I'm not dead.....

... I'm just taking a break:))

if you live in ireland, maybe you remember that kitkat spot from several years back (it's the king aka Elvis, who says this!).
if I waited any longer with a new blog entry, I could boast a 2 month break actually:(( sorry, but I've been so busy during the last 2 months, that I just couldn't find the time to blog. though most of the jobs were more of the same: working on the roof repairs (we don't only have to repair the damage, which is fiddly and a lot of work. we also have to prevent it from happening again - which means lots of jobs all around the house) - travelling to and from the dentist (no, it's still not finished. the wisdom tooth came out, the doc tried to save one molar, 4 weeks later I had to go back - last week I had to get an extraction anyway:(( back this thursday - and it's still not sure I'll be finished then - we'll see....). also the usual - spring means lots of jobs in the garden, several projects as gifts, preparing meetings for our spinner's group, doing translations - it never ends.

I did finish a few things though! here are a few:

this is a stacking toy - when I found the instructions at Lion Brand I just couldn't resist it. I had the stronger colours, pink, green and yellow, but needed to dye the rest - for the cotton I used procion dyes. should I ever do another one I'd actually switch on my brain before putting it together - the flowers in the "pond" at the bottom are pretty much invisible, when all the rings are stacked....but to make sure that baby doesn't start eating flowers or  bug pieces, I had to fix everything very tightly - which makes it close to impossible to take the flowers off again without destroying them and the base.

the base is a very long-necked frog, who looks out of a pond with water lilies on the surface. the lowest ring is a bumble bee, then follows a butterfly, a lady bug (ok, ok, I know that the red isn't ladybug red, but I dyed several lots and none turned out to be the proper colour:(() - and on top there is a dragonfly. the butterfly wasn't in the original pattern; I made it up because there was so much "neck" left free - and also the sizes didn't fit so well between bumblebee and ladybug. it's all cotton and washable - and I hope the recipient little boy has fun with it:))

his mum calls him froggy, so here is a little fat froggy I made for her....

then there was my friends' birthday - I made a scarf for her. the base is crocheted in a blend of black alpaca/wool, the eyelash yarn was pulled through and I left a fringe on both ends.of course I forgot to take a pic of the finished scarf - here you can see it in progress, the black was covered with the blue/red/purple....

she also received a mouse tea-cosy - inspired by a photo on ravelry. it's fully lined with a layer in brioche stitch, the flowers and mice are done with naturally dyed yarn, the base is done in sock wool.
all quite straightforward, I just had to figure out how I could do wheat ears - which I ended up doing in embroidery...

this is a necklace and a pair of earrings I made during a workshop about beginner's beading. I got kind of carried away and bought a few bits and pieces apart from the beads - a beading board, a tool to make proper spirals and round shapes, some beads, some wire, a book etc.... I guess I have to add "beading" to my labels:))

this is one of quite a few skeins of yarn I spun in the meantime. several were made as samples for a demo about "spinning fibres other than wool", which I did last saturday at the museum of country life. not very interesting to show them, most are natural white - so far (that might change after the dye workshop we'll do in july, same place). I spun soy silk, baby alpaca, linen, jute, hemp and some other small amounts, to have a spun sample for all the fibres I had to show. but this is a special skein - it's a silk brick dyed with fresh, ripe rhamnus frangula berries (alderbuckthorn). I have a plan for it - though I don't yet know whether I'll weave or knit the project....

I also couldn't resist doing a short spinning session after reading about spinning paper in the latest issue of spinoff. I grabbed some silk wrapping paper (for glass etc.), cut it into long strips, dampened it and spun it the next day - into something that looks like yarn. after plying it with a blend of linen and cotton (commercial yarn) I think it's reasonably "soft" - though of course not suitable to wear next to the skin. but the mind boggles at all the possibilities.... one thing I learned though (which kind of falls into the above category of switching the brain on before working:)) - if you want to spin paper, you can cut several layers in one go - just don't dampen them, when they are still together! it's a bit like trying to sort out a pot of spaghetti.....

I am also working on the biggest project of all - which I am halfway through, but cannot show it - you just never know, who reads a blog:)) patience - I will show it eventually....

so this is it for now - I hope I can blog again more regularly - latest when I have finished the above mentioned important project (never mind the house and the teeth:)).