Do You See Socks?

I see socks.

I’m planning to ply the darker tone with the brighter tone and I think they’ll be beautiful! Or at least the yarn will be, lol, since I can’t promise to actually KNIT socks in the near future.

I’m working on the skeins of reclaimed ‘unspun’ I dyed – I don’t know that I’ll finish them all though, probably I’ll store some of it for later too. This one was kettle dyed with yellow/orange/copper wiltons icing dye. I’m so happy it didn’t felt a bit – I can still draft the fibre even though this comes from the part of the sweater I had to frog!

The summer is HERE, all the kids are out of school and my second daughter has graduated high school. I was a very proud mama last night! She is heading to college in the fall and I’m so happy for her

Creating Colour!

I’m really, REALLY enjoying my adventures in dye-land. It’s so neat how nicely variegated the colours turn out using the wiltons icing colour…I enjoy playing with the colour ‘breaks’ and seeing the finished product is always a surprise Happily – nothing has felted and the fibres are still easily drafted (or as easily as they were anyway, lol – this sweater sat half knitted for nearly forever as far as I can tell).

From left to right in the photo…
Copper, copper/orange/yellow mix, black/violet mix, royal blue, juniper green and delphinium blue.

I’m dying reclaimed ‘canadian buffalo unspun’ yarn which is basically a six ply roving yarn. I then seperate the plies and spin them as single strands of pencil roving – it works out to a dk/worsted weight yarn and looks like it would be ideal for winter hats/scarves and such. It would also make fabulous felted items…maybe slippers or a purse.

Anyways, fun fun fun. I highly recommend it!

The Pattern!

Knitted chain maille helmet pattern

I hopefully did this correctly…it’s my first pdf!  Enjoy

Must Catch Up…

Wow. I’ve been really really busy lately! I feel like I’ve been neglecting the blog, lol…

The puppy is doing fabulous. He’s learning so much, so fast!! Really amazing. And he’s settled in nicely with the other two – has even learned some manners

I’ve been asked to knit chain maille helmets for a theatre production which is coming up later in the year. Rehearsals start in July though so I have to get them all done by then…

I was pretty happy — I made the pattern up and it worked out the first time! It was a happy, happy day Now hopefully the rest of them knit up fast, and I’m praying to the wool gods that the wool stretches impossibly far.

I also have to knit sets of 3/4 length chain maille sleeves, for each.

AND!! I’ve been asked to appear in a play as a spinner, with my wheel. Coolness, I thought. It should be fun! I’m not clear on the details of when and where yet. Later this year, I understand.

I’m planning to post the pattern for the helmet, when I have a bit of time.

I’ve been working on quilting the baby ‘fishie’ quilt. That is nearing real deadlines too – the reletive it’s for should be visiting in July. I’d say I’m about 1/3 done the hand quilting and then there’s the binding to be sewn on by hand as well. I’m pretty sure I’m on track.

I was given some canadian unspun yarn – the kind they make the cowichan sweater out of and decided to use it to experiment with dying roving. The sweater needs to be frogged to claim all the yarn so I just started with half a ball of the natural/white mix.

I skeined it…

Placed it in a pot with near boiling water mixed with almost a cup of vinegar and some wiltons ‘violet’ icing colour (dissolved in boiling water first and stirred). I didn’t soak the roving first. I want to accentuate the ‘breaking’ of the colour and allow the roving to soak the colour at an uneven rate for interesting variation in the colours.

I soaked the roving in the dyepot, simmering without agitation, for about 20 to 25 minutes, until all the dye was exhausted and absorbed.

After cooling a little, a soak in hot, hot water with a drop or two of dishsoap, a hot rinse…

It looked fantastic! Check out the colours! I think I maybe should have used a little more dye – see how the centre didn’t really lose the beige/natural tone. On the other hand, when spun up it might look really good so I’m reserving judgement

It’s drying and I expect the colours may fade a little.

I made my daughter a pair of ’sockettes’ for her birthday last month and forgot to post them here…here are a few pictures. The pattern is improvised, toe up, using the free white fleece I got a little while back.

She likes her socks low on her ankle. The best part of hand knit is the perfect fit factor

Oh yes…almost forgot…I’ve also been knitting the grotto wrap from interweave knits with my handspun rambouillet lace yarn…I’ll post pictures when it’s done…it’s turning out soft and really nice (I think it’s my best handspun yarn ever).

I have two skeins of sock yarn which I spun from the free white and black sheep – my son and I’ll work on dying those tomorrow….

Presenting Noah!

Isn’t he beautiful?!

He’s 3/4 Border Collie, 1/4 Yellow Labrador, 7 weeks old and absolutely SWEET! Ok, we didn’t really NEED a new dog but he’s irresistable.

He’s going to get me out of the house more, from what I understand about the breed they need lots of ‘work’ (play) and lots of activity. Good for both of us!

Ok, off to walk…he’s terrified of the sidewalk so far but yesterday learned a lot about walking on the leash…

Spring!

Today, I’m dying my handspun, hand prepped, rambouillet lace – just over 2000 yards. I admit, I was afraid!

The good news? It turned out beautiful! It makes me think of spring flowers, perfect for today since it’s pouring rain outside.

The second batch is ‘cooking’ in the pot on the stove as I type. I’m quite certain it’s going to be a perfect match for the first.

My recipe?

1/4 teaspoon of delphinium blue wiltons icing colour, dissolved in one cup of boiling water

Just a bit more than 3/4 cup of vinegar mixed with boiling water on the stove in my dye pot and stirred

–add the dye solution to the pot and IMMEDIATELY add the dry, loosely skeined yarn. Push down with a wooden spoon, keeping agitation to a minimum.

–allow pot to simmer for 20 minutes, remove from stove, cool to a comfortable temperature and place in rinse water (same temp as yarn) again without agitating.

–roll in towel to remove excess moisture and lay flat or hang to dry.

–admire the beautiful yarn you made yourself

I repeated this exactly for the second skein, in order to minimize differences in the two skeins. I suppose I could have done both together in a larger pot – we’ll see

I really like this

Fishie

Yay! The top is pieced!

The process…

Started!

I’ve started the quilt and LOVE how it’s turning out…

Doing The Math

This is my working diagram for a baby quilt I’m making. It’s up next because I must have it finished by June – well, actually some time in June but I’ll feel better if it’s done by the beginning of the month!

Off to hunt down some appropriate fabrics and find that acrylic ruler…

I’ll be posting pictures as I go

I Like It!

The kids tell me it’s not really done until I decorate the underside BUT here is the shed stick, so far.

The shuttle is waiting for me to finish weaving and then I’m planning to decorate it to match. The loom is waiting too, a bit.

I’ve also got to get moving on a baby quilt that needs to be done by sometime in june!

Another New Craft, Or Two…

I really, really love making stuff. As I’m sure you can tell!

I’ve wanted to try wool dying for a while now. I read (on ravelry) about how icing colours can be used to dye and about how the colours often ’slip’, giving unexpected depth and variation.

I had juniper green and a hank of my handspun singles yarn to work with. It’s the mystery white wool that I’ve been processing – approximately 180 metres. I also had a bottle of blue liquid food colour that I ended up using with the juniper green.

I dissolved a little of the paste in boiling water.

I poured the remaining boiling water into my dye pot (an excellent pot because the white lining lets me see the amount of colour remaining, clearly), added about 3/4 cup of vinegar, about half the dissolved dye, 9 or so drops of blue, scattered around. Without stirring, I placed the DRY yarn into the bath and simmered it for about 20 minutes on the stove.

Absolutely one of the EASIEST crafts I’ve tried.

Most of the colour took though a little of the red gathered along the edge of the water line in the dye pot. It’s red #3, known to not take, but a little of it did and the finished yarn is beautiful!

In other crafty-news…

I got a woodburning tool!!! I’ve never used one, until last night, but have always wanted to learn. Fun, fun, fun

For cheap, at the hock shop. It’s a dremel and has interchangeable tips.

My first attempt…(I’m decorating the inkle loom nice and pretty)

Here’s what I’m doing to decorate the shed stick that I made…

Now I’ve got about a milliong things on the go, lol, but I’m having fun.

Enjoy your day!

A Little Shetland Lace Cardigan

Using my handspun!

Remember the shetland fleece I bought earlier this year?

I washed it, combed it – seperated the down coat from the coarse outer coat, and spun the down into a nice, lofty two ply.

I wanted a little sweater – it’s really soft and I’m not overly sensitive to wool anyways. The Sylph Cardigan by Robin Melanson (Interweave Knits) was perfect. Or at least close to perfect! I downsized it, one size. I also continued the lace pattern throughout and knitted on the neckband rather than sewing it on later. I reshaped the sleeves a bit when downsizing. I like them well fitted.

I love how it turned out!

Combing Wool

I decided to do this post to try and show ‘how’ I comb my wool with my diy combs. I find it’s easier to comb sideways. It keeps my fibre on the combs and it seems to do a nice job too!

After a little comb with my dog rake, I place a bunch of locks onto the comb, so the tips are farthest from the tines. I then comb them off, onto the moving comb.

Since I HATE waste, I save all these bits in another pillowcase. I suppose I could use them in lots of ways…carding (if I ever try that), felting, needle felting, stuffing…

Then I comb back onto the stationary comb…

I usually give the last bits a bit of a pull…to get as much of the fibre as possible…

You can continue this ‘off, on’ as many times as you like. I usually just do two passes (one off, one on). The more passes, the more perfect the fibre becomes but the more waste as well. It depends what you like.

Next, I pull off the combed top, as evenly as possible. I don’t have a diz and frankly, am not planning on getting one. I have no trouble pulling off the top and then drafting it out evenly to spin.

Give it a little twist and move my hand up to the comb again…

When I’ve pulled all I can from the comb, the rest goes into the waste bag…

The finished combed top….

I’m spinning some of this right now, for lace…

I hope this post was at least a little helpful Have a great day!

Inkle Weaving

I love how it’s coming and I’ve only just begun! I’m thinking I’ll make placemats with this…they’ll go nicely in our kitchen

Not perfect, but pretty…

I also made a ’shed stick’ (or so I’m calling it, lol) with knife edges to open the shed and to push down the weft as I weave. It’s hard to see but I sanded it just like the shuttle for the edge and it’s just a little longer than the working area of my loom so I can use it for any project. I MAY end up making it into a dual purpose item by adding open areas so I can also use it as a longer shuttle. We’ll see

DIY – Shuttles

Good morning

Remember I said I needed to create some shuttles? I worked on one yesterday and I think it turned out great!

Please be advised, lol, I have no proper tools for cutting out shapes. I DO have a drill though, and a good imagination.

I began with a piece of poplar (1/4″ x 3″ x 4 feet). Poplar was a great choice. It’s a hardwood which is soft enough to work with easily and it is incredibly lightweight! Oh yes, and cheaper than the other hardwoods I saw by about a dollar a piece.

I cut the length I wanted – match this to what you plan to weave/the size of the loom. In my case, I cut the shuttle about 17 1/2″ long.

I then used a cardboard template (which I first drew and cut out) to mark the shapes on each end. I tapped small screw indents very close together along the line.

I drilled each hole with my smallest drill bit and then progressively drilled each hole bigger. Eventually it becomes easy to remove the shape – like perforated paper. I used a sharp kitchen knife to cut through the last bits when I was ready to remove the shape. I didn’t want the wood to splinter.

I used coarse sandpaper, wrapped around a film case and attached with a rubber band. LOL. Not fancy but very functional! If you want to sand a curve, use something curved – made sense to me.

The pencil worked well in all the smaller areas like the mouth of the open space.

I’ve read that inkle shuttles have a knife edge on one side so I sanded each side edge (1″ in from each end to prevent thinning the wood there) to a nice fine edge. Most of the edge was created from the top side but I turned the piece and created the last bit of the edge from the other side. It looked so nice that I decided to sand both long edges this way!

Today I get to try weaving!

Warped!

It took a while and 15 balls of handicrafter cotton yarn! I’ve gotton the string heddles all tied and am going to work on creating shuttles later today…

I can’t wait to begin weaving

DIY Wide Inkle Loom

Good morning!

I wanted to make an inke loom – or at least an inkle-ish loom. I read that inkles are narrow bands of fabric and I’m NOT going to end up with any of those, lol.

Waste not, want not. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Great ideas!

I used an old, ripped apart maple dresser from the pile by the fire pit.

Out of it, I ended up cutting;

4 – 15″ lengths (7/8″ x 3″)
2 – existing lengths 33″ (7/8″ x 3″)
2 – 10″ sliders from the slider sections inside the dresser.

They looked like this…

I hollowed out the slider part (it was only partially clear)…

We sanded the cut wood to make it new again!

SO cool how beautiful the wood comes up after sanding Very satisfying turning old into new

We bought 5 60″ (15/16″ diameter) hardwood broom handles from the local hardware store. Just under 5 dollars each but much better than hardwood dowels! We cut them to size;

6 – 29″ length
4 – 27.25″ length

I used size #6, 1.5″ long wood screws (countersunk about 1/4″) and glue to put together the loom.

Purchase;
#6 wood screws, 1.5″ long
#8 wood screws (2), 3″ long (for tension dowel)

Each upward support piece (the 15″ lengths) I marked with a line where it should line up with the base (check for square), painted the surface with glue where it would be against the base, clamped and drilled and screwed on from the OUTSIDE of the base. The base is inside and the uprights and sliders are on the outside in my design.

Here’s a little diagram…

Be careful doing the other side, that the base is on the inside

Only one side is complete in the picture, the other is just sitting up against it…

After completing the sides, let them dry for a few hours, ideally overnight. I’m way too impatient for that even though I know it’s best!

Drill your holes in each base/side peice for the dowels, as follows…

Again, drill a little countersink with a bigger bit to allow the screws to imbed into the wood. I sanded and drilled the ends of the dowels. You’ll notice some of the dowels are not perfectly straight. I found this didn’t have a big effect on the project.

Then, beginning with the shorter (bottom) dowels, paint each screw with glue and attach the dowels between the bases. I began with one side and then attached all four on the other side.

Next, attach the longer (29″) dowels – I stuck one of each into the top dowel position to keep the uprights from pulling together more than I wanted as I attached them from the lowest to the highest.

Finally, screw your longer (3″) screws into the tension dowel. Don’t forget to drill the holes a little larger first!! We don’t want to split any dowels. The screws need to be screwed with the dowel in place or you won’t get it in later. I’m planning to sink the heads of the screws into the rounded tops I cut off the broomsticks for a clean/knob type look – using 5 minute epoxy – on a day I don’t want to weave

To create the tension device, drill holes periodically along your slider section. I’m using screws as ‘blockers’ but you could use small nails too. You need two blockers for each side so as you remove one the whole dowel doesn’t sort of ‘jump’ too far.

A picture of it partially warped…

I have yet to create shuttles and I have to finish warping and tie the string heddles in place.

If you have any questions – just ask! Hopefully you’ll enjoy this project as much as I have

Sweet!

I’ve recieved the free fleece from the local farm…I’m buried in sheepy goodness!

First – the black (two sheep fleeces I’m told)

As it came…

Messy, huh?

But it cleans up nice!

I’m only half way through it…

A little I combed with my wool combs…

And then, there’s the white…

As I recieved it…

I soaked it in cold water…

Washed it in hot, hot water (boiling mixed with a little hot tap) once or twice. I’m finding smaller amounts per wash with a lot of love (teasing apart the tip and picking through) is the best bet with this but it’s worth it in the end!

A Hard Week

This week has been really hard for us. Our beautiful Lukie (the basset hound) passed away last friday after suffering from poisoning for over a month.

I seriously think they ought to stop selling rat/mouse poisons to the general public. Why, with all they know about the dangers of poison, do they presume that everyone who CAN buy them WILL use them responsibly? For that matter, they have outlawed pesticides here but yet still sell the poison??

Our boy got into a box that was irresponsibly left OUTSIDE behind our home when the back neighbor moved out. This is what we assume because he was never unsupervised or off leash. The vet couldn’t confirm the type of poison but 2+2 still equals 4.

We buried him by his favorite stream at the farm, on Saturday. It’s been a very difficult time.

I’ve been knitting the shetland, some more. The sweater is coming out beautifully with my mods and I should have something to show soon.

Oh, yes, and still washing the rambouillet fleece. That’s about halfway done. I have the second half soaking and a BUNCH to comb and process. I like to get it to the combed top in little nests stage and that way it’ll be ready for me when I want to spin it.

I’ve become fascinated with the idea of weaving. I have no idea how really, unless it was the ‘Wild Fibres’ article about the weaving in Morocco – yes, that was likely it! I highly recommend that magazine. I bought it for the first time and read it cover to cover the same day. Really really well done and informative. I may have to find space and pull out the weaving loom from Seneca College that I have!

Take care. Hopefully by tomorrow or so I’ll have a lacy sylphish cardigan to show you

Awesome!

Very cool day in wool-land!

I’ve started to knit with my charcoal shetland…

It’s a ’sylph’-ish cardigan…or at least that’s what I’m going for…

I had to downsize it, one size, and am thinking about leaving the open pattern throughout rather than changing it to the closed version halfway, as the pattern is written. I think it shows off the shetland nicely AND the mods are necessary if I hope to have enough wool!

Since I’m new at this, I didn’t realize how much weight is lost in the cleaning and processing of the fleece. I have approximately equal amounts of the outer coat (silvery gray) and the inner coat (the chocolate brown/gray that I’m using for this sweater).

My rambouillet fleece arrived today! From Knit-Knackers in Ottawa, Ontario – purchased from ebay but also available directly from the store and sold by the pound, for anyone who is interested. It’s so soft and fine, really really fine. 17 to 21 microns. I’m almost afraid of it, lol.

It’s soaking already, in a cold water soak.

And – the 3rd fantastic part of today – I’ve found (or been found by, lol) a local lady who raises sheep and she’s going to drop off three fleeces on the weekend, for FREE. Yay for free things! Very cool and she says next spring I should get back in touch again. LOVE the idea of having local fleeces and saving money even IF they are more work! She’s shearing tomorrow and I’m excited.

Did-It-Myself Combs!

They’re all done

I’m happy with how they turned out!

I even managed to get the handles on a slight (and shockingly almost uniform) slant even though I was working with the drill freehand, LOL.

I think I love tool making almost as much as knitting – maybe more!

Have a great day, my spinning wheel is calling…

One More Time!

I’m loving the wool combs I made a little while ago.

They’ve successfully combed most of my shetland fleece and about 450 metres of two ply sock yarn (for which I used the blended superwash that I played with at first).

They are great!

But.

They aren’t really that pretty. Or that big. More minis than anything I think.

And I really, REALLY wanted to try to make a better set! So, I did

I bought oak boards at the hardware store – less than $10. One is 1/4″ x 3″, the other is 1/2″ x 3″. I cut, from each, two 5.25 inch lengths – giving me two thicker ‘fronts’ and two thinner ‘backs’.

I wanted nice handles and couldn’t find anything that I liked at the hardware store for a decent price. SO! Waste not want not right? Went to the second hand store and found two bbq forks with really nice solid wooden handles. Using a hacksaw, I cut the handles about a half inch down the steel prong. I’m planning to drill a hole the size of the prong and use the epoxy to cement it.

I marked the holes 1/4″ apart and the rows 1 cm apart with a 3/4″ ‘buffer’ of undrilled wood along each side. Since I offset the nails and decreased the amount each row, I ended up with a triangle shaped bed and wanted to get rid of the extra wood so I trimmed the extra off with my saw on the backs and the fronts.

I sanded the pieces clamped together to make sure they were exactly the same sizes and shapes. LOL, ok, close to being exactly. I’m not too picky.

I made a plate out of a scrap of the thinner oak and drilled a sample of each drill size I would use, drilling as straight as possible. I used this as a sort of ‘jig’, to help me drill straighter holes.

I used three rows of nails so I needed two different bits for the nails themselves and bits to countersink the heads as well. I also needed a bit that I’ll use to insert the handle. (Oh, and one to countersink the handle’s wooden base but I forgot at the time)

The first two rows of nails were 3.5 ” finishing nails that I bent slightly using a wrench and a pair of plyers. I measured about 1.25 ” down each nail as a guide of where to place the nail in the wrench, bent the nail with plyers and then compared it to a tracing of the correct shape. I trace the top and bottom (both sides) of the nail for accuracy, up to the tip.

The third row of nails I made shorter, using 2.5″ finishing nails.

Ah, this time I used a file to smooth the nails…

I drilled the holes in an ALMOST straight line, lol…took me a few minutes to come up with the best idea…

After tapping a nail in each mark, it was still hard to keep the drill from ‘wandering’ so I used popsicle sticks and marked three marks 1/4″ apart and drilled, as straight as possible – making a little template. I did try more than three but the popsicle stick broke every time. And yellow seems stronger than any other colour. Weird.

By lining up the first hole with the last drilled hole I could easily keep it all neat and even. The templates did wear out fast and I had to make new ones a few times but I was really happy with the results. Maybe I should have made a template out of a scrap of the thinner oak, I’m thinking in retrospect.

I stained/protected…(about another $8)

Placed the nails, after drilling the holes a little larger at the top, to countersink the heads.

I used the styrofoam (out of an old box in the basement) to hold the nails in place…it helped SO MUCH to keep the bends in the right place and to space nails that wanted to drift together. The epoxy helps everything hold together in the end.

I don’t have pictures of the epoxy stage (too busy-it’s 5 minute epoxy and dries in 5 minutes or so, lol) and I’m only halfway done this set…

I’ll update when they’re done…I can’t wait!

Washing Wool

I washed/am washing the shetland fleece indoors since it’s not exactly balmy outside this week in ontario.

I began with soaking the fleece, in parts, in tubs in cold water – changing the water as it dirtied and warmed. I’ve still got a little in a cold bath that started soaking the first day. I think extra days make it easier to clean.

Next, I used this method of hot water wash. My soap is a presidents choice aromatherapy dishsoap – it smells like lavender.

The wastbasket was a stroke of genius – we found it at the second hand store for 75 cents! It works as the perfect colander. I used an old tupperware bowl for the wash, the metal bowl for a drain to set the basket in.

Each batch got two soapy soaks and two or three rinses in nearly boiling water. In the interest of saving water I use the last rinse as the first soapy soak for the next batch (and make the last rinse very quick to prevent significant cooling). I used a couple of towels and rolled each batch, squeezing out most of the water and laid them out on my sweater drying rack (in the livingroom).

As the fleece dried, I seperated it into locks…

By starting at the tips, it was pretty easy to seperate. Dirty tips aren’t so bad, lol….they help the fleece stay together and (mine) combed out easily later.

I’ve still got a third of a fleece to do…

I’ll be the lady in the kitchen

It’s Here!

I picked up my fleece this morning at the post office. Good thing too…now it looks like it’s going to pour rain today! It came in a pretty small box, it’s amazing how well they vacuum packed it.

About 4.5 pounds of raw charcoal/black shetland fleece from Devine West Ranch in New Brunswick, Canada.

Couldn’t help it – had to see! – so I’ve let it stretch a little in a smallish bin in the living room until the kids get home for lunch. I want to let them share in this whole thing – it’s a real learning experience for all of us and I’ve always been craft mama with them

It fluffed right up and it’s not nearly fully ‘fluffed’…

I can see some finer fleece as well as some coarser and there seems to be a variety of browns/blacks within the fleece. I’ll be able to say more once I stretch it out (planning to use an old sheet for that!) and have a better look. Doesn’t look like too much hay or other fun stuff in there but again, I need a better look.

I’m all excited and intimidated at the same time, lol! Wish me luck

The Second Set

I wanted to try to make another set of wool combs.

This time, I used some scrap needleword framing wood (no idea what type but it seems really light) with bamboo handles (from the dollar store wooden spoons) and again the 3.5 inch finishing nails but I bent them this time.

LOL, not easy but possible. I used a large wrench, a set of pliers and traced the original on paper to match the rest with.

I used the 5 minute epoxy again and left them to set for almost 24 hours.

They seem to work a bit better than my first set because of the curved ends. Really happy with them!