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!