with. She is a dear friend who reminds me of my little English Nana on many occasions. I'll let you into a little secret, this particular friend when turning 80 told me she had something to show me, she pulled her blouse open and showed me a little white rose for Yorkshire tattoo on her shoulder she had just had done because she said she was too old to go Bungee jumping!

Oops......

............forgot to show you I have been busy finishing a new batch of knitted and felted bags and glasses cases for the local general store. I delivered them on Saturday and a red bag sold over the long weekend and then this week I remembered I had neglected to photograph them for my records so here are the remaining items insitu with flash photography..........not good.

Nesting and a little knitting

No blogging lately, I think I must be pregnant.............nah, not really but I have been seriously decluttering and cleaning this house of ours................reminds me of the nesting that went on before Surfer Boy and Darling Daughter arrived. We have lived here for so long and all the cupboards are bulging with stuff so the local charity shops will have a delivery later in the week and I have a tiny bit more space in my wardrobe only until the ironing mountain is tackled. Also moved all the large appliances and dusted and cleaned behind and under, what a huge effort that job is. I have really sore dry hands from all the cleaning so not much craftiness going on in the evenings but I am working on a new bag using stripes to create a nice diagonal blended look with two colours, just about up to the handle section which I have planned in my head.

Princess Pia is nesting in a little cane basket she found this morning so I place her in the trug and she's sleeping like a baby. Notice the healed wound on her tail, a bite mark probably, she really has overcome some terrible injuries. She's doing so well and making small improvements everyday which is so good to see. Click on the photo for a really closeup look at the little cutey with her hands clasped under her chin.

Thanks for all my readers who keep visiting and are not finding a new post to read, I will try harder to post more often..........I promise!

Finishing lineup

First up is my new 'Winter Shopper' all felted and ready to go to town tomorrow! This bag had been sitting around for quite some time strapless as I couldn't quite decide what to do and this is very different from my first drawing in my knitting journal. I think this big bag is going to become a favourite of mine, feels real comfy already. This bag felted so well, beautiful NZ wool, really sturdy and not too fluffy, it shrunk 5" in width and 9" in length. Second finished is the bag I said I was making for a jet setting friend, she's picking it up Friday and heading off on Tuesday. Hope she likes the finished result of a Japanese bag kit she bought about 3 years ago at a quilt show, very weird instructions which were inconveniently all in metric...........not great when all your quilting equipment is imperial. Finally in third place a trio of bright felted glasses cases ready for the local general store. Also will have a couple of bags for them later in the week.

Now after all that effort aren't you impressed and I even pulled out my refrigerator and TV cabinet today and cleaned under and behind them thoroughly! It's feeling like spring rather than late autumn around here, lovely sunny warm days, my house is wide open today soaking up the rays, no heater tonight the slate floor will provide us with enough warmth.

Good knitting weather

One new design in the wash while I type, it is made from a lovely New Zealand wool made by Naturally which is 50% NZ wool and 50% NZ mohair and feels wonderful, it does felt up beautifully and finishes with a soft hairy texture. If you look carefully you will see I have some extra pieces in the machine to felt up that will be used to embellish this bag post felting, more of that later. Another design on the needles at the moment, so much fun watching this one evolve, you never really know what you will get with a hand painted wool. This JJ's Montage 8ply 100% New Zealand wool I bought when we visited Melbourne last November and I have been very eager to see it knit, the colours are much better than when it was in the skein and so much better than when it was balled up. As you might have worked out we have had some cool drizzly weather which was just so perfect for knitting over the Easter break but today has returned to blue skies and heat which is needed for the 5 loads of washing I have done this morning.

Knitted and felted bag patterns

Handbag #1

Handbag #2

Small Handbag #3

Shoulder Bag #4

Striped Flap Bag #5

Tote Bag #7

Opera Bag #8

Swing Bag #9

Finally I can offer to my Australian readers my eight current knitted and felted bag patterns for purchase. For my overseas readers I will sort something out very soon so you too can buy my patterns. I teach and sell my bag patterns locally at Steph’s Patchwork Fabrics & Stitching Supplies in Moruya, NSW and I am pleased to say it has been a wonderful time for me, the patterns have been well received and I love seeing the results knitters are producing with my patterns. My bags are all knit with double knit (8 ply) pure wool, I recommend Panda Woolbale for best results. You can use any double knit wool that is not machine washable, super washed or treated to prevent shrinkage. I use very basic equipment for my bags; 5.5mm circular needles (80cm length generally), 5.5mm double point needles if there is Icord detailing and straps, stitch markers to mark the beginning/end of a row also to find the corners of the bag where simple increasing or decreasing is used for the bag shaping, 4mm crochet hook for closing the bottom seam of the flat bags and a large darning needle to sew in tails before felting. I have designed my bags so there is the most minimal amount of finishing, I really dislike sewing up knits so have worked hard to develop these easy knit patterns. I felt all my bags in the washing machine, both top and front loaders work well if you have hot water hooked up to your machine. Each pattern has a colour photo on the front cover, list of requirements on the back and up to 6 pages of detailed instruction on the knitting and then felting process including many black and white photos and stitch diagrams. You will notice that bag #6 is missing, this is the Spring Green Bag that was in issue 8 of Yarn magazine and I am unable to publish this pattern currently. If anyone in Australia would like to purchase a pattern they are $16AUD including postage, just email me and it can be arranged, payment method preferred is a deposit into my bank account as I don't have EFTPOS facilities at this stage of 'Plain Jane Creations' which is a registered Australian Business with a current ABN. If there are any business owners interested in stocking my patterns then just ask away.

tomashtoATbigpondDOTnetDOTau just remove the capitals and replace with @ and .