Archive | Tutorial

Easter Transparency Tutorial

By Linda on March 16, 2010 in Crafts, Easter, Tutorial

Dear Friends,

We have been busy working on Easter transparencies and we have so enjoyed this process. They just look so pretty when lit up with a candle in the evenings. I thought I would share our journey…

These are some of the materials you will need:

An A4 piece of thick card, paper works too.

A large scissors, I also used a small one for tight corners

A pencil

Glue

Wax wrap papar or opaque tissue paper.

Fold the sides into the middle and crease. This will make the side supports for your transparency and will help it to stand upright

Draw your image onto your paper, something that you can easily cut out. I also shaped the top of my paper for a more creative effect.

Cut out your image and the top.

Cut out some wax wrap or tissue paper larger than the shape you have cut out.

Place glue all around the outside edge of your tissue paper.

Stick your tissue paper at the back of your card over the image you have cut out and shape your tissue paper as you have shaped the top of your card.

This is how it will look from the front.

And there he is, the Easter rabbit!

Stand your creation up with sides folded back creating supports and place it on a mantlepiece with a candle burning behind it. It really does look beautiful and creates a stunning effect…

Here is one Jenna made:)

Happy Tuesday everyone and happy crafting…

Hugs

Linda

Knitted Snail Pattern Tutorial

By Linda on March 11, 2010 in Knitting, patterns, Tutorial

Hello everyone,

Today has been a lovely day, warm with beautiful sunshine, we have just come home from a family bike ride around the lake down the road… Erin will be finishing up her Ancient India block and she will start Ancient Persia on Monday. Jenna is still busy with the architecture of castles with in Middle Ages and Caiden is finishing his Weather block tomorrow…

And now for the knitted snail tutorial, and if you would like to know how to knit an I-cord, you can refer to it here.

(Oops, spelling 🙂

Thanks so much for reading this tutorial, I really appreciate everyone who visits here and love to read your comments:)

Warmly
Linda

Please note, this pattern is for personal use only, and not for resale, items knitted from this pattern may not be sold for commercial purposes, thank you.

I-Cord Knitting Tutorial

By Linda on March 10, 2010 in I-Cord, Knitting, Tutorial

Today Erin wanted to make something colourful, so she decided on a colourful snail:) I thought the easiest way for her to knit a snail would be to knit the shell and body of the snail with i-cords. I-cords are really easy and amazing if you want to knit a narrow circular tube. Tomorrow I will blog our knitted Spring snail pattern for everyone, but today I am going to share with you, how to knit an i-cord so that you will be able to knit up the little snail tomorrow with ease:)

Here we go, you will need two double pionted needles and some yarn…

Once you have knitted the stitches, they will be on the left side of the right needle.

Slide your stitches to the right side of the needle.

Knit your stitches again and then slide them to the right side of the needle.

When you have knitted it to the required length, just cast off.

Tomorrow I will blog a colourful Spring snail pattern, knitted with I-cords, it is going to be an easy pattern and will look so sweet on your nature table or in your gift basket on Easter morning:)

These beautiful flowers were gifted to me yesterday by my friend Heidi:) Thank you so much…

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone…
Warmly
Linda

Dyeing Yarn Naturally with Eucalyptus Bark, A Tutorial

By Linda on March 1, 2010 in Dyeing Yarn, Tutorial

Early this morning, while walking in our garden, I could feel the slow approach of Autumn. The air was crisp and cool and sunsets seem to arrive earlier each day now… I thought today would be a lovely day to take a step towards Autumn and dye some Boucle’ mohair yarn in this lovely Autumn shade. I really do enjoy Autumn, it is my favourite season…

I am going to share a tutorial here with you of how I dyed my yarn, I am dyeing this yarn especially for Waldorf doll hair as I thought it would be a lovely addition to my shop… Quite a few months ago our family went on a bike ride together and we rested for a while in a park. The park had so many Eucalyptus trees and there was so much bark lying all over the grass. We collected some and brought it home and it does dye up so beautifully. I was amazed at how the water changed from clear to a delightful red brown as soon as the bark heated up in the water…

This is some of the Eucalyptus bark I used, 100 grams / 3.5 ounces dyes up 100 grams / 3.5 ounces of yarn. I broke the bark into small pieces and added it to the water and heated the pot until steaming and let it heat for about an hour.

Then turn off the heat and let it stand for about 12 hours, ensuring your bark is wonderfully wet and has let out most of its colour. When you are ready to dye your yarn, don’t let the water boil or it can change the water to a brown colour instead of the lovely red brown.

While the dye bath was heating up again slowly after standing for 12 hours or so, the boucle mohair yarn was soaking in water for about 20 minutes.

This is the lovely red brown colour… Then, when the dye bath was warm, I strained it and just used the lovely rich liquid…

I squeezed out the excess water from the mohair yarn and added it to the warm dye bath. I let it steam, not boil, on a medium heat for about an hour. Then I let it cool down and rinsed the yarn out until there was no brown run off and the rinse water was clear.