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.

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)

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!!!

Scrap Hat - Knitting

I didn't have a decent winter hat. I had a lot of scrap yarn which I couldn't use for much since it was itchy. I had Debbie Stoller Books. So, I made myself this hat based loosely on a Pattern in "Stitch 'n Bitch Nation" for a fiery hat, the name of which escapes me right now. Finished in time for my birthday and following holiday to Holland, I arrive in the pub for celebratory drinks with friends, when a guy sits down on the table next to ours wearing a shopmade, posh label hat in identical colours in almost the same order as my hat that I'd imagined up only that week! So fashionable, and I don't even know it!

Chunky Scarf - Knitting

A birthday gift for a very dear friend of mine whose birthday came slightly before Christmas. He wanted a black and white bulky scarf, and so I treated myself to a trip to the haberdashery department at John Lewis on Oxford Street and got some Rowan Chunky wool. The wool is ridiculously sexy, just try knitting with it on some really thick needles and you'll know what I mean! >;) (Quite appropriate that this friend is very, very gay!) I stuck to plain old garter and the scarf practically made itself in a handful of hours.

Tea Cosy - Knitting

Another knitted Christmas Present! This time for my mum, who found very similar tea cosies in a shop in Wareham, Dorset, at the same time I bought material to repair my jute bag (see earlier post). She said the pattern reminded her of the old-fashion tea cosies she grew up with, so when I found the pattern via Ravelry I got to work!

My mum wanted "bee" colours, so yellow and brown acrylic were in the recipe, and I have to say this pattern is probably one of the fiddliest things I have ever done!!! The result was a success however, and cosy has been in constant use since Christmas. What's more, it looks spookily similar to the cosy on Mary Poppins' laughter-powered floating tea table in the Disney film!

Target Hat - Knitting

Something for my brother for Christmas. His only hobby ( ...That is, the only thing he really does other than watch DVDs and play video games...) is archery. So I decided to make him a hat in stripes the same colour and order as the archery target... So he could stand out in the middle of a field and people could shoot him!

The pattern I got from Marnie MacLean's Website although the pattern resulted in a funny "nipple" at the top which I had to sew down. The hat was well received and now my mum, who also does archery, wants one too! It is made with acrylic double-knit that I had lying around.

Banana Cosy - Knitting

A very silly project but also a lot of fun! When visiting Stash, a yarn shop in Putney, I picked up a postcard with a pattern for a banana cosy, from a pile of postcard on the desk. It was an advertisement for "The Rebel Knitter's Guide" to be published in The Guardian that Saturday, which I duly bought. The Monday after the guide was published I started and finished it!

It's simply stocking stitch to the length of a typical banana, with a bit of increasing at one end to get a tapered shape, and a few YOs at the other end to thread a ribbon (or, in my case, an icord) through. Check out the pattern on Ravelry!

I got a lot of funny looks from people watching me knit it in public, I think the shape of the item was suggestive! ;o) My cosy is constructed from yellow acrylic yarn, left over from Tom's Watford United scarf (see earlier posting). The guide I've kept, and the post card I've given to my grandmother, who is planning to make cosies to sell to raise money for a charity "Containers of Hope", who fill boxes with useful items to send to places of conflict/famine/natural disastors etc..