(non specific) Order Among Chaos

Happy Fibre Arts Friday! This is going to be my last FAF post for a while, next week I'm going to Beijing for three weeks to visit my family. Unfortunately blogger is blocked by the "Great Fire Wall" so I won't be able to post while I am there.

So there are four days left before my departure and I have not done any packing, and I am beginning to panic!!! Just to make things a little more complicated we are in the process of buying a house, the conveyancers are doing their work and the settlement date is set to be 16th October - precisely one week after my return. Good timing, what? We didn't plan it to happen this way, my trip was booked months ago and when we started looking for properties we didn't expect to find something so quickly, and naturally things just went from mad to being utterly chaotic.

Anyway, this post is about fibre arts so I should show you something made of fibre....

Elli asked me to make him some slipper socks a while back and he chose a pattern called Nola's Slippers - free from Ravelry. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, I used some sock yarn from my stash and held in doubled. I had to adjust the number of stitches to cast on as well as the decreasing stitches, luckily this pattern is very adaptable (read: easy to fudge) and I did as I went along.

I also finished a couple of woven scarves to add to my gift pile for China:

Oh yes, our Night's Watch SKAL kicked off this week. My plan is to spin the batt before my trip so I can bring the project with me. The Night's Watch shawl pattern is an easy one for the road, so I was assured by the designer Lara Smoot. Luckily Ravelry is not banned in China so I can still co-ordinate the SKAL.

I am sure there is order among all the chaos, I just need to find it.

Thanks for dropping by, please hop over to Andrea's at Wisdom Begins in Wonder for more fibre fun.

Scarves-a-rama

Happy Fibre Arts Friday! This week I finally finished off two woven scarves, one had been on my loom since April and another one I had done weaving a few weeks ago but it was not finished until yesterday. I realised that I am not very good at finishing projects although I like starting them, which explains why I have so many UFOs. The lure of a new project is greater than completing one, perhaps I should only be allowed to start a new project in exchange for a finished one, I will need a stern enforcer.

This scarf was started back in April, with my hand-dyed warp and weft. For some reason the tension was all over the place and I was so disheartened with it that I didn't touch it for months, then one day I forced myself to forge ahead and finished it - because I wanted the loom for another project. I was very pleased to find that once washed and dried, all the imperfections with the tension was gone and the scarf looks rather nice ...

 

The second scarf was started at the beginning of this month, so it's not quite a marathon project as the first one. It only took 3 days to weave but again it took me weeks to finish it off. I'm calling this Blood Orange Tweedy Scarf :)

Now my loom is empty and I need another project!

Thanks for dropping by, please hop over to Andrea's at Wisdom Begins in Wonder for more fibre fun.

Fibre-therapy

It has not been a good week for me, for most of the week I was sick with diarrhoea and severe migraine. Luckily things started to lighten up late yesterday and today I felt much better. Feeling sorry for myself I desperately needed some fibre-therapy to help me relax, so I warped up my Cricket Loom for a scarf.

It's not my handspun but I did dye the yarn, both the warp and weft were actually the same yarn in a colourway called Barley (a kind of yellow) but I wasn't so keen so I divided it up dyed half in green/blue and the other half in plum black. I'm calling this The Forbidden Forest Scarf.

I also washed some Cria Alpaca fleece in a beautiful honey colour, it's so so soft. This is going to be made into a batt for the shop but I really want to keep it. Maybe I'll keep the next batch for myself ;)

That's it from me, that's my therapy for the day. Have a lovely Easter weekend if you celebrate.

Thanks for dropping by, please hop over to Andrea's at Wisdom Begins in Wonder for more fibre fun.

Checking on the Spindle Candy forum is a dangerous thing...

... because you can so easily get hoodwinked, and I can prove it! I was just having a look (no harm in looking surely?) on the spindle de-stash page, the next thing I know I was spinning on these two little cuties:

The one on the left is a trindle, I have wanted one ever since I saw the one appeared in Andrea's posts over a year ago, even though I hadn't started spinning back then. So when I saw someone was destashing theirs I decided to grab it. I LOVE how the trindle spins, albeit a little wobbly but it spins and spins and spins, and it's so easy to wind on. The right hand one is a Riley's Turkish spindle, it's a little slow than I thought but still spins beautifully, maybe once there's more fibre on it it will spin faster.

The rolags are made on my blending board, of various dyed merino, silk, mohair locks and some sparkle, they are pretty easy to draft and very addictive to spin!

Meanwhile my production line for Christmas presents kept running, and I finished my scarf #4 the Yorkshire Moors scarf that was on the loom last week. I love how the self striping yarn in the warp make the colours shift.

And here's scarf #5 an Alpaca blend in greys and naturals, same yarn for both warp and weft.

That's it for me this week, now show us yours!

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Just keep weaving...

Happy Fibre Arts Friday! It's that time of the week again, this week it's all about handwoven scarves, well mostly :-)

Some of you may already know that we are going back to England for Christmas this year, then we're going to the U.S. for a "real" holiday, woohoo! I was making the list for family presents last weekend (it's a bit late I know), there were 19 names on the list not including children, eek! Then I thought: I can do this - I already collected a few items I made throughout the year and I need to practice my weaving, so I will make scarves! ... if you are one of my folks from the "old country" please look away now ;-)

Scarf #1: that was the Monet's Garden I showed you last week.

Scarf #2: Cherry Ripe Scarf for my FIL, so named after the chocolate of the same name :-)

It came off the loom a bit shorter than I intended, but he doesn't like long scarves anyway, or so I'm told.

Scarf #3: A study of pickup sticks - actually I might keep this one to my self, it's made of cotton and there were a few mistakes.

Scarf #4: Yorkshire Moors - the colours remind me of the heathers on the Yorkshire moors, and this is all my handspun. The Warp is a 2-ply yarn that I spun with one single from the Rolags made on the blending board, plied with another single of alpaca, the weft is a 2-ply that I spun in the TDF. It's still a WIP and it's looking great :-)

Last weekend I had a lot of fun dyeing silk hankies with Jelly, he's pretty good with colours!

These are in our Etsy shop now, and there's a 10% discount for October. If you're interested you can get the coupon code here :-)  

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

A hat, a scarf and a commission :-)

Welcome to my Fibre Arts Friday! I've got a few things to share this week, first up is a flat cap I knitted for Jelly who is playing Dickon from The Secret Garden in his school play. The rest of the costume was easy, or so we thought... as it turned out, the boy did not possess a single pair of trousers that are not jeans, trackies or combats. And he couldn't raid his brother's wardrobe because they are not the same shape. Luckily we found some in Savers, and we managed to find a nice waistcoat from another charity shop, so we are good.

Anyway, the flat cap. The pattern is Morgan from Knitty Fall 2008. It it a relatively simple pattern, you start from the centre and gradually increase out, the front of the cap is shaped via irregular increases. But once you are done with the main knitting the rest of the shaping is a bit fiddly but not difficult. The pattern called for two popper fastenings to hold down the top of the cap, but I didn't like the way it looked so I took those out and sewn the front edge to the peak instead. It's looks much better this way, I think.

The photo was taken in haste before school on the day the costumes were due in... the boy desperately needs a haircut!

I can definitely say I have caught the weaving bug! I finished my second scarf, this time using my handspun. You might remember sometime last year when I was exploring dyeing and carding, I made some hand carded batts called "I dream of Monet", I used the yarn spun from that for the weft and a commercial sock yarn for the warp.

Oh and I finished the spinning commission I took from the Gisborne market, I was quite nervous while spinning it, hoping that I wouldn't mess it up. I think it came out alright :-)

Before I sign off, Cat & Sparrow is running a promotion on Facebook for 10% off everything in our Etsy shop. Just click on the Facebook link to get the Coupon Code. For folks on the other side of the planet, the exchange rate with Aussie dollars will work in your favour at the moment ;-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Drama About A Wheel

I didn't write a post last week because I didn't trust myself not to write anything I'd later regret, you see, I was very close to commit some murderous acts on my beloved 16 year old son. Let me tell you why.

Remember Little Grace Special? Yes, the handmade wheel that I waited 5 months for and finally came two weeks ago? Last week my son broke the flyer. Huh? What?! How?! Well, he was lying on the sofa like teenagers do, and had his lanky legs dangling over the side. My wheel was on the other side. As he was getting up he did this lifting up the legs and kicking out thing and WHAM! the wheel took a tumble but didn't fall (just as well!) but the poor flyer took the full force and fell, one of the flyer arms snapped - he is a blue belt in Martial Arts!

I was stunned, gobsmacked, stupefied, speechless, and sad...  Of course it was an accident, and he was very contrite - he even offered me all the cash he had, the cash he'd been saving up for something special. But that didn't help at the time, my brand new wheel!!

Luckily Mike, the wheel maker, said that if I sent the flyer back to him he would repair it for me. And the good news is as I write this post the flyer is on its way back, so all is good. And I still love my son, dearly ♥

While I was feeling sad last week I had something new to keep me occupied, my Cricket Loom had arrived. I know I know, I was going to get it when I visit the U.S. in January but I gave in to my impatience. Well, there is another story in there but I will tell you another time, one drama a post is quite enough!

Anyway, I used the yarns that came with the loom and made a practice piece:

and here it is tied off, washed and dried :-)

The edges are a bit wonky, especially on the side where I carried the yarns and it's only short, but I am very happy with how it turned. This is so much fun!

On the spinning front as I couldn't use my new wheel I got to play on the Jenkins Turkish spindle, I already had two singles spun up so I used my new Swan to do the plying which was perfect as I found it's a little too heave to spin singles for my liking. I was very impressed with how much the Swan can hold, a whopping 118g and 163 meters in this case, wow!

Well, that's all the drama and excitement for me this week. Now it's your turn :-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

A filler of a project :)

Thank you so much everyone for your encouragement on my half finished Sea Level Shawl, after  reviewing my options and my stash carefully I decided to dye some fleece and spin another skein to use as the contrasting stripes, which means I will unravel what I have done already. But with the new contrasting colour I should be able to finish the shawl whilst keeping the original Sea Flower's colour sequence. Fingers cross this will work, I will keep you posted.

In the meantime I have started and finished a filler project :)

The pattern is The Piaf Scarf by our own Denise of Voie de Vie, except I made it into a cowl that can be worn doubled up or hanging long.

This was a very easy knit and with 6mm needles a quick one too, I love the effect. The yarn is a mohair blend so there's a soft halo on top of the lacy stitches, the colourway reminds of the woodlands in spring with bluebells and snowdrops dotted here and there, it makes my happy :)

... is it just me or is my mannequin slopes a bit to the right, I mean to her left?

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

I've Got Wheel!!

At the beginning of the week I was feeling a little sad, because my spinning class was coming to an end and I was going to hand back my borrowed wheel. Then everything changed quite suddenly... I have been on the look out for a secondhand wheel without much luck, on Tuesday afternoon I searched again on eBay and found a listing for a vintage Ashford traditional that looked in reasonable condition. So I clicked on it to read the description, to my surprise and delight, the seller only lived 30 minutes away from me, and she welcomed anyone who wanted to go for a test drive! I immediately contacted her and cajoled her to let me have a go the same evening, she agreed. The rest, as they say, it's history... someone was looking after me that day ;)

Introducing Charlotte- my first wheel, isn't she beautiful! Charlotte came with a lazy kate and seven bobbins, she's in very good condition and spins smoothly. When I brought her to my last class my teacher told me that the style of her maidens suggests that she's circa 1965-1970, she and I could be sisters :)

Charlotte also came with the original assembly instructions and some leaflets:

I haven't had the chance to read these yet, but they look rather interesting don't you think?

My knitting has suffered a great deal in the last month or so due to my new found love, but I'm still chipping away (slowly) at some WIPs. I did complete a new project though, mainly because I needed it for show and tell, it's my first homespun item:

It's a simple crochet scarf, the pattern is free and can be found on Ravelry. I only had about 140 meters / 150 yards of the yarn so I just kept going until I almost run out, then did a simple shell border on each end. It came out rather cute I think :)

I really must catch up on more knitting next week, if Charlotte will let me ;)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!