So far this Autumn I've been on the Woman's Weekly Magazine tour bus to every end of the UK! We've taught in Manchester, Exeter and Glasgow so far and I'm off to the Birmingham NEC tomorrow.
I can't honestly decide which of the shows has been my favourite so far but Exeter has been the most inspiring.
It was in Exeter I bought a kit to make one of the baubles from the good people at The Spellbound Bead Co and I was instantly addicted. I'd never done anything quite like it before and the instructions were so easy to follow that I assumed I was a total natural.
I finished it quickly and wasted no time in hopping straight on their website, driving the poor retailer completely batty with my incessant questions and multiple purchases.
These included a kit for a Pam's Poppy. The pattern and bead pack which are sold separatelty came to a total cost of about £25, including a £10.50 donation to The Royal British Legion. As soon as I read about the proceeds going to charity, I thought it was an excellent idea! Indulging in my most recent obsession, for a good cause? Done!
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| There are several colourways available on Pam's website including the classic red |
I'm ashamed to say I haven't knitted anything bigger than a baby cardigan for charity [that I can think of] since I was about 10. I just prefer to make things for people I know, and have very little time. But I had a rare few weeks without any design work, so I went for it!
My big-headedness was short-lived - the parcel turned up and I was instantly flummoxed. The list of materials included a whole bunch of gadgets that I hadn't even heard of and stated that the maker ought to already be familiar with 'Brick Stitch' and '3D Square Stitch' which, I didn't have a bollocking clue how to do.
...but I'd paid for the kit and I had three weeks before Rememberance Sunday to get it made.
I do like a challenge.
I'm very proud to say that I taught myself these obscure required stitches using only PDFs from Spellbound's webpage. I'm good at learning from written instructions - far too impatient to deal with the suspense of a long introduction on a homemade video tutorial with questionable lightning and focus. No. Thank you.
The first thing the Brick Stitch PDF told me was not to go straight into the main project but instead to practice, so I found some blue thread and transparent size 9 Guttermann seed beads and had a fiddle.
After an hour or so I was feeling confident so I put down the pink and started sorting through my Poppy beads.
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| Each poppy petal is made from the centre outwards towards each edge |
So above is my first EVER row of Peyote or Brick stitch which I'm pretty sure are the same thing. The instructions told me to start at the centre point of the thread and wind the remaining thread [having been pre-stretched] onto a thread keeper. I don't know what that is nor do I own one, so I've improvised a thread thing from an old yarn label.
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| The tension on my first petal was very floppy and loose but soon firmed up with practice |
I really loved the mixture of transparent and opaque beads - the brown beads are pearlescent (called 'AB' in bead-talk which I believe stands for Aurora Borealis) as are the transparent red and I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture but there is also some opaque red beads mixed in.
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| The first petal took a few nights to make but in the end I was whipping one off in about two hours |
The poppy consists of 6 of these petals which are later joined together to form a ring.
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| The larger beads underneath have no purpose except to make my picture look pretty |
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| If I did it again I'd go for a slightly lighter green thread as the Emerald Nymo I chose was a touch on the blue side |
Then all that was left to do was to join the circle to the lower edge of the leaf and stitch the green portion to the red portion before adding some funky black stamens in the centre, et voila!
I pinned it on first thing this morning [having finished it last night] and wore it on the commute into work but because itterly fed up with the upper petals flopping downward. Argh!
Perfectionist as I am, it drove me bananas!
As soon as I got to work I plugged in the glue gun and added a few strateigic blobs to the reverse (which dry 3D and firm) and glued some thick felt in strateigic spots to act as scaffolding - inclduing the reverse of the leaf.
Last year, volunteer beaders around the UK pooled their talents and worked towards a giant commemorative beaded poppy wreath made up of these poppies. To think of the man-hours where mine took me 3 weeks, I'm in utter awe.
All the other poppies I've seen that people have made [and they've made lots - there was a couple on display at Ally Pally at various bead stands] are dead flat. Now I know Poppies and Poppies most certainly are not dead flat, so I've added a curve to my petals using the aforementioned glue gun blobs.
I am proud to be taking my Poppy with me to the NEC and although I'm about 10 days late of the 'official first day to wear your poppy', I will be brandishing mine with pride in honour of Rememberance Day right up until the 11th.
I'll continue to wear it every year until it falls to pieces [as a first attempt that may very well be tomorrow, but let's see!] but do remember, if you are crocheting a new poppy this year or digging out an old one - even wearing a Pam's, make sure you put some money in that pot.
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