Random-Charm · needle arts

This yarn was so ugly . . .

January 14, 2010 in fiber arts, needle arts | 2 comments

. . . that I did not take any pictures of it until I knit it up into this potholder. Did you know wool is naturally heat and flame resistant?

This yarn started out as a little more than an ounce of Romney wool that my mother had cleaned and carded. I decided to try dyeing it before spinning. Fail. I nearly felted the stuff. I spun it up thick which I am not good at so it was all over the place and overspun to boot. I threw it in the yarn bin and forgot about it until my mother asked. Sigh. I decided that I might as well try and knit it up since sometimes doing so improves its looks. I chose to knit on the bias and then crochet with natural Lopi around the edge to counteract the inevitable stockinette curl. I then washed it aggressively to full the wool a bit. Fulling is like felting but you start with wool that is knit or woven. Felting starts with the unspun fiber.

How about that? It looks pretty good now doesn’t it? It even softened up in the process. The girl claimed it as a picnic (blanket) for her dolls before it was done blocking. I had to sneak it back to take the pictures. This may be its only chance to do its intended job.

Tags: fiber, knitting, spinning

Mug Cozy/Coaster

December 16, 2009 in needle arts | 4 comments

I’ve seen many of these mug cozies lately on the internet, usually just a knitted or crocheted tube that goes around your mug or travel cup, sometimes with a closure of some kind to fit into the closed handle of a mug. I’m not sure if it’s inspiration or just repeated exposure, but I finally decided I needed to try this out for myself. Not too out of the blue as we are a family that drinks hot drinks a lot: tea, coffee and hot chocolate. My kids sometimes complain that the mug is too hot to hold.

So I chose to make my mug cozy with a flat bottom so the part that you hold is all enclosed and bonus! you can set it down on any surface without the need for a separate coaster. This is a great use of leftover yarn from other projects. There were a couple of tricky spots to figure out. I thought that making the flat bottom would be the hardest but that wasn’t bad actually. I’m still working on shaping/sizing the hole for the bottom of the mug handle. I’m also going to make the button hole as I knit next time instead of doing it as an afterthought as I did with these first two. The first one was a bit too big and the second was a bit too small. Aggressive blocking made it work though. I think they look warm and inviting on these plain white mugs that I happened to have stashed in the basement. Oh the joy of being a packrat!

Tags: knitting, remnants

First snow and hat number 2

November 5, 2009 in needle arts, pattern drafting | 3 comments

It was snowing this morning. Rather soggy snow, but snow all the same. It won’t stick around but it is making us thinking seriously about shaking down the rest of those leaves so we can get them raked up off the lawn. Bushes need to be wrapped, outdoor lights need to be checked, basement windows sealed . . . pumpkins disposed of.

I finished this hat for the boy a week or two ago and he’s been wearing it every day but he hasn’t let me take a picture of it on his head. Finally he relented this morning. It must have been the promise of snow.

Knit without a pattern, I used the Merino/Corrie handspun/handdyed fingering weight yarn in a color I call stormy autumn blue. The name was knit into the hat using a little Corriedale that I spun, Navajo plied and dyed pumpkin color with Kool-Aid. It’s a handsome color combination and just right for the boy. I used a provisional cast-on so that I would be able to pick up the live stitches after I was done knitting the band making it self-lined under the colorwork. I got the idea from someone else’s blog of a very different looking reenactment hat which I can’t find to link to now, sorry about that. I found the letters here but stretched them taller to fit my gauge.

I scattered the decreases rather than have obvious lines and that worked pretty well. You can see them if you look for them but they hide in the variegated color of the yarn pretty well. I blocked the hat on my own head for about two hours and then left it to dry overnight over a bowl. This worked out really well but I wish I had one of those styrofoam wig holders to block hats on. Gets kind of hot wearing wet wool indoors!

Tags: boy clothes, knitting, snow

Polymer clay stitch markers

September 27, 2009 in crafting, needle arts | 4 comments

I decided to try making some stitch markers out of polymer clay. These slide on to your needles to help you remember where you are in your pattern when you are knitting. I simply marbled two tones of clay together, ran it through the dedicated pasta machine and then cut out the leaf shapes with tiny canapé cutters. I sandwiched twisted wire loops between two clay leaves and then pinched the edges together and baked them. I’m using a set of fall colored ones on my current knitting project.

This set of green leaves was sent to the treasure chest of the New England Textile Arts yahoo group.

Tags: knitting, polymer clay

Ballet! Ballet! Ballet!

September 12, 2009 in needle arts | 6 comments

The girl loves to dance and is especially enamored with all things ballet and pink. So we’ve signed her up for a dance class at the Maine State Ballet School, just down the road. She was a bit shy at first about the going to the open house last week but she and the boy both sat entranced watching a class of teenagers warm up. Her class starts next week and all she wants to do is wear her leotards and ballet shoes, all day, every day.

So I made up these slippers for her to wear in the house, hoping to save the real thing for class. I’ll let you know how that works out, ha! I crocheted the sole out of cotton to mimic the stiffness of the leather sole shape on real ballet shoes. The upper is knit from some unknown pink soft stuff I picked out of the remnant bin at my LYS. I picked up the stitches in such a way as to make a contrast line of pink on the sole that looks like sewn stitches. Both yarns about sock weight. The reason I mixed crochet and knit is because I wanted a stable sole but a stretchy upper. I think it worked out pretty well and I managed to make them both about the same size despite not writing anything down as I went along. I think I’ll make a pair for me. The weather has turned and it’s getting too cold to go barefoot all the time.

Tags: crochet, knitting, remnants

quick color swatch and a pumpkin grape

August 18, 2009 in fiber arts, food, needle arts | 1 comment

dye, dry,
spin, ply,
knit, block,
click, clock!

Just a bit of superwash merino/tencel fiber that I dyed with black cherry Kool-Aid and then spun, knit up into a swatch and blocked last night. Pretty but not really what I want. That’s what swatches are for!

And a pumpkin-shaped grape for your amusement.

Tags: color, fiber, knitting, spinning

Meet Nutkin

August 12, 2009 in needle arts | 5 comments

This is Nutkin, about 1.5 inches long. Made with handspindled silk dyed by Annie and handspindled Corriedale I dyed with Kool-aid. Knitted knut and crocheted cap. Alliteration, I crack myself up. Puns! Am I driving you nutty yet?

I didn’t have a pattern, just winged it. I think I’ll have to make some more. Just too cute.

I was inspired by this much larger crocheted acorn bag by Roman Sock.

Tags: crochet, knitting, spinning

Hand knitted wallet size pouch on a string

July 13, 2009 in needle arts | Permalink

I knit this wallet size pouch out of sock yarn remnants for my friend Jan. I practiced Judy Becker’s Magic Cast-On for knitting socks from the toe up (which will be my next knitting project). So the pouch is completely seamless and knit in the round. The less finish work at the end, the better in my book! I used a random combination of knit and purl rows to add a little textural interest. The strap was crocheted to length. Not really a pattern, just made it up as I went along.

This was a quick and easy project and would be great for using up bits of yarn from other projects. You could easily add a closure or change the size or proportions of the bag to suit yourself. It would also be a good project for making little gift bags or for making useful practice swatches for patterns for bigger projects.

Tags: bags, knitting, remnants

Wool potholders knit from my first try with my new spindle

June 18, 2009 in fiber arts, give away, needle arts | 1 comment

I bought a bag of wool fiber samples when I bought my spindle. The spinning came out thick and thin and did not have enough spin in it but I was determined not to waste it so I decided to ply it and knit it up into potholders! I used a bit smaller needles size so they would be fairly tight, they knit up nice and thick and I did a row or two of single crochet around the edge. The first is just regular knitting, the second one I knit on the bias so I could practice making increases and decreases. They look much better knit up than the spun yarn did!

So I sent them to my dear friend Amy because I know she will love them because I made them, even if they are not so pretty! Maybe her little girl can use them in her play kitchen. These were done a while back but I waited to post them until after Amy got her “brown paper package”.

Tags: knitting, spinning

I’m making yarn!

June 15, 2009 in fiber arts, needle arts | 6 comments

This is 35 yards of hand spindled, Navajo plied (3 ply) Corriedale yarn dyed in the microwave with Kool-Aid. I used a packet of orange and a generous pinch of blue something. It came out a nice slightly variegated pumpkin color, just what I was aiming for. This was a test dye job for the big hank below.

Above is Merino plied with Corriedale on the yarn swift. It’s about 250 yards if I did my math correctly, enough to make something . . . The resulting yarn is soft like Merino but has a pleasing firmness to it because of the Corrie. I don’t know much about yarn so I’ll have to figure out what to make with this and dye it accordingly.

The very lovely BFL is still on the bobbins waiting to be plied. I am making myself finish some projects with deadlines first before I do any more with that but I like to touch it every so often.

Tags: fabric dyes, fiber, spinning, tools

This is supposed to be a post about Fiber Frolic

June 8, 2009 in crafting, food, needle arts | 1 comment

. . . but since I neglected to take any pictures, you get a picture of homemade jambalaya in the pot instead. Hope you like that, it was delicious if I did make it myself.

But about Fiber Frolic . . . it was held at the Windsor Fairgrounds, about an hour north of me. My good friend and fellow artist, Jan, went with me. We left all the kids at her house with their dads (thanks guys!) They had fun, we had fun. We figured out the most obvious difference between llamas and alpacas, alpacas are a lot smaller. We oohed and aahed over the baby goats and the bunnies, and the sheep too. For the kids, we brought home some brightly coloreed handpainted silk cocoons, complete with the dried rattling worm inside! And we sampled some of the local handmade goodies including kettle corn and slightly sweetened, dried salmon, yum.

There was an overwhelming amount of fiber and yarn in a riot of colors from natural, right-off-the-sheep-dried-grass-and-all fleeces, to gorgeously dyed braids of shiny, soft roving, and beautifully colored skeins of handspun yarn hanging in the sun. It was a great opportunity to feel all kinds of different wool and other animal fibers and put a feel and look to some of the sheep names I’ve only read about. I only wish there was a book available that held actual samples. Maybe there is and I just don’t know about it yet. Since I’ve been working through spinning the five variety sampler bag I bought from Spunky Eclectic, I am appreciating how the differences that are only somewhat perceptive to the touch and eye can cause significant differences when spinning, and I’m sure to the knitted or crocheted project.

One of the most interesting things we saw was primitive rugs being made with narrow strips of wool hooked through an even weave canvas. Lots of felting, some really beautifully done felt paintings, lots of knitted and crocheted items of course, beautiful handmade spindles and lampwork glass stitch markers and other tools of the needle arts. Amy of Spunky Eclectic was in the last building we came too. Shame on her she had no sign, but I recognized her space immediately from the racks of distinctively dyed wools. I’ll save what I bought from her for my next post since I can at least take pictures of that!

Next year I promise to take cute pictures of the animals, especially the shaved angora bunnies, surely the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.

Tags: animals, fiber, spinning

Goodies from my mother

June 4, 2009 in crafting, needle arts | 3 comments

We went to see my parents last weekend and my mother gifted me with several odd contraptions and a book I can’t read. Ha ha!

This one is a yarn swift which is used for winding yarn into hanks or skeins. It folds up like an umbrella into that cute pink box.

This one is a ball winder which will wind yarn from skeins into center pull balls. I remember helping my mother wind yarn with this when I was a kid. You’ll see I immediately put it to good use.

And this book about how to make seams in knit and crochet pieces. Really amazing, all in Japanese but with great pictures and illustrations of each technique. There are some incredible pictures of invisible seams in what seems like pretty complicated knitted pieces.

These will come in handy for my spinning and knitting projects.

Tags: books, fiber, knitting, tools

A few splurges and a visit to Spunky Eclectic

May 18, 2009 in needle arts, sewing | 5 comments

First off I have been wanting a copy of any Mary Brooks Pickens sewing book and I scored this 1953 edition off eBay for less than $10. The outside looks its age but the inside is totally clean! It’s full of all sorts of great knitpicky sewing details that you can’t find in modern books. Now if I can just find a 40’s/50’s vintage pattern drafting book I’ll be all set!

I think there was also some household shopping in there which involved a new watchband for me—exactly like my old watchband—just not falling off the pins, a very stylish linen shirt for DH, a bargain pair of pink-trimmed sneakers for the girl and a few pairs of much needed jeans for the boy. Yes, I broke down and bought them. I promise to still finish the scary pair.

But the highlight of my weekend was a visit to Spunky Eclectic. I’ve been searching for a local yarn shop that also carried fiber and spinning wheels/spindles. I had found a few but was kind of intimidated out of actually going for one reason or another. Then I found Spunky Eclectic’s site which just seemed so much more inviting, and not any farther away so I decided I had to go! The shop was full of all sorts of beautiful hand dyed fibers and yarns and so many textures to feel that I’d only had names and word descriptions of previously. And the proprietress, Amy, was so nice, showing me around and answering all my questions, I’m afraid I talked her ear off! I went to buy sock yarn and look at wheels and spindles and fiber. There was just too much to take in, I’ll have to go again of course. But I came home with a Cascade spindle and a sampler of different wools to try spinning. It was really interesting to feel the subtle differences. I didn’t know which to start with. I thought about dyeing them but I don’t have any acid dyes besides Kool-aid and I’m not really thrilled with the idea of citrus colored socks that need to be handwashed . . . so . . . I started spinning anyway. And I forgot to buy sock yarn. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to knit what I spin!

And yikes. Amy gave me a little demo. I have been spinning all wrong. Of course what I was doing worked on the silk but it did not work on the wool. Well, sort of. I’ve been working hard to do the park-and-draft that she showed me but it’s very difficult. My left hand does not like it at all. I’m not left-handed but I’m pretty ambidextrous. And apparently my left hand likes to be in control! I’ll keep working at it.

Gettng back to books! Annie mentioned that Amy had a new book coming out so I asked about it and I got to thumb through her advance copy of Spin Control which is due out in June I think she said. It looks wonderful! I’m not very good at following directions especially of other people’s ideas, I generally like to just figure things out on my own, so I can be very particular about what few books I will buy. This looks like a book that would be really useful to me. There are a lot of very specific pictures that are just the sort of details that I find helpful to really understanding and mastering a new skill, as well as the pretty pictures that can be inspirational.

Tags: books, fiber, spinning, tools

The first pair of socks are done

May 17, 2009 in free patterns, needle arts | 4 comments

Actually they’ve been done for a while but this is the best picture I’ve been able to get since the girl appropriated them. She wears them constantly but has been rather coy about allowing me to take a picture. And they look positively silly without feet in them. The pattern is free from from Vintage Purls. I did make a number of modifications (see my project notes on Ravelry if you are really interested in making this sock for children) for size and just because I can’t follow directions to the letter even if I’m doing something for the first time. It’s a disease I’m sure.

Tags: girl clothes, knitting

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