March!?

Time flies by when you are having fun! The shop is going to be one year old on March 31st! We are going through prep for the “birthday party”. At the same time, we are working feverishly on the shawls/patterns/photos for the LYS tour (Local Yarn Shop Tour) that will be happening in May (but the patterns have to be done by the 23rd of this month! Then I have a custom order to finish (knitting a dresser scarf and night table covers!) and a custom spinning order to finish, not to mention teaching classes in between!

Oh boy! I do know what I am tired of at night!

Pictures? Sure! Hang on.. The shawls can’t be shown until the yarn tour, but the rest I can put here for you all to see

A new shrug! Pretty and happy in orange!

 

 

A new hat! WOOT WOOT! I really love this hat!

I don’t think I have shown you the cable wrap yet! That got done as well and is getting tested now!

 

 

I made owls (the pattern is already available! )

 

I re-fahsioned a turtleneck into a tank-top:

 

 

I sewed 5 pillowcases (well I cut an pinned, my daughter sewed) and then crochet around the edge:

 

I made a headband inspired by the one in French girl knits:

 

I wrapped cardboard letters in yarn together with my daughter (these were for the shop window in February, I knitted little banners for this month and Callie embroidered ”happy birthday” on it, I will show you that one soon):

The dresser scarf won’t be shown until it is done as well and the spinning will be shown in a future post. It’s for a giveaway for the shops birthday and a custom order of sock yarn! (you didn’t think I had forgotten about you, did you, Alice?)

PHEW! All caught up! What do you think?

Nest up: another book review! So stay tuned!

Review: The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Design, Techniques for Creating 80 Yarns

The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Design, Techniques for Creating 80 Yarns by Sarah Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As you know, I don’t often give 5 stars… but this one deserved it and then some!

What a read! I absolutely loved every minute of it! Soooooo much information! So much new stuff I hadn’t known yet. So many things I already knew, but it never hurts to have it all in one place together!

I LOVED THE BOOK!

I think even non-spinners could get a lot of use out of this book, as it really explains fiber and it’s manipulation. Knitters and crocheters, that might not really want to spin their own yarn (although I have no idea why one wouldn’t) will still learn so much about the yarns available to them and how to use them to their full potential!

This is definitely a book any fiber enthusiast should give a try. Spinner, crocheter, knitter, it does not matter. You will fall in love with the wonderfully easily understandable instructions.
Nothing was forgotten or shortened! Everything from the way fiber behaves (drape, crimp etc.) through carding, to the best methode of spinning with projects in mind!
The information given in such an engaging manner and the tutorials/pictures help a great deal to really make the information accessible and easily understandable even to someone that has never spun before!

Well written and (specially if you are a fiber enthusiast) captivating book and personable! I missed my bus-stop, because I was too engrossed in reading it!

I wish there were more “user guides”, instruction books like this one!

Thank you so much, Mrs. Anderson, for all this work you did! It is fabulous and greatly appreciate by this fiber-holic!

 

One more time!

Since the other skirt worked out so nicely, I thought I could do the same to a pair of short-ish jeans I had. They were not really shorts, and they were not really long.. they stopped right at the ankle. I call them high-water-pants. *snicker*

Needless to say I never wore them..

I opened the seam, pinned, tried it on and sewed this morning. Now I have a new skirt! YAYYY! Lookie here:

I made the seams purposely lighter in colour then the original seams, since they are right middle back and front. I did want to keep that “DIY” feel though and left the little “point” up front in the middle… The back has a slit and the the bottom hem will fringe out nicely after washing it a few times, I only zigzagged the edge there. I think it works.. specially with my hand knitted top! I’m liking it and so does DH. (Specially the rear view! hahahhaaha

)

I have one more pair of pants I want to do this too and then it is on to tops! Wish me luck!

I like how you can have a totally new wardrobe with just a few seams!

Call me Doctor Frankenstein

My Friend has a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Sweetest dog you ever meet. She LOVES toys and playing and ripping them up…. So we were talking about it the other day and she asked me if I could make her some new ones that maybe hold a bit better up then the bought ones.. Oh yes I am sure I can try…

She went and got new fabric, squeakers (toys must squeak.. that makes them more fun) and stuffing, and I went and gathered some of the used toys up and took them home. Today I took a few out and started to tool around. I snipped and sewed. Reinforced all the existing seams and made new ones with a tight zig-zag stitch, so they are nice and sturdy.

Here is the carnage before I started:

CARNAGE!!!!! MWUAHAHAHHAHAHA

and here is what came of it

Just a little rectangle with a chewing rope which I to re- coiled and trimmed the ends off

I made two toys brand new (no before pic of the first one. It really just had all the feet ripped out and the seams opened and no stuffing)

I turned it inside out, fixed the seams and made it into a “ball with a face”, rather then back into the sheep it was. I also added a “handle” for a nice tug of war with the doggie. It holds like iron…Of course there is nothing I can do when the fabric goes lol.

Looks as good as new!

Scarf and sock set

I made this set for a lady that works where I volunteer. She commissioned a pair of socks and a soft scarf for a friend of hers. She said her friend deserved something special for Christmas. I was so happy to know that she thought of my hand-knitted items as special! She wanted a set and left me total freedom of design. (She picked the yarn from my stash, it’s baby alpaca. SOOOOO SOFT!!!)

I used an “oak stitch” on the scarf. It’s a slip stitch pattern and gives the soft baby alpaca a nice tactile effect! I love running my hands over the scarf!!!!

Here is what I came up with!

YAYY done! I love it a lot!

And then I needed a row counter. I had to make my own, since I can’t buy one right now… I looked on etsy. I admit I totally ripped this one off! Dear Pretty Knitty: I am SO SORRY! I will buy something from your store when I can afford it again! I promise! HERE is a link to Patty Knitty’s store, where I found the concept… If you want one and can afford it, please buy one there to make up for my blatant “borrowing”.

Mine is not nearly as pretty as the ones in the store. I made sort of the poor hobo cousin to those LOL I had to use what I had at home… well it works and that’s all that matters! It counts to 100 and it’s AWESOME!

Aweseome concept and it works so well. I will never use another row counter for my sock knitting EVER AGAIN!

So there you have it. Not much happening lately. Lots of reading going on….

I also have auditioned for the local Theatre Guild. Sadly I did not get the part, but it was interesting to audition. I have acted with a theatre group before for years, but never had to audition before, so this was good. I will definitely do it again!

Hope all is well with all of you!
I’m off to make Egg Nog! WOOT WOOT!

These are the little necklaces

I was talking about in yesterdays post! After writing it and remembering them I had to make some! These will be available in my new shop soon! Well almost all of these. The first two from the left were claimed by my son and my husband respectively and they are wearing them right now!

I have always liked old amphorae and the nests of weaver birds, so these little talisman bags are inspired by those things…

BEHOLD!

I has made a bath poof!!!

A bit christmas-y but hey! It was free!

Yeah. I have too much time on my hands and a weakness for recycling….

You will need:

• Produce net bags -WASHED in hot soapy water!  (or any other net, or mesh fabric. Tulle… or the likes maybe?)
• Yarn needle and some twine, or yarn, or any  kind of thick-ish string you have on hand
• I guess you could do this on a sewing machine, but it’s really not worth the trouble in my eyes. I have to go and get it all set up and then put it all away…nope, do it by hand took all of 10 minutes once I had it figured out!

First you will need to save all your lemon-, onion-, and any other produce nets you can get your hands on. I volunteer at the Food Bank, so it’s not a problem for me to get larger quantities Maybe you want to give volunteering a shot?

Raw material!

Anyway. I used 9 or so for this one! The more nets you have the poofy-er it will get!
So. Cut all the tags off . I cut the ends open too, next time I won’t do that. it’s nice to have them a bit contained LOL. ONLY leave the ends on if they are the melted together kind! If they have one of those metal staples CUT IT OFF!

Lay them out in a starburst pattern like so:

If you have made Pom Pom bows for presents before, you know where this is going

Take the upper most strip, tie a bit of twine, or yarn around the middle of the strip (I used acrylic yarn, since I had it right there in front of me) and poke your needle once through the strip. Now take the other strips one by one, fold to find the middle and thread them on the yarn (Just poke your needle through approximately the centre point! Not brain surgery here… just eyeball it)

Once they are all threaded up it should look like this:

Then take one of the ends that are sticking out in the starburst and thread your needle through it. Go a few times up and down so the entire end is threaded. Push it down on the thread until it meets up with the centre of the starburst. Do this for all the remaining ends.

Weave in the tail of your thread. I had a bit of net left over, so I sewed it over the top where I threaded all the ends together. Makes it look nicer. You can totally use a bit of fabric or  felt!

Now fan out all the little nets as much as you can and stick them a bit in and around each other.

I made a cord to hang it from. And presto! Bath poof!

Neat, Huh?

I mostly had green and red nets this time, but there are tons of white ones out there and yellow! Or maybe even other colours I don’t know of!

If produce nets are not your thing, or it would just take too long to collect them, you can totally go and see if you can find some other nesh-fabric, cut it in strips and proceed through the steps! 
Happy bathing!