Dansk fiber blog

Jeg har leget med tanken om at sætte en dansk blog op sammen med en lille netbutik til mit overskudslager. Det bliver ikke en kopi af denne blog med alt mellem himmel og jord, den vil heller ikke blive opdateret så ofte med mindre det vælter ind med brugere(!).

Det hele ligger lokalt på vores egen server som et lille eksperiment, så svartiden er måske ikke hvad man er vant til ude på det store WWW, vi ved det ikke! Så jeg inviterer hermed til test og feedback: www.farvehytten.dk

Egentlig ville jeg vente med annonceringen til der lå lidt mere indhold, men så sker der det ene, og det andet og tiden går, og så får jeg heller ikke lagt noget på fordi jeg jo ved at der ikke er nogen som ser det.

Så nu ser vi!


uk This is an announcement of my new Danish website with a small shop for surplus production. You’re welcome to have a look, but I won’t be translating it. Possibly I’ll put up stuff for sale in here as well unless it grows enough to reopen my Etsy store. Any suggestions on that front? (when I began the draft for this post I probably knew what I meant by that question, now I don’t, but I’m going to leave it in case somebody else does)

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Designing with panels

Having whined ad nauseam about my new grandmotherly weight class I thought it about time to share some solutions I’ve pondered (apart from eating less). There are wardrobe issues such as:

1139-2Winter warmth – just about the only menopause symptom I haven’t had is hot flashes. Oh no, I get all the obscure ones. Woollen sweaters sometimes take me years to finish, so imagine how long they can be worn if you grow 1-2 sizes per year. Oh and the mild weather sweaters take longer because thinner yarn = smaller stitches! So I’m going to reinvent my construction method, which usually means a fairly close knit or the wind just blows right through to my delicate skin. Even indoors believe it or not. Also, tighter knits and firmer yarns have better durability to wear and tear that the looser, more flattering drapy fabrics don’t. The problem being of course they don’t have as much give and leave you feeling like a sausage as soon as your planned ease turns negative.

Continue reading “Designing with panels”

Office chair v. 1

And by now the clever reader has already suspected there will be a v. 2! Indeed!

This project has been underway for some time, years in fact. My office chair is very old (1995), it’s also very comfortable, very versatile and very expensive. I can’t get a pretty one that is anywhere near as good as this, even when it squeaks a bit. So I’m holding onto it tooth and nail, even when it started looking like this:

stol1I tried to repair it, meaning to make a full cover to go over the top and THEN make something decorative out of yarn, which could be taken off and washed.

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But then I procrastinated and could not decide on a design. Then I broke my sewing machine and then I went on a very long sick leave and didn’t care.

In the meantime it just got more beat up, so when I finally did finish the first cover (which had been sitting around for ages, all needled up) I thought we needed some extra padding, and voila, my cover is too small and slides off. I’m test sitting it right now without the foam padding, and that seems to have improved the issue. I don’t even know why I wanted padding, as I usually sit on my left foot. Which I guess is why the chair looks like it does in the first place!

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Incidentally the fabric I used attracts cat hair really well! Duh. That’s just me and my “use what’s at hand approach“.

I started off knitting a quick to-be-felted cover from plant dyed yarn, Hollyhock to be precise + a couple of Coreopsis.

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You may remember how I fiddled the pH to get all those different colours. Then you throw it in the machine, at 60° no less, with a soap that you’re not quite sure is neutral. Well, it wasn’t. Which is fine, I like green.

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And it’s too small as well. I’d reckoned on that but wanted it as tightly felted as possible, so I’d threaded some cotton string around the edges, figuring I could pull it out and use the holes to pick up more stitches. I may or may not do that, since all the cats really love it. But it’s a good surface to use, sturdy and easy to clean. I see cat bed production in my future.

I have other plans brewing, but with my sewing skills it may take me a few versions to get something that actually works. In the meantime, my chair at least does not look like something from a scrap yard. Not as much so.

Inspirations 4

Since I didn’t have any fibery links for you last time, I decided the next one should be only mostly partially wool related. Hope you enjoy! And as usual I’d love to hear which links you liked.

Felted paintings from Scotland

Nifty drop spindle whorls

Chichester the Pig

Felted bowls

No dig garden

God’s Chorus of Crickets

You Don’t Have to Be Pretty (well of course I have to say that!)

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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=616703535035715&set=pb.490193807686689.-2207520000.1386350507.&type=3&theater

Fibery stuff this week

Pincushion progress:

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First one felted and stitched up ready to fill, but I want to add icord loops or something to have the option of hanging them from a hook. (if I can find a suitable location away from cat paws) I decided to try out the dye with regular laundry detergent, twice. Original yarn included in the photo. It turned out rather larger than I expected after my blanket adventure, but I liked the fabric the way it was, so didn’t want to give it another go at a higher temp.

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Second one felted and ready to be stitched. Yarn is dyed with madder exhaust and Dyer’s Chamomile. Also washed with the clothes and detergent.

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Third one – yarn chosen but the shape hasn’t presented itself to me yet. Possibly a cube. Originally all three were going to be like the first, but then the second wanted to be different and I obliged. Apparently my inner self does not want to be classy, and for now I’m listening – as long as it’s actually saying something, fine! Even if it means the house will look like a cirkus… Skeins are dyed with Dyer’s Chamomile and Weld (the lighter one).

Suffolk preparation started:

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I’ve decided to just finger pick everything to get rid of the tiny bits of vegetable matter, then loosely blend on hand cards, which I hate but really doesn’t take such a long time as I imagined. To be spun into yarn for the tapestry testing, and when I’m done I have a huge box of Dorset that I’ve plant dyed which needs the same treatment. I thought I said something about not production spinning?!

Sample loom 1 done:

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loom1

Seems to be working fairly well, I’ll be testing various widths of warp, how many meters of yarn go into xx cm of weaving etc. I tried at first without nails, just wrapping around, but I think it will work better with nails on the front. Possibly because the frame is so small, pulling the warp up from the back really makes it very taut. As well as being fiddly to adjust the gaps.
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danishUgens fiberprojekter

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Nålepuder af plantefarvet garn undervejs: Første er klar til at blive fyldt, og så skal jeg lige have lavet en løkke i toppen til at hænge den op, inden jeg kan sy den sidste kant. Garnet er farvet med vaid.

Nr. 2 er filtet og klar til at blive syet sammen (kraprod og gåseurt), den sidste er der fundet garn frem til (gåseurt og vau). Jeg har vasket det sammen med tøjet og almindeligt vaskepulver, noget plantefarve kan ikke lide den behandling, men jeg ville lige prøve at se hvordan disse, normalt ret farveægte typer holdt sig.

Jeg er endelig gået i gang med den sidste klargøring af min Suffolk ham som jeg gik og sjatfarvede i sommer. Det bliver pillet fra hinanden med fingrene for at blive fri for plantefnuller og håndkartet løseligt (hvilket jeg er herredårlig til, men det går faktisk hurtigere end antaget.) Ja, og så er der naturligvis den kæmpe kasse Dorset jeg har plantefarvet, som skal samme vej…

Og så har jeg lavet en miniature væveramme til at lave lidt garn- og tekniktest på.