Strawberry Creek Studios

Carders vs Populus balsamifera

2011-07-09T08:36:00.001-06:00

The kids decided to collect poplar (cottonwood) fluff to make doll pillows... And I couldr resist the soft white piles.

Well, it turned into a bit of a war. There definitely was no spinnable fluff after the war was over and this photo is what my hand cards looked like after trying to clear the fluff out of them.

But, I won in the end. Me and a trusty vacuum cleaner!

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Jolly Holly

2010-12-18T14:41:00.003-07:00

My oldest daughter really wanted to make this Holly Wreath from an Usborne Christmas craft book and so we spent the morning happily cutting and gluing and sewing, with the help of the littlest one too.

Bye Hobbes

2010-08-12T12:08:00.001-06:00

Well, Hobbes proved too smart for us and was returned to his farm where he would have ample work with the cattle and the sheep. Next time I will get a dog when we are not in the midst of beekeeping!

Hobbes and Why I will not Finish My Sweater on Time

2010-05-22T21:35:00.002-06:00

Puppies are a lot of work. So much for my resolution.

Collision

2010-05-22T21:24:00.002-06:00

It’s so interesting when two seemingly unrelated worlds suddenly collide. The other night, I was happily listening to Lecture 4 of the Massey Lectures, this year by esteemed Canadian ethnobotanist and anthropologist Wade Davis and about whom I could write for pages and pages, well, maybe not, but still he is fantastic. The lecture was about spirituality and the earth and how the earth is a metaphor for that spirituality. It was fascinating listening and I was happily knitting.

Usually when listening to these lectures I have been spinning, which would have made the coincidence I am about to speak of even more amazing, but this night I was knitting socks. Anyway, Wade Davis began speaking of his first introduction to the Incan spirituality of Peru. His introduction occurred in the town of Chinchero, outside of Cuzco. I paused the recording in surprise and thought for a moment. I checked some of my books and magazines and yes, he said, “Chinchero” and yes, that is the town in which Abby Franquemont was raised by her anthropologist parents studying textiles. Abby Franquemont is another fascinating personality all on her own. Author of Abby’s Yarns, a blog on textiles, and author of a very, very good book on spindling, Respect the Spindle, published by Interweave Press, computer geek extraordinaire, and all round interesting person (as far as I can tell, not having met her). I can’t list all her accomplishments as I am not her personal biographer, but let’s say that there are many. She has written evocatively about her time growing up in Peru.

Abby has mentioned several times a woman by the name of Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez who is a cultural hero in her own way. She founded the Cuzco Textile Museum and encouraged the handwork that has been traditionally carried out in her region,handwork that was increasingly at risk due to the encroachment of “modern” life.

Well, back to the story… I pressed play and listened some more and I heard Davis say, “with my good friend Nilda Callañaupa” and I almost fell over. If only I had been spinning it would have been perfect!

Pretty Things

2010-03-30T07:48:00.002-06:00

I started making these as gifts and the other a friend bought one as a gift for another friend! It's kind of exciting! I don't know if or when I will make more but it was certainly fun. There is a strange satisfaction in hammering wire and feeling it curl and harden under the hammer.

The Land of Gnomes

2010-02-28T22:38:00.002-07:00

The kids saw this in an issue of Living Crafts and we thought we'd give it a try. It's quite cute, although I have decided I don't like the way that Welsh Mountain felts. It was a lot of work. I used the bubble wrap technique for the first time and that worked quite well. The trees are supported internally by pipe cleaners, which for us does not work at all. The trees are VERY floppy and I will have to figure out a better way of supporting them. The gnomes in the background are our Waldorf Math Gnomes.

Resolutions

2010-02-24T12:02:00.004-07:00

Some people make New Year's resolutions, others, like me, can't be bothered. I read somewhere (can't remember where, sorry!) something about instead of making a New Year's resolution that was all-important and hard to achieve, instead try to take something small, a skill, a project, an idea, and work on that one thing only. Something small and achievable. In that vein, I am going to spin and knit a sweater from Alberta wool, by the time Fibre Week starts at the end of June.

Okay, you can stop laughing now. I realize that this is neither small nor perhaps even achievable, but I am trying! I have never spun enough of anything to knit a sweater and I have also never knit anything as large as a sweater, but I figured it was time to try.

So far I have spun about 300m and have another two bobbins ready to ply, but I need at least a 1000, so I still have a ways to go. I am spinning a 3-ply aran/almost chunky weight natural gray yarn and with it I am going to knit (so far) this pattern from Knitty. Sorry about the pink cast to the photo, the actual colour is a ~~clear gray~~ nice oatmeal.

Twist Collective

2010-02-23T19:57:00.004-07:00

OK, I am quite possibly the only person who doesn't know about this online magazine, but hey, at least I finally figured it out! Twist Collective is knitting magazine with lots of articles and superb patterns, in a way similar to Knitty, but really, not at all the same. For starters, the patterns are NOT free. The site says why and they have good reasons. There is no argument from me, everyone has the right to make a living. I haven't read any of the articles yet, since our internet connection is quite slow and I can't bear it, but when I get a chance on a faster connection, I'll definitely give them a try. So far, I am not a real fan of the site navigation, but I have discovered that if all you want to look at are the patterns, you just need to click on Shop.

The artistic director is Kate Gilbert, needlesonfire at Ravelry and also a Ravelry designer under her own name. She also has a website here. I have a couple of her patterns and I really like them, although I have to admit - I haven't knit them yet - so many projects, so little time, sigh. Some of the designers on Twist Collective are new to me, but many of them are well known. So far my two favourite patterns are Mitaines et Moufles by Véronik Avery and Gytha by Jennifer Appleby. The mittens I probably have time to knit, the sweater, well... that's another story. The last post's story as a matter of fact!

Springing up Flowers

2010-02-23T12:13:00.002-07:00

This is a pattern by KrisKnits that I heard about on BoogaJ's blog. Thanks to BoogaJ, I have a new pretty washcloth and something to do with the leftover balls of cotton yarn that I have from an old cotton sampler pack from Knit Picks. Once I got the KnitPicks kit, I didn't really want to knit the patterns that came with it . . . so I have a few odd balls of yarn hanging around (like that's unusual, lol!). Kris Knits has the perfect solution.

Her pattern was easy to knit even though it wasn't symmetrical. The rows are thoughtfully arranged in groups of 5 so that it's easy to keep your place and the pattern is created on the wrong side so that most of your work is knitting rather than purling. Both nice touches to a simple and pretty pattern. A nice, easy quick knit.

Wild Yeast

2010-02-20T23:27:00.004-07:00

For about a month now, I have been making bread with a wild yeast starter. Finally, the starter is performing reliably and my bread not only tastes good, it now also rises - generally considered a good thing for bread. It is still a bit dense, but I love it. It is so cool to watch that mixture of plain old flour & water start to bubble and ferment. As you can see in the picture, it almost rises too much, the bread kind of explodes it's seems in the oven - too much surface tension? Is there such a thing??

I am using a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks, Baking with Julia. The recipe is Pain de Campagne. I've also done a lot of reading over at the Fresh Loaf. That is one fantastic website. I have learned more about baking bread in the last few weeks than in all my bread baking years (which is a lot considering I started at ten!). I am using a firm starter, almost like a bread dough itself. It keeps well on the counter and doesn't seem to care if I feed it regularly or not. If I am not going to be suing it for a while I pop it in the fridge until a day before I need it. The posts on the FreshLoaf by Jmonkey are really helpful on this subject.

My next adventure is from Peter Reinhart's book Whole Grain Breads using flour ground in my mother's mill. Wells actually that's adventure #2, first I am using the regular whole wheat from the store. I haven't had a chance to get over to Mom's and ruin my hearing yet. Grain mills are REALLY LOUD.

Chick a dee dee dee

2010-02-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

I love chickadees. There are lots at our bird feeders and they are so cute. One of the cats ate one yesterday, but I will forgive it. This winter I borrowed a book from the library, which I can't remember the name of, which had little felted birds in it. I didn't really like them so much, but I LOVE my chickadee. I used the same techniques and needle felted this little sweet thing. The beak is commercial black felt, a small cheat, but okay I think.

Bison Down

2010-02-20T15:19:00.002-07:00

We visited some friends who farm bison the other week and they dropped a little pile of darkness on me that they'd just picked up in the corral. It's not exactly shedding time up here in the snow, but someone lost a bit of blanket I guess. Anyway, it was lovely, soft, and very clean. All I had to do was dehair it, which I did by grasping the hair in one hand and the down in the other and gently tugging until the hair came loose. I did that for the whole pile (only a few grams) and then rinsed the down in the sink to get the dust off, of which there was very little, being as all our dust is covered in snow, lol!

I wasn't sure how to deal with it though as the staple length is only about 2 cm. It is very crimpy though and so soft you almost can't even feel it! I did some internet research and decided that rolling it into punis was the best way to go and it worked very well indeed. I have never rolled a puni in my life (my husband things that sounds kind of dirty...hmmm) but since the fibre did not get all mussed up when I rinsed it, the whole process of carding (barely) and rolling was very easy. Spinning Spider Jenny has lots of good posts on carding and rolling punis and I would say that is where I got the most helpful info.

I spun the punis woolen style on my lightest spindle which I used supported. It's a bottom whorl with a fairly flat tip, so it was fairly stable on a flat surface. I used a cookie sheet on the floor or the kitchen table if I was standing. It took a LOT of twist, so much that I didn't actually get enough twist in the last bit and it kept falling apart when I plied it. I mean a LOT of twist. Lots lots lots. Like you are going nuts. Really. I navajo plied just a little bit to get enough to knit the sample above and then did the rest as 2 ply almost lace weight. It also really bloomed so the yarn was a bit bigger than I anticipated. I only have maybe 10 metres, but it is so soft and lovely. What to do with 10 metres though?

Here are some link to my favourite posts from Jenny Bakriges blog, the Spinning Spider Jenny. She has a new book due out in the spring which I can't wait to see. If it is anything like her blog, it will be a treasure. Many of my best spinning skills were gained from reading her blog.

Making Punis
More on Punis
Please Don't Kill the Baby Bird
Drafting Techniques for Handspinners
Opinions on Drafting Techniques for Handspinners

And three posts on hand carding:
Hand Carding Wool Locks For Spinning
My Dad & more on hand carding
Hand Carding: Keeping Colors Clear and Fiber Blends

Thanks Jenny.

My Hand Carders

2010-02-19T17:16:00.004-07:00

Here is the completed pair. I've never done any wood burning before, so I am happy with the result. The pattern is taken from a Scandinavian embroidery book.

Christmas Dove

2009-12-06T17:49:00.003-07:00

The kids wanted to make some of the Christmas Doves from the Usborne Christmas craft book, but I really didn't feel like using fabric so... out came the paper scissors and glue. The birds the kids made were so cute I couldn't resist making some myself and gluing them to some blank cards I had. The littlest one turned hers into a princess birdie with a crown and long hair! Very cute.

Hand Carders

2009-12-05T19:17:00.003-07:00

I bought some hand cards a couple of weeks ago to start an ambitious project of blending some wool & silk to spin and knit the cover sweater on the Interweave Knits Spring 09 issue.

I looked at them today and decided to make them a bit prettier. It's my first attempt at wood burning and I'm doing it with a fabric tool, but so far, I am pleased with the result. I have always loved this design which is from the cover of a Scandinavian embroidery book from the library.

They are not done yet, my wrist has cramped up so I had to take a break. Not quite sure how to fill in the solid-coloured parts. Each carder has a slightly different design. I'll post a photo when I'm done.

Gina The Second

2009-12-04T22:26:00.005-07:00

Throne

2009-07-09T22:10:00.001-06:00

Tiger Lily

2009-06-30T14:05:00.003-06:00

I took this this morning to test out the camera on my new phone. This post was made using the phone too! Newfangled technology ... guess I should have made the camera rotate the photo too!

The Chicken House

2009-06-30T12:27:00.000-06:00

My Adventure With Flax

2008-10-05T20:43:00.005-06:00

I really, really wanted to try spinning flax. I don't know why exactly. I love linen, but I knew I wasn't going to get anything like linen, so that couldn't be why. In any case, on my last trip out to Celeigh Wool, I allowed myself one bag of fibre and after some thought, I headed home with a strick of Euroflax long line flax.

I have to admit, my first experience with flax was pretty comical. I got back to my parents' farm where we were visiting and opened the bag - whew! - what a stink! The heat and tightly closed plastic bag had gathered hours worth of that flaxy smell. Heady, wonderful - ah, no, I don't think so. I called up Marg in a bit of a panic and left what was either a hilariously funny message or a horribly offensive one, depending on how you'd take it. At any rate, I asked if I were perhaps meant to air the flax out on the laundry line prior to spinning? Or perhaps wash it? And did it really always smell that way? I think I likened it horse manure . . . lots of it.

She kind of laughed at me. " I love the smell of flax!" she says. "It's supposed to smell like that!"

Oh.

She did advise me on how long to boil it once I had finished spinning it and that it wouldn't smell quite so strongly after that. And of course, she was absolutely right. It ended up lighter and softer and definitely not smelly.

Anyway, I did really enjoy spinning it and the smell did ease considerably once the strick was out of that suffocating plastic bag. It really just needed to breathe. I rolled it in a towel, like Marg recommended. Lee Juvan describes the various ways of dealing with a strick in her article for KnittySpin and that includes several photographs of how to wrap in a towel. I did find that my towel needed some hair elastics around it to keep it neat inside. Otherwise it kind of ended up as a bad hair day. A hairdresser's worst back-combing nightmare would be a good comparison. At any rate, once I kept the package rolled a bit more firmly it wasn't so bad and the flax pulled out fairly smoothly.

The unspun flax is quite stiff and hairy feeling, kind of like a horse's tail. The back-combed snarls I was getting seemed familiar too - kind of like trying to untangle that same horse's tail full of a winter's worth of snarls. It was kind of nerve wracking having to spin a whole bobbin full at one time. I rarely sit down for that long with three kids underfoot. I spun the flax wet, as recommended ( a towel on your lap is definitely handy!), which means that you need to get it off the bobbin as soon as you are done, or you risk warping your bobbin or having mildew attack your freshly spun flax. So I was a bit paranoid and went on a spinning marathon to finish each bobbin at one go. I wound the first two off on my niddy-noddy and left them skeined until I was done the third and ready to ply (a week later at least!). Then I wound them back on bobbins with my wheel and a swift.

Here are the yarn stats, all singles spun S, plied Z: 3-ply, 220 m, 12 to 14 wpi, 172 g, 640 ypp. I made up the last 20 g into a 2-ply once I ran out of the first bobbin's length, but I didn't write down how many metres I had before I wound it into a ball - oops!

I was aiming for a sportweight, but I ended up with more like a DK. It is much softer, but still a little bit stiff, and has a nice lustre, which sort of shows in the first photo. I am really happy with the end product though and if I ever get around to finishing up the projects I already have started, I want to make this bag, also by Lee Juvan and published in Knitty Spring 2008.

Catch-Up Time

2008-10-05T20:06:00.007-06:00

Well, I finally have an hour or so to myself, so I am going to try and catch up with
some moments from my summer. This photo is one of my favourites.

Surf's up.

Life through brown-coloured glasses. Summer at the beach.

This is what happens when you are not watching.

The watermelon that wasn't.

He has been trying to grow watermelon (for years?) and finally succeeded,
even if it was inedible. A near miracle up here at 52 ° latitude.

Suspended

2008-09-27T22:04:00.002-06:00

I took this photo a few weeks ago. I think it is so cool. How is it suspended there? Can you guess . . .

Play Silks

2008-07-25T16:03:00.009-06:00

This afternoon, the youngest one had an impromptu nap. Taking advantage of the relative calm, knowing that my entire evening would be ruined as a result, the other two and I dyed the play silks I bought after the Waldorf camp last week. I think it was worth it!

We used Kool-Aid to dye the pink (Cherry) and green (Lemon-Lime) and used my Ashford dyes to dye the yellow-orange one. The blue one is from day-camp. They are truly lovely. We used hot water and vinegar to set the dye, with the exception that the orange one was also wrapped loosely in plastic wrap and microwaved for a bit and the green one was brought to almost a boil on the stove. The Ashford dyes bound very strongly to the silk and there was no residual dye in the rinse water at all.

A Gift For Your Feet

2008-07-25T09:52:00.010-06:00

Well, really my friend's feet. She is coming up to visit this weekend and it happened to be her birthday the other day, which I purposefully neglected. I suppose I should have at least called her . . . Oh well, too late now and she'll be here tomorrow - yay!!! It is really a wonderful time when close friends come to stay. Even when it is only for a few minutes it brightens up hours and days either side of the visit! This time I am lucky and she's here for a whole day and a night with her fantastic family in tow. The kids can play and we can just visit. Lovely.

The blue reminds me of her somehow. Or maybe it's the swirling pattern in the fabric. I think it's because there are always traces of the ocean and blue sky in my head when I think of her. She is an island girl by birth and we met on an island nation. Surrounded by blue sea and canopied by blue sky, our families became fast friends. I'm not sure, all I know is that these have been hers since they began. I stitched the quilting in a swirling pattern that reminded me of New Zealand koru, my favourite Maori symbol. Koru is the Maori name for a new unfurling fern frond, which we call a fiddlehead. It symbolizes new life, growth, strength and peace. I think that it's perfect for the twice-transplanted Scottish girl that I met in New Zealand 10 years ago.

And Gawdess, I did not "just whip these ones up". Grin. You will be relieved to know that these have been languishing in my UFO pile for at least a year, along with another terribly cute pair in pink which are destined for my own feet. As usual I could not bring myself to follow the pattern properly, making a few tweaks here and there, but they are quite simple to make and they would be fast if you could make up your mind as to how you are going to pad the sole and make them not be too slippy. I didn't even screw up the binding as I usually do, thanks to lots and lots of steam ironing.

After lots of test stomping, I decided to use up some yucky polar fleece and some totally synthetic batting I had laying around for the sole padding - one layer of fleece and two of batting. To make the sole grippy, I used fabric with little rubber dots all over, the kind you find on the bottom of infant sleepers, rather than the vinyl called for in the pattern. I found it much easier to make it slide along the sewing machine platform if it had tissue paper under it. When I sewed it as the layer facing up, I used a teflon foot.

A New Banner

2008-07-23T20:26:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago we were painting rocks. Again. We seem to do this a lot in the summer out at the farm. I think it has to do with the millions of perfect rocks on the driveway. This time, though, I had a project in mind. I collected 26 lovely little stones and, voila!

Simple Moccasins

2008-07-23T20:08:00.003-06:00

My son has been asking for moccasins for a while now and since I had a stash of leather in the basement, I whipped these up. In total it took about 1 hour, maybe two. They are nothing so beautiful as the ones at our historical site, but they are sturdy moosehide and should last a while. Beaded beauties they are not though!

Craft day with Mom

2008-07-23T19:56:00.007-06:00

Mom has wanted to do some dyeing for a while so I headed over armed with yarn for me and Kool-Aid for both of us. Well, the Kool-Aid was for all of us actually, we drank the leftovers! Here are the results. A mother-daughter collaboration. Mine is the candy bright skein and mom's is the sweet paler one. A bunch of photos of dyeing in the works as well. I had to use yellow food colouring and vinegar to get the yellow. I added a touch of orange Kool-Aid to make the yellow a bit richer. I also used red food colouring (standard little bottles from the grocery store) to get the gorgeous fruity pink since the Kool-Aid was not cooperating with my FruitPunch colour scheme.

Ready to be wrapped and steamed.

The mixing counter.

Mom's skein in progress.

Mom's skein ready to be steamed.

Done!

Kool-Aid is versatile. My son recently attended a cool camp where they dyed silk with Kool-Aid.

A beautiful sky blue play silk that he loves. The purple tinges in the photo are due to the light from the setting sun I think. It's really a beautiful light blue, with water-colour variations in the dye intensity. I bought a few other play silks to dye with the girls, but I am having trouble finding yellow Kool-Aid. We are going to do green, yellow, and pinky-red. Maybe we'll have to settle for orange since I can't find yellow. I'm not sure food colouring and vinegar will work on the silk.

Things I have started lately . . .

2008-07-23T19:46:00.002-06:00

Scribble Lace
by Debbie New or Mason-Dixon Knitting depending on who you like to credit.
I think Debbie New did it first.

Subsequently frogged for, although it was beautiful, it was also somehow unwearable.
It will be recreated into a scarf, rather than a stole.

My Future Favourite Socks
created from a variety of patterns, but mostly from:
the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook
and Working Socks from the Toe-Up by Ann Budd
in Interweave Knits Summer 2007

Things I have finished lately . . .

2008-07-23T19:36:00.004-06:00

In no particular order:

Knit Picks Lace Headband
from the Victorian Yarn Sampler

Itty Bitty Bear
from Interweave Knits Summer 2005
made from bits of handspun dyed with coffee

Something I finished a couple of years ago, but love so much I made two pairs:
Simple T-Bar Shoes
from 50 Baby Booties to Knit
in Katia Cotton Comfort

Katja

2008-07-05T20:00:00.002-06:00

Last summer, I made this top in a lovely blue cotton. Isis by Katia. It only took one tiny ball, I think it cost maybe $6! Fantastic, and it is so cute. But now it is getting a bit short and the back sagged in a not so cute way. I stitched some elastic to the bodice and now its back to fabulous again. Still a little short, but hey it's summer.

I like this pattern so much that this summer I decided to knit another, this time totally improvised. I had some yarn that was a gift from the LYS, but I had no idea what I was going to do with it, until - bing! - I realized it would probably be great for this pattern. The yarn is a ribbonny kind of laddery yarn (well-described, I know) in white with yellow, pink, purple, and green. I knit the smallest size of the Katja pattern adjusting for gauge changes. Originally, I just attached the I-cord neck from one cup to the other in a big loop to pull over her head, but it stretched out waaaaayyyyy too much, so I am redoing the I-cord ties. That way she can wear it until she's at least 6.

Padded Footlets

2008-07-05T19:45:00.003-06:00

I started the Padded Footlets from Interweave Knits last summer. I finished one sock. In the photo it looks okay, but actually the heel is atrociously large and sags unbecomingly. Well, I knit the other sock this spring and it was great. Wonderful in its neat-and-tidiness. Nice small stitches. Lovely. But a completely different size than the first one due to, you guessed it, the ridiculously large heel. Well, scissors met my knitting again and this is the result.

Yes, I cut out the offending heel flap and the attached cuff. Picked up all the stitches and grafted them all. Knits, purls, pick-ups. Yup. And it looks great, if I do say so myself.

Stamping: First Attempt

2008-06-12T12:26:00.003-06:00

My first attempt at cutting stamps. It seems my ink pads need refreshing . . . oh well. I stamped a card for my dad and hand coloured it with crayons. I need to get some wood blocks on which to glue the stamps. Squashy styrofoam does not work all that well!

New Art Supplies

2008-06-12T10:53:00.005-06:00

Ah, the lure of new art supplies. We are going to attempt to do Illustration Fridays. We also picked up some lino cutters and are going to try and do some stamp cutting. Geninne has a fabulous tutorial here.

Thrifting

2008-06-12T10:19:00.004-06:00

Yesterday for the first time we visited our local Reuse Centre. It's great!!! A bit overwhelming though. Bins and bins and bins of great crafting finds. I think there were almost ten bins of fabric alone. Of course the most hilarious was the sign that I finally noticed on the way out:

"Unattended children will be fed raw sugar
and given a box of trophies."

Look at what we brought home.

They are so smart.

But we also brought home these! Vintage knitting pins, adding machine tape that fits perfectly in our sticker-maker, vintage patterns for my sewing room wall, some weird thing called a But-o-fix that I can't wait to investigate, and a large upholstery fabric sample book that I think may be destined for purses.

Meow

2008-06-09T18:37:00.002-06:00

My youngest, in the truest sense of the phrase, has a pet rock. It is her kitty and she pets it and strokes it and says meow. It is very sweet.

Puddles

2008-06-08T00:16:00.001-06:00

I made this coat a couple of years ago from an old IKEA curtain. It is really heavy cotton, lined with a super cute ladybug fabric that my MIL gave me. I love this pattern. It is an Ottobre pattern, #21 from the Spring 2005 issue. I found a great NikWax product called CottonProof and soaked the coat in it. It didn't change the handle of the fabric much, it is just slighty smoother and the waterproofing is great. I can dump an entire jug of water on this coat and it just beads off.

I found these photos today. The colours of the petals are so lovely. Maybe inspiration for some dyeing? Maybe not, nevertheless, they are very happy colours.

Blue Chocolate

2008-06-07T23:09:00.004-06:00

Ah the loveliness that is merino and silk . . . This is a present for my aunt, who is fabulous and spends a lot of time with my children and me. She is great and deserves some beautiful yarn to knit for fun. She is on a yarn diet. That's a sad, sad thing, a yarn diet. Hence the name Blue Chocolate.

Anyway, not that my yarn is anything amazing, but I am happy with it. I was aiming for laceweight, but I ended up with sportweight. Oh well. It isn't super consistent but it's better than I've done before. I spun the whole 28 g on my broken spindle since my wheel does not seem to have high enough ratios (only 6 and 9). The fibre is from Louet and is 80% merino, 20 % silk. The yarn is a 2-ply, sportweight, 13 or so wpi, 15° twist angle, and measures in at 2500 ypp. Since I consider myself still to be a new spinner, I am happy. And besides, it is such a pretty colour!

While I was at the whole yarn statistics thing, I made up a table of all the neat little facts I looked up. It used to be called a Yarn Grist Table. Isn't that an ugly name? I had to rename it The Twisted Facts of Yarn. It's so much less grisly sounding! I'd really like to share it with you but I have yet to figure out how to upload a pdf to Blogger. Anyone know how??

Silly Me

2008-06-07T20:20:00.000-06:00

Well, I just realized that I have had the settings set to Do Not Allow Comments on all of my previous posts. No wonder no one has left me any comments! Not that anyone is actually reading this of course, but maybe my mom at least might leave me a comment???? Anyway, I have rectified the situation and all previous posts have been edited to allow comments.

A Bag for my Sister

2008-05-31T20:20:00.000-06:00

Here is the purse that I made for my sister's birthday. Actually, I've been making it for about a year, maybe even two, but hey, who's counting?? I was kind of hung up on the needle felting design. The knitting and fulling were done a loooong time ago. The photo above more accurately shows the colour of the bag, but the photos below are better for the details. Amateur photography is apparently not my long suit. Yet. Self-betterment is always a good quest, don't you think? Especially in this case.

It is the Sophie Bag pattern from MagKnits and it is really fabulous. Easy, pretty and only takes one skein of Cascade 220. At less than $10 that's fantastic.

I lined it with some quilting fabric and made sure it had lots of pockets: one for lip balm, a pen, two side pockets on one long side and one larger one on the other. Add a magnet clasp and all is done.

Yay! I love it, too bad I had to give it away! Nah, all along I made it with my sister in mind, so it was easy to give it away and she was thrilled. Happy smiles.

Three Dresses, Three Days

2008-05-15T22:52:00.000-06:00

It seems that one child, at least, does not have any summer dresses and so, down to the sewing room I went. I had a dress that was given to us which is super easy for the girls to put on and I used it to make a pattern, sizing it up a bit. I'm pretty happy with the results and so are they! Good use of the fabric stash too. I'm on a fabric diet.

Not doing very well at it since I bought some very cute turquoise eyelet and lime green lawn to make another dress for me, similar to the one above (not the cute girly one, that just doesn't suit me anymore, sigh). I made a pattern based on a designer dress that I could not/did not want to afford. It turned out pretty well and also used up some more of the stash, so I treated myself to this. A Mother's Day present you know. Did I say I was on a fabric diet? Naaaah.

Gauntlets Complete

2008-05-06T20:20:00.003-06:00

Here they are and I am very happy with them. Of course, summer is almost here and I don't need them, but . . . maybe we'll go camping and I'll have to bring some emergency knitting and my fingers will be cold and . . .

My modifications for the diamond pattern are below. I noticed that, at least for me, reversing the diamond pattern to make the left hand diamond the opposite of the right-hand one did not work very well. It seems that the YO, SSK combination was not as clear as the K2TOG, YO combination so I have only included that version in my notes.

Diamond Pattern for Sally Melville's Elegant Gauntlets
Page 122, The Purl Stitch

Instead of following the directions for the thumb shaping, do the following (brackets indicate directions for the right hand):
Round 1: knit to 1st stitch before the marker, inc, k9(k30), k2tog, yo, knit to marker, inc, k to end
Round 2: knit all stitches
Round 3: knit to marker, k8(k29), [k2tog, yo) 2 times, knit to end
Round 4: knit
Round 5: knit to 1st stitch before the marker, inc, k7(k28), [k2tog, yo] 3 times, knit to marker, inc, k to end
Round 6: knit
Round 7: knit to marker, k8(k29), [k2tog, yo) 2 times, knit to end
Round 8: knit
Round 9: knit to 1st stitch before the marker, inc, k7(k28), [k2tog, yo] 3 times, knit to marker, inc, k to end
Round 10: knit
Round 11: knit to marker, k8(k29), [k2tog, yo) 2 times, knit to end
Round 12: knit
Round 13: knit to marker, k9(k30), k2tog, yo, knit to end
Round 6: knit

Too much knitting??

2008-04-28T22:56:00.004-06:00

Well, the snow is gone again, but just before it finally melted away, this was the view from my kitchen window. I think I have too much knitting on the brain lately. It's because it's tax time you see. Maybe you can't see, but nevertheless, that is the reason. Yes, I am occasionally certifiably nuts. But can't you see the picot edge up against the fence, made by the melting snow? See, now you're nuts too!

Here though is a sure sign of spring. Ladybugs in the house. There have been butterflies outside too, drinking snow! But it is set to snow again late this week. Yuck. I think this is the slowest spring I can remember.

Scissors + Knitting

2008-04-28T22:43:00.004-06:00

This is what happens when scissors and knitting meet. Yes, I was clearly insane. I started knitting Sally Melville's Elegant Gauntlets (from The Purl Stitch) for some easy, quick therapeutic knitting as a counterpoint to the Anemoi Mittens, which for me require intense concentration.

But then, you know how it goes. . . first the cuff is a bit too loose and then I can't decide on what contrasting colour to use for the ribbing and then the next thing you know — snip snip snip!

I really love this pattern and the knitting is sooo easy. It just rips right along. You can almost do it in your sleep. I had the first gauntlet 95% complete in what probably amounted to a few hours (spread over three days of course, it's called guerrilla knitting).

This is the detail of the diamond pattern that I stuck on the middle of the hand. It's from Knit Picks Queen of Diamonds pattern.

So now I have the gauntlet unknit (is that a word?) at both ends with a total of eight dpns holding the stitches. It's a very prickly beast! I still have yet to decide on the colour for the ribbing, but now both ends of the gauntlet are going to be cast-off edges. No cast-ons remain. Weird, eh?

Is this spring??

2008-04-21T20:51:00.002-06:00

The view out my back door today. 20 cm of snow. -8 C or -20 with the windchill and no sign of any warmth in sight for at least a week. My husband is putting the snowtires back on our van.

Finished, after three years!

2008-04-21T20:27:00.006-06:00

Yes, I have finally finished my shawl (stole, whatever) that I began in April three years ago. I have to say, I am really happy with it. It is lovely. It is warm. And it makes a cool noise when it falls to the floor and all the beads go clickety-clack.

Anemoi, still underway

2008-04-21T20:20:00.003-06:00

Well, I have perservered. Besides, practice makes, well, better! The cuffs for Anemoi became much easier, so much so that I ripped out the first one and made a third to match the much better second.

I am now knitting both mittens at the same time on one long 120cm circular. I am using a size 3mm since I seem to knit much much tighter on this mitten than I usually do. At any rate, it seems to be going just fine, albeit very slow.

Anemoi, trop difficile pour moi

2008-04-16T21:00:00.004-06:00

Well, I have cast on for these. It seemed like a good way to use up the Louet Gems that I bought for a different pair of mittens but isn't, as it turns out, very suitable. The tubular cast-on was okay, but purling with my right-hand and still using my left for the main colour is NOT my idea of fun. I think after five rows that I have had enough of the corrugated rib and that although it looks really, really nice, I do not have, at this time, nearly enough patience to spend the two weeks it would take to finish the cuffs this way. Ribbit.

I'll do a different cuff and get to the fun stuff!

In other news, I did add some elastic thread to the waistband of the Perfection Pants and now they fit much better. I don't think it will last though since the thread is not very strong and pulling them over diapers requires a LOT of stretching.

Soakers

2008-04-14T20:18:00.006-06:00

I was sorting out some photos tonight and updating my Flickr gallery and I found these. These are the Perfection Pants and Curly Purly Soakers that I knit. They have been well used. The pants were knit from New Zealand Treliske Organic Merino Wool Yarn and the pink soakers are from Cascade 220. They really do work and we use them particularly at night, since most of the day when we are at home, the little ones have always just run around naked! The pants look enormous in the photo, but now they are more like capri pants! What a difference time makes, sigh.

Dizzy

2008-04-14T19:54:00.003-06:00

Well, since we found the fish mitts (yay!) I have been able to successfully finish a pair of mittens. This is the final version of Dizzy from Mission Falls Smittens. Of course, it was done in the round and it actually has the cuff from Hena, but who cares - they are done. Except for weaving in the ends, but let's not dwell too long on that okay? They are finished. Shush.

Snuggly Warm

2008-03-12T22:16:00.005-06:00

The kids and I felted up some scraps of Cowichan wool the other week. I brushed it all up nice and fluffy with a metal hairbrush and then we put the scraps in some ziploc bags with some hot water and dish soap and the kids rolled and smashed and mushed until we got this lovely warm fire for Bunny.

On another note, I finished up these slippers, another Mohair Ballet Slipper from Beverly Galeskas' book Felted Knits. I have made several of these, but this was the worst one so far. I spun a really bulky yarn for the cuff and we died it with orange Kool-Aid, but it was tooooo bulky and the stitches did not felt nicely the first time round. Also the slipper cuff was stretched way out of whack in proportion to the slipper body. So, I cut out notches from either side of the heel, similar to how you would stitch a moccasin heel and stitched up the sides with wool and the joined the cuff with matching sewing thread (the original yarn was no good at all for sewing the cuffs back together). All in all, it went really really well. The seams disappeared, even on the cuff and we now have slippers for a small human that really likes orange and red.

Mittens Schmittens

2008-03-02T14:13:00.007-07:00

There is a mitten conspiracy that is working against me. I have lost the first and only pair of mittens that I have ever made. I dyed the wool, spun it, and knitted up a pair of super cute mittens for my kids. Some of the yarn was purchased, but about half was my own. We call them Fish Mitts because they remind me of parrot fish. In any case, they are LOST. I have to check at the lost and found every where I go. Because of this sin, I cannot knit mittens. The first pair was a disaster of loose ends and poor tension. Frogged to the cuff and reincarnated as Dizzy from the same pattern book, they were splattered with coffee. I persevered. This is what I got for my efforts:

Do you notice that the bottoms of the cuffs are level? Can you see that on the bottom mitten the green begins well above where it begins on the top mitten? And can you see how my medium sized hand fits into either of these mittens????? They are wet, washed, and clean. Mostly, I couldn't get all the coffee out. They are made of superwash wool for Pete's sake!! I can't even shrink them! The smaller one is at least useable, but the larger one is enormous. I will have to frog it to the cuff and start all over. Next year.

ps Let's not discuss the fact that I had four extra stitches on my needles, okay? Or that I knit them in the round, rather than flat where I could have knit two at the same time and had the same gauge. Okay?

pps I forgot that I was wearing a Playmobil crown as a ring. . . isn't it beeeeauuutiful?

Wooly Loveliness

2008-03-01T21:45:00.006-07:00

Here is some lovely BFL that just arrived in the mail from Margaret at Celeigh Wool in Millet, Alberta. I already have some here that I am spinning (slowly) into what will hopefully be a sport-weight 2-ply, but after the success of the Mushroom Cap Hat, the kids and I decided to do a little project. We are going to dye this loveliness with Kool-Aid, split it into manageable strips and the kids (4 and 6) are going to spin it with my wheel. I figure that I can set it to pretty much just wind-on and that will give it enough twist for a 3 wpi singles. That is what I did for part of the Mushroom Cap and so it should work again. (Famous last words, says the little sniggering sheep on my shoulder.) Once it's ready , I can knit for the 4 year old and the six year old can knit for himself (sort of). He's been practicing.

We have a little rhyme that I got from a blog I found one day, Food & Family, which roughly goes:

In through the door,
Around the back,
Peek through the window,
And off jumps Jack!

It is in her June 2006 archives in a post called Knitting. I tried to link to it directly, but couldn't for some reason.

I posted a while ago about spinning exotic fibres and some silk/merino blend that I found. This is more of the same and the green is even the same colour as what I had before, so now I will have some to match what I had leftover. In the back is some Shetland in a dark dark brown. I have never spun Shetland before (which is odd, because you know, having been spinning for soooo long, a whole two years now, you'd thinkI would have done everything by now, hey?) I am feeling very sarcastic today, I must have eaten something odd.

Smittens

2008-03-01T21:32:00.005-07:00

This pattern book by Mission Falls has five takes on the same basic mitten pattern. I saw the Advika pattern in an ad somewhere and thought it was super cute, so I snatched it up when I saw it at my LYS. I decided to start with these (Hena).

Of course, not being content to do the smart thing and follow the pattern, I decided to convert it to be done in the round, rather than flat. So far so good. Chart reworked and off we go. Never mind that I forgot to remove the selvedge stitches before hand and that I actually have two extra stitches on my needles. Well, actually four, because as written the ribbing didn't workout and so I added two more. Hey, I said, NEVER MIND.

Oh, did I mention that I've never done intarsia before? Oh. And did I mention that knitting intarsia is one thing, but doing it in the round is another, perhaps best left for your second intarsia project, rather than your first. Especially when you have no real idea as to how to weave in ends? Because, other than stripes done flat, you've never actually done any colour work before in your entire life??

They are no longer Hena mittens. I ripped them back to the cuff ribbing and have started a much simpler version (Dizzy), which I would show you except that this happened.

The aftereffects of a two year old running down the couch and slamming into a newly filled mug of steaming goodness. Normally I would say coffee is a wonderful thing. I love it. In the morning, I steal a few precious moments out of the day just to sit in my chair in the corner and relax. Sometimes, if I am lucky I get to do it again in the afternoon. Or, sometimes not.

Well, there is a picture of Dizzy after all. Such as it is. Fortunately, of two patterns still discernable, Dizzy is one of them.

Mushroom Cap Hat

2008-02-22T10:29:00.003-07:00

So here is the skein of the wool I spun the other day. Silly me, I thought I wouldn't need all the fibre . . . but that turned out to be a good thing. I did much better prep on the remaining fibre and used my wheel instead of my spindle and got a much more consistent yarn. And as for designing the yarn for the project, well, three tries later I finally had the colour pattern that I wanted! Of course, I had to knit the hat three times anyway. I used 15mm needles the first try and I had a hard time getting the tension right, so I tried again with 12mm and decided that the fabric was too stiff. In the end I went back to the 15mm needles and had a much easier time, I guess it just takes practice to use such enormous needles!

In the end I ran out of yarn and had to borrow some strips of Blue Faced Leicester sliver that I am using for another project. I didn't bother spinning them, I just twisted them as I knit the last couple of rows. Probably if I had been more consistent with the first batch of yarn, I might have had enough. Who knows!

Here is the finished hat. The pattern is my own, such as it is. Cast on 30 stitches, knit plain up to about 12 cm, then decrease 5 times every second row until there are 5 stitches left. Pull the yarn through and voila! — a new Mushroom Cap Hat. The yarn worked out to about 3 wpi and Barb, one of the owner's at River City Yarns, where I picked up the fibre, says that she is certain it is Merino. It is definitely soft!

Ultra Bulky

2008-02-20T21:49:00.005-07:00

On the weekend, I saw a woman wearing a toque that had a stitch gauge of 4 stitches per 10 cm. Yes, I am not kidding, a stitch per inch. It was very cool. The hat was all about the stitches, the colour didn't really matter, although it was a lovely blue and the hat was entirely done in stocking stitch to more effectively show off the ridiculously huge stitches. I loved it and since I am totally sick of frogging my cabled hat, I decided a new project was in order. So with kids in tow today, I headed to my LYS and picked up this lovely bit of top and tried my best to spin an ultra bulky yarn with my Ashford Turkish spindle. I haven't really used it before and the yarn was obviously too heavy for the spindle since it was backspinning on me all the time. But I ended up with this . . .

It is my first truly planned yarn, as far as colour goes. I split the fibre into colours and chose the sequence. It has been shocked and whacked and the twist has set with not really any extra twist in the skein, which is nice. It has a very sheepy smell, which I am enjoying, oddly enough. I have no idea what the fibre is, other than that it is wool. It seems as if it is naturally coloured as opposed to dyed and the shades of cream through grey to walnut are really lovely. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a good photo of the skein and maybe, if I am very blessed with a peaceful house, even a hat!

Exotic Fibres

2008-02-14T15:53:00.012-07:00

Click for bigger image.

My favourite yarn shop, River City Yarns, was hosting an evening session on spinning exotic fibres the other week and I got to go! Yay! We spent three hours playing with all kinds of fibres new to most of us: cotton, bison down, silk, ramie, alpaca, bamboo, llama, and soy protein. Birgit Rasmussen guided us all along the way and was a fantastic instructor. Very patient! Above is a shot of my mini skeins from the session.

The alpaca blend was definitely the softest. It is verrrry cuddly. I have no idea what it was blended with however. We were just given a sample to spin and it was a mystery to the instructor as well as she had been gifted it earlier by the class organizer.

The bison down and cotton, both raw cotton and prepared roving, were definitely the most challenging. My drop spindle had quite a few crashes during those experiments, poor thing. The bamboo was quite lovely and the regular bamboo had a really nice sheen. The carbonized bamboo was interesting and still quite soft, though without any gleam at all. I didn't like the ramie and found it more difficult to spin than either silk or any of the other more slippery fibres.

All in all, it was a very interesting evening. I will definitely consider incorporating some of the nice shiny fibres into my spinning. Of course, since I have no way of blending the fibres, I am probably stuck with whatever I can buy for now!

A couple of years ago, I bought a beautiful merino silk blend and spun it into a thick and thin bulky weight two-ply yarn and knit a head-band for my sister-in-law. (No pictures sorry - we were on vacation during the knitting and gifting!) I am using her spinning wheel on indefinite loan ;-) and thought she deserved a gift. It spun up very nicely and I didn't find it too difficult. It ended up being a very pretty yarn.

Confession

2008-02-08T20:30:00.002-07:00

I have to admit that for the most part, right now anyway, this blog is mostly narcissistic. I have made so many things in the last few years and I feel a need to catalogue them somehow. I want to see them in pictures and marvel that I was actually that clever, just for a while. It's really encouraging to see what you have accomplished — all in one place.

Dolls

2008-02-08T14:19:00.003-07:00

I love making dolls. I've mostly made Waldorf style dolls, except for this really sweet muslin doll I made when I was a teenager. Unfortunately she had a run-in with my mother's cat, but she still looks pretty good considering she is over 20 years old! I sewed every stitch of her and her clothing on my great-grandmother's Singer treadle sewing machine. It has so many cool attachments. Sigh. I've also made some cute little fairy dolls from Felt Wee Folk by Salley Mavor, but I'll save them for another post.

Here is a gallery of sorts of the Waldorf dolls I have made, starting with the first and ending with the last.

I changed the body style of the dolls considerable as time went on. At first I thought that a button jointed doll would be the most fun to play with, but after reattaching the black doll's arms and legs a few times I decided that maybe they weren't the greatest after all. These dolls were made with patterns from Joy's Waldorf Dolls (modified by me, it seems I can't ever follow a pattern without changing it.) She has nice patterns and good quality doll supplies. The baby doll is about 30 cm (12") high and the black doll is about 40 cm( 16") tall. Both of them have hair that is made from a crocheted cap of mohair (with a bit of nylon). The black doll has his hair rug-hooked into the cap. The baby just has a brushed mohair cap.

Dressing and undressing the button-jointed dolls proved too difficult for young children as well, and well, frankly, I dislike the shape of their bodies. So, the next doll I made I did a rework of a couple of patterns and made Gina and Fridgie (the baby).

I made Gina partly from a pattern rework of one of the dolls in Making Waldorf Dolls by Maricristin Sealey. For the one piece doll body she recommends sewing a diagonal lines to form the hip joint. I didn't do a one piece body - the legs and arms are sewn on separately, but I thought it might be good to incorporate the diagonal line. No. The short answer is no. If I had thought about it I would have realized that. Oh well. When Gina sits down she becomes very pigeon-toed! She has a huge head of hair, made the same way as the earlier dolls with two complementary colours of yarn.

Fridgie is based on a tiny soft baby doll that my sister had as a child. She is about 15 cm (6") high. Her legs could be a tad longer I think, but otherwise I think she is very cute. I used a pre-made wig from Joy's Waldorf Dolls that I had kicking around.

Gina is also accumulating an extensive wardrobe!

After little bit of tweaking with my pattern we had Jeff. Jeff is my latest doll and is true adventurer and explorer. My husband even made him some binoculars and we have plan to build a GPS too! Our Christmas crackers this year were loaded with lots of Jeff-sized tools: a tape measure, compass, flashlight and whistle. Essentials for the modern adventurer.

I don't really like Jeff's hair; I sewed it on using a methods from Making Waldorf Dolls. It was a new style for me and, although it's okay when he is sitting up nicely, when he lays down he looks like he has an odd ponytail on top of his head. His hair is made from alpaca and it is lovely lovely lovely. I took my son to the yarn shop to choose hair. He is a very tactile child and found the mohair of Gina's hair to be too scratchy and disliked the mohair of the unnamed black doll as well. It was quite funny to watch him choose, The alpaca was the first yarn we picked up at the shop and after a couple of blind feel tests on the cheek with several other soft yarns, he always chose the same one. It is sooo very soft.

The designs on his coat and backpack were made using freezer paper. I printed the stencil on the freezer paper using my computer printer, cut it with a blade, ironed it gently onto the fabric, and used fabric paint ( Pebeo SetaColor ) to stencil it on. Then you set the paint with an iron for five minutes and it is wash-fast! The stencil is from the Print for Free items at Ottobre. The binoculars are made from two empty sewing thread spools, glued to a bit of wood that my husband cut to fit.

A small terrorist that inhabits our house executed a sneak attack upon the intrepid explorer though and he contracted a serious case of Yellow Fever. Other dolls in the house have had cases of Pink Fever as well. So far they are washing up extremely well. I just gently handwash them in lukewarm water with some Eucalan wool wash. The body photos above were taken after his bath.

First Knitting

2008-02-06T21:06:00.002-07:00

This is my second knitting project (as an adult anyway). It is still unfinished after three years. The first one is unfinished too, sort of. The first was to be a baby sweater, but it ended up as a square. I don't know what the square is for, but is a very nice stripy square. This, however, will be lovely when it's done, if I can ever figure out how to finish it. It is a rectangular shawl, a stole I guess, with a simple k2, yo, k2tog pattern, but I can't figure out what to edge it with. The yarn is 2-ply sport-weight Lincoln (I think) from Celeigh Wool in Millet. It is Alberta wool, naturally coloured.

One day I will finish it. I have a new lace edging to try out. I am going to use a darker colour to edge it.

Little Bags

2008-02-06T20:59:00.002-07:00

I made these last winter to hold
little bird-watching books that we made.

Little bags. No pattern, just made them.
The green is fabric from an old Samoan lavalava.

Sweet little bird.
Gingham applique on velour.

Fabric Purses

2008-02-06T20:51:00.002-07:00

Ladybug, ladybug.
This is from an Ottobre pattern.

Reversible bag for my sister.
I made the pattern from a bag I had been given by a friend.

Reverse side of my sister's bag.

For my sister-in-law.
Same pattern as the one for my sister.

Pocket detail.

Felted Slippers

2008-02-06T20:13:00.002-07:00

These have all been completed over the last couple of years. I really only use one pattern, the Mohair Ballet Slippers from Beverly Galeskas' book Felted Knits. I have never used the yarn called for in the pattern, but so far Eskimo by Garnstudio and Iceland by Crystal Palace have both felted up very nicely. I used a single strand throughout. The little purple ones on the top right have needle felted flowers on the toes and a little needle felted fake button on the strap. I modified the pattern to include the strap. Instead of using the rolled cuff, I did a seed stitch cuff, left a few live stitches for the strap and voila — mary janes!

The blue ones on the top have an elastic cord inserted in the rolled cuff to maintain their shape. I found that the cuff on that pair really gaped at the back.

From top, clockwise:
Blue, child's size small. Blue is Eskimo by Garnstudio (I think). Colour 12. Trim is Alafoss Lopi-Lett.
Purple, child's size medium. Honestly, I can't remember but it was a lot like Eskimo. the pink is Iceland, by Crystal Palace Yarns.
Red, adult's size medium. Red is Eskimo, solour 8. Pink is Iceland.
Green, child's medium. Apple Green Lopi by Alafoss, and the trim is Lopi-Lett.

These are the red ones that I knit for myself. After a year of continuous wear (our floors are cold!), there is not much left of the sole. Boo hoo.

These are from another pattern by Beverly Galeskas, but they are Felted Clogs from Fiber Trends. I knit them for my mom using Noro Kureyon for the main part and Lopi-Lett for the contrasting trim. I can't remember what I used for the soles.

I have another pair in the works, but they didn't turn out so well. I spun some very bulky yarn for the contrasting trim and we dyed it orange with Kool-Aid, but it didn't felt so well. It was too bulky. I used some old Cowichan Buffalo Wool in bright red for the main part of the slipper and that worked just fine. I'll rework them with some scissor action and all will be right as rain.

Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid, I Love Kool-Aid

2008-02-06T19:59:00.007-07:00

Actually I don't, I think it's rather vile. However, it makes grand colours on wool! Here are some mittens that I knit up from bits and pieces. No real pattern, just a hodgepodge of patterns thrown together. These are the first mittens I ever knit! The green yarn is wool that I spun and dyed with, you guessed it, Kool-Aid.

This is the mitten yarn ready for steaming.

Just to see what the colours ended up like, I did a small sampling of flavours.

More Kool-Aid yarn. This is the roving that I spun into this.

(Scroll to bottom of post.)

And this is a mishmash of yarn, spun and ready for something.... some of it ended up in the mittens. We seem to have lost the mittens recently. I am very sad. They reminded me of parrot fish from a long ago trip to the South Pacific with my not-yet husband.

First Socks

2008-02-06T19:45:00.002-07:00

This is some sock wool from Celeigh Wool in Millet, Alberta. Alberta bred, spun, dyed, and . . .

knit!

They are a reworked version of the Ruffle Socks in the Baby Gifts article at the back of the Summer 2005 issue of Interweave Knits. You cal also find it here at Knitting Daily.

What started it all....

2008-01-27T19:03:00.002-07:00

In the spring of 2005, overwhelmed by a small tyrant dominating my universe, I went to a local craft fair with my mother. There was a small booth full of beautiful wool, all locally produced. Inside the booth, a woman was spinning with a drop spindle, her hair the same colour as the fine grey yarn that was forming beneath her hands. It was mesmerizing to watch. I had always wanted to learn to spin, but had never even seen a spindle before.

My whole life, textile arts have taken up some of my time. Sometimes more than others. My mother is a wonderful knitter and sews as well. In the 70's she tried weaving. My grandmothers are also accomplished knitters and seamstresses. And standing in my mother's loft is my great-grandmother's spinning wheel. I was taught to knit and sew and crochet and embroider at a young age. I'm not really sure when, but I know that I was sewing my own clothes when I was 13 and doll clothes before that. We hooked rugs and I even had a small wooden loom, which has since been lost. Unfortunately, I completely forgot how to knit . . .

Anyway, when I saw the spinner working her magic, I leapt at the chance to try something that seemed to call to me. The fact that the wool in her booth was all from Alberta just made it all the sweeter. I had no idea that such fine wools were available hereor that we even had a wool industry! But I was told by Margaret, owner of Celeigh Wools, that the sheep breeder whose sliver I was buying had won an international competition for her fleeces. Apparently, Alberta wool rates high.

I chose a spindle because it was pretty. I didn't know anything about spindle weights or whorls or anything and I could hardly choose from all the bags of wool that were on display. Margaret said, " Just feel them — put your hand in and feel them. Then choose." Wise words. I came home with some amazingly soft Romney and a small Alberta made spindle.

After that an obsession began (my sister asked me stop talking about wool with her . . .) which has since mellowed to a reasonable interest in all things related to textiles. I tried to remember how to knit and managed to figure it out, or so I thought. I went over to my grandmothers to proudly show her my little swatch. She got a really odd look on her face. Then she asked me to show her how I had knit. So I did.

"Who taught you to do THAT????"
I replied, "You did."
"No way," she said. "I can't knit THAT way."

Hmm. Well, it turns out that although I couldn't remember how to knit, I could remember how to crochet and I just merged the two into some weird kind of knitting. Not long after I found out it wasn't weird, except for all my twisted stitches (hence the odd look), but simply the continental style of knitting, carrying the yarn in my left hand. The twisted stitches though implied some technique refinement was required. Thank heavens for the Internet!

I still sew and make clothes for my family. I mostly use the patterns from Ottobre. They are clear and easy to follow, with fantastic design. I also knit and spin, a little bit anyway. I borrowed my sister-in-law's spinning wheel and am trying to become more consistent. Over the next while I'll try to post some photos of things that I have done in the last few years.

Chunky yarn on the bobbin. Some of the first wool I spun.
July 2005. Romney, dyed with Kool-Aid.

I used it to knit a pair of soakers (diaper covers), but I sort of read the directions wrong. I was sure it said to lightly felt them . . . oh well. Who knew Romney would felt so well? Well everybody but me probably. Maybe I'll turn them into a wallet or something!