It's oh so quiet..

But I have been really busy!

I have spun most of the Bordeaux/pink/purple, have got 1/4 batt left. Didn't fit on the bobbin...The first skein is already on the needles, the second I still have to set the twist. I decided to go for a very simple lace pattern because I haven't done any lace knitting in a while but want to do a lot more. (It´s a free ravelry pattern, you can find it in my projects) So this will be the warming up...I started on needle size 4 1/2, but then frogged it and went to needles 6 and less stitches. Maybe I can get enough length with the first skein, I will wait with the second skein so if I don´t need it for this project I can ply it with something else! I did discover there is too much twist in both of them.

I had some more leftovers from the bordeaux, pink and purple adn decided to card it with some of the green I have. I hope I can spin really thin with it and maybe ply it with sewing thread. I can make more if I like it.

I carded all the greens. It is a lot, but I don´t think it will be enought for a sweater so I decided to card it with the brown (still washing some of that).

Half of it will be 1/3 green and 2/3 brown, the other half 1/3 brown and 2/3 green. Make a nice mix of them. And then I will ply it. I think it willl give me a great sweater yarn!

I have also been doing a knitting marathon on the Moebius. It is really growing now! I hope I will see the end of it soon...

The spinning wheel is terminal. It looked good when I bought it, ofcourse I had no idea what to look for. It works good (I think). The only problem is...it is falling apart. every few days it falls a little more bit apart and I have to tie a new rope to keep it together. I guess it wasn´t used very much...So, I am looking around for a good deal on a new wheel. Don´t want a second hand anymore, and I only bought second hand to see if I liked it. If not I could sell it again...But it will have to do until I get my vacation money end of may.

Meantime I am still working on my goals. First step is to create a routine for myself to get the "have to do" things done. It is not really working yet, I am just not a routine person. But I decided I need to have some (besides going into work every day). There is so much I want to do, I have to have routines...

"Have" to do some more cleaning right now so tomorrow I can spend the biggest part of the day on creativity...(and homework, need to dram some 1/2 scale bathing suit patterns)

I had a vision

And it started out with Stress.

Because I was a little stressed out, I decided to do some more dyeing, it really relaxes me. I took the Dylon Bordeaux Dye and a batch of the "white" wool and came up with this result:

Immediately the vision came, I saw some nice Bourdeaux, Pink and Purple yarn. So I started with carding the Pink and the purple (which turned out quite blueish) and when the bordeaux was dry i carden some of that too. Resulting in the below batts:

Then I had to decide on how to mix up the colours. I decided to go for layered batts. I just took the drum carder, started filling it up and look, a nice layered batt:

So now I am spinning. Don't want to overdo it (I am known for it) and agreed with myself, 1 layered batt a day. What you see is the result of 1 1/2 batt:

Next decision to be made, what to do next. I am spinning a 15 WPI yarn. Do I want to keep it as singles, do I want to ply it? I am not sure if I can keep it single. I would sure like to make something nice from the singles, but did I give it enough or not to much twist...Dunno..Guess I will have to decide sometime (soon) and take the gamble. If it isn't working, I can try again. I can work it through the wheel again and add/remove twist I guess...

I think it will make a nice Moebius V2 (I renamed the green one to V1.03)

And, because I like this picture very much, here's one extra:

And now, back to the wheel!!

Completely mine

well, after the sheep donated it's fleece that is...

So I arived home yesterday after work with my drumcarder and of course, had to use it right away. Here you can see the orange wool on the drumcarder.

I ended up with 2 nice big batts.

Here I am ready to spin the first bat. I used 1 1/2 batt and then the bobbin was almost full. I plied it with the navajo 3-ply method. When doing my research I really liked it because you only need 1 thread which you ply onto itself. As I don't have a lazy kate (yet) this was very appealing to me. With the red wool I made a 2-ply using the bobbin holders on the wheel and got tangled up. When doing the navajo 3-ply I found the thread was much easier to handle, but that could also been because I spun this wool better. I will try 2-ply again, but for now I think this is the way I will ply my yarns. Here you can see it drying.

I also did some dying on thursday. I used the purple eggpaint, and then added the red and blue I had left because again, I threw to much wool in the pot...It resulted into this:

And here you can see the end result of the Carmine from earlier this week.

I think this will end up a pretty solid colour too like the orange did.

Although I haven't tried the Dylon dye yet (I want to use them on carded batts) I couldn't help myself and bought some more colours: Bordeaux (one extra, I really like that colour), Olive Green (another colour I really like), Windsor Purple and Pagoda Red. I have saved 1/2 batt from the Orange because I really want to make some combined colour batts. The portion I spun will be used for a beanie for a colleague. But next, I am going to card the whole brown fleece first. Will start on that tomorrow. And I need to draw some bathing suit patterns for school, and the laundry, and some fleece washing, and house cleaning and I thought Sunday was a day to rest? That's what you get for working on Saturday once every 4 weeks, which was today..

Tonight I am going to knit on Moebius #3. It was a good thing I decided to frog it. It was way to big. I counted the stitches as I took it of the needle, measured how much to big it was and ended up casting only 2/3 of the stitches on #2!!!

So, I got myself some nice very dark chocolate with caramel and my blankie (it is cold here) and do a little Moebius Marathon!!

New Colours!!

So for the people who liked my greens (thanx 2bsewing)....I ran out of it...time for a change....
So yesterday I went for the Burned Sienna. Although I had to go to school yesterday evening I had to do some dyeing. I think I am showing all the signs of a heavy addiction..LOL
Before I went I filled the pot with wool, water, vinnegar and the watercolour. When I came home I immediately ran to the kitchen to turn on the heat and this is the result. Very Orange and I kind of really like it!! My colleague has been asking me for an orange hat and I think this will be it. I still have the orange watercolour, and will try that with some carded wool, and maybe in the microwave to see how that turns out. I think this will go great with some brown or red to.
Tonight I wanted to try out the Carmine. In the picture you can see it before it went on the heat. I just peeked in the pot and it looks very pink, almost fluorescent. I must really be putting to much wool in the pot so the colours turn out different than they probably should. I will see/show the final colour tomorrow. This might even go with the Orange to...
My drying station is working out very well too. On the right you can see my shelves. I am still not finished with them. Somehow there are some screws that wont do what I want them to do....go into the wood. The trash bin I bought at Ikea. I won't be using it as a trash bin, this will be where I will store my pattern paper. I have a lot of it as I draw my own patterns. The drying station is just an ordinary 3 story wash rack. I ripped up some cotton fabric to fit the surfaces, they are attached with clothes pins. When I washed/dyed the wool I put it on one of the pieces of cotton. Close it with a piece of thread so that the woll can't come out. Put it in the spinning cycle of the washing machine, take it upstairs and spread it out.
I still do some crocheting and trying to finish the triangular scarf/wrap. As far as the Moebius goes...I decided to frog it. I haven't even wanted to look at it for day. This to me is a sign I need to frog it and start new. If I don't it will end up in a box and I might find it in a few years. And I really like the Moebius idea/design. I guess I will do that tonight and cast on a new one and knit some so I can be happy to pick it up again...


Tomorrow my car has to go to the car doctor...It is getting dangerous to drive with...well not exactly for me, but for the people behind me. I could loose the exhaust pipe any moment now...

Well..time for moebius!!

Where does time go?

Days go by when your having fun, well fun...Today was a lousy day in which a lot went wrong and it started with some idiot not paying attention on the traffic in front of him (me). I was driving on the highway when a came up to a traffic jam. I, ofcourse, slowed my car to not bump in to the cars in front of me, the person behind me wasn't paying attention or whatever and had to make an emergency brake. I saw him in my rearview mirror coming closer very fast, then he started to slide from left to right and then he stood still only a few centimeters from my car. I was surrounded with the white smoke and lovely smell of burning rubber. Guess it scared him enough, when we could move again he kept a lot of distance from the car in front of him (I switched lanes, didn't want him behind me and needed to get off very soon)

Been very busy this week. Finished two projects, started a new one, thinking about frogging another one, done some work with powertools...

I will start with the power tool thing I did...

As I told you in my previous post I bought some shelving and when I wanted to start putting it together this weekend I couldn't find my drill bits. I had my drill/electric screw driver, I had the thing to load it with power, but I couldn't find the case with all the other parts..so I took my hook and continued crocheting. Monday after work I could finally buy some drills, the low budget type ofcourse and started putting it against the wall. Didn't get very far, was tired of a long day of work so didn't do much. On the picture you see the progress made on Tuesday. I bought 4 wide and 4 smaller shelves as that was mentioned to be "normal", but ofcourse I am not, so I need 2 wide and 2 small more. I finished the shelves I had, so there are more now then you see here, but I can't take a new picture now as it is to dark there (still looking for some lighting to hang). I will go to the store next week and buy the rest and do a showcase of my workroom when it is finished.

I have finished a vest I was crocheting, the one I needed to go to the yarnshop for as I was 1 ball short (bought 2, have 1 left over now, maybe it will become a beanie?). I don't know why, but these pictures are all very blurry...I took some different views. It basically is a large circle with 2 holes for your arms. You can do it with any circular pattern, this one is from a magazine I borrowed from a colleague. It still needs to be blocked/pressed and a few ends to weave in (done the most of them..)

The second project I finishe is the hairpin lace scarf. I crocheted all the strips together. I choose to do it in singles. As this was my very first effort at this and the yarn isn't the easiest to crochet I thought I should do it easy and a next one can be more difficult.

The new project is a triangular shawl/wrap. I ha some nice beige acrylic in my stash (and still, no end in sight). I am crocheting this on a hook nr 7, so pretty big, double the size they recommend for this yarn. I saw some picures of this type of stitch so I adjusted it to how I would like it to be and as you can see, it is growing steadily.

The Moebius is becoming the thing I could dream about in a nightmare (don't have them, I am protected by a dreamcatcher). It was getting pretty big, and then I noticed them....dropped stitches...they are too fat from the needles to pick them up again, and with this yarn I don't think I can cover them up very nice. I have put it aside for the moment, put some wool through the stitches so I can find them again if I decide to try to mend them, but I am thinking very hard about frogging it and starting new and fresh...

And then.. I was thinking about wool, and the things I would like to make, and the money it will cost me if I buy all the yarns I need, and I did some searching on the internet, and then I found the solution! The cheapest way to be able to do all the things I want, make it however I like, and maybe in the process earn some money is to make everything from scratch. And I mean really scratch. Start with the sheep. Ofcourse I am not going to keep some sheep, but they produce wool. Something I can't. From there on, everything in the process until the finished item can be done by people. I will have to make some investments, but they will pay for themselves in the long run. So I browsed some auction site and look what I found!! A nice spinning wheel. It was offered, I made a lower bid, the gave me a new price in the middle and I accepted. I am now the proud owner of this spinning wheel and it came with 2 handcarders and some spindle looking thing for only 42.50 Euro. (I guess I should use it to roll the balls on? There is no hook on it so it pobably isn't a spindle). Sunday I have an appointment to go look at some wool. They have some very nice batches. I really like a brown with lighter ends they have (forgot the sheep name), but the lady advised to start with merino. I also searched for ways to dye wool, so I might be trying some of that soon to.

So I have to wait for Sunday to get wool to get started, but in the meantime I will practice keeping the wheel going, in the right direction....

I guess I should stop now..It is a rather long post. Maybe I should post more often to keep them shorter? LOL

Bye for now.

Weekend!

It is weekend! Well for me at least...or not quite so...

Tomorrow I go to school. I go every tuesday to sewing classes, I am now doing Lingerie and hope to do my exams soon (June is the next chance) and I follow an extra course in corset making. So I still regard it as a free day since I am doing something I really like. Haven't wrote about that part of my life yet, but I will post some pictures soon.

I finished the last strip of the hairpin lace this morning before going to work so I can now join all of them. Still thinking on how to join them, single, in groups, twisted or not. If you want to do some hairpin lace yourself there are some very good instructions on StitchDiva there is also link to a video. I am a left handed crocheter so I always have to think the other way round, but I could do it after watching the instruction video. I really like the Vapor pattern on their website, but my hairpin lace loom isn't big enough so I might have to construct something else...

I am also still working on the second attempt of the moebius. It is gowing slow, but it grows! You can read more about Moebius knitting on the website of Cat Bordhi, she also made a cast on instruction video on YouTube which is very easy to follow. The most important thing when starting a Moebius is getting a long enough circular needle. This experience has learned me I need to expand my needle collection (somehow this is a very good lesson...LOL)

And finally I bought some shelving for my workspace today. I will have to do some assembling this weekend. According to the manual you are not allowed to do it on your own, but since I am no fan of manuals I guess I will probably try to. Maybe it helps when I put a mirror in the room, then I will be with two right?
It is kind of heavy, but it shouldn't be a problem. I am even pretty handy with powertools...and I really need that to be up ASAP so I can organize my stash. The yarn I have is only a small part. I have lots of crates with all kind of fabrics and other sewing stuff. I even have 3 large ones stuffed with ribbons and cords and more...

Well..of to do some more knitting...

Been Busy

Last evening of my vacation...

I really don't feel like going back to work tomorrow...

I have been busy the last few days. I have finished the shopping bag sack. Now I need to find the right colour of cotton paint so it will fit in my kitchen. I have seen the colour I like in the store, but they only had the large containers to put in the machine and I don't think it will be very wise to put this one small item on it's own in the machine. I am not in any hurry so I will keep my eyes open for the small packages. I have also been doing a lot of hairpin lace. Working on the last strip. Or at least, at the moment I think it is the last strip. Not sure yet. I have enough yarn to make a few more strips but it probably is wide enough by now. It sure is long!! (710 loops). I finished the Moebius, but it turned out it is the first attempt. That's what you get when you're not working with a pattern...It is way to small. I have already cast on a second attempt (with the second ball of yarn I had). I made it much wider, and it will also be longer. When I have finished this ball I will have the new moebius cannabilize on the other.

I couldn't help myself, hd to visit my parents this week and they live close to a great yarn shop and I needed some yarn to finisch a vest I am making so I had to go there...And bought more. This will be for a very large granny square blanket. I am using the willow square block from the Jan Eaton book, and I calculated I need at least 165 squares. I am working on the first 30 here. I decided to do 10 of each colouring at a time and crochet by color. Already this is getting a bit boring, but I guess I will have to go through it to get what I really want.

Have to get some sleep now, tomorrow will be very early...

Progress is seen!!

I have finished the green round for the flowers!
Now, I will need to weave in the ends before I do the white round. I am planning to join them while crocheting the white round. Never done that before, but it should work. I have some green left to do a very small border when they are all put together, and then a lot of white to make a nice border around that. Friday the book I ordered, 200 Crochet Blocks from Jan Eaton, arrived and I found a nice border for this mini blanket in there.

The mobius is growing too. At first it was very hard to knit, but as it grows it gets more relaxing. The first few centimeters my left hand got very cramped, not anymore. It is now about 15 cm and I am not yet sure

on how long I have to continue to get a nice length. I was thinking about the length of my upper arms, and maybe a little more than that. I don't think it will work if I make it much longer.

I am still thinking about what to do with the lilac hexagons. I found some black of the same acrylic wool, maybe I can combine them...
Well...I am of to go weave in ends, and do the white borders.