Windy's Spring scarf

This is a Windy-inspiredproject. As always, Windy is © Judith Steedman and me.

I've been working on some simple children's scarf patterns, loosely inspired by the windy books (since they all wear scarves). This one is a light, cotton scarf (unisex), inspired by Windy's red scarf. It is very simple and quick to knit and a great first project for anyone wanting to try knitting for the first time. It's also a nice project to knit over the summer and wear in September. The pattern also has a cozier muffler-length version for winter.

Here it is: Windy's Spring Scarf. If you are a member of ravelry, you can find it there, too. This is a free pattern.





I used Blue Sky worsted cotton. You can find it online, but check with your local yarn shop, too. Staff at a yarn store are often happy to help customers cast on and get themselves generally figured out!

If you would like to make something for an adult, you can always try the Lonely Doll Scarf.

Collage

This beautiful collage is from Typographica Magazine, an experimental typographic journal from 1949 to 1967.

A collage made out of bus tickets, or any type of everyday-material, also becomes a time capsule.

The last time we moved I found a bus transfer from ten years ago in my pocket and it looked quite special, since they've been redesigned. (I didn't think to scan it at the time, but it looked like this.)

Patterns

Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn in "Lake"; Blue Sky Cotton in "Tomato" and Manos Serena in "Boysenberry".

Spud & Chloe have some nice free patterns on their web site. If you would like to knit a hat, or a pear, for example!

The Lonely Doll scarf

Here is a very simple project for beginners: a unisex scarf, sized for adults. This is designed to be a good length to wear Parisian style (when you fold the scarf in half lengthwise, place around neck and pull the loose ends through the centre and pull to tighten). If you would like a muffler length scarf, then you may add length, as indicated in the pattern.

This is inspired by the garter stitch scarf The Lonely Doll knits. (There are less stripes and it is not as long, to make it easier).

(I used Cascades Heathers 220 yarn in Walnut & Smoke to make this. However, any worsted or aran weight yarn will be fine.)

Hello Baby

So, we are going to try doing a weekly arts + crafts post. Either a project from us, or a review of a craft book. Friday is a good time to gather up your materials for the weekend. Our production company is called "Little Quick" so you can tell already that we like projects that are little and quick.

Today's post is about a pretty well-known book: Baby Stuff (or the Japanese title is Hello Baby which is a much better title) by Aranzi Aronzo. Now, reviewing a very well-known book has the advantage that you can probably find this in the library or your local bookshop right now and you don't have to wait for it to arrive by post!

The number one thing we like about this team are their biographies:

Mr. Aranzi

Mr. Aranzi has a Mexican father and a Japanese mother. It's been 10 years since he started creative activities in cooperation with Mr. Aronzo. He lives in the U.S.A. and works at a securities firm.

Mr. Aronzo
Mr. Aronzo is a Norwegian Vietnamese-Indian. He lives on the street and travels all over the world. His main occupation is playing the tambourine.

Great!

OK, so we tested out Baby Stuff (we both have babies). This book has very clear instructions (so clear, that you can actually follow directions in the Japanese version without being Japanese). It comes with photocopy-able templates. One nice feature is that several of the projects could be easily sewn by hand. Although we both have machines, we like to do things by hand. It's fun. The projects shown here were about 50% machine and 50% by hand.

The other good feature about Baby Stuff is that the projects are actually good projects for babies. So, if you don't have a baby of your own, and you're not sure about these projects as gifts: go for it. We've done 3 projects and they've all been useful. And they are mostly very fast. (For real fast, not the kind of project that promises to be 2 hours but takes you all night.)

Pictured here are two of the projects we tried: Baby Bandana and Lil' Friend. (These are copies of projects in the book.) The only thing we didn't do according to directions is trace the sashiko-like embroidery of the fish from their template with special chalk. You can just lightly draw in your shape with a pencil freehand and stitch over top.

Both these projects are well-used and well-loved. There were originally two Lil' friends and one was passed to an 11-month old, who loved it, too. Something about the size and texture is really baby-pleasing. The bandana bib is a nice way to add texture and colour into your baby's wardrobe.

Review Summary

· Aranzi Aronzo's Baby Stuff

· We liked it!

· Mostly projects for adults to make for babies. (Children could try some of these patterns with felt, glue, needle and thread, but the end project may need some help to be baby-safe.)