New crafty room and inspiration

In February my Dad came over to start the decorating process in our house for us. We chose our study/my craft room for the first one to start with as this is the smallest in the house and more boring probably won't be too badly affected when we get new heating.

Anyway, I don't think I really have any before photos but the walls were a pretty dark orang-y colour with loads of lumps of plaster and holes from where kids had picked at the walls and millions of things had been hung on them over the years.

We decided on flat walls! and a much lighter shade with a lot less holes in. Dad did an amazing job and completely transformed the room. It's amazing what can be done while you go out to work. We just left him to it for 3 days and the whole thing was done. All the bit's that should be white are now white and it's all just such a nicer place to be.

Not a lot has really changed in the room since it was done - I made sure I arranged everything as well as I could when I put everything back in after the decorating so that everything was as easy to get to as possible.

The only thing that remained undecided was what to do with the box in the corner of the room. You see the bit on the left of the really wide photo? Should we put a glass or perspex sheet on there as an extra work surface? Should we put the printer on there? - Probably more sensible than leaving it on the floor as it is now but not a fantastic use of the space...

So then my husband came up with the idea a couple of weeks ago - we could cover it with cushions and blankets and use it as a little chill out space. (Sorry Dad because you took the time to gloss all of the top of it!) I absolutely love this idea and from the moment he suggested it I set to work making it comfortable - it's not the nicest of places to sit without a little home comforts. Check this out too - I have a little secret hiding space for my chocolate bowl!!!! Don't tell my husband - I can't imagine anything better than snuggling up in this small space with my Chocolate bowl at the side of my, a nice cup of tea and my knitting/crochet.

There's nothing too technical gone on there yet and it's still not the most comfortable but I have got a cushion for the cover I was made in the swap that I took part in and that's on there. The mini blanket from the same swap is there too. There's a massive pile of wool on there at the minute - the plan is to make most of it into cushion covers but that could take some time and for now it's as good a place as any to keep all of the wool that I was given a little while ago and the leftovers from previous projects that I have worked on.

My plan is to try to make everything that ends up there myself, one way or another - I thought it could be a good way of practicing things and working on new skills. I'm determined to have a bit of a go at quilting and I believe a cushion cover could be a great way to start.

That brings me on to how I spent most of my weekend and what I have started working on. A blanket that again has a mini story of it's own so will come with it's own post very shortly and this cushion cover. Two weeks ago I went to another one of Eleanor's classes at the wonderful Knit Nottingham - this one was to learn Fair Isle and Intarsia knitting techniques. I love the change of colours and the variety this provides. These are the little samples that I made on the day:

So I went with these colours to use up the rest of the balls that I had and found another 4 colours that would go with them.

Apparently if you photograph them in black and white then you can see even better if the colours will work together or not be obvious enough for the Fair Isle to work.

A few of them are fairly similar but I think I can make it work. I thought a cushion cover was something that should (hopefully) be fairly simple for me to work on but also provide me with enough new techniques and ideas to try out to make it interesting.

I started by working on a relatively new casting on technique - this is one that I learnt about and found out about from the sweater club as this was the cast on that I used for the neck of my sweater - a kind of double edged cast on - I'm not sure what it's called. When I did this for my sweater I left one side of the stitches loose until I had knitted the rest of the neck and then this was what I used to sew it together. I wasn't sure if it would be possible but I thought that this time I would give it a go of casting on and then knitting from both sides in a circle. I hoped that this would provide a neat seam for one end of my cushion cover and a circle for me to start knitting.

I think this seemed to work and I have now done quite a few rounds to start the pattern of the cushion cover. I have taken some inspiration from patterns seen on the internet, on Ravelry and just other people's photos online but I plan to make different designs all of the way up incorporating all of the things that I like and enjoy. I started with a basic checkered pattern and have also put some waves on there too. 

I have taken some inspiration from patterns seen on the internet, on Ravelry and just other people's photos online but I plan to make different designs all of the way up incorporating all of the things that I like and enjoy. I'm not sure how yet but I'm sure Henlow will end up on there somewhere! Watch this space and please send me any inspiration and ideas that might be useful and I might be able to turn into Fair Isle. My patterns so far are 12 stitched wide if anyone want's to give creating a go.