Gloves and WWII

I've been knitting long gloves recently, I've nearly finished one of them but here's a photo of when I started it - my first proper time of using double-pointed needles, it was sooo confusing at first!!!

But I got the hang of it - the only problem was when I wanted to switch back to normal needles and it wasn't as easy as I thought it would :S I wish I could just follow the pattern... but I can't help twigging it for my own flair, and it causes annoying problems!! For instance, the gloves are surprisingly tight, but that might've been because I ate so much over the weekend...

Yeah, so this weekend I went away to Kyck, a Katoomba youth convention where we learned about the book of Ecclesiasties and how meaningless life can be without Jesus. Fun weekend :) Bring on Kyck 2011!!

Anyway, I'm doing a personal interest project at school, and I've decided to research women's roles in WWII, and I shall be interviewing some of the older women in our church and collaborating their stuff into a book! So if anyone has any resources, such as women's weeklys from the wartime, or any wartime knitting pattersn, please let me know!! If it all works out how I want it to, I might include some war-time projects in the collaboration and even put it into a book to give/sell (havent decided yet ;)) for our church's anniversary later this year.
Yay!!

Angel

Back from a great holiday, with a strange feeling that I've delved further into my family's past than ever before...

Haven't progressed at all with my doll :( I'm in still confusion of how to do the face...

I spent most of my creative hours away continuing in this angel cross stitch which I've been working on for quite a few months... check it out so far.

I feel in a very strange mood to play computer games again... perhaps I took my dad's comment that I used to be more adventurous than I am now too seriously, and am now returning to old habits ... hmmm.

I love how long cross stitches take! I can rarely take much pleasure in a project that's completed quickly. If you're wondering why there's a gap in sections of this one, particularly at the base of the underskirt, there's going to be a sort of wreath put in... I'm just finishing the wings first.

Continuation...

So - I've been continuing my doll. I thought the sleeves were horrible, but people tell me it's okay, and it's beginning to grow on me... I'm at a loss of how to do the face... and I haven't even begun to worry about the hair!! I sewed the belt soooo neatly on the back, then I rushed the front, and it's all wobbly stitching :( I wanted to properly hem the sleeves and neckline, but it was getting super tricky with the small stitches, so it ended up becoming a feature. If you click on the picture to get a bigger version you'll probably be able to see the stitches more clearly. I tried looking for blue thread for ages, but I couldn't find any so in the end I just used white. I think it worked well...

Anyway, I've been working on another surprise present for my sister's birthday, but I can't show it just yet in case she reads this before her birthday... but what do people think of this wool? I think it's quite nice.


Meanwhile, I've come back to my Aaron Finder (still need a new last name >.<) book which I started last holidays - I didn't get any time during term to write it! On reflection, the story seemed a little dull, but then I started writing some more and got fully back into it! I want to get this finished by the end of the year and sent to a publisher, hopefully. I know I've said this before, but I'd really like to do it before I leave school, I know I'll probably be rejected, but I want the satisfaction that I sent a book!!

Preportions...

Well, I have been working on making a doll - and it was going SO well until I realised the arms were too skinny, so at the last minute I changed my pattern for how I was making them and... well... it's not very well preportioned anymore >.<

It's kind of embarassing :( I was doing so well!!!! they're too long or something... just not shaped enough to look right compared to the rest of the body.
And since taking this photo I've started on the top half of a dress, and it's a MESS!!! I'll post photos when it's done... :(

It was a lot of fun making though!! I absolutely love hand-sewing stuff, I don't know why...

Anyway, I need suggestions - how should I do the face?? Detailed? Plain? Sewn? Drawn? I have no idea so far!! And I don't really know how I'm going to do the hair either... I'll finish the dress first.

Help!

I went away from the computer after my last post enthusiastically, and got out pen and paper and started drawing up a plan of a rag-doll. I hadn't even finished the first drawing before i knew it wasn't working.

Please, I need help!! Does anyone know how to make a rag-doll?? I can't find any good instructions online. When I say 'rag' doll i dont mean something scrappy, just a hand-sewn doll with detatchable clothes (possibly - or I could just make a new doll for each outfit ...)

Anyway, even a suggestion would be nice! My main dilemmas are how to make it so the arms and legs could bend, how to make feet that aren't just blobs (cause i'd wanna make shoes too) and yeah...

Also, do you think I should make it shape-y with a proper waist and everything, or just make it quite straight??

Please give ideas!!!

Homework and Rag Dolls

I have felt my creative flair rather flattened lately by suddenly having a wave of homework and assignments. I always thought that spending hours doing schoolwork was a discision you had to make at some point in high school, but I have just woken up one day and realised that I'm putting in two or more hours of work most nights...

And the funny thing is, I love it!! I simply hate the feeling of being bored so much that feeling busy is bliss compared to it! Yay!

I had to perform a piano piece for class today. It went better than I thought it would, but I still stumbled over a section and missed the second last note. Haha... it was all good fun though!

I really want to make something right now, and seeing a sort of rag-doll that my friend had created inspired me to make one too! Although i have very limited fabrics... I had thought I should make various costumes and stuff, but I'd be lucky to find fabric enough to make the doll and perhaps two outfits. And last time I attempted making a doll of that sort... well, let's just say that fraying is just about my most hated aspect of sewing.

I haven't really had much time to visit my geurilla knitting... it would be nice if my dad stopped spilling the beans about who's been putting all the knitting up to our neighbours though. It's supposed to be annonomus!!! The day my parents realised it was me putting it up (the first day I tried), I knew I'd only ever recieve about a third of the pertential thrill in doing it.

I appologise for all the appaling spelling mistakes in this post, but I have been exposed as this doesn't seem to put red squiggly lines under spelling errors anymore... :( alas, my spelling est very poor.

Knitting

Well, I'm not a state winner for the Novella Competition, but I still stand a chance of being a shortlisted or "highly recommended" participant. Doesn't it defeat the purpose if they choose who was shortlisted AFTER choosing the state winners though? Strange...

Anyway, today I took a walk with a had and dark sunglasses and stood next to a particular pole, and waiting around suspiciously for everyone in sight to disappear. Who would guess that a Sunday morning would have so many people taking a walk?? After about five minutes waiting, I gave up and took out my 2m long piece of knitting and started sewing it up with trembling hands. After a few stitches however, I started to quite enjoy myself. I loved it every time someone walked past, probably giving me shifty looks and wondering what on earth I was doing, but were too scared to ask. I just kept sewing away, ignoring everyone. One nice man asked me what I was doing, but before I could actually work out what I really was doing (i still have no idea) he suggested it was art, and I agreed. He told me all about his wife and how she likes quilting and thought my little piece was quite nice and bright, and then he went on. As he walked away, I thought about how I would never EVER have such a nice conversation like that with a stranger, and decided I want to try and do more of this geurilla knitting in the future as I enjoyed the whole thing so much.

Doesn't look 2 metres, does it?? Well, I think it was a bit short of it because I was beginning to worry how long I would have to stand there sewing it up... I think in the end it took nearly half an hour, but I loved every minute of it.

I was very impressed with how this bit turned out. "Llama was here" I did that whole little bit in just over half an hour. I drew out the words lightly with pencil, then stitched over them, and then folded back the edges and sewed it onto the knitting. Now everyone can know that Llama who made the first piece made the second one too :)