"Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all" Douglas Adams

Tuesday 20 December 2016

Spinning a yarn

Thanks to the lovely ladies at Creative Fibre and Red Hill Spinners and Weavers I am hooked on spinning.

One of the ladies has lent me a wheel to play with. I think it looks good as a present under the tree!  


I think having done the drop spindle for the last few months has given me a bit of an edge, I'm all about the drafting (its the lingo) and having just one peddle it means I don't have to overthink to much.

I sound like an expert already which is definitely not the case!  I still have a long way to go, there is consistency to master and then there is trying to ply.  And of course, what to make with it!

Saturday 9 July 2016

Taking Pictures

I think I finally did it.
I do believe that my felt shop looks quite professional.  And it was all in the pictures!.

As with most amateur online sellers I have read a lot about how important the picture is to views and then to sales.  I have tried playing with the macro button, taking pictures when it's not sunny, replicating how magazines take pictures (in situ), and have plastered flip chart paper over things to make a light box, and yet I have never been happy with the result.  No to say that these things didn't work, because my pictures have definitely improved over time, they were just never as good as everyone elses.  

And then I grabbed the chance to get a free mannequin top.  She is my new best friend. I love her.   Now she has taken over my felt shop, and I like it.



 So much cleaner and easy to look at, I wish I'd done a before and after :-)

Tuesday 21 June 2016

The wrong yarn for the job

I've got some lovely yarns in my stash that I keep starting a project with and then tossing aside because they just don't quite work.

It's a bit like that strange thing other people do called swatching,  I tend to ignore suggestions of the types of yarns to use for certain things.  This has quite often turned out well, and just as often turned out wrong!   Its also why I shy away from motifs a bit, just in case it doesn't work, then I can't reuse the yarn as easily.

This is the 4th time I've tried to use this bamboo yarn to make something,  and it's not 4th time lucky.

With a renewed interest in Tunisian Crochet I think that this one might be good for that....  so a frogging we will go (again!)  :-)

Sunday 22 May 2016

Shrug Hug

Love the library:-)

Cool crochet books and other fab ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

I picked up this lovely yarn at the Creatve Fibre Festival the other weekend and have been looking out for a brill project that's not too hard and is easy to do on the ever crowded train.

So I have chosen this Shrug Hug from a book called Custom Crocheted Sweaters by Dora Ohrenstein.

I've tried shrugs before and I've always had to frog them because they just didn't look like the picture.   For this one there has been research.  Lots of great reviews.... so I guess if it doesn't work...... must be me.... :-D

Tuesday 19 April 2016

Poppies

I saw a lovely poppy on a tv presenter that was made from organza type fabric, so I tried to replicate it.
So I pintrested the how to.

A wee hint... if its not organza type material don't try and burn the edges, it catches on fire!

I cut 8 circles from 4 different red fabrics, 2 the same size from each one.  Sewed a button in the middle and random black beeds around the center. (I also did the back pin at the same time)   Covered the whole thing in fabric stiffener (called 'stiffy' teenager snigger)  left it over night and then seperafed the layers and made it look more 3d.  I like it :-)

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Simplicity 1419, lisette

Last year I did a workshop on sewing a dress.

It got me hooked. I had been trying and trying to get in sync with the sewing machine.
I think I've done it!

I love this pattern. 
It's easy enough for me to understand and has enough technical bits and pieces to make me feel like I've achieved something.
This is my 2nd one, and both dresses are good enough to wear out of the house, and to work even!

Sunday 31 January 2016

Nail art

Its a bit harder than I thought it would be.
The whole hammering thing is a little tedious. And I think I was a little bit ambitious with the amount of nails I dcided to do for my design.

I drew my design on some graph paper first. Painted my bit of wood and popped the paper on top of the painted side when it was dry.

I finally finished hammering yesterday and now i can start with the weaving.
So far so good I think....

Tuesday 5 January 2016

Where did JacBerCreations go?

Well, it didn't really say anything did it?
It's the New Year so what better time to have a change and become re-invigorated? 


I'm also mixing it up and not just crocheting. Yesterday we went to Bunnings and shopped for wood and nails. Very cool!  Today I am making a loom and am going to try weaving, I'm also going to do piece of nail/string art.  Once I've figured out how to make what I want I'll share the stages.


Yesterday I was trying to come up with my Cup of Tea and a Yarn picture.   This was the best bit...... 

I drew my design on the material with a pen and made a mistake. Once I'd finished my sewing I used nail polish remover to try and get the pen off.  Got some of it on the rest of the yarn. It bled..... A lesson learned...  I quite like the 'Cup of Tea' part though.