Did a real live yarn shopping trip to the village to see if they had a bargain I could use for felted cat beds. So I ended up with this lot too, for another of those sweater dresses I like to use around the house in winter. I was actually looking for something neutral, but there wasn’t any just right in the perfect fiber and thickness. I didn’t want anything with tiny needles to take me 4 years of knitting!
And in the 2 kr. ($0.37 / â¬0.27 / £ 0.22) button tray I found these, which I think could become tapestry bobbins when glued to a dowel.
Last, but not least, I bought this really silly yarn for some kind of trim or Saori weaving. Or whatever. You know, the colour thing. Texture.
Since I really have nothing much to show yet of all my ideas (and sometimes they stay ideas because I get a new one for the same yarn), MotherOwl suggested that I just share some of my design ideas. Today, then, will be yarn. Another day perhaps something more painterly? And some plants are brewing…
So here’s a collection of things that you could get to see more of in the coming months, or a look into my brain. It may seem like a lot, but in fact it’s just a fraction of what I’ve planned and there is no deadline, things may get erased or changed along the way. I have a tendency to just write down my ideas rather than draw them, but if you find it interesting I may be persuaded to change that habit actually, because I think it would be a good practice. Perhaps working more on each project idea will help me weed some out?
Covering the halfdone warp on my large frame in the hope that the kittens don’t find it…
I’m planning to make a small bag with this handspun yarn practising a specific tapestry technique for joins. Homemade bobbins! I just hope there’s enough yarn for the strap too, I’ve calculated and calculated, but since this is a new thing for me, you can’t really be sure to get it right.
Semi-solid skeins are to be dyed to go with each of these two snow dyed yarns. A dark red/rust (or a dark green – I’ll have to sample) for the one on the left and blue/marine for the right. The third skein I gave to a friend of mine who knitted herself an awesome hat and mitts!
Making an inner hat from a soft yarn, then trying to decide which of my oldest handspuns will be the bulky outer hat.
Drachenwolle sock yarn. Houndstooth weave? Huge cowl/scarf/shawl? I’m not really a sock knitter.
Trying to make a fun design for the yarn below. Actually I’m not going to use the model shown, but I couldn’t find the other sketches. Still debating the basket weave however, to break up the stripes I’d get if I knitted the yarn. Possibly I’d get really horrible pooling instead. And in fact, after some sampling, this yarn frays way too much to be woven, it’s no good as warp at any rate, very sticky. So now I’m contemplating a linen stitch on large needles, alternating 2 skeins every other row, which is doable even if you work flat. I don’t like to knit the body in the round, then the yoke flat, because that makes the rows half as long = twice as wide when it comes to the width of the stripes = no look good. (imho) Or I could double the strands and mix it with a heavier solid, but I don’t want stripes at all, I also don’t want to have to do stranded colourwork, because then I’ll never finish. In fact this could have been a blog post all on its own…
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:
I 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.
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.
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.
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.
I’m being followed around the house these days, my every move monitored. Although times like now, right after breakfast, I can hear galloping from the other room and the occasional item crashing to the floor…. I wanted to film their antics, but it’s still dark.
I did manage to finish my sweater dress before they arrived, though, the one that ended up looking like a tent. I’ve even worn it and washed it. It’s still loose fitting, but that was my purpose, so I could wear multiple layers of t-shirts and a thin pullover underneath. But rather more shapely. It ended up a bit longer than intended, but that’s fine.
Emil is helping me block:
And organizing stuff:
Leo is in charge of getting the laundry right.
It’s been 12 years since I last had two kittens together, but I seem to remember they too liked to rearrange my stuff!
While getting ready to reknit the bottom half of my ginormous blue tunic (scroll down to skip the chitchat and see what’s happening with that), I was pondering the conundrum of work ethic, focus vs. procrastination, efficiency vs. slow cloth. I feel like I’m flogging a dead horse by now, but apparently I’m a slow learner in some areas.
I’m having fun with this project of investigating my own reactions and preferences, so bear with me! (or skip to the images) Just a bit of thinking out loud as an add on to Wednesday’s post.
You know how I want to do ALL the things. Or at the very least, I want to learn about all the things. Which, if you give in to it, leads to either hurry, long hours or crappy jobs. If I had not given myself a deadline I would have re-padded Mimi to try on the sweater more often, with more lifelines, and been able to trust the result (I can’t fit knitwear succesfully on myself, that much I know), I might have not ended up having to frog. If on the other hand I’d not introduced a deadline, it could have taken me 2 years to knit instead of a month, because I would have gotten sidetracked by all the things.
So it turns out, it’s not only about beating procrastination and getting the job done, the focus also has to be on the quality. Goes without saying you think, but while I obviously want to do good work, my battle so far has been centered on simply the doing, finding a structure and discipline to make it possible to do all the things. In my head all/most of my interests are linked, and I’d like to keep it that way, even though I know I’m waving a shotgun rather than shoot with bow and arrow. (which I’d love to learn btw but I’m trying to save it for another lifetime. Like weaving. Ahem.)
Time is not of great importance with sweater knitting of course, since it’s just an innocent hobby, but I think I can use any activity to improve my general workflow and mindset. While efficiency is great, I need to be mindful as well, we don’t want to get run over by the stress monster (again). I still think one of the keys is to work more serial rather than parallel, so I have to be even more careful and focused about choosing each project. A change which in itself is a serious workout for Patience. Perhaps I should be content to not only set up my physical projects in serial production, but also the work with my inner issues. I just wonder if the list will ever stop growing! 😉
(yes, Arlee, I did read what you wrote on the practice instead of the performance)
Can’t have a Fiber Friday without show and tell of course, so here’s a smallcompilation for those of you not so interested in my little dance with Resistance. There are comments about each if you click the thumbnails.
I didn’t want to reknit sleeves and raglan, so managed to decrease waist by 5 cm/2″ with smaller needles and ribbing on the back. I’m ditching the skirt shape and just changing to larger needles again for a straight knit down
carding Molly’s undercoat
dog rolags 43 g carded twice on fine drum
A new funyarn that I may explain in detail later.
I seem to have a thing (and some projects) for the purple/orange combo at the moment!
spinning up a funbatt on the jumbo set, so I can get the high speed on for dog hair after.
