One more (almost) Christmas thing...

I wanted to dye some playsilks for B for Christmas. I ordered them from Dharma Trading and had them sent to my mom's house in California so she could bring them with her when she visited us in early December. Well, they missed her by a day and so she couldn't mail them to us until she got home a week later. Then hit the Christmas mail rush and they didn't show up until long after Christmas. So I thought it would be a fun project for B and me to dye them together. She picked out the colours (kool-aid) and I dyed them. We did one for each colour of the rainbow. Some of them turned out a bit blotchy - but it was a first try so I think they turned out great. She uses them for so many things - blankets, costumes, landscapes. Playsilks are a great thing!

We also tried making an enormous rainbow striped silk - but the colours turned out faded in areas and concentrated in others. I wasn't impressed with how it turned out- but she still likes it. I can't figure out how to dye such a large piece of silk in stripes. I must try again some day when I have an outdoor space to splatter with dye.

Another Christmas Present

This I made for a dear friend who is a scarf addict. The end bits are hand spun and dyed. The rest of the scarf is some ancient pink mohair (doubled). The flower on the end is kool-aid dyed and needle felted. Very cute, I think. I hope it is keeping you warm in that big blanket of snow Jennifer!

B's Christmas Present

B picked out this yarn so long ago and I finally got down to making the slippers for her for Christmas. They were a big hit. The pattern is the same as the mini felted ones I made for my niece. I was surprised how thick they ended up. They are a bit big, but the ribbon can pull tight to keep the slippers on. One of her teachers thinks that they look like pink porcupines.

My First Art Yarn

For Christmas my mom bought me this:
I first heard about Lexi at my spinning class. My very traditional teacher used her as an example of the many possibilities of what you can create with a spinning wheel. But she wouldn't show us the techniques - too strange for her tastes. Pluckyfluff had a place in the back of my mind until my last visit with my mom who lives in Placerville, CA. I visited the local yarn shop in search of some parts for my spinning wheel. I saw the book and it reminded me of the reference in my spinning class a few months before. The women working in the shop noticed me looking at the book and told me that Pluckyfluff lived down the street. Excuse me?!?!? The enigma of a spinner lived in Placerville? She also told me her family owned the winery on the hill. I knew the winery so I hopped in my car and went into the tasting room. No one there knew where she was so I left a message. I got in contact with her later that day and made an date to see her spin. I was so excited to learn all about the rouge ideas that my teacher dismissed. When I met her I was shocked - she is the same age as me, and has two kids - a daughter the same age as mine! I watched her spin some sushi yarn and was totally inspired. I could do this! So, my mom got me the book - and even had her sign it (how embarrassing - but sweet). And this is my first attempt at art yarn:


It has coils and wrapped-up knots and stick-out squiggly things. It is soooo against all I learned in my first class, but I loved it! I can't wait to knit something out of it to see how it looks in action. Lexi also made me think about some of the first spun yarn I made on my own wheel at home (I had put all the bad spins in a bag to use as stuffing for animals or something). She talks about how no yarn is bad. Everything is unique and beautiful. Every bump and lump is meant to be. It is hard to remember this when you are first taught to spin straight and narrow. So I untangled some of the crappy stuff and it really is great! It has character. Thanks Lexi! I really appreciate your work and how it has changed my view on "craft". I'll have to look you up again when I come to Placerville this summer. Happy spinning!

Tiger Tales

Another birthday gift. B's friend M loves tigers. So we got him tigers. But tigers need a home so I dyed and wet/needle felted a habitat for them. They needed a pond to drink from and a bit of greens to munch. And of course a cave. I hope they like their new home.

I haven't been all that great at blogging lately. I get too caught up in reading other people's blogs. Other people seem so much more crafty and prolific. So much more interesting. I wish I knew how those other moms do it - two or more kids and they still create so many wonderful things. I really have to just do it. Not worry about what other people think and just type.

I have to go back and photograph the gifts I made for B for Christmas. Right now I am working on a big project for her birthday which is in a few weeks. Photographing it will be tough as I don't want to let the cat out of the bag (literally) before the big day. And she happens to be around all day long when the great sunlight is too. I'll have to set up my lights and dress up the meow.

And...in the works in an oolawoola logo. A very talented friend is drawing an amazing logo for me. Maybe that is holding me back. To me the blog doesn't seem official until it has a pretty design up top. Silly, but a mental block is a mental block.

Meatheads

Lovely name. This is my first knitalong, and I can't wait to do more. I used some wool that I have had sitting around for ages, but didn't know what to do with. This pattern called for a super bulky yarn that is used doubled up so the Padraig yarn worked well. Very thick to knit. Super warm to wear. B calls them elf hats, and today we made the rainbow one into a princess hat by pinning a silk scarf to the top. I'll have to post a picture of what they look like on - flat photos do not do them justice.

Freehand Hedgehog

This hedgehog came out of a request from one of B's teachers. She had a similar one that a parent made 15 years ago. I thought it was cute and told her I'd try to recreate it. It was so easy to do and was made up in two evenings. The knotted quills took longer than knitting the whole thing!

The SNB Capelet

I loved knitting this capelet, even though it was my first attempt at lace. Knitted lace is so amazing in that the odd instructions turn out to be a lovely pattern in the end. But I guess that is true for all knitted projects, non? It is frustrating at first. It took awhile to get the sequence under control. I used some beautiful handspun Shades of Narnia wool. Luckily I had just enough to finish the whole pattern. I wish I had made it a few sections longer, but ther ewas no more yarn. It was perfect as a cover-up for my borther's wedding in August. It was one of those freak August days were it rained, and up on the mountain where he got married it was foggy and freezing cold. My spidery capelet kept me snug and warm.

Don't you love the model? I do not have any wedding photos of me wearing it...

Knitted Kitten

More cats, I know... This was knitted to silence B who is constantly asking me to knit her something. It was really simple - just two rectangles, and an i-cord tail. I did it awhile ago, but just found it in her stash of animals. I'll have to make more.

Button Clips

Here are some cutie clips I made for B's friend's birthday. I am so in love with these - it was hard to part with them. I think they'd make great items to sell - what do you think?

Hazards of the Job

I found a beautiful dress with the price tags still on in our co-op's "share pile", but it was an non-colour of boring beige. Luckily the tag (in Polish) read that it was part cotton and part nylon. The dyer in me jumped for joy. So I broke out the dyes and decided on a light fushia. I made an immersion bath and plunged the presoaked dress in. All was going well - I didn't splash and the dress was absorbing the colour in a way that was better than I had imagined. The disaster happened when I took my gloves off. Two fingers must have had small holes because I had two fushia fingers. It took about a week to wear off. Here is a photo a day after the damage. I'll have to photograph the dress later.

And...I got a new camera. I had two digital cameras, one for my professional photography work and one portable one that died on the Italy trip a few months ago. The camera people said that there was goo inside that glued the lens inside and the cost to fix it was close enough to the cost of a new camera. The new camera is waterprooof - we can take it swimming in the summer. And no more goo can make it into the lens as it is sealed.

Newborn Hat

This is a hat for a pre-school friend's new baby brother. It is knit with thrifted wool, hand dyed with kool-aid. It is quite itchy so I lined it with organic bamboo fabric. It is super tiny so lets hope the newborn has a tiny head. Yay for babies!

Kitten Hat

B's Preschool requires a warm hat on cool days. My daughter requires "pink" and "bows" on almost everything she wears. I hope this fits all requirements and she actually wears it.

Corny Mama Cat Hat

This is my Mama Cat Hat. I made it extra long to cover my ears. It is knit with hand spun Ingeo plied with a merino/silk blend. I wore it today to my daughter's preschool in hopes of inspiring her to wear the required winter hat. The other kids seemed to like it - I guess they are not used to adults wearing fun hats.


This is a close-up of what the Ingeo looks like when it is plied with merino/silk and knit. The spun corn on its own looks like this.

Birthday Gift

This hat began as a white skein of yarn. It was given to my favorite neighbour for her 12th birthday - with the clause that we would dye the wool (with kool-aid) and I would knit it into a hat for her. The original colours she picked were pink, white and green; but then we decided to experiment and poured blue over the whole thing. It was great - some of the pinks turned purple, some of the green turned turquoise and the white turned blue. The pattern was a simple ribbed toque, but shortened becasue she didn't want it to touch her ears - a scull cap of sorts. And a needle felted flower as a finishing touch.

Corny

Who knew you could spin corn? I bought the Ingeo fleece at the Fibre Fair, but took awhile to spin it as it scared me. I am new at the spinning thing and had only spun wool. When I finally did it I was surprised how easy it was to spin. I am sad that it can't be dyed. It is VERY white. Almost too white and shiny to go with anything. I ended up plying it with a merino/silk blend that was mostly white with a bit of blue, green and pink. I forgot to take photos of the final product, but I knit it into a hat for myself for this winter. I'll have to photogrpah the hat soon.

Kermit Purse

So it has been awhile since I last posted. It will take me awhile to get into the groove of blogging. Now I will update all of my summer projects....



This is a lovely purse I knit with really chuncky wool bought on sale at The Thread Bear in North vancouver. It is Kermit green with a rainbow thread running through it. It begged to be knit into a purse. The pattern is from a book I can't remember, but I had to alter the pattern to fit the amout of yarn I had anyway. I needle felted a flower from some rovings I dyed with kool-aid. But it was too warm to use in the summer. Thank goodness it is fall now. I think it will be my new knitting bag.

Booties

So this is my first real post. I only have one photo handy to display. Finished booties - destined for Aby, my first neice. They are made out of handspun wool dyed by Shades of Narnia. I knit them up and wet felted them in the sink. I added the bows becasue they didn't seem like they'd stay on wiggly baby feet without them. Welcome to the family Aby...

ta da!