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Saturday 1 September 2007

long time no see

I haven't had much time lately to look after my blog; the workshop for the OLG kept me busy. now the major files are uploaded, I can finally manage a small entry again. not that I finished all that much! I just about managed another "pi bag" (two circles, with a handle in between) as a present for my aunt with a teeny bit of embroidery on it. it's dyed with natural dyes, tea, phormium, chestnuts, cherry bark etc. - and put into the wash cycle once after assembly. the green and olive yarns are from Oliver Twist's "once-offs" - I desperately need to buy new ones in november on the knitting & stitching show in dublin. last time I was in such a rush after spinning on the guild stall, that I must have passed her stall without noticing it:( not good for my stash:)) of course I could dye my own - but there are usually 7 or 8 different threads in one bundle, so I'd need to stock different rayon, viskose and cotton yarns - plus the colours that go with those threads. natural colours aren't very good to use for this kind of material and the multicolours don't work so well either. we'll see, maybe I will buy at least one cone of some of them (she usually offers white material for dyeing too) and maybe some basic colours of a suitable dye and try my luck.


one small embroidery, because DS pestered me for so long to have something "harry-pottery" again. really more suitable for Halloween, but he likes it anyway. in reality the red is more fiery and less pink, but you get the drift. the pattern is from the small booklet dmc published some years ago. there are more like that on his wish list, but for now that'll do.
the other bit I managed was one sock, not really special, just simple regia "india" sockwool. a bit of mindless tv knitting - the second one is in the making.
I am very much looking forward to more spinning soon, I suffer from withdrawal symptoms - haven't touched the wheel for at least 2 weeks:( and some dyeing, I need to test which colours to use to get the lustrous blues, greens, reds and golds for my chosen hummingbird! we did push the deadline back a bit for that challenge, as we all suffer from the same problem: lack of time (or lack of more hands....). once I have the rest of the space dyed merino finished for DS's sweater, it is all go on the alpaca - high time, as I don't only have to spin but also knit it - before christmas! did anyone notice that the years seem to go shorter??? or is it just me?

2 comments:

Janet said...

Am curious about your very good looking pi bag - is there a gusset in the middle? do you have a photo showing the handle as well? I love the naturally dyed colours and your addition of embroidery.

Woolly Bits said...

Janet, that pi bag is really simple to make! I saw instructions by E. Zimmermann in the xrx shawl book, where she knits a flat circle. she doubles the stitches (by yo's) and then doubles the rounds she knits, until she reaches the desired size. I do two circles and then put them together with a very, long, narrow rectangle. where I sew it between the circles it stays flat during felting, but where the edges are left loose (for the handles), they roll up and form a narrower, but stronger band. I have an earlier version I made for myself and I am going to take more detailed pix tomorrow! not naturally dyed, but with more embroidery:))