enter 2015

It being the first day of the month (albeit not of the first month of the year) I felt that today would be a good day to welcome The Wind-Up Sheep into 2015. Although there are already several new things that I’d like to blog about this year more keenly, I feel it’s only right and proper to begin a new blog year with a round-up of some of my creations from last year. I am well aware that this is a risky approach to take, and that it may just mean missing out on at least two perfectly good blog posts, but I’m hopeful that my blogging fu won’t run out immediately, and that there’s still a chance of writing more (if you can, channel your best blogging energy towards me over the next week – thanks).

So, without further ado, here is a quick visual whizz through some of what I did last year (I admit, it’s not everything, because I still don’t have photos of everything I made last year, so you’ll just have to imagine some more):

2014 in Pictures

From left to right, and top to bottom, we have: 1) origami paper hearts for our wedding lunch place names; 2) a fine bow tie, what I made for D to wear for our wedding; 3) the second of a pair of embroidered pillowcases, in Palestinian style (N.B. I can’t vouch for the genuineness of the camels on the first one – they were my own invention); 4) an embroidered tea towel with poppies on; 5) my autumnal Noro scarf; 6) a sparkly lace scarf with beads, intended for our wedding in February, but in fact not finished until September… oops; 7) my very own Amineko kitteh cat (I actually finished crocheting him in early 2011, but just didn’t dare put a face on him until last autumn); and lastly, 8) a Portuguese-style embroidered lover’s handkerchief for D for our wedding (I’m pleased to say I DID finish this in time).

Not pictured are: a lovely bunch of crocheted radishes (but of course!), a knitted baby cardigan made up of mitred squares (OK, I know I still haven’t sewn buttons on it yet, but I consider it basically finished) and a knitted rag doll, which, like the kitteh above, I actually knitted way back in 2010, I just balked at giving her a face until last year in case I accidentally made her creepy.

So, that’s it for 2014 (aside from the inevitable unfinished things started in 2014 but not completed). I know it’s not a bad output, but somehow I feel I could have done better. And I definitely could have blogged more. But I always said that regret was a pointless emotion, so let’s forget all of that and move on to a new year of more creativity in a positive spirit. Bonne année 2015!

back to the fold

It’s been quite a while since I last dabbled in origami, though when I was younger I used to make origami animals, flowers, cards, envelopes and boxes galore. In spite of the very prolonged pause since I last did it, I’ve long hankered after an instruction book for crazy, complicated modular origami shapes, as they always impress me no end. And then when I was in New York in April, what did I find if not TWO such books, very cheaply! Rather impressively, I thought, I managed to tear myself away from the heaps of beautifully-patterned origami paper on display near the books, since, as you can see, I already have quite a collection myself…

Last weekend then presented itself as the perfect opportunity to get my fold on once more, as it wouldn’t stop raining. I wasn’t remotely inclined to give in to the dog and take her out on the meadow; instead I fetched every last little bit of origami paper I could find, and piled it all up on the kitchen table, with a steaming cup of tea. I chose the most basic of the complex 3D shapes, and, with my origami co-pilot, chopped six square papers in half to make twelve modules, and got folding them. Eventually, we ended up with this:

I really love it, especially the way the windows wonk in different directions when you look through the centre of the cube, and also the bold colours and patterns of the paper. And it wasn’t at all hard to make; just exceedingly satisfying. I admired it for a little while, and considered taking the dog for a walk while the rain was only light. But then my co-folder suggested more tea, and another model, and before I knew it I was folding my way through a stack of thirty squares, in order to make this:

I think this one’s a dodecahedron, though someone should correct me if I’m wrong. Again, the pieces were mindbendingly easy to fold, but in this case it was a little more fiddly to put together than the last one. It took a while to figure out how the pieces attached, and another little while to get all thirty assembled in the correct shape. On more than one occasion I found I had one too many pieces at a junction and had to take one away. I think if I were to make this model again from scratch, I would do a neater job, but I’m still pretty chuffed with this one as it is.

Perhaps this is a relaunch into the world of folding paper? Using thirty pieces of origami paper a pop, I would use up my paper stash in no time! I do love these awesome geometric paper shapes, but the one problem I need to overcome now is: what on earth to do with them when they’re finished??? Suggestions welcome!

beast-tastic

Perhaps it is a bit of a cheat to blog about a project nearly a year on from its creation, but I didn’t have time to take a photo of this one before I gave it away to its rightful owner as a birthday present. Currently, however, it is on loan to me for precisely this purpose, and there has been a bit of a drought on my blog recently, due to impending-finals-induced-work panic, so I recently made use of a sunny day to prance around in the garden photographing my handiwork.

It is a collection of photos of various different creatures (often in humorous poses), from squirrels to goats to a sunfish (!), that I have accrued over time, both on travels and closer to home. I made it for Joe, who suggested quite a while back that I should collate all my animal photos somehow, so it seemed appropriate to give the finished product to him. It has photos on both sides of the fold-out, zig-zaggy pages (all carefully cut to size at the desk of my cosy Parisian garret), with silly captions in gold pen underneath each picture. My sister aided me significantly in the dreaming up of suitable idiocies to complement each individual animal – needless to say, a good grounding in lolcats came in very handy here.

I seem to remember Joe suggesting he should get Volume II for his next birthday, but it might have to wait a little longer than that – it’s not every day you chance upon a photogenic beast.

snip snip!

In my most recent attempts to avoid writing essays (term hasn’t even started yet, and already I am coming up with avoidance schemes), I took inspiration from a book I was given at Christmas: Paper Cutouts. I had a go at making a couple of small ones to decorate a CD I made for a friend.

The process was a lot less fiddly than I had expected, so clearly there is hope for more extravagant projects in the future when I have a lot of work to avoid. The most difficult bit was gluing the cutouts once they were cut out, without tearing them. I think some fresher glue would probably help with this though…

Update: Now I know that this has got to its destination and there is no chance of spoiling a surprise, I can post photos of it!