A wintry sewing project - door snakes

In Canberra people talk about the "Labour Day long weekend" as being the last of the frosts that we can expect for the year, and this happens to be this weekend. So I must post about a very wintery sewing project that I made some weeks ago before this last frost is to appear.

The need for a little protection from drafts became a bit more important after our move in May to a much older house. One of our solutions was to use a few door snakes around the place to trap the heat and keep out the cold, cold, cold. Yes I know I could have gone to the local hardware store and bought some cheapo crappo door snakes....but I was after a bit more style you see, and being the mother of two small widgets I thought a sturdy version could perhaps be a bit more practical.

So here is my door snake sewing "method":
1. I decided to make an inner snake out of calico. I laid out the calico as per the picture below, then folded the fabric again in half to create a double layer of calico snake.

2. I then overlocked around three sides.

3. Before filling with sand and sealing the calico snake, I cut out the outer fabric for the snake. For this I found some Ikea fabric in my stash which was just the perfect weight, nice and thick and sturdy! I cut it out around the calico snake piece like this;

4. Fill the inner snake with sand, overlock/sew and reinforce with top stiching.
5. Sew/overlock up the sides of the side and bottom seams of the outer snake. I used my overlocker to finish the top of this snake as well.
6. Finally I added some snaps to the top of the outer snake, so that I could remove the inner one and wash the cover, because I was sure that at some point these door snakes would be seconded off for an alternative use by some small child and dragged around the house....and I was right!

Book Review

As promised a couple of weeks ago I would review Bright Young Things by MillaMia. Now if you read this blog regularly you would spot that I am a total knitting novice.

Did this deter me from purchasing this book? No
Did this deter me from starting to knit a jumper as my first EVER project? No

...and I think that is testimony almost enough for this book, but I will continue.

I have been desperate to knit since I took over the crafting obsession from my late mama 3 years ago. Crocheting came easy as I did do a little bit of that as a child, but I struggled with knitting and it was primarly because I steadfastly refused to knit a scarf as my first project.

After several attempts at other knitting patterns, this one has come really easy. I have made great progress and it should be finished within the week and ready for show and tell, which will be 3 weeks from start to finish for a beginner knitter!

So apart, from being able to satisfy the skills of beginner to more advanced knitters, this book is full of beautiful and quirky patterns...and the colours of the yarn and suggested pairings, be still my aching heart.

Have you gathered by now that I LOVE this book, and will be purchasing the second one toot-sweet!

This month I'm reading...

I just read the post at Kuka again and realised that I'm supposed to do this in the first week of the month...oh well, lucky I'm a fast reader so that I can have another book up and ready for the first week of October! Happy Reading!!!!!!!

Spring porch sneak peak

All winter I've been dreaming about our spring porch. Now don't get me wrong I really LOVE winter in Canberra....as someone who was born in the tropics it is an absolute treat to me every year to HAVE to wear tights, gloves, scarves and of course own several proper coats.

But since our move in May I've been scheming, plotting and planning what our "porch" should look like, and for the last few months we've been steadily working towards it. Fingers crossed with another long weekend looming we'll have it done and all will be revealed.

On the sticks AGAIN!

Well friends I think I've finally managed it....to knit something that is.

You may recall my previous attempt at mastering this elusive craft last year. Well despite some initial enthusiasm and encouragement from crafty friends, I made poor progress past this little swatch. Casting on was still presenting great problems to me. It was just always loose and untidy. My actual knitting stitches on the other hand, were if I say so myself rather neat and tidy.

So I reverted back to a single needle cast on and voila. The other change that I made was following some sage advice from Kuka, I went for a 10-ply which I found much easier to start with.

So in the space of two evenings I have constructed the back of this little number (sorry for the blurry shot) and am spurred on to finish it so the girl-child can be wearing this over late winter and into spring. I will review the book that this pattern is from over the weekend.