MOBILE PHONE BAGGY THINGY

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself - I've just finished a wee project that I hadn't even planned to start! A little bag thingy for my mobile phone - bright pink.



I started it on holiday - actually I suppose I started it earlier than that, because I spun the yarn - an energetic singles (half of a two ply barley twist) - at a guild meeting in August (for the Ireland scarf fringe).

When we were in Norfolk I took it off the bobbin to create space - whereupon I started to look at the yarn or maybe it looked at me - anyway I ended up picking up a pair of knitting needles to do a little sample - but I didn't stop - it ended up as a strange, long, slightly twisted, knitted strip - I looked at this and thought "mmmm - mobile phone cover..... it needs another colour - shocking pink and..... ah yes lime green speaks to me". Next stop Etsy for a button! oh and of course a necessary trip to handweavers for some lime green merino.



So, there we have it - finished. Very girly it is too - must charge my phone!

IRELAND SCARF - ALL FINISHED

Over the weekend I finished off my Ireland scarf - hoorah! I'm really pleased with it too - it's been my consolation for the lousy "summer" weather, because I've had an excuse to wear it!

It was the simplest pattern:

I made a chain with an uneven number of stitches

then I did a row of double stitching (singles if you're American) before starting the pattern rows

then the patten consisted of one row of - three chain to make first treble(double if you're American),* chain one, miss one double stitch, treble into next double stitch repeat from * to end.

then three rows of double stitching - then repeat pattern row and three rows of double to end of scarf (finishing with only one row of doubles after the final pattern row).

I added some rows of double stitches in a solid colour and then some more in a matching barley twist yarn at each end, then I added a row of curlicue danglies done in the barleytwist yarn.

notes about spinning of the yarn I used for this can be found at

http://fromfuzztofinished.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

I FEEL LIKE THE QUEEN

Gosh it's been a good morning - the postman has been and he brought me lovely pressies. I feel like I've just had a second birthday!

Last month it was my real birthday and I was given lots of loverly money to spend. Needless to say I imediately went mad on Etsy and ordered a selection of bits and pieces - mostly spinning related.

Yesterday after a tiring day at work I arrived home feeling a little flat - soon after there was a ring at the door - my neighbour delivering some lumpy post that wouldn't go through the letterbox - and...YIPPEE - it was some scrumptious fibre that I'd ordered from Frog Hair Fibres. one called Carnivale and the other Goddess - both very aptly named I feel.

This morning I couldn't wait to start spinning Carnivale and, just after getting stuck in, the bell went again - postie delivering more lumpy post - WOOHOO - this time it was a lovely little fabric basket that I'd chosen with the express intention of putting hand spun balls of yarn into it, and also a hackle complete with diz and clamps from Catskill Mountain Fibers. I am delighted with the hackle - it's nicely made and finished, so now I'm torn between carrying on spinning the fuzz I started on this morning, and getting out some more fuzz and blending it on the hackles! I just love the roving that comes from using a hackle and diz to blend colours. (mmm can feel another post coming on)!

Below is a pic of the basket from Wrap 2 Patch

links:

wrap 2 patch

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5692334

catskill mountain fibers

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5790175

frog hair fibers

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5586487

GREEN & PINK PROJECT

Many apologies for having been away for a while - computer problems :-( now mostly sorted, although my photos are on one computer and I'm typing this on another - so please forgive any delays in adding photos to posts!

A couple of weeks ago I had an "uninspired by life" moment - I paced the house for a while contemplating various potentially exciting snacks and nibbles - I fiddled on the computer - which wasn't being very helpful - "cannot find server", "this page has expired" etc., and then I fell upon the idea of playing with some fibre - something different - a bit of fun - so I rummaged in the stash and found a heap of different coloured merino tops (see pics). I divided these into two piles - greens and bright pink in one and warm colours in the other.

I chose to do something with the first pile and weighed the Merino - 65g pink, 110g mixed greens. I then hummed and hahhed for a bit before deciding that I wanted a slightly chunkier yarn than I normally spin and that I wanted an overall greenness with splashes of pink. This led me to take pieces at random to pre-draft in pairs of colours. I took alternately two pieces of green merino then a piece of green and a piece of pink. I spun these into a singles yarn which I then Navajo plied - this was to keep the pink in it's separate "blobs" and also because Navajo plying produces a 3 ply yarn it's a little thicker.

I have produced three skeins and I have some of the pink merino tops left and one of the greens. I shall probably spin these up to one plain pink batch and a plain green one.

I am undecided as to what to do with it now - I'm very pleased with the yarn - it's quite girly - and some of my favourite colours - so perhaps something for myself? hmmmm - I'll think on it.


In the meantime what shall I do next? more colours? perhaps some cellulose fibre or maybe a bit of drop spindling............

SIMPLE SCARF PROJECT

THE PROJECT

This project came about because of a fleece to garment day that was held in a lovely old barn last year. Several guilds took part (the guild that I belong to came 3rd - or second to last!) It was a great day with all sorts going on and I'm really looking forward to taking part again this year. The garment(s) we had to produce were two knitted scarves, knitted end to end - 125 stitches on size 8 needles for 25 rows. The finished scarves had multicoloured lengthways stripes and were extremely pretty - so naturally I thought "I could do that at home" - and, being more of a crocheter than a knittter the natural progression was to crochet my scarf rather than knit it.

FIBRE PREPARATION

The fibre I have used for this project is commercially prepared and dyed Merino tops. I've chosen warm reds and pinks with a little white for highlights. I bought the tops from my fav crafty shop - Handweavers Studio in Walthamstow.

The tops come as tightly wound balls which need to be opened out and then split. To do this I hold the top up and gently peel off a strip from one side (see pic) - if the top is fairly new this will be relatively easy. However if it's been in the bag for a while it may resist a bit.

Once I have my strips ready I then pre-draft them prior to spinning - this just makes it easier to control the thickness of the yarn that's being spun. (If you want to mix colours you can do so quite easily at this stage by pre-drafting two colours together or by pre-drafting two colours separately and then winding them into balls together).

To pre-draft simply hold the yarn in your left hand (if you're right handed) and, with your right hand, pinch between forefinger and thumb and pull gently toward you - just enough to open the fibres up - not so much that they drift apart. The strip you end up with is much longer and thinner and the fibres are very open - this is the key to controlling the fibre during spinning.

I then wind all my pre-drafted wool into loose balls (I used to use "nests" but I find that they snag more, when you're trying to spin, if you move them about too much).

SPINNING

I then spin on my Ashford Joy spinning wheel and ply into a two ply yarn which I like to wind into centre pull balls ready to be crocheted.

I had six colours - two pinks, two warm reds, a deep burgundy and almost white (one ply white and one ply mixed white and red).

For this project I spun a yarn that was about 17 wraps per inch. The finished scarf weighed 75g. This means that it weighs about .4 of a gramme per 10cm square.

CROCHETING THE SCARF

The final phase is to crochet the yarn into a scarf.

For this scarf I used a crochet hook that's around about 3mm (It's an antique bone hook so I can't be exact but this is a reasonable estimate). I crocheted 200 stitches lengthways then, using double crochet (American singles), I randomly changed colour for each row until I'd completed 39 rows. My scarf measures approx 49 inches by 6 inches (125cm x 15cm)

I then washed it in a gentle woollen washing liquid and blocked the scarf to finish - I don't always do this but these scarves tend to go a little curly if you don't also it does give a smarter finish, which I felt was appropriate here.

The yarn weight is unimportant as you can change to an appropriate size of hook for your yarn and then crochet an appropriate number of stitches - this is dependent on the length that you want your scarf to be (I like a shortish scarf that can easily be tucked into the top of whatever woolly I'm wearing - but this isn't to everyone's taste). you can use your own colours and if you're not a spinner you can use commercial yarns - these projects are a great way to use up oddments - you can create scarves with a rainbow of colours and a myriad of touchy, feely textures. So have a go it's simple and can be completed quite quickly.

TIME OUT



Well I've not posted anything new for a few days - My hubby & I went away for the weekend - We had a lovely peaceful time - he played lots of guitar and I prepared loads of fibre. I washed and carded some lovely black alpaca fibre into rolags and prepared the rest of the newly rediscovered bamboo fibre. I also prepared some commercially dyed and combed tops by pre-drafting them and winding them into balls. So I've lots of prepared fibre ready to start spinning.

Tomorrow I shall continue my series on animal fibres.