My craft challenge for February
I managed to find a craft class that I wanted to do for my craft challenge early in February and I was very excited about it!. As a recap in case you haven’t seen, I have committed to trying 12 new crafts in 2022 - one a month. The full parameters I’ve set for my craft challenge can be found at the end of this blog post if you’re interested in knowing more.
2nd February 2022 - hand-embroidered scarf
I was really looking forward to this one. I attended Slow Stitched Fashion: create a unique hand-embroidered scarf at the Arienas Collective, Edinburgh
This was a brand new workshop taught by Maija of Almaborealis who I just adored.
When I arrived she had set up a table with a very exciting array of coloured yarns. She welcomed us and explained the session - we would be using a scarf that she had knit in advance on her elbow-powered knitting machine. The scarf is made with 100% Blue Faced Leicester yarn, raised and sheared in the UK. This wool fibre is famous for its lusciousness, and soft-to-touch feel which I can confirm. As many of us, I don’t like scratchy wool and this definitely is lovely and soft to wear. It also became apparent how important the yarn and where it comes from is to Maija, with it all being locally sourced.
Lots of gorgeous colours to work with!
We were each given a beautiful kit with our scarf, a very tactile wooden needle and some colours to get us started. We had lots to choose from!
Maija had designed the workshop so that we could work at our own pace, knowing that some people might be beginners and other experienced with embroidery. I started off practising some of the stitching patterns. I’ve done some embroidery before but not recently. Plus I wanted a little time to think more about my design. I also got a pencil and paper to make a few drawings to see if my ideas would work in practice.
Left: lots of stitch patterns and ideas, Centre: you can write with yarn! Right: Putting stitches together to make something unique
You may be able to see from the photo above, the scarf is designed to have regular holes that are perfect for stitching into.
Once I’d done a bit of practice I got stuck in! On one side of my scarf, I started embroidering circles in chain stitch. I used different colours and sizes of circle.
One thing I found very inspiring about Maija’s approach is that she is very much for experimenting and trying things out - not feeling intimidated by the blank canvas. As a jeweller, I think we often feel that we have to have everything mapped out and sorted before we begin because of the precious nature of our materials. With silver clay fortunately I am a bit freer but I still have that ethos of planning in advance. This workshop was a breath of fresh air for me because I was encouraged to try things without knowing where it was going and to unpick the stitches if I didn’t like it. I like to do this as much as I can but this freedom of expression was something that I will take from this workshop and see how I can use it in my own creative practice.
I did a bit of the design for one side of the scarf and then decided to make a start on the other side. Using the same colours that I had used for the circles, I started to do a more random pattern that was inspired by the types of doodles I love to do.
This was my progress by the end of the workshop.
I took my scarf home and really enjoyed spending the weekend finishing it off. It is such a relaxing craft which I truly adored doing and I would love to do more designs.
My finished hand-embroidered scarf
MY CRAFT CHALLENGE FOR 2022 - TRY 12 CRAFTS IN 2022
I will attend a class
I would like to support local artists and crafters by attending a craft class where possible.
Although I live in Edinburgh this isn’t always as easy as it might sound. I’ve done some research and there are a couple of courses I’d like to do but you really need a car to get to them. So I hope to be able to find things each month that I can get to easily.
I aim to try one craft per month
This is where possible. If a class I’m booked onto gets cancelled or postponed I will do my best to do the next available option. That may mess with my streak but that’s fine. While I hope to do one per month, my overall aim is to do 12 in a year.
I want to try crafts that I haven’t done before
I’m not planning on doing any jewellery making courses! But if I find something I haven’t done before that I’d like to do then I am not going to set too many rules!
I also want to try them for fun and curiosity. It may be something I continue to do at home. Or it may be a great workshop experience but not something I plan to do at home.
My craft challenge for January was soapmaking. Read all about it here >
Fancy joining me on my quest? My March craft workshop is:
Saturday 26th March 2022 - Weave a Tartan Scarf with Coorie Creative, Stirling
Just a note that while I work for the Arienas Collective I happily paid full price for this workshop and this is an honest review that is not sponsored. I highly recommend this workshop and may do it again myself!