The other day I was trying to think about what would make an interesting ATC, and I thought, 'hey! wouldn't it be fun to incorporate knitting somehow?' So that's exactly what I did. For this first attempt, I basically took a cardboard base measuring 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. and then knitted it a cosy. I chose a sort of lacy design based on a stitch pattern out of Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The yarn I used is a light oatmealy color, and it was difficult to see the open work against the light colored cardboard base, so I took a dark blue watercolored sheet of cardstock and glued it to the front of the cardboard base. That made it look a lot better.
The execution of this took quite some time. This was in no small part due to the fact that I decided to use up some left over yarn scraps. I guess I thought those pieces were a lot longer than they were, because I ran out of yarn about 5 different times. Talk about having a lot of ends to weave in! And it such a tiny space too!
It is all knit in one long piece. I first knit the front, then did a purl row to make a fold/seam line. Then I started th eback. I knit for a while, then cast off the middle 10 sts, knit one side, knit the other side, cast back on 10 middle sts. and finished it off. I seamed the two side seams first with the seams on the inside. Then I slipped in the cardboard and seamed up the bottom, which, of course, resulted in the seam being on the outside.
So, enough talk! Here are the results:
The colors in these images are a little dark. The yarn is, I think, I little whiter IRL. For future attempts, I think that if I use this cosy method, I would try to make it fit tighter, cause this one's a little loose. I would also not let there be any lacy designs in the corners, as this card sort of allows the cardboard base corner to poke throught occasionally.
While I don't particularly love the way this turned out, I think there's some good potential for incorporating knitting in my ATCs. I think I might like to try and figure out a way to make a knitted card without a backing, perhaps by making a sort of wire or wooden frame that the knit fabric could then be stretched across.
I have recently been sucked into the addicting world of ATCs. I've been doing a lot of reading about them and looking at and admiring other people's.
Finally, last Friday, I decided that it was time for me to try making one of my own. I started out by cutting a piece of cardstock into 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 sized pieces. Once I had those cut out I was surprised by how small they really are! Looking at pictures on the internet made them look larger than they actually are.
I mucked around with a bunch of materials and started several cards, but only finished one. Unfortunately, I liked the idea in my head much better than what my hands turned out.
I've decided to keep it, though, because it is my first. It is made with 220 grit sandpaper and a photoshopped photo that I took somewhere in Arizona over a white cardstock base. To glue everything together I used some sort of Tacky Glue craft glue.
I have ideas for a few more. Possibly Christmas-themed. I probably won't be able to try them out for a while yet, however. Silly work and RL getting in the way of my crafty ambitions!
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regna