Birthday Tarot Bag - Knitting

A birthday gift for a London Tarot Study Group friend, in purple silk (although the photo doesn't show this well) from Creations yarn shop in Barnes.

Happy birthday :)

Thoth Silk Tarot Bag - Knitting

Yet another Tarot bag, and it's for me again! :) Can I help it if I need a little spoiling?

Just before Christmas I bought the medium-sized Thoth Tarot deck from Mysteries in Covent Garden (carrying it home was interesting, it made me dizzy and I hadn't even opened it!) and it needed a bag.

I'd bought some pale silk-and-wool blend yarn from Creations yarn shop in Barnes (highly recommended shop, the German lady is a riot, just remember to bring change as she never has any!) to make a "Cryptic Father Christmas" present for the London Tarot Study Group party, and so I used it up for this! It looks a lot like the gifted bag which I forgot to photograph, but a little shorter and I didn't have the lovely ribbon I used for the gift bag, but did find some nice beads.

Innocent Smoothie Hats - Knitting

Every year Innocent Smoothies support Help the Aged in their Big Knit campaign, where volunteers knit little hats to go on top of the smoothie bottles, send them to Innocent who send them to Sainsbury's supermarkets. The little hats go on the smoothie bottles and 35p is donated to Help the Aged for every hatted smoothie sold. 2009 is the first years I've knitted for the campaign, and I can't wait for next year's Big Knit!!! The projects are ridiculously portable, quick, easy, and satisfying :)

Tarot Bags - Knitting

I've made a variety of Tarot Bags for myself and as gifts for other people (some of which I haven't photographed). Here's what I've done to date:

Mini-Tarot Bag which fits the pocket edition of Rider-Waite-Smith deck, 50% Silk, 50% Linen (Mine)

Left: Acrylic for Tarot of Prague deck, Centre: Cotton for Pocket RWS (has been replaced with red silk bag), Right: Cotton for normal sized RWS (All mine)

Red 50% Silk bag for full-sized RWS (Gift for a friend)

Acrylic bag for Tarot of Prague deck (Mine)

Silk and Bamboo bag for Transparent Tarot deck, Sun card shown here (Mine)

Acrylic mixed blue with "evil eye" beads for Faeries Oracle deck (Mine)

Finished Kilt Hose! - Knitting

Somehow I recovered from breaking up with the kilted bf, and decided to finish off the Kilt Hose... It was suprisingly cathartic getting them done, and what a work of art! I sent them to him for his birthday (as promised, just a year late!) and they fit! Go me! :)

Baby Blanket - Crochet

I'd made these patches a while ago, a bunch of little granny squares in pastel rainbow colours (I love rainbows), each one in a different order. The idea was to make the patches into a baby blanket for an old friend who I'd heard was going to be a dad, but he was so bad at keeping in touch I abandoned the idea, and the patches.

Then, recently, I found out that the Head of Science at the school I work at is going to be a dad in August. He was my tutor 13 years ago when I started at the same school at age 11, and had taught me A-level Chemistry, and was now a colleague, as well as my adopted mentor during my struggle through the end of school. So, I resurrected the patches, crocheted them together, and this blanket appeared. I sincerely hope that he, his wife, and their daughter, love the blanket and get good use out of it!

Kilt Hose - Knitting WIP

When I was made redundant on 2nd January 2009 ("Happy" New Year!) from my job at Battersea Park Children's Zoo I tried to make the best of a bad situation. My then boyfriend had gone to study in Holland for three months, and I figured I'd finish those Kilt Hose I'd promised when I'd made the little anteater socks (see earlier post).

The yarn was pure wool, Dream in Colour, Night Watch, Double-Knit, absolutely gorgeous colours, came together beautifully and was soft and easy to work with, and smelled like sheep (not really)! Bought from Stash Yarns in Putney at a ridiculous price this was a work of art, a labour of love and would have been a gift to treasure forever. The pattern, John Anderson Kilt Hose, can be found here.

Problem is, he broke up with me about three inches away from having the second hose of the pair finished, and when I sobbed every time I tried to finish them my mother confiscated my knitting and so they are still not finished!!!