If any of you want to learn to knit and live in Edinburgh there 's a new IRL craft night happening on mondays and the next session will be devoted to knitting www.grannygreens.co.uk

Nice instructions for sewing re-useable snack sacks.

Wish I lived in Edinburgh, postiemuse!

I'm taking two art classes this semester because I needed to be a full-time student to stay on my parents' insurance. I chose Fiber Structures and Ceramics. In my fibers class, we are making small tapestries. I'm really happy with what I made in ceramics, though. We had to make a funerary urn or reliquary box with a lid and plinth. Originally, my urn was going to be kind of like a canopic jar. I was doodling different ideas for the lid and it ended up looking kind of like an owl. I decided to go with it and made the whole dang thing into an owl. I sculpted 3 feather shapes from polymer clay and made mold from them. I used the molds to make roughly a bajillion feathers that I stuck on the coil-built form.

Owl urn/cookie jar

I made a plinth, too, but I don't have a picture of it right now.

Oh, and I'm showing my fibers classmates SEM images of wool on Monday and giving a spinning demo/yarn lecture on Wednesday. Doin' all sorts of crap.

I love the owl...I can't wait to see how it turns out when it's finished.

Do you spin on a wheel or a drop spindle? I've only done the drop spindle, but would love to try a wheel some day.

Hi Ladies!

Can any of the knitters out there throw some advice my way? Are fingerless gloves too ambitious of a project for a beginner? I've already completed a simple scarf, but am not sure where to go from there so I can keep learning knew techniques and developing my skills. Help!

<3 <3 <3

Hey Madame,
I'd say fingerless gloves could be a good beginner project, but you should find a pattern that is made flat (with straight needles or circulars) and then seamed together. In-the-round knitting is a bit tricky if you don't have the knitting basics down, especially if you're working with double points. If you do feel that you're ready for knitting in-the-round, I'd suggest this pattern: Fetching by Knitty

Something like this would be a good project if you're still working on the basics: waffle stitch gloves or thisCaron fingerless gloves. If you haven't done cables before, they're very easy.

I hope you see something you like. If you're looking for something more specific, let me know and I'll help you find a pattern.

Yeah, I agree with nbdx on the knitting flat...I've seen some great basic fingerless glove patterns that are super easy. Knitting a bag is another good beginner project...if you pick a goreous yarn (like any of the Noro yarns) you will end up with something that looks so good, it will make people downright envious.

Hats are good, too...I think one of my first projects was a wool hat, knit flat with simple shaping at the top. I didn't learn to knit until I was nearly 30, but I'm so SO glad that I did...it's a totally addictive hobby and eventually led to me learning to crochet, spin and do all kinds of cool stuff.

If you haven't done it already, be sure to check out the thousands of free patterns at Lion Yarns and Ravelry.

I wish I could give advice on the tabling thing, but I have no experience there (well, other than political stuff). I guess if it were me I would want to draw people into my table and keep them there looking at things.

Nice.