A Tale of Three Ones

Yesterday I finished one sock.

It's the first sock I've ever knitted and I'm quite pleased.  I did a short row heel and managed to not have any gaps or holes (although I did unravel it a few times to achieve that!). It's self patterning sock yarn just incase you thought I'd used loads of different colours - it's clever stuff.  I think the 2nd one will be quicker and easier.

A few weeks ago I went to the local silk mill sale and bought silk in the sale for £15.00 a metre and made one curtain for my dining room door/window.

It only needs one curtain as it's really window dressing as the window/door is internal.  Apparently the silk would have retailed at over £100 a metre when it was sold commercially a couple of years ago so I got a good deal.  It hangs beautifully and drapes onto the floor looking very opulent.

And today I spied one hellebore peeping up through the snow.

A sign of things to come.

A Bowl Like No Other

I thought I'd show you a bowl that I made a couple of weeks ago.  It's not like any other bowl (and it's also really hard to photograph!)

Silk Bowl - approx 21cm x 14cm

I made it by sandwiching silk fibres between water soluble fabric and then free motion stitching it - round and round at first to make the base and then out in lines towards the edges. 
Next I ran it all under a cold tap until the water soluble fabric had gone but some of the "stickiness" was left (word of warning, if you fancy doing this yourself then take your watch off first as the "stick" gets everywhere!). 
Then I squeezed most of the water out and molded it over a bowl to dry.

Silk Bowl - approx 21cm x 14cm

When it was dry I stitched a few seed beads on and painted round the top with fabric paint.  It's quite holey but is more rigid than it looks as when the stickiness dries it gives it some stability.

I love these silk fibres, I bought them last year at the Knitting and Stitching Show from Oliver Twists.  I also bought some more this year, including some undyed ones - my next challenge is to dye them using the microwave!