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)

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!!

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...

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.